Tennis - Cibulkova takes revenge on Radwanska to win Stanford title

Tennis - Cibulkova takes revenge on Radwanska to win Stanford title

Dominika Cibulkova avenged an embarrassing defeat to Agnieszka Radwanska by overhauling the top-seeded Pole 3-6 6-4 6-4 to win the Bank of the West Classic on Sunday.

Earlier this year in the Sydney final, Radwanska handed the Slovakian a humiliating 6-0 6-0 loss which Cibulkova said affected her for weeks.

But in Sunday's final, the 24-year-old Cibulkova immediately shook off her nerves by winning the first game and fought tooth and nail to seal the win in two-and-a-half hours.

"The difference between Sydney and today was I made the first game and after that I looked at my coach and said 'Here we go, I am here and it's going to be good today,'" the Slovakian said.

"It was big deal for me because I never beat Aga before and she's a really tough competitor and I had to earn every point. It was really tough physically and mentally. That's why I am so happy that I won."

World number four Radwanska entered the final with a 4-0 record against Cibulkova, and appeared to be in control after winning the first set with creative and steady play.

Cibulkova then settled down, breaking Radwanska to lead 4-3 and holding on to win the second set when her opponent missed a return.

The Slovakian wobbled in the decider, with a double-fault conceding a break and allowing Radwanska to take a 4-2 lead, but she broke back immediately and closed out the contest with a searing backhand crosscourt winner.

She fell to her back in joy and her father Milan jumped on to the court to embrace her.

Cibulkova has flirted with the top 10, reaching a career-high 12 back in 2009, but has struggled to break through to the next level.

She has failed to make an impression at the grand slams this year, but will head into the fourth and final slam, the U.S. Open, with renewed belief.

"I believe I can reach the top 10, but every time I get close I feel so much pressure and I feel these expectations, which is sometimes too much," said Cibulkova, whose win will push her to 21st in the world rankings.

"Maybe (I'll make it) when I get enough experience, and it could be this year, or next year."

Radwanska, who was coming off a disappointing defeat in the Wimbledon semi-finals to Sabine Lisicki, was disappointed with her performance.

"Pretty much everything was a problem for me today," she said. "I didn't play my best and my serve wasn't good. I couldn't hit a ball the whole tournament and I didn't feel like I had good touch here."

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Isner edges Anderson in Atlanta Open final

Tennis - Isner edges Anderson in Atlanta Open final

American John Isner saved two match points before beating South Africa's Kevin Anderson 6-7(3) 7-6(2) 7-6(2) in the final of the Atlanta Open on Sunday to claim his seventh ATP career title.

The towering Isner, who stands six-foot-10 (2.08m), fired down 24 aces in a match dominated by big serving from two of the tallest players in tennis.

Neither player was able to break their opponent's serve in the slugfest, which lasted almost three hours, with each set decided by tiebreakers.

Anderson, a 6-foot-8 (2.03m) right hander from Johannesburg chasing a third career title, won the first tiebreaker and had 11 chances to break Isner's serve but failed to convert any of them.

He only faced one service break on his own serve and had two match points in the third set but was unable to seize either chance.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Jamie Murray and Peers win Gstaad doubles

Tennis - Jamie Murray and Peers win Gstaad doubles

Jamie Murray and John Peers won the ATP Gstaad doubles title with a 6-3 6-4 win over Pablo Andujar and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Sunday.

ritain’s Murray, the brother of Wimbledon and US Open champion Andy, has now won nine ATP doubles tournaments, with Australian Peers claiming his second tournament victory.

"It's been good,” Murray said of his recently developed partnership with Peers, which has yielded two titles in 11 events since the Australian Open.

“We've been playing a few months now, working hard together to try and get the team as good as we can.

"We've had some good results and we'll keep trying to go for the future."

"I thought it was a lot of fun,” Peers said. “The balls bounce a bit higher, it's a bit more lively. We handled it well."

There could have been a double-doubles win for Britain on Sunday as Colin Fleming and Jamie Marray contested the ATP Atlanta final against Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France and Dutchman Igor Sijsling, but Roger-Vasselin and Sijsling won 7-6(6) 6-3.

“We played a great match today again,” said Roger-Vasselin. “We played two weeks in a row so now we know each other quite well. We’re very happy because we lost in the final last week and now we got the title.”

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Youzhny overcomes Haase in Gstaad, Robredo triumphs in Croatia

Tennis - Youzhny overcomes Haase in Gstaad, Robredo triumphs in Croatia

Mikhail Youzhny won his ninth career title with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Robin Haase in Gstaad, while Tommy Robredo overcame Fabio Fognini 6-0 6-3 in the final at Umag.

Youzhny, 31, overcame Dutchman Haase in an hour and nine minutes to become the first Swiss Open champion from Russia since Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1995.

He is also the 12th over-30 to win an ATP title this year, as men’s tennis increasingly starts to favour the more experienced player.

“I’m very happy,” the world number 33 said afterwards. “When you win a tournament it doesn’t matter how you play or who you beat.

“My last title was at the start of last year in Zagreb, so it’s been quite long. I’m trying everything to play more consistently at a high level.”

One break per set was enough for Youzhny, who converted his third match point against a Haase who has never beaten the Russian in five attempts

Haase said he was happy to come second after suffering knee problems in recent weeks.

“I didn’t feel well last weekends and had some problems with my knee, which was pretty swollen,” the world number 57 said.

“And now I’m here as a runner-up and that’s great. (Youzhny) is a great player and I never beat him.”

Spain's fifth seed Robredo easily beat Italy's third seed Fognini 6-0 6-3 in Croatia.

The result ended a 13-match winning streak for world number 19 Fognini, who had won the last two tournaments he played in, at Hamburg and Stuttgart.

Robredo extends his career record over Fognini to 4-1, having beaten his second-seeded compatriot Andreas Seppi in the semis.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Teenager Svitolina beats Peer for maiden WTA title

Tennis - Teenager Svitolina beats Peer for maiden WTA title

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina has won her first WTA Tour title by beating Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-4 6-4 in the final at Baku.

The world number 71 needed one hour and 37 minutes to see off the world number 149 for her maiden tour title win, having made her debut in 2010.

“It was a very difficult match and I have really had some tough matches during the week,” Svitolina, who reached her first semi-final in Bad Gastein last week, said.

“But I have worked really hard before the tournament and things went in my favour.”

The 19-year-old is the youngest woman to win a tour title since Hungary’s Timea Babos took the Monterrey title in February 2012.

Svitolina, who went out of Wimbledon in the first round to eventual champion Marion Bartoli, played the important points well, saving 71% of break points against her serve and winning four from six at her end.

Former world number 11 Peer, 26, was in her first final for two years and last won a title in 2009.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Radwanska to meet Cibulkova in Stanford final

Tennis - Radwanska to meet Cibulkova in Stanford final

Agnieszka Radwanska outplayed Jamie Hampton 6-3 6-2 to secure a place at WTA Stanford.

The fourth ranked Pole will face third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, who powered past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-0 to make her first final.

Radwanska had fallen to the up-and-coming American at a pre-Wimbledon tournament in Birmingham, England, last month, but in California on hard courts, she dictated play most of the evening, never allowing Hampton to get on top of her.

The fourth seed Hampton started the match fairly strong, but the Pole began to yank her around the court, mixing in deft drop shots, sharp angles and hard drives.

The American quickly became unsettled , while the quick Radwanska played steady and raced away with the match.

Radwanska finished the match with 11 winners and seven unforced errors, while Hampton ripped 24 winners and committed 35 unforced errors.

Radwanska, who has struggled mightily in her three set quarter-final win over Varvara Lepchenko, was pleased with the improvement in her game.

"I played much better than last night, I hit the ball very well and served well," Radwanska said. "She hits very hard, but it was night and I could run a lot and it's tough to finish points. It was an advantage to me because I could play defense and win the match."

In her sixth appearance on the campus of Stanford University, world number 25 Cibulkova got through a rough patch at the start of the first set and then battered the fifth-seeded Cirstea with powerful groundstrokes and returns.

Cibulkova managed to hold to 5-3 after a marathon eighth game in which she fought off four break points and the momentum clearly shifted as she reeled off seven out of the next eight games.

"I started really well and the level was quite high from both of us, but that game changed everything," Cirstea said of the eighth game. "After she won that game she stepped up and my level dropped a level. She played better than me."

The 23-year-old Cibulkova had few problems in the second set as she made a strategic shift by moving her position on the return of serve and cutting off the Romanian's favored serves out wide.

Cirstea grew wild and all the Slovak had to do was play steady and keep the ball deep in order to win the match.

"I tried to distract her on the serve and tried to make her think more," said Cibulkova, who has won two WTA titles, the second of which was at Carlsbad last year.

The last time that Radwanska and Cibulkova faced off, Radwanska beat her 6-0 6-0 in a final in Sydney.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Isner, Anderson to meet in Atlanta Open final

Tennis - Isner, Anderson to meet in Atlanta Open final

The two top seeds American John Isner and South African Kevin Anderson will meet in the Atlanta Open final after securing semi-final victories on Saturday.

Isner beat former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-4 4-6 7-6(5) while Anderson was too good for American Ryan Harrison 6-3 7-6(3).

The top-seeded Isner fired 21 aces on the way to beating Hewitt in a cracking match, giving him a chance at shedding his Atlanta bridesmaid's tag having been runner up twice previously.

The big serving American is seeking a seventh career ATP crown in the $US546,930 hardcourt event.

Hewitt looked set to complete an upset when holding triple break point in the seventh game of the third set but Isner fought back before winning it 7-5 in a tiebreak.

The six-foot-10 (2.08m) American moved to 24-6 in tiebreaks this year, the best on the ATP Tour.

Anderson needed just 91 minutes to beat the unseeded 21-year-old Harrison, riding a 91-percent conversion rate on first service points won and saving all five break point opportunities Harrison earned.

Harrison had two set points on his serve in the second set but could not close out, allowing Anderson to take the tiebreak 7-3.

The six-foot-eight (2.03m) Anderson will be chasing his third career ATP crown in his sixth final appearance having won in Johannesburg in 2011 and at Delray Beach in 2012.

He has been runner up twice already this year in Sydney and Casablanca.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Youzhny to face Haase in Gstaad final

Tennis - Youzhny to face Haase in Gstaad final

Mikhail Youzhny will face Robin Haase in the final at Gstaad, while Fabio Fognini saved three match points to earn a shot at the ATP Umag title.

Youzhny, 31, is bidding to become the first Russian champion at the Swiss Open after beating Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-3 6-3.

Dutchman Haase overcame Feliciano Lopez of Spain 4-6 6-1 6-4 in an hour and 48 minutes.

"I served well today and I was fighting a lot," said Haase.

"I was broken early in the first set and that’s the worst thing that can happen to you against Feliciano.

“But I managed to fight back and I’m very happy to be in the final."

Youzhny has beaten Haase in all four of their previous encounters.

"It will be a difficult match," said Haase. "His game doesn't suit me. He's a great player with a lot of experience."

In Croatia, Fognini won 6-0 3-6 7-6(3) against France’s Gael Monfils, who came from 5-0 down in the decider and saved two match points himself before going out on a tie-break.

Fognini will play Spain’s Tommy Robredo in the Umag final after he triumphed over Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3 2-6 6-4.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Radwanska into Stanford semis

Tennis - Radwanska into Stanford semis

Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska progressed to the semi-finals of the Stanford Classic with a hard-fought 7-6(2) 3-6 6-3 win over home hope Varvara Lepchenko.

Radwanska, who had seen off Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4 6-3 in the previous round, found her American opponent a far tougher nut to crack.

The world number four was pushed all the way in the opening set and faced nine break points, saving six, but crucially losing three on the way to a tie-break. The Pole managed to ease through that though, taking it with the loss of just two points.

However, Tashkent-born Lepchenko took encouragement from her performance in the first set and, with both players upping their services games, the 27-year-old claimed the second after breaking just once - the only time either player managed to do so in the set.

Nothing could separate the two players until Radwanska broke in the eighth game of the third to go 5-3 ahead. She then served out to seal victory.

Radwanska, seeking her third WTA title of the season, will play another American, Jamie Hampton, for a place in the final. Fourth seed Hampton downed Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-4 6-3 to book her place in the last four.

In the day's other quarter-finals, third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat Radwanska's sister Urszula, seeded seventh, 7-5 6-3 to set up a match with Sorana Cirstea of Romania, the fifth seed who saw off Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-3 6-2.

Stanford Classic results

Quarter-finals

1-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 6-Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) 7-6(2) 3-6 6-3

4-Jamie Hampton (U.S.) beat Vera Dushevina (Russia) 6-4 6-3

3-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) beat 7-Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 7-5 6-3

5-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 6-3 6-2

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Troicki pleads innocence, to appeal to CAS against ban

Tennis - Troicki pleads innocence, to appeal to CAS against ban

Serbian former world number 12 Viktor Troicki will appeal to the Court of Arbitration (CAS) against the 18-month ban slapped on him by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for refusing to provide a blood sample at this year's Monte Carlo Masters.

"(I will be appealing) for sure," the 27-year-old said on his official website pleading innocence in the doping violation case.

"I put my trust in the Court of Arbitration of Sports in Lausanne, I really hope they will look for the truth and find it, which is only one."

Troicki said he was misled by a doping control officer in Monte Carlo.

"I gave the urine samples and told the doctor I was feeling really bad and I believed that drawing blood would make me feel even worse," said Troicki, who helped Serbia win the 2010 Davis Cup.

"The doctor in charge of the testing told me that I looked very pale and ill, and that I could skip the test if I wrote an explanation letter to ITF about it. She dictated the letter to me and let me go without giving blood.

"I just had the wrong doctor who didn't tell me at all that I was risking anything. She showed me a letter of the ITF saying she is in charge of the decisions and I trusted her completely."

Troicki termed the episode a "real nightmare" and said he felt "being treated like a criminal".

An ITF statement said Troicki's actions constituted a "failure and refusal" to provide a blood sample and that his explanation for doing so was "not compelling."

Troicki will be suspended until Jan 24, 2015 and the announcement came shortly after he lost to Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the early stages of a Croatian international tournament in Umag on Thursday.

Troicki was hailed as a national hero in Serbia alongside compatriot and world number one Novak Djokovic after winning the final singles rubber in Serbia's epic 3-2 win over France in the 2010 Davis Cup final in Belgrade.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Troicki handed 18-month ban for doping offence

Tennis - Troicki handed 18-month ban for doping offence

Serbian tennis star Viktor Troicki has been banned for 18 months for refusing to give a blood sample at a doping control.

Former world number 12 Troicki, 27, was asked to provide samples during the Monte Carlo Masters on April 15, where he lost in the first round to Jarkko Nieminen.

The world number 53 did provide a urine specimen but said he was unwell and could not give a blood sample. Troicki told the ITF tribunal that the doping control officer told him the urine sample would be sufficient.

But the ITF tribunal decided that the officer had given no such assurance and that the player had breached Article 2.3 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (refusing or failing without compelling justification to submit to sample collection).

The tribunal did accept that Troicki was under stress at the time of the test and that this mitigating factor reduces the length of his ban from two years.

The ban will expire on midnight of January 24 2015.

Troicki actually played on Thursday, losing 6-0 6-4 to Tommy Robredo at the Croatian International tournament in Umag.

The 2010 Davis Cup winner's results, ranking points and prize money from Monte Carlo were also forfeited.

Troicki, from Belgrade, has only won one career ATP title - in Moscow three years ago - but his overall consistency means he was in and around the top 20 between 2011-12.

This season he hovered around the top 40-50, and this blow could signal an untimely blow to the career of Serbia's number three player.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Federer blames injury after losing to world number 55

Tennis - Federer blames injury after losing to world number 55

Roger Federer blamed a back injury after suffering a second embarassing defeat in a week, this time going out to world number 55 Daniel Brands in the second round at Gstaad.

Federer, who slipped outside the top four after flopping at Wimbledon, went out 6-3 6-4 in one hour and five minutes to the big-serving German, who is unseeded for the tournament.

It was top seed and home favourite Federer's first match at the Swiss Open, having been granted a round-one bye. Last week he was ousted from Hamburg by world number 114 Federico Delbonis.

"I've had serious problems with the back, I had to get some anti-inflammatories last week in Hamburg due to the back pain," Federer said.

"It was so tough to play and move out there today. I'll just have to take treatment and see how it all goes."

His participation at next month's Montreal Masters is now in doubt as the former world number one struggles to find form and fitness in time for the US Open.

The Swiss master, who has won a record 17 Grand Slam titles, has been in relatively poor form since losing to Novak Djokovic in last November's World Tour Finals.

He failed to reach a final in the first four months of the season and, while he won his customary pre-Wimbledon title at Halle, results in the Slams have worsened, going out in the Australian Open semis, French Open quarters and the second round at the All-England club.

His ranking of number five is the lowest it has been in a decade, with the rise of Djokovic and Andy Murray seeing him eclipsed as the world's best hard court and grass player.

The 31-year-old appears to be in decline, but a change in racquet may explain his poor form.

Federer actually beat Brands last week in Hamburg. But on Thursday he saw the German deliver 11 aces and save five break points as he blasted his way to victory.

"It helped that I already played him in Hamburg last week," Brands said. "Of course you are very impressed when you face him on the court for the first time.

"It's completely different from what you see when you watch him on TV once you see him on the other side of the court."

Brands will next face Victor Hanescu after his eighth-seeded opponent Roberto Bautistawithdrew from their clash injured.

In other matches at Gstaad, third seed Janko Tipsarevic was surprisingly beaten 6-2 6-2 by world number 57 Robin Haase.

Dutchman Haase faces Marcel Granollers in the quarter-finals after he won his second-round match 6-2 7-5 - against Delbonis, who beat Federer last time out.

Round two results:

Daniel Brands (Germany) beat 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) 6-3 6-4

Robin Haase (Netherlands) beat 3-Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-2 6-2

Victor Hanescu (Romania) beat 8-Roberto Bautista (Spain) 7-6(2) 3-2 (Bautista retired)

Marcel Granollers (Spain) beat Federico Delbonis (Argentina) 6-2 7-5

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Radwanska marches through in Stanford

Tennis - Radwanska marches through in Stanford

Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska moved into the third round of the Stanford Classic after seeing off Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4 6-3.

The Pole kicked off her campaign at the Californian event - her first since losing to Sabine Lisicki in the semi-final at Wimbledon - after having received a bye directly into the second round.

Radwanska, who earlier in the week had to defend her decision to pose nude for a sports magazine following criticism in her home country, showed no signs of distraction as she dominated the contest and put herself in a winning position early on.

World number 59 Schiavone, once ranked fourth - a position Radwanska currently occupies - did manage to put a run games together in the second set, but by that time Radwanska was all but home and dry.

She will now meet American sixth seed Varvara Lepchenko, who downed Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-4 6-4.

Samantha Stosur, the second seed, crashed out of the tournament a day earlier to improve Radwanska's hopes of winning a third WTA title this season.

Stanford Classic results

Round two

1-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-4 6-3

5-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) 6-3 6-3

6-Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-4 6-4

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Anne Keothavong retires from tennis

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Stosur stunned in Stanford

Tennis - Stosur stunned in Stanford

Second seed Samantha Stosur was bounced out of the Stanford Classic in the second round by Olga Govortsova.

The Australian, playing her first match of the US hardcourt season after having received a first-round bye, dropped to a shock 6-2 6-4 defeat to her 83rd ranked opponent from Belarus.

Stosur's outing at the tournament in California was serving as a warm-up for her tilt at the upcoming US Open, which she won in 2011.

But Stosur's current form is a far cry from that which landed her a first and only singles Grand Slam title two years ago, and Govortsova was able to run away with victory.

The Belarusian won the first four games of each set while Stosur double-faulted 10 times.

The Australian's attempted fightback late in the second was too little too late and Govortsova sealed victory to ease into the third round, where she will now meet either Sorana Cirstea or Coco Vandeweghe.

Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska has a tough opening match against Francesca Schiavone in the second round.

Stanford Classic results

Round 2

Olga Govortsova (Belarus) beat 2-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-2 6-4

Round 1

7-Urszula Radwanska (Poland) beat Christina Mchale (U.S.) 6-1 6-3

Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-2 4-6 6-0

Vera Dushevina (Russia) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-2 6-1

Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) beat Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-0 6-3

Tamira Paszek (Austria) beat Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-1 6-7(4) 3-0 (Kudryavtseva retired)

6-Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 6-2 6-4

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Federer to start 2014 season in Brisbane

Tennis - Federer to start 2014 season in Brisbane

Roger Federer will start his 2014 campaign at the Brisbane International next January, underlining the

 tournament's status as the biggest of the Australian Open warm-ups.

The 31-year-old Swiss, who has four Melbourne Park titles among his 17 Grand Slams, has never previously started the year in Brisbane and the announcement was billed as the "biggest ... in the history" of the event, which started in 2009.

Federer previously warmed up for the year's first Grand Slam at the now ailing Kooyong exhibition tournament and more recently in Doha, Qatar.

"I've always hoped that I could come there," Federer said.

"I'm not just coming for the Australian Open, especially when I commit so early in advance, it's also to win in Brisbane."

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has won the men's event at the Pat Rafter Arena for the last two years, while Serena Williams won the women's title last year.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Federer to continue new racquet experiment

Tennis - Federer to continue new racquet experiment

Roger Federer says he will continue to use his new, larger tennis racquet for the foreseeable future.

Federer debuted a blacked-out Wilson with a 98-square-inch head last week in Hamburg as he tasted action for the first time since being stunned in the second round of Wimbledon.

The Swiss ace reached the semi-finals in Germany, only to fall to Federico Delbonis in the last four.

Federer is now in Gstaad for the first time since winning the clay tournament nine years ago. He enters the fray on Thursday against Daniel Brands or Marco Chiudinelli after getting a first-round bye.

And Federer says the new racquet will be there too, as he continues to pass judgment on the equipment.

"So far, I'm happy with this change,” he explained. “But I need many hours on the court to see if this is a good decision.

“I haven't yet taken the decision on whether to use it in the US. I still need to think it over.

"There are players who have experienced problems when they changed racquets, Fernando Verdasco and to some extent Novak Djokovic."

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - British doubles star Hutchins in remission from cancer

Tennis - British doubles star Hutchins in remission from cancer

Ross Hutchins, one half of Britain's Davis Cup doubles pairing, has confirmed he is in remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Hutchins, 28, was diagnosed with the form of cancer in December 2012.

He took a break from tennis to undergo treatment at London's Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

The Wimbledon-born player confirmed the remission via his official Twitter account.

"Was a big day today. Met my oncologist and I am now in remission. So grateful to fantastic Professor Cunningham and his team at Royal Marsden," he tweeted.

"Thank you to everyone for your constant, incredible support, I couldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for all of you, I really mean that!"

Hutchins has been eager to return to action sometime in 2013.

He and regular partner Colin Fleming enjoyed a banner year in 2012, reaching four doubles finals and winning two of them in Eastbourne and Delray Beach.

Fleming has been playing doubles with 2012 Wimbledon doubles champion Jonny Marray while Hutchins battled the illness.

Nearly 1,500 people are diagnosed with the white blood cell disease each year in the UK.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Fognini battle to beat Federer-conqueror Delbonis in Hamburg final

Tennis - Fognini battle to beat Federer-conqueror Delbonis in Hamburg final

Fabio Fognini saved three match points before going on to beat Federico Delbonis 4-6 7-6(8) 6-2 in the ATP Hamburg final.

It was the second title in as many weeks for the Italian after he won in Stuttgart last weekend.

It had looked like being storybook triumph for world number 114 Delbonis who had the biggest win of his career against Roger Federer in the semi-final.

The Argentine qualifier won the opening set after saving five breaks points before converting with his only opportunity.

He was also a break up in the second but Fognini fought back and brought it to a nail-biting tie-break.

There the Italian saved three match points before going on to take it 10-8.

That seemed to bury Delbonis mentally as Fognini won the first four games of the decider before going on to take it 6.2.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad

Tennis - Williams wins fourth clay title of season in Bastad

Tennis - Williams wins fourth clay title of season in Bastad

Serena Williams completed her dominance on clay this season by beating Johanna Larsson 6-4 6-1 in the WTA Bastad final.

It made it 28 clay court wins in a row for Serena with five of her seven 2013 titles coming on the surface - four on red clay and one on green clay (Charleston).

Larsson got off to a good start in her home tournament, breaking in the opening game, and was 3-1 in front early but the eight seeded Swede only went on to win two more games as Serena took control.

It was the 53rd WTA title of Williams' career and puts her level with Monica Seles for ninth on the all-time list in the Open era.

Meanwhile in Bad Gastein, Austria, Yvonne Meusburger delighted the home fans by winning the first title of her career against Andrea Hlavackova of Czech Republic 7-5 6-2 .

Meusburger is ranked only 86th in the world but enjoyed a fantastic tournament – not dropping a single set all week.

source

Read more... Résuméabuiyad