Some of the world’s best tennis players traded in their racquets for football boots on Wednesday on behalf of Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.
Marcos Baghdatis toppled Roger Federer 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) on Tuesday to claim his first victory in seven tries against the world number one.
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/ 11 January 2010
Marcos Baghdatis beat Nick Lindhal on Monday to reach the second round of the Sydney International, a key warmup tournamant in the tennis calendar.
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/ 19 January 2009
Australia’s notorious summer sun made an unwelcome appearance on the opening day of the two-week tournament.
Roger Federer cruised into the French Open second round on Monday while rival and triple champion Rafael Nadal was left kicking his heels in the locker room as torrential rain swamped Roland Garros. The world number one then had the unexpected bonus of seeing potential quarterfinal danger man Richard Gasquet pull out of the tournament.
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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/ 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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/ 12 January 2008
Andy Roddick warmed up for next week’s Australian Open in ideal fashion with a 7-5 6-3 win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus on Saturday to win the Kooyong Classic for the third successive year. The American, who is seeded sixth next week, outgunned Baghdatis in 76 minutes.
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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.
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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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/ 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.
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.