Sportmaster International

Murray is seeded to reach the semi-finals in Doha The Italian world number 38 beat Murray in their only previous encounter - a 6-4 6-4 win on his favoured clay surface at the 2006 Rome Masters.The 19-year-old Scot is fourth seed at the ATP hardcourt event in Doha, where Russian world number three Nikolay Davydenko is the top-ranked player.Croatian Ivan Ljubicic is seeded second and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis third.Davydenko, who enjoyed a consistently successful 2006 season,
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For parents and “wannabe” professional players it is hard to understand that this highly competitive sport of tennis seeks the boundaries of the maximum capacity of human efficiency. Neither do they realize that the decision for a career in top sports performance, especially in tennis, represents a persistent incision into a youngster’s way of life. Next, they lack the global vision to assess the future restrictions in the young person’s development as well as in occupation education or job situations. In many cases they do not either foresee
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Scud’s invite secure
Former Australian Captain January 01, 2007

MARK Philippoussis’s Hopman Cup victory over Dmitry Tursunov is expected to seal the Victorian’s first major target of the summer - an Australian Open singles wildcard.

Ranked No.114 in the world, Philippoussis is second only to Lleyton Hewitt in the national standings and, as a proven crowd-puller, is almost certain to receive one of three remaining main-draw invitations from Tennis Australia.

Chris
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Fed Express ready to fire
Former Australian Captain January 01, 2007

ROGER Federer is expected to arrive in Sydney this week to complete Australian Open preparations with master coach Tony Roche.

The two have already shared a private 10-day training camp in Dubai as the Swiss genius homes in on a 10th grand slam title.

The winner of 92 of 97 matches last season, with 12 titles, Federer is bypassing the rich Doha event he has won for the past two years to be at his peak for Melbourne Park from January 15-28.

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Nalbandian lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the 2002 Wimbledon final He is seeded second at the first ATP tournament of the year, the Chennai Open in India, which starts on Monday.”I think I’m ready to win a Grand Slam. Wimbledon is my favourite but any of the four will do,” said the Argentine, the beaten finalist in SW19 in 2002.Rafael Nadal is the top seed in Chennai and he faces former world number five Rainer Schuettler in the first round.”This is going to be a tough week, a
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Perth, Australia - Young hope Thomas Berdych pulled the Czech Republic level 1-1 with India after his girlfriend and teammate Lucie Safarova was beaten by Sania Mirza Sunday at the Hopman Cup mixed-team event. Berdych, who finished last season on 13th in the world after briefly touching the top 10, crushed unfancied Rohan Bopanna 6-2, 6-2. That was the identical scoreline by which 20-year-old Indian starlet Mirza hammered Czech Safarova. The tie was going down to the mixed doubles on New Year’s eve at the Burswood Dome. India qualified into
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Hingis has re-established herself in the world’s top 10 The Swiss star, who began her comeback at the event in 2005, eased past Austria’s Sybille Bammer 6-0 6-2.She said: “Now I’m number seven in the world, I’ve won a couple of events and played some great matches so I know I can handle myself out there.”I’ll have a day off and I can probably toast the win at midnight.”Hingis added: “I was very focused and didn’t have ups and downs. That was quite surprising after a six week
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Ferguson causes major boilover
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

SOPHIE Ferguson notched a major upset in the first round of the Australian Women’s Hardcourt tournament on the Gold Coast today, defeating No.8 seed and dual champion Ai Sugiyama in straight sets.

The Sydney wildcard defeated her more highly rated Japanese opponent 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in 92 minutes.

Ferguson is on target to play fellow Australian Samantha Stosur, who starts her campaign when she takes on Shuai Peng from China tomorrow evening.

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Mirza and Bopanna overcame higher-ranked opponents in Perth Sania Mirza gave India a 1-0 lead with a comprehensive 6-2 6-2 win over Lucie Safarova in the women’s singles rubber.World number 13 Tomas Berdych levelled for the Czechs with a 6-2 6-2 victory against an outclassed Rohan Bopanna.But the Indian duo, who won the Asian Hopman Cup to qualify for the Perth event, took the mixed doubles match 6-3 5-7 7-6 (10-5).Mirza, the women’s world number 66 to Safarova’s 42, said:
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India claims historic victory By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

THE Hopman Cup upsets kept coming today, with the debutant India team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna overcoming No.3 seed Czech Republic in a tense mixed doubles decider.

India, who qualified by defeating Chinese Taipei in the Asian arm of the mixed team tournament, marked its memorable debut by overcoming Tomas Berdych and Lucie Safarova 10-5 in a match tiebreak after the third rubber has finished 6-3 5-7.

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Elimination success for Australians By Daniel Brettig
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

CHRIS Guccione, Peter Luczak and Alun Jones have joined world No.20 Lleyton Hewitt in the round-robin phase of the Adelaide International, allowing Australian tennis to end a wretched year on a refreshing note.

Seldom have the words “Australian”, “tennis” and “success” been written in the one sentence in 2006, but wildcards Guccione, Luczak and Jones all enjoyed main draw elimination victories at memorial Drtive today.

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Hingis … took good for her Austrian rival. File pic: David Kapernick Hingis ends year with a bang
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

MARTINA Hingis recorded a comprehensive straight-sets victory over Sybille Bammer from Austria in the first round of the Australian Women’s Hardcourt tournament on the Gold Coast today.

Hingis, a five-time grand slam winner, clinical in disposing of world No.49 Bammer 6-0 6-2 on centre court at the Royal Pines complex.

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Berdych … overpowered his Indian opponent. Pic: Associated Press Berdych restores order By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

TOMAS Berdych of the Czech Republic has restored some order to a topsy-turvy Hopman Cup, making short work of Rohan Bopanna to take the only tie of day two to a deciding mixed doubles rubber.

Bopanna’s India teammate, Sania Mirza, had previously
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Star of India through in two By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

ALREADY a star of India, Sania Mirza enhanced her growing reputation as one of Asia’s brightest tennis hopes today with a crushing two-set defeat of Czech teenager Lucie Safarova at the Hopman Cup.

Despite the third seeded Czech enjoying massive favouritism with the bookmakers, Mirza destroyed her more illustrious opponent in 54 minutes, galloping to a 6-2 6-2 win.

And if
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Star of India shines bright By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

SANIA Mirza has enhanced her growing reputation as one of Asia’s brightest tennis hopes with a crushing defeat of Czech teenager Lucie Safarova at the Hopman Cup today.

Mirza destroyed her more illustrious opponent in 54 minutes, galloping to a 6-2 6-2 win.

The Indian’s scintillating returns were great to watch and too good for the world No.42, who will want to forget her Hopman Cup debut.

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Davydenko to head Qatar field From Richard Eaton in Doha
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

THE invisible man of tennis may move into view at last following a special sequence of events which have led to his becoming top seed for the leading tournament in the first week of the new season.

No player ranked so high has ever had so low a profile as world No.3 Nikolay Davydenko, who heads the field at the $US1 million ($1.3 million) Qatar Open starting on New Year’s day.

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Perth, Australia - Australia surprised top seed Russia while late entry France ambushed defending champion United States in Group A opening-day play Saturday at the Hopman Cup. Mark Philippoussis completed the perfect start for the hosts, who have played all 18 previous editions of the round-robin eight-nation event, but own just a single trophy from 1999 over Sweden. Two-time grand Slam finalist Philippoussis put his 114th ranking to the side as he won the last ten points on the way to a 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) victory over 22nd-ranked Dmitry Tursunov.
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India seeks upset over Czechs
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

INDIA and the Czech Republic will face off on the second day of the Hopman Cup in Perth today, with the Asian team looking to emulate the first-day underdogs with a surprise win.

Australia and France both turned the seedings on their head yesterday, with surprise victories over Russia and the USA respectively.

And having qualified through the Asian arm of the mixed team event earlier
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Haehnel secures France victory By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

JEROME Haehnel upset Mardy Fish of the US to secure an upset 2-1 victory for France against the No.4-seeded US team at the Hopman Cup in Perth overnight.

Haehnel, whose only previous claim to fame in his career was his first-round defeat of Andre Agassi in the 2004 French Open, was given little hope against Fish, who sits 166 places higher on the world rankings.

But he emulated
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Star coach on call for Australians By Jackie Epstein
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

DARREN Cahill, the former coach of Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi, says he is just a phone call away for any Australian player as the country’s tennis fortunes continue to flag.

Cahill is in Perth with Mark Philippoussis for the Hopman Cup, which started yesterday, working with the two-time grand slam finalist on a casual basis.

“I’ve helped out Mark a little bit,
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Hewitt draws the hard road By Leo Schlink, Scott Walsh and Doug Robertson
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

HOMETOWN hope Lleyton Hewitt was dealt a testing Australian Open tune-up draw yesterday, landing in the same half as world No.18 Richard Gasquet for the Next Generation Adelaide International starting today.

No.4 seed Hewitt, the world No.20, is scheduled to face Frenchman and No.2 seed Gasquet in a semi-final - if both players negotiate a novel round-robin stage at the Memorial Drive event.

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Stosur primed to come out swinging By Paul Malone
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006

AUSTRALIA No.1 Sam Stosur will pack extra punch in her most successful month of the tennis year after including boxing in her off-season training.

Stosur, who has reached two of her three career finals in Australia, and who also achieved her best grand slam performance in her home country, spent three weeks training in Sydney with conditioner Giselle Tirado to continue the fitness strides that have reaped her $1.25 million in prizemoney during the year.

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Golovin overcomes Harkleroad By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 30, 2006

TATIANA Golovin eventually recorded her expected victory against young American Ashley Harkleroad on night one of the Hopman Cup in Perth, but the win was neither easy or pretty.

Neither woman was originally scheduled to to appear in Perth this week, hence early-season cobwebs were evident from both as clean winners were rare amongst a sea of unforced errors.

But Golovin was eventually good enough to grind out a 6-3 4-6 6-2 win in 111 minutes.

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Philippoussis is determined to resurrect his career Molik beat world number six Nadia Petrova 6-2 2-6 6-2, and Philippoussis saw off Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 7-6.Both players are looking to climb the rankings again in 2007 after being hit by injuries and poor form this year.The Hopman Cup, a mixed team event, is part of the build-up to the Australian Open in Melbourne from 15-28 January.Philippoussis, 30, the world 114, is hoping a good run of results will secure him a wild card
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Philippoussis, Molik topple Russia By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 30, 2006

AUSTRALIA has made a mockery of Russia’s No.1 seeding at the Hopman Cup, with Mark Philippoussis wrapping up an impressive match win with victory over Davis Cup hero Dmitry Tursunov.

Alicia Molik knocked off world No.6 Nadia Petrova 6-2 2-6 6-2 in the first match of the tournament before Philippoussis backed up with a 6-4 7-6 win over Tursunov, the second-set tiebreak a 7-0 exclamation mark on an perfect start for the home side.

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French wildcards named
Former Australian Captain December 30, 2006

JO-Wilfried Tsonga and Youlia Fedossova Saturday have received main draw wildcards into the 2007 Australian Open under a reciprocal arrangement with the French Tennis Federation, Tennis Australia said today.

Tsonga, 21, the world No.212, reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open Junior Championship in 2002 and 2003.

Fedossova, 18, reached the the second round of the US Open on debut, when, as a qualifier, she defeated No.25 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round.

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Molik makes winning start By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 30, 2006

ALICIA Molik enjoyed a stirring three-set victory over Nadia Petrova in the first match of the Hopman Cup in Perth this afternoon.

Petrova, the world No.6, started slowly and could not stick with Molik as the crowd favourite won 6-2 2-6 6-2 to give Australia a 1-0 lead in the rie against top-seeded Russia.

Molik, a former world No, 8 said she was resuming her career after two years suffering with vestibular neuronitis, a career-threatening virus.

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Gold Coast, Australia - Former world No. 1 Martina Hingis announced that she is engaged to fellow tennis pro Radek Stepanek. The Swiss star informed a news conference on Friday that the two were engaged last month in Prague.The 26-year-old Hingis is in Gold Coast to compete in next week’s season- opening Australian Women’s Hardcourts event, where she started her comeback on the WTA Tour last season following a three-year, injury-induced retirement.’I'm happy,’ the five-time Grand Slam champion said while showing off her diamond ring.The 28-year-old
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Zara Phillips was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year World equestrian champion Phillips, who was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is made an MBE while Edwards becomes a CBE and Woosnam an OBE.Football was also honoured with Steven Gerrard and Faye White becoming MBEs.Boxer Ricky Hatton and amateur golfer Gary Wolstenholme are made MBEs, as is BBC tennis commentator John Barrett.

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Hopman Cup tried and true path By Courtney Walsh
Former Australian Captain December 30, 2006

THE big-name drawcards are missing but that does not mean the Hopman Cup should be ignored as a guide for finding an Australian Open success story next month.

The cup, which begins today in Perth with Australia’s Mark Philippoussis and Alicia Molik playing highly rated Russian pair Dmitry Tursinov and Nadia Petrova, has traditionally proved a strong form line for the year’s first grand slam.

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Hewitt ‘better than ever’ By Andrew McGarry
Former Australian Captain December 30, 2006

LLEYTON Hewitt is trying not to over-extend himself with his goals for 2007.

After a frustrating, injury-filled period of his career that has seen his world ranking slip to No.20, the former world No.1 says his aim for next year is to make it to the final weekend at each of the grand slams.

Speaking before the official start of the Australian season, which begins today, Hewitt said Roger Federer had taken the game to another level to that seen when the Adelaide player was No.1.

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Hingis handed tough draw
Former Australian Captain December 29, 2006

TOP seed Martina Hingis will begin her Australian Women’s Hardcourt campaign with a tough first-up assignment against world No.49 Sybille Bammer from Austria on Sunday. Should the Swiss grand slam champion successfully negotiate her first opponent, a second-round match against Queenslander Nicole Pratt or former top-10 player Elena Bovina from Russia is in order at Royal Pines.

The highly-fancied
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The deal is thought to be the biggest of its kind in tennis The 19-year-old British No 1 will wear the bottled water company’s brand logo on his left sleeve during tournaments.The agreement with the Perthshire water company is reportedly the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in tennis.Murray, from Dunblane in Stirlingshire, will first wear the logo when he plays in the Qatar ExxonMobil
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Hingis is in Australia preparing for the first Grand Slam of 2007 The 26-year-old Hingis, ranked seven in the world, returned to the women’s tour last season after three years out.The Slovakian-born player, who moved to Switzerland as a child, said that 28-year-old Stepanek had proposed to her in Prague in November. Stepanek, ranked 19 in the world, has not played since reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals due to a neck injury.Hingis revealed the news of her engagement in
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Molik sees a bright future
Former Australian Captain December 29, 2006

LOOKING into her crystal ball, Alicia Molik can see herself holding aloft a crystal ball - the one awarded to the Hopman Cup winners.

But if Molik was to partner fellow Australian comeback-ee Mark Philippoussis to a win in the Hopman Cup which starts tomorrow in Perth, she says it would only represent the start of her return to top-flight tennis.

Following the untimely withdrawal of Venus
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Federer targets Paris and history From Dave James in Paris
Former Australian Captain December 29, 2006

TENNIS embraces major changes in 2007 but Roger Federer’s paramount New Year resolution remains the same - to win the French Open.

The Swiss superstar racked up another record-smashing year in 2006 with 12 titles, a 92-5 match record in which he won back his Australian Open title and defended his Wimbledon and US Open crowns.

But the French Open still eludes him.

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Philadelphia, PA - The 2007 ATP and WTA Tour seasons will commence next week, with three men’s tournaments and a pair of women’s events that will serve as preparations for the Australian Open.The men will swing into action in Australia (Adelaide), Qatar (Doha) and India (Chennai), while the ladies will take to the courts in Australia (Gold Coast) and New Zealand (Auckland).The ATP will present a 32-player hybrid round-robin format in Adelaide, as a traditional draw will not be in place for that season-opening tournament. Round-robin play will
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Johansson body blows teach lesson By Leo Schlink
Former Australian Captain December 29, 2006

ALMOST two years have passed since Joachim Johansson stood on the cusp of tennis stardom.

Ranked No.9 in the world, the Swede had just captured his second singles title with victory in Adelaide before launching 51 aces past Andre Agassi at the Australian Open in a bruising fourth-round match.

By any measure, Johansson had emerged as a genuine contender at the majors.
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Jones snares last wildcard for Adelaide
Former Australian Captain December 28, 2006

CANBERRA’S Alun Jones has snared the final wildcard for the Adelaide International tennis tournament.

Jones defeated New South Wales’ Nathan Healey 6-4 6-4 in a battle for the last available wildcard at Memorial Drive today.

Victorians Chris Guccione and Peter Luczak and the event’s 2005 champion Joachim Johansson of Sweden have also been granted wildcards for the tournament, which will feature Lleyton Hewitt.

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Molik to play Hobart By Robert Grant
Former Australian Captain December 28, 2006

ALICIA Molik will return to the tournament where she won her first WTA Tour title after earning a wildcard into the Hobart International.

The former world No.8 will join seven-time grand slam winner Serena Williams in the Australian Open leadup event to be staged from January 7-12.

Molik became the first Australian woman in eight years to win a WTA Tour title when she clinched the Hobart event in 2003.

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