British number one Andy Murray is expected to play against Austria
The winners of the play-off, from 19-21 September, will earn the right to stay in the World Group for 2009.
Great Britain face a play-off after losing 4-1 to Argentina in February in the first round of the world group, while Austria lost 4-1 to the US.
“I firmly believe playing on grass will give us the best opportunity to win the tie,” said GB captain John Lloyd.
He added he was
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Murray and Nadal will be meeting for the third time
The Scot will face the world’s best clay-courter at around 1700 BST, and goes into the match with a 0-2 record in head-to-head meetings.
Nadal, 21, has already won clay titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona this year.
“It’ll be a good experience for me, he’s obviously playing unbelievable on clay,” said Murray.
Murray goes into the match having enjoyed a confidence boost with wins over Dimitry Tursunov and Gilles Simon this week.
Henin’s fighting qualities made up for her lack of size
Henin won 41 singles titles, including seven Grand Slams, before calling time on her glittering career at the age of just 25 on Wednesday.
“Pound-for-pound, Justine was the best player of her generation,” said King.
Serena Williams, one of Henin’s main rivals, added: “She was a great champion and gave me so much trouble.”
Serena’s sister Venus praised Henin’s character and refusal to accept
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Easy for Fed, not so for Nadal 
From Ryland James in Hamburg, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 15, 2008
ROGER Federer and Novak Djokovic both cruised into the third round of the Hamburg Masters Series but it was a struggle for clay-court king Rafael Nadal.
Nadal, No.2 in the world, needed more than two hours to make the last sixteen before he claimed a 6-4 7-6 (8-6) win over Italy’s Potito Starace.
Having made an early exit in Rome last week, again Nadal did not have things his own way and had to save a set point in the second set before winning the tiebreak.
Hamburg - The world’s leading duo of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal rebounded from recent disappointment in Rome with wins - in contrasting style - in the second round of the Hamburg Masters on Wednesday.
Switzerland’s Federer took just 57 minutes to demolish Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, 6-1, 6-3. Spaniard Nadal needed to overcome more opposition before outlasting Potito Starace of Italy, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), in 2:07 hours after saving a set point in the tiebreak. Like all eight top seeds Federer and Nadal had first-round byes in
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Ivanovic looked out of sorts from the start
Ivanovic, who became top seed when Justine Henin pulled out, was never comfortable on the clay and committed 59 unforced errors to Pironkova’s 26.The Serb twice surrendered a break advantage in the second set.”I really struggled with my intensity today, and that obviously caused a lot of errors,” she said.Last week Ivanovic lost to Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of the German Open, but Pironkova, who beat Venus
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Rivals pay tribute to Henin 
From Barnaby Chesterman in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 15, 2008
THE world’s top women tennis players paid tribute to, and expressed support for, Justine Henin after her shock retirement announcement.
Most of the rest of the top 10 are playing in Rome in their last warm-up tournament before the French Open begins later this month.
Henin’s retirement came just a year after her Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters also quit the game while still at the top.
Hamburg - The signs were there in the past days but Justine Henin’s retirement on Wednesday still marks a surprise and blow for women’s tennis in general and the game in Belgium in particular. 
World Tennis number one player Belgian Justine Henin and her longtime coach Carlos Rodriguez (R) at the end of her news conference where she announced her retirement with immediate effect at Limelette in Brussels, Belgium on 14 May 2008. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLETNamed the women’s version
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Brussels - Women’s world number one Justine Henin Wednesday announced her retirement from tennis with immediate effect. 
Justine Henin of Belgium reaches for a forehand return to Venus Williams of the US during their semifinal match on the twelfth day of the 2007 US Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 07 September 2007. Henin, winner of 7 grand slam titles, announced her immediate retirement 14 May 2008. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLOThe 25-year-old told at a
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By Caroline Cheese 
It is for that reason that Wednesday’s announcement comes as a considerable shock.
True, she has had a pretty average season so far, winning only two titles and suffering heavy defeats to rivals Maria Sharapova (6-4 6-0, Australian Open) and Serena Williams (6-2 6-0, Miami).
Pironkova stuns Ivanovic 
From Barnaby Chesterman in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 15, 2008
BULGARIAN qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova stunned No.1 seed Ana Ivanovic in the Rome second round, beating the Serbian 6-4 5-7 6-2.
World No.3 Ivanovic struggled throughout with her fellow 20-year-old’s deep and powerful hitting.
The Serbian never looked comfortable on the clay surface against her 64th-ranked opponent, whom she had struggled to beat in three sets in their only previous meeting, five years ago on the clay in Bucharest.
Safin finding best form 
Former Australian Captain May 14, 2008
FORMER world No.1 Marat Safin continued his comeback with a straight-sets win over ninth-seed Tomas Berdych in the second round of the Hamburg Masters Series. Safin has plummeted down the rankings to 89th after suffering a series of injuries and had to qualify for the main draw, but he hit four aces on his way to knocking out Berdych, 11th in the world, 7-5, 6-4 in 90 minutes.
The 28-year-old Russian was runner-up in Hamburg in 2000 and 2002.
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Henin would be favourite heading into this month’s French Open
The Belgian Tennis Federation said she would discuss her career and future at a news conference on Wednesday. Henin, 25, wrote on her website last week that she had been training without any problems and was injury free. The winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles recently talked at length about plans for her retirement, but would not specify when she planned to quit.
Retirement rumours … Justine Henin. AFP Henin set to retire: reports 
By staff writers
Former Australian Captain May 14, 2008
WORLD No. 1 Justine Henin is reportedly quitting professional tennis, according to a Belgian newspaper.
The 25-year-old Henin, the top-ranked player in the world, will make the announcement some time tonight, Het Nieuwsblad reported.
“For a while now the Belgium’s
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Stosur receives French Open wildcard 
Former Australian Captain May 14, 2008
SAM Stosur’s strong fightback after an injury-enforced lay-off from the tennis tour has been rewarded with a wildcard entry into this month’s French Open.
Tennis Australia’s Craig Tiley described the decision to give Stosur one of the two French Open wildcards granted to Australians in a reciprocal deal as “one of the easiest wildcard choices we’ve had to make”.
The men’s wildcard
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Murray beat Tursunov in round one, while Simon beat Malisse
The British 15th seed, who turns 21 on Thursday, faces the Frenchman, 35th in the world rankings, on Wednesday.Simon, 23, won their only previous match, also on clay, beating Murray 6-1 1-6 6-3 in a rain-interrupted contest at last year’s Rome Masters.The winner will face Nadal - if Spain’s world number two sees off the challenge of Italian Potito Starace.Wednesday’s second-round matches also see
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Gasquet’s poor run continues 
From correspondents in Hamburg, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 14, 2008
OUT-of-form French No.1 Richard Gasquet admits Roland Garros may come too soon for him after he was the biggest casualty of the Hamburg Masters Series.
Having been runner-up in Hamburg in 2005, Gasquet’s poor run this year continued as the world No.9 made a second round exit at the hands of Italy’s Andreas Seppi and went down 6-3 6-2 in just 71 minutes.
The Frenchman, seeded No.8, became the only seed to fall during the day.
Rain washes out play in Rome 
From correspondents in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 14, 2008
ONLY four matches were completed before torrential downpours suspended play at the Rome International.
Courts became flooded but light rain never abated and at just after 9pm tournament organisers decided to call off the day’s play and resume at 11am the next day.
Austrian Sybille Bammer was the highest ranked player to finish a game but she was easily dismissed by Victoria Azarenka from Belarus 6-1 6-3.
Injury cloud … Lleyton Hewitt may miss Wimbledon. AFP Injury threatens Hewitt’s season 
By Darren Walton
Former Australian Captain May 13, 2008
LLEYTON Hewitt is facing the biggest crisis of his decorated career after learning he could miss the French Open and Wimbledon with a nagging hip injury. Already poised to slump to his lowest ranking since cracking the top 20 as a teenager back in
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Nadal blasts Spanish federation 
From correspondents in Madrid, Spain
Former Australian Captain May 13, 2008
RAFAEL Nadal warned the decision of the Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) to host their Davis Cup semi-final against the United States in Madrid could backfire.
Nadal and the rest of the Spanish players, furious that their wish to play the tie at sea level was ignored, signed a letter saying they would refuse to appear at promotional events for the RFET while Pedro Munoz remained president.
Sharapova wins photo shoot compromise 
From correspondents in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 13, 2008
WORLD No.2 Maria Sharapova said that she had struck a deal with the WTA over a publicity photo shoot she had claimed she was being forced into on the eve of the Italian Open.
“The timing of the shoot got reduced to about 90 minutes and I did that yesterday,” Russia’s Australian Open champion told a news conference on the first day of the Rome tournament.
Hamburg - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made history for himself and Andy Murray shook off the ghosts of the past as both seeds posted first-round wins at the Hamburg Masters on Monday.
Tsonga, seeded 14th, got his first career victory on clay at the top ATP level of tennis when he rallied to beat fellow-Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, in 1 hour 54 minutes. The 15 seeded Scot Murray returned to the site where he badly injured his wrist year in the first round on his 20th birthday, ousting Russian Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4, 6-1.
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Seeds untroubled in first round 
From correspondents in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 13, 2008
VERA Zvonareva, Agnes Szavay and Francesca Schiavone faced few problems on the first day of the WTA Rome International with all three seeds coasting into the second round.
Russian Zvonareva, the No.10 seed, was the first one through with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama.
No.11 seed Szavay had an even easier time of it against another Asian player as she thrashed China’s Zi Yan 6-1 6-1.
Tsonga in huge comeback win 
From correspondents in Hamburg, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 13, 2008
AUSTRALIAN Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from a first set white-wash to beat French compatriot Nicolas Mahut in the first round of the Hamburg Masters Series.
And Britain’s No.1 Andy Murray also moved into the second round with a comfortable 6-4 6-1 victory over Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov.
Tsonga got off to a rusty start, winning just 12 of 40 points in the first set, but bounced back to record a 0-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 win after one hour and 55 minutes.
Sharapova is playing in Rome for the first time
The Russian said she was threatened with a £153,000 fine unless she took part in a “four-hour commercial shoot” before the tournament.
Sharapova agreed to take part after the shoot was reduced to 90 minutes.
But she added: “The timing was still pretty difficult since it’s before a very big event for all of us.”
Djokovic (right) is the form player of the season so far
The Spaniard lost valuable points when his defence of the Rome Masters title ended in the second round, while Djokovic went on to lift the trophy.”The logical thing is that he goes past me here in Hamburg, or at Roland Garros or Wimbledon,” said the 21-year-old.Nadal was hampered by blisters in Rome but he said: “I’ve had a few days off, and I’m much better.”Earlier in the season, Nadal had an outside
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Keothavong earned $55,000 for winning in Jounieh
The British number one from London beat top seed Lourdes Dominguez-Lino 6-4 6-1 to claim the biggest title of her career - her first on clay.Keothavong’s victory has moved her up to 104th in the world rankings.The last British woman to reach SW19 without receiving a wildcard or going through qualifying was Sam Smith.Keothavong revealed she had almost pulled out of the tournament after fighting broke out
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Djokovic has a winning 8-1 record on clay this season
With a fortnight to go until Paris, Djokovic was keen to net a third title of the year but struggled to cope with Wawrinka’s backhand early in the match.However, as the rallies grew longer, unforced errors crept into Wawrinka’s game and Djokovic slowly took control.And the Serb broke three times to seal a victory in the decisive third set.Wawrinka’s cause was not helped when he called the trainer on
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Roddick withdraws from Hamburg 
From correspondents in Hamburg, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 12, 2008
ANDY Roddick has withdrawn from the ATP Tour Masters Series Hamburg tournament with the back pains that saw him withdraw from the semi-finals in Rome.
“After his back spasms, Andy decided not to take part in the Hamburg tournament,” a statement on Roddick’s website said.
Roddick was forced out of his Rome semi-final against Stanislas Wawrinka after just three games.
Silverware … Djokovic lifts his latest trophy. Associated Press Djokovic conducts master class 
From correspondents in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 12, 2008
NOVAK Djokovic pounced on a series of unforced errors from Stanislas Wawrinka to win the ATP Tour Masters Series Rome final.
Djokovic claimed a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win over his Swiss opponent, who ended the most remarkable week
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Safina wins German Open 
From Ryland James in Berlin, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 12, 2008
DINARA Safina has battled back from a set down to beat Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian final at the WTA Tour German Open in Berlin.
Safina, 22, won 3-6 6-2 6-2 win in front of 5800 spectators to stretch to three matches her unbeaten record against Dementieva on clay.
With her brother Marat Safin also winning his qualifier at the Hamburg Masters Series, it was a good day for the family.
Safina came back from a set down to claim the title
The Russian, seeded thirteenth, edged out her seventh seeded compatriot 3-6 6-2 6-2.Safina, who beat world number one Justine Henin and Serena Williams en route to the final, was erratic in the first set.However the 22-year-old came back strongly in the second and broke twice in the decider.She sealed the win when Dementieva netted a backhand on the first match point.Dementieva had beaten world number
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Mauresmo out of Rome Masters 
From correspondents in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 11, 2008
AMELIE Mauresmo has withdrawn from the WTA Tour Italian Open with a rib injury.
Mauresmo, the former world No.1 who won the trophy in 2004 and 2005 after losing in two previous finals, was advised by doctors not to risk a small muscle tear in her ribs.
The Frenchwoman, 29, apparently suffered the problem a few weeks ago, due to heavy coughing spells which stemmed from an illness.
Murray was out for three months after Hamburg in 2007
The 20-year-old British number one missed both the French Open and Wimbledon after picking up a wrist injury in Hamburg 12 months ago.
Murray has won his three previous matches with world number 31 Tursunov.
Victory would see the Scot meet Gilles Simon or Xavier Malisse, with Rafael Nadal possibly waiting in round three.
Dementieva crushes Ivanovic 
From correspondents in Berlin
Former Australian Captain May 11, 2008
DEFENDING champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia crashed out of the German Open at the semi-final stage after a straight sets defeat to Elena Dementieva.
Dementieva, whom Ivanovic has never beaten in their four contests, now faces giant-killing compatriot Dinara Safina in an all-Russia final.
After losing the first set 6-2, Ivanovic had few answers to Dementieva’s impressive
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Novak Djokovic (right) consoles Stepanek after his retirement in Rome
Radek Stepanek pulled out from his semi-final with the world number three 24 hours after Nicolas Almagro retired against the Serb in the last eight. Andy Roddick also had to quit early in the other semi-final against Stanislas Wawrinka with a back injury.Djokovic said: “The players are not getting injured for nothing.”A tournament which has been dogged by injuries also saw Almagro awarded
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Dinara continues slayer’s ride 
From Ryland James in Berlin, Germany
Former Australian Captain May 11, 2008
HAVING claimed the scalps of Justine Henin and Serena Williams en route, Dinara Safina booked her place in the WTA Tour German Open final with a straight-sets win over teenager Victoria Azarenka.
Safina’s week continued to go from strength to strength as she claimed a 6-4 6-1 win over 18-year-old Azarenka from Belarus, who struggled with injury in the second set.
Roddick was doubled up in pain after suffering his back strain
Unseeded Swiss Wawrinka was leading 3-0 when Roddick pulled up awkwardly after his opponent struck a forehand winner.The American, 25, received courtside treatment but was unable to continue, handing his opponent an easy passage into his second final of the year.Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic plays Roger Federer’s conqueror Radek Stepanek in the other semi-final. 
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Safina has hit a superb vein of form in Berlin
Safina beat Justine Henin in round three before ending Serena Williams’s 17-match winning streak in the event. And the Russian saw off Azarenka of Belarus 6-4 6-1 to reach the final.Elena Dementieva takes on Ana Ivanovic in the second semi, Ivanovic earlier wrapping up victory in her delayed match against Agnes Szavay. 
606: DEBATE Who
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Novak, Wawrinka in Rome final 
From correspondents in Rome, Italy
Former Australian Captain May 11, 2008
STANISLAS Wawrinka has progressed to the ATP Tour Masters Series Rome final, with No.6 seed Andy Roddick lasting only three games of their semi-final.
The American injured his serving shoulder early and could not serve, allowing the unseeded Swiss player a saloon passage to the first Masters Series final of his career a day after reaching his first Masters semi-final.
