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.
Two people died on Thursday after fans and police clashed outside the Estadio Monumental in Santiago ahead of a game in South America’s Copa Libertadores, Chilean authorities said. The fatalities happened shortly before the match between Chile’s Colo-Colo and Brazilian club Fortaleza, when police blocked about 100 fans when they attempted to enter the stadium. There were conflicting accounts of how the fatalities occurred, with local media reporting that one of the dead was a 13-year-old boy. The other victim was an 18-year-old woman, according to a relative at the hospital where she was treated. The fans died after being caught underneath a
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Japan yesterday secured a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance with a 2-1 win over 2023 champions Canada, thanks to Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama’s 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win over Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino in the qualifying doubles decider. Shibahara and Aoyama powered through the opening set 6-3, breaking twice for a quick 3-0 lead. Cross and Marino hit back in the second, edging it 7-5 to level the match, before the Japanese pair regained control in the third. Canada’s 18-year-old Victoria Mboko edged Shibahara 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a marathon opening clash. Mboko fired eight aces to
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