Month of March , 2010

Latvian Ernests Gulbis put a damper on Ivo Karlovic’s 31st birthday celebration, defeating the second-seeded Croat 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships to claim his first ATP World Tour title.

Gulbis earned 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points and $75,700 as the champion of the ATP World Tour 250 hard-court tennis tournament, while Karlovic collected $39,780 in prize money and 150 points.

Spain captain Albert Costa has called up Nicolas Almagro to replace the injured Juan Carlos Ferrero in the champions' team to face Switzerland in their Davis Cup first-round tie starting on Friday.

With the Indian Wells-Miami double whammy looming, the Monterrey Open affords a last chance for the stars of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour to hone their hardcourt games - so they have plenty to gain at the second staging of the $220,000 International event this week.

It’s impossible to flick through the tennis annals without seeing Bob and Mike Bryan, the most successful doubles pairing in the last decade, plastered all over the record books.

The Californian twins have pretty much achieved everything in their 12 years on the tour… a career Grand Slam, a record 16 Grand Slam doubles final appearances, the Davis Cup title, the No. 1 ranking, the list goes on.

Chile is still planning to host its Davis Cup series this weekend against Israel despite the devastating earthquake that has killed at least 700 people in the South American country.

Singles player Nicolas Massu arrived on Monday from Miami and expressed concern for the Chilean people but said he was ready to play.

Chile’s top tennis player, World No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez, has been attempting to return to his home country following an 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck early Saturday morning.

The Santiago native, who played a semi-final match Friday night at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, posted the following message Sunday on his official web site:

“Hello friends:

Australian Open winner Serena Williams continues to lead an unchanged WTA women's top 10 rankings published on Monday.

Williams heads the list with 8,645 points ahead of Russia's Dinara Safina (6,480) with Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in third (5,930).

WTA top 10 as of March 1 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

1. (1) Serena Williams, United States, 8,645 points

2. (2) Dinara Safina, Russia, 6,480

3. (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 5,930

4. (4) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 5,925

5. (5) Venus Williams, United States, 5,626

Kim Clijsters returns to New York for the first time since her US Open victory to face Ana Ivanovic in a four-player exhibition Monday night for the Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden.

Serena Williams, who Clijsters beat in that final, had to withdraw from their matchup because of a leg injury.

"It's always disappointing when such a great champion pulls out," Clijsters said Monday at a news conference before the exhibition. "I'm sure she would have loved being here. I'm hoping she gets better and that we'll be able to see her in Miami."

It was a mixed bag for the seeds on Day 1 of the Monterrey Open, with two falling and one advancing via retirement.

Anabel Medina Garrigues and Lucie Safarova, the No.6 and No.8 seeds, respectively, were both bundled out of the tournament by their first round opponents. Safarova was the first to go, falling to Julie Coin, 57 64 64; Medina Garrigues fell in the feature night match to Klara Zakopalova, 75 75.

 Injured Nikolay Davydenko has only an outside chance of playing for Russia in this week's Davis Cup first-round tie against India, team captain Shamil Tarpishchev said on Tuesday.

"His participation is in doubt," Tarpishchev told reporters. "I would say his chances are very, very small."

World number six Davydenko is nursing a wrist injury.

Great Britain's inexperienced players must learn to cope with the pressure of performing in the Davis Cup, says team captain John Lloyd.

Britain take on Lithuania in Vilnius from Friday, with world number four Andy Murray choosing to skip the Euro-Africa Zone Group II tie.

James Ward, Dan Evans, Colin Fleming, Ken Skupski, Jamie Baker and Ross Hutchins make up the squad.

"Davis Cup, in my opinion, is the most difficult thing to play," said Lloyd.

Serena Williams' injured leg kept her from a chance to avenge her U.S. Open loss to Kim Clijsters. So sister Venus took care of the job.

Venus Williams defeated Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden to win the Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown, a match she lost a year ago to Serena.

Venus said she missed having her younger sister around for the match but didn't talk with her about the possibility of facing Clijsters.

German tennis player Tommy Haas could be facing a long absence from the ATP Tour after undergoing surgery on his right hip.

Haas, who had the surgery last Friday in Vail, Colo., said on his Web site Tuesday that he had no other alternative because “the pain was simply too great.”

To hear Kim Clijsters tell it, her weekend wasn’t much different than that of any other high-powered New Jersey working mom trying to balance family duties with work life. “It’s taken some time to get the right balance, but I’m getting the hang of it,” Clijsters said Sunday after a 60-mile commute from Wall, New Jersey, to New York City for a work obligation.

Sania Mirza hopes that she will be able to start her preparations once she gets through the six-week isolation from tennis forced by the recurrence of an injury to her right hand wrist.

“The extent of the injury will be assessed after six weeks and I am hopeful of getting back to my preparations for the Commonwealth Games soon,” Sania, who had her injured hand wrapped in a bandage, said on Tuesday

Nadia Petrova and Patty Schnyder have officially entered Charleston. Petrova was a Family Circle Cup Champion in 2006, and Patty Schnyder, a two-time finalist and fan-favorite on Daniel Island, is making her 14th consecutive appearance at this event. These veterans add to a world-class player field including Top 10 players Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, and Jelena Jankovic. The Family Circle Cup, a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier Event, is scheduled April 10-18, 2010 at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, SC.

Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia was bundled out in the first round of the Monterrey Open in an upset 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova on Tuesday.

Two other seeded players had better luck in the Mexican hard-court event.

Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated Anna Tatishvli of Georgia 6-1, 6-2, No. 4 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia downed Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-3 and No. 5 Agnes Szavay of Hungary rallied to beat Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Jankovic is No. 9 in the WTA rankings and the Latvian is 72nd.

‘The Countdown…’ to the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round, which is taking place from 5-7 March, brings you all the latest news in the lead-up to the action getting under way.

3 MARCH

Beware of big servers

Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic and Marin Cilic possess an average height of 6’ 8” - quite a scary prospect - and it’s no secret that the tie in Varazdin will be a serving fest.