Ferrer to meet Nalbandian in Copa Claro semis

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-2, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the Copa Claro semifinals.
 
Ferrer next plays David Nalbandian, who defeated fellow Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-0, 6-3.

Defending champion and second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain also reached the final four with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Igor Andreev of Russia.
 
Almagro’s semifinal opponent is No. 6 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who defeated No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 6-2.
 
Ferrer broke Gonzalez in the ninth game of the second set, then served out to win the match.
 
“It was a difficult match,” Ferrer said. “Fernando is a great player, one of the greatest in history. And as a person he is even better.”
 
The 31-year-old Gonzalez has one more tournament left next month in Florida before he retires.
 
“The last tournament,” Gonzalez said, pausing to reflect on the words. “I’m glad I’ll have time to recover after all the running that David made me do.”
 
Almagro is trying to win back-to-back events after taking the Brazil Open last week.
 
“I’m happy after having beaten a great player like Igor,” Almagro said. “The second set was very tough.”

Melzer upsets Isner in Memphis; Raonic advances

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)â€"Jurgen Melzer, playing with a broken big toe on his right foot, upset top-seeded John Isner 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
 
The Austrian who broke his toe Feb. 16 in his hotel room has won three straight matches at The Racquet Club to reach the semifinals. He will play Radek Stepanek, a 7-6 (5), 6-0 winner over American Sam Querrey.
 
Milos Raonic of Canada beat Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Friday night and will play Benjamin Becker of Germany who beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland 7-5, 7-6 (5). Raonic won his second title this year last week at San Jose, and he used his big serve to beat Rochus with 26 aces.

On the women’s side, Marina Erakovic of New Zealand beat Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and will play Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in Saturday’s Memphis International final. Arvidsson defeated Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-3, 7-5.
 
Isner came in as the top seed in a tournament for only the second time in his career. He was 6-2 this year and ranked 13th in the world, and the 6-foot-9 American had served up 48 aces while winning his first two matches.
 
Now, he’s leaving Memphis still looking for his first title of 2012.
 
“Don’t want to lose in the quarterfinals, but you know, I don’t feel like I lost this match today, which is a good thing,” Isner said. “He won it. He was better than me, and he deserved it, really. I thought he played really well. That’s all there is to it. I just ran up against a guy who’s clicking on all cylinders.”
 
Melzer has three titles in his career and is working his way back toward a top-10 ranking after back troubles last year. He’s playing well enough this week that not even the toe he caught up in a bedspread is bothering him.
 
“It’s very nice to beat the top seed, but for me it’s more important that my game is getting better,” Melzer said.
 
“My body holds up. … I had a lot of troubles with my back last year. It’s nice to be able to play pain-free on the court, putting the toe aside. OK, that’s going to heal, and going out there especially when there’s an important point. I have been playing well this week. That’s what made me top 10 in the world and (I’m) trying to do that again.”
 
Melzer said he saw the ball very well from the start Friday, and he got the jump on Isner by breaking him in the first game. Melzer also broke the American to close out the first set.
 
Isner at least got to the tiebreaker in the second set, saving two match points down 4-5 and trailing 15-40. He used his serve, including three of his 11 aces for the match, to hold. Then he wound up losing his first tiebreaker this year despite having a set point and a chance to extend the match to a third set.
 
“He just played good points,” Isner said. “Obviously on the match point, he hit a return off the back of the line. Hit that same exact return earlier when I was up 3-2 or something like that. He was just painting the lines a lot today, going for his shots, and they were all going in.”
 
Melzer improved to 2-0 against Isner and he said he usually guesses where Isner will place his big serveâ€"except on match point.
 
“I actually told myself, `You don’t guess. You wait and see if you can react.’ And luckily for me, he didn’t hit the line wide. It was more going into my body. I could connect well to the ball. When it left the racket, it felt pretty good, so I was like, when he challenged it, of course you start praying. … He came to the net and said it was good, so I was happy.”
 
Raonic improved to 14-1 this year, and he nearly closed out his latest match leading 5-4 in the second set when Rochus broke him, with the Canadian winning only one point off his serve.
 
“I felt there were a few games I just let up a little bit,” Raonic said. “In the end of it, not much I could do better. I just wish I kept the intensity up. I feel like I’m hitting better and playing better tennis match by match. It’s just a matter of cleaning up a few mistakes and keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
 
Stepanek came to Memphis after spending four days in bed at home in Florida sick and not practicing. Now he’s back in his third semifinal at Memphis with his first win over Querrey in three matches.
 
The Czech was up 5-2 with a chance to close out Querrey in the first set. Querrey rallied to force the tiebreaker and was ahead 4-1 before Stepanek took over. He needed a moment to fix a contact lens, then won six of the final seven points in the tiebreaker.
 
That proved more than enough against Querrey, the 2010 tournament champ here, and Stepanek closed out the second set in just 15 minutes.

Raonic Meets NBA Stars At Grizzlies Game

On the back of his San Jose title defence, Raonic found an extra source of inspiration to continue his success in Memphis this week. On Tuesday evening at the Memphis Grizzlies NBA Basketball game, the 21 year old met fellow Montenegro native Nikola Vucevic of the visiting Philadelphia 76ers during the pre-game warm-up.

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Simon, Verdasco knocked out of Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"Seeded players Gilles Simon of France, Fernando Verdasco of Spain and local favorite Juan Monaco were knocked out in the second round of the Copa Claro on Thursday.
 
Carlos Berlocq of Argentina beat the third-seeded Simon 6-2, 6-1, and Igor Andreev of Russia downed No. 7 seed Verdasco 7-6 (3), 6-3 at the clay-court tournament.

Argentina’s David Nalbandian defeated No. 5 Monaco 6-3, 6-1.
 
One seeded player survived: No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain had an easy time beating Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.
 
Nobody was better on clay on Thursday than the former Wimbledon finalist Nalbandian, who made few errors.
 
“I played a great match with lots of intensity from the start,” Nalbandian said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think Juan had his best day. This is a tournament that all Argentines like to play.”
 
Nalbandian will face fellow Argentine Berlocq in Friday’s quarterfinals. In other quarterfinal matchups it will be top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain against Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, and No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan facing No. 6 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
 
Andreev will face Almagro.

RICOH ATP MatchFacts: Raonic Riding Rocket Serve

Milos Raonic has been on a tear to begin the 2012 season. The 21 year old has captured two ATP World Tour titles at the Aircel Chennai Open and SAP Open, winning 11 of his first 12 matches. Raonic possesses one of the most imposing serves on tour, and the RICOH ATP MatchFacts illustrate how effective he’s been with his powerful weapon this year, winning 96 per cent of his service games to lead all Top 200 players.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Venus Williams pulls out of Kuala Lumpur

Venus Williams has pulled out of the tournament in Kuala Lumpur, which begins on Monday, TENNIS.com has learned. During the first weekend of February, Williams played her first match since the U.S. Open, partnering Liezel Huber in a Fed Cup dead-rubber doubles victory against Belarus. She is contending with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, and said at Fed Cup that her immediate plans were to go back to Florida and train.

Yesterday, the 31-year-old received a wild card into Miami, which starts the week of March 20. Currently ranked No. 135, she has also entered the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, to be played on March 31-April 8.

Venus has said that her main goal this year is to play the London Olympics, but the cutoff date is the day after Roland Garros, and she will have to be ranked in the Top 56 to automatically qualify. If not, she will have to request a wild card, which could prove difficult if the maximum of four U.S. women in singles are ranked ahead of her though Venus is the defending doubles gold medal champion (with sister Serena) and won the gold in singles at the 2000 Olympics.â€"Matt Cronin

Tsonga, Llodra reach semifinals in Marseille

MARSEILLE, France (AP)â€"Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edged Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-5 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open 13.
 
Tsonga had 14 aces and saved 10 break points in an all-French match.

The top-seeded Tsonga dropped serve in the opening game but broke back in the sixth. He hit 18 winners to 11 for Roger-Vasselin to take the first set when his opponent netted a forehand volley.
 
Roger-Vasselin double-faulted at 6-5 in the next set to give Tsonga two match points. Tsonga converted the first on a forehand error.
 
“I didn’t play better than him today,” said Tsonga, the 2009 champion. “But I was stronger in my head in the key moments.”
 
Albano Olivetti lost to Michael Llodra 7-6 (5), 7-5 in another all-French quarterfinal, but has still left an impression on the home crowd after beating Mardy Fish on Thursday.
 
Llodra outslugged Olivetti with 14 aces to 13 on Friday, and did not face a break point.
 
“Michael served smartly,” Olivetti said. “He used very well the slice when serving to my backhand. He was also stronger than me on service returns.”
 
Olivetti netted a backhand volley at 5-5 to drop serve and Llodra converted his first match point with an ace.

Sweeting: Today's tennis is more physical

Americans James Blake and Ryan Sweeting responded to whether it is unfair for U.S. players to face questioning about why they are unable to match the feats of previous great generations, including those led by John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

"It could be a little bit unfair," James Blake told the Memphis Daily News. "But it’s part of what you let yourself in for when you’re on the ATP tour. Guys like (Sam) Querrey and Donald Young are starting to deal with it, guys like Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock, will be dealing with it. I dealt with it, Andy [Roddick] dealt with it, and I know early on Andy got a little frustrated. But you know the questions are going to be part of any press conference. So you just give your stock answer and go on."

McEnroe said that in his day the more skilled players could at least on occasion defeat the better athletes. "They couldn’t out-physical you," McEnroe said.

Sweeting responded: "Tell me one player from 25 years ago that could have lasted six hours,” Sweeting said in reference to the near six-hour Australian Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal last month. "If you’re not physically fit now, it’s impossible to compete."

Davydenko reaches second round of Marseille

MARSEILLE, France (AP)â€"Nikolay Davydenko hit nine aces and did not face a single break point as he beat Andreas Beck of Germany 6-1, 7-5 Tuesday to reach the second round of the Open 13.

Davydenko, a semifinalist at the ABN Amro World Tennis final in Rotterdam last week, broke Beck’s serve three times in the match. The Russian next faces fourth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina for a place in the quarterfinals.

No. 5-seeded Richard Gasquet also advanced after a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win over Go Soeda. Although the Frenchman took little more than one hour to win, he did have to save seven break points against his aggressive Japanese opponent.

Gasquet next plays Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn, who saved seven of the eight break points he faced in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain.

In other first-round matches, Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Albano Olivetti advanced in straight sets, while David Goffin of Belgium was up 6-2, 1-0 against Adrian Mannarino when the Frenchman retired.

Mahut hit 12 aces in beating Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4 and will play another Frenchman, top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the second round. Olivetti, meanwhile, did not face a break point in his 6-4, 6-3 win over Matthias Bachinger of Germany.

Karol Beck beat French wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-3 after serving 11 aces.

The Slovak will next play big-serving Ivan Ljubicic, the seventh-seeded Croat.

Sears: Ivanovic won Grand Slam title too early

Nigel Sears, who has been coaching Ana Ivanovic since last July, says the former No. 1 is making gradual progress, but we should not expect her to immediately become a dominant player. "Bit by bit she is getting back to the standard Ana wants but there is no quick fix and you cannot just flick a switch and she’s suddenly playing the sort of tennis to win Grand Slam titles again," Sears told the Gulf Times. "There have been some very good performances in the recent few months, she did OK at the Australian Open and there have been a couple of other occasions when she did extremely well like winning the title in Bali at the end of last year. But it’s a process which requires patience and it’s an ongoing process."

Sears, who once coached Daniela Hantuchova and headed the LTA’s women’s coaching department, said that Ivanovic's 2008 French Open title at age 20 may have thrown her off course. The Serbian has reached the quarterfinals of Dubai and will face another former No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki.

"It’s probably fair to say she won a major title too early in her career and it was always going to be difficult after that point so a lot of things needed to worked on," Sears said. "It’s a great challenge and I now see really encouraging signs that everything is coming together and she is really moving in the right direction again."

Chang recalls underhanded serve vs. Lendl

Michael Chang reflected on his remarkable fourth-round upset of then-No. 1 Ivan Lendl at 1989 Roland Garros. Chang went on to capture the title, beating Stefan Edberg in the final. Chang and Lendl will compete in an ATP Champions Tour tournament together for the first time in Delray Beach, starting on Friday.

In one of the most memorable matches of the 20th century, the then-17-year-old Chang overcame serious cramps, served underhanded and overcame the legendary Lendl, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, in a four-hour, 39 minute marathon.

"I had such a difficult time holding my own serve during that match and when I started to get the cramps at the end of the fourth set I just couldn’t get up for a serve," Chang said of the underhanded serve. "Every time I went up for a serve my legs would cramp so I just pretty much had to arm my serve over the net and my first serve was coming in at maybe 65, 69 miles per hour and I couldn’t generate any pace. So strangely enough I was actually having more difficulty holding my own serve than I was breaking him which is kind of odd, so under those circumstances I was down 15-30 and I just thought I had to try something different. It was a real spur of the moment thing. Andre Agassi used to throw in the underarm serve in the 12 and unders so it crossed my mind and I just did it, I think that the tide of the match for some reason."

Radwanska lost 'lot of respect' for Azarenka

Agnieszka Radwanska rips Victoria Azarenka for allegedly exaggerating injuries during the world No. 1’s semifinal victory over her in Doha last week. The 22-year-old Pole said she was "angry" with Azarenka, who has beaten her three times this year. Interestingly, the two have socialized and both are good friends with Caroline Wozniacki.

At times during the match, Azarenkaâ€"who suffered an ankle injury that eventually caused her to pull out of Dubaiâ€"was hobbling and appeared to be wincing in pain. Radwanska and Azarenka barely touched hands after the match and made no eye contact. Azarenka swept Samantha Stosur the next day to win the title.

"I think after this match....just lost a lot of respect," Radwanska told reporters in Dubai. "I was angry because I don't think this is the great image for the women's tennis, what was going on there."â€"Matt Cronin

Hewitt to undergo foot surgery, out 4 months

Lleyton Hewitt will have another surgery and be out at least four months, the Herald Sun reported. Hewitt, who had two surgeries in 2011, will undergo left foot surgery and is planning on returning for the hard-court season.

Despite having a mangled big left toe, former No. 1 Hewitt managed to play during the Australian summer and also at Davis Cup. But he said doctors told him the "joint in the big toe was completely stuffed. Something needed to be done. I've not had one pain-free day since surgery last year after San Jose (in March) and it got to the stage where, even if I stopped playing tennis at the end of the Australian summer, I would have needed something done so I could play with the kids," said Hewitt, who celebrates his 31st birthday tomorrow. "Pretty much every match I played, bar one or two, I needed a pain-killing injection, a local anesthetic to get through. This (problem) has been there for four or five years and it's just got worse because of the pounding on hard court."

Hewitt said he had no plans to retire as he has been "hitting the ball better than I had for probably four or five years. The way I was hitting the ball's given me a lot of confidence for the future."

Currently ranked No. 170, Hewitt will ask for a wild card into the London Olympics. "The Olympics are now out of my hands," he said. "But given my record in Davis Cup and support of the ITF, I'd be disappointed if I didn't get a wild card."

Monaco, Verdasco out in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"Seeded players Gilles Simon of France, Fernando Verdasco of Spain and local favorite Juan Monaco were knocked out in the second round of the Copa Claro on Thursday.

Carlos Berlocq of Argentina beat the third-seeded Simon 6-2, 6-1, and Igor Andreev of Russia downed No. 7 seed Verdasco 7-6 (3), 6-3 at the clay-court tournament.

Argentina’s David Nalbandian defeated No. 5 Monaco 6-3, 6-1.

One seeded player survived: No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain had an easy time beating Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 6-2.

Nobody was better on clay on Thursday than the former Wimbledon finalist Nalbandian, who made few errors.

“I played a great match with lots of intensity from the start,” Nalbandian said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think Juan had his best day. This is a tournament that all Argentines like to play.”

Nalbandian will face fellow Argentine Berlocq in Friday’s quarterfinals. In other quarterfinal matchups it will be top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain against Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, and No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan facing No. 6 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

Andreev will face Almagro.

Roddick loses to Malisse in Memphis opener

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP)â€"Defending champion Andy Roddick was beaten by Xavier Malisse, 7-6 (8), 7-5, in an opening-round match Wednesday at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
 
For Roddick, whose world ranking has slipped to 27th, it was his earliest exit from the Memphis tournament in 12 appearances. Veteran Malisse, ranked 75th, was winless in four matches this season and in nine career matches against Roddick.

Roddick, seeded No. 2, has been slowed by hamstring and ankle problems this season. He was unable to capitalize on two set points in the first and was broken in the last game of the second by the 31-year-old Belgian.
 
Olivier Rochus of Belgium and Philipp Petzschner of Germany also pulled off upsets Wednesday.
 
Rochus beat No. 5 Alex Bogomolov of Russia, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) and Petzschner defeated No. 6 Julien Benneteau of France, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6).
 
No. 4 seed Milos Raonic, champion of last week’s ATP World Tour event in San Jose, plays in a late match Wednesday.
 
In other men’s first-round matches, No. 3 seed Radek Stepanek won 6-3, 6-2 over qualifier Bobby Reynolds, No. 7 seed Kevin Anderson advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over qualifier Robby Ginepri and Jurgen Melzer of Austria beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(4). Istomin was coming off a runner-up finish in San Jose.
 
In the Memphis International, the accompanying Women’s Tennis Association event, Alberta Brianti of Italy eliminated No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak, 7-6 (3), 6-2, while Sofia Arvidsson, the 2006 champion, joined Brianti in the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 0-6, 6-3 upset of No. 5 seed Pauline Parmentier.
 
Unseeded Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine also reached the quarterfinals by ousting a seed. She beat No. 3 Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
 
Only one of the eight women’s seedsâ€"No. 4-ranked New Zealander Marina Erakovicâ€"remains moving into Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Almagro, Nalbandian win in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"Seeded players had an easy day Tuesday as almost all moved through to the second round of the clay-court Copa Claro.

No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain advanced against Potito Starace of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and No. 3 Gilles Simon of France defeated Rui Machado of Portugal 6-3, 7-5.

No. 5 Juan Monaco of Argentina moved on when Filippo Volandri of Italy retired in the second set with an injury. Monaco was leading 6-1, 3-1.

Seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain also reached the next round, beating Eric Prodon of France 6-4, 6-1.

The biggest upset came when eighth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina lost to Albert Ramos of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Home favorite David Nalbandian defeated Wayne Odesnik of the United States, 6-2, 6-3.

“Always playing at home is special,” Nalbandian said. “It was a little windy out there today and the ball was moving around a bit.”

In other matches, Benoit Paire of France defeated Javier Marti of Spain 2-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, Igor Andreev of Russia won over Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2 and Federico Delbonis of Argentina defeated Frederico Gil of Portugal, 6-2, 6-2.

Mayan end of world countdown continues: Danica on pole at Daytona race

Y’all will let me know when the whole “end of the world” joke reaches its end, right? (Just do so gently.) Well, hopefully it hasn’t yet because, check it: Danica Patrick today secured pole for the season-opening Nationwide race at Daytona. Now, to be clear, this is the second-tier series where she is going to

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Top seed Ferrer wins in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain defeated Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Copa Claro clay-court tournament.
 
Japan’s 22-year-old Kei Nishikori beat Romania’s Victor Hanescu of Romania 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the last eight.

No. 6 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland also made the quarterfinals, winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 over Benoit Paire of France.
 
The happiest player into the quarterfinals was Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who will retire after next month’s Masters tournament in Florida. Gonzalez defeated Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).
 
“I am always aware I have few matches remaining,” Gonzalez said.
 
Ferrer is one of the game’s best on clay and he showed his experience against the 21-year-old Argentine.
 
“He made it difficult for me, but he failed on some important points,” Ferrer said.
 
Ferrer now has a day to relax with his quarterfinal set for Friday.
 
Ferrer played local Argentine players in both his matches here, yet got a little more support from the fans Wednesday.
 
“The support was very equal today,” Ferrer said. “Here they treat you like you are at home, or even better.”
 
Wawrinka was playing a player he knows well in Paire.
 
“I was playing against a friend, and it wasn’t easy,” he said. “Besides, he played a good match.”

Wozniacki tops Halep in straights

Caroline Wozniacki could have been forgiven, at times, for thinking she was looking into a mirror on the other side of the net. Her opponent, 20-year-old Simona Halep of Romania, is a 5-foot-6 baseliner with a two-handed backhanded and a steady baseline game that at times resembles Wozniacki’s.

But the comparison only goes so far, and if Wozniacki’s 6-2, 6-3 win over the No. 53 Halep showed us anything, it’s how tough an opponent she remains to break down. The two traded holds until Halep served at 2-3. At that point, Halep’s concentration wavered for a split second, a couple of loose errors followed, and the set was essentially over. Wozniacki may be struggling against higher-ranked players and bigger hitters, but she never needed to leave her comfort zone today. She kept the winners and errors low, kept her returns, especially on the backhand side, forceful and deep, approached the net when she could, and ran out to a 6-2, 3-0 lead.

Wozniacki’s recent losses must have taken some mental toll, though, because she grew shaky trying to close out what had appeared to be a routine win. She was broken for 2-3 and for 3-4 before finally wrapping it up. Her forehand, always her weaker wing, betrayed her on a couple of occasions. Some of this can be chalked up to Halep’s ball-striking ability. For an undersized player, she packs a punch, and she can flatten out a forehand in a way that Wozniacki normally can’t. The Romanian has been stradily climbing the rankings for the last three years, and it doesn’t appear that climb is over.

Still, she was only going to climb so far today. The most telling moment came when Halep was serving at 3-4, 30-40, break point in the second set. Over the previous four games, she had built a little momentum and taken control of some of the rallies , but she needed this point. The two engaged in a long rally; when it became clear that Wozniacki wasn’t going to blink, Halep tried a desperation bailout drop shot. It floated hopelessly into the bottom of the net.
 
Wozniacki is no longer No. 1, but she can still drive an opponent to despair. We'll see if she can do it to another former top woman player, Ana Ivanovic, in the next round.

â€"Steve Tignor

Del Potro, Tsonga reach semifinals in Marseille

MARSEILLE, France (AP)â€"Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-5 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open 13.
 
The top-seeded Frenchman will next face Juan Martin Del Potro, who edged Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-6 (5).
 
Tsonga served 14 aces and saved 10 break points in an all-French match.
 
Tsonga dropped serve in the opening game but broke back in the sixth. He hit 18 winners to 11 for Roger-Vasselin to take the first set when his opponent netted a forehand volley.

Roger-Vasselin double-faulted at 6-5 in the next set to give Tsonga two match points. Tsonga converted the first on a forehand error from Roger-Vasselin.
 
“I didn’t play better than him today,” said Tsonga, the 2009 champion. “But I was stronger in my head in the key moments.”
 
Del Potro served 15 aces in a tight match that saw him win just one more point than Gasquetâ€"78 to 77.
 
The fourth-seeded Argentine led 3-1 in the last set but Gasquet, a former top-10 player, broke back in the eighth game.
 
Del Potro then saved a set point at 6-5 to force a tiebreaker before clinching victory with a diving backhand volley.
 
The 2009 U.S. Open champion whipped a forehand winner to take the first set. He saved two set points at 5-4 with a forehand winner and an ace. In the next game, Gasquet missed a smash to drop serve.
 
Tsonga was the player with the most aces on the ATP Tour last season, although France has found another hard-serving player in 20-year-old Albano Olivetti.
 
Olivetti lost to Michael Llodra 7-6 (5), 7-5 in another all-French quarterfinal, but has still left an impression on the home crowd after beating Mardy Fish on Thursday.
 
The 2.03-meter (6-foot-8) Olivetti hit a serve of 254 kph (158 mph) last year on the Challenger Tour. But Ivo Karlovic of Croatia still holds the world record for the fastest serve with 251 kph (156 mph) as only performances on the ATP tour are taken into account for official records.
 
However, Llodra outslugged Olivetti with 14 aces to 13 on Friday, and did not face a break point.
 
“Michael served smartly,” Olivetti said. “He used very well the slice when serving to my backhand. He was also stronger than me on service returns.”
 
Olivetti netted a backhand volley at 5-5 to drop serve and Llodra converted his first match point with an ace.
 
The 388th-ranked Olivetti double-faulted twice in the tiebreaker and Llodra won the first set when Olivetti sent a backhand into the net.
 
“Those two double-faults cost me dearly,” Olivetti said. “That’s the reason why I lost the tiebreaker.”
 
Olivetti made 10 unforced errors in the first set to none for Llodra, the 2010 champion.

Goerges downs '11 champ Wozniacki in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki lost in the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday, her game undone by mistakes in a 7-6 (3), 7-5 defeat to Julia Goerges.
 
Goerges will play for the title Saturday against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 in the first semifinal.
 
Wozniacki led 4-2 in the second set before Goerges regained control to close the match.
 
“Made way too many unforced errors, and Julia took advantage of that,” Wozniacki said.

Wozniacki, a Dane once ranked No. 1 and seeded third, struggled with her serve while Goerges never let her find her rhythm.
 
“I felt I had all the opportunities in the world today and didn’t take advantage of them. If you don’t take your chances, there is no way to win,” Wozniacki said. “It’s easy to say I should have done this and could have done that. But, you know, as well for Julia she took her chances. If I came with a weak shot she was there straight away and she punished me.”
 
Goerges, an unseeded German, now has a 3-2 head-to-head record against Wozniacki.
 
“It’s never easy playing her,” Goerges said. “It’s always a lot of balls, a lot of rallies. We played over two hours for two sets.”
 
Goerges downed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, Casey Dellacqua of Australia and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the previous rounds. Dellacqua replaced top-ranked Victoria Azarenka, who pulled out of the tournament with an ankle injury Wednesday before she was to open against Goerges.
 
“You never expect being in the final when you have seen the draw before,” Goerges said. “I mean, it started with a tough first round, expecting another big match in the second round, which unfortunately didn’t happen. But, well, it’s nice to be in the final with so many great players in the draw.”
 
Radwanska and Goerges last met in Melbourne last month, with Radwanska winning 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
 
“Well, it’s going to be a tough one again,” Goerges said, referring to Saturday’s final. “I mean, she killed me in Australia. Well, tomorrow is a new day, new match, and starts from zero again.”
 
The fifth-seeded Radwanska jumped to a 4-1 lead in the first set before winning it in 33 minutes. The Pole faltered in the second when the eighth-seeded Jankovic broke twice, but then regrouped and didn’t lose another game.
 
Radwanska regained her confidence by breaking early in the third set.
 
“Actually, she just start to play much better in the second set. I was really in trouble,” Radwanska said. “But in the third set, I was just trying to be focused on my game and just fight until the end.”

Isner, Querrey win in Memphis; Sock defeated

MEMPHIS, Tennesee (AP)â€"Top-seed John Isner, playing for the first time since helping the U.S. defeat Switzerland in Davis Cup, defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Tuesday.

Isner, ranked a career-best No. 13 in the world, overpowered Muller with 26 aces, including five in the two tiebreakers. Isner also won 96 percent of his first-serve points. The 26-year-old advances to the second round where he’ll oppose American Donald Young.
 
“Even though I beat Roger (Federer), it was just one match,” Isner said. “Confidence comes from putting a string of match (wins) together. I haven’t really played that many matches. This was just my seventh match of the year.”
 
Isner’s doubles partner, Sam Querrey also advanced to the second round with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Alejandro Falla of Colombia.
 
Querrey underwent right elbow surgery in June and won for only the second time this year in five matches. His world ranking has dropped to 99th after peaking at No. 17 in January 2011.
 
“I feel pretty close,” Querrey said of returning to match shape. “I’m missing more forehands than I usually do, but I’m just committed to stepping up and hitting it. More and more are falling (in) every day.”
 
In other men’s first-round matches, James Blake, participating in his first ATP Tour match since encountering knee problems late last fall, dropped a 6-0, 6-2 decision to fellow American Ryan Sweeting.
 
Ryan Harrison was another American to progress to the second round, beating compatriot Jack Sock 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, while Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky downed American Robert Kendrick 6-3, 7-6 (6).
 
In the Memphis International, the accompanying Women’s Tennis Association event, No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan defeated Canada’s Rebecca Marino, a finalist in last year’s tournament, 6-2, 6-4, in first-round play.
 
Unseeded Varvara Lepchenko, who became a U.S. citizen in September, upset No. 7 seed Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4, to move into the third round along with No. 5 Pauline Parmentier of France. Parmentier defeated Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
 
In other second-round matches, Marina Erakovic, the fourth-seeded New Zealander, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands beat Belarus’ Olga Govortsova 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Radwanska beats Jankovic in Dubai

“I don’t want to call Agnieszka Radwanska a tortoise,” the TennisTV announcer said in tbhe middle of the third set, “but often the tortoise wins in the end.”

It was steady versus streaky in the first semifinal in Dubai today. Steady, as always, was Radwanska: She won the first set 6-2, lost the second by the same score, and then blanked her opponent 6-0 in the third, all while maintaining the same generally high level of play. Streaky was her opponent, Jelena Jankovic: After a passive first set, JJ broke loose in the second with 16 winners, only to see all of her sweet shots turn sour in the third. To give you an idea of how drastically her fortunes changed, at one stage of the second set, Jankovic won 11 of 12 points; at one stage of the third, she lost three straight games at love.

On the surface, you might think that Radwanska just waited Jankovic out, that the match was all on JJ’s racquet. But that wasn’t exactly the case; Radwanska gave this roller-coaster a subtle but definite nudge down the track. Up 1-0 at the start of the third set but down 40-15 on Jankovic’s serve, she took hold of a midcourt forehand and won the point with it. That may not sound like a big deal, but it was the first time in nearly eight games that Radwanska had done anything proactiveâ€"she had been in full retrieval mode for at least half an hour.

That forehand had an immediate effect on both players. At 40-30, Radwanska tracked down a JJ volley and hit her best shot of the match, a stinging crosscourt backhand pass while running the other way. Jankovic slumped at the net; the wind, we would soon find out, was out of her sails. She double-faulted on the next two points to be broken. She wouldn’t win another game.

This was the Radwanska we saw during her Asian tour de force last fall, making balls and subtly dictating when needed. In fact, she made so many balls early that she helped play her opponent into a groove. Too bad for JJ, the hare in this story: Her 16 winners might have been enough to win an entire match against another player; all it got her against Radwanska was a set. She played well enough in the second, particularly with her vintage down the backhand, to remind us of her when she was at her best a few years ago. In the third, though, Jankovic couldn’t find any more openings; Aga had closed them all down. The commentator today was right, you can’t call Radwanska a tortoise. She’s steady, but she certainly isn’t slow.

â€"Steve Tignor

No. 1 Azarenka pulls out of Dubai with ankle injury

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday because of a left ankle injury.
 
The 22-year-old Azarenka said she will rest for two or three days, hoping the ankle will heal. The Belarusian, who has won 17 straight matches so far this season, said she’ll take a break from tennis and go home to spend some time with her family.

“Obviously it’s very disappointing, but, I mean, it’s life. It’s sport. I just have to take care of it and that’s it,” Azarenka said. “I take a couple of days off just to see and hopefully it will settle down for as long that I don’t need to take a scan or anything.
 
“But I just need to have my peace of mind and probably will still do the same just to make sure there is nothing really serious. But it has to be taken care of right away.”
 
The 22-year-old Azarenka was the top top-seeded player at the Dubai tournament and was scheduled to play her opening match against Julia Goerges of Germany later Wednesday.
 
The Australia Open champion injured her left ankle during last week’s semifinal match at the Qatar Open. However, Azarenka shook off the injury to win the Qatar Open on Sunday, beating Sam Stosur 6-1, 6-2.
 
It was the Belarusian’s 17th straight victory and her first title since replacing Caroline Wozniacki at the top of the rankings after winning in Melbourne. The Doha victory was Azarenka’s third title of 2012.
 
“Last week it (the ankle) was already hurt in the semifinal, and in the final I tried to do everything, you know, to be able to play. I took a lot of sacrifice by taking a lot of painkillers, but apparently didn’t get better,” Azarenka said. “I had to adjust my movement, compromise in the other parts of my body which started to hurt, and it’s just too much of a risk.”
 
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, French Open winner Li Na and Vera Zvonareva have also pulled out the Dubai tournament because of injury and illness.
 
A packed tennis schedule and tough competition could be partly to blame for so many injuries among the players, Azarenka said.
 
“For me, obviously I played so much, and it was an unfortunate situation what happened in Doha,” Azarenka said. “But I mean, it’s just the game became so physical. Sometimes it’s really tough on the body week after week to play. For example, these tournaments back-to-back with such a tough field, it takes a lot out of you physically. It’s just tough.”

Driver Quotes: Day 4 from Barcelona

BARCELONA PRE-SEASON TESTING CIRCUIT DE CATALUNYA DAY 4 DRIVER QUOTES 24 FEBRUARY 2012   Red Bull Racing Mark Webber “Today we got through a lot of stuff! We tested a lot of elements and everything worked well, especially since we had such a big programme. That can mean not a lot of laps and a

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Barcelona Test Recap: Kamui fastest with quali setup, Lotus out of the game

Kamui Kobayashi (1:22.312) put Sauber on top of the timesheets for the four days of testing in Barcelona with a lap posted in the late morning while the team worked on qualifying setup. Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, and Sebastian Vettel completed the overall fastest five. There were no damaging crashes during the four

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Brawn: New car ‘a good step forward’ but is it enough?

If you are at all like me, Ross Brawn is your potential savior. He seems to be the only guy capable of figuring out a way to beat Adrian Newey at this point. (Unless Newey beats himself. And does that deserve a rimshot?) Whether it is packaging a car just right or finding a quirk

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Radwanska survives Wozniak in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat seventh-seeded Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 7-5 Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Ivanovic breezed through the first set limiting her Italian opponent to just one game in 33 minutes. Schiavone put up a tougher fight in the second, but was no match for the 24-year-old Serb, who took the set to wrap up the match in 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Earlier Tuesday, fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland advanced after defeating Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-7 (6), 7-5.

The 22-year-old Radwanska cruised through the first set in 27 minutes, but she needed another two hours to win her opening match in Dubai. After losing the second set on a tiebreaker, Radwanska struggled to regain concentration in the third and had to come back from 5-3 down to win it 7-5.

Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka is the top-seeded player in Dubai. The top-ranked Belarusian will meet Julia Goerges of Germany in her opening match on Wednesday.

The field also includes defending champion Caroline Wozniacki and U.S. Open winner Sam Stosur, but Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, French Open winner Li Na and Vera Zvonareva all withdrew because of illness and injury on Monday.

On Tuesday, two more players joined the list of withdrawals.

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia retired with a hamstring injury while trailing Iveta Benesova 3-1, and Maria Kirilenko withdrew from a doubles match with Sabine Lisicki against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Alicja Rosolska.

Kirilenko has a neck injury but is set to play Ivanovic in the second round on Wednesday, organizers said.

Later Tuesday, sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France will meet China’s Shuai Peng in her opening match. The winner of the match will play Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the second round. Hantuchova advanced after defeating Polona Hercog of Slovenia 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Third-seeded Wozniacki will open the defense of her title on Wednesday when she meets Simona Halep of Romania in the second round. Halep advanced Tuesday after defeating Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2.

Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic also advanced Tuesday after ousting Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Safarova will meet U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur in the second round.

Ivanovic tops Schiavone in Dubai

Ana Ivanovic wore a white, long-sleeve top over her adidas tennis dress as protection from a biting Dubai breeze, while Francesca Schiavone, showing no concession to the 55-degree desert chill, was dressed for a day at the beach in a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of shorts. In a battle of former French Open champions, Ivanovic delivered a dress down for one set, then stitched together timely shotmaking to deconstruct the layers of the Italian's game in posting a 6-1, 7-5 victory.
 
An aggressive Ivanovic opened the court cracking deep blasts that danced near the baseline before driving shots down the line in forcing Schiavone into a state of almost perpetual pursuit. The former world No. 1 built a 5-0 lead after just 19 minutes of play in a performance that would have left many opponents woozy. Schiavone absorbed the shellacking with defiance, exhorting herself as she paced around in circles behind the baseline between points. The stubborn Schiavone dug in and fought off seven set points in a near 11-minute sixth game to finally get on the scoreboard. She would save one more in the next game, but it was a temporary reprieve, as Ivanovic converted her ninth set point to take a one-set lead after 33 minutes.
 
The animated Italian owns all-court skills and can play heavy topspin that handcuffs opponents. The 6'1" Serb poses problems for Schiavone because she handles the high ball so well, often taking it on the rise, and responds with flatter, deeper drives that reduced the 2010 Roland Garros champion into a series of sideline-to-sideline splits. Ivanovic cracked nine winners to just one for Schiavone in the opening set.
 
The 31-year-0ld from Milan is a rare player who actually seems strengthened by struggle (see her epic 2011 Australian Open win over Svetlana Kuznetsova). She had two break points for a 2-0 second-set lead, but could not convert. Both women turned up the intensity in a 16-and-half minute fifth game that featured nine deuces, as Schiavone saved four break points only to drop serve netting a backhand off her back foot. But shrugging that marathon setback off as if it were a shawl, Schiavone immediately broke back for 3-3.
 
Ivanovic cast a concerned glance over at coach Nigel Sears when she was tested early in the eighth game, but held for 4-all. Under Sears' guidance, Ivanovic has (for the most part) controlled her stray service toss and tried to impose two of her strengthsâ€"her ability to hit down the line and close points at netâ€"and was successful in winning nine of her first 10 trips there. Typically a savvy match player, Schiavone served almost exclusively to Ivanovic's weaker backhand on the ad side, which predictability cost her, as Ivanovic often moved to her left while Schiavone's toss was in the air to cut off the wide serve. Ivanovic failed to serve it out at 5-4, but Schiavone brain-cramped in netting a horrid drop shot to surrender serve again. Ivanovic closed the one hour, 41-minute match in the next game.
 
â€"Richard Pagliaro

Wozniacki, Jankovic reach Dubai semifinals

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki reached the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday, while U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur lost to Jelena Jankovic.
 
Caroline Wozniacki ousted Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 7-5 in a meeting of former No. 1s, after Jankovic stopped Stosur 6-4, 6-2 Thursday.
 
Wozniacki eased through the first set and overcame more resistance in the second.
 
“I’m very pleased to get through that in straight sets,” Wozniacki said. “Ana really stepped it up in the second set, took the balls very early, and just played really well. She took her chances and had nothing to lose.”

Wozniacki is the highest-seeded player left in Dubai at No. 3 after top-ranked Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the tournament Wednesday because of an ankle injury.
 
Azarenka unseated Wozniacki from the No. 1 ranking last month by winning the Australian Open. Now at No. 4, Wozniacki says she is determined to regain the top spotâ€"and perhaps win the first Grand Slam title of her career.
 
It’s all possible, Wozniacki said, but there’s no pressure.
 
“You know, a lot of things could happen. I could become the president as well. I could become a billionaire by tomorrow if I win the lottery,” Wozniacki said. “But you just need to enjoy winning and enjoy playing.”
 
Wozniacki will play Julia Goerges on Friday after the unseeded German defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Earlier, Jankovic was in control throughout the match while Stosur struggled with her game. The Australian seemed to rush her shots for much of the first set, hitting the ball early and returning it long and wide. Stosur broke Jankovic early in the second, but the Serb broke right back and pulled ahead 5-2.
 
“I’m happy with the win,” Jankovic said. “It’s never easy. Against her, we always have tough matches.”
 
She also defeated Stosur in last year’s quarterfinals in Dubai.
 
“I think the key was my return,” Jankovic said. “You know, she has one of the best, if not the best, serves in the women’s game. It’s never easy to return her serve.
 
“But usually she likes to serve and then start dictating the point with her forehand. I didn’t really allow her to do that … I was pretty much in control the whole time,” Jankovic said.
 
Stosur was disappointed she missed a chance to avenge last year’s loss.
 
“I definitely didn’t play as well today,” Stosur said. “I mean, she played all right. She served quite well. I felt like I was getting pushed back.
 
“I think today she stayed up on the baseline quite well and I didn’t. It was more that I don’t think my forehand was as good as what it needed to be.”
 
Jankovic will meet fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals on Friday. The Polish player advanced after defeating ninth-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 6-2, 6-1.

Fish loses to 388th-ranked qualifier in Marseille

MARSEILLE, France (AP)â€"Mardy Fish was knocked out of the Open 13 by French qualifier Albano Olivetti 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round Thursday.
 
The second-seeded American rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second set to tie the match. But the 388th-ranked Olivetti jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the decider and kept his composure to earn the biggest victory of his young career.
 
“That’s just a number next to his name right now,” Fish said of Olivetti’s ranking. “He won’t be there for very long if he continues to play like that.

“The first time that I’ve ever seen him hit was when we warmed up for the match. Sometimes that happens and you have to adjust. His style of play is hard to adjust to.”
 
Fish compared Olivetti’s serve to Ivo Karlovic and John Isner.
 
“He puts pressure on you with his serve and that’s what big servers do,” Fish said. “He probably has one of the hardest serves I’ve ever played against. He hit me with a serve and I almost hurt my left wrist.
 
“I had a rough time with his serve, for sure. When he’s down 15-40, he can come back with not only his first serve but his second serveâ€"it’s almost just as good.”
 
Olivetti served 23 aces and had nine double faults. He will meet Michael Llodra in an all-French quarterfinal. Llodra downed sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5).
 
Llodra had 19 aces, and the 2010 champion won four straight points to take a 5-2 lead in the deciding tiebreaker.
 
Juan Martin Del Potro also advanced to the quarterfinals when a right foot injury forced Nikolay Davydenko of Russia to retire with the match level at one set apiece.
 
The fourth-seeded Argentine lost the opening set 7-6 (6) but took the second 6-4 when Davydenko said he couldn’t continue.
 
“It was a really tough match,” Del Potro said. “But I’m glad to go through. Unfortunately, he can’t finish the match. And I wish him a fast recovery for the next tournament.”
 
Davydenko put Del Potro under pressure in the first set by winning 10 of 12 points at the net. He saved four set points and hit 22 winners to 14 for the 2009 U.S. Open champion.
 
Del Potro fought back in the second set, breaking for a 4-3 lead when Davydenko double-faulted. He served his 16th ace to close it out.
 
He will next face Richard Gasquet, who cruised past Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-3, 6-2.
 
The fifth-seeded Frenchman broke Kunitsyn’s serve three times and saved all six break points he faced. Gasquet has now reached the quarterfinals four times this season.
 
“Here I have a really difficult draw,” Del Potro said. “It doesn’t look like a 250 tournament because the tournament has four top-10 (players). That means this tournament is very important and very high level.”
 
Del Potro paid tribute to the victims of Wednesday’s train crash in Buenos Aires by wearing a black ribbon on his T-shirt. Fifty people died when the train crashed at a downtown station.

Isner tops Young; Querrey into Memphis QFs

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP)â€"Top-seeded John Isner beat fellow American Donald Young 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Thursday to move to the quarterfinals of Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.

Isner, ranked 14th in the world, used his trademark big serveâ€"with 22 aces â€" to dispatch Young in 1 hour, 43 minutes. They were on serve in the second set, when Isner broke Young for the match, with Young netting a forehand on match point.

Isner’s quarterfinal opponent will be Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who fought back to win a tight match against Croatian Ivan Dodig 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Third-seeded Radek Stepanek progressed in another tight one, edging young American Ryan Sweeting 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). The Czech will next meet another American in Sam Querrey, who eliminated seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Defending champion Milos Raonic of Canada also reached the last eight with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky. His next opponent will be Belgian Olivier Rochus, who defeated American Ryan Harrison 6-4, 7-5.

The other quarterfinal will be between Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and German Benjamin Becker. Kubot was a 7-6 (5), 6-2 winner over German Philipp Petzchner while Becker downed Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Young looked poised to beat Isner when he broke in the first set for a 4-2 lead. But Isner broke back immediately.

“When I was up that break in the first set, it would have been nice to have held in the next game to see what happened,” Young said, later adding: “There were only a few missed points, but at this level, it’s only going to be a couple of points that are going to be the difference.”

Isner said he struggled early and was lucky to reach a tiebreaker in the first set.

“I didn’t feel like myself from the get go,” Isner said. “My feet were all over the place, I was out of position on every shot, and my forehand, which I rely on a lot, was pretty much missing.”

Isner is undefeated in eight tiebreakers this year, including two in his first-round win over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. Isner plays an unusually high number of tiebreakers because his serve is so hard to break, while he does not have his major weapon when receiving.

“That’s usually when my adrenaline gets going the most,” Isner said. “To have my serve as a weapon, it helps a lot in tiebreakers. I’m able to get cheap points. We’re playing first to seven, so if I’m able to get to get two cheap points on my serve it puts so much pressure on my opponents. I find myself serving my best in the tiebreaker. I’m very comfortable, but I prefer not to play in them.”

In the Memphis International, the women’s side of the tournament, fourth-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand was taken to three set before defeating Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4 in their quarterfinal.

Erakovicâ€"the only seeded player remaining in the fieldâ€"will meet Vera Dushevina in the semifinals. Dushevina beat Stephanie Foretz-Gacon 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Sofia Arvidsson also reached the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (9) win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko and will take on Italian Alberta Brianti, who beat American Varvara Lepchenko 7-5, 6-3.

Stosur, Jankovic, Lisicki advance in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur advanced to the third round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday by defeating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1.
 
Caroline Wozniacki also advanced Wednesday after the third-seeded Danish player opened her title defense by beating Romania’s Simona Halep 6-2, 6-3.
 
Earlier Wednesday, top-ranked Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the Dubai tournament because of a left ankle injury. The Australian Open champion, who has won 17 straight matches so far this season, says she will rest for two or three days.

“Obviously it’s very disappointing, but, I mean, it’s life. It’s sport. I just have to take care of it and that’s it,” Azarenka said. “I take a couple of days off just to see and hopefully it will settle down. … But it has to be taken care of right away.”
 
Azarenka injured her left ankle during last week’s semifinal match at the Qatar Open. However, Azarenka shook off the injury to beat Stosur in the final.
 
In Dubai, the fourth-seeded Stosur of Australia broke Safarova twice in both the first and third sets, and saved all nine break points she faced in the match.
 
She will meet eight-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the third round on Thursday. Jankovic defeated Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-4. Stosur and Jankovic last played in the quarterfinals in the 2011 Dubai tournament, with the Serb winning.
 
“Good chance for me to try and bounce back from that loss that I had against her,” Stosur said, adding that Thursday’s match will be one of those “where I think I’ve got to really step up and play aggressive and realize she’s (Jankovic) not going to make too many errors.”
 
Wozniacki will face Ana Ivanovic after the Serbian player defeated Maria Kirilenko of Russia, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
 
The ninth-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany also advanced after defeating Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3. Lisicki will play Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round, after the fifth-seeded Polish player defeated Israel’s Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-4.
 
Azarenka said the packed tennis schedule and increasingly tough competition could be partly to blame for so many injuries among the players.
 
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, French Open winner Li Na and Vera Zvonareva have also pulled out the Dubai tournament because of injury and illness.
 
“For me, obviously I played so much, and it was an unfortunate situation what happened in Doha,” Azarenka said. “But I mean, it’s just the game became so physical. Sometimes it’s really tough on the body week after week to play. For example, these tournaments back-to-back with such a tough field, it takes a lot out of you physically. It’s just tough.”
 
Wozniacki, who was ranked No. 1 until Azarenka unseated her last month by winning the Australian Open, said she hoped her Belarusian rival will recover from her injury after a good rest.
 
“Vika (Azarenka) has had a great start to the year. I’m sure her body is feeling very tired at the moment, and she needed the rest before Indian Wells,” Wozniacki said. “You know, injuries happen in tennis. Just need to be happy when you’re healthy.”

Ecclestone predicts Hamilton will leave McLaren

Decide for yourself if this is big, shocking news. Bernie Ecclestone said today that he doubts Lewis Hamilton will spend his whole career at McLaren and, more immediately, suggested that if Hamilton doesn’t have a better season in 2012 than the past few years, Hamilton will leave the team when his contract ends this year.

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Wozniacki, Jankovic reach Dubai SFs

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki reached the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday, while U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur lost to Jelena Jankovic.

Caroline Wozniacki ousted Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 7-5 in a meeting of former No. 1s, after Jankovic stopped Stosur 6-4, 6-2 Thursday.

Wozniacki eased through the first set and overcame more resistance in the second.

“I’m very pleased to get through that in straight sets,” Wozniacki said. “Ana really stepped it up in the second set, took the balls very early, and just played really well. She took her chances and had nothing to lose.”

Wozniacki is the highest-seeded player left in Dubai at No. 3 after top-ranked Victoria Azarenka pulled out of the tournament Wednesday because of an ankle injury.

Azarenka unseated Wozniacki from the No. 1 ranking last month by winning the Australian Open. Now at No. 4, Wozniacki says she is determined to regain the top spotâ€"and perhaps win the first Grand Slam title of her career.

It’s all possible, Wozniacki said, but there’s no pressure.

“You know, a lot of things could happen. I could become the president as well. I could become a billionaire by tomorrow if I win the lottery,” Wozniacki said. “But you just need to enjoy winning and enjoy playing.”

Wozniacki will play Julia Goerges on Friday after the unseeded German defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Earlier, Jankovic was in control throughout the match while Stosur struggled with her game. The Australian seemed to rush her shots for much of the first set, hitting the ball early and returning it long and wide. Stosur broke Jankovic early in the second, but the Serb broke right back and pulled ahead 5-2.

“I’m happy with the win,” Jankovic said. “It’s never easy. Against her, we always have tough matches.”

She also defeated Stosur in last year’s quarterfinals in Dubai.

“I think the key was my return,” Jankovic said. “You know, she has one of the best, if not the best, serves in the women’s game. It’s never easy to return her serve.

“But usually she likes to serve and then start dictating the point with her forehand. I didn’t really allow her to do that … I was pretty much in control the whole time,” Jankovic said.

Stosur was disappointed she missed a chance to avenge last year’s loss.

“I definitely didn’t play as well today,” Stosur said. “I mean, she played all right. She served quite well. I felt like I was getting pushed back.

“I think today she stayed up on the baseline quite well and I didn’t. It was more that I don’t think my forehand was as good as what it needed to be.”

Jankovic will meet fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals on Friday. The Polish player advanced after defeating ninth-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 6-2, 6-1.

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Technology partners…an important facet for many businesses and now Formula One has an official partner in which to grow.  The Tata Communications group have announced a technical partnership with Formula One and will provide hosting, broadband and circuit connectivity for the series at each race. Here is the presser: Tata Communications, a leading provider of The New

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Your View: Is FOTA really necessary?

I was reading Mercedes AMG Petronas boss Ross Brawn’s comments here today and was intrigued by the overall fact that the withdrawal of Ferrari, Red Bull, Sauber and Toro Rosso from the Formula One Teams Association has not been discussed in public by many ot the teams. There have been some interesting comments by F1

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