Hewitt makes most of Swedish wildcard

Updated October 17, 2012 12:08:15

Lleyton Hewitt made the most of a wildcard at the Swedish Open, defeating towering world number 38 Kevin Anderson in three sets.

Hewitt cut down the South African 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in Stockholm in a victory that could return the battling Aussie to the top 100.

Hewitt, currently ranked 102, will face fellow tour veteran Jarkko Nieminen in the second round.

The 31-year-old has never lost to the Fin.

Local hope Patrik Rosenholm caused the biggest upset of the opening rounds with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Meanwhile, Matthew Ebden has earned the second Australian victory at the ATP Austrian Open in as many days, beating Italy's Filippo Volandri 7-5, 0-6, 6-0.

Ebden joins fellow Aussie Marinko Matosevic who defeated Dutch sixth seed Robin Haase 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Argentina's Juan Del Potro will play German Daniel Brands, who won a battle of qualifiers over Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3.

Earlier, two minor seeds exited the tournament at the first hurdle, with Italian Paolo Lorenzi knocking out seventh seed Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-4 despite 11 aces from the Frenchman.

Paire, who reached his first final in Belgrade last May, dropped into negative territory for the season, standing 23-24.

Number 70 Slovenian Grega Zemlja worked for two and a half hours to get past eighth seed Xavier Malisse, defeating the veteran Belgian 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).

ABC/AFP

Tags: tennis, sport, australia, austria

First posted October 17, 2012 10:57:39

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Wildcard Haas beats Federer in Halle final

Updated June 18, 2012 08:58:00

Germany's Tommy Haas defeated second seed Roger Federer 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to win the Halle grass court tournament on Monday morning (AEST) and become the ATP's second oldest champion.

Playing in front of his home fans, the 34-year-old wildcard added to his triumph at the same venue three years ago to take his 13th ATP title.

Swiss great Federer, the second seed, was seeking a sixth win at this Wimbledon warm-up event having booked his seventh final ticket with a straight sets semi-final win over unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Haas, a former world number two, secured his place in the climax with a defeat of compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber.

After claiming the title Haas said: "This has been one of the best weeks of my career, but I reckon I won't really appreciate what's happened until this evening.

"If someone had said to me beforehand that I was going to beat Roger Federer, probably the best player of all time, I would have thought they were mad.

"It's a special moment knowing that four months ago I didn't know if I would be able to play at this level again. It's a life lesson," said the injury-plagued Haas, who only recently returned to the tour after a 14-month absence.

In that time, he underwent hip and right shoulder surgery which sent his ranking plummeting to 200.

He came into Halle at 87 in the world with Monday's victory expected to move him back into the world top 50.

France's Fabrice Santoro remains the oldest champion, winning the 2008 Newport tournament when he was 35.

"This would normally be the perfect time to retire, but I am not ready. I hope to play on for a long time," added the German, who went through qualifying at the French Open last month before going onto to reach the third round.

He has also been awarded a wildcard into Wimbledon.

Federer was magnanimous in defeat, saying: "Tommy has performed well throughout, I'm thrilled for him."

Federer, the record 16-time Grand Slam title winner, said he will head to Wimbledon "probably on Thursday".

"It would be great to win there for a seventh time," he said.

Monday's victory was Haas's third career win over Federer after beating his better-fancied rival at Halle in the semi-finals in 2005 and 2006, against 10 defeats, the last in the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2009.

Federer broke to lead 3-1 in the opening set but proceeded to lose three successive games to find himself trailing 4-3.

Haas went on to clinch the set on a winning serve in 50 minutes.

In the second set, Haas broke to lead 5-4 and serve for the match, winning when Federer put a return long.

AFP

Tags: sport, tennis, germany

First posted June 18, 2012 08:58:00

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Barty gets Wimbledon wildcard

Updated June 18, 2012 21:32:15

Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty has been handed a Wimbledon women's singles main draw wildcard after winning the $50,000 grass court warm-up event in Nottingham over the weekend.

The 16-year-old Queenslander beat Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-1 in the final in the East Midlands event on Sunday, albeit after the German world number 149 had been forced to play her semi-final earlier in the day.

Barty had already been awarded a place in qualifying at the All England Club after winning the girls' junior title at Wimbledon last year.

She made her senior grand slam debut at the Australian Open earlier this year and also received a wildcard for the French Open but lost in the first round on both occasions.

Bernard Tomic meanwhile will look to boost his Wimbledon ranking when he faces either Fabio Fagnini or Albert Ranos on Tuesday in Eastbourne.

Last year's quarter-finalist, ranked 27th in the world, received a first-round bye and holds a slim hope of receiving a top-24 Wimbledon seeding which would mean he would not face a top-eight seed until the fourth round.

Reuters/ABC

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, qld, england

First posted June 18, 2012 14:49:41

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Local wildcard upsets Mahut

Updated January 01, 2012 20:08:48

New South Wales teenager James Duckworth produced an ATP debut to remember with a first round upset of Frenchman Nicholas Mahut at the Brisbane International.

Unlike fellow Australian teen Bernard Tomic, who failed to cash in on all three wildcards to his home tournament, the 19-year-old made the most of his "last minute" entry by showing the composure of a veteran to triumph 6-4, 6-4 in 71 minutes.

It was a victory vigorously applauded by fans used to seeing locals bundled out early in Brisbane and he became just the third Australian male behind Matt Ebden and Carsten Ball to taste first-round success.

While world number 42 Tomic is seeded eighth this week and is the nation's great men's tennis hope, Duckworth has career earnings totalling just $31,000 and had to overcome a lingering knee problem by training for the past 10 months solely on clay.

In that time he slashed his world ranking from 742 to 275 on the secondary challenger circuit and capped 2011 by making the final of the Australian Open wildcard play-offs before losing to Marinko Matosevic.

But Duckworth has no qualms with living in the shadow of Tomic, who will also meets a Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, in the first round on Monday.

"I guess he's kind of kicked on a bit earlier than a few of us, but it's something to work towards," Duckworth said.

"He's a great player, and a lot of us are working hard each day to get to where he is."

A nervous Duckworth certainly had to work hard when he found himself "down 3-0 in 10 seconds" against Mahut.

He overwhelmed the Frenchman in all facets and also kept his cool when broken midway through the second set.

Knowing full well Mahut, a former top 40 player, played in the record 11-hour, five-setter against John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010, Duckworth was overjoyed to shut him out quickly.

"I watched it for three days or however long it went - I was just on the couch for a while," he said.

"I was hoping it probably wasn't going to be 70-68 in the third, luckily there's tiebreakers here.

"He's a great player and I'm really thrilled to get a win over him."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian third seed Ukranian Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated Alejandro Falla of Colombia 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 to progress to the second round.

The 21-year-old Dolgopolov enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2011, beginning by reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and finishing ranked 15th in the world.

AAP

Tags: sport, tennis, brisbane-4000, qld, australia

First posted January 01, 2012 16:53:10

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Mitchell gets Australian Open wildcard

Updated December 20, 2011 18:39:23

Last year's Wimbledon junior finalist Ben Mitchell has been given a wildcard into the Australian Open.

The 19-year-old Open playoff finalist from the Gold Coast has been a stand-out player on the Australian Pro-Tour this year, reaching seven finals, winning three, and has also claimed an event in Spain and was runner-up in a UK tournament.

"You pretty much play your whole career to compete in grand slams, so it's a dream come true to play at the Australian Open," said Mitchell.

World number 227 Mitchell, along with fellow AIS Pro Tour program member and Australian Open wildcard recipient James Duckworth, is spending time in Brisbane this week hitting with Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter.

"It's been great to work with Pat. He's a really good guy and the work were doing on court this week will really help my game," Mitchell said.

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted December 20, 2011 18:39:23

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Teen Barty into Aussie Open wildcard final

Updated December 10, 2011 15:34:26

Room-mates Ashleigh Barty and Olivia Rogowska will meet for a place in the main draw of next month's Australian Open.

Barty, the Wimbledon junior champion, defeated sixth-seeded local Arina Rodinova 7-5, 6-3 while Rogowska beat West Australian Bojana Bobusic 6-4, 7-5.

Rogowska described the 15-year-old Barty as a dangerous proposition who is able to play freely with no expectations.

"Obviously, she's playing really good tennis, she's going out there with nothing to lose and that's always the most lethal kind of player," Rogowska said.

"I'm going to go out there and try to forget who I'm playing, just focus on myself and my game plan.

"We're both in the AIS, so we do hit with each other a few times whenever she's in Melbourne.

"She's a very solid competitor and I'm going to have to play some top tennis to beat her. It should be interesting."

Rogowska said she had been improving with each match and played well on the key points in windy conditions.

"The play-offs are tough because your friends are watching. But it's my third time in the final, so I play well here," she said.

Barty was a wildcard entry into the tournament itself and said she was "just pleased to win a few matches."

She said while she got on well with all the players in the tournament, she kept tennis talk away from her school friends in Queensland.

"We have a pretty odd group at school so I think we just talk a lot of crap," she said.

Victorian Marinko Matosevic will face Sydney's James Duckworth for an Australian Open wildcard spot on Sunday and is already looking forward to "the real deal".

Matosevic won the wildcard tournament last year but was ousted in the first round of the Open and is out to make amends.

Matosevic, the second seed, dropped the first set before beating Queenslander Michael Look 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 while Duckworth knocked out top seed Greg Jones from Sydney 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Matosevic said the match was not "the toughest" but found it hard to gather rhythm in the windy conditions during the opening set.

"I would like to have this confidence in January when the real deal is on but it's a great preparation, especially for me because I haven't played since the Shanghai Masters (In October)," he said.

"I practised with James (Duckworth) just before this got underway and I know him pretty well.

"He's had a really good breakthrough year and I'm looking forward to it tomorrow."

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted December 10, 2011 13:23:02

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Guccione out of Open wildcard event

Updated December 07, 2011 17:29:25

Tennis unknown John-Patrick Smith has pulled off one of the best wins of his brief career by beating Davis Cup player Chris Guccione in the first round of the Australian Open wildcard tournament.

Six months ago Smith did not have any sort of tennis ranking but six months from now, according to Davis Cup team manager Todd Woodbridge, Smith could be inside the world top 200.

Guccione, the fourth seed, went down to the Queensland US college graduate in straight sets, losing 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).

In the battle of the left-handers, Smith, 22, was able to quickly bring the towering Guccione's big serve under control and seized an early break.

He played steadily while the Victorian was plagued by unforced errors.

"I played well and served well and made sure I made a lot of returns, that was one of my goals, and I made him play a lot of balls," Smith said.

"He missed a few of his first serves early and I was able to get control of his second serve, which was a bit of a surprise."

Smith said he would not work out a schedule for 2012 until the end of this week but he said his ranking already was around number 440.

Woodbridge said Smith was one of the younger players Tennis Australia would be watching closely.

"He was unranked coming out of college but his ranking is moving very quickly and I wouldn't be surprised if in the next six months he wasn't in the top 200," Woodbridge said.

Earlier top seed New South Welshman Greg Jones eased into the second round with a straightforward 6-2, 6-3 victory over Queenslander Gavin Van Peperzeel.

And women's top seed Casey Dellacqua bounced back after her shock loss on the first day to beat Emelyn Starr, the eighth seed from New South Wales, 6-1, 6-1.

Dellacqua was the subject of a major upset in the first of her round-robin matches when she fell to 15-year-old Wimbledon junior champion Ashleigh Barty from Queensland.

Barty continued her march towards the semi-finals when she collected her second straight win, defeating New South Wales hopeful Stephanie Bengson 6-2, 6-4.

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted December 07, 2011 17:29:25

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Hewitt given wildcard for Australian Open

Updated December 01, 2011 12:14:38

Lleyton Hewitt has been given a wildcard into next month's Australian Open.

Despite Hewitt's world ranking sagging to number 188, tournament director Craig Tiley said on Thursday handing former world number one Hewitt a wildcard was the easiest decision he has had to make.

Two-time grand slam champion Hewitt was an Australian Open runner-up in 2005 when beaten by Russian Marat Safin in the final.

However his recent seasons have been dogged by injury, causing his world ranking to slide well outside that needed for automatic entry to the year's opening grand slam.

"Lleyton has had some bad luck with injury recently, which has seen his ranking drop, but he has proved time and time again he can never be discounted, particularly in a big match," said Tiley.

"We look forward to welcoming him to the Australian Open in January," Tiley continued.

The decision means Hewitt does not need to contest next week's Australian Open play-off tournament in Melbourne where wildcard entries will go to the winning man and woman.

Casey Dellacqua will start a hot favourite to secure the women's wildcard after winning six satellite tournament titles around Australia recently.

AAP

Tags: tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted December 01, 2011 12:14:38

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