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Sharapova tops Dementieva in Stanford quarters

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:05:21 GMT

STANFORD, California (AP)—Maria Sharapova outlasted fellow Russian Elena Dementieva, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, in a match that lasted 2 hours, 47 minutes in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic on Friday.

The fifth-seeded Sharapova improved to 6-3 against Top 10 competition since returning from shoulder surgery last May. She advanced to her fourth semifinal of the year.

“I wasn’t swinging through well,” Sharapova said. “Sometimes my arm doesn’t want to swing. I didn’t want to let up on my serve, though. I wanted to keep going for it. When things aren’t going that well, you keep doing the right things and hope it turns around.”
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It was another classic battle between two of the top Russians in the women’s game, and was the longest match of the tournament. The 15th-ranked Sharapova leads the series against the second-seeded and sixth-ranked Dementieva 9-3 after playing a third set for the first time since the 2004 meeting in Zurich, and third overall.

“I think it was a good match. I feel like I played much better than my first match,” Dementieva said. “I think my serve wasn’t good enough and she was serving very well. It was a pretty tough game.”

Dementieva was playing in her first tournament since the French Open because of a right shoulder injury.

“This is what I was hoping for, to play a few tough matches here, to feel the competition and feel the game,” she said. “Hopefully the next time it’s going to help me.”

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat defending champion Marion Bartoli 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, ending the Frenchwoman’s run of eight straight victories in the event.

“Every single game was tough,” Bartoli said. “It was hard to win some easy points because I was fighting and running so much. This was a very high quality game and she just was a little better than me. She was beating me easily the last three times, so there was some improvement.”

Azarenka advanced to her fourth semifinal of the year. The 18th-ranked Belarusian will face top-seeded Samantha Stosur, a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 winner over No. 7 Yanina Wickmayer.

Stosur, from Australia, is playing in her first tournament since breaking into the top five in the world. She leads the tour with 37 wins this year.

Azarenka, seeded eighth and ranked 18th, improved to 4-0 against fourth-seeded Bartoli, who is ranked 14th.

“She has improved her game,” Azarenka said. “It was a very tough game. It was important to change the rhythm with her and make her move.”

Bartoli was up 2-0 in the second set before Azarenka won seven consecutive games to take control of the match.

“She started the match well, was hitting hard and making so many winners,” Azarenka said. “I was trying to stay out there and find my game. It finally went my way.”

“We’ve had a couple of close matches and there were some where she absolutely killed me,” said Stosur, who reached her sixth semifinal of the year. “The way she plays gives me problems but my game is different than the last time we played.”

Azarenka, who turns 21 on Saturday, improved to 17-5 on hard courts this year. All three of her career titles have been on hard courts.

Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Belarus’ Maria Kirilenko, 7-5, 6-0, in another quarterfinal and, as a result, should move back into the top 10 when the rankings are released next week.

“I think the first set was the key in this match,” Radwanska said. “It was very close, very long and I think she was upset losing that first set. I felt much more comfortable in the second set, knowing that I was one set ahead. But you still have to be very focused up until the last point.”

Querrey, Murray win in L.A.; Lopez defeats Blake

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:15:48 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Defending champion Sam Querrey defeated Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7) in the quarterfinals of the Farmers Classic on Friday.

The second-seeded American used back-to-back big serves in the tiebreaker to win at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the UCLA campus.

Mostly, though, Querrey was disgusted with his serve, having practiced it very little since Wimbledon. It showed with nine double faults.

“My serve (stinks) right now,” he said. “I don’t have that consistency of that knee bend and fluid motion. It’s getting better every day, though. The movement and speed around the court is really helping me win matches.”

The sun affected both players when they served on one side of the court.

“It was always in the eyes,” Schuettler said.

Schuettler, the oldest player in the singles draw at 34, twice served for the match in the third, but then committed three key unforced errors in the tiebreaker to lose.

“I played a little bit too defensive,” he said.

Querrey, who already has three titles this year on three different surfaces, improved to 6-0 in quarterfinal matches. In Saturday’s semifinals, he’ll face sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who beat No. 3 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 7-5 for his first win in three meetings.

“This week I’m playing good,” Tipsarevic said. “I didn’t drop a set yet.”

Top-seeded Andy Murray beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 7-6 (7), 6-1 to set up a semifinal against No. 4 Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

Murray served it out and hit a forehand winner after an ace set up his second match point. Back-to-back big serves gave him his first match point before he committed a backhand error.

“It was a tricky match,” Murray said. “Alejandro has been playing well the last two months. I played well, but it was difficult conditions—pretty cold, I hit a lot of balls in the net, I felt pretty slow.”

At times, Murray grabbed his right knee and wore pained expressions on his face.

“It’s a bit sore, just from not playing,” he said. “Obviously, a huge difference playing on the grass and obviously coming to the hardcourts.”

Lopez outlasted American wild-card James Blake 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4. Blake double faulted to lose the second set, then unsuccessfully challenged a sideline call on match point and lost.

“My serve started to let me down,” Blake said. “I wasn’t hitting my spots, that put a little more pressure on me. I didn’t play enough of the big points at the end of the second set with conviction.”

Against Querrey, Schuettler didn’t face a break point in the third until the 10th game. He lost his serve on a net cord forehand that pulled Querrey into a 5-5 tie.

The 22-year-old American, the youngest player left in the tournament, was broken in the next game and Schuettler had a chance to serve out the match. But he fell behind 15-40, then netted a forehand to force the tiebreaker.

Querrey led 4-1 before Schuettler closed to 4-3 on Querrey’s backhand error. Querrey came up with a big service winner, then sent an ace down the middle for a 6-3 lead. Schuettler answered with his own ace before another backhand error gave away the match.

“I was a mental head case out there. I still got through it,” Querrey said. “I need to somehow figure out how not to do that out there.”

Davydenko joins exodus of seeds in Umag

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Top seed Nikolay Davydenko loses 6-2, 6-1 to Juan Ignacio Chela in Umag, the same day that No. 2 Jurgen Melzer lost 6-1, 6-4 to Andreas Seppi and No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic fell 6-4, 7-6 (6) to Potito Starace.

Gonzalez, Monaco to return at Toronto Masters

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Monaco plan to make their return from injuries in Toronto in two weeks' time.

Groth, Pavlyuchenkova, Vesnina into Istanbul semis

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:05:06 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP)—Jarmila Groth of Australia defeated defending champion Vera Dushevina of Russia 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Istanbul Cup on Friday.

Groth converted four of her five break points, using strong returns to dominate the second set.

Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also reached the semifinals by beating Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-4, 6-2, while fellow Russian Elena Vesnina ousted Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 7-5, 6-1 and sixth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany beat Elena Baltacha of Britain 6-4, 6-0.

Top seed Youzhny upset by qualifier in Gstaad

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

GSTAAD, Switzerland (AP)—Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny lost to 147th-ranked Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan in the Swiss Open quarterfinals.

The 31-year-old Schukin, who came through qualifying, reached his first career semifinal by defeating the 14th-ranked Russian 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 on Friday.

Schukin will play seventh-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet in Saturday’s semifinals.

Gasquet, the 2006 champion on Gstaad’s outdoor clay, beat fourth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Two Spaniards will meet in the other semifinal.

Second-seeded Nicolas Almagro beat Jeremy Chardy of France, 6-2, 7-6 (5), and Daniel Gimeno-Traver had an easy 6-2, 6-4 victory over Igor Andreev from Russia.

Melzer, Ljubicic cruise into Croatia Open quarters

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:21:55 GMT

UMAG, Croatia (AP)—Second-seeded Juergen Melzer of Austria has beaten Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-0 to gain the Croatia Open quarterfinals.

Melzer had a bye in the first round and will play his quarterfinal against Andreas Seppi of Italy later Friday because his second-round match was postponed from Thursday by rain.

Seppi defeated Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-4, 6-2.

Melzer and Seppi were semifinalists here last year.

Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic beat fellow Croat Ivan Dodig 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his second consecutive quarterfinal in Umag.

Ljubicic will next play Potito Starace of Italy, who topped Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-4, 6-0.

Murray gets by qualifier in three at Farmers Classic

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:14:08 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Andy Murray was forced to three sets in his Los Angeles debut, beating American qualifier Tim Smyczek 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 on Thursday in a second-round match at the Farmers Classic.

The top-seeded Scot received a wild-card into the event after world No. 2 Novak Djokovic withdrew last week for personal reasons. After a first-round bye, Murray had to work harder than most expected in his first match since losing to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Smyczek, a 22-year-old ranked 192nd in the world, notched his first ATP Tour win with a straight-sets victory in the first round. He hung in early in the third set against the world’s fourth-ranked player when there were breaks in the first three games before Murray took control.

“I hope to have a good run here,” Murray said. “There were a lot of long rallies in the first and second sets. Hopefully, it will stand me in good stead.”

Murray’s quarterfinal opponent will be Alejandro Falla of Colombia, who beat No. 5 seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10).

Fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain beat Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (7), 6-4.

In the quarters, Lopez will play wild-card James Blake, who outlasted Benjamin Becker 7-5, 7-6 (7) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the U.C.L.A. campus. Blake, a finalist here in 2007, improved to 3-0 against the German.

Blake came back from a 2-4 deficit to win the first set. He blew two match points in the 10th game of the second set before closing out the match in the tiebreaker.

“It definitely could’ve gone the other way easily,” he said. “I’m doing a good job of not letting anything rattle me.”

Blake reached his first quarterfinal since February in Delray Beach, Florida. The 30-year-old lost time because of a right knee injury earlier this year and he lost in the first round of his three previous tournaments. He has yet to make a semifinal this year.

“Knee pain is barely there. It’s great,” he said, a bag of ice taped to his knee as a post-match precaution. “When you hit 30, it becomes very apparent that your career is finite. I feel great about being healthy and playing well.”

Lopez won his hard-court season debut, having been idle since reaching the round of 32 at Wimbledon.

Falla had lost in the first round of his three previous tournaments, including to Roger Federer at Wimbledon. The left-hander, ranked 65th in the world, advanced to his third quarterfinal of the year.

“I’m really happy because I won a tough match,” he said. “I fought a lot. I was tired, too. We were running a lot. We played long rallies.”

Gulbis was playing his first tournament in two months after sustaining a hamstring injury in a first-round loss at the French Open. He was clearly rusty and easily irritated by fans who yelled during his service motion.

“It was really tough for me to go long rallies,” he said. “I physically couldn’t run anymore. I couldn’t make any winners. Basically, nothing worked. If you don’t fish for two months, maybe you’re bad at fishing.”

He received a point penalty for smashing his racket, and criticized the referee afterward. By his tally, Gulbis broke two rackets, although he tossed others.

“His only fun in life is to give warnings. It’s like police,” he said. “Whatever I would do I would get warning.”

Falla defeats testy Gulbis in Los Angeles

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Alejandro Falla is through to the quarterfinals of Los Angeles after edging Ernests Gulbis 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8).

Falla, who become famous as the player who took Roger Federer to five sets on opening Monday at Wimbledon, came from a break down in the third set to win. "I played really well in the last set," he said.

"I got so tired," said Gulbis, playing his first tournament since getting injured at the French Open.

The Latvian received a point penalty for racquet abuse in the second set. "This referee, his only fun in life is to give warnings," said Gulbis.

Azarenka ousts Oudin; Sharapova wins in Stanford

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:08:20 GMT

STANFORD, California (AP)—France’s Marion Bartoli, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic on Thursday.

Israel’s Shahar Peer, another seeded player, wasn’t as fortunate.

The fourth-seeded Bartoli beat former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4, for her eighth consecutive victory at the event and 10th win in her last 13 matches.

“It was a great match,” Bartoli said. “It was a good build up for the U.S. Open. It’s good to have these kinds of matches.”

Bartoli beat Ivanovic for the first time in four career meetings.

“When I played Ana before she was on the rise to becoming the No. 1 player in the world,” Bartoli said. “Now I finally passed her. Having a higher ranking than her helped my confidence and gave me the mental strength to play the game.”

Ivanovic fell to 3-6 over her last nine matches.

Former world No. 1 Sharapova, the fifth seed, beat Belarus’ Olga Govortsova, 6-3, 6-3 and the eighth-seeded Azarenka topped American Melanie Oudin, 6-3, 6-1 in the second round, while Russia’s Maria Kirilenko knocked off the sixth-seeded Peer, 6-4, 6-3.

“It was a sloppy first game but the rest of it was fine,” Sharapova said. “I took my chances when I could.”

The 16th-ranked Peer became the first seeded player to fall at the event, losing for the fourth time in her last six matches after opening the year 18-5, which included a three-set win over Kirilenko in New Zealand.

“This time I decided to be a lot more aggressive,” Kirilenko said. “This year has been so much better and given me a lot of confidence.”

The 27th-ranked Kirilenko, who meets No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in Friday’s quarterfinals, is assured of her best finish at Stanford in three trips.

“I played not too badly,” Kirilenko said. “I can play better.”

She’s also had her career best results at the Australian Open, when she reached the quarterfinals, the French Open, when she made the fourth round, and at Wimbledon, when she was eliminated in the third round.

Azarenka, who broke into the top 10 last year, reached her sixth quarterfinal of the year by winning her eighth in her last 10 matches.

“I think I played very well,” Azarenka said. “It was a little tough at the beginning with a couple of service breaks but I felt strong the whole match. For me it’s important to play every point the same, no matter what the score is. Whether I am up or down 40-love, that is always a key for me.”

She plays the winner of a late match between defending champion Marion Bartoli of France and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Oudin also thought she competed well.

“I had a game point almost every single game,” she said. “I don’t think she overwhelmed me. It was close.”

Torrential rain postpones matches at Croatia Open

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:42:15 GMT

UMAG, Croatia (AP)—The second round of the Croatia Open tournament has been postponed for a day due to torrential rain.

Four second-round matches scheduled for Thursday will now be played on Friday, along with the quarterfinals. Among those who still have to play in the second round are second-seeded Jurgen Melzer and third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic.

No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko is already through to the quarterfinals, where he will face No. 8 seed Juan Ignacio Chela. The other quarterfinal that is already set has fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero against sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Baltacha upsets top seed Schiavone in Istanbul

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:20:00 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP)—Britain’s Elena Baltacha upset top-seeded Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-2 in the second round at the Istanbul Cup.

Schiavone, the French Open champion, struggled with her serve and quickly fell behind in the second set. The Italian had eight double faults to none by Baltacha, and her first serve percentage was 42, far below the Briton’s 59.

After her triumph at Roland Garros, Schiavone lost in the first round at Wimbledon.

In other matches, third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-2, Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-4, 6-4 and Australian Jarmila Groth defeated Anna Lapushchenkova of Russia, 6-2, 6-3.

Youzhny wins in straights to reach Gstaad quarters

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:23:17 GMT

GSTAAD, Switzerland (AP)—Top seeded Mikhail Youzhny advanced to the Swiss Open quarterfinals on Thursday, beating wild card Alexander Sadecky of Switzerland in straight sets.

The 14th-ranked Russian won the second-round match 7-5, 6-4, ending No. 437-ranked Sadecky’s first tour event. Youzhny next faces No. 147-ranked Yuri Schukin from Kazakhstan, a qualifier who has reached his first quarterfinals match on tour at age 31.

Schukin defeated Portugal’s Frederico Gil 6-3, 6-3 on a rainy day on Gstaad’s clay courts.

Another Russian, Igor Andreev, completed a second-round victory over Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6). The match had been suspended late Wednesday with just the decisive tiebreaker to play.

Second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain made Michael Lammer the third home-based loser on the day, rallying to beat the 28-year-old Swiss player 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Almagro faces Jeremy Chardy in Friday’s matches, after the Frenchman beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 6-2.

Safina sets busy schedule in return from injury

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Dinara Safina plans to take a maximum of one week off between now and the U.S. Open, playing Stanford, San Diego, Cincinnati, Montreal and potentially New Haven as well.

"I’m doing that because I’ve played nothing this year," she told tennisreporters.net. "I’m playing well but you need a breakthrough and in many matches I’m playing, I'm just not closing them up."

Safina's first-round loss at Stanford this week extended her losing streak to six matches. After missing three months with a back injury, she won her comeback match in Stuttgart in April but has not managed another victory since.

Stanford was Safina's first event since she pulled out of Wimbledon with more back problems. "I had one week off completely where I couldn’t even walk,” she said. “Then I went to Argentina for three weeks to do rehab. I had inflammation again and started to work on my core and it wasn’t easy."

Ivanovic "a little hurt" by Montreal wild-card denial

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Ana Ivanovic, on not receiving a wild card into Montreal: "Montreal was the first big tournament that I won and it was a special place for me.

"I do feel a little hurt and disappointed by their decision and it’s hard, but I have to prove otherwise and play well.

"But even though my ranking is quite low I feel I’m playing better than that, I just have to go out and prove it. Other players went through that like [Andre] Agassi going back to playing Challengers, so you have to stay tough and not feel sorry for yourself."