Tennis News

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EASY FOR SAFINA


Top seed Dinara Safina and defending champion Sara Errani raced into the semi-finals of the Banka Koper Slovenia Open.

World number one Safina, making her first tournament appearance since winning only one game in her Wimbledon semi-final defeat by Venus Williams, eased past Maria Elena Camerin 6-3 6-0 in Portoroz.

Italy's Errani, the fifth seed, was also an easy winner as she ended the run of Croatian wild card Petra Martic 6-1 6-1.

Errani next faces Stefanie Voegele, who defeated Rossana De Los Rios 6-1 6-1, while Alberta Brianti saw off Camille Pin 6-3 6-2 to set up a meeting with Safina in the last four.

 

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DAVYDENKO INTO SEMIS


Nikolay Davydenko overcame a stern challenge from Romania's Victor Hanescu to reach the semi-finals of the International German Open in Hamburg.

The Russian second seed, who is bidding for a first title of the season, came through a deciding set to defeat 11th seed Hanescu 6-3 4-6 6-3.

Davydenko will face sixth seed David Ferrer in the last four after the Spaniard eased past German wild card Simon Greul 6-2 6-3.

Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas claimed his third seeded scalp of the tournament, this time upsetting 14th seed Nicolas Almagro 6-2 6-4 to move within one win of a first ATP Tour final appearance.

The world number 107 will again be the underdog in the last four when he takes on France's 13th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, who was leading 3-0 when quarter-final opponent Victor Troicki retired.

 

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TURSUNOV BEATEN


Dmitry Tursunov saw his run at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships halted at the quarter-final stage by Frank Dancevic.

The top seed had been aiming to reach his third successive final at the tournament, which he won in 2007 at the expense of Dancevic, and things looked promising when the Russian took the opening set.

But Dancevic hit back to claim a 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 victory, his first win over Tursunov in four career meetings.

The Canadian will now face third seed Sam Querrey in the last four. The American overcame seventh-seeded Frenchman Marc Giquel 6-4 7-5.

Qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr saw his challenge ended by American compatriot Robby Ginepri, who recorded a 7-5 6-1 victory.

John Isner completed the semi-final line-up with his hard-fought 7-5 6-7 (2/7) 7-5 win over Wayne Odesnik.

 

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TURSUNOV BEATEN



Dmitry Tursunov saw his run at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships halted at the quarter-final stage by Frank Dancevic.

The top seed had been aiming to reach his third successive final at the tournament, which he won in 2007 at the expense of Dancevic, and things looked promising when the Russian took the opening set.

But Dancevic hit back to claim a 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 victory, his first win over Tursunov in four career meetings.

The Canadian will now face third seed Sam Querrey in the last four. The American overcame seventh-seeded Frenchman Marc Giquel 6-4 7-5.

Qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr saw his challenge ended by American compatriot Robby Ginepri, who recorded a 7-5 6-1 victory.

John Isner completed the semi-final line-up with his hard-fought 7-5 6-7 (2/7) 7-5 win over Wayne Odesnik.

 

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OLARU TO FACE PETKOVIC

Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru will take on Germany's Andrea Petkovic in the final of the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies event in Austria after beating top seed Alize Cornet of France.

Olaru defeated Cornet, ranked 28th in the world, 3-6 7-5 6-3 in Saturday's semi-finals to reach her first WTA Tour showpiece.

Petkovic will also contest her first final on the elite circuit after a comfortable 6-2 6-1 win over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.

 

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FIRST FINAL FOR DAVYDENKO

Nikolay Davydenko reached his first final of an injury-hit season with a 7-5 7-6 (7/2) victory over David Ferrer at the International German Open in Hamburg.

The Russian second seed fought back from 5-2 down in the opening set with five straight games and then edged a close second set to see off the sixth seed.

Davydenko, whose last title came in Warsaw last June, missed three months of the season with a heel injury.

The world number 12 will face Paul-Henri Mathieu in Sunday's final after he fought back from a set and a break down to beat qualifier Pablo Cuevas 4-6 6-3 7-5.

The Uruguayan had beaten three seeds to reach the last four and recovered from 2-5 down in the decider to level at 5-5 only for 13th seed Mathieu to pull away again.

The Frenchman last reached a ATP Tour final in Metz last year, when he lost to Dmitry Tursunov, and he said: "It's a good week so far but for sure you want to win when you are in the final."

 

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FIRST FINAL FOR DAVYDENKO


Nikolay Davydenko reached his first final of an injury-hit season with a 7-5 7-6 (7/2) victory over David Ferrer at the International German Open in Hamburg.

The Russian second seed fought back from 5-2 down in the opening set with five straight games and then edged a close second set to see off the sixth seed.

Davydenko, whose last title came in Warsaw last June, missed three months of the season with a heel injury.

The world number 12 will face Paul-Henri Mathieu in Sunday's final after he fought back from a set and a break down to beat qualifier Pablo Cuevas 4-6 6-3 7-5.

The Uruguayan had beaten three seeds to reach the last four and recovered from 2-5 down in the decider to level at 5-5 only for 13th seed Mathieu to pull away again.

The Frenchman last reached a ATP Tour final in Metz last year, when he lost to Dmitry Tursunov, and he said: "It's a good week so far but for sure you want to win when you are in the final."

 

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DEFEAT FOR O'BRIEN

British player Katie O'Brien fell at the first hurdle at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open on Monday with a 6-4 6-4 defeat to Lucie Safarova.

The Czech wrapped up victory in one hour 21 minutes against the 23-year-old from East Yorkshire.

O'Brien is the British number two behind Anne Keothavong.

 

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IS THE DOPING STANCE SOFTENING?


Last week's decision to allow Richard Gasquet to resume his career has, predictably, proved controversial.

Despite testing positive for coacine back in March, the Frenchman is free to play again after just two and a half months on the sidelines.

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency code, to which tennis is signed up, the penalty for such a first-time doping offence is a two-year ban.

Yet Gasquet and his legal team successfully argued to reduce the suspension - and immediately sparked an argument about the principle of 'strict liability' at the centre of the WADA code.

Essentially strict liability is a hardline rule which says if you are found with substance X in your body, you alone are responsible - and you'll be banned for two years if it's your first offence. A second offence and it's life.

But the Gasquet verdict is just the latest in a line of decisions which suggest the hardline stance in the doping fight is gradually being softened - and one which will rile those who back what others would describe as harsh penalties.

In the Gasquet case, it appears a more liberal view was taken, as opposed to a harsher, right-wing one.

In it, Gasquet said he had been contaminated by kissing a woman at a nightclub. Despite there being no direct evidence, the independent anti-doping panel which ruled on his case accepted that explanation. The quantity of the drug involved was found to be as small as a grain of salt.

Personally it seems harsh in the extreme to even suggest a player should be banned for two years as a result of this, yet I also see the argument for strict liability.

However, the panel did rule that Gasquet "was at fault in exposing himself to the risk of such contamination". Crucially, though, this fault was "not significant", it said.

This allowed the panel to reduce the ban from two years to one. However, it went further by saying the case had "exceptional" circumstances.

Quoting a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport - sport's highest court - regarding another tennis player, Mariano Puerta, which said "any sanction must be just and proportionate", the panel cut the ban again.

Puerta, it should be remembered, was initially banned for eight years (it was his second drug offence) after accidentally drinking what turned out to be his wife's medication. CAS later reduced the ban to two years.

The Gasquet panel said: "We accept the player's submission that if we were to impose a one-year period of ineligibility, applying the rules rigidly, we would be penalising a person whom the rule was not intended to catch.

"Standing back and looking at the totality of the evidence, we have reached the conclusion that a very serious injustice and infringement of the player's right to practise his profession would be done if we were to impose a one-year period of ineligibilty."

Instead, the panel immediately ended Gasquet's provisional suspension, meaning he had served a ban of two months and 15 days. He can now play again.

The game's governing body, the International Tennis Federation, was not happy.

It had wanted a harsher penalty imposed, saying the panel risked "opening the floodgates" in the doping battle and could destroy the 'strict liability' principle.

However, the panel, made up of a leading lawyer and two medical experts, did not agree.

Quoting the CAS ruling on Puerta which rejected the notion that "it is necessary for there to be undeserving victims in the war against doping", the Gasquet panel added: "We do not accept the ITF's contention that by declining to ban the player for one year in this case, we would be undermining the integrity of the (ITF's anti-doping) Programme, 'opening the floodgates' for others or destroying the principle of strict liabilty which underpins the (WADA) Code.

"We are not exercising a discretion to disapply the provisions of the Programme. We are fulfillng our obligation to apply 'the overarching principle of justice and proportionality on which all systems of law, and the WADC itself, is based' (another example of case law which came from the Puerta ruling)."

The athlete Justin Gatlin is another to have used the "exceptional circumstances" argument to reduce a doping ban and you can bet Gasquet will not be the last sporting figure to do so.

Just as sentences in a criminal court split people down the middle, so it is in sport's fight against drugs.

Which view is correct will, as always, remain subjective.

# The Gasquet ruling, and indeed other doping panel decisions in tennis, are published in full on the ITF's website and make for an interesting read.

We'd like your views on the Gasquet verdict. Has justice been served, as the player himself says? Or should the strict liability rule be enforced more rigorously? Email your feedback to: [email protected].

 

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SODERLING BOOSTED BY HOME SUCCESS

Robin Soderling said after his surprise appearance in the French Open final that he would use his form at Roland Garros as a platform from which to move on to try to crack the world top 10.

And so far the lanky Swede is keeping his word after winning a particularly welcome first title of the season at the historic Catella Swedish Open in Bastad this week.

For Soderling, who grew watching the tournament and dreaming of one day gracing its Centre Court, his gutsy 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Juan Monaco was the biggest achievement of his career to date.

Soderling said: "I dreamed about it my whole life and I would not change it for anything. I dreamed of winning this tournament since I came to Bastad as a junior. Now my confidence is high for other tournaments."

Soderling, coached by Magnus Norman, the last Swede to win the Bastad title in 2000, has long been marked out as a talent to watch but his career has been hampered by inconsistency.

In the immediate aftermath of his defeat to Roger Federer in France, he said he hoped his run to the final in Paris - which included his historic win over supposedly invincible reigning champion Rafael Nadal - would banish a few demons.

"I have always known that when I play my best tennis I can beat anybody," said Soderling. "I showed that in Roland Garros that I can beat a lot of good players in a row. This is good for my confidence."

At Wimbledon, Soderling again showed his improvement by reaching the fourth round, where once again he ran into Federer, who polished him off in straight sets, but only after two tight tie-breaks.

Now up to number 11 in the world after his triumph in Bastad, the highest of his career to date, Soderling's recent success has firmly convinced him he has what it takes to pursue Grand Slam glory.

Soderling added: "I had a great tournament in Bastad. I had the best two weeks of my career so far. I've always believed in myself. But for sure, this will give me a lot more confidence."

 

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DECHY ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Nathalie Dechy has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30.

The Frenchwoman, who was on the circuit for 16 years and had a highest world ranking of 11th in January 2006, wants to devote more time to her family.

Her best finish in a grand slam came in 2005, when she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

She won one singles tournament while two of her seven doubles titles came at the US Open, in 2006 and 2007.

 

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WINNING RETURN FOR CLIJSTERS


Kim Clijsters made a triumphant return to action in the WorldTeam Tennis Pro League in America on Tuesday night.

The 26-year-old, who retired from the sport in May 2007, represented the St Louis Aces against the Springfield Lasers and inspired her side to victory.

Clijsters played three sets on Tuesday night, beginning with a 5-4 loss in mixed doubles alongside Tripp Phillips.

That was followed by a 5-2 win in women's doubles with Liga Dekmeijere . She ended the night against Vania King and sealed the Aces' 23-19 victory with a 5-4 win despite losing her serve early in the match.

Clijsters is expected to receive a wild card into the US Open, a tournament she won in 2005.

The Belgian will return to the WTA Tour in Cincinnati next month.

 

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SAFINA GOES FOR THIRD TITLE


Top seed Dinara Safina will go for her third WTA Tour title of the season on Sunday in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open.

The world number one - who has also lost four finals this year, including at the Australian and French Opens - defeated Alberta Brianti 6-4 6-3 to set up a showdown with defending champion Sara Errani.

The Italian, seeded fifth, wasted little time in dispatching Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele 6-1 6-2 in Portoroz.

Errani, who beat Anabel Medina Garrigues to win the title last year, has lost only eight games en route to the final.

 

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FEDERER FATHER TO TWIN GIRLS

Roger Federer's wife Mirka has given birth to twin girls.

Federer won a record 15th Grand Slam at Wimbledon recently, with his heavily-pregnant wife courtside for his 77-game epic with Andy Roddick.

And she gave birth to Charlene Riva and Myla Rose on Thursday night.

Federer told his official website: "This is the greatest day of our lives. Mirka, Myla and Charlene are all healthy and doing very well."

 

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MURRAY CAN'T PREVENT SCOTS' DEFEAT

A surprise appearance from Andy Murray could not prevent the North of Scotland team slipping to defeat in the AEGON Summer County Cup on Wednesday.

The Scots, playing in Group One of the competition, which is also known as County Week, at Eastbourne, went down 5-4 to Hertfordshire despite Murray teaming up with Owen Hadden to win all three of their doubles matches.

North of Scotland captain Ian Conway received a call from the world number three, asking if he could join the team before he flies out to North America to begin his preparations for the US Open which starts on August 31.

Conway said: "I was surprised but delighted to get the call from Andy and it says a lot about his character that he wanted to join the North of Scotland men's team and support his country. And of course it's given us a great boost!"

Andy's brother Jamie was also in action but he and partner Johnny Pankhurst could only win one of their three ties.

The tournament has been running for more than a century, and many top players - both past and present - put their regular schedules on hold to represent their county.

Prior to Wednesday, Andy Murray had not played competitively since losing to Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon semi-finals.

 

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SHOCK SUCCESS FOR PETKOVIC

Germany's Andrea Petkovic won her first WTA Tour title at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies event on Sunday.

The world number 98 came into the tournament having won only three main-draw matches in her career but she continued her dream run with a 6-2 6-3 win over Ioana Raluca Olaru in the final.

Petkovic won the first five games of the match and did not look back, wrapping up victory in 89 minutes.

The 21-year-old said: "I'm very happy. It's the best moment of my career. I hope I can keep playing like this and build on it."

Olaru, who was also unseeded, beat world number 28 Alize Cornet in the semi-finals, and she added: "I beat two top-30 players this week, the best wins of my career.

"I'm sorry about today - I wish I could have done more, but there's always next tournament."

 

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DAVYDENKO BREAKS HIS DUCK

Nikolay Davydenko won his first ATP title this year after breezing past Paul Henri-Mathieu 6-4 6-2 in the German Open final in Hamburg.

The secondseed won five break points as he made light work of Mathieu, who was seeded 13th.

The Russian said: "When you win the tournament then you always say it's the best week because before I did not win any tournaments. It was semi-finals, quarter-finals and once I got to the final and won the tournament. It's a very good week for me.

"I'm very happy because I've won 15 ATP World Tour titles. I was surprised at the beginning as Mathieu started playing very well. I started fighting to come back and for me it was very good play to win the first set 6-4. Then every point, every game was important and I won 6-2 (in the second set)."

The beaten Mathieu said: "I think he played a great match today. He was very solid. I think I would have needed a bit more energy to win today. I think I was less aggressive than yesterday. I left pretty much (all my) energy on the court yesterday and to beat a guy like Nikolay you have to be 100 per cent physically."

Prior to the match, Davydenko had not won a title in over a year, when he triumphed in Warsaw in June 2008. He was hampered through the first several months of 2009 by a heel injury suffered in his first tournament of the year in Chennai.

 

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TITLE JOY FOR GINEPRI

Robby Ginepri turned around a miserable season by winning the Indianapolis Championships on Sunday.

The American beat third-seeded compatirot Sam Querrey 6-2 6-4 in the final to complete a memorable week in Indiana.

Ginperi arrived at the tournament with just four wins from 17 matches on the ATP World Tour this season.

However, he won five in a row in Indianapolis to win his first title in four years - his previous one also coming at this tournament in 2005.

"This tournament is very special for me. Having won twice here is an amazing feeling," said the world number 95.

Third seed Querrey struggled to get into the contest and could not hide his disappointment at losing to his American compatriot.

"I didn't have rhythm on serve today, it was not there," he said.

"Still, I knew what to expect from his game. He got better as the week went on."

 

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FERRERO IN FORM

Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero continued his recent climb back up the rankings by reaching the semi-finals of the Studena Croatia Open in Umag on Friday.

The 29-year-old Spaniard defeated Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez 7-5 6-2 and will next face Andreas Seppi of Italy, the world number 43 who dispatched Chile's Nicolas Massu 6-4 6-4.

Top seed Nikolay Davydenko, who won the German Open title in Hamburg last week, beat Italy's Simone Bolelli 7-6 (10) 6-1.

 

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MAYER BENEFITS FROM FISH INJURY


Leonardo Mayer had an easy passage into the LA Open semi-finals, with opponent Mardy Fish withdrawing because of injury.

Number two seed Fish pulled out of the quarter-final clash because of an abdominal injury, giving the Argentinian a welcome day off and a place in the last four of an ATP tour event for the first time in his career.

He will face Carsten Ball for a place in the final, after the Australian defeated America's John Isner 6-4 6-4 to reach an ATP tour semi-final for the first time himself.

Top seed Tommy Haas beat Marat Safin 7-6 6-2 in one hour 49 minutes to set up a semi against America's Sam Querrey.

Sixth seed Querrey defeated Israel's fourth seed Dudi Sela 6-3 7-5 at the Los Angeles Tennis Stadium.