MADRID: Roger Federer had to use all his guile and experience to battle back from a set down and see off fast-rising Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6 7-5 7-6 in the Madrid Open second round on Wednesday. The Swiss maestro, after an opening round bye at the Masters claycourt event, was playing his first match since [...]
LAHORE: Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his partner Rojer Jean-Julien won the doubles final of the Estoril Open in Portugal, defeating their Australia-Spanish opponents Julian Knowle and David Marrero in a close match on Sunday. The duo triumphed in a 7-5, 7-5 win. Winning the final bags Aisam-Rojer 250 points in the ATP-250 [...]
Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the Serbia Open in Belgrade, his place of birth, after consulting with family. The Serbian, 24, suffered the loss of his grandfather earlier this month.On his official website, Djokovic wrote: “I will take some time, try restore my emotional energy.”This is certainly one of the toughest decisions of my [...]
MOSCOW: A short haircut by Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova provoked a backlash among fans after she posted pictures of the new style on her official Facebook page. The three-time Grand Slam winner has remained a blonde, but most of her earlier long hair is now gone, and the new haircut finishes just below her [...]
MONACO: Rafael Nadal finally managed to beat Novak Djokovic in a final, thrashing the top-ranked Serb 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the eighth consecutive year and end a run of seven straight defeats to his rival in title matches. He also now won a record 20 Masters titles, putting [...]
PRAGUE: Reigning Wimbledon champion and world number three Petra Kvitova will lead holders Czech Republic in the Fed Cup semi-final tie against Italy in Ostrava on April 21-22, the Czech team said Wednesday. Team captain Petr Pala also called up 23-ranked Lucie Safarova, and doubles specialists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, numbers eight and 10 [...]
CHARLESTON: Fifth seeded Serena Williams captured her 40th career WTA title by overpowering ninth seeded Czech Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-1 at the Charleston claycourt tournament on Sunday. The 13-time Grand Slam winner needed just 58 minutes to dispatch Safarova in her first final appearance since last year’s US Open when she lost to Samantha Stosur.”I [...]
Two years in a row, Andy Murray left Melbourne a loser in the final of the Australian Open and fell into the most awful funk until the clay court swing roused his spirits. On Friday, in two excellent sets in Dubai, he blitzed the unblitzable Novak Djokovic, his conqueror in a titanic semi-final in Australia [...]
World number one Novak Djokovic is eyeing his historic fourth consecutive title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, which begins on Monday. The Serbian, who won five Grand Slam titles and has been enjoying a dream run since last year, will face Germany’ Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in his first match here.While talking to reporters at [...]
Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova and Julia Goerges, of Germany, booked themselves a quarter-final clash at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with respective second-round successes. Hantuchova comfortably defeated China’s Shuai Peng 7-5, 6-2, while Goerges made the most of number one seed Victoria Azarenka’s earlier withdrawal to trounce Australian lucky loser Casey Dellacqua 6-0, 6-2 in [...]
