Sportmaster International

White Plains, NY - When the United States meets the host Czechs in next week’s first-round Davis Cup tie, world No. 4 Andy Roddick and sixth-ranked James Blake will lead the American charge. The doubles team will be the Australian Open champion Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike.The U.S. is captained by Patrick McEnroe, while the Czechs will be guided by Jaroslav Navratil in the best-of-five battle from February 9-11 on red clay at Ostrava’s CEZ Arena.’The Czech Republic will be a tough test for us, especially on clay,’ McEnroe said. ‘We know that
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Baghdatis is 21st in the ATP world rankings The second seed looked to be returning to form after his early exit at the Australian Open.”I’m not really thinking about my shots. It’s good to win in straight sets, but I’m just glad to have happiness back in my game,” he said.Meanwhile, qualifier Alexander Peya beat third seed Robin Soderling.Peya’s 7-5 4-6 6-2 win earned him a place in his first ever ATP tour quarter-final.Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic cruised to a straightforward
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Kuerten has plummeted to 1082nd in the world rankings Kuerten’s 6-1 6-4 defeat was his second of the round robin stages, following on from his loss to Oscar Hernandez.But the 30-year-old, who has fallen to 1082nd in the rankings, said he had no plans to retire and intended to fight his way back into the top 50.Earlier, Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio pulled out because of injury.Spain’s Ramirez Hidalgo defeated Argentina’s Diego Hartfield 6-4 6-1, and Ivan Navarro, while Italy’s
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Brussels, Belgium - Former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters will miss next week’s Open Gaz de France tennis event due to a hip injury.The Belgian Clijsters said she wants to be healthy for the February Diamond Games in Antwerp, which will mark her last WTA appearance on home soil. The 23-year-old is retiring from tennis at the end of this season.’Unfortunately I will have to give the tournament in Paris a bye,’ Clijsters said on her Web site. ‘Otherwise I would endanger my participation in Antwerp, and that is something which I want to avoid at all
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Mayer, Garcia-Lopez into quarters From correspondents in Delray Beach, Florida
Former Australian Captain February 01, 2007

Florian Mayer and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez clinched quarter-final spots at the ATP Delray Beach Championship with victory in their round-robin matches today.

Garcia-Lopez, the No.7 seed seed from Spain, defeated Kristian Pless from Denmark 6-3 7-6 (7-5) while Mayer, the No.5 seed from Germany, defeated Andrei Pavel from Romania 6-3 3-6 6-2 to reach the knockout round.

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Roddick, Blake lead US against republic From correspondents in New York
Former Australian Captain February 01, 2007

WORLD No.4 Andy Roddick and No.6 James Blake will lead the US Davis Cup team against Czech Republic next week.

Roddick is coming off a semi-final run at the Australian Open, where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in only 83 minutes, while Blake, who reached the round of 16 at Melbourne, is playing an event in Florida this week.

Bob and
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Clijsters is in her final season before retirement Clijsters said she wants to ensure she is fit to for the Diamond Games in Antwerp - her last event in Belgium before retiring at the end of the year.She told her website: “Unfortunately, I will have to miss the Paris tournament.”Otherwise, I would endanger my participation in Antwerp, and that is something which I want to avoid at all costs,” added the 23-year-old. The 2005 US Open champion said she would use the extra week
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Vina del Mar, Chile - Carlos Berlocq upset second seed and fellow Argentine Gaston Gaudio, 6-2, 6-2, in round-robin play Tuesday at the Movistar Open.Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champion titled at this event in 2005 and was the runner-up in 2001. However, he was no match for Berlocq, the 127th ranked player in the world.Sixth-seeded Argentine Sergio Roitman beat his qualifier, countryman Juan- Pablo Guzman 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, while capable Russian Igor Andreev ousted fourth- seeded Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 on the red clay at
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Hingis into Pan Pacific quarters From correspondents in Tokyo
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

FORMER world No.1 Martina Hingis became the first player to reach the quarter-finals at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament when she outclassed Nicole Pratt today (AEDT).

The Swiss Miss seeking a record fifth Tokyo indoor title, missed two match points leading 5-4 in the second set.

But she hit her fourth ace to convert her third match point, beating the Australian qualifier 6-1 7-5 in a 66 minute contest.

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Whiley is one of Britain’s leading hopes for the future Gordon Reid, David Phillipson, Jordanne Whiley and Louise Hunt will compete against the world’s leading players aged 18 and under.Great Britain has the biggest representation in this year’s event.The competition takes place alongside the Les Petits As tournament for able-bodied players aged 12-14.Reid, 15, who only took up the sport in February 2005, is beginning his second full season on the international circuit.Last
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Stosur wins in Tokyo From correspondents in Tokyo
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

SAM Stosur claimed a place in the last 16 at the Pan Pacific Open today as fellow Australian Nicole Pratt again fell to former world No.1 Martina Hingis.

Stosur defeated Russian world No.21 Vera Zvonareva 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 in Tokyo to set up a second round meeting with China’s Li Na.

It was the second time in three weeks Stosur, the world No.27, has beaten Zvonareva after her recent triumph over the Russian in the first round at the Sydney International.

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Hingis first won the title in 1997 The former world number one, who lost to Elena Dementieva in last year’s final, came through 6-1 7-5.”I beat her 6-0 6-1 in Gold Coast in my first tournament of the year so I was comfortable playing her,” said Hingis.”I’m trying to be more offensive and take the game into my own hands. I know that’s the direction I have to take.”Hingis was broken when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set but took the next two games to set up a a
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Dementieva finds lessons in sumo From correspondents in Tokyo
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

TENNIS players may seem to be the opposite of sumo players in their physique, but Elena Dementieva says that the Japanese wrestlers can also be graceful.

The defending champion and three competitors in the Pan Pacific Open tournament enjoyed their day off Wednesday by watching Japan’s traditional sport at the stable of grand champion Asashoryu.

Dementieva
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Sampras will play in an over-30s series later this year Federer took his total to 10 with his most recent triumph in Australia.”Looks like it’s going to happen,” said Sampras. “I see him passing me in the next couple of years and even taking it to 17 or 18 majors. “I don’t see two or three guys really threatening him. I think he’s just going to get better.”Sampras won seven Wimbledon titles, two Australian Open crowns and five US Open titles, the last of which came in his final match in 2002.
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Blake lost in the fouth round at the Australian Open last week The world number six - who lost to eventual runner-up Fernando Gonzalez in Australia - saw off compatriot Kendrick 6-3 6-2 in under an hour.Third seed Xavier Malisse beat Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-4 7-6.”It was nice to win comfortably against someone I’ve battled in juniors, college and the top level,” said Blake.”I felt in control, but you never want to get too comfortable. “I was at 15-30 a couple times and
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Blake hurtles into next round From correspondents in Delray Beach, Miami
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

TOP seed James Blake breezed through his opening match as No.6 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber made an early exit from the Delray Beach International in Miami today.

World No.6 Blake, bidding for his 10th career title, brushed past fellow American Robert Kendrick 6-3 6-2 in less than an hour.

Blake, who won in Sydney this month before losing to eventual
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Delray Beach, FL - Top seed James Blake was an easy 6-3, 6-2 winner over fellow American Robert Kendrick in a round-robin match Tuesday at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.Blake, ranked sixth in the world, made quick work of the 87th-ranked player on Tuesday. He’ll face another low-ranked countryman Wednesday in No. 390 Scoville Jenkins.In other action involving seeds at Delray Beach Tennis Center, No. 3 Belgian Xavier Malisse beat Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) and veteran Italian Davide Sanguinetti subdued sixth-seeded
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Hingis into quarter-finals From correspondents in Tokyo
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

MARTINA Hingis outclassed Nicole Pratt last night to became the first player to reach the Pan Pacific Open quarter-finals in Tokyo.

The No.2 seed from Switzerland, seeking a record fifth Tokyo indoor title, missed two match points at 5-4 in the second set.

But she hit her fourth ace to convert her third match point, beating the Australian qualifier 6-1 7-5 in 66 minutes.

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Sampras set for seniors debut From correspondents in New York
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

PETE Sampras, who won a record 14 grand slam singles titles, will contest his first Champions Series tennis tournament in May.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion, 35, will play in the Champions Cup in Boston from May 2-6.

Sampras also captured two Australian Open crowns and five US Open titles, including the 2002 championship in the final match of his career.

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Fitzy sees Lleyton as trump By Bruce Matthews
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

CAPTAIN John Fitzgerald is prepared to burden Lleyton Hewitt with singles and doubles roles against Belgium in next week’s first-round David Cup tie.

Fitzgerald will only dodge that difficult call if Hewitt and big-serving left-hander Chris Guccione can propel Australia to a 2-0 lead in the opening singles matches on the indoor clay court at Liege on Friday week.

“That’s certainly an option for us,” Fitzgerald said.

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Hewitt keeps his options open By Bruce Matthews
Former Australian Captain January 31, 2007

LLEYTON Hewitt hasn’t ruled out hiring an overseas coach to help guide him back to the top of international tennis.

Hewitt said it was important a new coach understood his needs, with nationality of secondary concern.

“I’m looking for the best person who suits me,” he said.

“Australia is so far from the rest of the world and I prefer to live in Australia when I’m not playing.”

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Delray Beach, FL - Fourth-seeded German Benjamin Becker and No. 5-seeded German Florian Mayer were among Monday’s round-robin winners at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.Becker topped American Kevin Kim, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; and Mayer mauled Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-1, 6-3 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.A round-robin upset came when American Amer Delic topped sixth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-4.In two other round-robin matches, No. 7 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain defeated Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili,
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Pratt through to last 16 From correspondents in Tokyo
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

AUSTRALIA’S Nicole Pratt has set up another meeting with Swiss star Martina Hingis after winning through to the second round of the Pan Pacific Open today.

Pratt, a qualifier in Tokyo after her first round exit at the Australian Open, beat American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-4.

It earned the world No.65 another shot at Hingis after the Swiss former world No.1 won 6-0 6-1 in the pair’s first ever meeting earlier this month on the Gold Coast.

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Bogdanovic is seeking to climb into the top 100 The 22-year-old British number three was beaten 6-3 7-6 (7-3).The world number 141 conceded six double faults and won just 28% on his second serve as he lost in one hour and 27 minutes.Bogdanovic also failed to qualify for the Australian Open after losing in the first round of qualifying.

Hewitt … believes he can organise himself. Pic: David Crosling Hewitt content to be man alone By By Sam Lienert
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

LLEYTON Hewitt is in no rush to appoint a coach, sayng he is is confident he has enough tennis nous to cope alone.

The former world No.1 is still searching for a new coach, but he prefers not to make a quick decision that he may regret later.

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Hewitt to lead pups in Cup By staff writers
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

LLEYTON Hewitt will spearhead an inexperienced Australia team for the first round of the 2007 Davis Cup against Belgium.

Australia captain John Fitzgerald announced his line-up at Tennis Australia headquarters in Melbourne today, and included Chris Guccione, Peter Luczak and Paul Hanley alongside Hewitt.

The tie will be played in Liege from February 9 to 11.

With Wayne Arthurs unavailable because of a hip injury, Hewitt could well be called upon to play singles and doubles.

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Zagreb, Croatia - Seeing his first action since losing in the second round at the Australian Open two weeks ago, second-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis was among the Day-1 winners at the Zagreb Indoors.The 2006 Aussie Open runner-up Baghdatis handled Frenchman Florent Serra 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) on the carpet here at Dom Sportova.In other action involving seeds, No. 3 Swede Robin Soderling overcame Frenchman Gilles Simon 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) and France’s Marc Gicquel ousted fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-6 (9-7).One other result
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Delray Beach, FL - Fifth-seeded German Florian Mayer was among Monday’s round-robin winners at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.Mayer mauled Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-1, 6-3 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.A round-robin upset came when American Amer Delic topped sixth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-4.In main-draw elimination play, American Sam Querrey drubbed Greek Konstantinos Economidis 6-0, 6-2 and American Scoville Jenkins handled Brit Alex Bogdanovic 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).Additional main-draw elimination
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Vina del Mar, Chile - Former three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten was among Monday’s round-robin losers at the clay-court Movistar Open.Spaniard Oscar Hernandez topped the former top-ranked Kuerten 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3) at Club Naval de Campo Las Salinas. The Brazilian ‘Guga’ captured this event in 2000 and was the runner-up here in 2004.The 30-year-old Kuerten, making his 2007 debut this week, was limited to just one ATP match last year due to ongoing hip problems.In other Day-1 action, fifth-seeded Peruvian Luis Horna handled Italian
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Baghdatis back to winning ways From correspondents in Zagreb, Croatia
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

MARCOS Baghdatis of Cyprus advanced to the second round of the Zagreb Open after beating Florent Serra of France 6-2 7-6 (5) today. Baghdatis, who was upset in the second round of the Australian Open, had to save two set points in the second set at 4-5. He then rallied from 4-1 down in the tie-break.

“I was playing against him and myself,'’ Baghdatis, the No.2 seed said.
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Serena Williams won her third Aussie Open title Williams’ sister Venus is to lead the US in its quarter-final against Belgium in April near their home in Florida.”I’m looking forward to trying to get Venus after her great win in Australia, and hopefully I will,” Garrison said.”She seems very hungry and very eager just to be back on the court, and hopefully the fact that it is in her backyard gives me a lot of edge.”Venus Williams is 13-3 in Fed Cup play (10-2 singles, 3-1
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Aristotle once said:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

If you carefully observe Roger Federer while on and off the court you will realize that everything he does or says is just perfect! It seems unreal, for some people extreme or not “normal”.

Anyone that is acquainted with success understands why. If you want to be the best you can be you have to set the standards bar pretty high and if you want to be better than anyone else on a given field, you have to achieve “excellence” at all times…and as Aristotle once said, not as an act, but rather as a habit.

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White Plains, NY - United States captain Zina Garrison announced on Monday that Venus Williams will play in the Fed Cup quarterfinal against Belgium in April.The Americans and 2006 runner-up Belgians will square off at the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Florida from April 21-22.The former world No. 1 Williams, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, missed the 2007 Australian Open due to a left wrist injury.’Venus is ready to return to competition and we are excited that she is eager to come back to the U.S. Fed Cup team,’ Garrison said.Williams
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Sampras’s Grand Slam haul remains a record Sampras, 35, retired after winning the US Open in 2002, and appeared in the World Team Tennis competition in 2006.”I still love the sport, and I want to see how I feel and play a match I really want to win,” he said.”I will catch up with old competitors, old friends, and see if I still have a few things left in the bag,” added the 14-time Grand Slam singles winner.”The stakes are a little bit higher playing in a tournament and against
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Venus set to play for US From correspondents in New York
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

FORMER world No.1 Venus Williams, a five-time grand slam singles champion who missed the Australian Open with a left wrist injury, was today named in the United States Fed Cup team.

Williams, whose younger sister Serena won the Australian Open title last weekend for her eighth career Slam singles crown, is scheduled to return to WTA competition in two weeks at Antwerp.

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Maria’s over Melbourne woes From correspondents in Tokyo
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

MARIA Sharapova has already put her Australian Open disappointment behind her and is spearheading the Pan Pacific Open this week in Tokyo.

The 19 year old is the top seed and returned to the top of the world rankings yesterday after reaching Saturday’s final at the Australian Open, which she lost 6-1 6-2 to an inspired Serena Williams.

“Losing is never fine, but
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Roger tipped for Roland Garros win By Courtney Walsh
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

ROGER Federer is blessed with a ‘flat line’ heart rate once he is in front in a match and will win the French Open before his career is over, according to the coach of one of his closest rivals.

The claycourt title at Roland Garros in Paris is the only major to elude Federer but Larry Stefanki, the widely respected coach of losing Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez, said yesterday the Swiss star was too good not to win it.

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Federer on for French By Mark Stevens
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

RESPECTED coach Larry Stefanki is convinced Roger Federer will win a French Open. It is just a matter of when.

With the Australian Open already in the bag and Federer certain to be a white-hot favourite for Wimbledon and the US Open, the mystical calendar-year Grand Slam beckons if a breakthrough comes this season at Roland Garros.

“He’ll win the French Open. Whether or not it’s
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Federer’s only getting better By Nikki Tugwell
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

TONY Roche says Australian Open champion Roger Federer is yet to show the world his best tennis and his 10 crowns from his past 15 grand slams is just the tip of the iceberg.

Roche believes the hottest athlete on the planet is within reach of Rod Laver’s calendar-year grand slams of 1962 and 1969 and that history will remember Federer as the greatest.

Roche, who has coached
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Luczak faces Davis Cup wait By Bruce Matthews
Former Australian Captain January 30, 2007

CAPTAIN John Fitzgerald isn’t the only one pondering whether veteran Wayne Arthurs will report for Davis Cup duties next week.

Peter Luczak is patiently waiting in South Africa, eager to join the team in Belgium later this week.

If Arthurs rules himself out, Luczak, who lost in the second round in a Challenger tournament in Durban last week, will be part of the World Group first-round tie in Liege, starting on Friday week.

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