Andy Roddick’s right shoulder survived a bruising examination by Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on Tuesday as the American opened his grass-court season with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 victory in the second round at Queen’s Club.
The three-time Wimbledon -runner-up watched 35 aces whistle past his racket, but finally broke Lopez’s wickedly sliding, left-handed serve in the last game of the match to move into the third round of the tournament he has won four times.
Roddick, always popular with the London crowds for his all-action style, was joined in the third round by Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-2 despite needing treatment after tumbling on the slick grass.
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion whose career has been stalled by wrist and hip injuries, had a bandage wrapped around his left thigh, but said it was nothing serious.
Defending champion Sam Querrey reached the third round, beating German veteran Rainer Schuettler 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, and will face British wildcard James Ward, who produced the shock of the day to dispose of Swiss fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 6-3.
HALLE OPEN
REUTERS, HALLE, GERMANY
Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych survived a major first-round scare at the Halle Open on Tuesday, saving three match points to struggle past 169th ranked Belgian Ruben Bemelmans 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.
World No. 7 Berdych, who won the German grass-court tournament in 2007 and is the highest ranked player left in the draw after the withdrawal of Roger Federer, was made to work hard against the 23-year-old at the Wimbledon warm-up event.
Bemelmans carved out three match points in the second set tiebreak, but Berdych held firm, first firing a winner that bounced just in, then hitting a volley before grinding out a baseline rally to stay in the match and win it in the third set.
World No. 8 Gael Monfils had far less trouble against fellow Frenchman Florent Serra, easing into the second round with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Former world No. 2 Tommy Haas ran out of steam in his ongoing comeback, losing to Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.
The loss of fan favorite Haas was more bad news for the organizers, who on Tuesday said they were “shocked and disappointed” that five-time Halle champion Federer pulled out at the last minute on Monday, a day after losing to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.
“Everything had been prepared for him. From a private jet to a nanny, we had everything prepared for him,” tournament director Ralf Weber said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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