Two-time former champion Tommy Robredo was ousted from the Swedish Open by Spanish compatriot Albert Ramos in straight sets on Wednesday.
Fourth-seeded Robredo could not even reach a break point against Ramos, who won 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov rallied to beat Italy’s Filippo Volandri 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Dimitrov also recovered from a set down in his first-round win against Swede Elias Ymer.
Photo: EPA
Argentines Juan Monaco and Carlos Berlocq earned slots in the quarter-finals after beating Henri Laaksonen and Blaz Kavcic respectively.
Top seeds Tomas Berdych and Nicolas Almagro were to enter the tournament yesterday.
MERCEDES CUP
AP, STUTTGART, Germany
German wild card Michael Berrer ousted 2009 champion Jeremy Chardy of France 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3 to reach the Mercedes Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The 153rd-ranked Berrer saved all four break points he faced against the third-seeded Chardy.
Berrer will next face Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, who rallied to beat the eighth-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 6-4.
Second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber beat qualifier and German compatriot Nils Langer 7-5, 6-2.
Another German, sixth-seeded Florian Mayer, was eliminated by Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 6-0. Monfils will next play Kohlschreiber.
ITALIACOM OPEN
AP, PALERMO, Sicily
Top-seeded Sara Errani beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova at the Italiacom Open again, this time to reach the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Errani won 6-3, 6-2, a year after beating Zahlavova Strycova in the final for her second Palermo title.
Errani will next face seventh-seeded Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain, who progressed after Croatian opponent Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired while trailing 6-2, 1-0.
Five-time winner Anabel Medina Garrigues was knocked out 6-1, 6-1 by Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany.
Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic also won her second-round match against local wild card Corinna Dentoni 7-5, 6-1.
In the only first-round match, third-seeded Kristina Mladenovic of France rescued six set points on her way to a 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Portuguese qualifier Maria Joao Koehler.
HALL OF FAME
AP, NEWPORT, Rhode Island
Two-time defending champion John Isner advanced to the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships quarter-finals by beating Adrian Mannarino of France 6-0, 7-6 (9/7) on Wednesday.
Isner served 13 aces in his 12th consecutive win on Newport’s grass courts.
HUNGARIAN GP
AP, BUDAPEST
Simona Halep of Romania eased into the Hungarian Grand Prix quarter-finals, defeating Hungarian wild card Agnes Bukta 6-1, 6-1 at the Romai Tennis Academy on Wednesday.
At No. 3, Halep is the highest seed left in the tournament and needed only 51 minutes to complete the second-round match.
Before Wimbledon she won her first WTA titles in Germany and the Netherlands.
She will face Hungary’s top female player, Timea Babos, who beat seventh-seeded Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Fourth-seeded Annika Beck of Germany defeated Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3.
Beck’s opponent in the quarter-finals will be Yvonne Meusburger of Austria, who rallied to upset fifth-seeded Johanna Larsson of Sweden 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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