RESULTS [WEDNESDAY IN OZ]

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NADAL, FED, MURRAY, DJOKOVIC INTO SECOND

 

 

Nadal provided an ominous demonstration of his Australian Open intentions by crushing Belgium's Christophe Rochus 6-0 6-2 6-2 in the first round on Tuesday.

The Spaniard could hardly have been more impressive as he raced to victory in 77 minutes for the loss of just four games.

Nadal

wrapped up the first set in just 19 minutes, giving up only eight points, and was just as ruthless as he closed out the match.

Nadal has never won the Australian Open but has progressed further every time he has made the trip to Melbourne.

He reached the third round on his debut in 2004 and the fourth round a year later. He missed 2006 but made the quarter-finals in 2007 then the semi-finals last year.

He is among the favourites to win the title this year, along with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, but said he was not thinking that far ahead.

Murray only needed to play 12 games to advance -- Andrei Pavel retired with a back problem down 6-2, 3-1 and 15-0. When they walked off, the temperature was hovering at 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).

In addition to the heat, the early afternoon sun was nearly blinding at one end of the court.

Roger Federer took the first step toward his record-tying 14th Grand Slam title with a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-5 victory Monday over Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open.

Federer, seeking to match Pete Sampras' mark, was at his best on the big points on the opening day when most favorites avoided upsets. However, it wasn't easy for even the top players.

"He is a very tough customer, he played really well," Federer said of the 35th-ranked Seppi. "I think I played well, too. I had to."

Defending men's champion Novak Djokovic, started strong then had to rally from service breaks in the last two sets - he was down 4-0 in the third - to oust Andrea Stoppini 6-2, 6-3, 7-5

ROGER, OK?

 

I look eagerly for signs that Roger has has beaten his main opponent --mononucleosis. The results of this match, do not encourage.

With the illness,

Roger was good for one set.

In this match he seemed to good for one set.

This forbodes ill[ness].

Roger Federer took his first step towards a record-equalling 14th grand slam title with a 6-1 7-6 7-5 victory over Italy's Andreas Seppi in the first round of the Australian Open on Monday.

The world number two, seeking to equal Pete Sampras's grand slam-title record of 14, romped through the first set but was made to work hard by the world number 35, who squandered several break opportunities throughout the match. [REUTERS}

ROGER READY

Roger Federer completed his preparations for a tilt at Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles with an easy 6-1 6-3 victory over Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the Kooyong Classic on Saturday.

Federer captured his second title in the eight-man invitational event, which he traditionally uses to fine tune his game before his Melbourne Park campaign. He also won in 2005.

OZ DRAW

Roger Federer will begin his bid to equal Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles against Italian Andreas Seppi in the first round of the Australian Open next week.

Top seed Rafael Nadal, who snapped Federer's record 237-week stint as world number one last August, will meet Belgium's Christophe Rochus after the draw was made at Melbourne Park on Friday.

Champion Novak Djokovic was drawn to meet a qualifier in his opening match but if the seeds live up to their billing, he could be on another collision course with Federer in the semi-finals.

Fourth seed Andy Murray, tipped to end Britain's 73-year wait for a men's grand slam champion, was slotted into the same half of the draw as Nadal and will open his account against Romania's Andrei Pavel.

Federer will need to be on his guard if he is to win a fourth trophy in Melbourne since his path is littered with banana skins, including a potential second round match with former world number one Carlos Moya.

If he survives that test, Marat Safin could be his next opponent. The Russian beat the Swiss en route to the 2005 title.

Seventh seed Andy Roddick and Argentina's David Nalbandian, the 10th seed, could face off in an intriguing fourth round battle.

REUTERS

OZ TOP SEEDS

Spain's Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia have been confirmed as the top seeds for this year's Australian Open, which begins on Monday.

Roger Federer was listed as second seed in the men's draw ahead of defending champion Novak Djokovic and Briton Andy Murray for the year's first Grand Slam.

Former champion Serena Williams was seeded second for the women's tournament ahead of Russian pair Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva.

The full draw for the tournament will be made at Melbourne on Friday. Seeds for the Australian Open are based on the world rankings.

The only man missing from the world's top 32 is Russian Nikolay Davydenko while two women are absent, last year's champion Maria Sharapova and China's Li Na.

Nadal has never won the Australian Open although he has won the French Open four times and Wimbledon once. His best performance in Melbourne was last year when he reached the semi-finals.

Jankovic was also a semi-finalist in Australia last year but is yet to win a grand slam.

HATCHETMAN AT BOLLETIERI

MANATEE COUNTY - Two tennis instructors and an executive who helped build the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy into a world-renowned facility have been fired or encouraged to resign in a major shakeup at IMG Academies in West Bradenton.

Coaches Gabriel Jaramillo and Ted Meekma and executive Greg Breunich worked for more than 20 years at the academy -- where superstars like Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova trained -- and were confidantes of the facility's namesake and founder, Nick Bollettieri.

The three have been let go in the past few weeks, as has chief financial officer Jeff McNeil.

The changes appear to be the latest move by a firm that bought IMG in 2004 and that has restructured other aspects of the company.

The departures at the tennis academy were not amicable, sources say, as Jaramillo was escorted from the property Friday afternoon by a security officer.

Each man was given severance pay, according to Jaramillo's attorney, and signed non-disclosure and no-compete contracts that prohibit them from coaching tennis or speaking publicly about the changes.

"Essentially, this new company brought in a hatchet man to get rid of all the strong people who had been there for years," Mulock said. "They had been with Nick forever. Then they got tossed under the bus."

In 1987, Bollettieri sold the academy to IMG, which kept them all on staff and opened the multi-sport academies in west Manatee County, on 300 acres of former tomato fields. IMG now trains thousands of athletes in sports from golf to basketball

An investment firm, Forstmann Little & Co., acquired IMG -- an international sports and entertainment marketing company -- in 2004 for $750 million.

Forstmann Little has a history of cutting costs to make its acquisitions more profitable before reselling them.

The company bought and later resold Gulfstream Aerospace, Topps and Dr. Pepper.

KOOYONG KLASSIC

 

World number two Roger Federer made a winning return to the Kooyong Classic on Wednesday with an easy 6-2 6-3 victory over Spain's Carlos Moya.

Federer, a perennial visitor to the suburban Melbourne club that hosts the eight-man invitational tournament, was a late withdrawal from the event last year with glandular fever.

The 13-times grand slam winner uses the tournament to fine-tune his Australian Open preparations and, despite the encounter lasting just 57 minutes, he said the match had been beneficial for his Melbourne Park campaign.

"I'm getting used to the conditions here and the way the ball flies -- much more than it did in the past few weeks," Federer told reporters. "I'm trying a few things here and there (and) taking a few chances.

"Its more about getting used to the conditions and getting my footwork right, getting used to the bounce and seeing how high it is and the way (the ball) spins and reacts to the court.

"There was a bit of rust in the beginning and I missed a few forehands (but) I thought it was good match overall."

Federer will meet next meet Fernando Verdasco in the progression-relegation tournament after the Spaniard beat Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-2 7-5.

By Greg Stutchbury

MELBOURNE, Jan 14 (Reuters)

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FED PREPARES

A year after withdrawing from the Kooyong Classic with a mystery virus, world number two Roger Federer returned on Tuesday and declared himself fit and ready to finalise his Australian Open preparations.

Federer was forced out of the invitational eight-man field at the Kooyong Club in suburban Melbourne last January with what later transpired to be glandular fever, an illness that affected his form for much of the first half of last year.

He lost in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to eventual champion Novak Djokovic and also ceded the number one world ranking that he had held for a record 237 weeks to Spain's Rafael Nadal last August.

A back injury in the second half of the year also restricted his performances but he still managed to win his fifth successive U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows.

"I'm feeling really good," the 27-year-old Swiss told a news conference when asked about his health. "I was feeling quite bad here last year, which is why I couldn't play.

"It's why I'm really happy to be part of it this year. It's a great tournament and I love playing here because it is great preparation for me for the Australian Open."

THREE MATCHES

Federer, who plays Spain's Carlos Moya in the second match of Wednesday's opening day, said the beauty of the Kooyong event was that players were guaranteed three competitive matches ahead of next week's Australian Open.

"Usually before a grand slam you take it easy or practice, that's all you do," the 13-times grand slam winner added.

"This is a different type of approach here, we are all lacking matches at the beginning of the season and you are looking for matches.

"If you play matches in practice it's not the same.

"You don't have linesmen, or the fans or umpires and it's a different mindset when you come out on the court here at Kooyong."

Federer's Beijing Olympics gold-medal winning doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka will open the tournament against 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.

Federer and Moya will then play their match before Croatia's Marin Cilic meets Spain's Fernando Verdasco while Ivan Ljubicic, who replaced the injured Marat Safin, will play Chile's Fernando Gonzalez. (Editing by John O'Brien)

SOMDEV DEVVARMAN ?????

Croatia's Marin Cilic downed Spain's Marcel Granollers in straight sets during semifinal action on Saturday at the $450,000 Chennai Open, but the bigger story was a man who didn't even play.

Wild-card Somdev Devvarman of India reached his first ATP Tour final when fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler withdrew with a wrist injury, making the 23- year-old former NCAA champion at Virginia the first Indian player to reach the final here.

Cilic continued solid form at this event with a 6-4, 6-3 victory to climb over last year's hurdle. The semifinalist one year ago will now stare across the net at the home-country and heavy crowd favorite with a $73,000 first prize on the line at this ATP World Tour season-opening event and Australian Open tune- up.

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OZ PURSE INCREASE

The global financial crisis has provided an unlikely windfall for the winners and runners-up at this year's Australian Open with organisers deciding to offer a hefty increase in prize money.

Australian Open officials announced on Saturday they were increasing total prize money for the event to A$23.4 million (US$15.7 million), an increase of 12.3 per cent on last year, with the bulk going to the singles finalists.

Both singles champions will receive a record A$2 million while the runners-up will each pocket A$1 million [$1 = $1.5A].

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MURRY WINS DOHA

Andy Murray made a successful defense of his Doha crown with a straight-set victory over Andy Roddick in Saturday's final at the Qatar Open.

The third-seeded Murray earned a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the season-opening event for the ninth title of his surging career. Five of those victories came last year, when he also made his first appearance in a Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open, where he lost to the great Roger Federer.

Murray gained a measure of revenge for the setback at Flushing Meadows by beating the Swiss superstar twice at the conclusion of last season, then on Friday rallied from a set down to beat the former world No. 1 in the semifinals of this tournament and continued his strong play Saturday.

SPORTS NETWORK

MURRY-RODDICK IN QATAR FINALS

Defending champion Andy Murray maintained his hold over Roger Federer to charge into the final of the Qatar Open with a 6-7 6-2 6-2 win on Friday.

The British third seed frustrated Federer with his tactical nous from the baseline to chalk up his fifth win in six matches against the 13-times grand slam champion.

Murray will be hoping to retain his title when he takes on American Andy Roddick in the final.American Andy Roddick overcame the plucky resistance of Frenchman Gael Monfils to reach the final of the Qatar Open with a 7-6 3-6 6-3 win on Friday.

REUTERS

MONFILS EXCUSES NADAL

Rafael Nadal's Australian Open preparation hit a stumbling block on Thursday when he was beaten 6-4 6-4 by Frenchman Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.

The world number one had been hoping to get some much needed match practice before the season's opening grand slam, which starts on Jan. 19, after being injured during the final stages of the 2008 season.

But his stay in Doha lasted only three matches after he was outclassed by Monfils, who will face American Andy Roddick in the semi-finals.

Roddick beat Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-3 6-2 earlier on Thursday while second seed Roger Federer and third seed Andy Murray are in action later.

Fifth seed Monfils secured his first win over Nadal in four attempts, mixing up his game and not allowing the Spaniard to get into any rhythm.

The pair swapped breaks in the opening set before Nadal was broken again in the 10th game to hand Monfils the opening set. The crucial moment of the second set again came in the 10th game when Monfils broke the Spaniard to clinch the match.

OZ WILDCARDS

Americans John Isner and 16-year-old Christina McHale were among six players granted wild cards Thursday into the main draw of Australian Open.

Under exchange agreements with tennis federations from the United States, France and Asia, Isner and McHale, Adrian Mannarino and Kristina Mladenovic of France, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and China's Yuan Meng have been awarded spots in the season-opening major, which begins Jan. 19.

Colin Ebelthite and former Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic won the Australian wild-card tournament. The final discretionary wild cards -- four men and four women -- will be announced next week.

AP

NADAL, FED, MURRY WIN IN QATAR

Top three seeds Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray continued their serene progress at the Qatar Open on Wednesday, reaching the quarter-finals with straight-sets victories.

World number one Nadal outplayed Slovakia's Karol Beck 6-1 6-2, Federer beat Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-3 and Murray knocked out Germany's Philipp Petzschner 6-2 6-4.

Fourth seed Andy Roddick also made it safely through, with a slightly less convincing 6-3 7-5 victory over French wild card Arnaud Clement.

Nadal took just over an hour to see off qualifier Beck, reeling off six straight games after falling behind 0-2 in the second.