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SPORTSWednesday 6 January 2016

Tennis Roundup:

Brisbane heats up; Serena Williams withdraws at Perth

Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic plays a shot in his match against Dusan Lajovic of Serbia day off or two will make a ther damage to a sore left
during the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. world of difference.” forearm.
Lleyton Hewitt beat Jack The five-time major winner
(AP Photo/Tertius Pickard) Sock 7-5, 6-4, and Hewitt said she’d hurt her fore-
and Wolfe beat Sock and arm in practice and had
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) Williams, who missed the “I just have some inflam- American substitute Vic- to withdraw as a precau-
— Serena Williams retired U.S. team’s opening loss mation that’s been going toria Duval 7-6 (4), 6-1 in tion. Her place in the draw
during her Hopman Cup to Ukraine on Monday be- away very slowly,” Williams mixed doubles to win the was taken by Margarita
match in Perth on Tuesday, cause of inflammation in said. “It’s going away, but tie 3-0. Ukraine leads the Gasparyan, who lost to
completing a day of injuries her left knee, was trailing just needs a little more time. group with wins over the Makarova. Halep with-
and upsets for the leading 7-5, 2-1 against Jarmila “I’ve been training really Americans and Czech Re- drew a day ahead of her
women’s players less than Wolfe when she left the hard during the off-season. public. scheduled opening match
two weeks from the Austra- court in her first match of Really pushing myself be- Other top-10 women on because of a problem with
lian Open. the season. yond the limits. I just think a the injured list included her left Achilles tendon.
defending champion Ma- “This injury is very difficult,”
ria Sharapova and top- Halep said. “I thought I was
seeded Simona Halep at ready, but I can’t do a full
the Brisbane International, match.”
where they withdrew with- Halep said she hoped to
out playing because of in- play at the Sydney Interna-
juries within an hour of each tional next week. Sharapo-
other. At the ASB Classic in va is heading directly to
Auckland, New Zealand, Melbourne to prepare for
defending champion Ve- the Australian Open, which
nus Williams and 2014 win- starts Jan. 18.
ner Ana Ivanovic were Sharapova won the Bris-
beaten in first-round up- bane and Rome titles in
sets. And at the Shenzhen 2015 and lost the final of
Open in China, two-time the Australian Open to Ser-
Wimbledon champion and ena Williams, who added
No. 6-ranked Petra Kvitova the French Open and Wim-
retired during the first set of bledon titles and was two
her first-round match due match victories from a sea-
to an undisclosed illness. son Grand Slam when she
No. 4-ranked Sharapova lost to Roberta Vinci in the
was scheduled to play U.S. Open semifinals.
fellow Russian Ekaterina Vinci moved into the Bris-
Makarova but withdrew bane International quarter-
hours before the first-round finals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory
match rather than risk fur- over 2014 Australian Open
finalist Dominika Cibulkova
Nadal wins first match of 2016 at Qatar Open on Tuesday. She’ll meet ei-
ther 2009 champion Aza-
SANDRA HARWITT day. of the final two sets. He second. I played with a lit- renka or Ysaline Bonaven-
Associated Press In the first-set tiebreaker, posted 30 winners and took tle bit higher intensity and ture in the last eight.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Rafael Nadal saved three set advantage of five of nine being a little bit more ag- Also advancing were No.
Nadal won his first match of points, but lost the fourth on break points in the two- gressive. So, very happy 6-seeded Carla Suarez Na-
the new season 6-7 (5) 6-3, a Carreno forehand winner hour match. the way that I managed varro, who beat Sam Stosur
6-1 against Spanish coun- he could only watch go “He played well,” Nadal to change the dynamic of 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-4, and An-
tryman Pablo Carreno at past. said. “I changed a little the match.”q astasia Pavlyuchenkova,
the Qatar Open on Tues- Nadal took early control bit at the beginning of the who held off Alize Cornet
6-2, 1-6, 6-4.q