Tennis World News

Sharapova pulls out of Dubai Championships with viral infection

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -Maria Sharapova pulled out of the Dubai Championships with a viral infection.

The fifth-ranked Sharapova said Tuesday she has been battling a virus for several days and that it has "reached a point where I'm unable to compete."

"This is really disappointing to me, but I do intend to come back to Dubai next year and hopefully have a great tournament," she said.

Sharapova, who won this year's Australian Open and last week's Qatar Open, was seeded fifth in the tournament and was scheduled to start Tuesday against Hungary's Agnes Szavay. She was replaced in the main draw by Akiko Morigami of Japan.

Sharapova said she was feeling ill before the Qatar Open.

"I have been coughing a lot and feeling tired, but I somehow played through there," she said. "But I don't want to repeat the mistakes I have made in my past, when I tried to play through injuries and sickness and aggravated it."

The Dubai Championships offers $1.5 million in prize money and has attracted the top six ranked players in the world.

Sharapova said she would go home and rest for a week, before tournaments in Indian Wells, Calif., and Miami.

Mexican Open News Update

Mexican Open 2008

Top-seeded Ljubicic, No. 3 Simon advance; No. 2 Karlovic loses at Zagreb Indoors

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and third-seeded Gilles Simon of France advanced to the second round at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Tuesday.

Ljubicic beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3, 7-6 (7), and Simon defeated Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia lost 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 to the 209th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine despite serving 14 aces and having seven break points, while Rik De Voest of South Africa upset seventh-seeded Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Also, Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia beat Florian Mayer of Germany 7-6 (6), 6-0, Roko Karanusic of Croatia rallied to defeat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4, Lovro Zovko of Croatia ousted Marc Gicquel of France 6-3, 7-5, and Viktor Troicki of Serbia topped George Bastl of Switzerland 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Mexican Open 2008 News Results

Tennis World

Pennetta wins first round in Mexican Open

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) -Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta defeated Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the Mexican Open.

Pennetta, from Italy, has reached the finals in the Mexican Open four times, and won in 2005.

"There are a lot of matches before the finals, it's one step at a time," Pennetta said after the match.

Pennetta dominated the second set, breaking Bychkova's serve three times.

In other matches Monday, Mexican Melissa Torres came from behind to defeat Italy's Maria Elena Camerin 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

American Jill Craybas easily defeated Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios 6-2, 6-2, and Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino dispatched Japan's Rika Fujiwara 7-5, 6-3. German Julia Schruff held off Hungarian Greta Arn 6-2, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5).

On the men's side, third-seeded Juan Monaco rallied to beat fellow Argentine Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Spain's Nicolas Almagro cruised past Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-2. Spain's Albert Montanes upset seventh-seeded Igor Andreev of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Davis Cup 2008 News, Davis Cup 2008

French spirits sky high

For the second straight year, the France Davis Cup team led by captain Guy Forget dominated Romania in its opening tie. And for the second consecutive year, it will travel to face the defending champion in the quarterfinals.

In 2007 it was Russia, which proved too good for Forget’s boys. This year, they will travel to USA with higher hopes to continue the adventure.
Succesful Start for Tsonga

Australian Open Finalist and no-doubt a new sensation Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has given it a new dimension, and hopes of a campaign which could prove glorious. Ten days after his final at the Australian Open, Tsonga made a successful career debut inDavis Cup , defeating Andrei Pavel in a thrilling four setter. “Jo has lived up to the occasion. He displayed some dominating tennis, while remaining serene and in control ” said Forget.

Davis Cup 2008 News, Davis Cup Results, Davis Cup Updates

USA cruise into quarterfinals

Title holders USA secured themselves a spot in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, ousting first round hosts Austria 4-1 in Vienna.

Andy Roddick and James Blake gave Patrick McEnroe’s team a 2-0 lead before the Bryan brothers won the doubles to lift the outfit to an untouchable 3-0 advantage. In the dead rubbers, Bob Bryan celebrated a surprising singles victory, while his brother Mike Bryan had to retire with a hamstring injury.

Austrian hopes were high ahead of the tie and memories of the close 2-3 battle between the country’s tennis heroes Thomas Muster, Horst Skoff and Alex Antonitsch against Andre Agassi and his Likes from 1990 were fresh. Rolling out the red carpet, the hosts had a very slow clay court laid out and sold 6,500 tickets at low prices to create the perfect Davis Cup home atmosphere.

Davis Cup 2008 News Update, Davis Cup 2008 Results

New Zealand Beats Oman in Davis Cup

Davis Cup 2008
February 11:

New Zealand has completed a 5-0 win over Oman in their Davis Cup tennis tie in Muscat.

Dan King-Turner won the first of the reverse singles matches 6-love 6-1 before GD Jones completed the rout with a 6-1, 7-5 win over his opponent.

The New Zealanders return to the Middle East in April to take on Kuwait looking to get to the Asia Oceania zone group two promotion match in September.

In the World Group, Cup holders the USA are through to the quarter finals beating Austria 4-1, joining Germany, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Spain, France and Argentina in the last eight.

Davis Cup 2008 Group Draw

Davis Cup 2008 Group Draw

 Russia         v Serbia

 Czech Republic v Belgium

 Argentina      v Britain

 Israel         v Sweden

 Germany        v South Korea

 Peru           v Spain

 Romania        v France

 Austria        v U.S.

Ties to be played on 8 to 10 February 2008