Despite playing together for the first time, Argentina’s Nalbandian and Schwank overwhelmed Spain’s Nadal and David Ferrer in the Davis Cup final.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal reached the US Open last 16 with a victory over gutsy close friend David Nalbandian.
The Williams bandwagon rolled out of Roland Garros on Friday when sisters Venus and Serena were humbled in the third round by a pair of tenacious opponents who never lost belief. A day after the French Open lost three top-10 seeds, 2002 champion Serena joined them at the exit squeue as he roared and screamed her way to a 6-4 6-4 mauling by Katarina Srebotnik.
Triple champion Rafael Nadal and the man whose ambitions he has thwarted each time in winning those titles, Roger Federer, both made smooth progress into the third round at the French Open on Thursday. Second seed Nadal brushed aside French qualifier Nicolas Devilder 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 to take his Roland Garros record to 23 wins in 23 matches.
Gustavo Kuerten briefly rekindled his Parisian love affair on Sunday before bidding a tearful farewell to the French Open. The Brazilian has enjoyed a special relationship with Roland Garros since he celebrated his third and final triumph in 2001 by drawing a giant love-heart in the red clay with his racket.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have turned to playing mind games ahead of the latest instalment of their epic French Open rivalry. Federer believes he is the more positive of the two men while Nadal, bidding for a fourth historic trophy, says the world number one’s decision to bring in Jose Higueras as coach could backfire.
Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko became the highest seed to exit the Pacific Life Open but three-times champion Roger Federer barely broke sweat in reaching the fourth round on Tuesday. Davydenko, the fourth seed and world number four, was swept aside by American Mardy Fish 6-3 6-2 in an evening match lasting 75 minutes.
World number one Roger Federer, in search of his first title of 2008, took no chances on Sunday as he moved smoothly into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters Series. The top-seeded Swiss, who enjoyed a first-round bye, defeated Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 in his first ATP outing since a first-round ouster at Dubai last week.
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/ 10 February 2008
Defending champions America and France, two of the most successful countries in Davis Cup history, will clash in this year’s quarterfinals after cruising through their World Group first-round ties. The United States, the 31-time champions, saw off Austria 3-0 while nine-time winners France also opened up a 3-0 lead over Romania.
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/ 10 January 2008
Andy Roddick continued his bid for a Kooyong Classic hat-trick on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Marat Safin to reach his fourth consecutive final. Roddick braved 41°C temperatures for the quickfire win, which sets him up for Saturday’s final against either Marcos Baghdatis or Fernando Gonzalez.
Roger Federer’s Australian Open preparations suffered a blow on Monday as the defending champion was forced to withdraw from the Kooyong Classic warm-up event owing to a virus. Federer said that he came down with the bug on the weekend after arriving in the city on Friday from Dubai, where he trains in the off-season.
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/ 29 December 2007
It will be the year of the Golden Slam for tennis in 2008 and realistically only two names are in the running. Both Roger Federer and Justine Henin finished this year as clear number ones in their sport and they are set to dominate again. But from there to winning all four Grand Slams events plus Olympic gold in Beijing in the same calendar year is a huge step.
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/ 18 December 2007
Roger Federer again came close to winning the Grand Slam in 2007, reaching the final at all four major tournaments and winning three of them. This year, however, the top-ranked Swiss also came close to losing his record 54-match winning streak on grass at Wimbledon, and then struggled a bit after winning the United States Open.
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/ 18 November 2007
World number one Roger Federer put on a vintage display to beat Spain’s David Ferrer 6-2 6-3 6-2 in securing his fourth Masters Cup title at the season-ending event on Sunday. Federer’s victory at the showcase eight-man tournament put him level with Ilie Nastase and one behind the record of five titles held by Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.
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/ 12 November 2007
Top-ranked Roger Federer lost consecutive matches for the first time in four-and-a-half years, falling to number seven Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 on Monday at the Masters Cup. It was the defending champion’s first loss in 11 meetings against Gonzalez.
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/ 10 November 2007
World number one Roger Federer will aim to put an unusually patchy tennis season behind him with victory number four at the elite Masters Cup starting on Sunday. The defending champion, smarting from two rare defeats in the past month, signalled his determination by arriving nearly a week early for the year-ending showpiece.
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/ 9 November 2007
Rafael Nadal hit the practice court with 48 hours to go before his start at the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai, determined to fulfil the goal of ending this season on a high note. Nadal, losing finalist last weekend in the Paris final to David Nalbandian, said he wants to put a winning stamp on this season.
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/ 4 November 2007
David Nalbandian of Argentina handed out a tennis lesson to world number two Rafael Nadal to win his second straight Masters Series title in Paris on Sunday. The Argentinian won at a canter — 6-4, 6-0 — taking nine games in a row from 3-4 down in the first set against an increasingly disillusioned-looking Spaniard, who has been struggling with his fitness since the summer.
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/ 3 November 2007
Argentine David Nalbandian extended his brilliant run of form by crushing local favourite Richard Gasquet 6-2 6-4 on Saturday to set up a Paris Masters final against world number two Rafael Nadal. The unseeded Nalbandian needed just over an hour to take his record against the Frenchman to a perfect 5-0.
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/ 7 September 2007
Serb shot-maker Novak Djokovic and Spanish grafter David Ferrer on Thursday set up a US semifinal showdown for a possible challenge to top seed and defending champion Roger Federer. Dvkovic, the 20-year-old revelation of the year, showed remarkable composure in defeating Spanish veteran Carlos Moya 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
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/ 5 September 2007
Spain’s David Ferrer put in an inspired performance to upset second-seeded compatriot Rafael Nadal 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-2 in a US Open fourth-round encounter that finished well into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Ferrer’s stunning victory over the French Open champion earned him a quarter-final showdown against 20th seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.