Top-seeded John Isner rode his big serve into the quarter-finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, beating Arnaud Clement 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the second round.
The 2m Isner closed out the match on Wednesday with his 11th ace and won 80 percent of his first-serve points.
Isner entered the tournament when defending champion Mardy Fish withdrew because he was selected for the US Davis Cup team. The 26-year old Isner will face Alex Bogomolov in an all-American semi-final.
Isner took control when he broke Clement in the seventh game of the second set, grabbing a 4-3 lead when Clement double-faulted on the final point.
Knowing he has an overpowering serve, Isner felt he was in a great position in the match. It was like the first set, but this time he made sure he didn’t waste it.
Isner broke to go up 4-3 in the first set, but Clement rallied to win the next two games. They played under slightly cool and breezy conditions, with light fog rolling in at times to block sunshine that was peaking out — a stark contrast to the sunny, hot, humid conditions Isner faced in his first match a day earlier.
Budapest Grand Prix
AP, BUDAPEST
Third-seeded Klara Zakopalova defeated Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 7-5, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the Budapest Grand Prix on Wednesday.
The Czech will next play Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, who defeated compatriot Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-2.
No. 5 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain also advanced, beating Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-2, 7-5. The match was moved to another court at 3-all in the second set because Medina Garrigues was unhappy with the clay playing surface.
In other second-round results, seventh-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania beat Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-4, and Slovakia’s Zuzana Kucova downed Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-1.
Swedish Open
AP, BASTAD, Sweden
Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki retired from her second-round match at the Swedish Open against local favorite Sofia Arvidsson on Wednesday because of a shoulder injury.
The Dane won the first set 6-2 and lost the opening game of the second when she was forced to quit.
Second-ranked Flavia Pennetta also advanced after defeating Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 6-3. The Italian will face seventh-ranked Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
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