Nikolay Davydenko survived a brief second-set scare before winning 6-3, 6-3 against Jan Hernych to reach the second round of the Rotterdam Open on Tuesday.
World No. 4 Davydenko, playing for the first time since the Davis Cup earlier this month, dropped serve early in the second set against the Czech journeyman playing at the ATP level for the first time since last summer.
The Russian squared the set with a break-back of the No. 164 for 3-all then blasted through the last three games for victory in 78 minutes with four breaks of serve.
The win puts Davydenko into a contest against Michael Llodra, one of three Frenchmen to go through on the day.
That result helped wrap up the career of Raemon Sluiter, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) with the Dutchman now retiring after playing his last match.
Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez both fell victim to French players, with Nicolas Mahut springing a surprise on Robredo 7-5, 6-4 and Gilles Simon stopping Lopez 6-3, 6-4.
Blake breezes past Warburg
Second seed James Blake breezed past fellow American Sam Warburg 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the ATP US$436,000 SAP Open on Tuesday.
The ninth-ranked player in the world bounced back and made short work of Warburg, dispatching him in 55 minutes.
Blake advances to face fellow American Jesse Levine in the next round.
A wild card, Levine posted a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Steve Darcis of Belgium on Monday.
In the final night match, Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun outlasted hard-serving Max Mirnyi 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-2 in a two hour, 34 minute marathon.
Blake is trying to erase memories of Sunday's shocking loss to Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori in the final of the Delray Beach tournament in Florida.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
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