Mario Ancic news

Brisbane International top seed Ana Ivanovic will make her eagerly anticipated debut on Pat Rafter Arena tomorrow night for the first night session ever at the Queensland Tennis Centre.

The crowd favourite will meet Czech Petra Kvitova in the first-round clash, which will be followed by Spain’s Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco against talented Queensland teenager Bernard Tomic, making his ATP debut.

It seems like only yesterday that we were popping the corks on the champagne and looking forward to 2008. Now with 2009 only a month away, it's time to look back and toast some of the turning points that took place in the world of tennis in 2008.

Couplings

 This was meant to be the year when Roger Federer would equal, if not break, Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles.

Instead, it was a season in which Rafael Nadal finally spread his tentacles beyond Roland Garros. The Spaniard first grabbed Federer's Wimbledon crown, then snatched Olympic gold in Beijing.

That failed to satisfy Nadal's hunger and he went on to end Federer's record 237-week reign as world number one just hours after the Olympic medal had been placed around his neck.

Former ATP World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and World No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga headline an outstanding playing field for the Medibank International, to be held in Sydney the second week of the 2009 ATP World Tour season.

Tournament Director Craig Watson announced one of the strongest fields in the event’s long and illustrious history, which includes five of the world's top 20 men and 13 of the world’s top 20 women.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro (pictured), who finished in the Top 10 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings, were among the 11 players who captured their first career ATP titles this year.

The 20-year-old del Potro became the 13th player (third active) in the Open Era to win his first four ATP finals (Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles, Washington) he's appeared in.

Argentina hosts two-time former champion Spain in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group final from 21-23 November at the Estadio Islas Malvinas in Mar del Plata. The final will be contested on an indoor hard-court at a stadium that seats 11,132 spectators. Spain has a 2-0 record against Argentina, with clay-court victories coming in 1926 and 2003.

Great Britain’s Andy Murray qualified to make his debut at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai after a stellar summer that saw him clinch his first ATP Masters Series shield and reach his first Grand Slam final.

 Andy Roddick and Juan Martin Del Potro were firmly on track for a Masters Cup berth as they strolled into the third round of the Paris Masters on Tuesday.

American Roddick, sixth in the ATP Race, beat Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 while Argentine Del Potro, who is seventh, thrashed Croatian Mario Ancic 6-0 6-4.

 The hope of qualifying for next month's Masters Cup has given Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro the boost he needed at the end of a testing season, he said on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old broke into the top 10 following ATP titles in Stuttgart, Kitzbuehel, Los Angeles and Washington, and is on course for one of the three remaining spots for the season-ending tournament in Shanghai.

Two Croatian stars, fifth-seeded Marin Cilic and seventh-seeded Mario Ancic, were upset Tuesday in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open.

Jeremy Chardy of France beat Ancic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin saved two match points before ousting Cilic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (6).

Cilic, ranked No. 23, had two match points at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but the 158th-ranked Kukushkin won four consecutive points for his first career victory over a seeded player in an ATP event. Cilic had 19 aces to Kukushkin’s 10.

Andy Murray is finishing the year with a flourish.

Having already clinched a spot at the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time, the 21-year-old Murray heads to Russia as the top seed at the $1 million St. Petersburg Open, which got under Monday.

The Scot is the defending champion here, defeating Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the final here last year.

Croatian Marin Cilic will try to blow Andy Murray´s late-season surge off course with his booming serves when he plays the Scot on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters.

Fourth seed Murray needed five sets to beat the 6-foot-6 (1.98cm) player in the Davis Cup a year ago, but since then the 20-year-old has leapt almost 100 places in the world rankings to 24, and said he has become a more assured, consistent player.

Andy Murray returns to ATP Tour action at the Madrid Masters this week feeling refreshed from his recent break - but the world number four knows he will be afforded little time to find his rhythm again.

Murray has been enjoying some well-earned time off since representing Great Britain in their Davis Cup clash against Austria three weeks ago, and his appearance in the Spanish capital this week will be his first Tour event since reaching the US Open final.

Third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen defeated Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-4 Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Stockholm Open.

Wild-card Kei Nishikori advanced after second-seeded Mario Ancic withdrew because of fever.

“I’m sick too, I’ve got a sore throat and cold and my knee hurts,” Nishikori said. “But I wanted to play the match somehow. Now I’ve got a day to rest and I’m sure I can play tomorrow. It’s the semifinals. It’s big for me.”

David Nalbandian steamrolled into the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open on Thursday.

The top-seeded Argentine needed just 57 minutes to dispatch of Swedish wild card Joachim Johansson, 6-3, 6-2, in one of six second-round matches slated at the hardcourt event.

Nalbandian, who crushed American Bobby Reynolds, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round, remains a strong favorite here considering he is the only top-30 player in the field.