Sixth-seeded Mardy Fish of the US beat James Ward of Great Britain 6-1, 6-2 on Monday in the first round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.
No. 8 seed Benjamin Becker of Germany was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Michael Russell, who at 32 is the oldest American ranked in the ATP top 100 world rankings.
Fish earned his fourth career title on July 10 at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island. After taking a couple of days to rest, Fish practiced late last week on hard courts for the first time since March.
PHOTO: AFP
In other matches, Rainer Schuettler of Germany beat Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-4. Illya Marchenko of Ukraine defeated Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen 6-4, 7-6 (4), and American Rajeev Ram held off Karol Beck of Slovaki 6-4, 7-6 (4).
■GERMAN OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, GERMANY
Spanish qualifier Pere Riba rallied to upset last year’s runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 on Monday for a spot in the second round of the German Open.
Italy’s Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini also reached the second round, posting straight-sets wins.
Starace defeated German qualifier Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-0. Fognini beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-4.
■GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA
Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania rallied to beat Kathrin Woerle of Germany 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in the first round of the Gastein Ladies.
Olaru, who lost to Germany’s Andrea Petkovic in last year’s final, served 11 double faults but converted her seventh match point.
Alize Cornet of France routed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-0 while Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine beat Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-2.
Simona Halep of Romania also advanced by defeating Renata Voracova of Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2.
■SLOVENIA OPEN
AP, PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA
Sixth-seeded Vera Dushevina of Russia reached the second round of the Slovenia Open on Monday after rallying for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Anna Lapushchenkova.
Tamira Paszek of Austria also advanced by beating Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia 7-5, 6-2.
Andreja Klepac of Slovenia lost in straight sets to Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay.
France’s Virginie Razzano ousted Zuzana Kucova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-5, and Anna Chakvetadze defeated fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but