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SPORTS A19
Tuesday 5 January 2016
Serena Williams skips Hopman Cup opener with knee injury
PERTH, Australia (AP) — Ser- ful to be back and do what Angelique Kerber of Germany plays a shot in her first round match against Camila Giorgi of Italy
ena Williams withdrew from I love.” during the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.
her opening match at the Later Monday, Britain beat
Hopman Cup on Monday France 2-1 with Andy Mur- (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
because of inflammation ray winning his singles
in her left knee, an early match and teaming up with local favorite Sam Sto- rani 6-1, 6-2, and Vinci, Germany retired from their
setback in her preparations with Heather Watson to sur, the former U.S. Open who overcame former No. first-round match because
for an Australian Open title win the doubles. champion who recovered 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic of a stomach ailment.
defense. Murray beat Kenny De from early service breaks in 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Sloane Ste-
The top-ranked Williams Schepper 6-2, 6-2 but Car- each set to beat Slovakian At the ASB Classic in Auck- phens of the United States
practiced ahead of her oline Garcia evened the qualifier Jana Cepelova land, New Zealand, fourth- beat Polona Hercog of Slo-
scheduled season-opener score by defeating Wat- 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. seeded Svetlana Kuznetso- vakia 6-3, 6-3 and Irina Fal-
against Elina Svitolina of son 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Murray Also advancing in Brisbane va progressed to the sec- coni ousted No. 6-seeded
Ukraine in the international and Watson then beat the were with No. 7 Belinda ond round, leading 6-2, Coco Vandeweghe 5-7,
mixed-team competition French duo 6-2, 5-7, 10-6 in Bencic, who beat Sara Er- 1-1 when Mona Barthel of 6-4, 6-3.q
at Perth Arena, but with- the deciding match.
drew from the match and At the Brisbane Interna-
was replaced by Vicky Du- tional, 2015 finalist Grigor
val. Dimitrov needed six match
Duval lost 6-4, 6-1 to Svitoli- points before beating fifth-
na and Alexandr Dolgopo- seeded Gilles Simon 6-3,
lov beat Jack Sock 6-4, 6-2 7-6 (10) to move into the
to clinch the best-of-three second round.
Group A match for Ukraine Two-time Australian Open
before the U.S. pair won champion Victoria Aza-
the mixed doubles 6-2, 6-3. renka returned from a
Williams said she expected layoff with foot and leg
to be able to join Sock in injuries with a 6-2, 6-0 win
the U.S. team to play the over Russian qualifier Elena
Australia Gold team on Vesnina in her first compet-
Tuesday. itive match since Septem-
Hopman Cup tournament ber, setting up a second-
director Paul Kilderry said round match against No.
Williams reported feeling 2-ranked Simona Halep.
pain in her knee on Sun- In other women’s singles,
day. “She wanted to give No. 6-seeded Carla Su-
herself every chance to arez Navarro advanced
play, she warmed up this to a second-round match
morning but common
sense prevailed and she Nadal fed up of talking about subpar 2015 season
just thought today she
can’t do it,” Kilderry said. Spain’s Rafael Nadal partnered by Fernando Verdasco of Spain, SANDRA HARWITT for an 11th year. Nadal,
After winning the Austra- successfully returns the ball during the men’s doubles match Associated Press winner of 14 Grand Slam
lian Open, French Open against Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia and Albert Ramos of DOHA, Qatar (AP) — After championships, is getting
and Wimbledon titles in Spain at the Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. a disappointing season last fed up of being asked
2015, Williams narrowly year, Rafael Nadal’s goal about his subpar 2015 that
missed completing a sea- (AP Photo/Alexandra Panagiotidou) for 2016 is simple. “The most only delivered three minor
son Grand Slam when she important thing — play titles. It was the first time
lost to Roberta Vinci in the better,” the Spaniard said in a decade he failed to
semifinals of the U.S. Open. Monday, citing the physi- win a Grand Slam title. His
For the 20-year-old Duval, cal and mental struggles best results in majors last
who returned to tennis in he went through in 2015. year were quarterfinal fin-
August after overcoming Nadal managed to recap- ishes at the Australian and
Hodgkin’s lymphoma, fill- ture some confidence to- French Opens. “Seriously,
ing in for Williams was a ward the end of the year, I’m a little bit tired of talk-
great opportunity. posting a 17-5 record fol- ing every day about 2015,”
“I was kind of nervous be- lowing theU.S. Open. The Nadal said. “We are in 2016
cause I was filling in big late push enabled him to already, no? We talked
shoes. But I had a really fun finish the year ranked No. 5, enough about 2015, and
time today,” Duval said. “I keeping his top five season- I talked enough about all
have a whole new outlook ending ranking streak alive the things that happened.”
on life. I’m just really grate-
