Indian Wells, California, USA (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer won’t be starring at Indian Wells this year, after a defeat, 5-7 7-5 7-6 (7/4), at the hands of Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament.
Scot Andy Murray beat US player Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5 to move on in the tournament.
Links to other sites: AFP/Sydney Morning Herald, Lawn Tennis Association
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - Swiss world number one tennis player Roger Federer added a fourth Australian Open to his collection, and a record 16th Grand Slam singles title to his trophy cabinet as he crushed Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11.) Federer quickly took control as he broke Murray’s first service game but the Scot battled back to win the next three games.
The Swiss star then gave a masterful demonstration to take the first two sets. The third set was tightly contested as Murray took advantage of a few weak points to break Federer’s serve and lead 5-2 but he handed back the break and the set went to a tie-break. A tiring Murray failed to convert four set points and eventually lost the tie-break 13-11 to end the match.
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) – Swiss tennis star Roger Federer cruised past Swiss resident (canton Vaud) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-2 6-3 6-2 to reach the finals of the Australian Open. Federer and British player Andy Murray face off Sunday for the title.
Links to other sites: Australian Open, TSR (Fre)
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - The big surprise in the womens’ draw for the 2010 Australian Open has been the performance of Chinese players Li Na and Zheng Jie but they failed to make it through to the final. Serena Williams powered her way past Li Na 7-6, 7-6 in a closely fought match. Justine Henin thrashed Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-0, winning 12 games in succession. The final showdown between Serena Williams and Justine Henin should be a fascinating match. The Williams sisters moved into the final of the womens’ doubles where they will face Zimbabwean Cara Black and Liesel Huber of the USA.
Andy Murray started his semi-final match against Marin Cilic nervously, losing the first set 6-3 but then the British player picked up to break the Croatian’s serve and take the second set 6-4. He then went on to take the next two sets against a tiring Cilic to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. He will play either Roger Federer or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.
Links to other sites: Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - Scotland’s Andy Murray moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open when last year’s champion Rafael Nadal withdrew in the third set suffering from a recurrence of an injury to his right knee. Murray was already leading the match 6-3, 7-6, 3-0 and looked in awesome form. He will face the Croatian giant Marin Cilic, who beat Andy Roddick in five sets.
Melbourne, Australia (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer was in fine form as he brushed aside the local favourite Leyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to enter the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Monday 25 January. Federer was in complete control throughout, dropping serve only once, in the third set, and then coming back immedately to beat Hewitt for the 15th time in succession.
Federer will next face Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Fernando Verdasco in a tough five-setter 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, 6-7, 6-3. Davydenko beat Federer in their last two matches, after a long string of losses against the Swiss star.
Federer inches closer to another Sampras record
London, England (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer neatly defeated Scotland’s Andy Murray in three sets, 3-6 6-3 6-1 at the ATP World Tour in London’s o2 arena. The Swiss player thus ensures that he will keep his ranking as the world’s top player for the rest of 2009. He finishes the year at the ATP World Tour Champion: “With five year-end number 1 finishes, Federer ties Jimmy Connors’ mark and now stands just one back of Pete Sampras on the list of all-time ATP World Tour Champions. Sampras finished as the No. 1 player six straight years, from 1993-98,” the tennis association notes on its site.
Federer held the top slot in world tennis for 237 straight weeks from 2 February 2004 to 17 August 2008.
London, England (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray started strongly in the end of year ATP Masters, beating Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, the winner of the US Open, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The Scot looked in fine form in the first set, quickly going to a 5-0 lead. Del Potro suffered from an inability to maintain a rally, and a nosebleed. He came back in the second set, winning it 6-3, but quickly fell behind in the third. The match ended 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
The other match in the O2 arena saw world number one Roger Federer take on Fernando Verdasco.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer missed out on the chance to win his fourth successive title at his Swiss hometown tournament. He played without his customary power and precision to let Novak Djokovic take the title.
Andy Murray will not be playing in the Shanghai Open, he announced 8 October. The British tennis player is recovering from a strained wrist and, although it is nearly healed, he is likely to not play again until Valencia, Spain 2 November. His withdrawal leaves Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro leading the pack at the Shanghai tournament.
Links to other sites: ATP World Tour, Andy Murray homepage, Times Online,
Genoa, Italy (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer overcame jetlag, slow clay courts and rain, not to mention Potito Storace, to give Switzerland a winning position in their World Group play-off against Italy. He won 6-3 6-0 6-4 to add to the two Swiss singles victories on Friday, which were followed by a loss in the doubles as Federer was rested.
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) – Third seed Rafael Nadal showed he was in good form yesterday in the fourth round of the US open by beating Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-1 6-3, despite a reported intestinal problem, and after coming back from serious knee injuries earlier this year.
In the other matches 8 September at Flushing Meadows, Long Island, Croatia’s Marin Cilic beat Briton Andy Murray 7-5 6-2 6-2 to qualify for the quarter-finals; Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from France 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, and Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro trounced Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 6-3 6-3. BBC Sports, US Open site
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) - Kim Clijsters showed what tennis been missing as she continued her run with a 6-0 0-6 6-4 win over third seed Venus Williams. The chunky Belgian powered her way past the gangly American in the first set but then started to miss and quickly lost the second. The third set was more even but Williams could not recover from an early loss of serve. Clijsters could face Serena Williams in the semi-finals but first needs to get past Chinese player Li Na.
Men’ tennis
Cincinnati, USA (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer showed why he is number one and put Andy Murray in his place with a superb display of tennis, taking the first set 6-2 with ease and then winning the second in the tie-break to end a four-match losing run against the Scot.
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer eased past Leyton Hewitt 6-3 6-4 as the Australian struggled with an injured knee in the Cincinnati Masters, the final ATP tournament before the US Open. Andy Murray had a tougher time as he struggled past Julien Bennetteau 4-6 6-3 6-1. The Scot’s superior fitness paid off in the second set as he won a marathon 53 shot rally when 0-2 down and then pulled ahead as the Frenchman ran out of steam.
The other semi will be Rafa Nadal against Novak Djokovic, which means the top four players in the ATP rankings will face off.
Cincinnati, USA (GenevaLunch) – Spectators at the ATP tournament in Cincinnati were treated to a marathon feast of tennis as the top four men in the world played their second round matches. Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all won. Number 5, Andy Roddick, lost to fellow American Sam Querry.
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Andy Murray confirmed his position as number 2 in the new ATP rankings by winning the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. He beat Argentinian Juan del Potro 6-7 7-6 6-1 in a match that was captivating for two sets but then fizzled out as the del Potro tired. Murray is 605 points ahead of Rafael Nadal but still 1,890 behind Roger Federer. The rankings record the points won in the previous 52 weeks.
Details: Rogers Cup
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a resident of La Rippe in canton Vaud. The 6-4, 7-6 victory also pushes Murray past Rafael Nadal to number 2 in the new ATP rankings. This is the highest ranking for a British player since the rankings started in 1973: Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski reached number 4.
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer was ambushed by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Quebec at the Rogers Cup, losing 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (3).
In his press conference after the match the disappointed Swiss player said “It’s obviously disappointing but you know, that’s what Jo does. He doesn’t make a return for an hour and then he puts in a few and than all of a sudden he’s back in the match. I should never have allowed it but it happened, so it’s a pity.”
Rafael Nadal’s comeback was stopped when he went down 7-6 6-1 to Argentinian Juan del Potro.
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) – The top eight players in the world all reached the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal: it is the first time this has happened since ATP rankings were introduced in 1973. The current top eight in order are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nikolay Davydenko.
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Rafael Nadal had an easy time in his comeback match after a 10-week break to recover from injured knees. His opponent, fellow Spaniard David Ferrer retired hurt after only 36 minutes of the first set. Ferrer started with one knee strapped and twice called for the trainer before retiring while trailing 3-4. Andy Roddick, the fifth seed, beat Russian Igor Andreev 6-1 7-6 but was not happy with the slow courts and the change in the brand of balls used for the Rogers Cup.
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Rafael Nadal, currently number 2 in the ATP rankings, survived his first test when he partnered his assistant coach Francis Roig to a 7-5, 6-4 doubles victory over Serbian pairing Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic. He will face sterner tests in the singles matches of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. He is in danger of losing his second place ranking to Scottish star Andy Murray the only Brit in the top 200.
If Murray wins the Rogers Cup he will overtake Nadal in the rankings, and will also do so if he makes the semi-finals but Nadal does not make it past the third round. This would mean Murray entering the US Open as second seed, avoiding a showdown with Roger Federer until the final.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The two women’s semi-finals were totally different but ended with the same result: Williams beats Russia. Serena fought back from a set down, and match-point down, to battle past Elena Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6 in the best match of the women’s tournament. Dementieva took the first set in the tie-break with precise ground strokes and an improved service. She then lost her first service game but came back to lead the set before Serena came back to take the set. The third set was hard fought with both players rising to the occasion until Serena finally won the longest ever women’s semi, at two hours 49 minutes.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Roger Federer gave a lesson in how to deal with a big serving giant when he swept past Croation Ivo Karlovic in straight sets, 6-3 7-5 7-6, breaking serve twice with some superb returns of service and barely dropping a point when on serve himself.
Tommy Haas pulled off the shock of the day with a rarely seen display of serve and volley tennis that proved too much for fourth seed Novak Djokovic. His prize will be an encounter with Federerer.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray fought his way past Swiss number two Stanislav Wawrinski in a five-set thriller that lasted more than four hours, taking advantage of the new retractable roof that allowed play to continue until the finish at 22:39.
