World No. 1 Serena Williams will lead the charge on Ken Rosewall Arena on day three of the Medibank International Sydney.
Joining Williams will be Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Australian wildcards Carsten Ball and Peter Luczak.
First up on Ken Rosewall Arena, Safina will play Polish young gun Agnieszka Radwanska, who she beat in straight sets in their only previous encounter. (more…)
Dinara Safina defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the Medibank International in Sydney.
In the quarterfinals, Safinal will play against Elena Dementieva, who beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Safina dropped serve five times against Radwanska. She had a slow start but was able to prevailed after almost 2 hours of play. The good news for Safina is the her back inflammation didn’t cause her any concerns. (more…)
Began playing tennis at age five with countryman Nenad Trifunovic as his coach… Nicknamed Vik…Speaks Serbian and English…Inspired by Andre Agassi who was his childhood idol…Parents are Aleksandar, a lawyer; and Mila, an economist…Lived and practiced in Boca Raton, Florida from age 13-15…Enjoys all sports and when he was younger he used to play soccer and wasn’t sure whether he would continue with tennis since soccer was his favorite sport…Fan of Partisan Belgrade team…Favorite shot is serve and considers hard courts his favorite surface…Has a 3-1 career Davis Cup record (2-1 in singles) in two ties…Coached by Jan de Witt (since 2005).
Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis beat local wild-card entry Nick Lindhal 6-2, 7-5 on Monday to reach the second round of the Sydney International, a key warmup tournament for the season’s first major. (more…)
Began playing at age two…Father, Javier, is a chemist; Mother, Marisol, is a nurse…Has three brothers, Carlos (older) and Miguel and Victor (younger)…During junior career, in 2003 won European Championships (d. Baghdatis) in Switzerland and won five other titles in a row before losing in final at Italian Open juniors (l. to Almagro)…
Also a QF at Roland Garros (d. Djokovic, l. to Tsonga)…Finished No. 4 in world junior rankings in ‘03…Hobbies include watching car and motorcycle races, basketball and his favorite is soccer…Considers clay his favorite surface and forehand and serve as best shots…Coached by countrymen Borja Buribe and Ricardu Cu±at.
Last week, these two players faced each other in the main draw of Doha and Starace easily won the match by 6-2 6-0. (more…)