James Blake of the US was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi in the first round of the Rome Masters, where play was curtailed by rain and wind on Monday.
The 14th seed fought back to 5-5 after losing the first five games of the match, but he failed to force a tiebreak by dropping serve in the final game of the first set.
Blake briefly perked up again, but then appeared to lose heart after relinquishing a 2-0 lead in the second set and 26-year-old Crivoi sealed the match with a sweet drop volley at the net.
Last year’s runner-up Stanislas Wawrinka overcame a few concentration lapses to move into the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Igor Kunitsyn.
The 10th-seeded Swiss broke the Russian in the eighth game and then produced some big serves to hold the first set after conceding three break points with wild shots and a double fault.
Wawrinka eased to victory despite losing serve in the fourth game of the second set.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who has a bye to the second round along with the other top seeds, will start his title defense against Albert Montanes. The Spaniard beat Italian wildcard Potito Starace 7-6, 6-4.
World No. 2 Roger Federer, yet to win a title this year, will begin his campaign against Croat Ivo Karlovic.
British fourth seed Andy Murray will face Juan Monaco after the Argentine qualifier swept aside German Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-3.
Former world No. 1 Marat Safin’s match against Spanish 13th seed Tommy Robredo was one of the encounters pushed into yesterday’s schedule by the weather.
■STUTTGART GRAND PRIX
REUTERS, STUTTGART, GERMANY
World No. 8 Victoria Azarenka eased past Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-4 with a dazzling display of power and accuracy to move into the second round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix on Monday.
The 19-year-old Belarussian, who stormed into the top 10 with her first tier I tournament win in Miami earlier this month, broke her opponent in the first game.
With a massive backhand, Azarenka chased the 24th-ranked Spaniard across the indoor clay court, whipping winners at will and clinching the first set 6-1.
Suarez Navarro broke her opponent in the first game of the second set and came back to level 4-4 but Azarenka, accompanying each effort with a high-pitched shriek, sealed her win with her first match point when the Spaniard fired a forehand long.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina was to open her campaign yesterday against Italian Sara Errani.
Russian Olympic champion Elena Dementieva, the world No. 3, takes on wildcard entrant German Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS