Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France began the defense of his Moselle Open title with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win against fellow countryman Clement Reix in the second round on Wednesday.
Tsonga hit six aces and saved all three break-point chances he faced, which all came in the second set. He is set to face either Jesse Levine of the US or Michael Berrer of Germany in the quarter-finals.
Fourth seed Florian Mayer of Germany also advanced to the last eight after beating James Blake 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-4.
Mayer broke the American in the ninth game of the decider and served out for the victory. He next meets fifth seed Andreas Seppi of Italy or Frenchman Vincent Millot.
Seppi reached the second round with a 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-4 victory against Ivan Dodig of Croatia in a scrappy match in which there were 14 breaks of serve.
In other first-round matches, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg beat Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Frenchman Nicolas Mahut topped Daniel Brands of Germany 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/4); Levine beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-3, 6-2; and Berrer advanced when Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic retired while he was trailing 6-4, 2-0.
ST PETERSBURG OPEN
AP, ST PETERSBURG, Russia
Second seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan was eliminated in the first round of the St Petersburg Open, losing to Lukasz Kubot of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.
After losing the first set, Kubot changed tactics and jumped out to a decisive 4-0 lead in the second. A break in the opening game of the decider was ultimately enough to win the match.
“It was a tough match,” Kubot said. “I tried to play aggressive tennis, but made a lot of mistakes in the first set. I changed my tactics in the second set and it paid off.”
Third seed Martin Klizan of Slovakia advanced by beating Russian wild-card Mikhail Elgin 6-4, 6-3, while eighth seed Jurgen Zopp of Estonia went through when Russian qualifier Andrey Kumantsov retired because of dizziness when trailing 6-3, 5-3.
Zopp is set to face Ricardas Berankic of Lithuania, who led 6-2, 3-3 when Philipp Petzschner of Germany retired because of a right-knee injury.
Igor Andreev of Russia was scheduled to face Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, but withdrew because of a right-shoulder injury.
On Friday, Andreev retired because of the injury in the second set of the opening singles match against Brazil in the Davis Cup.
Stakhovsky, the 2009 champion, beat Russian lucky loser Ivan Nedelko 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 and next faces fourth seed Fabio Fognini. The Italian saved eight of 10 break points to come from behind and beat Tobias Kamke of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Also in first-round action, Simone Bolelli of Italy beat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, while Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi rallied past Belarussian qualifier Sergey Betov 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. Russian wild-card Teimuraz Gabashvili never faced a break in beating qualifier Nikolai Fidirko 6-2, 6-0.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
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