Andy Murray of Great Britain poses with Novak Djokovic of Serbia before the men’s singles final on day 14 of the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on April 1, 2012 in Key Biscayne, Florida.
(March 31, 2012 – Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images North America)
MADRID (AP) – Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will play an exhibition match at Real Madrid’s football stadium, hoping for a crowd of 80,000 to watch tennis’ top two players.
Madrid says on its website that the top-ranked Djokovic and local favorite Nadal will meet on July 14 at the Santiago Bernabeu, with proceeds going to the club’s and Nadal’s charity foundations.
Tuesday’s statement did not say what surface the match will be played on.
Nadal and Djokovic have won a combined 10 majors and have had one of sports’ top rivalries of late. Djokovic had defeated Nadal in the last seven finals they’ve played, including in the last three Grand Slam tournaments – Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open.
Wozniacki advances to 2nd round in Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Two-time defending champion Caroline Wozniacki overcame Urszula Radwanska of Poland 7-6 (4), 6-2 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the e-Boks Open.
The 21-year old Dane was down a break in the first set before rallying to force the tiebreaker. She then broke three times in the second to clinch the victory in 2 hours, 5 minutes.
The sixth-ranked Wozniacki will next play Pauline Parmentier of France, who ousted Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 7-5, 6-1 on the hard courts at the Farum Arena.
Fourth-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania also advanced, beating Valeria Savinykh of Russia 6-2, 6-2, while No. 5 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia ousted Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-3, 6-4.
Second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany also advanced, beating Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Alize Cornet of France had the easiest win of the day, routing Danish wild card Malou Ejdesgaard 6-0, 6-0.
Seventh-seeded Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan had to retire from her match against Australia’s Johanna Konta when she was trailing 6-3, 1-0.
Sixth-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany ousted Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-3, 6-4, while No. 8 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 to Austria’s Patricia Mayr-Achleitner.
In other first-round matches, Petra Martic of Croatia beat Germany’s Annika Beck 6-4, 6-4 and Anne Keothavong of Britain ousted Hungary’s Melinda Czink 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Blake ousted in first round in Houston
HOUSTON (AP) – Sixth-seeded Carlos Berlocq of Argentina overcame an injury to his left calf and surged past James Blake of the United States 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in a first-round match at the U.S. men’s clay court championship Monday night.
Berlocq took early charge with a 5-1 lead in the first set and then had to hold on to win the opening set. Blake easily won the second set with Berlocq getting his ailing calf wrapped before losing the final game of the second set.
Berlocq said he felt tightness in his left calf. He left the court briefly before the final set to get more treatment.
Sam Querrey of the United States, a 2010 finalist, beat Eric Prodon of France 6-1, 6-4 in another first-round match.
Defending champion Ryan Sweeting held off qualifier Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-3, 7-6 (6). Sweeting is unseeded this year and his ranking has fallen from 93 at last year’s event to 143.
In earlier opening-round matches, Igor Kunitsyn of Russia beat Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-4, 6-2, Paolo Lorenzi of Italy beat Wayne Odesnik of the U.S. 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina bat Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-3.
Former champion Tommy Haas withdrew with a right knee injury prior to a qualifying match.
Top-seeded Mardy Fish, who withdrew from Davis Cup play last week because of fatigue, has a bye into the second round and will play his first match on Thursday.
Tennis Recap: Djokovic, Nadal to play exhibition for 80,000 fans is a post from: PhatzRadio.com
