Luis Horna upset defending champion Tommy Robredo 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the Swedish Open.
Robredo was the top-seeded player at the tournament.
Fourth-seeded Carlos Moya defeated Ivan Navarro Pastor 6-2, 6-4 in an all-Spanish matchup, while Nicolas Massu of Chile rallied to beat Evgeny Korolev of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
PHOTO: AFP
Second-seeded Vince Spadea beat fellow US player Justin Gimelstob 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Spadea, a 2005 Newport finalist, broke Gimelstob's serve in the final game of the first set. It's his sixth career appearance on the Hall of Fame's grass courts.
"I made a final here. I was up a break in the third set," he recalled of his loss to 2005 champion Greg Rusedski. "I feel like I'm owed something so I keep coming back."
In other opening-round play: Roko Karanusic ousted sixth-seeded Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-3; No. 8 seed Michael Berrer beat Chris Guccione 6-4, 7-6 (5); Wesley Moodie edged Thiago Alves 6-3, 6-4; and Frank Dancevic cruised past Kevin Kim, 6-3, 6-3.
Kristof Vliegen of Belgium extended Gaston Gaudio's woeful season by ousting the former champion 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4 in the opening round of the Swiss Open on Monday.
Vliegen lost to Gaudio in the same round in straight sets four years ago in Gstaad, but Gaudio was no longer in the same form which would win him the French Open the following year, and the Swiss Open in 2005. A top-10 player then, the Argentine was ranked 103 now.
Gaudio, whose record fell to 6-13 for the year, had momentum when he won the second set tiebreaker, but an hour-long rain delay allowed Vliegen to refocus.
The loss marked Gaudio's earliest exit in seven appearances in Gstaad. Beside the 2005 title, he was also once a runner-up and twice a semi-finalist.
Former tennis world No. 1 Kim Clijsters is pregnant with her first child, Belgian sports Web site www.sport.be reported yesterday.
The Web site features a blog by Clijsters' father.
"If everything goes well, then Kim will become a mother next year and me a grandfather. Yippee," said Leo Clijsters, a former soccer star.
"Babysitting, changing pampers. All of which is no problem as long as I don't have to breastfeed," he said.
The 24-year-old tennis player, who had been blighted by injuries, quit in May to focus on her private life, including her forthcoming wedding to US basketball player Brian Lynch, but tennis fans had been eagerly awaiting a comeback.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
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