A new tennis format, dubbed the Twenty20 of tennis, is being piloted across Australia and the concept is meant to be a faster form of the sport.
Two surprise results by Lu Yen-Hsun and Li Na, and a sexism row triggered by Serena Williams took attention away from Thursday’s other tennis matches.
Australian favourite Lleyton Hewitt lost in the second round of Wimbledon against Robin Soderling, while Li Na lost to German wildcard Sabine Lisicki.
Lleyton Hewitt is back in his comfort zone at the ATP Atlanta Tennis Championships, with six weeks of hard court tennis to go before the US Open.
Top seeds Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova both moved smoothly into the last 16 at the French Open on Saturday. Federer outplayed close friend Mario Ancic of Croatia, winning 6-3, 6-4 6-2 in cool, rainy, evening conditions on the Philippe Chatrier Centre Court. Earlier in the day, Sharapova defeated Italy’s Karin Knapp 7-6 (7/4), 6-0.
Maria Sharapova almost became the first women’s top seed in French Open history to lose in the opening round on Wednesday as Rafael Nadal showed her the way to master a Roland Garros sandstorm. Russian golden girl Sharapova toiled for two-and-a-half hours before squeezing past teenage compatriot and world number 104 Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 8-6.
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.
South African Kevin Anderson reached the final of the ATP hard-court tournament in Las Vegas on Saturday with a straight-sets victory over American Robby Ginepri. Anderson, ranked 175th in the world, defeated Ginepri 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 to advance and will next take on another American Sam Querrey.
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/ 22 February 2008
Top seed Rafael Nadal was stunned 3-6 6-3 6-4 by Italian Andreas Seppi in one of series of second-round upsets at the World Indoor Tournament on Thursday. Second seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, third seeded Spaniard David Ferrer and fifth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also suffered early exits.
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/ 25 January 2008
Wimbledon crowds could learn a lot from the Australian Open. Like the British, the Australians have no players to speak of, so they do the next best thing and adopt a few for the purposes of the fortnight. They fell in love with Martina Hingis. Then it was Kimmy Clijsters, the Belgian obliging by getting engaged to Lleyton Hewitt. Now it’s Aussie Ana.
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/ 22 January 2008
A bullish mood is spreading among his rivals that dominating world number one Roger Federer is beatable coming into the showpiece rounds of the Australian Open. The Swiss top seed, the winner of 12 Grand Slam titles, second only to Pete Sampras’s 14, has ruled men’s tennis for four years and has been a constant in the last 10 Major finals.
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/ 21 January 2008
It was back to business as usual for Roger Federer on Monday as he clinically moved into an Australian Open quarterfinal against James Blake, with Venus Williams also working up a head of steam. The world number one rebounded from his uncharacteristic five-set scare in the third round to resume his sprint towards a 13th Grand Slam title.
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/ 20 January 2008
Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt says behind-the-scenes scheduling dramas unsettled his build-up to his big Australian Open match with Marcos Baghdatis that led to the latest finish in grand-slam history. Meanwhile, fifth seed Maria Sharapova brushed aside fellow Russian Elena Dementieva and Justine Henin stormed into the quarterfinals.
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/ 17 January 2008
Roger Federer stepped up his unrelenting charge towards a third successive Australian Open title with an emphatic win on Thursday, but Venus Williams had to dig deep to reach the third round. The Fed Express, chasing a 13th Grand Slam title, crushed wily Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, playing in a record 62nd Major tournament, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.
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/ 17 January 2008
Roger Federer’s sleight of hand proved too bamboozling for court magician Fabrice Santoro as Melbourne Park was treated to a masterclass on Thursday. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer and Lleyton Hewitt also reached the Australian Open third round but none could match the mastery of Swiss top seed Federer.
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/ 15 January 2008
Crowd trouble and police ejections cast a shadow across Melbourne Park on Tuesday, diverting attention from world-class sport at the Australian Open. A violent incident marred a tennis fiesta in which fans bathed in glorious sunshine and the world’s best players showcased their skills.
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/ 15 January 2008
Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday with an easy 6-0 6-3 6-0 victory over Belgium’s Steve Darcis. The former world number one barely needed to get out of first gear and said it was one of his best starts to a grand slam.
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/ 23 September 2007
The United States and Germany each won their doubles matches on Friday to move within one point of reaching the Davis Cup final. Top-ranked doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan gave the US a 2-1 lead at Sweden by beating Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (11), 6-2, 6-3.
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/ 22 September 2007
Sweden and Germany rallied on Friday to ensure their Davis Cup semifinal matches will be decided on the final day. Thomas Johansson beat James Blake to put Sweden even at 1-1 in their best-of-five series against the visiting United States, and Philipp Kohlschreiber did the same for Germany by defeating fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko.
Maria Sharapova opened the defence of her United States Open crown in commanding style on Tuesday by overpowering Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-0, 6-1 in less than an hour. There were wins also for two former New York champions, Martina Hingis and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and for Andy Roddick, among others.
World number ones Roger Federer and Justine Henin breezed over qualifiers on Monday into the second round of the United States Open, while reigning grand-slam champions Serena and Venus Williams also advanced handily. Three-time defending champion Federer defeated American Scoville Jenkins in 92 minutes.