Blake ousted by Latvian teen in Cincy

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MASON, Ohio -- A 19-year-old Latvian who tends to lose concentration during matches and is getting over a soccer injury -- one of those teenager moments -- knocked the last remaining American out of the Cincinnati Masters. Ernests Gulbis took advantage of James Blake's erratic serve and showed more toughness at the end of a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory Thursday, leaving the United States shut out of the quarter-finals for the first time in the tournament's history. "Yeah, it's unfortunate," Blake said. "I don't think American tennis is troubled by any means. But the way it is right now, the best players in the world are from Switzerland and Spain." It wasn't the only upset, but it was the most surprising. Carlos Moya beat fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (8), 4-6, 6-2 in the continuation of a second-round match halted by rain on Wednesday night. After a brief rest, Moya had to play another singles match against Igor Andreev later in the afternoon. Third-seeded Novak Djokovic also advanced to the quarter-finals on Wednesday, beating Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 to set up a rematch with Gulbis. Djokovic beat the Latvian in three close sets during the quarter-finals of the French Open. The 28-year-old Blake got bounced by a player so inexperienced that he still loses focus on the court and can't keep himself away from the soccer field. He sprained an ankle while playing soccer with friends this summer, forcing him to miss a couple of weeks on the tour, and was totally out of sync last week while losing in the first round in Toronto. Given his predicament, Gulbis didn't expect much. "To be honest, I didn't think that it would happen in this tournament because last week I played really bad," he said. "And I was injured before, so I didn't do nothing basically for two weeks." He had one thing working for him: Gulbis beat Blake to reach that quarter-finals at the French Open, his best showing in a Grand Slam event. Gulbis came in confident and took advantage of Blake's errant first serve -- only 45 per cent were in. "It's tough to beat a guy like that with a second serve," Blake said. "He's got a ton of talent." Gulbis is ranked No. 53 in the world and has a lot of things to work on -- his concentration, his consistency, and his affinity for soccer, which got him in trouble. "Every time when I'm in Latvia, I just go with friends and we play (soccer)," he said. His victory over Blake was one of the biggest of his career -- he had only 10 match wins last season, 17 this season -- but no one could tell by his reaction. "I will call my mother and that's it," Gulbis said. "Because of somebody wants to know, they can know. But why should I call everybody and tell them I won?"

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MONTREAL -- Third seed Maria Sharapova announced after her second round win Wednesday that she was withdrawing from the US$1.34 million Rogers Cup with a right shoulder injury.

Sharapova defeated Poland's Marta Domachowska 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 in a match that took nearly three hours.

"It's obviously unfortunate," Sharapova said. "You know, you try to do every little possible thing you can. But at the end of the day when you go on court and you're thinking about aggravating things, you're thinking about an injury, it's not really the way to play."

Sharapova had the trainer come out trailing 3-4 in the second set to look at the shoulder, which may have contributed to her committing 17 double faults in the match. Though she eventually lost the second set, Sharapova won the first four games of the final set to lock up the match.

Sharapova said she considered not coming out for the third set, and she will visit a doctor Thursday for an MRI on the shoulder that's been bothering her since March when she aggravated it at Indian Wells.

She said her presence at the Olympics and the U.S. Open in the coming weeks will depend largely on the results from Thursday's tests.

"At the end of the day, it's tough to go on court and not be close to even 50 per cent," Sharapova said. "I'm too good of a player to go out there and try to fight through something that I think can eventually become something serious."

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Nadal bests Kiefer for Rogers Cup title

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TORONTO -- With seeds and raindrops falling all around him, Rafael Nadal never flinched and never faltered.

He sprinted through a soaking-wet Rogers Cup without slipping, putting the finishing touches on his fifth straight title with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the final of the US$2.6-million tournament on Sunday.

Just weeks after winning Wimbledon, the second-ranked Spaniard is closing in on World No. 1 Roger Federer for the ATP's top ranking. He has seven titles already this season, while Federer has two.

So is Nadal the best player in tennis?

"Every player wants to be No. 1, no?" he said. "I would love to be No. 1, but I am No. 2 right now."

His opponents would disagree.

"I think he'll be the upcoming No. 1," Kiefer said following the match.

"He never misses," said France's Richard Gasquet, Nadal's victim in the quarter-finals. "He's like that all the match. You have to play so aggressive. If you don't play aggressive he has such a big forehand.

"He's the best player in the world for me, and it will be really hard for one player to win him."

Added eighth seed Andy Murray, whom Nadal ousted in the semifinals: "I just think the way that he moves and returns on the quicker courts is much better than it was before. That's why I think he'll be No. 1 in the world soon."

To this point, Nadal has taken great pains to make sure everyone knows he isn't gunning for that spot -- held since Feb. 2, 2004 by Federer, who fell here in his first match to France's Gilles Simon.

"I think doesn't change too much being No. 1 or No. 2," Nadal said. "If I'm No. 1 I'm going to be prepared, sure. I am prepared. But, you know, right now I'm still No. 2.

"I think you guys forget, and that's the true right now, no? ... I think I have to be happy, very happy anyway if I am No. 1 or No. 2, because if I am No. 2, it's because in front of me there is amazing player like Roger."

Federer didn't look so amazing here, but he wasn't the only one. Defending champion and third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, whose hard-court prowess earned him an Australian Open title and a spot in the U.S. Open final last year, fell in straight sets in the quarter-finals.

Russia's Nikolay Davydenko, Spain's David Ferrer and American Andy Roddick -- Nos. 4, 5 and 6 in the world respectively -- didn't even make it that far, falling in the Round of 16.

Some looked injured or indifferent, while some just seemed to lack focus, perhaps worn down by a punishing ATP schedule.

Not Nadal. Though the 22-year-old has won five straight tournaments and 29 straight matches, playing as much as anyone else on the tour, he seems indefatigable. He moved beautifully throughout the week, chasing down balls that were seemingly out of his reach and never looking even the least bit vulnerable.

He dropped just a single set in the tournament.

"He's hitting his forehand so well and he moves great and his mental strength is, I think, the best on the tour," Murray said.

"So, you know, there's few guys that can sort of get up and play his game style every single day and never get tired of doing it."

Why is Nadal so unbeatable right now?

"I don't know -- I mean, if I would have the solution, I would change it, but so far I didn't find a little thing," Kiefer said.

Indeed, he had no answers Sunday. Nadal seemed to have considerably less trouble with Kiefer than he did with Murray or Gasquet, breezing through the final in one hour 30 minutes. He first broke the German in the fifth game when Kiefer, down 15-40, had Nadal far out of position but gently laid his drop shot into the net.

The players then held serve until the ninth game, when Kiefer's double fault gave Nadal the set point.

But Kiefer kept fighting into the second set. He had a chance to break Nadal in the fifth game, but after going to deuce six times, Nadal took the game when Kiefer blooped a backhand well wide.

That's when Kiefer came unravelled. He double-faulted twice in the next game, then launched a forehand high and long before Nadal's forehand winner gave him the break.

Nadal went on to take seven of the next nine points, finishing with an overhead winner to ice his 30th career title, spreading his arms out and looking to the sky in celebration.

"The result was easier than the match I think," Nadal said.

The unseeded Kiefer, playing in his first ATP final since 2005, made a respectable showing but didn't play with quite the same aggressiveness that helped him get past Mardy Fish, Mikhail Youzhny, Davydenko, seventh-seeded American James Blake and Gilles Simon in prior rounds.

The 31-year-old seemed content to trade groundstrokes with Nadal. He rarely went to the net, and when he did, Nadal had an answer. When Kiefer moved in during the marathon fifth game of the second set, Nadal caught his lob with a leaping backhand. Kiefer responded by simply tossing his racket at the ball.

His first serve routinely failed him -- he managed to get 47 per cent across -- and he made 31 unforced errors to Nadal's 15.

Of course, Kiefer isn't the only one who hasn't been able to figure Nadal out.

"It's not only myself who's struggling with his game," Kiefer said.

For Nadal, getting a win in the first hardcourt tournament of the season was important.

"I win on every surface, no? I win on grass, on hard, on indoor, and on clay, too. So if I am playing my best tennis I can win on every surface, no?"

Earlier, Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic won the doubles final with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 decision over the American duo of Bob and Mike Bryan.

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Rogers Cup in Montreal loses Golovin

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MONTREAL -- Tatiana Golovin has pulled out of next week's Rogers Cup event in Montreal, Tennis Canada announced Wednesday. Golovin, ranked 24th in the world, injured her back at a tournament in Germany in May and has been kept off the court. "I regret that I will not be able to take part in the Rogers Cup next week in Montreal.," the 20-year-old Frenchwoman said. "My rehabilitation is progressing and I am still hoping to compete in the Olympics next month." Also, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario had to cancel her plans to travel to Montreal for the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The two-time singles champion has been ill with acute gastroenteritis and will remain in Spain to receive treatment.

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THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL -- Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario will have to wait two years to resume her love affair with Montreal tennis fans.

A severe case of gastroenteritis has forced the two-time champion from Spain to miss her planned induction into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame. Organizers now hope to have her back for the honour in two years, when the annual tournament returns to Montreal.

"I had a great relationship with the crowd in Montreal," Sanchez-Vicario said Thursday from her home in Barcelona. "I always felt kind of at home there.

"I still get letters from people in Montreal. I look forward to being back in two years."

Sanchez-Vicario, who won the tournament in 1992 and 1994, said she has been ordered to rest.

"I have to take treatment for several days," she said. "We have to find out what it is because it's very strong. That's why I cancelled the trip."

Sanchez-Vicario was among the world's best on the women's tour in the 1990s, winning the French Open three times and the U.S. Open once in singles and adding six Grand Slam doubles titles. She was ranked No. 1 in the world for 12 weeks in 1995.

She retired as a player after the 2002 season and has since become a tennis analyst for Spanish television.

She is also tournament director for a women's Tier-4 event in Barcelona.

"My goal is to help women's tennis and this is the only women's tournament in the country," she said. "My dream is to have a tournament like Montreal.

"That would be amazing, but I'll need to find a lot of money for that."

Sanchez Vicario said all of Spain is still abuzz over Spaniard Rafael Nadal's victory over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final.

"I was very close to winning it," she said. "I lost in the final (twice, both times to Steffi Graf), but it was nice to see a Spaniard win it."

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Djokovic gets taste of own medicine

By Mike Cormack
SPORTSNET.CA

TORONTO -- Andy Murray gave his old friend and rival Novak Djokovic a taste of his own medicine Friday night at the Rogers Cup.

In May, Djokovic created a bit of a stir in Murray's native Britain when he said his friend and fellow 21-year-old had great potential and talent but needed to gain more confidence.

But Friday it was Djokovic who conceded to battling a case of nerves during Murray's stirring 6-3, 7-6 win, his first loss to Murray in five career matches.

"The last couple of months I haven't been playing the tiebreakers well," Djokovic explained. "Now I'm getting nervous. I just have to stay positive and believe in myself."

The eighth-seeded Murray, who will now play the winner of the Rafael Nadal-Richard Gasquet quarterfinal following his match, said he felt in complete control amid a raucous Rexall Centre crowd littered with Scottish and Serbian supporters.

"The crowd can make you nervous," he explained, "but tonight I didn't feel any nerves at all."

Murray is coming off an injury-plagued 2007 in which a torn tendon in his wrist forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. He has rebounded this year with a win over Roger Federer in Dubai and a memorable run at Wimbledon that was ended by Nadal in the quarterfinals.

A win Saturday and Murray will advance to first Masters Series final.

"Nadal is now the only top guy I haven't beaten," said Murray. "This is a big win mentally for me. It definitely gives you confidence, especially when you've lost to (Djokovic) so many times before."

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THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- Emerging from a side of the bracket that featured Roger Federer, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and James Blake are two Rogers Cup semifinalists: Nicolas Kiefer and Gilles Simon.

Seems hard to believe, huh?

"I mean, I didn't even know what's happening," said Simon, the 22nd-ranked Frenchman who defeated Croatia's Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the $2.6-million tournament on Friday. "I'm just so confident, I want to win every match, even if I'm tired. I know I'm playing very good at the moment, so I want to try to win the more matches I can to have the better ranking at the end of the week.

"Because you know, when you play tennis, sometimes after you can be injured or something like this and the confidence (can) just go away like this.

"So I'm just trying to play with this and to win all the matches I can."

Germany's Kiefer dispatched Blake 6-1, 6-2. He said the win over the seventh-seeded American wasn't quite as straight-forward as it looked.

"It wasn't easy," he said. "Maybe it looks easy, but I also have to play (at a) very high level."

The 37th-ranked player hasn't won an ATP tournament since 2000, in Hong Kong.

But Simon wisely isn't taking anything for granted.

"I just hope that we are going to play a great match with a great fight," Simon said. "Even if I died on the court, yeah, I'll just give the maximum tomorrow."

Simon, 23, adds Cilic to his list of victims at the tournament, which already included top seed Federer, American qualifier Donald Young and Argentina's Jose Acasuso.

This match was far from a classic. The players combined for 104 unforced errors, including 64 by Cilic. The 19-year-old fired 37 winners, while Simon connected on just 15 -- but that's his game. He kept the ball in play and waited for Cilic to make mistakes, which he frequently did.

"When you play slowly, we could say that he missed some easy shots because he just doesn't manage to finish the point himself," Simon said. "He needs the speed of the opponent. That's why he had a very good start.

"Then I just wanted, yeah, to put the ball inside on the backhand five, six, seven, 10 times. But I didn't want to change that, because sometimes he's a little bit impatient and he's trying some shots he shouldn't try and giving some points."

The match didn't quite capture the imaginations of the centre-court fans at the Rexall Centre, who were relatively quiet throughout the match.

"Let's go Federer," jeered one onlooker during the second set.

Federer's gone, but there will be two big names playing in the semifinal on the other side of the bracket.

Later Friday, second seed Rafael Nadal of France will play 10th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, while third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia will take on eighth seed Andy Murray of Britain for those spots.

In doubles action, Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic have moved on to the semifinals.

The No. 2 seeds defeated France's Paul-Henri Mathieu and Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (4), 6-4.

They'll play seventh seeds Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India in the next round.

Cilic leaves the tournament having made a mark. The 44th-ranked youngster defeated sixth-seeded Roddick, 12th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo and Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy in an impressive run to the quarter-finals.

Simon said Cilic should play a bit more aggressive.

"Maybe if he comes more often to the net, if he's coming not every time, but, yes, one point he come and one point he stay, then for the opponent it's harder," he said. "But he's just playing from the baseline and he never comes to the net. Even when you're far from the ball you just put the ball inside and you run, you run until he misses."

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TORONTO -- For nearly six hours on Wednesday, play at the Rogers Cup was disrupted by pounding rain, lightning and thunder. Then Gilles Simon went out and made more noise than all of it combined.

France's Simon eliminated world No. 1 Roger Federer 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 at the $2.6-million tournament on Wednesday.

"That's just unbelievable for me to win against him," Simon said.

Federer, who won the tournament in 2004 and '06, became the first top seed to lose in his first match at the Rogers Cup since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.

"The problem was my game today," Federer said.

Second-seeded Rafael Nadal looks like the favourite now, though he didn't look stellar in his first match Wednesday, struggling early on before ousting Ottawa-born qualifer Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-2.

There were several other notable upsets on the day. Croatian Marin Cilic ousted 12th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4, Sweden's Robin Soderling defeated 13th seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4, Argentina's Jose Acasuso beat 14th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Russian Igor Andreev got past 16th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Of course, nothing compares to eliminating Federer. Just ask Simon.

"For sure, this is my best victory," said Simon, ranked 22nd in the world. "I don't think that you win so many times against the No. 1 in the world. It happens maybe in the career of a player maybe two, three times if you are lucky."

The match went smoothly for Federer until the second set. Simon broke Federer's serve to go up 4-2. Federer returned the favour and held serve to draw to 4-4 and then 5-5, but Simon held serve in the 11th game and broke Federer in the 12th to take the set.

"As the match went on I struggled a little bit to put the forehands away," Federer said. "He's a good baseliner. We saw that today. He moves well. He's deceiving because he's kind of thin and tall but moves really well for his height, you know. He flicks a lot of balls with his backhand as well, so when you come in you can't see where he plays."

Federer is coming off a tough five-set loss to Nadal in the Wimbledon men's final. Never has the Swiss star seemed so beatable, and he seems frustrated, too. He buried his head in his hands after one question from media.

So is he feeling drained?

"You wouldn't have asked me that if I would have won, right?"

Suddenly, Federer's side of the bracket looks wide open.

Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko is the highest seed remaining there. He defeated Germany's Tommy Haas 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Wednesday. Seventh-seeded James Blake was also a winner, beating Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.

On the other side, there's defending champion Novak Djokovic, fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, eighth-seeded Briton Andy Murray and ninth-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who won their matches Wednesday, and of course, Nadal.

The Spaniard seemed to have the support of the fans at the beginning of his match against Levine. One fan waved a Spanish flag with "Vamos Rafa" scrawled across it.

Some support swayed over to Levine's side as the plucky 20-year-old took an early lead and played Nadal tough.

"I think they really got behind me a lot of times, and that was helpful," said Levine, who moved to Florida when he was 13 and represents the U.S. in international play. "There was a lot of Rafa supporters out there. I was trying to hold my own and hoping to get some support behind me, and I felt like there was."

Levine said he was rolling until he stopped to think about whom he was playing, and where.

"I think I was in that zone, not sure really where I was, and then I kind of came to my senses and realized that I'm playing Nadal on centre court," he said. "Obviously, nerves got a little bit of me there."

.Levine took advantage of an uncharacteristically sluggish Nadal early. He broke the Wimbledon champion in the fourth game before taking a 4-1 lead in the first set.

But then he failed to capitalize on a break-point chance in the next game. Up 4-3, he missed another break point, and Nadal took over from there.

"Once he got that break back I think that he really got settled into the match," Levine said. "I came out kind of flying, and that's what I wanted to do, but I didn't want to let him back in like I did, obviously.

"If I would have went up 5-1, I think it would have been a little bit of a different story in the first set maybe. But obviously he came up with some good shots there, and then I had a couple mistakes."

Levine's inability to execute his opportunities was the difference. He won one of seven break points, where Nadal converted on four of seven break-point opportunities.

Still, Nadal was impressed by Levine, who's ranked No. 123 in the world, though he did admit to having never seen him play before their match.

"He's young, so he can be a very good player," Nadal said.

Levine was pleased at his showing too.

"That was definitely the highest-ranked player I ever played against in a tournament, and I hung in there for I would say the first set for sure," he said.

"Hopefully I can keep rolling after this."

For his part, Nadal said he simply has to play better.

"Today wasn't my best match obviously, but I didn't feel very bad after the beginning," he said. "If I don't play better, I'm going to have a lot of problems."

Turns out, not quite as many as he may have thought.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STANFORD, Calif. -- Aleksandra Wozniak had to survive through eight matches in nine days to win her first WTA Tour singles title. Somehow by the end of the week the qualifier was still playing at her best and it was her opponents who had worn down.

Wozniak, a native of Blainville, Que., became the first Canadian to win a WTA Tour singles title in 20 years, taking an advantage of an injury to Marion Bartoli to win the Bank of the West Classic 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday.

Wozniak won the semifinal when top-seeded Serena Williams pulled out with a knee injury in the second set. Then Bartoli was slowed in the final by a sore left hip that left her limping badly late in the match.

"I don't know what's happening," Wozniak said. "I guess I make them run too much or something. Yesterday (Serena) pulled out and today she got hurt, Marion. I don't know. I just keep playing aggressive and doing what I needed to do to win."

Wozniak, 20, needed to win three matches in qualifying -- including a three-setter against Angela Haynes in the first round just to make the main draw. She followed with five more wins to become the first Canadian since Jill Hetherington at Wellington in February 1988 to win a women's singles title. Wozniak was only five months old at the time.

Only three other Canadian women have won tour titles: Patricia Hy-Boulais, Taipei, 1986; Helen Kelesi, Tokyo, 1986; and Carling Bassett-Seguso, Strasbourg, 1987.

"It's great. I think I made history at home," Wozniak said. "Everybody was watching the match. I'm just proud of being Canadian."

Wozniak also became just the third qualifier to win a tournament this year and the first to do it in a Tier II tournament -- one with more than US$600,000 in prize money. She was the first qualifier to win this event since the inception of computer rankings in 1982.

The match was tight for most of the first set, before Wozniak took charge with Bartoli serving for the set at 5-4. She won 12 of the final 14 points to take the set, using her powerful backhand to break Bartoli's serve twice.

Then in the opening game of the second set Bartoli began grabbing at her left hip, which got worse as the match progressed. After losing that first game at love, Bartoli asked the referee to get the trainer on call and Bartoli took a medical timeout trailing 2-1.

"This morning when I was warming up I felt already a little pain but it was not that bad," Bartoli said. "When I started the match it really started to hurt. I just tried the whole first set to forget about the pain and just play."

Bartoli came back on the court limping noticeably and struggled to move. She gamely played on but never was able to threaten Wozniak and lost the match when her backhand hit the net cord and fell back to her side.

Wozniak gave a subdued fist pump and ran to the net to congratulate her opponent.

"I think I still didn't feel it," she said. "I was still in my bubble. It's my first title. I'm usually a person who doesn't show much emotion on court. I just tried to stay calm, and after the tournament was over then I'm happy."

Wozniak will achieve her goal of making it into the top 50 for the first time in her career. Now she has her sights set on the Top 10 one week ahead of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

.Bartoli, who has three career titles, has not won one since 2006. This was her first final since losing at Wimbledon to Venus Williams last summer. She struggled early this year while dealing with fatigue from mononucleosis, but felt she had started to regain her form in recent weeks.

"It's really disappointing for me," Bartoli said. "I was able to play some really great tennis to be able to be in the final. I thought I really had a shot to win a Tier II event. But each day is different."

Wozniak earned a $95,500 payday, the biggest of her career and almost as much as the $111,777 she had earned all year before this week. Her previous best pay day was $54,773 for making it to the third round of the French Open earlier this year. She lost her only previous final in a much smaller tournament in Morocco last year.

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Kournikova avoids Gimelstob on court

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- Anna Kournikova doesn't care about Justin Gimelstob or what he thinks about her. Last month, Gimelstob insulted the 28-year-old tennis diva on a radio show, but fans who were hoping to see the two face off on-court were likely to be disappointed. Kournikova was in Washington on Wednesday night with World Team Tennis' St. Louis Aces, who were playing the Washington Kastles, featuring the 31-year-old Gimelstob. The two were not scheduled to play each other in mixed doubles. In the radio appearance, Gimelstob used a derogatory term to describe Kournikova and made suggestive comments about another player, Nicole Vaidisova. Kournikova declined to engage in a verbal volley. "I really don't want to discuss the matter," Kournikova said. "I don't want to give it any more attention or meaning that it already has received. I'm just treating this like any other match." Television commercials featuring Gimelstob promoting the U.S. Open Series were scrapped by the U.S. Tennis Association following his remarks and he was suspended for one match without pay by World Team Tennis, but stayed on the air during Wimbledon for his job with the Tennis Channel. Gimelstob, who retired last year from the tour and sits on the board of the ATP, made no effort to reach out to Kournikova during pre-match festivities. When Kournikova was questioned about Gimelstob, she tried to deflect attention from him. "I actually forgot about it until you just mentioned it," Kournikova said. "It's really no big deal to me."

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TORONTO -- There will be no thrilling quarter-final run for Canadian Frank Dancevic at the C$2.6-million Rogers Cup.

Dancevic, 23, of Niagara Falls, Ont., reached the quarter-finals of last year's tournament in Montreal before losing to Spain's Rafael Nadal. On Tuesday night, it was third-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, who sent Dancevic packing with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory before a boisterous Centre Court gathering at Rexall Centre.

"I felt Novak was just on his game from the first ball," Dancevic said. "His returns were getting better and better as the match went on.

"Usually I get a lot of free points on my first serve and today it felt like a lot of balls were coming back so it put added pressure on my side of the court and made it a little bit more difficult to play."

Still, it was a decent showing for Dancevic, ranked No. 82 in the world, against a player who's ranked 79 spots higher. On Monday, Dancevic downed Croatian Mario Ancic, ranked 24th in the world.

Dancevic was the lone Canadian remaining in singles after Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., was eliminated earlier Tuesday. Dancevic remains in doubles with Canadian-born partner Jesse Levine and their first match comes Wednesday night against Australians Paul Hanley and Jordan Kerr.

There were questions about Djokovic's confidence heading into this match given it was his first since a stunning second-round loss at Wimbledon to Russian Marat Safin. After a shaky first service game and nearly being broken, Djokovic capped his first-set win by breaking Dancevic in the 10th game.

Djokovic recorded his second service break in the second set for a 4-2 lead, then went ahead 5-2 by holding serve. With the capacity Centre Court crowd clearly behind him, Dancevic fended off match point to hold serve and make it 5-3.

Dancevic brought some levity to the match in the ninth game when at 15-15 he appealed a line call, and crossed himself just for luck. It worked, as the call was reversed. And when Dancevic got to break point (30-40), the crowd began chanting, `Go Frank Go.' They were rewarded when Djokovic's shot sailed wide, pulling Dancevic to within 5-4.

"The crowd was really awesome," Dancevic said. "I really felt the support the whole match ... it made me break back in the second set and get back into the match."

But with lightning off in the distance, Djokovic returned the favour, earning the break with a brilliant backhand return to clinch the match.

"I was impressed with how he moved for a tall guy," Dancevic said. "I felt like he was really on balance and ready for any ball that I hit.

"He just put a lot of pressure on me. He was returning a lot of balls back and was taking advantage of every opportunity he had and made it more difficult on my side and put pressure on me to go for bigger shots and go closer to the lines and that's what made me miss a little bit."

Sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick also won his second-round match, downing Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3 despite two rain interruptions.

Roddick needed just 28 minutes to capture both the first and third sets. Roddick was especially strong in the third, blasting six of his 18 aces in the final nine games and going a perfect 15-for-15 in first serve points won.

"I thought I moved well and most importantly I felt good physically," Roddick said. "All in all, I think it was a good match."

Polansky lost a 6-2, 6-4 decision to Levine, an Ottawa native now representing the U.S. after moving to Florida at age 13.

In other action, German Tommy Haas beat Spain's Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-2, 16th-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-1, Russian Igor Andreev got past France's Gael Monfils 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), Sweden's Robin Soderling defeated Argentina's Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-1, Sweden's Thomas Johansson got past Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 7-6 (4), 6-1, Gilles Simon of France defeated American Donald Young 6-1, 6-3, Marin Cilic of Croatia beat Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, Spain's Fernando Verdasco defeated Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman beat France's Arnaud Clement 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

Roddick initiated one of the suspensions in play when in the first set he walked off the court leading 3-1 with it raining. Roddick said he did so more to prevent injury than risk losing momentum in the match.

"Sure, but I was also scared that I would slip and break a leg," he said. "The risk-reward there was a little obvious.

"It was coming down pretty hard."

Roddick also disputed a line call that allowed Mahut to hold serve in the second set and tie the score at 1-1. Roddick was chasing down a Mahut shot when it was called out, so he didn't take a swing at it despite being close enough to. The call was over-ruled -- rightfully so, the American said -- so Roddick figured there would be a replay of the point.

Instead, the umpire gave Mahut the point to tie the set.

"I guess the rule is you have to be 100 per cent sure the person can't get to the ball and I said I would've had to have alligator arms not to get to that ball," he said. "I was a foot away from it so I just couldn't understand it.

"And then I think when they realize they're wrong sometimes they sit here until they convince themselves that they made the right call. But the replay guy completely sold him out. I had a talk with him just now and everything is fine but I finally said, `I don't really care about the point, I just want you to tell me you know you made the wrong call.' Some days they go your way, some days they don't."

Polansky got behind Levine early. Polansky was broken all four times he served in the first set and earned his two games via service break as well. Polansky was at a loss for an explanation.

"I don't know," he said. "He was returning well.

"I just couldn't hold my serve."

Playing in this event allowed Polansky to spent some time at his home, which is located about a 10-minute drive from the Rexall Centre. However, Polansky said he didn't feel any extra pressure to perform before the home-town crowd.

"It's a really big event and they don't expect you to win it or sometimes even get past the first round," he said. "I really felt I had a chance to win my match and it's too bad.

"I felt like everyone was behind me and I don't take it as pressure as I do opportunity."

Levine, 20, moved to Florida with his family but not to play tennis. His brother, Daniel, 17, has ulcerative colitis and the thought was the warm weather would be better for him. Levine can represent the U.S. because his father is American.

Levine advanced to a second-round showdown Wednesday night with Nadal, the tournament's second seed and this year's French Open and Wimbledon champion.

"Obviously I'm looking forward to playing on (Centre Court) against Rafael Nadal," Levine said. "He's a great player and I always watch him on TV and it will be kind of cool to play him."

Top-seeded Roger Federer will also play his first match Wednesday, taking on Simon.

With Dancevic now out, Levine is the lone Canadian-born player in the tournament and is hoping Toronto's fans realize that when he faces Nadal.

"That would be nice to get them behind me," he said. "I think that helped Peter out a lot today.

"Getting fans behind you is such a big thing."

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Serena to play through pain at Beijing

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CARSON, Calif. -- Serena Williams plans to keep playing through a left knee injury despite advice from a doctor and her father that she rest with less than three weeks before the Beijing Olympics. She figures her injured knee "will be old news" by the time the Olympic tennis competition begins Aug. 10. Williams withdrew from Saturday's semifinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford after injuring her knee. She said that an MRI exam afterward revealed an inflamed joint. "I've been playing a lot of tennis, that's basically what it is, a lot of use," she said Monday. "I haven't had enough time to train the way I normally do off-court because I'm playing a lot." Williams, ranked fifth in the world and seeded second for this week's East West Bank Classic, received a first-round bye and is scheduled to play her opening match Wednesday against Czech Petra Kvitova. "I'm taking it day-by-day and I'll see how I go," she said. "I'm doing rehab for it three times a day, just to make sure that I'm ready." Serena's older sister, Venus, and Lindsay Davenport already withdrew from Carson because of right knee injuries, making for a rash of knee injuries on the U.S. Olympic team. Venus has said she plans to play next week's WTA tournament in Canada before going to Beijing, while Davenport has not indicated her immediate plans. Serena said a doctor and her father, Richard, recommended that she skip this week's tournament near her hometown of Compton. "He's always passive and I'm more aggressive," she said about her father. "I've been doing really well all year and I've been playing a lot. What I want to do is play tennis and play tournaments for this year and several years. I just feel like that's all I want to do." Williams has played nine tournaments this year and won three consecutive titles. She has a 33-5 match record, including a loss to Venus in the Wimbledon final. That's in sharp contrast to her previous lower level of activity outside the Grand Slam tournaments. "I just didn't want to play as many tournaments because I felt like I just didn't need to. I think it worked for me," she said. "I've always just played what I wanted to play, regardless." That includes the Olympics, although her ailing left knee caused her to miss the 2004 Athens Games. She and Venus teamed to win the gold medal in doubles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and Serena called it "my favourite trophy." "When I first had an opportunity to compete, I was excited and I really wanted to do it, but I didn't understand it until I was there and until I actually won," she said. "Then it kind of all set in, what a great feat it was." Williams expressed her opinion on the widespread violent anti-government rioting across Chinese-ruled Tibet last spring. "I'm not supporting that in any way," she said. "However, I've noticed that no matter what city the Olympics is in, there's always a controversy. "But at the same time, I'm just there to open awareness and people can see that they can open their doors by playing sport." Williams said she's not concerned about playing outdoors in Beijing's grey-tinted air, where she's competed twice before in a WTA tournament. "I also play in New York and L.A. and let's face it, we're no saints here," she said. Jelena Jankovic of Serbia has also played in Beijing, where she said a fine coating of soot covered her body during matches. "It was a quite dirty, quite polluted area, but hopefully they will do the best they can to clear it because sometimes it looks like it's foggy," she said. "It can affect your breathing."

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Becker: Nadal, not Federer, is No. 1

THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO -- Roger Federer has the world No. 1 ranking but there's no doubt in Boris Becker's mind who's the best player in men's tennis. That distinction, Becker contends, belongs to Spain's Rafael Nadal, who is ranked second behind Federer despite having beaten the Swiss star in both the French Open and Wimbledon finals this year. "Obviously in the world rankings there is still a No. 1 called Federer," Becker said Monday during a news conference at the Rogers Cup. "But I think if you talk to anybody in the world of tennis who is considered for now the No. 1 player in the world, it's the winner of the French Open and Wimbledon. "I think there's a change in the position at the moment." Becker, 40, was in town for two reasons. First, he was scheduled to face Toronto's Daniel Nestor in an exhibition match Monday evening, after which he was to be formally inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame. "I'm very very proud and honoured," Becker said. "It's one of the biggest tournaments in the world. "Hopefully I'm able to hit a decent backhand and a good serve but it's not about the result (against Nestor)." Nadal and Federer combined to make plenty of decent backhands and serves in this year's men's final at Wimbledon. Nadal captured the grass tournament's championship with an epic five-set rain-interrupted thriller against Nadal that required more than four hours to complete. Many tennis pundits have called the match the best-ever in the men's game. Nadal, 22, became the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back-to-back. Becker says while Federer remains one of the sport's elite players, Nadal has simply overtaken the Swiss star. "I think it's a case where Nadal has just improved to a level that nobody expected," he said. "Federer is playing as good as always. "But you can only give credit to Nadal for really raising his game to another level and winning." Becker believes tennis needs rivalries like that of Federer and Nadal. "Tennis needs players that bring out the best in each other," he said. "Tennis is in a good place right now having Federer and Nadal really at the very top of their careers. "Whoever saw the Wimbledon final, I was just amazed at the quality of play from both players." Becker appeared in three Rogers Cup events. He captured the title the first time he came to Canada in 1986 before reaching the semifinal the following year. He remains the only German man to have won Canada's biggest tennis tournament. Becker enjoyed a brilliant 15-year career before retiring in 1999. He captured six Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon, two Australian Open titles and the U.S. Open), Olympic doubles gold at the '92 Barcelona Games, and two year-end ATP Tour World Championship crowns. In 1985 he became the youngest-ever Wimbledon winner at age 17, a record that still stands. Overall, Becker captured 49 singles titles and 15 doubles crowns. He reached the World No. 1 ranking in 1991 and in '03 was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. And when Becker retired, he stopped playing tennis cold turkey. "I didn't pick up a racket for two and a half years after I stopped," he said. "That's always difficult when you stop something you love so much and been doing for so long. "Today, I probably enjoy tennis more because it's my hobby. I don't play every day anymore but I have some exhibitions and some senior tournaments so I do enjoy it a lot." Becker's athleticism and never-die attitude on the court always made him a fan favourite wherever he went. Fans always admired his tenacity and the reckless abandon he often displayed in diving to reach volleys. But Becker also made headlines off the court. In 1993, he married Barbara Feltus, an actress and designer, and the couple had two children. Before the marriage, Becker and Feltus posed nude for the cover of Stern, with the photo being taken by Feltus' father. However, the couple endured a very messy divorce in January 2001, with the pre-trial hearing broadcast live in Germany. Becker was granted a divorce Jan. 15, 2001 after reaching a US$14.4-million settlement and custody of Noah and Elias. The following month, Becker admitted fathering a daughter, Anna, with Angela Ermakova in '99. He originally denied paternity but made the admission following a DNA test. In 2002, Becker was convicted of tax evasion after admitting he lived in Germany from '91 to '93 while saying he resided in Monte Carlo. He was fined $500,000, put on two years probation and ordered to pay all court costs. "You don't to be in the paper every day or on television every day," Becker said. "Germany doesn't have many other good tennis players or good sports stars so naturally I was in the spotlight." As for this year's Roger's Cup, Becker expects Federer and Nadal to be the players to beat. "Well, everybody playing is supposed to play here," he said. "Obviously our focus will be on Roger and Rafa and how they recover from the Wimbledon final. "It will be exciting how both men recover and how others will come close and challenge them."

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All eyes on Nadal, Federer at Rogers Cup

RelatedMore Rogers Cup:Which players to watchBy Mike Cormack
SPORTSNET.CA

When it was announced the 2008 Rogers Cup would be pushed up two weeks and held the same week as the RBC Canadian Open, some wondered how the event would fare up against Canada’s national golf championship.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have taken care of that.

Without question, the eyes of the tennis world will be on Toronto this week as the world’s two best tennis players take to the court for the first time since their epic Wimbledon final earlier this month.

It’s impossible to underestimate how significant Nadal’s 6-4,6-4, 6-7,6-7, 9-7 win over Federer was for tennis, and how high the anticipation is for the next chapter of what has quickly become the greatest individual rivalry in sports today.

As great as Nadal and Federer have been for the past few years, and despite having met in seven Grand Slam finals since 2005, their collective exploits had failed to register among the casual sports fan and around the water cooler until a few weeks ago.

The history books will say Nadal won his first Wimbledon title by ending Federer’s streak of five straight championships, but they won’t mention that the final on NBC earned a 4.6 overnight rating, a 44 per cent increase over last year’s final won by Federer and the highest since Pete Sampras won eight years ago.

The books also won’t mention that the Nadal-Federer final landed tennis on the cover of Sports Illustrated under the title "The Greatest Match Ever."

For the first time since John McEnroe sported headbands and a perm, tennis had captivated not just the hardcore net-heads, but the casual sports fan as well.

The question now is, can it build upon it this week?

South of the border, that might be hard to achieve between now and the start of the U.S. Open in late August, but here in Canada, the Rogers Cup is taking place at time when there’s plenty of good news surrounding tennis in this country.

On Sunday, 20-year-old, Blainville, Que. native Alexsandra Wozniak gave Canadian sports editors another tennis item to place on their front pages by capturing the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calif., for her first WTA Tour title.

Wozniak, who defeated sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-3 in the final, had to win three matches in qualifying and five in the main draw.

It was the first WTA tournament win for a Canadian woman in 20 years (Helen Kelesi, (Taranto, Italy.)

On the same day of the Nadal-Federer final, Toronto’s Daniel Nestor captured his first Wimbledon doubles final to complete a career Grand Slam.

Nestor, who is playing German great Boris Becker in an exhibition Monday night at the Rexall Centre, will keep tennis on the sports pages in the coming weeks as one of Canada’s best medal bets at the Beijing Olympic Games in doubles.

But all eyes this week will be on Federer and Nadal, and frankly, anything short of a Sunday final featuring the two will be considered a disappointment.

The good news for tournament organizers and fans is the likelihood of the two meeting is highly possible, and both players should have no shortage of motivation this week.

So far in 2008, Nadal and Federer have met in four finals (Monte Carlo, Hamburg, French Open, Wimbledon), with Nadal winning all four.

For Nadal, the No. 1 ranking is now within reach, and a win here and next month at the U.S. Open would go a long way towards ending Federer’s four-year reign atop the tennis world.

As for Federer, for the first time in four years his status as not only the world’s best tennis player, but arguably best athlete as well, is in question.

But perhaps more importantly, if Federer is ever to surpass Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles he knows he will have to start beating Nadal, and soon.

Federer is only two behind Sampras with 12 Grand Slams, but at 26 he is four years older than Nadal, who appears to be only getting better with age.

For his career, Federer’s record against everyone not named Nadal is 588-131. Against the speedy Spaniard he is 6-12.

"We've played many times in big occasions, but sometimes it takes a big match like (the Wimbledon final) to really breakthrough for both of us," Federer told reporters Sunday at a Rogers Cup press conference. "I think now that we did, every match we play from now on will be very interesting between us."

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THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- Frank Dancevic is to be forgiven if he looked a little downcast following the Rogers Cup draw on Saturday.

Not only did the Niagara Falls, Ont., native draw a tough first-round matchup with No. 24-ranked Croatian Mario Ancic, but lurking in the second round is a potential matchup with defending champion Novak Djokovic.

"I got a really tough draw this year," Dancevic said. "I'm just going to have to be as prepared as I can be for the first round."

Dancevic is also on the same side of the bracket as world No. 2 Rafael Nadal and fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer. The top half of the draw features Swiss star Roger Federer and fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

At this event last year in Montreal, Dancevic went on a surprising run. He reached the quarter-finals before falling in three tough sets to Nadal.

It was just one of several impressive recent showings from the 23-year-old, who advanced to the second round at Wimbledon after an upset victory over No. 7-ranked Spaniard David Nalbandian.

He's clearly drawn the attention of Canadian tennis fans. A chorus of groans echoed from the Rexall Centre audience on hand for the draw on Saturday when Dancevic's opponent's name was pulled from the silver chalice onstage.

Dancevic, ranked 83rd in the world, thinks he needs to be aggressive against Ancic.

"He has a very good serve, and he's a very aggressive player, he comes in a lot," he said. "I'm just going to have to try to keep the pressure on him and see if I can take advantage of the points first. It'll be a battle out there in who can put the pressure first on every point."

And though he concedes that a waiting Djokovic in the next round is in "the back of my mind," he says he can't worry about that now.

"Mario's going to be a tough guy to get through, nevermind Djokovic," he said. "So it's going to be important for me to focus on my first-round match and try to get through that one.

"If I do end up getting through that one, we'll see what happens after that."

The other Canadians in the field won't have it any easier.

Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., will play 29th-ranked Marcos Baghdatis of Cypress in the first round, with Nadal, fresh off a thrilling five-set victory over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon men's final, awaiting the winner.

Frederic Niemeyer of Deauville, Que., drew perhaps the toughest first-round matchup of the three, against 12th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

All of the Canadian singles qualifiers were eliminated Saturday.

Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., lost to American Donald Young 6-1, 6-2, Milos Raonic of Thornhill dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to Alexandre Kudryavtsev, Philip Bester of North Vancouver, B.C., was ousted by Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-2, while Milan Pokrajac of Mississauga, Ont., lost 6-4, 7-5 to Alejandro Falla of Colombia.

.It's a strong field all the way through, featuring nine of the world's top 10 players. The most notable withdrawals were Nalbandian (hip), world No. 26 Lleyton Hewitt (hip) of Australia and 38th-ranked Croatian Ivan Ljubicic (personal reasons).

The first round boasts some compelling matchups. World No. 27 Carlos Moya of Spain will take on Germany's Tommy Haas, ranked 46th, while 41st-ranked American Mardy Fish drew Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, ranked 31st.

Later, Federer could meet Roddick in the quarter-finals. Federer holds a commanding 15-2 lead in career meetings between the two men but Roddick beat him the last time they played earlier this season. On the bottom half, Djokovic could face Murray in the quarters and then Nadal in the semifinals. And Murray might have to get through recent Wimbledon semifinalist and world No. 1 Marat Safin in the third round.

"Being in a Masters, you're going to have to play someone tough," Dancevic said.

At least Dancevic says he'll have his health on his side after struggling with injuries all season. Most recently, he was hampered by a muscle problem in his second-round loss to Bobby Reynolds at Wimbledon, when he said he pulled his lateral oblique early in the second set.

But he says he feels strong now, and that he's looking forward to playing in Canada.

"This is the one time of year you get to relax at home and play in front of your home crowd," he said. "I enjoy it very much and I'm looking forward to it."

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Serena drops out, Wozniak advances

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STANFORD, Calif. -- Serena Williams' busy summer schedule caught up with her, making her the latest U.S. Olympian dealing with a knee injury as the Beijing Games approach.

Williams injured her left knee and pulled out of the Bank of the West Classic on Saturday, becoming the third singles player on the U.S. women's tennis team with a knee injury.

Williams retired from her match after losing the first set and falling behind in the second set of her semifinal against Canadian qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que.

"It was hurting in practice and I didn't really practice too long because it was hurting," Williams said. "After I got off, it was really swollen. I thought that I have to play really fast."

She lasted only 46 minutes before pulling out of the match trailing 2-6, 1-3. Williams said the injury is different than one that forced her to undergo surgery on her left knee in 2003 and miss eight months. But that knee has bothered her since, forcing her to drop out of the 2004 Athens Olympics and to miss significant time again in 2006.

Williams struggled from the start against the 85th-ranked Wozniak and first called for the trainer when trailing 5-2 in the first set. She got the knee heavily taped and came out to finish the set, but appeared to struggle to plant on her injured leg.

"It's unfortunate that she pulled out," Wozniak said. "I think in the middle of the first set she started looking at her leg. I didn't know if it was her ankle bothering her. But at the end it was her knee."

Wozniak held serve to win the set and won 11 straight points to take a 3-1 lead early in the second. Williams then aggravated the knee while stretching for a backhand in the fifth game of the set and retired from the match. She walked off the court and embraced her father, Richard.

"I actually thought it felt better once I got it wrapped," Williams said. "But Wozniak kept moving me. I was hoping she wouldn't but I guess she knew better. That didn't help at all."

Wozniak will play in Sunday's final against sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli, who beat Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

It's been quite a week for Wozniak, who needed to win three matches in the qualifying tournament just to make it into the main draw. She then beat eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone in three sets in the first round, before knocking off Sybille Bammer and Samantha Stosur to make it to the semifinals.

This is just the second career final for Wozniak, who made it to a lower-tiered championship match in Morocco last year. Wozniak, who entered the week ranked 85th in the world, should be close to reaching her goal of being a top 50 player by next week.

"I'm really happy with the way I played this week, coming out of the qualifying is not easy," Wozniak said. "It's a lot of matches in one week."

Williams had felt healthy most of this year, playing a busy schedule since winning in Miami in the beginning of April. She played 26 matches in a three-month span that went through her loss in the Wimbledon final to big sister, Venus.

Then she returned home and played for the Washington Kastles of the World Team Tennis league before arriving at Stanford for her debut in this tournament. Williams wouldn't blame her decision to play team tennis on her latest setback.

"You know that risk going into it," she said. "It is what it is. I can't blame that. I just think in general I've been playing a lot of tennis since Miami -- especially for me."

Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport, the other U.S. Olympic singles players, have already pulled out of next week's East West Bank Classic in Carson, Calif., due to right knee injuries. Serena Williams said she still plans to go to Carson, but will likely have an MRI before then and could choose to rest up for the Olympics next month.

"I do plan on obviously being at the Olympics," she said. "That's my main goal."

.Bartoli has had a sporadic year after making it to the Wimbledon final a year ago. She lost in the first round at the Australian Open and French Open and had not made it to a final until beating Sugiyama.

Bartoli broke Sugiyama at love to take a 4-2 lead in the first set and then won a four-deuce game on Sugiyama's serve to go up 2-1 in the second. Bartoli finished it off by breaking Sugiyama for the fourth time of the day, winning it when Sugiyama hit a backhand wide on match point.

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Blake wins another close one in Indy

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS -- For the second straight match, James Blake found a way to survive and advance.

The American struggled early in the first set and fought off two set points in the second before defeating Jun Woong-sun of South Korea 6-3, 7-5 in the second round at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Thursday.

Blake, ranked eighth in the world, got off to a similarly slow start in a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win against Dudi Sela on Tuesday.

"I definitely don't feel like this was my best match, but it got me through," he said. "That's the most important thing. Sometimes, these matches are more important to win than the ones where you're playing well. I feel like when I'm playing well, I should be winning a lot of my matches. When you can manage to win the ones where you're not playing your best, it gives you the opportunity to play well the next day."

Blake, the top seed, advanced to play Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan in the quarter-finals on Friday. Lu defeated American Rajeev Ram 6-1, 7-6 (1) on Thursday.

In the nightcap, American Sam Querrey rallied to beat compatriot Vincent Spadea 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Querrey, seeded fourth and ranked 45th in the world, advanced to play Bobby Reynolds on Friday. Reynolds, another American, beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday.

Blake led Jun 4-3 in the first set on Thursday before closing it out. In the second set, Jun had set point when Blake got an ace, then won the next three points to tie the set at 5-all. He handled the final two games, and clinched the match with his 10th ace.

"He gave me a little scare in the second set," Blake said. "I think it had a little more to do with me than him."

Blake seized momentum after fighting off the set points.

"Once I pulled that off, I thought I had new life, and I had a chance to get up and close that set out. Once I got another chance, I didn't want to let it go."

Though Blake had some success with aces, he got just 49 per cent of his first serves in, compared to 64 per cent for Jun. Blake also struggled with his serve accuracy against Sela on Tuesday.

"That's one of the things I've been working on the last four weeks or so," he said. "You never really expect results to come immediately, so I just have to make sure I don't get frustrated."

Blake said he was too cautious against a man he's never played.

"I definitely shouldn't have had as much trouble as I did today," he said. "I was probably feeling him out a little too much and not necessarily playing my game and playing a little passive."

In doubles play, Scott Lipsky and David Martin defeated Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer 6-1, 7-6(4), and Ashley Fisher and Tripp Phillips defeated Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 1-0 after Bopanna retired with a back injury.

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Simon roars past Becker in Indianapolis

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gilles Simon used a simple serve-and-volley game to beat Benjamin Becker 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 and reach the quarter-finals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Wednesday.

"I just tried to put the ball inside. Nothing more," the Frenchman said. "I don't know why I lost the second set and won the third set 6-love."

Also advancing was Germany's Tommy Haas, the fifth seed. He used an accurate service game to sweep American John Isner 6-3, 6-4.

Isner won just 5-of-27 of Haas' first serves and 5-of-26 second serves.

"My second serve was very good today," Haas said. "I used that to move him around a bit.

"I was glad to get a break early. You want to try to get a good start, because once he gets up in breaks and gets relaxed with his serve, he's tough."

Third-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, the defending champion, advanced to the quarter-final round when his opponent, American Wayne Odesnik, withdrew with a back injury before the night's final match.

Earlier, Paul Capdeville of Chile won 23 of his 27 of his first-serve points and swept qualifier Joseph Sirianni of Australia, 6-3, 6-4.

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Starace reaches Austrian quarters

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KITZBUEHEL, Austria -- Potito Starace beat Austrian wild card Daniel Koellerer 6-4, 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open.

The fouth-seeded Italian, who lost last year's final to Juan Monaco, lost on his serve once but saved eight break points.

Starace next plays fifth-seeded Eduardo Schwank of Argentina, who defeated German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-1, 6-4.

Schwank never was in danger of losing his serve and converted three of nine break points for a convincing victory.

Victor Hanescu of Romania continued his recent run of good results by beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-1.

Hanescu, who won his first ATP title on Sunday in Gstaad, Switzerland, conceded only seven points on serve against the Spaniard, who upset third-seeded Agustin Calleri in the opening round Tuesday.

In the quarter-finals, Hanescu will play Brian Dabul of Argentina, who defeated Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.

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Serena survives scare in Stanford

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STANFORD, Calif. -- Serena Williams looked completely out of sync for much of the match. Against a 15-year-old qualifier no less.

Off her game and rattled by a teen 11 years younger, the top-seeded Williams rallied from one set down to beat hard-hitting Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday night in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic.

It was far from easy. So much for the expected quick rout by the No. 5 player in the world.

Williams, playing her first match since losing the Wimbledon final to big sister Venus, committed eight unforced errors in the initial 12 points. She sprayed her typically reliable groundstrokes long and wide. She hit ball after ball into the bottom of the net and regularly missed first serves. Her father, Richard, briefly left his seat in a corner box after watching his daughter struggle so mightily.

Larcher de Brito slipped and hit a backhand into the net on match point and Williams came around the net to shake hands moments later.

It was the gutsy Larcher de Brito -- who grunted loudly on every shot and pumped her fist on both her own winners and Williams' unforced errors alike -- was the aggressor until her experienced opponent with eight Grand Slam titles woke up in the second set.

Williams led 4-2 in the opening set before losing it and dropping six straight games to fall behind 2-0 in the second. She then changed rackets and rolled the rest of the way. In the fifth game of the middle set, Williams hollered, "Come on!" to get herself fired up after smacking a backhand winner down the line.

The 26-year-old Williams is playing in her first Bank of the West event after being scheduled to appear three other times only to withdraw. She did play at Stanford in the 1999 Fed Cup final against Russia.

Williams is looking for her fourth tournament title of 2008 and 32nd of her career. She will play in the quarter-finals Friday against the winner of Thursday's second-round match between Russia's Alisa Kleybanova and fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

Larcher de Brito, meanwhile, had advanced to the second round by beating Argentina's Gisela Dulko 7-5, 7-6 (1) on Tuesday.

Venus Williams is not playing in this event at Stanford.

Earlier Wednesday, Ai Sugiyama ousted fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals.

The unseeded Sugiyama, from Japan, fell behind 3-0 in the first set then won the next nine games before Hantuchova held serve to make it 3-1 in the second set. Sugiyama needed three sets to beat wild-card entry Alexa Glatch in the first round.

Hantuchova has been dealing with a stress fracture in her right heel since May and Wimbledon was her first tournament since April. She lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Kleybanova.

Sugiyama will face Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-2, 6-3 second-round winner over Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine on Wednesday.

Second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia beat Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 6-4. Chakvetadze lost the first game of each set and trailed 4-3 in the second before winning the final three games.

She will play the winner of Thursday's second-round match between No. 6 Marion Bartoli of France and England's Anne Keothavong.

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Blake downs Sela in Indy opener

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS -- American James Blake looked rusty before he rallied to beat unheralded Israeli Dudi Sela 7-6 (2), 6-2 Tuesday in a first-round match at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.

Blake, top-seeded and ranked eighth in the world, hadn't played a singles match since losing to Rainer Schuettler in the second round at Wimbledon last month. The 78th-ranked Sela led 2-0 in the opening set and had a 30-love lead in the next game before Blake improved.

Blake took a 5-3 lead and had advantage twice with a chance to close the set, but couldn't finish. Sela won the game, then took the next two to take a 6-5 lead.

Blake tied it 6-all, then took the tiebreaker 7-2 to win the set.

"There were still some testy moments out there, especially playing a tiebreaker after you serve for a set," Blake said. "That can demoralize a lot of players sometimes."

Blake said his experience allowed him to keep his early struggles in perspective. The 28-year-old won here two years ago, and has been in at least the quarter-finals in eight tournaments this season.

"You've got to put that behind you," he said. "There's nothing you can do to change it. When I was a kid, I probably would have whined and cried and thrown tantrums about that, but not anymore. Just put your head down and face what's in front of you. ... You can't let one point affect more than that one point."

Sela had three aces in the first game and kept Blake off balance, but he couldn't keep it going in the second set. He kept fewer than half his first serves in play in the second set and had no aces.

"When I'm able to attack that second serve, I think that's one of the stronger parts of my game," Blake said. "If I can put a little pressure on that, it can affect the first serve."

Blake struggled with his serve during the first set, but was more accurate in the second.

"I just started going for it," he said. "When you mis-hit sometimes, you start aiming it and it goes a little slower and it ends up not being as effective. You're not getting it where you want to."

Blake advanced to play Jun Woong-Sun of Korea on Thursday. Jun beat Chris Guccione of Australia 6-4, 7-6 (4).

In the nightcap, fourth-seeded American Sam Querrey defeated Go Soeda of Japan 6-4, 6-4.

"Definitely, he's a tough player," Querrey said. "He's got a great backhand. It was nice (to win) considering yesterday in doubles."

Querrey advanced to play American Vincent Spadea on Thursday. Spadea beat compatriot Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

.Earlier, Rajeev Ram of the United States rallied from being down 6-3 in the tiebreaker to upset sixth-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Americans Bobby Reynolds, Wayne Odesnik and John Isner, Colombia's Alejandro Falla and Germany's Tommy Haas also advanced.

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Schuettler advances at Austrian Open

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KITZBUEHEL, Austria -- Top-seeded Andreas Seppi withdrew from the Austrian Open on Tuesday with a groin injury shortly before the start of his opening match against Nicolas Devilder of France.

Seppi, ranked 34th, was to headline the tournament after the top three seeded players -- Paul-Henri Mathieu, defending champion Juan Monaco and Juan Carlos Ferrero -- all withdrew with injuries last week.

Seppi was replaced in the draw by Matthias Bachinger of Germany, who lost to Devilder 6-3, 6-3.

Devilder next plays Alexander Peya of Austria, who lost the opening set to 2003 champion Guillermo Coria 7-5 but advanced when the Argentine retired with a right shoulder injury before the start of the second set.

Second-seeded Rainer Schuettler rallied to beat Andreas Beck of Germany 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Schuettler had 10 aces but didn't manage to break Beck's serve in the first two sets.

The 39th-ranked German next plays Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic, who defeated Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-5, 7-5.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain upset third-seeded Agustin Calleri of Argentina 6-4, 6-4. The 49th-ranked Calleri, who won the event in 2006, lost serve three times but saved 11 break points.

Juan Martin del Potro beat Josselin Ouanna of France 6-3, 6-3. The seventh-seeded Argentine, who won last week's Mercedes Cup for his first ATP title, was in control of the match throughout.

Victor Hanescu also advanced, rallying from a 5-3 deficit in the third set to beat Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (2).

The 26-year-old Romanian, who won his first ATP event at the Swiss Open last Sunday, trailed 2-0 in the tiebreaker before winning seven straight points to close out the match.

No. 8 Olivier Rochus was eliminated after Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic rallied to beat the Belgian 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. Fourth-seeded Potito Starace, No. 5 Eduardo Schwank and No. 6 Jurgen Melzer all had straight-set victories.

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Spain's Robredo wins Swedish Open

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BASTAD, Sweden -- Tommy Robredo defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-1 Sunday to win the clay-court Swedish Open for the second time in three years. The third-seeded Spaniard outplayed Berdych in the second set, breaking the Czech three times. He faced a break point at 1-1, but Berdych hit a forehand long. "This win is more important than the first one," Robredo said. "In 2006 I played the best tennis of my life, I was in better shape. This year I did not play very good in the beginning of the year. This gives me confidence again." It was Robredo's sixth ATP singles title, but his first since Metz, France, last year. Berdych had his right knee treated and taped by a trainer after the sixth game of the first set. The Czech continued to move well on the court and had a break point for 5-5, but his forehand went just wide after a long rally. After trading early breaks in the opening set, Robredo broke again with a brilliant forehand passer down the line to lead 4-3. He held the rest of his service games to close out the first set. The 17th-ranked Robredo, who played in Bastad for the eighth straight year, said it was difficult to face Berdych. "When somebody is injured, it's tough to play," Robredo said. "He was hitting harder and he could win any point. He could hit a winner." Spanish players have won the last four Swedish Opens. David Ferrer, whom Robredo knocked out in the semifinals, won last year and Rafael Nadal was the winner in 2005.

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