Tennis

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Agnes Szavay upset top-seeded Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-1 Wednesday in the second round of the Barcelona KIA Open.

The 82nd-ranked Szavay will face American Meghann Shaughnessy in the quarterfinals of the clay-court event. Shaughnessy defeated Laura Pous Tio 7-5, 6-4.

Alla Kudryavtseva advanced with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Emmanuelle Gagliardi. Third-seeded Emilie Loit beat Camille Pin 6-1, 6-1, and Kaia Kanepi eased past Maria Emilia Salerni 6-3, 6-0.

Flavia Pennetta downed Tatjana Malek 6-3, 6-4, and Virginie Razzano outlasted Melinda Czink 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-2. Edina Gallovits completed the quarterfinal field by defeating Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-4, 6-2.

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American James Blake advanced to the quarterfinals at the Gerry Weber Open by beating Russian teenager Evgeny Korolev 7-5, 6-1 Wednesday.

Blake, who had 16 aces, said he improved from Monday's three-set win over Sam Querrey in the first round of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

"I think that is as well as I have served in a while, not letting a break chance against me," said Blake, who lost to Korolev in February. "I think he is a good returner, so maybe that's why I served so well -- I had too."

Korolev netted an easy volley to give Blake his first break and the first set.

"You try to put some pressure on. You never know how a young guy like that will react," Blake said. "But you can see he has some talent."

Korolev struggled to hold serve in the second set, and Blake broke him again to take a 3-1 lead.

Blake and Berdych, who reached Wimbledon's fourth round last year, are the favorites to win the title following the withdrawal of four-time champion Roger Federer.

"Every match I get more confidence," Blake said. "When I serve like that, I think no one can break, although other guys probably feel like that sometimes, too."

The 21-year-old Berdych lost to Federer in the final last year.

"It was a great week last year, but I was stopped in the final by Roger," Berdych said. "This year everything is going very well again."

Also, fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych beat Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 7-6 (5), No. 6 Mikhail Youzhny edged German qualifier Simon Stadler 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, and Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-3.

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Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic advanced to the third round at the DFS Classic on Wednesday.

Sharapova, who is trying to win her third straight title at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, struggled early but beat American qualifier Lilia Osterloh 6-4, 6-0. Jankovic defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-1.

Sharapova and Jankovic lost in the semifinals at the French Open last week.

"(Grass) is so different from clay and makes you use different muscles, which can be difficult at first. But I always enjoy playing on this surface," Sharapova said. "And that performance was OK."

Sharapova faced two break points in her opening service game, but recovered and eased through the second set. The second-ranked Russian will next face Tamira Paszek of Austria, who beat 13th-seeded Meilen Tu of the United States 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Jankovic, who lost to top-ranked Justine Henin in the semifinals at Roland Garros, has moved up to No. 3 in the rankings.

"I've shown I can beat every player in the world except Henin," the second-seeded Serb said. "I've had difficulty with her but I was close quite a few times. I think I belong at the top of the game."

Jankovic is aiming for Wimbledon, which starts June 25.

"Wimbledon is one of my favorite tournaments and I would love to play well and do well there," Jankovic said. "It's my dream to become No. 1 and maybe if I stay healthy I will make it."

Eighth-seeded Mara Santangelo of Italy and No. 9 Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine also advanced. Santangelo beat Sania Mirza of India 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), and Vakulenko defeated Andreja Klepac of Slovenia 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine defeated Milagros Sequera of Venezuela 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

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Rafael Nadal made a successful transition to grass, defeating Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 Wednesday in the second round at Queen's Club.

Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was upset by French qualifier Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2), and third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez edged Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (7).

Fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic defeated American Robert Kendrick 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Nadal, the French Open champion, broke Del Potro in the ninth game of the first set, and then again to open the second.

"It's a big change from clay to grass, but I feel good," the top-seeded Nadal said. "The final last year in Wimbledon gave me a lot of confidence."

Nadal, who has won three straight French Open titles, lost to top-ranked Roger Federer at Wimbledon last year.

"(Del Potro) started serving very well but he stopped a little bit and I could start to return more balls," Nadal said. "But I was calm because with my serve I was winning the games ... and that's important -- especially on grass."

Nadal said he felt relaxed at the Wimbledon warm-up.

"I am coming here with not much pressure ... try to play good tennis, try to adapt as fast as possible to grass," Nadal said.

Hewitt, a three-time winner from 2000-02, was unable to break down Tsonga's big serve.

Hewitt lost the first set, then broke to lead 2-0 in the second. But the 121st-ranked Tsonga broke back in the seventh game and again for 6-5 when Hewitt netted an easy backhand volley.

The sixth-seeded Hewitt broke to take the match to a tiebreaker, where Tsonga conceded just two points.

Against Djokovic, Kendrick slipped and hurt his left knee in the second set.

"I was very careful how I move because usually on clay you slide, and here you cannot slide," Djokovic said. "You could see that Robert got a little injury. It could have been more serious. He was lucky."

Djokovic, a semifinalist at the French Open, made several errors early in the match, but he earned a break in the second set after Kendrick's three double-faults. Kendrick slid and twisted his knee in the next game.

Also, seventh-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia defeated Frank Dancevic of Canada, 7-5, 6-1.

Arnaud Clement of France beat Chris Guccione of Australia 6-4, 6-4; Marin Cilic of Croatia defeated Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-3, 6-4; and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia topped Alex Kuznetsov of the United States 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Marat Safin lost the first set to two-time finalist Sebastien Grosjean of France. The Russian recovered to win the second set before rain ended play for the day at 6-3, 4-6, 4-4.

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Nikolay Davydenko struggled again on grass Thursday, losing to Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Gerry Weber Open.

The second-seeded Russian, who reached the semifinals last week at the French Open, is 2-12 on grass. He has lost four times in the first round of Wimbledon in five years and has never won consecutive matches on grass.

"My coach says for these four weeks on grass, just take a holiday," Davydenko said. "Otherwise I just get disappointed, frustrated."

Mayer, a 37th-ranked German, forced Davydenko out of his game with low, fast shots.

"He didn't hit winners," Davydenko said. "But after the ball was so low you have no chance to hit it back. What do you do?"

Mayer, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2004, faces Marcos Baghdatis on Friday in the quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Baghdatis came back from a break down in the final two sets to beat Robin Soderling 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-3.

"First set, he served very, very well," Baghdatis said. "The second set he broke me and then I just tried to focus on a corner, like a penalty in soccer."

A double fault by the 28th-ranked Soderling handed Baghdatis a decisive break in the fifth game of the final set.

The 18-ranked Cypriot reached the 2006 Australian Open final and Wimbledon semifinals.

"For sure, this time I want to do better and win the title at Wimbledon -- that's my goal," Baghdatis said. "Now I play good on grass. I played on it a couple of times as a junior and was really bad."

Baghdatis fell four times on the slippery grass of center court. He even cut his knee, but said it did not affect his play.

Sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny pulled out Thursday with a back injury, giving Tomas Berdych a spot in the semifinals.

"I really would like to have won the title here at the Gerry Weber Open," Youzhny said. "This is too bad for the tournament here in Halle."

Berdych, Baghdatis and James Blake are the favorites following the withdrawal of Roger Federer, the four-time champion who lost to Rafael Nadal last week in the French Open final.

"I'm definitely a favorite now, but there are many good players," Baghdatis said. "Your really have to concentrate. Two or three stupid mistakes and a break and you are out."

Jarkko Nieminen beat lucky loser Andrei Pavel, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1. The Romanian got into the field when Federer withdrew.

In the quarterfinals, Nieminen faces Marc Gicquel, who beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (5).

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Rain postponed play at the DFS Classic on Thursday, with more wet weather expected Friday.

Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, had been scheduled to play Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek on Thursday in the third round.

The 16-year-old Paszek instead spent the day restlessly moving around the clubhouse.

"It's difficult but I haven't got frustrated," Paszek said. "This is our job and we have to learn how to do it."

Sharapova is trying to win her third title at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

"She is my idol. I appreciate her so much," Paszek said. "What she has done is great, and the way she works. For me it is a dream."

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American Meghann Shaughnessy reached her first semifinals of the year by beating Hungarian qualifier Agnes Szavay 7-6 (3), 6-4 at the Barcelona KIA Open on Thursday.

The sixth-seeded Shaughnessy was joined by No. 7 Virginie Razzano of France and No. 8 Flavia Pennetta of Italy, who ousted No. 3 Emilie Loit of France 6-3, 6-3.

No. 4 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia also lost, upset by unseeded Edina Gallovits of Romania 6-4, 7-5.

After losing in the first round of nine of her opening 10 tournaments, Shaughnessy was starting to enjoy a little more success with an 8-4 record on European clay. It was her first meeting with 18-year-old Szavay, who celebrated her debut in the top 100 rankings this week by knocking out top-seeded Francesca Schiavone.

In Friday's semifinals, Shaughnessy will play Pennetta.

Razzano advanced to the semifinals of the final clay-court tournament of the season after beating Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-1, 6-4.

She'll face Gallovits, who knocked out her second straight seeded player in the best week of her eight-year WTA Tour career.

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Andy Roddick benefited from the replay system at Queen's Club on Thursday, then held on to beat Alex Bogdanovic of Britain 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the third round of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

Roddick, who had 22 aces, was tied at 5-5 in the tiebreaker when he asked for Hawk-Eye to challenge a call. The decision was overturned, giving the American a set point and taking away a match point for his 117th-ranked opponent.

"I've been a big supporter of Hawk-Eye and today is the reason why," Roddick said. "There's a big difference between being down match point and up set point. Needless to say, I would have been a little perturbed if they'd have got that one wrong."

Bogdanovic also benefited from the replay system. Trailing 5-4 and facing a set point, he challenged a fault and Hawk-Eye showed that it was an ace.

"I though Alex played a good match," Roddick said. "He kept the pressure on me from the first ball and I was lucky to get out of there today."

Rain ended play for the day as top-seeded Rafael Nadal was scheduled to serve for the match while leading Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 (3), 5-3.

Games went easily with serve in the opening set, before Nadal dominated the tiebreaker. Rain halted play for more than an hour early in the second set, and when play resumed Nadal broke to lead 3-1 after a backhand error from Mirnyi.

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile also advanced, beating Robby Ginepri of the United States 6-2, 7-5. Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In the second round, eighth-seeded Marat Safin beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that had been suspended overnight.

The Russian won all six points played Thursday but then lost 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) to 2006 finalist Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.

In other third-round matches, fifth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia led Nicolas Mahut of France 4-3 before rain interrupted play, and fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia failed to get on court against 14th-seeded Arnaud Clement of France.

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American Meghann Shaughnessy and Edina Gallovits will meet in the final of the Barcelona KIA Open.

Sixth-seeded Shaughnessy defeated Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 to reach her first final this year. The 49th-ranked Shaughnessy won two titles in 2006.

Unseeded Gallovits beat Virginie Razzano of France 6-3, 6-4 in the last clay court tournament of the year. She is aiming for her first WTA title.

The 91st-ranked Romanian has won 12 lower-tier titles in an eight-year career.

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Third-ranked Jelena Jankovic rallied to defeat Maria ***ilenko 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 Friday in the third round of the DFS Classic.

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova's match against Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek was postponed for a second day because of rain.

Jankovic advanced to the quarterfinals despite being hampered by a sore neck.

"When I woke up my neck was so stiff, I couldn't turn to the left," Jankovic said. "I got some treatment and I think it will take a couple of days to loosen up. I was struggling a little bit and I didn't play my best tennis. I just tried to stay focused."

Jankovic saved a break point when down 0-2 in the second set and then broke her opponent's serve twice in a row. She got another break to go up 6-5 in the final set and served for the match.

Fourth-seeded Li Na, No. 5 Marion Bartoli and No. 6 Alona Bondarenko also advanced to the quarterfinals, along with Elena Likhovtseva and Mara Santangelo.

After heavy rains canceled play Thursday, organizers hoped to play quarterfinals on Friday. But rain returned after Jankovic's win, so remaining three rounds will be played on Saturday and Sunday.

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James Blake lost in slippery conditions to Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-3 Friday in the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open.

The 34th-ranked German broke Blake's serve at love to take a 5-4 lead in the first set, then got another break at 4-3 in the second in front of 8,000 cheering home fans at the grass-court warmup for Wimbledon.

"I did not play like a top player," said the eighth-ranked Blake. "That's frustrating, but he gave me a chance to beat myself and I did that."

Kohlschreiber next faces eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who defeated Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-3.

Jarkko Nieminen also reached the semifinals when Marc Gicquel withdrew with stomach pains after dropping the first set 6-4. The Finn will face fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych, who had a walkover after Mikhail Youzhny withdrew with back pains.

Kohlschreiber's second-set break came after rain forced organizers to close the retractable roof. Both players still slipped several times on the wet grass, and Blake said officials should have let the courts dry before play resumed.

"Coming up to Wimbledon, I really would rather not twist my knee, my ankle on a court like this," Blake said. "You just wait 10 minutes, the match is still going to be finished. They have a roof, it's not like we are going to be here all night. So I really don't understand that."

Kohlschreiber was pleased with his performance.

"I just played good, I was always ahead," Kohlschreiber said. "I thought, OK, I'm in the quarterfinals against the No. 8, nobody can blame me if I lose."

Baghdatis needed less than an hour to beat the 37th-ranked Mayer, who didn't come close to threatening the former Australian Open finalist.

"I made very few mistakes and I served well and I returned well, which put a lot of pressure on him," said Baghdatis, who reached the semifinals at last year's Wimbledon.

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French Open champion Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the Queen's Club grass-court championships Friday, losing 7-5, 7-6 (0) to 106th-ranked Nicolas Mahut of France.

Second-seeded Andy Roddick advanced to the semifinals after defeating Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Nadal, looking sluggish throughout the match, was broken in the last game of the first set and then failed to win a single point in the tiebreaker.

"It was tough," the Spaniard said. "I didn't really play very well. But anyway, I am happy with my tournament."

Nadal got to the same stage here last year and went on to reach the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Roger Federer. Nadal plans to go home to Mallorca, Spain, for a few days to relax before returning for Wimbledon, which starts June 25.

"I need to disconnect, play some golf, watch a little bit (of soccer), have some fun with the friends," he said. "I need put the racket very far from me for two days."

Mahut, who entered with a 6-11 record this year, looked surprised when his final shot bounced off the edge of the net beyond Nadal's racket.

He will face Arnaud Clement, who defeated Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 6-4 in another quarterfinal.

Roddick held off a break point at 5-4 with a service winner to take the first set, but had to rally from 4-1 down in the second as he failed to find any consistency.

"I played spotty today," Roddick said. "I was a little bit sloppy with some of the errors. If I want to get through two more matches and try to win this tournament again, I'll have to do better than that."

The American, who is aiming for his fourth title at Queen's, will face Dmitry Tursunov, who rallied from 2-4 in the final set to upset third-seeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

Gonzalez led 2-0 in the third set when the match was interrupted by rain for a second time. Tursunov evened it at 4-4, prompting Gonzalez to smash his racket.

Tursunov won the final two games, clinching the match when Gonzalez hit a forehand volley into the net.

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در نيمه نهايي بيرمنگام

نادال مقابل يك ناشناس شكست خورد

قهرمان اسپانيايي اوپن پاريس (خاك رس) در نيمه نهايي رنگ صعود را به چشم نديد.


به نقل از آس اسپانيا، رافائل نادال كه به اعتقاد بسياري از كارشناسان زبده جهان، مدعي جدي قهرماني در رقابت*هاي بيرمنگام بود، مقابل نيكلاس موهات از فرانسه با نتايج 7 بر 5 و 7 بر 6 تن به شكست داد.

موهات در رتبه 106 جهان قرار دارد و با شكست دادن نادال، اوضاع بهتري در جدول پيدا خواهد كرد.

اين در حاليست كه اندي راديچ، مرد شماره دو جهان با شكست دادن مارين كيليچ با نتايج 6 بر 4 و 7 بر 6، به نيمه نهايي صعود كرده است.

موهات فرانسوي پس از شكست دادن نادال، بايد به مصاف آرنود كلمنت برود.

رقابت*هاي بيرمنگام بريتانيا، به دليل بارش هاي شديد و نامنظم باران، فعلا به حال تعليق در آمده است

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شاگنسي به ديدار نهايي تنيس بارسلونا رسيد


تنيسور مطرح ايالات متحده آمريكا با غلبه بر حريف سرسخت خود، به ديدار نهايي بارسلونا رسيد.



به نقل از رويترز، مگان شاگنسي با شكست دادن 6 بر صفر و 6 بر 4 فلاويا نپتا، به بازي پاياني دست پيدا كرد و در
اين مسابقه بايد به مصاف ادينا گالوويتس از روماني برود.

جالب اين جا است كه هر 8 شركت*كننده اسپانيايي به عنوان ميزبان، در يك هشتم نهايي حذف شده*اند.

جايزه نسبتا مطلوب اين رقابت*ها حساسيت بازي*ها را افزايش داده است؛ اما بيشتر نگاه*ها براي wta معطوف بريتانيا است؛ جاييكه بزرگاني چون شاراپوآ، ايوانكوويچ و هنين حضوري چشمگير دارند.

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هفته دوم ليگ برتر

تنيسورهاي شهيد پازوكي به صدر رسيدند


هفته دوم ليگ برتر تنيس ايران با صدرنشيني تيم شهيد پازوكي تهران همراه بود.


دو تيم تهراني شهيد پازوكي و مزرعه گل خادم در حالي به مصاف هم رفتند كه تيم پازوكي با كسب پيروزي 4 بر يك، برابر حريف به صدر جدول هفته دوم رسيد.

براي تيم پازوكي حميد اكبري، گل محمدي و معيني و در تيم گل خادم حسين زاده، علي و اصغر طاهري و معظم بازي كردند.

در ديگر بازي اين هفته كه در اهواز برگزار شد تيم گاز خوزستان در يك بازي حساس ميزبان تيم دانشگاه آزاد بود و در پايان، تيم خوزستاتي توانست 3 بر 2 از سد حريف خود بگذرد.

در اين بازي، احمدوند از گاز خوزستان 2 بر صفر آل ياسين را برد و اشكان شكوفي 2 بر يك مغلوب شهاب حسني ايران شد.

براي دانشگاه آزاد، اميد سوري، پاشا معزي و براي گاز خوزستان رضا زينال زاده و اكبر طاهري به همراه رضا كوهستاني بازي*هاي دونفره و انفرادي را برگزار كردند.

در ادامه تيم نيك ورزش مشهد ميزبان تيم البرز گاز كيش بود كه در پايان مشهد موفق شد 3 بر 2 ميهمان خود را شكست دهد.

در تيم مشهد سينا ادبي، فرهاد صالح، سعيد درودي و حمايت كار بازي كردند و براي البرز گاز كيش نيز امير شيرازي، علي جواهريان، مجتبي معظم و كاظم حسين زاده به ميدان رفتند.

انوشا شاهقلي كه به تيم البرز گاز كيش پيوسته در ديدار تيمش با نيك ورزش به تشخيص مربيان به زمين نرفت.

در ديگر بازي اين هفته در اصفهان تيم سيمين سپاهان 5 بر صفر ميهمان خود هيئت تنيس كرمانشاه را شكست داد. در تيم اصفهان روزبه كامران و تلاور استراحت كردند و شهاب راتق و كسايي به زمين رفتند.