Vinciguerra off to winning start at Copenhagen

Vinciguerra off to winning start at Copenhagen
Agencies

Copenhagen, February 13: Sweden’s Andreas Vinciguerra began the defence of his Copenhagen Open title on Monday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Canadian Daniel Nestor that was marked by controversy.

Vinciguerra argued with the umpire when a first service net cord appeared to land long and out with Nestor serving a break and 4-2 ahead in the second set. But there was no call by the linesman and after a distracting delay the umpire refused to overrule him.

When Nestor delivered the first serve for the second time he followed it with an uncharacteristic volley into the net from a high return.

The mistake led to Vinciguerra breaking back and 10 minutes later he had wrapped up the straight sets win.

Third-seeded Australian Andrew Ilie was in trouble at 0-30 down on his service at 4-4 in the second set, having lost the first to Czech Tomas Zib.

But Ilie conjured up three great serves and ace to avert the break and Zib went to pieces, winning only one more game in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 defeat.

Jens Knippschild showed flashes of bad temper as he went out 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to sixth-seeded fellow German Rainer Schuttler.

Sampras hopes to bounce back soon
OAKLAND: Pete Sampras has not won a Grand Slam off grass since 1997 and no longer has the burning desire for the top ranking he once had, but at 29 he still believes he has the goods and mental fortitude to keep up with tennis’ young guns.

“I’m not scared of anyone,” Sampras said in a recent telephone interview from his Los Angeles home. ‘‘It’s a question of how much I want to compete. I’m not going to play 20 to 25 events like I used to. I need to play enough to stay sharp, but with my ability, I think I can still play with anyone,” he insisted.

Rafter to put retirement on hold
Sydney: Patrick Rafter said he may put his retirement on hold to have another crack at winning the 2002 Australian Open despite indicating last month he would retire at the end of this year. The Australian, who shaved his beard and head on Tuesday to raise money for a children’s charity, said he had a change of heart after reaching the semi-finals at Melbourne Park last month but would monitor his form this year before making a final decision.

Mirnyi advances at Marseille Open
MARSEILLE: Max Mirnyi of Belarus beat Spaniard Jacobo Diaz 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 in the only first-round match played at the $500,000 Marseille Open men’s indoor tournament on Monday night.

Mirnyi will now meet either top seed Magnus Norman of Sweden or Belgium’s Olivier Rochus in the second round.

All the other matches played on Monday were in the qualifying competition.Yevgeny Kafelnikov, fresh from helping Russia reach the Davis Cup quarter-finals over the weekend, is the second seed this week. Arnaud Clement is the third seed. The Frenchman, who won both his singles matches in the Davis Cup tie against Belgium over the weekend, was beaten by Andre Agassi in last month’s Australian Open final.

Frazier knocked out by Meilen Tu
NICE: American Amy Frazier, the only seed on court at the $535,000 WTA event, was knocked out 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 by compatriot Meilen Tu in the first round yesterday.

Amy Frazier, world-ranked 19th and sixth seed here, made many double faults in the first set and was bettered by the speed of her Californian opponent.Frazier hit back to take the second set but Tu was well on top in the third and know meets Spain’s Magui Serna, who beat France’s wild card entry Emilie Loit 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Luxembourg’s Anne Kremer quickly beat Canadian Sonya Jeyaseelan 6-0, 6-4, making the most of many unforced errors by her opponent.