The US, last year’s runners-up, edged past Sweden 2-1 in their opening group match at the World Team Cup on Monday, with Mardy Fish and John Isner claiming the deciding doubles victory.
The US pair beat doubles specialists Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt 4-6, 7-6, 10-4 after twice French Open runner-up Robin Soderling had fought back from a set and 5-3 down to beat Sam Querrey 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 and level the match.
Isner had earlier put the US in the driving seat when he beat lowly-ranked teenager Christian Lindell 6-4, 6-1 at the team event.
Photo: EPA
Soderling found himself on the ropes against the powerful Querrey before hitting back.
Querrey, ranked 26th in the ATP rankings, matched Soderling’s hard-hitting baseline game blow for blow early on and snatched his only break at 5-5 before grabbing the first set with his 10th ace.
Another break early in the second set for the big-serving American sent him 5-3 up and looking in complete control before Soderling began to find his range.
The world No. 5 rattled off the next five games to level the match. Soderling missed his first match point at 5-3 in the decider, but carved out another one 20 minutes later to win after two hours and 25 minutes.
Hosts Germany completed what they started on Sunday, with world No. 21 Florian Mayer sending them 2-0 up against Serbia with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Viktor Troicki.
Mayer chased the frustrated Troicki across the court, hitting his trademark crosscourt running forehand to stretch the Serbian.
Another break put the 27-year-old German 5-2 up before another bad Troicki return gave the host nation their first win in the blue group.
OPEN DE NICE
AP, NICE, FRANCE
Victor Hanescu of Romania eased into the second round of the Open de Nice with a 6-0, 6-1 win over French qualifier Benoit Paire on Monday.
Hanescu, a semi-finalist in Casablanca last month, broke his opponent five times and saved the six break points he faced to close out the match in just 54 minutes. The Romanian will next meet fourth-seeded Andy Roddick of the US.
“I’m really happy that I won so easily, I don’t know what happened because he is a good player,” Hanescu said. “I came here to feel the court, to feel the balls. My goal is to play well here ahead of the French Open.”
Pere Riba advanced by beating Guillaume Ruffin of France 6-2, 6-2. The Spaniard, who dropped only five points on first serve, next plays fifth-seeded Alexandr Dogolpolov of Ukraine.
Pablo Andujar of Spain was leading 5-0 when Grigor Dimitrov retired ill and will next take on either sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis or Julien Benneteau. Andujar won his first ATP title in Casablanca.
Andujar was joined in the second round by Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-2, 7-6 (5) for his first victory on the ATP Tour since March.
Andreas Seppi of Italy rallied to beat French wild card Edouard Roger-Vasselin 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. His next opponent will be the top-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer.
STRASBOURG
AP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Rebecca Marino of Canada 7-6 (4), 6-3 to reach the second round of the Strasbourg International on Monday.
Petrova has struggled on clay so far this season and lost first round-matches both in Madrid and Rome.
Petrova next plays either Alize Cornet or Sania Mirza.
Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, the No. 5 and No. 6 seeded players respectively, also advanced.
Kirilenko easily beat last year’s finalist Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-2, 6-3 and will take on Laura Pous-Tio of Spain.
Hantuchova took advantage of Johanna Larsson’s weak serve and broke her four times in a 6-3, 6-4 win.
Seventh-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, Mathilde Johansson of France and Serbian Bojana Jovanovski also advanced.
Garrigues made light work of American Melanie Oudin 6-3, 6-1 to start her quest for a fourth title in Strasbourg, while Pous-Tio beat German Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2.
Johansson converted five of 11 break points to beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, 6-1, 6-1 in just 61 minutes and Jovanovski downed Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 7-6 (3), 6-3.
BRUSSELS OPEN
AP, BRUSSELS
Australia’s Casey Dellacqua beat fifth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 in the opening round of the Brussels Open on Monday.
On the first day of the clay court warm-up tournament for Roland Garros, Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic edged Ksenia Pervak of Russia 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson beat American Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (4), while another American, Varvara Lepchenko, beat home favorite An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later