Professional Tennis
Tennis Channel will pre-empt its regularly scheduled programming on Saturday Jan. 15 at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT, to air Rally for Relief—a special exhibition being held in Melbourne to raise money for victims of Australia’s flood disaster. Such stars as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters, Sam Stosur, Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic and Pat Rafter…
For the 2011 Australian Open, Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki have been named top seeds on the men’s and women’s sides respectively, as the event begins next week, Jan. 17-30 at Melbourne Park. Nadal leads the men’s rankings over number two Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic (number three) and Sweden’s Robin Soderling (fourth). Wozniacki heads the women’s seedings…
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki was upset by 32nd-ranked Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-3 in her opening match at the Sydney International. Wozniacki’s 2011 hasn’t started in such stellar fashion as she was defeated last week in two exhibition matches to number two-ranked Vera Zvonareva in Singapore and U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters in Hong Kong. “Last…
Tennis Channel has extended its on-air relationships with two stars who both got the most out of their time on the court: Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova and multi-Slam champion and Olympic gold medalist Lindsay Davenport. The multiyear contracts come on the eve of the network’s fourth year of covering the Australian Open, tennis’ first…
The American team of John Isner & Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Belgium’s Justine Henin & Ruben Bemelmans, 6-1, 6-3 in mixed-doubles to give the U.S. its sixth Hopman Cup team tennis title. Isner tied up the title contest 1-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Bemelmans after Henin won the final five games of her match to beat Mattek-Sands,…
Roger Federer defeated Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 6-4 in the finals of the 2011 Qatar Open. In his victory, Federer takes home his first title of the new year and in the process, defeats the defending Quatar Open champ Davydenko, marking Federer’s third Quatar Open after victories in 2005 and 2006. Federer lost to Rafael Nadal in an exhibition match…
Robin Soderling defeated Andy Roddick, 6-3, 7-5 to capture the Men’s Singles Title at the 2011 Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Australia at the Pat Rafter Arena. Torrential rain briefly interrupted the match as the semi-indoor Pat Rafter Arena had rain blow inside as the match was knotted up at four in the second set. "He…
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have both advanced to the semifinals of the Qatar Open final after both won their respective quarterfinal matches in straight sets on Thursday. Federer, a two-time champion in Doha, easily dispatched of sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki, 6-2, 6-2 in just 65 min. and will now face third-seeded Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France…
Venus Williams was defeated by second-ranked Vera Zvonareva, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday at the Hong Kong Classic exhibition tournament in her first match since the U.S. Open. Williams had been out with a knee injury since September and is using this tournament as her only warmup before playing the Australian Open. The two players traded…
Bethanie Mattek-Sands’ upset over Italian Francesca Schiavone, 6-4, 6-4, gave the United States a 2-0 lead over Italy at the Hyundai Hopman Cup, held at the Burswood Dome in Australia. John Isner won a close match against Potito Starace 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, getting the Americans one step closer to this weekend’s Hopman Cup Finals. For…