Robin Soderling struggled to a patchy if encouraging victory on Wednesday to open play at the Estoril Open as Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a miserable debut at the clay court event.
Top seed Soderling was looking on the bright side after coasting in the first and last sets, but fighting for his life in the second to emerge with a 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1 defeat of France’s Jeremy Chardy.
Tsonga, like Soderling playing his first career match at the Estadio Nacionale, was much less successful as he went down quietly to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-2, 7-6 (7/0).
A third French player lost as Brazilian sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci defeated Eduard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Today the top seed takes on eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro after the Argentine continued his successful return to the surface after nearly two years, crushing Colombian Alejandro Fala, 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes without facing a break point.
In women’s play, the top three seeds reached the last eight, with No. 1 Alisa Kleybanova of Russia putting out Mathilde Johansson of France 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Second seed Jarmila Gajdosova won a battle with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua, playing for the first time on the WTA since Wimbledon due to injury, 6-2, 6-4. Czech No. 3 Klara Zakopalova came back against Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Sixth seed Elena Vesnina of Russia and No. 8 Hungarian Greta Arn were beaten.
SERBIA ATP OPEN
AFP, BELGRADE
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic reached a perfect 25-0 winning record this season with a second-round victory at the Serbia ATP Open, beating Romanian qualifier Adrian Ungur on Wednesday.
With his 25th victory Djokovic registered the best start to an ATP tour season since Ivan Lendl in 1986.
After beating Ungur 6-2, 6-3 in less than 70 minutes on the clay, the and local crowd favorite said: “I want to thank the audience for attending the game in pouring rain. The most beautiful thing is to play before a domestic audience.”
The 23-year-old Djokovic’s quarter-final opponent today will be Slovenian Blaz Kavcic. Djokovic said he had lost against Kavcic when he was 14.
“This is my chance for revenge,” Djokovic joked.
BARCELONA OPEN
AP, BARCELONA, SPAIN
Alexandra Dulgheru became the latest seed to exit the Barcelona Open when she was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Spanish qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela on Wednesday.
The 245th-ranked Cabeza Candela broke her second-seeded opponent seven times to set up a quarterfinal with Czech player Lucie Hradecka.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the
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