Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was ousted in the first round of the Qatar Open by Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Kuznetsova, two days after losing the final in nearby Dubai to new No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, looked a shadow of herself and appeared to struggle with a foot problem for which she received courtside treatment in the second set.
The eighth-seeded Peer broke the Russian six times, sending Kuznetsova out of the Doha first round for the first time. She was runner-up in 2004 and 2007.
Photo: EPA
Victoria Azarenka’s poor start to the year was extended when she lost to Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Azarenka, ranked ninth, has only one quarter-final appearance in four tournaments this year.
The other seed in action, No. 5 Jelena Jankovic, handled Oman wild card Fatma al-Nabhani 6-1, 6-3.
Photo: AFP
Kaia Kanepi of Estonia withdrew because of a fever, leaving Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai to beat Swiss lucky loser Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-2. Other winners included Flavia Pennetta of Italy, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, qualifier Vera Dushevina of Russia, and another lucky loser, Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.
DELRAY BEACH
AP, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Second-seeded Mardy Fish of the US advanced to the second round of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Tuesday when German Bjorn Phau retired from their first-round match while trailing 0-5.
Fish, who won the Delray Beach title in 2009, took 20 of 26 points in the 20 minutes he spent on court. Fish was also a finalist at the tournament in 2003.
“I’ve been out here long enough to know not to take these kinds of matches for granted and move on,” said Fish, who has been battling thyroid illness since November. “Lord knows, I haven’t been feeling the best the past couple of months.”
Kei Nishikori of Japan, who won his only career title here in 2008, beat Brian Dabul of Argentina 6-2, 7-6 (5). Nishikori, returning from elbow surgery in August 2009, will play James Blake in the second round.
Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, working his way back onto the tour after right wrist surgery last year, had a 6-4, 6-1 first round win over Richard Berankis of Lithuania.
Six players from the scheduled main draw have come down with flu-like symptoms.
Top seed Andy Roddick pulled out of the event on Monday. Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic withdrew over the weekend. American Ryan Harrison was sick on court and lost his match on Monday.
On Tuesday, Phau and Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic abandoned matches feeling sick, and Michel Przysiezny of Poland never made it to the court.
MEXICAN OPEN
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain was knocked out in the first round of the Mexican Open, losing 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday.
Verdasco was bundled out in the first round of the RMK Championships in Memphis last week by Milos Raonic, who beat him in the SAP Open title the previous week.
Bellucci converted 75 percent of his break points and won 70 percent of his service points to beat Verdasco in just over two hours late on Tuesday.
Earlier, third-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain took a confident step toward his third straight title with an easy 6-3, 6-2 win over Victor Hanescu of Romania.
Almagro won the Copa Claro on Sunday in Buenos Aires and the Brazil Open the week before — both on clay, the surface in Mexico.
Fourth-seeded Stanislas Wa-wrinka of Switzerland also got off to a winning start, defeating Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in the joint ATP and WTA event in Mexico’s Pacific coastal resort.
Defending champion and top-seeded David Ferrer reached the second round on Monday.
Fifth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain defeated countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-1, and seventh-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina moved on to the second round after defeating countryman Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 7-6 (3).
There was bad news for No. 8 Juan Ignacio Chela, who retired in the second set against fellow Argentine Eduardo Schwank with the scores at 3-6, 6-5.
On the women’s side, Loudres Dominguez Lino of Spain eliminated second-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. No. 5 Simona Halep of Romania also bowed out, with Laura Pous-Tio of Spain winning 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
No. 3 Greta Arn of Hungary defeated Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania 6-4, 6-4, and No. 4 Gisela Dulko of Argentina advanced against Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-1. No. 7-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain downed Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier