Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray moved into the third round of the Shanghai Masters with easy victories yesterday, but Andy Roddick was forced to pull out after suffering a thigh injury.
Roddick’s hopes of finishing inside the top 10 for the ninth straight season took a blow when he slipped while trying to change direction during his match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.
The 10th-seeded American had his right thigh taped, but he played only one more game before quitting while leading 6-3, 2-3.
“It was to the point where moving at all felt like I was getting stabbed in the leg,” 11th-ranked Roddick said.
Roddick has been trying to regain his form after struggling with a mild case of mononucleosis over the summer and suffering disappointing losses at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, causing him to drop out of the top 10.
Second-seeded Djokovic of Serbia defeated Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-3 just two days after winning the rain-delayed final of the China Open in Beijing, while Britain’s Murray, the fourth seed, defeated 465th-ranked Chinese wild-card Bai Yan 6-2, 6-2.
Roger Federer opened his campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over big-serving John Isner of the US, while top-seeded Rafael Nadal downed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4.
Djokovic next faces France’s Richard Gasquet, who upset 15th-seeded countryman Gael Monfils 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Murray broke his opponent five times, but also dropped serve once himself on his way to victory over Bai, who won his first ATP Tour-level match on Tuesday when he upset 30th-ranked Radek Stepanek in straight sets.
Also yesterday, fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 13th-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria saw off Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) and Sam Querrey of the US defeated Germany’s Michael Berrer 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in a match that was postponed on Tuesday because of rain.
Marin Cilic, the 14th seed from Croatia, was upset by Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-2, 6-2. Seppi later knocked out Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
JAPAN WOMEN’S OPEN
AFP, OSAKA, JAPAN
Defending champion Samantha Stosur fired eight aces to beat Japan’s Junri Namigata and reach the quarter-finals at the Japan Women’s Open yesterday.
The 26-year-old Australian, who claimed her first career WTA title a year ago in Osaka, never faced a single break-point against her while breaking five games to score a 6-0, 6-3 victory.
In the quarter-finals, she will play either four-time former champion Kimiko Date Krumm or Aiko Nakamura, both from Japan, who play each other today.
Second seed Marion Bartoli of France, the 2006 champion, joined Stosur in the quarter-finals with an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory over Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, but fourth seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia abandoned the match when she lost the first set 6-4 to Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen.
Chang, 19, who caused a sensation a year ago in Tokyo by upsetting then-world No. 1 Dinara Safina of Russia, will now play veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, the 2001 runner-up Tamarine, who won the doubles title with Maria Sharapova in 2003, came back from one set and 1-3 down to beat Coco Vandeweghe of the US 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in more than three hours.
GENERALI LADIES
AP, LINZ, AUSTRIA
Third-seeded Alona Bondarenko and fourth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova both lost their opening matches in straight sets on Tuesday at the Generali Ladies.
Bondarenko of Ukraine was routed 6-2, 6-2 by Roberta Vinci of Italy, while Cibulkova of Slovakia was upset 6-2, 6-4 by qualifier Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.
Bondarenko, ranked 34th and a two-time winner on the WTA circuit, lost her serve six times against Vinci.
The 32nd-ranked Cibulkova, who reached the US Open quarter-finals last month, dropped serve four times and faced eight more break-points.
Daniilidou next plays Sybille Bammer of Austria, who beat Anna Chakvetadze 7-5, 6-0.
The Russian former No. 5, who won her eighth career title in Slovenia in July, missed two set-points at 5-4 and did not win a game afterwards. She failed to convert eight of 10 break-point chances and won just six points on her serve in the second set.
In other first-round matches, ninth-seeded Sara Errani defeated Sesil Karatantcheva 6-2, 6-2, while Czech qualifier Renata Voracova beat Alize Cornet of France 6-1, 6-3.
Germany’s Julia Goerges, who won her first WTA title in nearby Bad Gastein in July, beat Polona Hercog 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder eased past Gisela Dulko 6-2, 6-3.
Carla Suarez Navarro defeated fellow Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-3 and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic rallied to beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Mathys Tel was hero and villain as Tottenham drew 1-1 at home to Leeds United on Monday — a result that leaves their English Premier League future hanging in the balance. The Frenchman broke the deadlock early in the second half to ease the tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but then gave away a penalty with a reckless attempted clearance. In the dying minutes, Spurs were grateful to Antonin Kinsky, who produced an astonishing save to deny the visitors a win. Tottenham are now two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham United with just two games left this season. The
Houston Astros right-hander Teng Kai-wei, the only active Taiwanese pitcher in MLB, on Sunday suffered his third loss of the season, throwing a season-high 63 pitches in his second start of the year. Teng allowed three earned runs over three innings on five hits in the Astros’ 5-0 road loss to the Cincinnati Reds. He struck out one, walked one, and hit one batter among the 15 hitters he faced, raising his earned run average to 3.12. It was the Astros’ second attempt to use the 27-year-old Taiwanese as a starter, after he had established himself as a reliable bullpen
‘DONE IT ALL’: LeBron James is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season as a free agent with uncertainty swirling around his future LeBron James on Monday said he would take time to consider his future after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder in what could turn out to be the final game of his career. James, 41, delivered a typically defiant performance with 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Lakers from falling 115-110 as the Thunder completed a 4-0 sweep in the Western Conference semi-finals series. The four-time NBA champion is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season
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