Wozniacki breezes into French Open third round

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Dane Caroline Wozniacki eased into the third round of the French Open with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Italy’s Tathiana Garbin on Wednesday.

Third seed Wozniacki was rarely troubled on Court Suzanne Lenglen by the world number 56 and relied on her forehand to break five times in a one-sided contest.

She wrapped up the win after 68 minutes when Garbin fired a forehand long.

Wozniacki will next face Romanian 31st seed Alexandra Dulgheru for a place in the fourth round.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Miles Evans.

To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Federer faces familiar foe Falla, Venus eyes progress

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Roger Federer will have seen it all before when he takes on Alejandro Falla in his second round match at the French Open on Wednesday.

The Swiss maestro faced the Colombian at the same stage four years ago and it would be a brave call to suggest anything other than a repeat of the straight-sets win he enjoyed then.

Falla, who flips between the main and challenger tours, has had a mixed season although he enjoyed a solid victory over dangerous Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the first round.

Venus Williams, eager to enter the French Open winner’s club which Federer joined last year, takes on Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja in the first match on the main Philippe Chatrier court.

Robin Soderling, who has a unique CV that boasts a Roland Garros victory over Rafa Nadal in last year’s fourth round, opens the action on Suzanne Lenglen court against big-serving American Taylor Dent, who has reached the Roland Garros second round for the first time.

British fourth seed Andy Murray, exhausted after a five-set epic against Richard Gasquet, is third on Court One and should still have enough in the tank to get past Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

Denmark’s third seed Caroline Wozniacki closes the action on Lenglen against Italy’s Tathiana Garbin, after home favourites Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Aravane Rezai have made their bids to reach the third round.

(Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wozniacki shrugs off injury to waltz through in Paris

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Danish third seed Caroline Wozniacki showed no signs of her recent injury troubles with a 6-0 6-3 demolition of Russia’s Alla Kudryavsteva in the French Open first round on Monday.

The U.S Open runner-up burst out of the blocks and wrapped up the first set in just 25 minutes under the blazing sun on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Kudryavtseva, the world number 78, stopped the rot by winning the eighth game and had the audacity to break for a 2-1 lead before Wozniacki, 19, restored order, making the decisive break in game eight for a 5-3 lead.

She sealed the win after an hour and nine minutes when the Russian netted a backhand service return. She now plays Germany’s Kristina Barrois or Italy’s Tathiana Garbin for a place in the third round. (Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WTA Tour rankings

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

WTA Tour rankings on Monday (last week’s rankings in brackets):

1. (1) Serena Williams (U.S.) 8475 points

2. (2) Venus Williams (U.S.) 6386

3. (3) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 5630

4. (4) Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 5160

5. (5) Elena Dementieva (Russia) 4830

6. (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 4661

7. (7) Samantha Stosur (Australia) 4405

8. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 4190

9. (9) Dinara Safina (Russia) 4156

10. (10) Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 3890

11. (11) Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 3665

12. (12) Li Na (China) 3515

13. (13) Maria Sharapova (Russia) 3350

14. (14) Marion Bartoli (France) 3186

15. (15) Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 3175

16. (17) Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 3050

17. (18) Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 2995

18. (19) Shahar Peer (Israel) 2895

19. (16) Aravane Rezai (France) 2875

20. (20) Nadia Petrova (Russia) 2795

(Editing by Neil Maidment; to query or comment on this story

email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Henin shocked in Madrid first round, Sharapova exits

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Four-time French Open champion Justine Henin’s preparation for the Roland Garros grand slam event suffered a shuddering jolt with a defeat by France’s Aravane Rezai in the Madrid Open first round on Sunday.

Henin won the Stuttgart title on clay last week and is considered a dangerous outsider in Paris later this month but her first serve was inconsistent and Rezai, the world number 22, took full advantage with a 4-6 7-5 6-0 win as the Belgian’s game collapsed.

Henin beat Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the final in Stuttgart last Sunday for her first title since she ended her 19-month self-imposed exile at the start of the year.

Maria Sharapova was another former world number one to fall at the first hurdle, the Russian 11th seed going down 6-4 6-3 to Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

“It’s a struggle trying to find the rhythm,” a philosophical Sharapova, who was playing her first tournament since pulling out of the Sony Ericsson Open in March with an elbow injury, told a news conference.

“I thought (Safarova) played really solid, good tennis and did everything she needed to win the match. More solid than me anyway,” the 23-year-old added.

“I certainly had my chances in the match and a few balls here and there that I maybe would have made if I had the matches under my belt.”

Safarova broke Sharapova’s serve four times and the Czech is on course for a possible last-16 clash with sixth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.

“If you win against these top players, as I have the last couple of months, then you get your confidence and you realise you can be up there,” the world number 35, who beat world number two Caroline Wozniacki in Stuttgart, told a news conference.

“My dream is to be top 10 and it’s a lot about believing in yourself.”

Fourth seed Venus Williams, also a former number one, plays qualifier Stefanie Voegele in the first round later on Sunday.

(Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sharapova suffers setback on return from injury

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Former world number one Maria Sharapova suffered a setback on her return from injury when she lost 6-4 6-3 to Lucie Safarova in the first round of the Madrid Open on Sunday.

Russian Sharapova, the 11th seed, was playing her first tournament since pulling out of the Sony Ericsson Open in March with an elbow injury.

Safarova, who beat world number two Caroline Wozniacki in Stuttgart last month, broke Sharapova’s serve four times on the clay and the Czech is on course for a possible last-16 clash with sixth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.

“If you win against these top players, as I have the last couple of months, then you get your confidence and you realise you can be up there,” the world number 35 told a news conference.

“My dream is to be top 10 and it’s a lot about believing in yourself.”

(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Pritha Sarkar; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Henin overcomes broken finger and fiery German in opener

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Four-times French Open champion Justine Henin overcame a broken finger and fired-up German opponent to win her opening match at Stuttgart on Wednesday, her first clay court tournament since her comeback.

The 27-year-old was taken to a tiebreak in the first set before breaking Julia Goerges’ resistance in the second for a 7-6 6-1 first-round win.

Henin, finalist in the Australian Open in January in only her second tournament back after a break of nearly two years, is gearing up for her first visit to her favourite venue at Roland Garros since her self-imposed exile from the game.

Her last appearance in Paris was in 2007 when she won her fourth title there.

The Belgian, a wild card for the event, battled through the match wearing a splint on her little left finger which she broke in training last week.

“The improvement is pretty good, even if my finger is not yet beautiful, it’s still really blue but the pain is a lot less and that’s a nice feeling,” Henin, who has already climbed to 24th in the rankings, told reporters.

“I have started to get used to the splint during the match so I felt better today.”

“It was a tough first set, she was on fire, serving pretty well and being pretty aggressive and you slide a lot on this court, when you’re on the defensive it’s not easy to come back onto the court.

“I was much more aggressive in the second set and I was more into the game, she had nothing to lose and went for everything.”

“I didn’t play for two years so I’m just trying to find the balance with my game,” said Henin who, among other things, took part in a reality show on Belgian television during her sabbatical.

“I need matches before the French Open, that’s for sure, everything I’ve done since the beginning of the season has been pretty good. I’m just trying to get used to my career again.”

“It’s good to play matches, that’s what I need, it’s good to be back.”

World number two Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark is top seed.

Agnieszka Radwanska (5) became the first seed to go out when she lost to Israel’s Shahar Peer, who won 6-3 6-7 6-2.

(Editing by Miles Evans; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WTA Tour rankings

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

REUTERS – WTA Tour rankings on Monday (last week’s rankings in brackets):

1. (1) Serena Williams (U.S.) 7946 points

2. (2) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6255

3. (3) Dinara Safina (Russia) 6150

4. (4) Venus Williams (U.S.) 5817

5. (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 5620

6. (6) Elena Dementieva (Russia) 4965

7. (7) Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 4740

8. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 4190

9. (9) Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 4080

10. (10) Samantha Stosur (Australia) 3975

11. (11) Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 3890

12. (12) Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 3275

13. (13) Marion Bartoli (France) 3230

14. (14) Maria Sharapova (Russia) 3185

15. (15) Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 3175

16. (16) Li Na (China) 3086

17. (17) Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 2985

18. (18) Nadia Petrova (Russia) 2570

19. (19) Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 2415

20. (20) Shahar Peer (Israel) 2380

(Editing by Toby Davis)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wozniacki defends Ponte Vedra title

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki erased a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Olga Govortsova 6-2, 7-5 and win the Ponte Vedra Beach Championships for the second straight year.

The world number two from Denmark took her winning streak in Florida to 10 matches as she denied the unseeded Belarussian a first WTA singles title.

Meanwhile, Italian Flavia Pennetta claimed her ninth WTA singles title after defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in Marbella, Spain.

In Ponte Vedra, Govortsova had a chance to even the match at a set apiece with a set point at 5-4 in the second, but her attempt to volley into an invitingly open court instead found the net.

That game lasted 22 points, and she lost it on one of her eight double faults.

“I think that broke her a little bit,” Wozniacki said.

“At 5-all I had the advantage that point.”

Govortsova agreed.

“I got a little tired after that,” she said.

Wozniacki said that allowed her to be a bit more aggressive.

“I believed that I could go for it a little more when I had my opportunity,” Wozniacki said.

“It was important for me that I was the one opening the court and I was the one dictating the points.”

Wozniacki, 19, claimed her seventh WTA title and her first of this year. She was runner-up to Jelena Jankovic at the prestigious Indian Wells hardcourt tournament in March.

“I know I belong,” said Wozniacki, who made a scintillating run to the US Open final last year.

“I’ve got to believe I can do it and if someone wants to beat me they have to play very well.”

In Spain, the 28-year-old Pennetta took just over two hours to dispose of the doughty Suarez Navarro, who was seeded eight.

Pennetta bested her opponent especially on her first service, converting 72 per cent of her first serves into points compared to just 52 per cent for Suarez Navarro.

Pennetta, who won her first title back in 2004 on clay in Sopot, was also the better on saving break points, getting out of trouble on nine of the 13 occasions she was a break point down while Suarez Navarro only managed to save herself on four of the 11 occasions.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nadal nails down fourth-round berth

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Rafael Nadal joined Roger Federer as a seeded survivor at the upset-plagued Miami Masters, defeating David Nalbandian 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-2 for a fourth-round berth.

Top seed Federer and number four Nadal are all that are left of the top four seeds after exits by number two Novak Djokovic and number three Andy Murray in the second round.

Argentina’s Nalbandian is finding his way again after last year’s hip operation and a recovery setback in the form of an abdominal strain in January.

He had won two of the pair’s three previous matches, but Nadal prevailed in their last encounter in the fourth round of Indian Wells in 2009 – saving five match points along the way.

“I had two very important losses to him before so it didn’t surprise me how he played,” Nadal said. “He’s a tough opponent for everyone.”

Nalbandian, ranked 161st in the world, began aggressively and claimed the 66-minute opening set, but could not keep four-time French Open champion Nadal in check.

Nadal converted five of six break opportunities and fired 21 winners.

He sealed the win on the first of three match points, blasting a winner down the line to applause form a full house at Crandon Park.

“I was a little bit unlucky in the first set,” Nadal said. “I feel good physically and I think he was a little bit tired at the end.”

Men’s sixth seed Andy Roddick, who had to wait until after Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki had completed their victories, then wasted little time in demolishing Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes.

“It’s rare that you kind of walk off thinking everything kind of went the way that you wanted it to,” Roddick said.

Fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-7 (9-11), 6-3 to set up a match with Brazil’s Tomaz Bellicci, who ended the run of Djokivic’s conqueror Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-4.

David Ferrer also continued a good day for Spain with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over big-serving Ivo Karlovic.

- AFP

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stosur breaks into top 10

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Samantha Stosur is officially one of the world’s top 10 female tennis players, after the Australian star jumped a place in the WTA rankings released on Monday.

Stosur moved into 10th spot, up from 11th earlier in March, with 3,565 points and effectively traded places with China’s Li Na (3,331).

Australian Open champion Serena Williams has retained her status as the world number one, while Caroline Wozniacki has jumped from fourth spot into second.

Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka, Jelena Jankovic, Agnieszka Radwanska rounded out the other spots from third to ninth.

China’s Zheng Jie was the big mover among the top 20, sneaking into 19th spot after being ranked 23rd a fortnight ago.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jankovic breezes past Stosur into final

March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Jelena Jankovic cruised into the final of the Indian Wells WTA tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Australian Samantha Stosur on Saturday (AEDT).

The sixth-seeded Serb broke her opponent twice in each set to wrap up the win in one hour, 28 minutes on a hot afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Jankovic will meet second seed Caroline Wozniacki in the final, the Dane having beat Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-3.

Eighth-seeded Stosur had not dropped a set on her way into the last four but she struggled for rhythm against her higher-ranked opponent, piling up 36 unforced errors and four double faults.

The match ended when the Australian mistimed a forehand service return which flew skywards and Jankovic celebrated reaching her first WTA final of the year.

“I feel great,” the smiling world number nine said at courtside.

“I am just so happy to be in the final here for the first time.

“I haven’t been doing well in the last couple of tournaments. Hopefully I can do it on Sunday,” added Jankovic, who will face Dane Caroline Wozniacki or Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

“She was serving bombs out there and it was so tough for me to return.

“I was thinking: ‘How can I do it?’ I tried to stay focused on my returns. It was a really good win for me.”

- Reuters

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Molik reaches third round in California

March 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Alicia Molik is through to the third round of the Indian Wells tennis tournament in California, beating 29th-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3).

Fellow Australian Marinko Matosevic recorded his first win on the ATP Tour by beating world number 65 Michael Llodra of France.

The Victorian, who is ranked 240th in the world, won 6-3, 6-0 and will play world number 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round.

Molik, awarded a wild card entry due to he world ranking of 173, next meets Britain’s Elena Baltacha who beat Australian Open semi-finalist Li Na 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 7-6.

Baltacha, ranked 65th in the world, survived two match points in the third-set tiebreaker, and then held off the the world number 10 who is seeded seventh.

Justine Henin’s comeback hit its first speed bump as Gisela Dulko ousted the former world number one from the second round.

Henin had made stunning run to the final of the Australian Open in January – in just her second tournament since a return from an 18-month retirement.

But Dulko’s 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 victory made Henin one of two Australian Open women’s semi-finalists to bow out of this combined WTA and ATP Masters 1000 event, along with China’s Li Na.

Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and 10th-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova struggled mightily to advance.

Sharapova, who had a dozen double-faults, was down a set and trailed 5-3 in the second before emerging with a 4-6 7-5 6-2 victory over compatriot Vera Dushevina.

Wozniacki, the 19-year-old Dane who shot to prominence with her runner-up finish at last year’s US Open, rallied from 4-1 down in the third set to beat American Vania King 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva downed Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, while fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland had a relatively quick day on court, advancing when Russian Anna Chakvetadze retired with Radwanska leading 6-2, 5-3.

Meanwhile on the men’s side, the first-round continued with American James Blake among those advancing.

Blake defeated spain’s Dainel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-2 to line up a second-round meeting with 13th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer.

Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun beat Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-2 to line up a clash with seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick.

-AFP

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ex-Oz tennis star appalled over Wimbledon’s looks Vs form Centre Court selection

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 30 (ANI): The decision of the All England Club to take the physical appearance of women into consideration when planning their schedule for Centre Court matches at Wimbledon has left Australia’s former Federation Cup captain, John Alexander, appalled.

“That is an extraordinary thing to do. It is absolutely and totally inappropriate. We are talking about Wimbledon, the holiest place there is in tennis. It is absolutely absurd and I cannot believe it is the case,” Alexander told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The following women have all played on Wimbeldon’s hallowed Centre Court in the past week: Gisela Dulko (unseeded), Victoria Azarenka (8th seed), Sorana Cirstea (27th), Caroline Wozniacki, (9th) and Maria Kirilenko (unseeded, ranked 59).

They are hardly household names, but have one thing in common – they’re easy on the eye. Major champions Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won the French Open and is seeded No. 5, and Serena Williams, No. 2, have been pushed to the outside courts.

A spokesman from the All England Club, Johnny Perkins, was quoted in the Daily Mail newspaper in London: “Good looks are a factor. ‘It’s not a coincidence that those [on Centre Court] are attractive.”

Perkins later denied this.

“Looks per se are not taken into account,” Perkins told the Herald.

However, he acknowledged “box office appeal” was one of 28 points considered when courts were allocated.

Asked if being relegated to court two for an early round match bothered her, two-time champion Serena Williams said she was not bothered.

“It’s a really nice court,” said Williams.

Alexander said such things would not happen in Australia.

Australia’s Pat Cash, a regular antagonist, said that “sexiness” was pretty much all the women’s game had going for it with the competition overshadowed by the men.

Another Wimbledon champion, German Michael Stich, also maintained sex appeal was crucial to female players. “That’s [sex] is what they sell,” he said.

But the chief executive of WTA Tour, Larry Scott, denied appearance was paramount. (ANI)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Williams, Jankovic leads women’s seed through in Paris

May 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Paris – Venus Williams had to save a match point before completing a heard-earned 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 victory over Lucie Safarova into the third round of the French Open on a grey Thursday in a match interrupted the night before.

The American escaped the Czech after a battle and joined former number one Jelena Jankovic in moving through.

The Serb fifth seed won 15 of the first 17 points in her rout of Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1, 6-2, coming from a break down in the second set and concluding with a break.

Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russian was another easy winner, taking out Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakstan 6-0, 6-2.

It was similarly simple for Danish number 10 Caroline Wozniacki as she crushed American veteran Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-4.

The only seed to go out in early play was former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, with the French number 13 losing to Italian Tathian Garbin, 6-3, 7-5.

Jankovic said she was pleased with her current form compared with only weeks ago.

“I think I’m coming back. This is the most important thing for me, especially when you saw me playing a few months ago,” she said.

“It was really disastrous, I was moving terrible, making so many errors. My game was completely off, as well as my confidence.”

The Serb is a two-time Roland Garros semi-finalist, reaching the last four over the past tow years. She finished 2008 at number one but has since slid to fifth.

“I want to get back to that spotlight. It’s a matter of playing good tennis and having fun out there. That’s the most important thing.

“You need to enjoy, you need to enjoy the battle. You need to enjoy the challenges, you need to enjoy everything. You need to go to the courts with a smile on your face,” said Jankovic. (dpa)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dementieva heads seeded players through at Charleston

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

MIAMI (Reuters) – Russian top seed Elena Dementieva eased into the third round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston on Tuesday with a 6-0 6-2 win over American Julie Ditty.

A convincing Dementieva won 78 percent of first serve points against the 30-year-old Ditty who is ranked 124th in the world.

Another Russian, third seed Vera Zvonareva also had a smooth passage through the second round with a 6-3 6-2 win over Paraguay’s Rossana De Los Rios.

Nadia Petrova, who won the 2006 tournament, had a tougher battle against Austria’s Patricia Mayr, before eventually winning 6-1 2-6 6-2.

Second seed Venus Williams starts her campaign against India’s Sania Mirza on Wednesday while Denmark’s rising talent Caroline Wozniacki takes on Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; Editing by Greg Stutchbury; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Djokovic handles Haas to reach Indian Wells fourth round

March 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Indian Wells, California – Holder Novak Djokovic swept through the first set and struggled in the second before consolidating his Indian Wells Masters title defence campaign with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) defeat of Tommy Haas on Tuesday.

The Serbian third seed finally prevailed over the one-time number 2 from Germany – now ranked 64th – in an hour and three-quarters.

Djokovic is bidding for his second title of the season after winning a fortnight ago in Dubai but losing both of his Davis Cup rubbers against Spain.

The 21-year-old now stands 2-0 against Haas, 31 next month, who is again struggling to come back after more shoulder trouble in 2008. Djokovic won his 16th match of the season against six losses while Haas now stands 6-5.

Djokovic lost serve once while breaking Haas three times.

Women’s seeds continued to advance, led by number 4 Russian Vera Zvonareva, a winner over China’s Li Na 6-4, 6-4.

“It was very tight from the very beginning. I wouldn’t say I was controlling everything,” said Zvonareva, now 3-2 against the Chinese number 45.

“I’m very happy about the way I was able to finish up the first set and the second set. I had to serve out for the first set and serve out to close the match, and I did that well.”

Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus ended the run of Israeli Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-4 while 18-year-old Danish talent Caroline Wozniacki, seeded ninth, beat the younger of the Polish Radwanska sisters, Ursula, 7-5, 6-3.

Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who upset second seed Jelena Jankovic in the second round last week, advanced into the quarter- finals as Spain’s Nuria Llagostera Vives wilted with a left hip injury trailing 6-3, 3-0. (dpa)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,