Tennis: King of clay and 6-time Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome Tennis Tournament champion Rafael Nadal cruised into the finals of the event as he brushed aside challenge of Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.

Tomas Berdych was coming after causing a huge upset in the Quarterfinals when he took out World no. 1 and 2011 Rome champion Novak Djokovic. Berdych has also denied a meeting between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic here for the third time in a row. Nadal had beaten Djokovic in the final last year whereas Djokovic defeated Nadal the year before. Djokovic had also beaten Nadal in Monte Carlo finals last month, denying him a 9th straight title.

Nadal took full advantage of the upset and started very strongly against the Czech player. Nadal was very aggressive from the word go and broke his opponent twice without facing a single break point.

Berdych played better in the second set and held four of his serves but he could not capitalise on the one break point he got on Nadal's serve. On the other hand, Nadal availed the only break point that he got and comfortably won the set 6-4 to go through to the final for 8th time here.

Nadal has lost at Rome only twice, once in final against Novak Djokovic in 2011 and once against Juan Carlos Ferrero in 1st round of 2008 championship. He would be looking to win his 7th title here when he takes court against winner of Roger Federer and Benoit Paire on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Mallorcan had beaten Roger Federer in finals here 7 years ago, which is longest match ever played at this tournament. That took 5th set tie-break to decide the winner and was 5 hours and 5 minutes long match.

Tennis: Australian Open champion and former world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka cruised into the final of Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome Tennis Tournament as she eased past 2012 French Open runner-up and crowd favourite Sara Errani in straight sets 6-0, 7-5.

Azarenka has enjoyed a good winning streak against the Italian and has beaten her in last four matches without dropping a set, since losing to her almost 5 years back in Moscow. That was Azarenka's only loss against Errani in 6 matches.

She looked in same mood and form as she began very strongly and gave no chance to Errani in the first set. Azarenka broke her opponent three times and gave her a bagel 6-0 to go one set up.

Match was interrupted by rain few times as Errani got some momentum and held her serve in the second game of second set. Azarenka broke to go 3-1 but Errani broke to bring things on level terms.

It was a close affair in the second set as both players were locked at 5-5 but the Bulgarian broke her opponent in the 12th game to reach the finals.

The two time Australian Open champion who won her first title in Melbourne last season and successfully defended the crown earlier this year, has not been in best of her form and reached her first tournament final in 3 months. She reached finals of Doha in February and had lost to Serena Williams.

Azarenka has once again set up a final with Serena, who defeated Romania's Simona Halep. Serena had also defeated Azarenka in 2012 US Open final.

Tennis: World no. 1 Serena Williams eased past Romania's Simona Halep as she reached the finals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia Tennis Championship in Rome. The 15-time Grand Slam champion took her winning streak to 23 matches as she earned the straight sets win.

Serena and Halep had only met once before and Serena Williams had won that meeting in 3 sets. That was in Wimbledon two years ago when Halep took the first set but Serena took next two sets to go through.

The 31-year-old American was in mood to give any chance to 21-year-old  Romanian this time as she broke her twice in the first set and take the set 6-3 to go one set up.

The world no. 1 who is looking to win her fourth tournament in a row after victories in Miami, Charleston and Madrid, completely dominated the play in the second set and demolished her opponent to give her a bagel by breaking her serve three times. It took just 1 hour and 5 minutes for American to reach the finals.

The in-form American will take on the winner of Victoria Azarenka and Sara Errani in the finals.

Tennis - World no. 6 Tomas Berdych is the top seed at this week's ATP event in Nice. The top four seeds, which includes Berdych, Gilles Simon, and Americans Sam Querrey and John Isner have byes in the first round.

Lleyton Hewitt and Gael Monfils are also in the draw.

Tomas Berdych CZE [1] v  Bye
Victor Hanescu ROU v Albert Ramos ESP
Carlos Berlocq ARG v Leonardo Mayer ARG
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA v Marcel Granollers ESP [7]

Sam Querrey USA [3] v Bye
Q v Q
Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA [WC] v Alejandro Falla COL
Ricardas Berankis LTU v Denis Istomin UZB [8]

Fabio Fognini ITA [6] v Q
Santiago Giraldo COL v Gaël Monfils FRA [WC]
Marinko Matosevic AUS v Robin Haase NED
John Isner USA [4] v Bye

Andreas Seppi ITA [5] v Yen-Hsun Lu TPE
Lleyton Hewitt AUS [WC] v Pablo Andujar ESP
Q v Paolo Lorenzi ITA
Gilles Simon FRA [2] v Bye

Tennis - Janko Tipsarevic and Tommy Haas are the top seeds at this week's ATP event in Dusseldorf.

The top four seeds, which also included Juan Monaco and Phillip Kohlschreiber, have  a bye in the first round.

First Round
(1)Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) bye
(q) vs (q)
David Goffin (BEL) vs Grega Zemlja (SLO)
Michael Russell (USA) vs (7)Viktor Troicki (SRB)

(3)(WC)Juan Monaco (ARG) bye
Go Soeda (JPN) vs (q)
Tobias Kamke (GER) vs (WC)Benjamin Becker (GER)
Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs (8)Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)

(5)Lukas Rosol (CZE) vs Daniel Brands (GER)
Jan Hajek (CZE) vs Evgeny Donskoy (RUS)
(q) vs Igor Sijsling (NED)
(4)Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bye

(6)Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs Lukas Lacko (SVK)
Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) vs Gilles Muller (LUX)
Blaz Kavcic (SLO) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)
(2)(WC)Tommy Haas (GER) bye

Tennis - American Ryan Harrison is the top seed in the qualifying draw at this week's ATP event in Nice. Among other notable names in the qualies draw include Sergey Stakhovsky and Potito Starace.

At the ATP Dusseldorf event, the qualies draw is headed by Aljaz Bedene. Lukasz Kubot and Dustin Brown are also in the draw.

ATP Nice Qualifying Draw - 

Ryan Harrison USA [1] has a Bye
Jonathan Eysseric FRA v Peter Polansky CAN
Albano Olivetti FRA v Alexandre Massa FRA
Gregoire Burquier FRA v Guillaume Rufin FRA [5]

Rogerio Dutra Silva BRA [2] has a Bye
Jordi Samper-Montana ESP v Alessandro Giannessi ITA
Romain Jouan FRA v Nicolas Mahut FRA
Alex Kuznetsov USA v Jurgen Zopp EST [8]

Thiemo De Bakker NED [3] has a Bye
Guillermo Olaso ESP v Alexandre Pierson FRA [WC]
Stephan Fransen NED v Marco Cecchinato ITA
David Guez FRA v Florent Serra FRA [7]

Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR [4] has a Bye
Potito Starace ITA v Michal Mertinak SVK
Christian Garin CHI v Cedrick Commin FRA
Henri Laaksonen SUI v Adrian Mannarino FRA [6]

ATP Dusseldorf Qualifying Draw - 

Aljaz Bedene SLO [1] v Ivan Bjelica SRB
Alex Bolt AUS v Nils Langer GER
Dominik Meffert GER v Mate Pavic CRO
Nikola Ciric SRB v Evgeny Korolev KAZ [8]

Lukasz Kubot POL [2] v Peter Torebko GER
Richard Becker GER [WC] v Pavol Cervenak SVK
Frederik Nielsen DEN v Martin Fischer AUT
Tomislav Brkic BIH v Jesse Huta Galung NED [7]

Guido Pella ARG [3] v Dino Marcan CRO
Andreas Vinciguerra SWE v Alexander Ward GBR
Simone Vagnozzi ITA v Ilija Bozoljac SRB
Dustin Brown GER v Federico Delbonis ARG [5]

João Sousa POR [4] v Dominik Schulz GER [WC]
Andre Begemann GER [WC] v Joshua Milton GBR
Andre Ghem BRA v Maximilian Dinslaken GER [WC]
Oliver Golding GBR v Illya Marchenko UKR [6]

Tennis - Top seed Caroline Wozniacki will hope to snap a four match losing streak at the Brussels Open this week. Wozniacki has a bye in the first round and could meet China's Jie Zheng in the second round.

Italy's Roberta Vinci is seeded no. 2 with American Sloane Stephens at no. 3 and Belgian Kirsten Flipkens at no. 4. Flipkens open against 18 year old American Madison Keys in the first round.

Wozniacki v Bye
Jie Zheng v Q
Oprandi v Q
Q v Goerges

Stephens v Pironkova
Halep v Rybarikova
Govortsova v Rus
Arvidsson v Peng

Lepchenko v Jovanovski
Baltacha v Voegele
Cepelova v Tsurenko
Kanepi v Cibulkova

Flipkens v Keys
Wickmayer v Hampton
Q v Van Uytvank
Vinci v Bye

Tennis - Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli is the top seed at this week's WTA event in Strasbourg. Bartoli, who has struggled on the clay this season, open against Italian Camila Giorgi in the first round.

Second seed Tamira Paszek, who has also struggled this year, opens against French wildcard Virgine Razzano.

(1)Bartoli v Giorgi
Soler-Espinosa v Bouchard
Tatishvili v (wc)Garcia
Erakovic v (5)Niculescu

(3)Cornet v Johansson
Q v Puchkova
Q v Q
(wc)Feuerstein v (7)Scheepers

(8)Hantuchova v Torro-Flor
Svitolina v Q
Doi v Karolina Pliskova
Beck v (4)Hsieh

(6)McHale v Davis
Hradecka v Muguruza
Larsson v Cetkovska
(wc)Razzano v (2)Paszek

Tennis - World no. 2 Andy Murray will wait until Wednesday to decide if he will play the French Open in Paris, which begins May 26th.

Murray pulled out of the Rome Masters this week during his second round match and said that he would be very surprised if he was playing In Paris. After undergoing scans and assessments by doctors, the Scot is still not able to come to a decision about 

Murray said he has experienced pain on and off for the past 18 months due to this injury.

Murray wants to ensure playing in Paris, where he is not much favoured to win the title, does not hamper his chances of playing at Wimbledon, where he reached the finals last year.

Murray has reached the semis in Paris only once in his career.

With just one week left for the French Open to begin, players are using the final two events on the WTA Tour to get some matches under their belt ahead of the second grand slam season in Paris. Next week will see two WTA events - in Brussels and Strasbourg - and the qualifying draw for both have been released.

Former top 10 player Flavia Pennetta is the big name in the Strasbourg qualifying draw. American Shelby Rogers, who has earned the USTA wild card for the French Open, will also try to qualify here,

In Brusels, Americans Mallory Burdette, Melanie Oudin and Coco Vandeweghe are among the top 4 seeds in the qualifying draw here,

BRUSSELS OPEN - Qualifying Draw

(1)Mallory Burdette v (wc)Elyne Boeykens
Dia Evtimova v (wc)Taylor Townsend
Jill Craybas v Oksana Kalashnikova
Lesley Kerkhove v (6)Maria Joao Koehler

(2)Mirjana Lucic-Baroni v Nadiya Kichenok
Shuai Zhang v Melinda Czink
Shahar Peer v Kristina Kucova
Greta Arn v (5)Kristyna Pliskova

(3)Melanie Oudin v Irina Khromacheva
Jennifer Elie v (wc)Valentini Grammatikopolou
Gabriela Dabrowski v (wc)Ysaline Bonaventure
Aliaksandra Sasnovich v (8)Alexa Glatch

(4)CoCo Vandeweghe v Lyudmyla Kichenok
Olivia Rogowska v Valeria Solovyeva
Michelle Larcher de Brito v Alicja Rosolska
Shuko Aoyama v (7)Yulia Putintseva

STRASBOURG OPEN - QUALIFYING DRAW 

(1)Vesna Dolonc v Justyna Jegiolka
Isabella Shinikova v Tori Kinard
(wc)Marie Klocker v Conny Perrin
Karolina Wlodarczak v (5/wc)Shelby Rogers

(2)Flavia Pennetta v Myrtille Georges
Katarzyna Piter v Asia Muhammed
Anna Remondina v (wc)Allie Will
(wc)Victoria Muntean v (7)Yuliya Beygelzimer

(3)Alexandra Panova v Lara Michel
(wc)Eugeniya Pashkova v (wc)Carolin Daniels
Marta Domachowska v Constance Sibille
Kristina Barrois v (6)Arantxa Parra Santonja

(4)Chanel Simmonds v Lenka Jurikova
Polina Pekhova v Magda Linette
Viktorija Golubic v Kim Grajdek
(wc)Oceane Adam v (8)Masa Zec-Peskiric

Tennis - Second seeded Lucie Safarova thrilled home fans by reaching the semi finals of the $100K ITF Challenger in Prague. Safarova, who chose to play here and skip the Italian Open in Rome, defeated 19 year old Monica Puig in three sets to reach the semis where she will fave Slovak youngster Jana Cepelova.

American Irina Falconi defeated compatriot Irina Falconi in three sets to reach the semis and will meet Romanian Alexandra Cadantu.

Meanwhile, in Japan, 19 year old Belgian An-Sophie Mesatch reached her third ITF final in as many weeks with a win over fourth seed Junri Namigata 64 67(7) 64. She will meet Tunisia's Ons Jabeur in the finals.

At the ITF event in France, American Vania King is through to the quarter finals

ITF $100K Prague, Czech Republic - Quarter Finals

Irina Falconi (USA) d. Maria Sanchez (USA) 36 64 75
Alexandra Cadantu (ROU) d. Vesna Dolonc (SRB) 63 64

(6)Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. (SE)Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 67(3) 61 75
(2)Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (7)Monica Puig (PUR) 67(5) 64 62

ITF $50K Kurume, Japan - Semi Finals

(6)An-Sophie Mestach (BEL) d. (4)Junri Namigata (JPN) 64 67(7) 64
(7)Ons Jabeur (TUN) d. (2)Zarina Diyas (KAZ) 64 36 75

ITF $50K Saint-Gaudens - France - Quarterfinals

Paula Ormaechea (ARG) d. (5)Teliana Pereira (BRA) 67(4) 62 62
(6)Vania King (USA) d. (4)Sharon Fichman (CAN) 26 64 76(5)

Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) d. (Q)Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) 76(2) 61
(8)Claire Feuerstein (FRA) d. Valeria Solovyeva (RUS) 75 63

Tennis - Britain's no. 2 singles player on the women's side, Heather Watson, has pulled out of next week's WTA event in Strausbourg as she continues to recover from glandular fever. 

Watson has not played on clay this year at all and the latest news could also mean that she may pull out of the French Open grand slam event which begins in Paris on May 26.

Watson has not played since losing the first round in Miami in March when tests revealed that she had been suffering from glandular fever for a while and the disease was on its way out.

Watson's agent Ben Crandell said: "Heather is training and preparing for the French Open."

With Andy Murray also on the injured list as of now. Laura Robson and Elena Baltacha could be the only Brits in the men's or women's singles draw in Paris this year.

Tennis - Back in the days when tennis surfaces were more varied and different, winning all the four majors was quite a difficult task. Andre Agassi became only the fifth player do so on the men's side in 1999 and now Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have already done it. And Novak Djokovic is a title away in Paris from accomplishing the feta as well.

Many legends in previous eras missed out on the French Open, among them John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Pete Samras.

And some of these former legends spoke about their inability to win the French Open to CNN's Open Court.

Stefan Edberg: “I tried to win the French Open and I tried to prepare the best way we could and obviously I had a great chance in 1989 when I was playing a young kid Michael Chang in the final. It was a match that maybe I should have won. I was in the lead and got him, but somehow he got out of the grip and he won in five sets. But at the time I thought I played a great tournament and I thought I would get another chance to win it, but I never really got another chance after that. The difficult thing with winning on clay was playing well for two weeks. You know I could win a tournament that lasted for one week, but I think playing serve-and-volley for two weeks, that was the tough part of it: to play well for two weeks on the clay and that’s what you need at the French Open.”

Boris Becker: “With my style of play, I was an attacking player, I was a serve-and-volley player and that’s not perfect on the clay and that’s when I was big and heavier than some of the other players, and on the clay you slide around and your defensive strategy has to be better than your offensive. So on the clay you play more defensive. Compared to my success at the other grand slams, the French was always my poorest. Trust me, I tried everything to win. I wasn’t good enough. I mean I really tried to win it. I played in three semi-finals, but never in a final. But Wilander, Agassi and Lendl were better. It wasn’t unlucky or so. They were better.”

Pete Sampras:“I feel like I could have done better. Maybe I could have tried a bigger racket at the French Open. I could have worked a little harder. I mean, I worked hard but you know you always look back at your career and feel: ‘I should have done this, I should have done that.’ I have no regrets, but I can certainly pick apart my moments. But, all in all, I won 14 majors, and I am pretty happy about that.”
 

Tennis - Andy Murray has said that he would be surprised if he was playing in the French Open in Paris due to his recent back injury. His mother Judy has also echoed the same sentiments.

But at least one person is optimistic that the US Open champion Murray would make his way to Paris.

Former British number one Greg Rusedski comments earlier this week,  "It's a concern but most players have various injuries and niggles during their careers. Once he gets the results of the scan then we'll know more but if there's a chance he can play I think he'll go for it. If he wants to be world number one, which I'm sure is one of his goals, then it's a massive tournament.

"Of course he's got to think about his future and if it's something that could affect the rest of his career. He's also got a tremendous amount of points to defend later in the summer but I've got a sneaking suspicion that he'll play. He's been a semi-finalist already and it's definitely a possibility for him to try to win it one day."

Tennis - By now, most tennis fans must have seen the video of Viktor Troicki having a meltdown in Rome during his match against Latvian Ernests Gulbis earlier this week.

But Gulbis himself was not amused. Gulbis is known for having his own volatile temper and attitude on court and remarked, "When I get mentally nuts, I try not to affect the other guy. I don’t take too much of a break. Viktor got nuts and it took him, I don’t know, five minutes to calm down, and it’s after a game. I told the referee, ‘Come on. Either he plays or he defaults. Make a decision. OK, you can make fun and jokes and a circus, but keep it short. Keep it one joke at a time.”

The meltdown did not affect Gulbis, as he went to to win the match in straight sets.

Tennis - All the men ranked in the top 100 in the world rankings have entered WImbledon, the third grand slam of the season.

As of now, there are no injury withdrawals from the event and all the top 103 ranked men in the world have submitted their entries for the oldest and most prestigious grand slam event in tennis.

The field is led by 2011 champion Novak Djokovic, world no. 2 Andy Murray, seven time champion Roger Federer, and Spaniards David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal.

Estonia's Jurgen Zopp, out since October due to a back injury, is the only player who is using a protected ranking but is yet to confirm he will play in London.

France's Guillaume Rufin is next in line for a main-draw spot. if anyone pulls out with an injury.

Included in those who missed the cut is former world no. 7 Gael Monfils, who will either have to qualify or hope for a wild card from the organisers.

The tournament takes place in London from June 24 to July 7.

Tennis - 17 time grand slam champion Roger Federer continues to reach new milestones in his long chequered career.

The 31 year old reached the semi finals of the ATP Rome masters on Friday and in the process, became only the 5th player ever to cross 8,000 aces during his career on the men's tour.

As per stats provided by Chris Goldsmith (@TheTennisTalker) on Twitter, Federer now has 8004 aces in his career after hitting 7 aces in his quarter final win over Poland's Jerzy Janowicz.

Here are the top 5 leaders for most aces in a career - 

1) Goran Ivanisevic - 10183 aces

2) Andy Roddick 9074 aces

2) Pete Sampras 8858 aces

4) Ivan Ljubicic 8138 aces

5)  Roger Federer 8004 aces

The no. 4 spot certainly seems within grasp of Federer, who will meet Frenchman Benoit Paire on Saturday in the Rome semi finals.

Tennis: French Open is the 2nd Grand Slam of the year and it is played in the France's capital Paris, but any French player has not won the title since 1983. The last French player to win the French Open was Yannick Noah who won it 30 years back. And that title had also come after 37 years as before that Marcel Bernard had won it in 1946.

Noah is the only French player to win the title in the Open Era and local people are desperately looking for a new face to go beyond the semifinals. The last French player to reach the finals in Paris was Henri Leconte who reached the finals in 1988, that was 25 years back. Leconte had lost to Mats Wilander in the finals and since then no French player has succeeded to show up in the final match.

In these 25 years 4 French players have reached the semifinals of the Roland Garros. Gael Monfils in 2008, who lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal, Sebastien Grosjean in 2001, who lost to Alex Corretja of Spain, Cedri Pioline in 1998, who lost to Alex Corretja and Henri Leconte in 1992, who reached semifinals as a wildcard.

This time France has 5 players in top 32 and all of those would be seeded in the event. But there could be one unseeded French player who would cause a threat to all the seeded players. And that player is world no. 36 Benoit Paire.

The 6-foot-5, 24-year-old player from France has been in a good form recently and reached his highest career ranking in April. The Avignon resident has also caused few upsets in Rome. He defeated Argentina's world no. 7 Juan Martin Del Petro in the last 16 of Rome and then humiliated Marcel Granollers of Spain in the Quarterfinals with a scoreline of 6-1, 6-0.

Paire has lost to Rafael Nadal twice this season and both of the times, though he lost in the straight sets, he was able to take atleast one of the sets in the tie-break.

Paire will take on Roger Federer of Switzerland in the semifinals of the Rome Masters today (18-5-2013) and he may surprise people with his performance against the Swiss Maestro.

Since turning professional in 2007, Paire has not been able to win a single ATP title but success could just be around the corner for the French player. He has been able to reach the finals of two ATP events. One of those was earlier this year when he lost in the finals of Montpellier ATP 250 tournament in his home country where he lost to his compatriot Richard Gasquet and the other one was in Belgrade last year when he lost in the finals against Andres Seppi of Italy.

Having a 18-14 record in ATP tournaments this year, we may see this player going up in the rankings and getting attention of the people in his home country grand slam after showing some appreciable performance in Rome.

CENTRALE Start 12:00 noon
[1] Serena Williams (USA) v [Q] Simona Halep (ROU)
[3] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) v [7] Sara Errani (ITA)
[6] Tomas Berdych (CZE) v [5] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
Benoit Paire (FRA) v [2] Roger Federer (SUI)
[1] Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) v [5] Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

SUPERTENNIS ARENA Start 1:30 pm
Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Shuai Peng (CHN) v [2] Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)
[6] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) v Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)
[1] Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) v Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)/ Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)

Tennis - Former world no. 20 Alisa Kleybanova is through to the semi finals of the ITF $10K event in Landisville, PA - her fist tournament since March 2012.

The Russian was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2011 and after recuperating for a year battling the disease, she made a comeback in Indian Wells last year as a wild card, winning a round. But realised her body was not ready for such high level competition.

Now, Kleybanova made her comeback at this low level event in order to maintain her protected world ranking of 222, which she can use in the coming months to enter bigger events.

The Russian won 3 matches in qualifying here and three more in the main draw to reach the last four at this ITF event, where there are no ball boys or line judges - a far cry from the grand slams and WTA events she is used to competing in.

 Kleybanova has not dropped a set this week

Quarter Final Results - 

Brooke AUSTIN (USA) [6] beat Maria-Fernanda ALVAREZ-TERAN (BOL) [1] 6-1, 6-1
Natalie PLUSKOTA (USA) [7] beat  Nika KUKHARCHUK (RUS) [3] 6-2, 6-2
Alisa KLEYBANOVA (RUS) beat Sonja MOLNAR (CAN) 6-1, 7-6
Hiroko KUWATA (JPN) beat Elisabeth FOURNIER (CAN) [8] 6-3, 6-3

Tennis - Very soon, the debate on whether Rafael Nadal getting a seeding bump at the French Open may seem just get redundant.

After missing seven months due to an injury lay off and dropping to no. 5 in the rankings, Nadal has made a stunning comeback - winning 5 of 7 events he has played in. And on Friday as Nadal advanced to the semi finals of the Italian Open in Rome and Novak Djokovic was bundled out, Nadal moved ahead of the Serb in the year-to-date race points.

While Djokovic continues to remain world no. 1, since the rankings are based on results over the past 52 weeks, Djokovic will need to defend a lot of points the rest of this year while Nadal did not play after Wimbledon in 2012.

Nadal will move to no. 4 in the world rankings as well if he manages to win the title in Rome this week. Nadal takes on Tomas Berdych in the semi finals in Rome on Saturday.

tennis - Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro will be hoping for some divine intervention in order to regain full fitness ahead of the French Open which kicks off in Paris next week.

The world no. 7 del Potro has returned to Argentina Friday night on the advice of his doctors due to a respiratory illness. DelPotro withdrew from the ATP event in Portugal but did play this week in Rome but lost early.

According to potro's camp, the Argentine suffered a decline in 'physical and respiratory capacity' due to the rest taken to recover from a bronchial spasm.

So far, there has been no comment on whether he will return from Argentina to play in Paris. Potro had met the Pope in the Vatican earlier this week as well.

The French Open begins on May 26th.

Tennis - After earlier than usual exits in masters series events in Madrid and Rome, many people are writing off world no. 1 Novak Djokovic's chances in Paris. Djokovic was expected to be the biggest threat to Rafael Nadal in Paris after beating the Spaniard in the Monte Carlo final. But since then, Nadal has gone from strength to strength while Djokovic seems to be struggling with confidence.

But the world no.1 says he believes he can win the title in Paris, the only grand slam missing from his resume.

Speaking after his loss to Tomas Berdych in the quarter finals in Rome on Friday, Djokovic commented, "It’s not the result I was hoping for. On the other hand, I’m positive I will continue playing better and better as the days go by.  I will take some time off. I will try to get ready for Paris, which is the most important event of the year for me. I’m really looking forward to that. I know I can play well on clay but I shouldn’t allow myself to have drops during the match. Hopefully it won’t happen in Roland Garros.

“I believe that I can go all the way. It’s a very long tournament and two weeks. I don’t want to make any predictions. It’s not necessary. I need to take it step by step. I need to get ready and practise more, so hopefully I will be in top shape for Paris.”

“I always have high expectations for myself, so it’s not easy to lose. But you congratulate the opponent who was brave enough and took his chances. He won deservedly, so I’m moving on. He has been just behind the Top 4 for quite a few years. He is one of the contenders to win Grand Slam titles. He has won against the big players in Grand Slams. He won against me in the semi-finals at Wimbledon a few years ago, [beat] Roger [Federer] and pushed Andy [Murray] a few times. He’s able to play big matches. He has proven that on several occasions in the past. He is a very dangerous player on any surface with a serve like that.”

Tennis - The world no. 1 pairing of Mike and Bob Bryan have reached the semi finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The American twins defeated Spaniards David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-5 to move into the last four and now are two wins away from winning the title for the third time.

The Bryans will meet fifth seeds Max Mirnyi and Horia Tecau, who upset third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6(5), 6-4 in another quarter final on Friday.

The sixth seeded Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna reached the semi finals without having to hit a ball as their opponents Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepaanek gave them a walkover. Berdych cited muscle fatigue as the reason for him withdrawing. The Czech played a long three setter with world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in the singles on Friday and won to reach the singles semi finals on Saturday.

The Indians will meet Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky, who beat second seeded Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 1-6, 6-4, 10-6.

S Gonzalez / S Lipsky defeats (2) M Granollers / M Lopez 16 64 10-6 Match Stats 

M Mirnyi / H Tecau defeats (3) R Lindstedt / D Nestor 76(5) 64 Match Stats

(1) B Bryan / M Bryan defeats D Marrero / F Verdasco 64 75 

Tennis - After a couple of weeks with early losses, the second seeds Nadia Petrova and Katrina Srebotnik seem to be back in the nick of things. The Russian and Slovenina duo easily defeated the pairing of Jelena Jankovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to move into the semi finals of the WTA Italian Open in Rome.

Petrova/ Srebotnik won 6-2, 6-1 and will meet the unseeded duo of Su-Wie Hseih and Shuai Peng, who beat Dominka Cibulkova and Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-4 in another quarter final.

The other semi final will see top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci meet the unseeded duo Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova.

DOUBLES - QUARTERFINALS

S Hsieh / S Peng (TPE/CHN) d D Cibulkova / M Niculescu (SVK/ROU) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 4 | 
[2] N Petrova / K Srebotnik (RUS/SLO) d J Jankovic / M Lucic-Baroni (SRB/CRO) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 1 |

Not much separated the two men when play got underway, as they were both solid and thorough behind their service games. Janowicz did however have opportunities to break the Federer serve early on in the set but was unable to convert. At 4-5 Federer, the Polish player"s errors caught up with him after a 9 shot rally. The Swiss had his first break point in the opening set point which came in the form of a set point. The former world number 1 did not let the chance get passed him following an exciting cat and mouse at the net between him and his opponent. He struck a forehand into the open court and claimed the 1 set lead 6-4.

Quick on his feet in the second set, Janowicz broke Federer in the opening game of the set. The 22 year old kept to his all-court game and soon led 3-1. When serving to level the match at 5-4, a situation he (Janowicz ) had never faced before against Federer - since this is their first meeting, Janowicz obviously felt the pressure of the moment. He tightened, with his forehand still producing costly errors. He then served 2 double faults; and after saving a break point, Janowicz was caught on the back foot during a game-changing exchange. Federer got back on serve at 5 games a piece. Bravely, Janowicz saved 2 match points to force a second set breaker, much to the amazement of the Italian crowd. Federer though, got himself ahead early in the breaker, emerging on the favourable end of their key points. The second seed won 6-4 7-6(2) to make the last 4 in Rome. He finished the match with 26 winners to 13 errors, while Janowicz finished with 29 to 26. ]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 00:18:30 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Roger-Federer-fends-off-Jerzy-Janowiczs-hot-form-to-reach-last-4-articolo10019.html TENNIS: Roger Federer fends off Jerzy Janowicz;s hot form to reach last 4 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS---WTA-Rome-Victoria-Azarenka-edges-Sam-Stosur-in-three-sets-to-rech-Semi-finals--articolo10018.html

Internazionali BNL d'Italia

It's down to the last 4 standing in Rome at the 2013 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. While defending Champion Maria Sharapova decided to withdraw due to sickness, the other two biggest favorite to take the title found a way to the semi-finals. Victoria Azarenka had the most dangerous opponent, facing 2011 Us Open Champion and former Roland Garros finalist Samantha Stosur. In the most anitcipated women's match of the day, Vika had the better start taking the first set 6-4. But the Australian's reaction was vehement, with the World No.10 dominating the second fraction winning 6-1 and sending the match to a decider. Despite poor success on clay in 2013 Azarenka was the one who stepped into the court full of confidence, hitting full power and taking the set 6-3 to score a final 6-4 1-6 6-3 victory. Tomorrow in the semis Vika will take on home favorite Sara Errani, who has only won 1 of their previous 6 meetings.

On the other side of the draw Serena Williams, who only lost two games against Suarez Navarro today, will face tournament's surprise Simona Halep. 

Tennis - Former world no. 3 Ivan Ljubicic seems to be in demand as a coach in the tennis world.

Last week, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis revealed that he had asked Ljubicic to be his coach but the Croatian declined and instead recommended that Baghdatis work with Zjelko Krajan as his coach. Baghdatis did agree to the suggestion and hired  Krajan, who earlier coached Dinara Safina, Dominika Cibulkova and Laura Robson.

Now, reports coming in suggest that Canadian Milos Roanic is also considering Ljubicic to be his coach. Roanic recently split with his coach of two years Galo Blanco.

Ljubicic was in Raonic’s box for the Canadian’s first-round loss to Philip Kohlschreiber this week in Rome. Raonic’s camp says that process for a new coach is ongoing and confirmed that Ljubicic is a candidate.

Ljubicic peaked at no. 3 in the world rankings and quit the game last year.

Tennis - Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi have been two of the biggest showmen in American tennis in the Open era. But there seems to be no love lost between the two.

In his new autobiography which released earlier this week, Connors does not have some very nice things to say about Agassi.

“Tennis gave Agassi everything—his fame, his money, his reputation, even his current wife—and he went on to knock it in his book. All that playing up to the fans who provided him with an exceptional living—it was a bluff. For me tennis was all about standing out there and being honest, not pretending to be something I wasn’t. People admire Agassi for fighting his way back after dropping down the rankings in 1997. I get that. But you can also look at it like this. He should have never allowed himself to sink so low. He had a huge talent but when things got tough for a while, he put his head in his hands and let it beat him.”

Connors' book has raised several controversies. He also revealed in the book that his then-fiance Chris Evert had an abortion when they were together without letting Evert know that he spoke about the incident in his book.

Tennis - The match between Rafael Nadal and Ernests Gulbis did not end on the tennis courts in Rome on Thursday.

The two exchanged in some volleys in the press conference as well.

Gulbis made a comment in his press conference that he thought he was the better player, "I thought I was the better player in the match and also in the second and third sets but he is the champion and well, I lost against him in Indian Wells when I also thought I played better than him. He is solid and he didn't do anything special and I made mistakes and so he won.”

Nadal hit back at the Latvian in his press conference and said he was the better player, and that was vindicated by the scoreline.

“Tennis is not like football where you score a goal and you stay back and you can win the match. In tennis you play every point and not only, normally but not always, the best player wins and if you understand that the best player is him. If you hit as hard as you can and hit every ball at 216 [kilometers per hour] or 220 and then that means being the best player then perhaps he was the best player.

"For me the best player is to try and find solutions against the other player and when I served for the second set and I lost and also in the third and I still was fighting and I found solutions so the best player won. Gulbis is a fantastic player and he needs to pace himself a little more and he asked too many times to the umpire to look at the ball and I never do that. I don’t like this attitude on court but everyone is free and he needs to be a little cool.” 

Gulbis' forthright comments have made him an interviewers delight but he has often found himself on the backfoot with fellow players with some of the comments he has made.

Tennis: Spain's Rafael Nadal defeated his fellow country and world no. 4 David Ferrer in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Nadal is a 6-time winner of the tournament and defending champion as well.

First set took almost an hour, in which both players started from where they had left in Madrid. Ferrer had taken the first set against Nadal in Madrid and Nadal had to take the second set in tie-break after coming back from one break down. The King of Clay saved 6 break points in the first set and availed the only break point that he got, to take the first set 6-4.

Ferrer raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set as he broke Nadal twice. Nadal got one break back and tried to get things levelled but Ferrer successfully took the second set 6-4 and forced the match into a decider.

The world no. 5 again became very strong on his serve in the third set and refused to give any break of serve. After saving four break points and breaking his compatriot twice, Nadal took the set 6-2 and booked his spot in the last 4.

This was Nadal's 19th career win over Ferrer. He has now beaten Ferrer 3 times this season and second time in two weeks.

The 26-year-old Mallorcan would now face Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych in the semifinals, who defeated world no. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Tennis - World no. 2 Maria Sharapova has pulled out of the WTA Italian Open in Rome on Friday due to illess. According to reports, Sharapova is suffering from a very bad cold and she did not want to make it worse with the French Open only ten days away.

Sharapova's withdrawal was a huge disappointment for local fans as she was due to face local heroine Sara Errani. Errani is now through to the semi-finals and she will meet the winner of the match between Victoria Azarenka and Samantha Stosur.

Sharapova tweeted on Friday morning,  ''I'm sorry for having to withdraw from the tournament this morning. Didn't recover after being sick last week and it got me again last night.''

In unrelated news, it was Sharapova'sboyfriend Grigor Dimitrov's birthday on Thursday and some fans online were wondering if Sharapova partied too much on the occasion causing her to fall ill.

Sharapova had won this event the last two years in a row and also won the French Open title last year.

The French Open begins on May 26th in Paris.

Tennis - Romanian Simona Halep is through to the biggest semi final of her career as she reached the last four at the WTA Italian Open in Rome.

On Saturday, the Romanian, who had to qualify for the main draw here, upset former world no. 1 Jelena Jankovic in a dramatic three set marathon and will now meet world no. 1 Serena Williams in the last four on Saturday.

Halep has beaten Daniela Hantuchova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Roberta Vinci and now Jankovic to make the semis here.

Halep also saved two match points to outlast the Serbian 46 60 75 for her biggest result to date.

Speaking after her win, Halep commented, "I changed my strategy after the first set - I knew I just had nothing to lose. She had a lot of chances to win the match at the end but I just believed in myself and tried to enjoy it."

Williams leads their head to head 1-0 but is not underestimating her opponent on Saturday. Serena commented, "Usually players of that height don't serve as well - she has so much power on her serve, that's actually really awesome. 

Halep will return to the top 40 in the world rankings next week after this result.

Tennis - Frenchman Benoit Paire assured himself of a seeding at the French Open - his first in a grand slam - as he reached his first ever singles semi final in an ATP Masters series event on Friday.

36th ranked Paire dropped just one game to beat Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour to reach the last four at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

Paire, known for his flamboyant playing style and use of drop shots, will meet Roger Federer or Jerzy Janowicz, who play later on Friday.

Speaking after the win, Paire commented,"I felt good on the court. After I started with a couple of faults, I felt good on court and it was a perfect match. [This season] I am making the progress we want with my coach. When you see the match with Del Potro – it was the best match. And against Granollers, the same."

24 year old Paire reached the finals in Montpellier earlier this year and was also a semi-finalist in Chennai.

The Frenchman has a huge following among tennis fans and in the online tennis community. 

Tennis - Injury concerns continue to mount for the top players ahead of the French Open, which kicks off in Paris in barely one week.

World no. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska is the latest player to have fitness concerns. The Pole has pulled out of the WTA event in Brussels next week, which she had won last year.

The Pole has said a shoulder injury is the reason and that she is worried about her fitness for the French Open and Wimbledon.

In a statement released, Radwanska commented, "It's been a while since I suffered from the shoulder injury and the pain has only worsened since the start of the clay season. Moreover, I am worried about Roland Garros and the grass-court season."

Radwanska has struggled on the clay court stretch, losing early in both Madrid and Rome. Even if she makes it to Paris, she will be without much mach fitness or confidence on the clay.

Tennis - Spain's Marcel Granollers is used to playing in the latter rounds of grand slams and masters series events. But that's usually on the doubles side. The Spaniard is ranked no. 4 in the world in doubles. This week, at the ATP Italian Open in Rome, the Spaniard reached his first ever quarter final in a Masters Series event. Granollers is one of the few players to be ranked in the top 40 in the world in singles and doubles,

On Friday, Granollers lost to Benoit Paire in the quarter finals of the singles event but he is happy with his efforts this week.

Speaking to the ATPWorldTour.com site, Granollers comments, "Doubles has helped me to have good results in singles, especially in the beginning when singles wasn’t going so well for me. Playing doubles at a high level, winning matches, gives you confidence and luckily it’s helped me in singles over the past few years. The idea is to have good results in both. I see myself more as a singles player than doubles, but I like doubles a lot. Singles is my priority, but now with Marc, things are going well and we’d like to keep it going.”

"It’s good to see other singles players do well in doubles. For example, Fernando is a great singles player and now he’s doing very well in doubles too. He and David are striving to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and this is very good for tennis.  The bad side is that sometimes doubles can last a long time and the next day you feel tired. Doubles isn’t as demanding as singles, but it means you’re spending more time on court. But I hope I always have this problem, playing doubles one day and singles the next, because it means you’re winning and that’s the most important thing.” 

The 6th seed missed out on a break point in the third game of the deciding set but converted his second shortly after a 15 shot rally. En route to consolidating the break, Berdych fended off the pressure after being pushed to deuce thrice in the fourth game. All eyes were on Berdych at the conclusion of the 9th game when Djokovic held serve for 4-5. The big-serving Czech had 3 match points but saw them all go begging following a string of errors. Berdych delivered the tournament"s biggest upset by beating Djokovic when he converted his fourth match point. He won 2-6 7-5 6-4 after 2 hours and 22 minutes. ]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 16:27:05 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Tomas-Berdych%286%29-dishes-the-tournaments-biggest-upset-by-beating-Novak-Djokovic-articolo10007.html TENNIS: Tomas Berdych(6) dishes the tournament;s biggest upset by beating Novak Djokovic http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Serena-Williams-reaches-semifinals-in-Rome-articolo10006.html

Tennis: World no. 1 Serena Williams took just 56 minutes on court to book her spot in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia Tennis Championship in Rome as she defeated Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.

The only meeting between the two players was at the 2010 Australian Open, three years ago when Serena Williams had beaten Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-0.

Although Suarez Navarro is a clay court specialist but the world no. 1 looked in supreme form who is coming after winning the Mutua Madrid Open title last week.

The 31-year-old Serena Williams broke her world no. 22 opponent twice in the first set and faced only one break point which she saved. She took the first set 6-2.

The 15-time Grand Slam champion completely humiliated her opponent in the second set as she gave her no chance and no game. She broke her three times in the second set and such was her dominance that she did not face a single break point.

Serena will now face the winner of Simona Halep of Romania and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia for a place in the finals.

Tennis - Sara Errani will climb to no. 5 in the world rankings next week - her highest ever - making her only the second Italian to make it to the top 5 on the women's side after Francesca Schiavone.

Errani advanced to the quarter finals of the Italian Open in Rome on Friday when her opponent, the world no. 12 Maria Kirilenko retired due to an injury,

Errani was leading Kirilenko, 63 20, when the  Russian quit due to a left knee injury. Errani will meet world no. 2 Maria Sharapova in Friday's quarters.

Sharapova defeated 16th seed Sloane Stephens 62 61 as she hopes to win the title her for the third year in a row.

Speaking after the match, Sharapova commented, "I expected a tough match from Sloane - obviously she had a great start to the year, getting to the semifinals of the Australian Open, so I know she's capable of playing really good tennis. It was important for me to start well today and finish the match off on a good note too."

Errani commented, "I played a good match in singles and we won in doubles too, so it's been a really good day. In the singles we played a very nice first set, then she unfortunately had to retire because of her knee. But I'm very happy to be in the quarterfinals here in Rome. It's a very special feeling for me."

Sharapova leads Errani 4-0 in head to head.

Tennis - World no. 3 Victoria Azarenka will take on former US Open champion Samantha Stosur in the quarter finals of the WTA Italian Open in Rome on Friday.

Azarenka, who is looking to get some matches under her belt as she missed two months due to injury, advanced when her opponent Japan's Ayumi Morita retired with Azarenka leading 61 20.

Azarenka commented, "Your opponent getting hurt is never the best way to win your matches. I hope it's nothing serious and that she can continue playing again very soon, maybe next week or something."

Stosur, seeded no. 9 this week, used her clay court experience to defeat 8th seed Petra Kvitova 75 26 61. This was the Australian's first win over Kvitova in five career meetings.

Azarenka leads Stosur 7-0 in head to head but Azarenka is not taking the Australian lightly. "She's a very high quality player and a Grand Slam champion. She's always a very difficult opponent for me but I'm looking forward to it. I'll have to play my best against her."

Tennis - The world no. 1 pairing of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci have won their 29th match in a row on clay with a win over Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi finals of the doubles event at the WTA Italian Open in Rome.

In second round action, second seeds Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik scored a 62 75 win over Katalin Marosi and Anna Tatishvili. The second seeds had lost their opening matches in their previous two events.

IN the quarter finals, they will meet  Jelena Jankovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke 16 63 12-10 for their second win over the duo in as many weeks.

Former chmapions Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai upset fourth seeds Liezel Huber and María José Martínez Sánchez, 76(6) 61. 

DOUBLES - SECOND ROUND
D Cibulkova / M Niculescu (SVK/ROU) d L Raymond / L Robson (USA/GBR) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 4 | 
S Hsieh / S Peng (TPE/CHN) d [4] L Huber / M Martinez Sanchez (USA/ESP) | 7 - 6 (6) | 6 - 1 | 
J Jankovic / M Lucic-Baroni (SRB/CRO) d [7] A Groenefeld / K Peschke (GER/CZE) | 1 - 6 | 6 - 3 | 12 - 10 | 
[2] N Petrova / K Srebotnik (RUS/SLO) d K Marosi / A Tatishvili (HUN/GEO) | 6 - 2 | 7 - 5 | 

DOUBLES - QUARTERFINALS
[1] S Errani / R Vinci (ITA/ITA) d [6] B Mattek-Sands / S Mirza (USA/IND) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 3 | 
A Kudryavtseva / A Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d A Hlavackova / P Martic (CZE/CRO) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 1 |

Tennis - The surprise pairing of Czech Davis Cup teammates Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych are through to the quarter finals of the ATP Italian Open in Rome.

The Czechs scored an upset win over fourth seeds Julien Rojer and Aisam Ul-Huq Qureshi 7-5, 6-4 on Thrusday to move into the last eight.

Meanwhile, world no. 1 pair Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan defeated local wild cards Paolo Lorenzi and Potito Starace 6-1, 6-4. The Bryans have won this title twice on their careers and have already won 5 titles this season.

In other matches, fifth seeds Max Mirnyi and Horia Tecau beat Lukas Rosol and Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-1 and sixth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna beat Dominic Inglot and Jonathan Marray 6-2, 6-3.

T Berdych / R Stepanek defeats (4) A Qureshi / J Rojer 75 64 
(1) B Bryan / M Bryan defeats P Lorenzi / P Starace 61 64 
(6) M Bhupathi / R Bopanna defeats D Inglot / J Marray 62 63
D Marrero / F Verdasco defeats (7) A Peya / B Soares 63 76(4)
(5) M Mirnyi / H Tecau defeats L Rosol / V Troicki 75 61 

Tennis - There aren't too many players in the top 50 that Roger Federer has not played in his career. But on Friday, the 31 year old Federer will play 22 year old Jerzy Janowicz, of Poland, for the first time, in the quarter finals of the Italian Open in Rome.

On Thursday, the 17 time grand slam champion Federer dismissed Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-2 to move into the last eight. Federer and Simon had split their four previous meetings on tour.

Janowicz, who broke out by reaching the finals of the Paris Masters last year, beat a top 10 player for the second time this week as he upset ninth seed Richard Gasquet 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Federer commented after his win, "He obviously has a big game, unconventional shot selection at times, but really fun to watch. Difficult match-up. He’s got some say clearly, some say, for the outcome of the match because he’s got that big of a game and I’ve got to be careful. I hope I can make it tough for him to beat me. Myself, I’m going to focus on my own game. Make sure I get through my service games and then hope I can create some opportunities on return."

Federer has never won the title here in Rome.

Tennis - Latvian Ernests Gulbis was beaten in the third round of the Italian Open in Rome on Thursday but felt that he was the better player in the match. Gulbis lost to Nadal 6-1, 5-7, 4-6 to the seven time French Open champion.

The outspoken Gulbis comments in her presser on Friday, "I thought I was the better player in the match and also in the second and third sets but he is the champion. I lost against him in Indian Wells when I also thought I played better than him. He comes up with very solid play on the important points. He didn't do anything special. I made the mistakes but you have to beat the guy. He doesn't give away anything for free.”

Gulbis also said that he believed he was going to be the toughest non-seed in Paris, “I am confident going into Paris and I think I'm the toughest unseeded player.”

Gulbis has climbed from no. 136 to the top 50 in the rankings this season.

Tennis - The quarter finals for the men and women are scheduled to take place on Friday at the Italian Open in Rome. Here is the complete schedule of play for Friday.

CENTRALE Start 12:00 noon 
[1] Serena Williams (USA) v Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) v [6] Tomas Berdych (CZE)
[4] David Ferrer (ESP) v [5] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
[7] Sara Errani (ITA) v [2] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
Jerzy Janowicz (POL) v [2] Roger Federer (SUI)

SUPERTENNIS ARENA Start 12:00 noon
Benoit Paire (FRA) v Marcel Granollers (ESP)
[Q] Simona Halep (ROU) v Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
[9] Samantha Stosur (AUS) v [3] Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
[6] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) v Tomas Berdych (CZE)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE)

PIETRANGELI Start 12:00 noon
[3] Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) v [5] Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)
[1] Bob Bryan (USA)/Mike Bryan (USA) v David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Shuai Peng (CHN)
[WC] Jelena Jankovic (SRB)/ Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) v [2] Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Tennis - Three time former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker is looking to expand his business interests in India.

Becker plans to get into the areas of sports academy and fashion items in the emerging Indian market.

The German plans to set up a Becker Private Office in Mumbai with a local partner. Becker was in New Delhi on Thursday and earlier today tweeted that he was on his way to Bangalore.

Becker commented, "India is no longer an emerging country. It has arrived and there is a huge potential. We are working on a few projects and by the fall of this year, we will have Becker Private Office in Mumbai. I have a range of business interests, from cars to perfumes; from tennis equipment to clothing and sports centres. Setting up of sports centre is definitely on the agenda."

Granollers took the opening set 6-4, but the French man made quick work of leveling the match by winning the second set 6-1. Then, the Spaniard fell by a break of serve in the 5th game of the deciding set. But it was soon game on again when he retrieved the single break courtesy of a string of errors in a poor 6th game for Chardy. After 2 hours of play, the players had split 10 games evenly between them in the ongoing third set - neither one owning convincing momentum. An unforseen disappointing end to the match occurred when Chardy served a double fault on Granollers" first match point. Granollers prevailed 6-4 1-6 7-5. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 21:06:41 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Marcel-Granollers-enjoying-a-decent-run-in-Rome-articolo9997.html TENNIS: Marcel Granollers enjoying a decent run in Rome http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Tennis---ESPN-to-pay-%24770-million-for-US-Open-rights-for-11-years-articolo9996.html

Tennis - ESPN has signed an 11 year deal, worth more than $770 million and has procured the rights for the complete US Open tennis grand slam.

The deal, which goes into effect in 2015, will be announced in a formal pres conference later today. This will be the first time since 1968 that CBS will not broadcast the event.

ESPN's rights include TV Everywhere streaming rights. Matches will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and broadband service ESPN3,

The US Open is the final grand slam of the season and begins on the last Monday of August every year.

There have been several issues in the past few years over coverage of the US Open in the United States. But with ESPN coming in, that problem should now be put to rest.

Tennis - 28 year old American Brian Baker has decided to pull out of the ATP event in Nice and the French Open later this month.

The American, who won the Nice title last year, underwent knee surgery in January and has not played since. He only returned to playing tennis a few weeks ago and while he says his rehab is going well, he is not ready to comeback yet.

Blogging for the USA Today. Baker commented - 

Unfortunately, I was forced to pull out of Nice and the French Open a few days ago. Although necessary, this move was upsetting because of the great memories I experienced last year.

Nice is kind of where everything got started for me and my entire family (plus aunts, uncles, girlfriend, and Nashville friends) accompanied me at the French. It's also never a good feeling when you can't defend the points you accumulated from the year before and know that your ranking will drop significantly.

However, I am very confident that I will pick my ranking back up when I return this year. I'm sure my ranking will be better than it was the last time I came back from injury (no ranking)!

My rehab is finally starting to pick up again after dealing with a sore back for about two weeks. If there are no more surprises, I'd love to be practicing normally in a week or so. My patience is running on fumes. I see Dr. Elrod this week so hopefully he will give me the green light to start regular training. If I get the green light, I will head down to Florida shortly to get some good practice weeks in with Todd Martin. I'll spend several weeks this year down in Florida working with Todd, and feel good about how he can improve my game.

Tennis Internazionali BNL d'Italia

Another surprising result could have come from Rome today. Ernests Gulbis was very close to take out defending champion and clay courts "King" Rafael Nadal at the 2013 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. The Latvian played an incredible first set of tennis, taking immediately the lead and quickly getting to 5-0. Gulbis was hitting every shot full power, catching the lines and dictating every rally. There's was nothing Nadal could do to stop his opponent. Ernests closed the first set 6-1, collecting 16 winners, including 6 aces, whereas Nadal only was able to hit 3 winners in the whole set.

In the second the momentum shifted in Rafa's direction. The Spaniard was able to prolong the rallies, thus forcing Gulbis to produce more unforced errors. As Nadal started to step into the court with his forehand, Gulbis lost the brilliance that let him dominate the first set. Rafael went ahead 5-3. But right when a decider was around the corner, Gulbis found his best tennis back, breaking the Spaniard and saving three set points when serving down 4-5. However the World No.5 wasn’t yet ready to give up and conquered the set 7-5 with Gulbis crashing a forehand into the net.

From that moment the match went to the path of predictability, with Nadal reducing the unforced errors and finding a way to send back the full power shots sent by his opponent. One ‘Vamos’ after the other, the Spaniard took control of the match taking a 4-2 lead. But Gulbis wasn’t done yet, and fought back to take the break and step back into the match at 4-4. It was the last come back for the Latvian, who gave up the victory to Nadal 1-6 7-5 6-4 when his last forehand finished out.

Tennis - World no. 1 Novak Djokovic said that he is hoping good friend and world no. 2 Andy Murray will be fit enough to play in the French Open in Paris. The second grand slams of the season kicks off in ten days.

Murray pulled out of the Italian Open in Rome on Thursday in the middle of his second round match due to a back injury and told reporters that he would be surprised if he was able to play in Paris.

Speaking in Rome, Djokovic, who beat Murray in the finals in Melbourne earlier this year, commented, "It would be a pity if he doesn't play. He's one of the top players, it is a loss for any tournament for him to be missing. I don't know the level of his injury, he is the best one to know how he feels. But perhaps he will have time to recover, we will know more in the next few days. There is the most value in the Grand Slams, that's where you want to make your mark and play your best."

Djokovic is through to the quarter finals in Rome.

Gulbis opened serve to begin the match and before he knew it, he had 3 opportunities to break the Nadal serve in the following game. When Nadal"s forehand produced an error at 15-40, it granted Gulbis the break. Gulbis was fired up when he struck a blistering forehand shot to end a 19 shot rally; he consolidated his break for 3-0. In one of the best performances of his career yet, Gulbis raced to lead 5-0 and manufactured a set point on the Nadal serve in the 6th game. The Latvian remained solid on serve and kept his focus when Nadal registered his first game of the set. He won the opening set 6-1 in 34 minutes, with 16 winners to his name - compared to his opponent"s 3 throughout the set.

The excitement and thrill continued in the second set. Both Gulbis and Nadal"s ball-striking was as inspiring as it was a pleasure to watch. Nadal got a break of serve in the 8th game of the set, and was broken when serving to level the match at 4-5. The Spaniard had 3 set points on the Gulbis serve in the following game but the Lat held his nerve for the hold. Nadal"s experience served his cause well at the tail-end of the second set; he won the set 7-5. There were 2 consecutive breaks of serve in the 6th and 7th games of the deciding set. A spirited Gulbis drew level for 4-4 after 8 games played due to his penetrating backhand and good serving. Like the true warrior he is, Nadal overcame his toughest opponent in the tournament thus far Gulbis to win 1-6 7-5 6-4. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 20:05:07 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Rafael-Nadal-overcomes-a-spirited-Ernests-Gulbis-in-3-close-sets-articolo9993.html TENNIS: Rafael Nadal overcomes a spirited Ernests Gulbis in 3 close sets http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Tennis---Jelena-Jankvoc-needs-more-than-two-and-a-half-hours-to-beat-Li-Na-in-straight-sets-articolo9990.html

Tennis - Two time former champion Jelena Jankovic continued her resurgence of form this season by pulling off a stunning upset win over world no.5 Li Na in the third round of the WTA Italian Open in Rome.

The former world no. 1, who won in Rome in 2007 and 2008, needed more than two and a half hours to defeat the former French Open champion Li Na 7-6. 7-5 to advance to the quarter finals where she will meet Romanian Simona Halep.

The second set itself lasted 90 minutes.

Li Na commented, "I felt like I wasn't playing so badly today, it was just a really long, tough match between me and JJ,. I was trying a lot of things out there on the court today. Sometimes it was working, sometimes it didn't - but I'm still happy I was trying those things. I still have some work to do. 

"We showed a pretty good match out there. Congratulations to her for the win today."

Halep scored an upset win over 13th seed Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-4 to reach her biggest quarter final event yet.

Jankovic and Halep have split their two career meetings so far.

Tennis - World no. 1 Serena Williams scored her 21st win in a row - equaling her career best winning streak - and advanced to the quarter finals of the WTA Italian Open in Rome.

Serena scored an easy 6-0, 6-1 win over 14th seed Dominika Cibulkova, in just over an hour. The 31 year old American blasted 12 aces in the win, including a singles game with 5 aces.

Serena has won 21 matches in a row twice before in her career - in 2002 and then again in 2003. She will hope to win her 22nd in a row when she takes on Spain's Carla Suzaez Navarro in the quarters.

Serena commented after her win, "Nothing is ever perfect - I learned that last year when I felt perfect. I am still in the danger zone. I can't remember the other winning streaks, but I hope I can get to 22 and the rest of the matches that I have here," she said. "Plus seven, and Wimbledon too, so it would be dangerous to lose now."

Suarez Navarro defeated fellow Spaniard and lucky loser Lourdes Domínguez Lino, 62 63.

The Spaniard is 0-1 lifetime against Serena.

The International Tennis Federation has banned Brazilian tennis player Fernando Romboli for 8 and a half months after he was found guilty of a doping offence.

24 year old Romboli tested positive for two diuretics, furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide,which are prohibited substances.

Romboli pleaded innocent and said the drugs entered his system through a contaminated supplement that had been prescribed for him by a doctor.

The ITF says it accepted Romboli's defense and gave him a reduced penalty because there was no "significant fault or negligence."

Romboli has mostly played on the Challenger Tour in his career so far.

The ban is in effect retrospectively from 1 September 2012 and ends on 15 May 2013.

The Tennis Anti-Doping Programme is a comprehensive and internationally recognised drug-testing programme that applies to all players competing at Grand Slam tournaments and events sanctioned by the ITF, ATP, and WTA. 

Tennis - Bernard Tomic's father, in the centre of a court case after he bashed up his son's practice partner, had earlier this week hinted that the 20 year old Australian may skip the French Open as he may not be mentally ready to play the tournament.

But according to Todd Woddbridge, Tennis Australia's Head of Professional Tennis, the world no. 53 Tomic has resumed training in Mote Carlo and has not made any suggestions to them that he would be skipping Paris.

Speaking to The Age, Woddbridge, who has offered his support to Tomic during this difficult time, commented, "'My understanding is that Bernard is practising in Monte Carlo, so at this stage there is no change to what you have heard or read so far. I think the French Open is still on his schedule and, I'd expect that he would be there. It's been a difficult time for everybody, and Bernard not playing Rome may have been a reasonable thing in the end, to just give him some time to settle down, and then focus on the tennis.

''It's an important time of year, with two grand slams in the next six or seven weeks, and I think everybody would be encouraging Bernard to get along to the French. We all know that clay is not his best [surface], but it's also important for playing well at Wimbledon, just getting matches. Bernie's fine … In some ways he's always been able to deal well with pressure.''

Tomic pulled out of this week's  Italian Open in Rome after details of his father's arrest made the headlines.

Tennis - When Andy Murray hinted yesterday that he may pull out of the French Open, many suspected that one of the reasons for him to do so would be to ensure he is fit and ready for Wimbledon rather than risking his fitness in Paris. Now his mother Judy Murray has confirmed that Andy would prioritize Wimbledon over the French Open.

Murray has never done well on clay in the past and was a finalist at Wimbledon last year  and also won the Olympic singles gold medal which was played at WImbledon. He is hoping to become the first British man since Fred Perry in the 1930s to win the men's singles title at WImbledon.

Speaking to BBC, Judy Murray commented, "Obviously the goal is to be in peak condition for Wimbledon. It's something to do with his back but the scan will let him see what the injury is and what needs to be done. Often you pick up niggles when you change surfaces. Each surface brings its own problems and challenges. This back issue has been rumbling for a week or so.

"It's not so easy on the clay. There is a lot more twisting and turning. He needs to be cautious and I'm sure Wimbledon will be his priority."

Murray retired during his second round match yesterday at the Italian Open in Rome against Marcel Granollers. Murray lost the first set but came from 1-4 down to win the second set in a tie breaker and then called it quits.

Tennis - Mercurial Latvian Ernests Gulbis has said in a recent interview that young players coming up need some role models who are different Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who are much more civil and gentlemen like when compared to champions in previous eras such as Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, john McEnroe and Ivan Lendl.

Speaking to CNNSI.com, Gulbis says he thinks some players need to have some more fire

"For sure, it’s too much [civility]. I respect them. Great for them. Everything works for somebody. But I miss some fire. I miss some fire that people have in boxing or basketball or hockey. People like it and it makes it more competitive. Here, it’s like, “He did a great game and I was a little bit better.” No. It’s bull—-. “S—, I won the match, I kicked his ass, he was worse than me, that’s it, go home.” That’s the attitude tennis is missing.

I think because the top guys made it like this. They started it very nice, very gentlemanlike, and everyone copies them. Young guys coming up, they only see Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] interviews, which are always picture perfect. For me, they’re boring. Not as people, but the interviews are boring. Because they give the same answers every time to the same questions every time. I want to see some kind of action, more intense."

Gulbis will have a chance to show some of his fire on Thursday when he takes on the world no. 5 Rafael Nadal who has won 5 of his 7 events after coming back from knee injury in February.

Tennis- Some of the leading young men on the ATP circuit have been featured in Men's Journal magazine.

The new issue of the magazine has a feature titles ‘Hit Squad" - which talks about young and up coming players on the men's ATP circuit.

Among those included in the feature are world no. 14 Milos Roanic, world no. 29 Grigor Dimitrov, world no. 53 Bernard Tomic, the American Harrison brothers Ryan and Christian, David Goffin and Ricardas Berankis

Dimitrov is described as. “Called ‘little Federer’ for his fluid strokes, he’s a perpetual threat, particularly on hard court, with a dangerous topspin forehand and a creative, some say restless, style of play,” writes Mark Healy.

On the Harrison brothers, the feature says, "When he was 11, Harrison met his tennis-pro dad in the finals of the Shreveport City Tournament (his father won), and they knew Ryan needed more competition. When big brother Ryan was battling Dad in the Shreveport City Tournament, nine-year-old Christian was in the stands pouring Coke on his little sister. He’s since learned to pay the game some respect, competing in his first year on the pro tour and playing doubles with Ryan.” 

That win could not have prepared him enough perhaps against the commendable effort of the French man Benoit Paire. The two players had never met before on the ATP World Tour, this marking their first meeting. Paire only needed a single break of serve to claim the opening set 6-4 to rattle the Argentine. In a must win second set, Del Potro fought to stay on serve towards a second set breaker. Paire delivered an upset in Rome by winning 6-4 7-6(3) to advance through to the next round. His confidence, varying shot-making coupled with the fact that the clay surface is not one that has always suited the Argentine"s game, willed Paire to his career best win. He is through to the Quarter Finals of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career, an achievement he ought to be proud of. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 16:43:28 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-The-tournaments-5th-seed-Juan-Martin-Del-Potro-is-knocked-out-by-Benoit-Paire-articolo9983.html TENNIS: The tournament;s 5th seed Juan Martin Del Potro is knocked out by Benoit Paire http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Kevin-Anderson-disappointingly-falls-short-yet-again-against-Tomas-Berdych-in-Rome-articolo9982.html Tennis: Anderson got a crucial early break of serve, which he would consolidate to lead 3-1 in the opening set. A determined Berdych got back on serve in the 8th game of the opening set. In familiar fashion, the South African cracked under pressure when serving to force the opening set breaker. The Czech claimed the 1 set lead by winning the set 7-5.

. Berdych broke twice in the second set (in the 6th and 8th games) to send his South African opponent packing. Anderson"s forehand had moments of brilliance in the match, and despite saving 2 match points in the 8th game of the second set, the task at hand proved too much for him eventually. Anderson finished the match with an equal number of winners as Berdych (25), but with 10 more errors for the entire match(17/7). Berdych won 7-5 6-2 to advance through to the Quarter Finals where he will play the world number one, Novak Djokovic. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 15:04:55 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Kevin-Anderson-disappointingly-falls-short-yet-again-against-Tomas-Berdych-in-Rome-articolo9982.html TENNIS: Kevin Anderson disappointingly falls short yet again against Tomas Berdych in Rome http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Novak-Djokovic-books-his-spot-in-the-Quarter-Finals-articolo9980.html Tennis: Djokovic broke the Dolgopolov serve in the fourth game of the opening set to lead 3-1. The Serbian saved a break point en route to consolidating his break. Although he produced exciting shots early in the match as per reputation, Dolgopolov struggled on serve, which ultimately cost him to trail by a double break. Djokovic served for the set at 5-1 and won the set 6-1, wrapping it up with an ace.

Dolgopolov failed to hold serve for his opening game of the second set but got on the board for 1-2 to settle in the set. Both Djokovic and Dolgopolov"s court coverage was incredible as the match progressed. But Djokovic kept denying his opponent to get back on serve in the second set. After 6 games played, the world number one led 4-2. Djokovic cruised to a straight sets 6-4 6-4 victory in the third round over Alexandr Dolgopolov. ]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 14:09:56 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Novak-Djokovic-books-his-spot-in-the-Quarter-Finals-articolo9980.html TENNIS: Novak Djokovic books his spot in the Quarter Finals http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Novak-Djokovic-beats-Dolgopolov-in-straight-sets-in-Rome-articolo9981.html

Tennis: World no. 1 Novak Djokovic reached the Quarterfinal of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome as he defeated Ukraine's Alexander Dolgopolov in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

The 2011 champion and last year's runner-up was in supreme form as he broke his opponent twice and took the set 6-1 in a no time. This was the 3rd meeting between the two players, as Djokovic had both of the previous meetings. Their last meeting was in the round of 16 of Monte Carlo Masters where Dolgopolov had managed to take the first set but here Serbian gave him no chance.

The world no. 23 tried hard in the second set and managed to hold few of his serves but Serbian was untroubled on his own serve and held all of his serves very strongly. Only one break was enough to get him through to the last 8 and put on course to third straight final here at this event.

The 25-year-old from Belgrade has been facing 6-time champion Rafael Nadal in the finals for last two years. In 2011, Djokovic handed king of clay an unexpected straight sets loss but he lost his crown last year after Nadal defeated him in straight sets. This time both players would have to face each other in the semifinals as fifth seeded Nadal is placed in Djokovic's part of the draw.

Novak Djokovic would have to face another stiff challenge in the Quarterfinals as he wants to face Rafael Nadal. He would have to get past Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych in the last 8, who enjoyed a straight sets win against South Africa's Kevin Anderson. Berdych is seeded 6th in the event. He had beaten Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2010 Wimbledon championship.

I am going to tell you a story about my first encounter with a very special tactic.

The year was 1992, and I was in Rome to attend a course for coaches at Italian Tennis Federation.

At that time (today it seems to me that the criteria are a little different), all or most of the course participants had to be (or have been) players in Series B in order to be admitted to the course.

Between us, we knew each other a little, because we played at least once in the various tournaments, and being more active players, at the end of the lessons we started training in anticipation of the Competitions Team.

In my group that year there was a player from Genoa, who was classified B1, and from whom I learned quite a bit as far as tactics go.

At first, I struggled to understand how he could have been rated so highly while having so few technical skills.

The person in question was rather short, with a low center of gravity.

He was very mobile on the court, but technically he was very poor.

His groundstrokes had a lot of topspin, but there was little power and therefore his shots lacked weight.

His serve wasn’t very good either, and his volleys and smash almost non-existent.

Sure, he was a good competitor, but was that enough?

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Federico

Tennis - Maria Sharapova, busy in Rome with the Italian Open, opened herself to the microphones of the journalists, showing a certain kindness.

"Luckily I'm here to work, otherwise I would be overweight and in red: this city is very dangerous for the food and the pocket! There are several places where I like to have dessert and creme pastries. You have to be careful!".

She also talked about her father: "We hear from each other almost every day or almost, he is involved in every aspect of my life, he knows my play better than anyone else. But now he is spending a holiday time. He says he is training to compete at Senior Olympic Games as skier."

To conclude she talked about the initiative of Mahesh Bhupathi, who wants to organize a big Asian event with the best of the world in the off-season: "I heard something about it, even if I don't know the details. Many events are moving on this direction. It's great to bring tennis in new cities, but I won't be involved in it. I could play a couple matches, but no more. The season is long and I need to recover. One of the reason for which I was always succesful in my carer it's the capacity to understand what my body needed to be always prepared."

Jerzy Janowicz surely conquered the most important victory on clay, beating a Top10 who answers to the name of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

After the match, he said: "It was the best match played on clay. I beat Tsonga, one of the best friend on the circuit (so it's explained the strong hug at the end of the match) I tried to hold from the baseline varying sometimes the play, as soon as it was possible."

TW: So is the dropshot your key to hurting opponents on clay?
"This is your opinion... it's part of my game but it's not my favourite shot, i mainly use it on grass and if I have the chance I try to adapt it to other circumstances."

TW: So is it grass your favourite surface?
"No, it's not my favourite surface. I grow up on clay and I also feel good on hardcourt and also indoor."

Tennis - World no. 4 David Ferrer moved a step closer to another clash with countryman Rafael Nadal at the ATP Italian Open in Rome.

Ferrer, who lost to Nadal in Madrid last week after being two points away from victory, scored a tough three set win over another Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 5-7, 7-5, 6-3  in nearly two and a half hours.

The win improves Ferrer's head to head record over Verdasco to 9-7

Ferrer will meet German Philipp Kohlschreiber next.  Kohlschreiber easily beat Spain’s Albert Ramos 6-4, 6-1 and the winner will meet either Nadal or Gulbis in the quarters. That match is also scheduled for Thursday.

Ferrer leads Kohlschreiber 7-3 in head to head.

Tennis - World no. 2 Andy Murray has said that the injury that forced him to pull out of his second round match at the ATP Rome Masters has been bothering him for a while now and that he wants to make sure it gets okay before playing again.

Speaking to the press, Murray commented, "I pulled out because there is a good chance I wouldn’t be playing tomorrow. We'll have to wait for Paris. I'd be very surprised if I were playing in Paris. I need to make plans and see what to do. Tonight I'll speak with the physio and come up with a plan for the next few days and then make a decision on Paris after the next five days. I'll need to take some days off and see how it settles down. I'll try and get it sorted but its been an issue for some while. So I want to make sure that it's something that I can sort out. It's not enjoyable to play now."

Murray said he may be forced to skip the French Open which begins in Paris in ten days time.

Tennis - Former US Open champion and world no. 7 Juan Martin del Potro revealed that he fulfilled a dream by meeting His Holiness Pope Francis, the first Pope from South America and also an Argentine.

Del Potro attended the Mass at the Vatican on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media about his experience, the Argentine, who is battling wrist and health issues in recent weeks, commented, "It was an incredible experience with Pope Francis, something that I'll never forget. It was a dream come true for a guy like me. It was an unforgettable moment. I was very nervous before meeting him, to be able to congratulate him and talk with him. He was nice. Everybody knows he is very humble. Today was a day that I'll remember for ever."

"I wanted to meet him from the moment he got elected Pope. I said it in Indian Wells. This moment was possible thanks to arrangements in Buenos Aires and to the ATP. It also coincided that I had a day without a singles match.”

"There was a very nice moment when he was talking to all of us, all of his audience, and he turned his face, saw me and raised his thumb. He recognised me and that surprised me. We talked for a few seconds. He told me that he knew I was playing at the tournament in Rome, he blessed me and wished me the best. I congratulated him and thanked him for the opportunity to talk to him.”

Tennis - The surprise doubles pairing this week of Thomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, both from the Czech Republic, are through to the second round of the doubles event at the ATP Rome Masters Series event.

The duo, who are Dvais Cup teammates, beat Italian duo D Bracciali / A Seppi in straight sets.

In other doubles matches on Wednesday, second seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez scored a 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-8 win over Nenad Zimonjic and Julien Benneteau while third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Daniel Nestor beat  F Cipolla / F Volandri in straight sets.

Eighth seeds Jurgen Melzer and Leander Paes were beaten by Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky.

Doubles
(3) R Lindstedt / D Nestor defeats F Cipolla / F Volandri 64 63 
P Lorenzi / P Starace defeats M Baghdatis / J Del Potro 63 26 10-8 
(2) M Granollers / M Lopez defeats J Benneteau / N Zimonjic 64 67(4) 10-8 
S Gonzalez / S Lipsky defeats (8) J Melzer / L Paes 76(4) 76(3)  
T Berdych / R Stepanek defeats D Bracciali / A Seppi 64 62 

Tennis - Former French Open champion Li Na has moved into the third round of the WTA Italian Open with a win over fellow Chinese Zheng Jie in straight sets 63 61. Li Na had reached the finals here last year and is hoping to get some clay court wins under her belt before Paris after losing in the first round in Madrid last week.

Speaking after her win, Li Na commented, "It's always tough to play someone from the same country - we were in the national team together, and we trained and practiced for a long time together. It's like being twins on the tour, and it's tough to fight against each other on the court. But I was really happy I could beat her today."

Meanwhile seventh seed Sara Errani needed nearly three hours and nine matchpoints to finally outlast American Christina McHale 75 57 62.

Errani commented after her win, "It was a very tough match - it was difficult because she started playing even better at the important moments - but I'm happy I could stay there in the third and win the match. It's very special to be here. The crowds are so good and there are a lot of people supporting me. Sometimes it's not easy because there's also a lot of pressure, but it's okay. It's very special to play here anyway."

In other second round matches on Wednesday, ninth seed Samantha Stosur, beat Peng Shuai, 76(5) 60 and former world no. 1 Jelena Jankovic beat fellow Serb Bojanna Jovanovksi in straight sets.

[14] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d Melanie Oudin (USA) | 5 - 7 | 6 - 1 | 6 - 3 | 
Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) d Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 4 | 
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) d Romina Oprandi (SUI) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 2 | 
[2] Maria Sharapova (RUS) d Garbine Muguruza (ESP) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 2 | 
[16] Sloane Stephens (USA) d Kiki Bertens (NED) | 4 - 6 | 6 - 3 | 6 - 2 | 
[7] Sara Errani (ITA) d Christina McHale (USA) | 7 - 5 | 5 - 7 | 6 - 2 | 
[3] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d Julia Goerges (GER) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 0 | 
Ayumi Morita (JPN) d Urszula Radwanska (POL) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 1 | 
[9] Samantha Stosur (AUS) d Shuai Peng (CHN) | 7 - 6 (5) | 6 - 0 | 
[5] Na Li (CHN) d Jie Zheng (CHN) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 1 | 
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 0 | 
[13] Roberta Vinci (ITA) d Nastassja Burnett (ITA) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 4 | 
[12] Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d Varvara Lepchenko (USA) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 1 | 

Tennis - World no.1s Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani won their 28th consecutive match on clay as they moved into the quarter finals of the WTA Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, playing in front of a packed stadium of home fans, the duo scored a 75 64 win over Kristina Mladenovic and Galina Voskoboeva.

Errani commented after the win, "It was not an easy match. They were playing very well. They served well and volleyed well. We are very happy to win this match because it has been a long time since we played in Miami."

They now meet sixth seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza, who scored a 64 63 win over Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur. The Italians lead that head to head 2-0 thought Mirza and Mattek-Sands have won two titles this year.

Meanwhile, 39 year old Lisa Raymond and 19 year old Laura Robson scored a 67(2) 64 107 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Flavia Pennetta.

DOUBLES - SECOND ROUND
[6] B Mattek-Sands / S Mirza (USA/IND) d F Schiavone / S Stosur (ITA/AUS) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 3 | 
[1] S Errani / R Vinci (ITA/ITA) d K Mladenovic / G Voskoboeva (FRA/KAZ) | 7 - 5 | 6 - 4 | 
A Kudryavtseva / A Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d O Govortsova / M Moulton-Levy (BLR/USA) | 2 - 6 | 6 - 4 | 10 - 7 | 
A Hlavackova / P Martic (CZE/CRO) d C Castano / M Duque-Marino (COL/COL) | 6 - 3 | 7 - 6 (4) | 

DOUBLES - FIRST ROUND
L Raymond / L Robson (USA/GBR) d S Kuznetsova / F Pennetta (RUS/ITA) | 6 (2) - 7 | 6 - 4 | 10 - 7 |

Internazionali BNL d'Italia

She was very disappointed last week when leaving Madrid. Not only she lost against Makarova in three sets, but World No.3 Victoria Azarenka had a popular argument against chair umpire Alves that quickly finished on youtube. In Rome it's a new week, a new tournament, and a new Vika hit the clay courts of the Italian capital. The former World No.1 stepped on court full of confidence, ready to express her best tennis on clay. That's exactely what she did. Vika took control of the match from the early stages, playing deep inside the court and staying aggressive to put pressure on her opponent Julia Goerges. Courts in Rome are slightly slower than Madrid, where the altitude makes the ball bounce higher. Despite the fact she prefers to play on hard courts, Azarenka dominated the match, sliding well and produce quality clay court game. In the end the Belarus beat Gorges 6-2 6-0 in just 1 minute over an hour. World No.25 Goerges just didn't have an aswer to contrast Vika's aggressiveness. Next for Azarenka will be Japanese Ayumi Morita who took out the last Radwanska standing in Rome, beating Urszula 6-3 6-1. 

Maria Sharapova is the defending champion in Roma, but has learnt how to deal with this kind of pressure long time ago. The World No.2, a finalist to Serena Williams in Madrid last week, dominated Spanish rising star Garbine Muguruza 6-2 6-2 in just 1 hour and 4 minutes. In her attempt to confirm last year's Roman title, Sharapova will now take on Sloane Stephens. This could be a tricki match for the 2012 Roland Garros champion. If Maria wants to make sure to take the match in straight sets she'll have to play at her highest level, as Stephens can perform very well on clay courts.

Tennis: Spain's Rafael Nadal cruised to the next round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome as he defeated Italy's Fabio Fognini is straight sets 6-1, 6-3. The world no. 5 needed just 1 minutes more than an hour to go through to the next round.

The 6-time champion of the event broke his opponent three times in the first set as he took the set 6-1 to go one set up in the very first meeting between the two players.

25-year-old Italian broke the 7-time French Open champion once in the second set and tried to give a better competition but Nadal broke the Italian twice and served out the match at 5-3 to proceed to the next round.

Just three days back, Nadal had won the title in Madrid and equalled Muster's 40 titles on clay court. He needs five more to go level with Guillermo Vilas who is on top of the list.

The 26-year-old Mallorcan is also the defending champion of the event as he had beaten Novak Djokovic of Serbia in last year's finals. He had lost the crown to Serbian the year before.

He would face Latvia's Ernests Gulbis for a place in the last 8. Gulbis enjoyed a straight sets 6-1, 6-1 victory over Serbia's Victor Troicki. Nadal leads Gulbis 5-0 in the head to head meetings.

Anderson"s confidence, or lack thereof against higher ranked opponents has been a point of discussion around his matches of late. This time around Anderson did indeed defeat Marin Cilic - impressively in straight sets at that (6-3 7-6), to advance through to the third round. He will face a familiar foe in Tomas Berdych next.

Berdych is seeded 6th in this tournament and despite their closely contested 7 previous encounters, the South African has never beaten the Czech in his career. Anderson"s recent loss was to Berdych in Madrid (6(5)-7 5-7), while Berdych"s recent loss was to Stanislas Wawrinka in the same event. Will Anderson come up with the magic to add a bit of drama to the men"s singles draw? Or will Berdych continue to dominate him? All will be revealed soon. ]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 20:03:37 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-The-Kevin-Anderson-Tomas-Berdych-rivalry-continues-in-Rome--articolo9968.html TENNIS: The Kevin Anderson/Tomas Berdych rivalry continues in Rome http://www.tennisworldusa.org/BREAKING-NEWS---ANDY-MURRAY-LIKELY-TO-PULL-OUT-OF-FRENCH-OPEN-articolo9964.html

Tennis - World no. 2 Andy Murray could be out of the French Open in Paris due to a lower back injury. Murray retired on Wednesday in his second round match at the ATP Italian Open in Rome against Spain's Marcel Granollers.

Murray had lost the first set and was down 1-4 in the second. He fought back to take the second set in a tie breaker and then retired immediately thereafter.

Speaking to reporters later, Murray said he would be very surprised if he was able to play in Paris. No official statement has been made on the same yet.

This was only the second time in his career that Murray had retired during a match. The first time was in Hamburg in 2007 and was also on the same date - May 15, which incidentally is his birthday.

Murray turns 26 years old today and many wonder if him pulling out of Paris is more of a precaution for Wimbledon where he has a much better chance of winning the event.

Granollers is through to the third round in Rome now,

Tennis - 20 year old Bernard Tomic could pull out of the French Open according to his father John, who has said that his son may not be mentally prepared to play the clay court grand slam.

Bernard, ranked no. 53 in the world, is in the midst of a crisis as his father John has been accused of assaulting his practice partner Thomas Drouett in Madrid last week. Drouett has filed charges in a Madrid court and the case has been pushed to October. Drouett also said that John hit his son during a practice session two weeks ago which left the 20 year old bleeding.

Bernard also pulled out of this week's Italian Open in Rome due to personal reasons.

The ATP tournament is seen as a critical red clay hit out before the French Open which starts in just over a week’s time.John Tomic commented on the possibility of his son playing in Paris, “We don’t know, probably not. You guys created this situation.”

John Tomic is refuting the charges and said that he was acting in self-defense.

The French Tennis Federation has announced the list of wild cards for the upcoming French Open event which kicks off on May 26th in Paris.

In the men's singles draw, French players Marc Gicquel, Nicolas Mahut, Adrian Mannarino, Gaël Monfils, Lucas Pouille and Florent Serra get wild cards as do American Alex Kuznetsov and Australian John Millman, who get the US and Australian reciprocal wild cards.

In the women's singles draw, Frenchwomen Claire Feuerstein, Stéphanie Foretz-Gacon, Caroline Garcia,  Irena Pavlovic, Virginie Razzano and Aravane Rezaï get the wild cards while Australian Ashleight Barty and American Shelby Rogers get the Australian and American reciprocal wild cards.

For the men's qualifiers, wild cards were given to Mathias Bourgue, Jonathan Eysseric, Quentin Halys, Calvin Hémery, Jules Marie, Axel Michon, Johan-Sébastien Tatlot and Maxime Teixeira (all FRA) and to Australia's Nick Kyrgios while France's Manon Arcangioli, Séverine Beltrame, Estelle Cascino, Océane Dodin, Myrtille Georges, Amandine Hesse, Alizé Lim and Irina Ramialison were all given wild cards for the women's qualifiers.

Monfils is a former top 10 player who has been struggling with injuries over the past year while Mahut is best known for playing the longest match ever in tennis history.

Razzano shocked world no. 1 Serena Williams in Paris last year while Rezai was once ranked in the top 15.

Tennis - Tennis fans in the United States would be happy about this one. According to SportsBusiness Daily, the US Open tennis grand slam event is likely to move to ESPN starting 2015 from its current TV partner CBS.

ESPN has confirmed that they are in discussions with the USTA while the latter has declined to comment on the issue.

Under the proposed deal, ESPN would broadcast the semifinals and finals with other rounds either streamed live or carried on ESPN or one of its other channels and ESPN is ready to pay 5-% more than what the USA currently gets.

Tennis fans have been left in the lurch at times in the past when CBS has decided to move to other progamming when the tennis schedule changes or matches go into overtime.

Chardy won all the points off his 2nd serve in the opening set, breaking his opponent"s serve once to win the set 6-4. An out of steam Nishikori had all to do when he trailed by a double break in the second set. Chardy kept his focus by playing confidently towards the end of the match. He won 6-4 6-1, finishing the match with 6 aces. ]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 17:16:12 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Jeremy-Chardy-knocks-out-16th-seed-Kei-Nishikori-articolo9963.html TENNIS: Jeremy Chardy knocks out 16th seed Kei Nishikori http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Maria-Kirilenko-talks-about-late-blooming-in-her-career-articolo9962.html

Tennis - Russian Maria Kirilenko has been on the tennis circuit for many years now but the Russian world no. 12 feels she is close to playing her best tennis now and is ready for a breakthrough.

Speaking to R-Sport in Rome, Kirilenko, who is known for her glam looks on court as well, commented, "I think every athlete has their time, when they open up and start to show results. My time has come just now. I feel I’ve changed as a player, that I’ve started to think differently on the court, that how I perceive things has become different.. I’m getting pleasure from tennis now. And with that, even if I’m losing I keep calm.”

Kirilenko also said her decision to stop playing doubles and only focus on singles has helped her. "I think I’ve made the right decision. I’ve started to recover better and I’m not wasting a lot of my strength."

Speaking of her late development, the Russian, who is 26 years old, says, "I was always so cunning, ran a lot, tried to trick everyone. On the whole, that’s why the transition from juniors to the pros didn’t come easy for me. It was hard to play against grown women. But gradually with every year I’ve gained experience, and to look back now at how my career developed, every year was better than the last. Of course there weren’t any colossal leaps, but each season I had good wins against strong players.  Yes, Sharapova won a Grand Slam at 17, but she was always ahead of me in terms of physical development. Since childhood she was much taller, her data are completely different.”

Kirilenko scored a first round win on Tuesday over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues and is through to the second round of the ongoing Italian Open in Rome.

Tennis - World no. 1 Serena Williams has said she does not mix around with too many of her fellow players on the tour because she gets too close to them and then finds it hard to beat them on a tennis court.

In an interview with CNNSI.com. when asked who she would call to go out to dinner with during a tournament, Serena responds, " I don’t eat dinner with players. Only because, I get along with a lot of players, but I get too emotionally involved. I start liking people too much and it gets too hard to beat them. I feel sorry for them and then when I play them, I get depressed. As much as I would want to — I could name a lot of players, like Caroline [Wozniacki], Jamie [Hampton]. But I would feel so bad. I even lost to Caroline [at the Sony Open in 2012]. I can’t. I get too close to people."

For a long part of their careers, the Williams sisters have been accused of staying close to themselves and their entourage.

Serena is currently in Rome where she is playing the Italian Open. She is through to the third round after beating Laura Robson on Tuesday night.

Murray was broken in the opening game of the second set after 5 break points had gone begging for Granollers. Soon after, the Scot"s shot toppled over the net and landed behind the Spaniard as a winner on a crucial point. Murray in turn got back on serve but it was almost no surprise when he faced 3 more break points in the third game. Granollers however had to wait approximately 6 minutes before he could consolidate his third break in the match yet, since Murray received medical attention. In a messy progressive second set, which saw both men struggling to hold serve, Murray eventually won the breaker 7-6, leveling the match. Murray retired immediately after the completion of the second set - to award his opponent the advancement through to the next round. ]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 16:38:57 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Andy-Murray-retires-after-leveling-the-match-against-Marcel-Granollers-articolo9960.html TENNIS: Andy Murray retires after leveling the match against Marcel Granollers http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Sloane-Stephens-says-she-did-not-know-she-was-on-record-when-talking-on-Serena-in-controversial-interview-articolo9959.html

Tennis - Sloane Stephens needs a PR manager.. and that too quickly.

A week after her comments on Serena Williams to ESPN The Magazine set off a huge controversy, Stephens spoke to the press in Rome after her first round win at the Italian Open and made another possible PR blunder.

Stephens has accused the reporter who did the story of not letting her know those comments she made on Serena were on record and would be printed.

Stephens commented, "We were eating pizza!” I understood the fact that those things weren’t going to be written in the article and I was just saying whatever. The person who wrote it just kind of took that and ran with it. That’s what they’re going to do. I’m really disappointed in the lady who wrote it. It wasn’t a good reflection and it’s not what I meant. That’s why I had to talk to Serena about it because it was not good at all.”

Williams was also in action in Rome on Tuesday as she beat Laura Robson to move into the third round but refused to discuss the issue in the press room, saying, "It’s between us and I think it’s just best kept that way."

Meanwhile, the writer who wrote the story Marin Cogan refuted Stephens' allegations - “In an email response to CNNSI.com, Cogan says When I sat down with Sloane and her mother at the pizza place, I asked — as I always do with my interview subjects — ‘Do you mind if I record this? I just want to make sure I don’t miss any quotes.’ And she said she didn’t mind. After the tape recorder started rolling, we had lunch and I conducted the interview. She discussed Serena throughout the lunch (not before). I’m certain she knew she was being recorded, because at one point a phone call interrupted the interview, and she was kind enough to alert me that the phone call had interrupted the recording on my iPhone. At no point during our time together or afterward did Sloane say anything was off the record; nor did she ever express any confusion at any point about the interview. Personally, I appreciated that she was so refreshingly honest in it.”

Tennis - Stanislas Wawrinka, one of the in-form players on the circuit currently, moved closer to a showdown with world no. 1 Novak Djokovic at the ATP Italian Open in Rome.

Wawrinka, who reached the finals in Madrid last week and broke back into the top 10, beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 for his ninth win in his last 10 matches.

The Swiss goes on to meet Urkaine's Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round and the winner of that match is scheduled to  meet Djokovic.

The world no. 1 Serb, a two time winner in Rome, beat qualifier Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-3 victory to advance to the third round. Djokovic improved to 5-0 over Montanes with the win.

The world no. 1 Serb commented, "It was a good performance for a start, even though I know I can do better. I know my game has to be better in order to win my next challenge. But I’m heading in a good way because I didn’t have a great week in Madrid and didn’t have much practice. I came here very early; from Wednesday I spent a lot of hours on the court working hard, trying to prepare myself for what’s coming up this week and also after the tournament in Rome, two Grand Slams in less than a month time. It’s a very important period for all of us and I need to be physically, mentally, fresh and fit and I think I’m on the right way to be like that."

After a thrilling closely contested second set, Janowicz served to force a breaker after an hour and 18 minutes of ball-striking. In one of the exciting points of match at 2 all in the tie break - Janowicz powered a backhand shot down the line, finding the French man in position at the other end of the net but unable to control pace in the end. Janowicz managed one of the most impressive wins of his career yet by beating Tsonga 6-4 7-6(5), recording 37 winners to 21 errors. Tsonga concluded the match with 21 winners and 14 unforced errors. ]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 16:02:35 +0100 http://www.tennisworldusa.org/TENNIS-Jerzy-Janowicz-records-Top-10-win-in-Rome-articolo9957.html TENNIS: Jerzy Janowicz records Top 10 win in Rome http://www.tennisworldusa.org/Tennis-World-exclusive-%96-Daniela-Hantuchova-I-work-to-be-back-in-the-Top-10-articolo9956.html

During the meeting with the fans that took place at adidas stand of the Foro Italico, Daniela Hantuchova conceded some moments of her time to us of Tennis World Italy for a short interview.

Is there any specific reason that caused the break with Claudio Pistolesi?
“Absolutely not. Everything has been always went well with Claudio… he’s a marvellous person, very nice, it was very pleasant to work with him. Last year I was a bit unlucky, I had to stop for some months due to my injury, so we separated with mutual consent. But this year has started brilliant. Claudio helped me a lot, thanks to him my play has noticeably improved.”

What are you missing to be back at Top 10?
“I just have to work hard, give the best of me everyday, inside and outside the court, make the effort to improve myself both on the play point of view, both on the physical point of view. The current level of the female tennis is very high, so I know it’s not easy to be on top. But I’m ready to try, I want to do my best.”

How much does it matter to lose in the Fed Cup?
“Surely it wasn’t the worse of my career. To me it was a real privilege playing in Fed Cup, we also arrived very close to the final. We were a bit unlucky, first of all in the match between Cibulkova and Kirilenko that was the most important one. Then against Makarova I was really close to victory, but she played in an incredible way. I just can say I’m satisfied, we had our shots. We’ll have another opportunity next year.”

What do you dream to do at the end of your career?
“ I really love fashion and one day I hope to have a lot of time to dedicate to my this great passion.”
 

“A match that I would like to play again? Yes, the one against Sanchez at the French Open in 1998”. Serena Williams talks like this to Si.com, going back with memory to a match that she can’t forget for a controversial episode: ”I was about to beat her and I know that in that case I would have won the tournament. In that match, Sanchez accused me of shouting at her, but there’s nothing true in it. Probably she had something against my sister Venus and me.”

Williams has had trouble with most of her peers on the Tour in the past.

"I find it difficult to get close to them, because I know that with many of them I could make strong relationships, and it would mean not to being able to face them on court because beating them would freak me out”.

Talking about her relationship with her coach Mouratoglou, she said: "After the defeat at Roland Garros last year, I didn’t feel like going home. I had to fix some personal issues and so I needed to find a place to train. I knew him, and asked him if I could try in his Academy. I wasn’t looking for a coach: I had always made everything with my mother and father, I was simply looking for a tennis court.”

Rafa Nadal talks about his moment: "Probably I feel better now than in Monte Carlo. My forehand goes faster, I play more inside the court. I still have to work on the backhand and moves, trying to find more confidence. It’s not important to win but to feel confindence in your own gears. Then victories arrive consequently, otherwise you can’t win playing bad”.

“I still haven’t reached the level of last year. Fognini is dangerous, and I’m not training a lot, today I was on court 50 minutes while one year ago I used to train almost two hours. Anyway I’m doing well, I have to adapt to this situation”.

Roger Federer debuted well in the Rome tournament. Some minutes after his win over Starace, the Swiss declared in press conference: "I played well on the whole, things went positively. I easily won but I would say that I didn’t give Potito a tennis class, as you defined it. In Rome the warmth of the public is incredible, you feel the pressure of a first round, even more so here.”

"All the three tournaments on clay that precedes Paris are different in terms of velocity. To change and adapt it’s always hard. I’ve never played on this surface in the evening session. I want to play many matches in Rome and they’ll be useful to me in sight of Rome. I debuted well in this tournament but it doesn’t mean anything.”

The number 3 showed off a new look in the main city characterized by a particularly short haircut: "This afternoon as soon as people saw me got impressed… I don’t understand why (laugh). I confess you that I cut them to run faster and lose weight (laugh).”

Tennis - 20 year old American Sloane Stephens, under criticism for comments made on world no. 1 Serena Williams in recent interviews. scored a badly needed morale boosting win over Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta in the first round of the WTA Italian Open in Rome.

Stephens won 6-3, 6-3 over the former world no. 10 for just her third win since reaching the semi finals of the Australian Open in  Melbourne.

Speaking after her win, the American commented, ""I felt like I played well. It's definitely tough playing against Flavia in Rome - I played her here last year so I knew it would be tough - but I've been practicing hard and I love clay so I felt good out there. I'm happy to get back on the clay."

In other first round matches, 15th seed Ana Ivanovic lost to Urszula Radwanska, 63 26 62, and 11th seed Nadia Petrova failed to convert two matchpoints and lost to Spanish player Carla Suárez Navarro, 36 62 76(1)

SINGLES - FIRST ROUND

Julia Goerges (GER) d Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) | 2 - 6 | 6 - 4 | 6 - 4 | 
Christina McHale (USA) d Karin Knapp (ITA) | 7 - 5 | 6 - 2 | 
[12] Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 | 
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 2 | 
Urszula Radwanska (POL) d [15] Ana Ivanovic (SRB) | 6 - 3 | 2 - 6 | 6 - 2 |
Jie Zheng (CHN) d Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) | 7 - 6 | 6 - 3 | 
Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) d [10] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) | 2 - 6 | 6 - 4 | 7 - 6 (5) | 
[13] Roberta Vinci (ITA) d Elena Vesnina (RUS) | 6 (2) - 7 | 7 - 5 | 6 - 4 | 
[16] Sloane Stephens (USA) d Flavia Pennetta (ITA) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3 | 
Romina Oprandi (SUI) d Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 0 | 
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) d [11] Nadia Petrova (RUS) | 3 - 6 | 6 - 2 | 7 - 6 (1) |
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 0 | 
[14] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) | 1 - 6 | 6 - 2 | 6 - 2 |

Tennis - After an early loss in Madrid, world no. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska was hoping to gain some momentum with a good showing in Rome before she heads into the French Open.

But the world no. 4 lost erly for the second straight week as she was beaten by Romanian youngster Simona Halep in three sets in the second round of the WTA Italian Open in Rome on Tuesday.

Halep won 67(2) 61 62 for her first win over the Pole in four career meetings.

Speaking after her win. Halep commented, "It was an incredible match for me. The first set was difficult - I just wanted to hit the ball very strong, but it wasn't working too well. From the second set I was playing much more tactically and it worked better. She's a top player and plays very well so I'm very happy to win."

This is Halep's biggest win in terms of rankings so far in her career.

Meanwhile, eighth seed Petra Kvitova survived a tough second round with German Sabine Lisicki. The Czech player came from 1-3 behind in the final set to win 64 06 75.

Kvitova commented after her win. "In the beginning of the second set I hit a really easy ball into the net in the first game, and I think I was thinking about it too much - I couldn't stop thinking about it. Sabine was serving very well in the second set and not making any mistakes, so it was really tough for me, but in the third I was really fighting hard and believing in myself. Fortunately I broke back and got back into it and won.

Kvitova is now through to the third round after getting a bye in the first round.

Tennis - Former world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki's woeful 2013 season was compounded on Tuesday as the Dane was beaten in the first round of the WTA Italian Open in Rome - marking her fourth consecutive loss on the tour. Even more surprising was that she lost to a player who was on an eight match losing streak.

Serbian Bojana Jovanovski, who is better known for her annoying grunt rather than her stellar results so far, seemed to be behind for most of the match. Wozniacki won the first set and led by a break in the second. The Dane also led 4-0 in the final set, served for the match at 5-4 and had a 5-2 lead in the final set tie breaker.

But all that was just not enough as Jovanovski kept coming back and finally scored the win 26 64 76(5) in just under three hours.

The Serbian youngsters had reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January but had not won a match since then. It is her second career top 10 win.

In another marathon battle, local favourite Roberta Vinci defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 7(2) 75 64 in nearly three hours. Vinci fought back from 1-4 down in the final set to thrill the home fans. This was only her second win in six career meetings with the Russian.

Tennis - World no. 1 Serena Williams exacted some family revenge on Tuesday night as the American easily defeated 19 year old British teenager Laura Robson in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome. 

Robson had beaten Serena's sister Venus in the first round but was unable to pull of the sister double upset as she went down 2-6, 2-6 in the featured night match on Centre Court.

Speaking after her win, Serena commented, "It went well. t was a good match - she played really well and really smart. She's just a great player and I think she has such a big future, and I really like her as a person, too. I've played lots of matches, but I'm the kind of player who likes to keep playing matches, at least now in my career. I just want to keep the confidence there."

Robson said this was a good learning experience for her, "She's No.1 in the world for a reason. She played really well today. She didn't give me many opportunities. I thought it could have been a little bit closer - I had some break points I didn't take advantage of - but it was a learning experience and hopefully I'll play against her again soon."

Serena has won her last 20 matches in a row on the tour.

The two also had a light moment before the match started as one of Serena's serves during the warm up hit Robson. Serena aplogised immediately and also had a few kind words with the British youngster at the net when they shook hands.

Tennis - Ever wondered what your favourite tennis stars dream about. Well one fan from Japan asked former US Open champion Samantha Stosur through the WTA blog that she is doing this week whether she remembered any of her recent dreams and Stosur's response was quite amusing.

Stosur responded - "Sometimes I do! The last one that I remember was quite strange. I pulled a cheque out of my eye, and it was dated back from 2009. I don't remember the amount of the cheque, but for some reason my dream was set in 2012, and I realized this cheque had been sitting in my eye for like three years."

Stosur is currently in Rome this week for the Italian Open and she is through to the second round which she will play on Wednesday. The Australian won her first round doubles match on Tuesday with local favourite Francesca Schiavone.

Tennis - Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur faced each other in the finals of the 2010 French Open, which the Italian won. But this week, the two are playing doubles together at the Italian Open in Rome. And on Tueday, the pair scored a first round win over another pair of veterans Daniela Hantuchova and Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-1 to move into the second round.

They will next meet sixth seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza. The two time winners this year on tour scored a 61 63 win over Shuko Aoyama and Liga Dekmeijere.

In other first round matches on Tuesday, seventh-seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke beat Oksana Kalashnikova and Alicja Rosolska 6-1. 6-1 and they will meet the duo of Jelena Jankovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Meanwhile, Kristina Mladenovic won for the 15th time in her last 17 matches, pairing up with Galina Voskoboeva for 61 62 win over Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova. They now beat the top seeds and local darlings Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

DOUBLES - FIRST ROUND

K Mladenovic / G Voskoboeva (FRA/KAZ) d N Grandin / V Uhlirova (RSA/CZE) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 2 | 
F Schiavone / S Stosur (ITA/AUS) d D Hantuchova / A Medina Garrigues (SVK/ESP) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 1 | 
[6] B Mattek-Sands / S Mirza (USA/IND) d S Aoyama / L Dekmeijere (JPN/LAT) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 3 | 
[7] A Groenefeld / K Peschke (GER/CZE) d O Kalashnikova / A Rosolska (GEO/POL) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 1 | 
J Jankovic / M Lucic-Baroni (SRB/CRO) d J Goerges / M Minella (GER/LUX) | 6 - 4 | 6 - 1 | 
S Hsieh / S Peng (TPE/CHN) d M Camerin / K Knapp (ITA/ITA) | 7 - 5 | 6 - 4 |

Tennis - Eight tennis players are featured in the list of most marketable athletes according to a compilation by SportsPro Magazine.

Among the men, world no. 1 Novak Djokovic is at no. 6 on the list, Andy Murray us at no. 18 and Rafael Nadal is at no. 25.

The maagzine's s 2013 list of the World's 50 Most Marketable Athletes has Sloane Stephens at no. 9, Victoria Azarenka at 15th, Maria Sharapova at 16th, Caroline Wozniacki at 23rd and Laura Robson at 40th.

The main criteria were value for money, age, home market, charisma, willingness to be marketed and crossover appeal over the next three years which might explain why 31 year old Roger Federer or Serena Williams are not on the list.

The list was headed by soccer star Neymar.

Tennis: Switzerland's Roger Federer needed just 50 minutes on court he eased past Italy's Potito Starace in second round of the Rome Masters Tennis Championship. Federer defeated Starace in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.

The former world no. 1 had dropped only set against Italian in their last 6 meetings, which was in their very first meeting in 2004. Federer had not lost a set in last 5 meetings and he looked in same mood as he started very strong and availed both the break point opportunities that he got in the first set. He saved both of the break points he faced and took the set 6-1.

It was pretty much the same story in the second set as well, as Federer broke the Italian twice again and did not face a single break point to take the set 6-2 and proceeded to the next round.

The 2nd seed is bidding to reach his first tournament final this year and he has not made it to the finals in first five months of the year. He had suffered an upset loss against Japan's Kei Nishikori last week in Madrid, where he was defending his crown.

Federer will face the winner of Russia's Mikhail Youhzny and France's Gilles Simon for a place in the last 8. This is the 13th time Federer is playing the Rome championship and he is yet to win a title here. He has been finalist here twice in 2003 and 2006.

Tennis - The Mutua Madrid Open has become one of the top clay courts events on the tennis calendar in a short while. And while many players were much happier this year  due to the red clay being used as compared to last year, most people were unanimous in their verdict that the trophy given to the winners was a bad choice.

Even the men's singles winner Rafael Nadal said that it was difficult to bite the trophy

Nadal, who has a habit of biting into trophies that he wins, told the tournament website in an interview, "I couldn’t really bite it well. It was a little difficult, but the most important thing is that I was able to bite a trophy, a very special, here in Madrid, in front of my people here in Madrid. Also, it has been an unforgettable week for me, so thanks a lot to everyone that has made the event possible and to those that have come to the event to support me in the Caja Mágica, and those that have done this from their homes. It has been a really special week, which in part without doubt it thanks to the public."

The women's event was one by Serena Williams

Tennis - Tennis Australia has announced the recipients of the French Open reciprocal wild cards. The Australian and French Tennis Federations have a reciprocal agreements to award one wild card in the men's singles and women's singles draws for the other country's players in their slam event.

John Millman has received the wild card in the men's singles draw while 17 year old Ashleigh Barty gets the wildcard in the women's draw.

Meanwhile, teenager Nick Kyrgios has been handed a wildcard into the qualifying draw.

Millman is currently ranked no. 141 in the world and has won 2 challenger titles this season.

Tennis Australia’s head of professional tennis Todd Woodbridge commented, "John’s had his best ever year on the circuit so far and has achieved a career-high ranking. He fully deserves an opportunity on one of the game’s biggest stages."

On Barty, Woodbridge commented, “On the back of her crucial match win in Fed Cup, Ash looks primed for Grand Slam success in the near future. I think that Fed Cup win on clay against (then world No.56) Voegele gave her great confidence and belief that she can perform with the world’s best. The experiences that she’s had in the past 12 months, such as taking out former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone at the Hopman Cup, have highlighted her talent.”