Tobias Kamke of Germany defeated South Africa’s Izak van der Merwe 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the SAP Open on Monday, while John McEnroe made a brief return to play an exhibition doubles match, teaming with young American Jack Sock to beat Gael Monfils and Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-4 in a lighthearted match.
McEnroe showed the deft skill at the net that made him one of the game’s best doubles players ever in a match that included three players young enough to be his children.
“If you know some of the tricks of the trade, I don’t care,” he said. “I’m covering half the court. This is beautiful for me. I’m not saying I could go out and win things, but I’d be comfortable going against anybody right now playing doubles.”
McEnroe hit crisp volleys all match long, bringing back memories of his touring days when he won seven Grand Slam singles titles and 10 major doubles titles from 1977 to 1992.
ABN AMRO WORLD
AP, ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Paul-Henri Mathieu fought back from a set down on Monday to upset fourth seed Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the opening round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine also went out in the first round, losing 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Mathieu, ranked No. 733 in the world after missing the whole of last year with a knee injury, looked sharp in beating Lopez in a match that lasted nearly three hours.
“I worked hard during my injury and I think I am fit,” he said. “This is a good comeback.”
Another Frenchman, fifth seed Richard Gasquet, overcame an injured Flavio Cipolla to win his first-round match 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
After losing the first set, Cipolla easily took the second, but struggled in the decider with a left-thigh injury.
Jesse Huta Halung advanced to the second round at the expense of two-time Rotterdam finalist Ivan Ljubicic. The Dutchman won 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 against the 2005 and 2007 runner-up to secure his first ever win at the tournament.
He next meets the winner of Thiemo de Bakker’s match against seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki.
BRAZIL OPEN
AP, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Seventh-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain lost to Filippo Volandri of Italy in the first round of the Brazil Open on Monday.
Volandri needed 65 minutes to defeat the 51st-ranked Montanes in Sao Paulo, converting four of his seven break points to advance to the second round.
Earlier, wild-card Javier Marti of Spain defeated 2009 semi-finalist Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-4, while Brazil’s Ricardo Mello beat Pere Riba of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in the late match.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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