NEWPORT, R.I. — Tim Smyczek defeated top seed Sam Querrey in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships 6-4, 7-6 (8) on Tuesday on Newport’s grass courts. Top-seeded Querrey ousted by Smyczek in Newport ADVERTISING NEWPORT, R.I.
Top-seeded
Querrey ousted by Smyczek in Newport
NEWPORT, R.I. — Tim Smyczek defeated top seed Sam Querrey in the opening round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships 6-4, 7-6 (8) on Tuesday on Newport’s grass courts.
Fourth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, a runner-up in Newport last year, beat fellow Australian Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-1.
Third-seeded Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands beat Italy’s Matteo Viola 6-4, 6-1; Ivo Karlovic of Croatia defeated fifth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-6 (5), 6-4; Canadian Vasek Pospisil beat American Denis Kudla 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; and wild card Prakash Amritraj of India beat Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-3.
Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic won a match of qualifiers, defeating Ante Pavic of Croatia 7-6 (6), 6-3. Eighth-seeded American Rajeev Ram beat Adrien Bossel of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2, and American Jack Sock advanced when No. 6-seeded Marinko Matosevic of Australia retired because of food poisoning after losing the first set 6-2.
France’s Nicolas Mahut beat American Rhyne Williams 6-2, 6-4; No. 7 seed Kenny De Schepper of France defeated American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4; and American Michael Russell outlasted Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Vinci beats
qualifier at Palermo
PALERMO, Sicily — Second-seeded Roberta Vinci struggled past qualifier Giulia Gatto-Monticone 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the first round of the Italiacom Open on Tuesday.
Vinci will next play 2011 runner-up Polona Hercog of Slovenia, who beat Eva Birnerova 6-4, 6-1. Last year’s runner-up Barbora Zahlavova Strycov is also safely through after she defeated Kristyna Pliskova 6-4, 6-4.
Two seeded players were eliminated with sixth seeded Irina-Camelia Begu losing 7-5, 7-5 to Renata Voracova, while Dinah Pfizenmaier beat eighth seeded Karolina Pliskova.
Fourth-seeded Klara Zakopalova is through following a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over 2009 winner Flavia Pennetta, while fifth-seeded Lourdes Dominguez Lino also progressed after opponent Alexandra Dulgheru retired when losing 5-1.
Five-time winner Anabel Medina Garrigues is also through after beating Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Fellow Spaniard Estrella Cabeza Candela cruised past Alice Matteucci of Italy, 6-4, 6-1.
Monfils beats
Mathieu in Stuttgart, to face Mayer
STUTTGART, Germany — Gael Monfils of France defeated compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (0), 6-4 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Mercedes Cup.
Monfils had 16 aces to set up a meeting with sixth-seeded Florian Mayer, who defeated another German, Andreas Beck, by a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Victor Hanescu rallied to beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) in 2 hours, 25 minutes.
The Romanian will next face Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, who defeated seventh-seeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4. It was Rosol’s third consecutive loss.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia rallied to beat Spain’s Daniel Munoz-De La Nava 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4.
Leonardo Mayer of Argentina defeated Spain’s Pablo Andujar 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in 2 hours, 55 minutes.
Safarova, Cornet upset at Hungarian GP
BUDAPEST, Hungary — The Hungarian Grand Prix lost its top two seeded players in the first round on Tuesday, as Lucie Safarova and Alize Cornet bowed out of the tournament.
Russia’s Valeria Solovyeva routed top-seeded Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-0, while fellow Czech Andrea Hlavackova was a 6-4, 6-2 winner against France’s Cornet, who won the event in 2008.
Texas judge allows lawsuit to proceed
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas judge has refused Lance Armstrong’s request to dismiss an insurance company’s lawsuit seeking $3 million in bonuses it paid him from 1999 to 2001, and an attorney for the company said Tuesday he’ll move quickly to question the cyclist under oath.
Nebraska-based Acceptance Insurance Holdings had a contract with Armstrong to pay bonuses for winning the Tour de France and other races. The company sued to recover its money after Armstrong admitted in January that he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour every year from 1999-2005.
Chelios, Niedermayer top 2013 Hockey
Hall class
TORONTO — Defensemen Scott Niedermayer and Chris Chelios, along with forward Brendan Shanahan will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
They’ll be joined in the class of 2013 by Geraldine Heaney, the third woman to be enshrined in the hall, and coach Fred Shero, who led the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup in 1974 and ’75. He was selected posthumously in the builder category.
Chelios and Niedermayer earned hockey’s biggest individual honor in their first year of eligibility.
Shanahan was a teammate of Chelios’ in Detroit, and played with Niedermayer during the Olympics in 2002 when Canada won gold.
Niedermayer won four Stanley Cups in 17 full NHL seasons to go along with a Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy. He played for the New Jersey Devils from 1991-92 through the 2003-04 season and finished his career in Anaheim in 2010.
Chelios played 23 full seasons and parts of three more, taking part in his final NHL game at age 48.
From wire sources
