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Italian Open: Johanna Konta beats Yulina Putintseva in Rome second round

  • Posted: May 16, 2017

Johanna Konta made a strong start at the Italian Open with a straight-set win over Kazakhstan’s Yulina Putintseva in Rome.

The British number one, who turns 26 on Wednesday, won 6-3 6-0 to claim her second clay-court victory of the year.

Konta had a bye in the first round as the fifth seed and will face American Venus Williams or Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in round three.

Fellow Britons Andy Murray and Aljaz Bedene are in action later on Tuesday.

Top seed Murray takes on Italian Fabio Fognini in the evening session at 20:00 BST, after Bedene faces second seed Novak Djokovic at around 15:00.

Konta impressed against Putintseva, breaking the world number 29’s serve four times while remaining steadfast on her own.

The first set was hard work for the Briton but her attacking instincts prevailed with the only break in game five.

A fainting ball boy, who was escorted from the court, was the only significant interruption to the world number six’s progress in the second set as she raced through six straight games.

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Junn Mitsuhashi: Japanese gets life ban for match-fixing offences

  • Posted: May 16, 2017

Japan’s Junn Mitsuhashi has been banned from tennis for life after being found guilty of match-fixing offences.

The 27-year-old, who asked players to underperform at ITF Futures tournaments in South Africa and Nigeria in 2015, was also fined $50,000 (£38,600).

Mitsuhashi placed 76 bets on matches in 2015 and did not co-operate with Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) enquiries into the allegations, which are both offences.

He was world number 295 in 2009 but had fallen to 1,997th by the end of 2015.

In November 2015, he asked Joshua Chetty, who was banned in September 2016 after a separate TIU investigation, to underperform in a tournament in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

He offered $2,000 to underperform in a singles match and $600 in a doubles match.

In December 2015, he approached a different player at the ITF Futures F4 Tournament in Lagos, Nigeria, asking him to fix aspects of a match.

His betting infringements came in October and November 2015.

The ban from all professional tennis applies with immediate effect.

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Maria Sharapova: French Open tournament director Guy Forget expects wildcard controversy

  • Posted: May 16, 2017

The decision on whether to give Maria Sharapova a French Open wildcard will cause controversy when announced, tournament director Guy Forget says.

Sharapova, 30, has played in three events since her 15-month ban for using meldonium ended in April.

A decision on her participation in the Grand Slam, which starts on 28 May, will be released on Facebook at 18:00 BST on Tuesday.

“Some say she shouldn’t get it, others say she served her time,” said Forget.

“As you talk with players, it’s very controversial,” Forget told BBC Sport. “So no matter what happens, there will be a lot of questions around that wildcard.”

Read: Federer misses French Open again

French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli – who has previously said the French Open is “bigger than the players” – will inform Sharapova shortly before the decision is made public.

Forget has discussed the matter with him but says he does not yet know the Federation’s final decision.

“We have had a few exchanges in the last few weeks about it,” added Forget. “We have made a decision on all the other wildcards, for Maria it’s a question mark. None of us know in the organisation so we are waiting.”

Sharapova’s two-year ban from the sport was reduced to 15 months when the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled she was “not an intentional doper” in October.

But her return to action has been questioned by players such as Roberta Vinci and Eugenie Bouchard, who has said that “I don’t think a cheater in any sport should be allowed to play again”.

Sharapova – a two-time French Open champion – reached the semi-final of the Stuttgart Open and last 32 of the Madrid Open, performances which were not good enough to secure a spot in qualifying for Roland Garros.

But in winning in the first round of the Italian Open on Monday, she guaranteed at least a place in Wimbledon qualifying, and she could yet earn a place in the main draw.

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Djokovic Opens Rome Bid; Murray Plays Fognini Tuesday

  • Posted: May 16, 2017

Djokovic Opens Rome Bid; Murray Plays Fognini Tuesday

May152017

Ferrer, Berdych seek milestone wins

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia & vote for who you think will win!
Murray v Fognini | Goffin v Verdasco | Djokovic v Bedene | Zverev v Anderson 

The first round ends and second round begins Tuesday in Rome as Top 2 seeds Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic take to Center Court. Murray, who is 16-6 this season, faces No. 1 Italian Fabio Fognini. The Brit was 17-5 entering Rome last season before winning the title and finishing 2016 on a 61-4 run. Djokovic, a four-time champion, opens against Budapest finalist Aljaz Bedene. 

David Ferrer and No. 12 seed Tomas Berdych are hoping to post milestone victories against Feliciano Lopez and Carlos Berlocq respectively. Ferrer, who defeated World No. 1 Andre Agassi in his Rome debut 14 years ago, is one win from 700 career victories. Berdych could break a tie with his coach Goran Ivanisevic by beating Berlocq on Court 1 for his 600th career win.

The newly named Next Gen Arena hosts Emirates ATP Race to Milan leader Alexander Zverev against qualifier Kevin Anderson. No. 18 Nick Kyrgios and No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut, the highest-ranked unseeded players in the field, face one another in a first-round match on Pietrangeli. Originally scheduled to meet 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic in the oldest ATP match since 1982, 39-year-old Tommy Haas instead meets 20-year-old lucky loser Ernesto Escobedo on Court 1.

View Tuesday schedule

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Federer To Miss Roland Garros

  • Posted: May 16, 2017

Federer To Miss Roland Garros

May152017

Swiss star will return in Stuttgart

Roger Federer will return to the ATP World Tour on the grass. The 35-year-old Swiss announced on Monday that he will not play at Roland Garros, as he had initially planned. Federer made the decision with the next few years in mind.

“Regrettably, I’ve decided not to participate in the French Open. I’ve been working really hard, both on and off the court, during the last month, but in order to try and play on the ATP World Tour for many years to come, I feel it’s best to skip the clay-court season this year and prepare for the grass and hard-court seasons,” Federer said in a statement on his website.

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The right-hander has had one of his best starts to a season. He’s currently 19-1 and has won three of the four tournaments he’s played, including the Australian Open, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau. His “Big Title” count has climbed to 50. Federer’s only defeat came against Russian Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai.

Roland Garros had been the only clay-court event Federer had planned to play. “The start to the year has been magical for me but I need to recognise that scheduling will be the key to my longevity moving forward,” he said. “Thus, my team and I concluded today that playing just one event on clay was not in the best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season. I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year.”

Federer also missed Roland Garros last year when he was recovering from knee surgery. He plans to return in June at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, where he will be going for his first title.

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Roger Federer: Swiss 18-time Grand Slam winner to miss French Open

  • Posted: May 15, 2017

Eighteen-time major winner Roger Federer will sit out the French Open and the rest of the clay-court season.

The 35-year-old, fifth in the world rankings, says he made the decision in an attempt to continue playing on the ATP Tour “for many years to come”.

The Swiss added he will now prepare for the grass and hard-court seasons, which begin in June.

“I need to recognise that scheduling will be the key to my longevity,” he said.

“Thus, my team and I concluded that playing just one event on clay was not in the best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season.

“I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year.”

Federer missed last year’s French Open through injury – the first time he did not compete in Paris since his debut in 1999.

He won the tournament for the only time in 2009 and is a four-time runner-up.

Federer has won three titles so far this season, including the Australian Open – his first Grand Slam success in five years.

He also claimed the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March and, two weeks later, won the Miami Open.

The French Open begins on 28 May.

‘It is a matter of priority’

Former Olympic champion Marc Rosset backed his compatriot, saying it was a matter of Federer prioritising tournaments he can win.

“The chances of him winning on clay at the French Open were quite low,” Rosset told the BBC’s World Service.

“Roger is the kind of guy who goes to a tournament to win. If he doesn’t feel he is capable of winning the tournament, I don’t see any sense in him attending.

“I don’t think it is a matter of age, it is one of priority. He is going to play the two tournaments on grass before Wimbledon.”

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

Federer was in such devastating form in the first three months of the year that an eighth Wimbledon title seems very much within his grasp. Trying to win a clay-court Grand Slam at the age of nearly 36 without playing any other tournament to prepare would surely have been beyond even him, and I say that with memories of Australia still very vivid.

Federer is talking like a man who would still love to be competing at 40, and to do so the clay-court season may need to become a permanent casualty.

I suspect he will want to play Roland Garros at least once more before he is done, and he says he looks forward to returning next year.

But he did say exactly the same thing 12 months ago when making a very late withdrawal because of concerns about his back.

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