Simon first into Montpellier semis
Fri, 03 Feb 15:16:00 2012

Second seed Gilles Simon was pushed to three sets by Guillaume Rufin but eventually won 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 6-2 in the last eight in Montpellier.

The all-French showdown looked to be a mismatch on paper, with the world number 12 Simon expected to be too strong against the wildcard entrant Rugin, ranked 209 in the world.

But they shared two tie-break sets in a contest which last just eight minutes short of three hours, before Simon stamped his authority on the match in the decider.

Victory for Simon means he could face another Frenchman next, with the winner of Gael Monfils' match with Jarkko Nieminen awaiting in the semi-finals.

On the other side of the draw top seed Tomas Berdych faces Nicolas Mahut, while fourth seed Richard Gasquet meets seventh-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

No problems for Berdych
Thu, 02 Feb 16:33:00 2012

Top seed Tomas Berdych eased through to the quarter-finals of ATP Montpellier with a 6-0 6-2 win over qualifier Florent Serra.

The Czech world number seven will play home player Nicolas Mahut in the last eight after he upset sixth seed Florian Mayer of Germany 7-6(3) 6-3.

This evening, starting at 18:00 UK time, third seed and 2010 champion Gael Monfils of France faces American Michael Russell.

The winner of that encounter will play the victor in the following match between eighth-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen and another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Evans goes out in Zagreb, Ljubicic exits
Wed, 01 Feb 21:29:00 2012

Dan Evans' run at the ATP tournament in Zagreb came to an end as he lost 6-4 1-6 6-1 to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

After coming through three rounds of qualifying the British number five went down in 106 minutes to the Spaniard who has been as high as 23 in the world rankings but is currently down at 77.

A solitary break was enough for the man from Albacete to take the opening set but the 21-year-old from Birmingham broke his opponent three times in the second stanza to level.

But he was unable to maintain the momentum and Garcia-Lopez will face either Ivan Dodig or Marsel Ilhan in the last 16 of the event.

The draw has been blown wide open after top seed Ivan Ljubicic followed Evans out, losing 6-4 6-4 to Germany's Michael Berrer.

Ljubicic, the winner here in 2006, fired down 11 aces but was still ousted by the German, whose reward is a quarter-final against Juergen Melzer, after the Austrian overcame Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-3.

Gasquet, Simon through on home soil
Wed, 01 Feb 21:24:00 2012

Richard Gasquet dismissed former world number three Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4 in their second round clash in Montpellier.

Davydenko, now ranked 52 in the world, had no answers against the fourth seed, who raced through without dropping serve once.

Gasquet now faces Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarter-finals after the German seventh seed overcame Edouard Roger-Vasselin in front of his home crowd at the Open Sud de France 6-4 7-5.

Gilles Simon was in clinical mood as well, blasting past Italy's Flavio Cipolla 6-3 6-2 in just over an hour and a half.

Cipolla had his moments, creating four break points, but failed to convert them, and the world number 12 took full advantage.

The French fans did have an upset to cheer, however, when tournament wildcard and 209th-ranked Guillaume Rufin dumped out fifth seed Feliciano Lopez 7-6(5) 6-3.

Rufin and Simon now meet in the last eight.

Wozniacki splits from coach after two months
Wed, 01 Feb 12:48:00 2012

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki has split from her coach after only two months.

Confusion over the role of coach Ricardo Sanchez and Wozniacki's father Piotr, who previously coached her, caused the split.

The Dane, who is yet to win a Grand Slam, was ousted from the Australian Open at the quarter-final stage by defending champion Kim Clijsters.

That saw her lose her No.1 ranking, with eventual champion Victoria Azarenka taking over at the top as Wozniacki fell to fourth.

Sanchez, a former coach of Jelena Jankovic - another former world No.1 - was only employed on December 2.

Sanchez told Ekstra Bladet that he found the two-coach system "impossible... Caroline only got confused.

"We agreed to evaluate the cooperation - and now we have agreed to stop it.

"I have great respect for Piotr, who has never played tennis himself, and for his work. But he has his way of doing things, I have mine."

Piotr Wozniacki, who will now coach her alone again, did not rule out employing someone else.

"If there is a coach that Caroline thinks might suit her, we will approach them," he said.

Evans, Ljubicic through in Zagreb
Mon, 30 Jan 21:04:00 2012

Dan Evans reached the main draw of the ATP event in Zagreb with a three-set victory in final qualifying.

The British number five fought back from a set down to beat Switzerland's Stephane Bohli 4-6 6-4 6-0.

The victory in two hours and a minute came against a man ranked 197 in the world, 99 places higher than the 21-year-old from Birmingham.

Evans, ranked 296 in the world, will now face Poland's Lukasz Kubot in the first round of the event where home favorite Ivan Ljubicic is the top seed.

Austria's Jurgen Melzer is also in the main draw after beating compatriot Martin Fischer 6-3 6-4 in the final qualifying round.

In the opening first round matches top seed Ivan Ljubicic had a battle to beat Karol Beck, coming through 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3.

Fifth seed Andreas Seppi and seventh seed Robin Haase had no such trouble as they enjoyed straight sets wins over Daniel Brands and Krisijan Mesaros respectively.

Also in the first round Matthias Bachinger beat Izak Van Der Merwe 6-3 6-3, while Lukas Lacko beat Potito Starace 7-6(2) 6-7(4) 6-3 in a thriller.

Djokovic outlasts Nadal in Melbourne epic
Sun, 29 Jan 15:54:00 2012

Novak Djokovic outlasted Rafael Nadal 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 7-5 to claim his third Australian Open after the longest final in Grand Slam history at a sweltering Melbourne Park.

With temperatures reaching well over 30 degrees at the outset of the match on Rod Laver Arena, it was Serbia's Djokovic who kept his cool in the key moments as he was broken by Nadal in the final set only to break his opponent twice in an astonishing contest that ran for five hours and 53 minutes. The previous longest final was Mats Wilander's win over Ivan Lendl in the US Open final that ran for four hours and 54 minutes.

It will be recalled as one of the greatest finals the sport has witnessed with neither man willing to wilt in the face of a barrage of baseline bullets.

Djokovic's ability to finally muzzle Nadal's best efforts illustrates why he is his sport's undisputed number one.

It came despite the best intentions of Nadal to make a fight of the final by somehow winning the fourth set 7-5 on a tie-break having seen his game dismantled in the second and third set by the ferocity of Djokovic's groundstrokes.

Nadal is officially number two in the world, but should take enormous heart from his performance despite losing a seventh straight match to his nemesis.

Djokovic becomes the fifth man to win three straight Grand Slams having throttled Nadal in the Wimbledon and US Open finals last year.

He joins Nadal, Rod Laver, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer as the only men to win three straight majors since the Open era began in 1968. He has snared four out of the past five Grand Slams among his overall haul of five, but this was a close run thing. Much closer than many had predicted beforehand.

Djokovic was pushed to five sets by British number one Andy Murray in the semi-finals on Friday, but showed few signs of sluggishness in beating down Nadal's challenge after losing a fairly mediocre first set.

Nadal had promised to be more aggressive, but seemed to find himself in a state of paralysis as Djokovic went to work on his game with a ruthless efficiency in moving two sets to one up only for Nadal to produce a brand of magic that has been missing in previous matches against Djokovic.

It was little wonder both men needed to sit down on chairs before the presentation ceremony began just before 2am on Monday morning in Melbourne with the roof on Rod Laver closed after a thunderstorm had turned the final into an indoor match with the final delicately poised at 4-4 in the fourth set.

Nadal drew first blood by breaking for a 3-2 lead in the first set only for Djokovic to restore parity at 4-4 aided by untimely errors from his opponent's racket.

With the first set running for one hour and 11 minutes, Djokovic was left looking crestfallen as he knocked a backhand long before Nadal moved one set ahead by snaffling up his third set point.

By their previous high standards, it was hardly a classic. Nadal was one set up, but there remained a gnawing suspicion that Djokovic was beginning to turn the match in his favor. Nadal was bleeding unforced errors in the fourth game of the second set as a couple of misplaced forehands from deep enabled Djokovic to break for a second time in the match to lead 3-1 in the second set.

Nadal broke back to trail 5-4 after a sloppy shot down the line allowed Nadal to convert a winning volley before a double fault condemned Djokovic to his fate as three set points eluded him.

He was not sporting a hangdog look for long as Djokovic got the job done on his fourth set point courtesy of another Nadal double fault with the final now running for two hours and 27 minutes.

It became clear that the match was not going to slip quietly into the night even Nadal seemed destined to lose in four sets as Djokovic broke twice in the third set to move 2-1 ahead with a 6-2 scoreline that left his opponent looking increasingly forlorn.

Nadal's answer was utterly breathtaking despite an inconsistent second serve as he dragged himself from a pit of despair to save three break points at 4-3 down with a couple of majestic serves before the rain came down prompting a 15-minute delay

Nothing could split the pair who were suddenly finding their peak form approaching the tie-break. Again Djokovic seemed on the cusp of victory leading 5-3 in the breaker only for Nadal to reel off four straight points with his opponent misplacing shots under severe pressure.

The crowd were firmly in the Nadal camp as an unlikely victory beckoned when he broke for a 4-2 lead in the final set, but their groans were palpable as Nadal somehow pushed a backhand wide from the middle of the court for what would have been a crucial 40-15 lead. Despite looking extremely fatigued, Djokovic broke back immediately to trail 4-3.

Nadal saved a break point to move 5-4 clear only for Djokovic to drop one point on his next service game before breaking Nadal at the third time of asking in the 11th game to move 6-5 ahead.

The drama was not yet finished as Nadal brought up a break point to level at 6-6. Djokovic recovered with a trademark winner on the backhand side before a crushing serve gave him the platform to convert a forehand drive to finally end Nadal's resistance.

Azarenka storms to Australian Open title
Sat, 28 Jan 10:30:00 2012

Victoria Azarenka crushed Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-0 to claim her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and also secure the world number one ranking.

Azarenka, who will take over from Caroline Wozniacki in the top spot when the new rankings are released on Monday, needed just 82 minutes to dispatch Sharapova, even subjecting the former champion to the ignominy of a bagel second set.

Azarenka, competing in her first Grand Slam final, made an understandably nervy start to the match, with two double faults costing her the first game of the match; Sharapova breaking with ease.

But, after finding her rhythm in the third game, the third seed stormed back to win 12 out of the next 13 games and secure the Daphne Akhurst Trophy.

Despite the early break, which she conceded with a backhand wide down the line, it was near flawless tennis from Azarenka as she stepped up to the baseline and bullied Sharapova off the court.

The Belarusian broke back in the fourth game when she forced Sharapova into consecutive errors, a backhand long down the centre of the court costing the Russian her advantage.

A supremely focused Azarenka then broke again in the eighth game of the first set, a backhand drop shot and backhand volley winner across court doing the damage for the third seed, before serving it out with ease.

Any hope Sharapova had that Azarenka might tighten up was quickly dispelled as the 22-year-old opened the second set in much the same manner she had finished the first, breaking in the opening game when Sharapova hit a backhand drive volley into the net under pressure.

Standing tall on the baseline, Azarenka rushed Sharapova on every shot she played and the Russian again conceded her serve on an error in the third game, this time a backhand wide across court finishing the game.

Even a slight disagreement with umpire Kerrilyn Cramer could not derail Azarenka, the Minsk-born Monaco native simply smiling wryly to herself after she thought a hawkeye challenge should result in her point and not a replay.

But she quickly bounced back, winning the replay and again going on to break in the fifth game - when Sharapova again hit long - before going on to save a break point and serve out the match.

A piece of luck on the net cord threatened to help Sharapova get back into the match with a break point in the sixth game, but she hit a backhand into the net to squander it before again failing with the backhand to hand a disbelieving Azarenka the title at her first attempt, last year's Wimbledon semi-finalist sinking to her knees on the baseline.