Roger Federer picked up where he left off seven years ago at the Rotterdam Open, as the 2005 champion won 13 of the final 14 points in a 6-4, 6-4 sweep of Nicolas Mahut on Wednesday.
The world No. 3 and top seed then got an unexpected bonus as his scheduled second round opponent, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, withdrew with a foot problem sending the Swiss straight into the quarter-finals today and a date with Jarkko Nieminen.
The other two leading seeds joined Federer in advancing.
Tomas Berdych overpowered his Czech Davis Cup teammate Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-2 to start his campaign with a win.
Third seed Juan Martin del Potro made a winning debut as he played the event for the first time and put out 2008 champion Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4.
In other first round results, Marcos Baghdatis beat German Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, while Russian Alex Bogomolov advanced as Sergiy Stakhovsky quit injured trailing 6-3, 0-1.
Slovak Karol Beck beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, while Finn Nieminen was first into the quarters with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/2) defeat of Pole Lukasz Kubot.
SAP OPEN
AP, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
The SAP Open lost its top seed Gael Monfils to injury on Wednesday and almost its No. 2 as well before Andy Roddick struggled past American compatriot Dennis Kudla 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the second round.
Ryan Harrison advanced to the second round by upsetting eighth-seeded Olivier Rochus of Belgium 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The 19-year-old American rallied past Rochus from 3-1 down in the third set to win the final five games.
BRAZIL OPEN
AP, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain lost to Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 in the first round of the Brazil Open on Wednesday.
In the late match, fourth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci defeated countryman Ricardo Mello 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round.
Earlier on Wednesday, eighth-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain ousted Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3, 6-4, capitalizing on his two break opportunities in the second set to beat the Colombian for the first time in three matches.
David Nalbandian of Argentina defeated Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
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