Andy Murray’s title defense at the ATP Rogers Cup collapsed on Tuesday as the off-form Scot was crushed 6-3, 6-1 in his opening match by South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
The two-time defending champion was bundled out in 69 minutes in his second-round start.
While Murray’s Montreal campaign ended abruptly, top-seeded Novak Djokovic could not even get his going as rain rolled into the city in the early evening and eventually forced the postponement of Djokovic’s scheduled second-round opener against Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
Photo: Reuters
More poor weather was predicted for the area yesterday, when second-seed Rafael Nadal and two-time Canadian winner Roger Federer were both due on court for their first matches in the US Open tuneup.
Djokovic was to play his first match as a reigning world No. 1.
He has ascended the rankings summit with a stellar season in which he boasts a 48-1 win-loss record with eight titles.
Photo: Reuters
He and former top-five regular Davydenko have not played since 2009.
Djokovic won the Canadian trophy in 2007 and has never lost in Canada prior to the quarter-finals with a 12- record in the country. Before the storms rolled in, Frenchman Richard Gasquet produced a repeat of his Davis Cup victory last month over Florian Mayer as he defeated the German 6-3, 6-2.
A month ago, the 10th-seeded Gasquet won their Davis Cup encounter in Stuttgart after the 23rd-ranked Mayer served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set.
Germany’s Philipp Petzschner defeated French ninth-seed Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-2, while Michael Llodra of France notched an upset victory over Russian 11th-seed Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
Murray, who had hoped to start his summer after several weeks of grueling preparation in Miami, remained baffled by his failure to fire when it mattered against Anderson.
“I just felt very slow, the game seemed to be going so fast,” Murray said. “It’s happened to me already once this year.”
“I’ve trained really hard to get ready for the tournament. I’ve always played very well here,” he said. “Today I couldn’t get anything going. I started both sets really, really badly which doesn’t help against someone that serves like Kevin. I was down a break early. I didn’t get anything going at all.”
WOMEN’S SINGLES
AFP, TORONTO
Kim Clijsters’ US Open title defense is in doubt after she pulled out of the WTA Rogers Cup tournament on Tuesday with a stomach muscle injury.
Clijsters was leading 6-3, 1-2 in her second-round match against China’s Zheng Jie when she hit a forehand, shook her head and departed.
It was another setback for the Australian Open champion from Belgium, who injured her right ankle in April and then pulled out of -tournaments in Rome and Madrid with right shoulder and wrist injuries.
Clijsters said she still hoped to defend her title at the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season that starts on Aug. 29 in New York.
“I still have a few weeks till [the US Open] and we’ll try to do everything to be ready,” said Clijsters, who delivered an unusual six double faults before calling it a day after 54 minutes on court.
“During the match it just felt like it went worse,” Clijsters said. “I already had an ultrasound here on site and I have a partial tear in my left stomach muscle and a little bit of blood.”
Unseeded Serena Williams continued her own injury comeback in emphatic style, crushing Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-0, 6-3 to book a second-round berth.
The American lost just four points as she won the first set in 16 minutes.
And after Bondarenko kept it on serve to reach 3-3 in the second, Williams again hit high gear, winning three games to secure the victory.
Williams is rebuilding a ranking that plummeted after she was sidelined by injury and illness for 11 months. The American has already shown she will be a force to be -reckoned with, capturing the hardcourt title in Stanford two weeks ago.
However, despite the ease of her victory, she stopped short of saying she is Grand Slam-ready.
“I would hate to be Grand Slam-ready right now, seeing as how the US Open is not right now, so I’ll try to peak at the right time,” Williams said. “I want to get better on a few things. I definitely want to try and continue to do more and play harder.”
Top-seeded Carolina Wozniacki of Denmark was set to open her campaign yesterday with a second-round match against Italy’s Roberta Vinci, who won a first round 6-4, 6-2 victory over Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski booked a meeting with fifth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova after Australian Jelena Dokic retired with a right shoulder injury while trailing 0-2.
In other first-round matches, 11th-seeded Andrea Petkovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.
Poland’s 13th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-1, but 16th-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova had to retire against Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova while leading 3-1 in the third set because of a left abdominal strain.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,