World No. 2 Roger Federer began his season in formidable fashion by defeating holder Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4 to win the Qatar Open on Saturday.
The 16-times Grand Slam champion proved too much for his Russian opponent, claiming a break of serve in each set to complete victory under the floodlights at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in central Doha.
Federer has improved throughout his five matches this week in Qatar, where he did not drop a set, and sealed victory in 79 minutes when Davydenko netted an attempted backhand pass to huge cheers from a capacity crowd.
PHOTO: AFP
It was a 67th career title for the 29-year-old, who hardly broke a sweat on another warm evening in the Gulf emirate and celebrated victory with a brief smile amongst little celebration.
The Swiss served impeccably throughout, dropping just nine points on his serve as he demonstrated his solid form ahead of defending his title at the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne next Monday.
Davydenko, who brushed aside world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the previous round, struggled on the back foot during the first set as Federer moved him around the court at will with precision depth ground-strokes.
The Russian, ranked 22 in the world after slipping from a career high third, battled hard throughout, saving six break points in the first set and charging down every ball, but was always under pressure on his own serve.
“He played very well for sure, today was tough, he gave me ow chance on the return,” Davydenko told reporters. “I don’t want to say I played badly today, I played OK, but Federer didn’t give me a chance to realize my game. I don’t know if he can hold at this level for the whole year.”
The second set was on serve until the ninth game when Federer broke Davydenko to love before serving out with ease to claim his third Qatar Open title and collect the trophy, an elaborate golden eagle sat on a perch with a picture of the Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the base.
CHENNAI OPEN
AFP, CHENNAI, INDIA
Stanislas Wawrinka upset top seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets to cruise into his second successive final at the US$450,000 Chennai Open on Saturday.
The 21st-ranked Swiss, seeded third, attacked from the start to take out world No. 6 Berdych 6-4, 6-1 in 76 minutes at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium.
Wawrinka, who lost to Marin Cilic in last year’s final, was to meet seventh-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium in yesterday’s title clash worth US$68,850 and 250 ATP points for the winner.
Malisse, a Chennai winner in 2007, recovered after losing the first set to knock out the sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 97 minutes.
Wawrinka, who finished his rain-hit quarter-final against Robin Haase late on Friday night, showed no signs of fatigue as he outplayed his Czech rival before about 2,500 Indian fans.
Wawrinka broke Berdych in the fifth game to wrap up the first set in 38 minutes and then breezed through the second, losing just one game.
Malisse, who has lost just 10 games in three previous matches, made a shaky start as he allowed Tipsarevic to run away with the first set in 28 minutes.
An aggressive Malisse secured a break in the second game of the second set, but Tipsarevic hit back immediately by breaking the Belgian in the next game.
The Serbian clawed back from 15-40 in the sixth game to hold serve, but Malisse had his way in Tipsarevic’s next service game to take a 5-3 lead and go on to win the set.
The 60th-ranked Malisse broke No. 49 Tipsarevic twice in the decider to march into the final.
SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL
AFP, SYDNEY
US Open champion Kim Clijsters dropped just three games in a warning to her Australian Open rivals in a confident start to the Sydney International tournament yesterday.
Third seed Clijsters crushed Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-1, 6-2 in 62 minutes and only lost six points on serve.
“Maybe not the fastest serves I’ve hit, but I was very focused on trying to place my serves well and just making a lot of serves, especially when you’re playing into the sun,” Clijsters said.
Clijsters opened the new season with a straight-sets win over world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in an exhibition match in Thailand, but said she was intent on raising the bar higher in her first official outing of the season.
Clijsters, the bookmakers’ favorite to win this month’s Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, now faces either Russian Nadia Petrova or a qualifier for a place in the Sydney quarter-finals.
In yesterday’s only other main draw match, dual Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova put paid to Australian wildcard Jelena Dokic, 6-2, 6-2 in just more than an hour.
Russian Kuznetsova will take on either Australian fourth seed Samantha Stosur or Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the second round.
HOBART INTERNATIONAL
AP, HOBART, AUSTRALIA
Italy’s Sara Errani has beaten 2007 champion Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in the first round of the Hobart International tennis tournament yesterday.
In other first-round results, Errani’s doubles partner Roberta Vinci defeated fellow Italian Romina Oprandi 7-6 (7/0), 6-3 and Ayumi Morita of Japan beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3).
Eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany defeated Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
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