Tennis News

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QUERREY CLEARS FIRST HURDLE

Sam Querrey began his challenge at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships with a straight-sets victory over Arnaud Clement.

The third seed eased past his French opponent 6-3 6-4 to set up a second-round clash with wild card Rajeev Ram.

Querrey is the highest ranked American in the draw following the withdrawal of injured Andy Roddick, but he seems unconcerned with the added pressure.

"Maybe the spotlight is on me a bit but I don't mind at all," he said.

"Of course it would be better if Andy, James (Blake), Mardy (Fish) and the Bryan brothers were here. But they have other things going on."

Seventh seed Marc Giquel was also a convincing winner in his opening match, the Frenchman beating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2 6-3.

Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, the eighth seed, made hard work of his match with American Kevin Kim though, eventually prevailing 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Wayne Odesnik fought back from a second-set collapse to see off Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 (7/5) 1-6 6-4 in over two hours.

In other first-round matches, Frank Dancevic of Canada was a 6-2 7-6 (7/5) winner over Bobby Reynolds while American John Isner overcame Josselin Ouanna of France 6-1 7-6 (8/6).

 

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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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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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MANASIEVA STUNS MEDINA GARRIGUES

Vesna Manasieva celebrated her 20th birthday in style by dumping second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues out of the first round of the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portoroz.

The Russian world number 141, playing the highest-ranked opponent of her career, battled back from a nightmare second set to triumph 6-3 1-6 7-5 and will next play Croatian wild-card Petra Martic.

Fourth seed Robert Vinci avoided the same fate as she brushed aside local wild-card Nastja Kolar 6-2 6-0, while seventh seed Vera Dushevina was also a comfortable 6-0 6-3 winner over Tathiana Garbin.

Maria Camerin and Camille Pin were among other winners, while Russian qualifier Ksenia Pervak's reward for a three-set win over Julia Goerges will be a second-round clash with world number one Dinara Safina.

 

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HRADECKA SENT CRASHING OUT

Lucie Hradecka was the only high-profile casualty in the first round of the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies in Austria on Tuesday.

The eighth seed and world number 69 was horribly out of sorts in Bad Gastein and was comfortably vanquished 6-2 6-2 by Spain's unheralded 29-year-old Nuria Llagostera Vives.

Elsewhere, the big names all progressed although French top seed Alize Cornet was made to fight before seeing off Colombia's Mariana Duque Marino, ranked more than 100 places below her, 4-6 7-6 (7/3) 6-4.

Home favourite and third seed Sybille Bammer defeated Nathalie Vierin 7-5 6-4 and fourth-seeded Iveta Benesova had too much for Alexandra Dulgheru in her 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 triumph.

Fellow seeds Magdalena Rybarikova, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Shahar Peer are also through to round two.

Patricia Mayr, Barbora Zahlavova Strycov, Pauline Parmentier, Yvonne Meusburger and Yaroslava Shvedova were the other victors.

In the final match of the day on Centre Court, lucky loser Tereza Hladikova - who replaced second seed Francesca Schiavone in the main draw after the Italian suffered a back injury - beat Austrian wild card Melanie Klaffner 6-4 2-6 6-4.

 

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TURSUNOV BATTLES THROUGH OPENER

Dmitry Tursunov overcame a second-set lapse to see off Michael Berrer of France in the first round of the Indianapolis Tennis Championship.

The top-seeded Russian looked comfortable in the opening set, but Berrer hit back in the second before Tursunov rounded off the match in style to claim a 6-3 2-6 6-0 win.

Second seed Dudi Sela of Israel had an easier time of things on his way to a 7-5 6-1 success over American Vincent Spadea.

Russia's Igor Kunitsyn, the fourth seed, also enjoyed a straightforward result, seeing off Brian Dabul of Argentina 6-4 6-1.

Benjamin Becker was too strong for Japan's Go Soeda, the German fifth seed easing to a 6-2 6-3 success.

Sixth seed Eduardo Schwank fought back from a set down to secure a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win over Yen-Hsun Lu.

Robby Ginepri needed three sets to see off Frenchman Sebastian De Chaunac 7-5 5-7 6-2, while American compatriots Jesse Levine and Alex Bogomolov Jr were also first-round winners.

 

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DAY OF SHOCKS IN HAMBURG

Wild card Daniel Brands came from a set down to knock out top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon on a day of major shocks at the International German Open in Hamburg.

The world number 120 delighted the home fans by clawing out a 3-6 6-4 6-3 win, securing the vital second-set break in the 10th game before breaking Simon early in the third and then saving break point as he served out for the match.

World number 103 Ivan Navarro also scored a big upset with powerful serving securing him a 7-5 7-6 (7/2) win over fourth seed and former champion Tommy Robredo.

Swiss fifth seed Stanislas Wawrinka was another casualty as he fell 6-2 6-4 to Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while ninth seed Jurgen Melzer slumped to a 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 loss to Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas.

Next up for Cuevas will be eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Potito Starace 6-2 4-6 6-4. There was also a first-round win for wild card Florian Mayer who beat fellow German Rainer Schuettler.

 

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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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MURRAY JOINS SCOTTISH LINE-UP

The North of Scotland men's tennis team who are playing in Group 1 at County Week in Eastbourne have received a surprise addition to the team - Andy Murray.

North of Scotland captain Ian Conway received a call from the world number three, asking if he could join the team this week.

Andy is partnering Owen Hadden against Hertfordshire.

Also in the team is Andy's brother Jamie, with Jonathan Pankhurst, Steven Birrell and Tom Weir making up the rest of the North of Scotland squad.

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!"

The AEGON Summer County Cup, or County Week as it is affectionately known, 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.

 

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PEER SUCCUMBS TO PRESSURE


Ninth seed Shahar Peer suffered a thrashing at the hands of Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round of the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies in Austria.

Peer - ranked five places below her Russian opponent despite her seeding - won less than half the points on her first serve and was broken five times as she was mauled 6-2 6-1 in 64 minutes.

There were no such problems for sixth seed Magdalena Rybarikova although she was made to work hard for her 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory over France's Pauline Parmentier.

Germany's seventh seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld had a far smoother ride against lucky loser Tereza Hladikova, winning 6-3 6-2.

The home crowd in Bad Gastein were given something to cheer by Austrian wild card Yvonne Meusburger who overcame an 82-place world-ranking deficit to edge past Tatjana Malek 6-2 2-6 6-4.

 

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DAVYDENKO BREEZES THROUGH

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko took just 71 minutes to polish off German opponent Philipp Petzschner 6-3 6-2 and book his place in the third round of the International German Open in Hamburg.

The former finalist will next meet last week's surprise Stuttgart winner Jeremy Chardy, of France, after the 15th seed survived two tight sets to defeat Andreas Beck 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (8/6)

Third seed Robin Soderling also advanced with a 6-3 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 win over Italy's Fabio Fognini. The Swede will next play Nicolas Almagro in a repeat of last week's Bastad quarter-final.

Other second-round winners on Wednesday included sixth seed David Ferrer, who defeated German wild card Florian Mayer 6-3 6-2, and 11th seed Victor Hanescu, a 6-2 6-3 winner over Jan Hernych.

Russian Igor Andreev was the leading seed to fall, a 6-4 6-3 casualty against Julien Benneteau, while Spanish 12th seed Jose Acasuso retired when he trailed 6-1 1-1 to Juan Monaco.

 

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SAFE PASSAGE FOR SAFINA

World number one Dinara Safina eased past fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-1 6-2 to book her place in the quarter-finals of the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portoroz.

Continuing to show few ill effects from her Wimbledon semi-final rout by Venus Williams last month, the tournament's top seed proved too strong for the 18-year-old qualifier, taking just 77 minutes to progress.

In the last eight Safina will face Maria Elena Camerin, who rallied superbly to knock out seventh-seeded Russian Vera Dushevina 4-6 7-5 6-0.

Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele kept her nerve despite a poor second set to oust sixth seed Lucie Safarova 7-5 2-6 6-3. Meanwhile Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios was a straight sets 6-3 6-4 winner over Roberta Vinci of Italy.

 

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RAIN HITS INDIANAPOLIS

Rain wrecked Wednesday's order of play at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.

Only two doubles matches were completed while all five second-round singles contests had to be postponed.

Sam Querrey was among the players affected by the disruption, with the third seed now scheduled to take on American compatriot Rajeev Ram on Thursday.

 

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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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MARTIC CONTINUES FINE FORM

Croatian wild card Petra Martic continued her impressive progress at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portoroz with a 6-1 6-3 win over Russian wild-card Vesna Manasieva on Thursday.

Martic's win set up a last-eight meeting with fifth seed Sara Errani of Italy, who sealed her own progress with a 6-1 6-1 win over the Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova.

Also in second-round action, Alberta Brianti, of Italy, beat Olga Govortsova 6-4 6-1 and Camille Pin beat eighth seed Patra Kvitova 6-4 6-4.

World number one and top seed Dinara Safina will resume her title bid on Friday when she faces Italy's Maria Camerin in their quarter-final clash.

 

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CORNET BATTLES BACK TO STAY ALIVE

Top seed Alize Cornet battled back from a set down to defeat Patricia Mayr 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the second round at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies in Austria.

Cornet had already seen fellow seeds Sybille Bammer and Iveta Benesova bundled out and looked to be heading the same way following a first set when she failed to win a point on her second serve.

However, the Frenchwoman recovered and will now play Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the quarter-finals after she eased past Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-0 6-3.

Austrian Bammer won her second WTA Tour title in Prague last week, but her hopes of following that success in front of her home crowd were ended by Ioana Raluca Olaru.

The Romanian triumphed 4-6 6-2 6-1 to reach her third quarter-final of the season.

In Thursday's only other match, Benesova lost the first set to Andrea Petkovic 6-1 before retiring due to a thigh injury.

 

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SODERLING KNOCKED OUT

Third seed Robin Soderling's recent good run came to an end at the International Open in Hamburg when he was beaten 7-5 6-3 by 14th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro on Thursday.

Almagro's reward for beating the French Open finalist who was also a winner in Bastad last week will be a quarter-final against surprise package Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, a 6-4 7-6 (10/8) winner over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko served impressively to beat last week's Mercedes Cup champion Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-3. He next faces Victor Hanescu, who saved 11 break points en route to a 3-6 6-3 6-3 win over Julien Benneteau.

German wild card Daniel Brands' fine run, which saw him knock out top seed Gilles Simon on Wednesday, came to an end when he went down 7-5 7-5 to another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Victor Troicki edged past Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-7 (2/7) 6-4 7-6 (8/6). David Ferrer came from behind to beat Juan Monaco 4-6 7-5 6-2 and he will now face local wild card Simon Greul, a 7-5 7-6 (9/7) winner over Spain's Ivan Navarro.

 

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COMFORTABLE WIN FOR TURSUNOV

Dmitry Tursunov made sure of his place in the last eight of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships with a straight-sets win over Marcos Daniel.

The top-seeded Russian wasted little time recording a 6-3 6-3 result against the Brazilian, who was playing his second match of the day.

Daniel had earlier beaten Taylor Dent in a first-round clash which had to be postponed on Wednesday due to persistent rain.

Tursunov will face Frank Dancevic in the quarter-finals, with the Canadian beating fifth seed Benjamin Becker 6-2 7-5.

Sam Querrey had few troubles in his second-round clash with American compatriot Rajeev Ram, the third see claiming a 7-5 6-3 win.

Seventh seed Marc Gicquel also eased into the next round with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Jesse Levine, but Dudi Sela and Igor Kunitsyn failed to advance.

Sela, the second seed, was beaten 6-4 7-6 (7/5) by Alex Bogomolov Jr while fourth seed Kunitsyn fell 2-6 6-1 6-1 to Wayne Odesnik.

Eighth seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan also crashed out in the second round, succumbing 6-4 6-4 to John Isner.

Robby Ginepri battled back from a set down to progress to the last eight with a 6-7 (1/7) 6-3 6-0 success over Eduardo Schwank.

 

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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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CORNET THROUGH



Top seed Alize Cornet of France booked her place in the semi-finals of the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies event in Austria with a 6-4 2-6 6-2 success against Barbora Zahlavova Strycov of the Czech Republic.

Cornet, ranked 28th in the world, will now take on Ioana Olaru of Romania in the last four after she beat sixth seed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-4 at Bad Gastein.

Seventh seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld lost in three sets to fellow German Andrea Petkovic, winning the first set 10-8 on a tie-break but then losing the next two 6-3 6-1. Petkovic will now face Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan after she beat Austria's Yvonne Meusberger 6-2 6-3.