MELBOURNE (Reuters) – French Open champion Stan Wawrinka shook off a stubborn early challenge from Dmitry Tursunov to advance to the second round of the Australian Open when his Russian opponent retired injured. Wawrinka was leading 7-6(2) 6-3 when Tursunov, who had called the trainer midway through the second set to treat an apparent hip […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – An emotional Lleyton Hewitt staved off retirement for at least one more match by beating countryman James Duckworth 7-6(5) 6-2 6-4 to reach the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday. The hard-bitten 34-year-old, making a record 20th and final Australian Open appearance at his home grand slam, soaked up the […]
By Greg Stutchbury MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Fernando Verdasco can finally replace the memory off an epic failure with a glorious triumph after stunning fifth seed Rafa Nadal at the Australian Open on Tuesday. The Spaniard’s five-set loss to compatriot Nadal in semi-final of the season opening grand slam in 2009 is still talked about at […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal was heading back to the drawing board on Tuesday after another startling early loss at a grand slam deflated his early-season optimism and left him questioning his strategy. The Spaniard arrived in Melbourne for the start of the Australian Open talking of his ‘happy feelings’ after a strong run at […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Aspiring tennis professionals are washing their shirts in hotel baths, sleeping on couches and relying on crowd funding to chase their Grand Slam dreams, a stark contrast with the top tier players that some fear could fuel corruption in the sport. Tennis was rocked on Monday following reports that authorities had failed […]
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Roger Federer called for ‘concrete’ facts while Novak Djokovic spoke of his team once being offered $200,000 to fix a match as the multiple grand slam champions reacted to claims of widespread match-rigging in tennis on Monday. The opening day of the Australian Open was overshadowed by reports in the BBC and […]
