Tennis News Blog

Nalbandian rallies to beat Acasuso for title
David Nalbandian earned his eighth career title, rallying to defeat Jose Acasuso 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 Sunday at the Copa Telmex final. “I’m very happy to win at home,” said the 11th-ranked Nalbandian. “It’s beautiful to pull off something I could never do before here.” Former Argentina soccer captain Diego Maradona was in the crowd at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. Acasuso won the first set by taking advantage of Nalbandian’s errors on long rallies.

Pennetta wins in first round at Acapulco (AP)
Top-seeded Flavia Pennetta defeated Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-4, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the Mexican Open. Pennetta, from Italy, has reached the finals in the Mexican Open four times, and won in 2005. “There are a lot of matches before the finals, it’s one step at a time,” Pennetta said after the match.

Blake pulls out of Memphis with sore knee
James Blake withdrew Monday from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, citing a sore right knee that had been bothering him the past couple of weeks. Blake had been seeded second in the tournament but withdrew from Memphis for a second straight year because he said he felt he wouldn’t be able to play a competitive match. He reached the finals here in 2000 and was ninth in the ATP rankings Monday.

Sharapova maintains unbeaten streak in 2008
Maria Sharapova has yet to lose in 2008, as she defeated Vera Zvonareva at Qatar for her second win of the year.

Blake out of Memphis with sore knee (AP)
James Blake withdrew Monday from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, citing a sore right knee that had been bothering him the past couple of weeks. Blake had been seeded second in the tournament but withdrew from Memphis for a second straight year because he said he felt he wouldn’t be able to play a competitive match.

Michael Llodra wins third career title
Michael Llodra of France won his third career title Sunday, beating Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the ABN Amro final. Llodra previously won the Ordina Open in 2004 and last month defeated Jarkko Nieminen to win in Adelaide, Australia. All eight seeded players, including second-ranked Rafael Nadal, lost in the opening two rounds.

Dementieva, Safina, Bondarenko ino Dubai 2nd round
Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-0 Monday to advance to the second round of the Dubai Championships. Dementieva saved two set points in the first set and then breezed through the second after Schnyder had to take a medical time-out with a pulled right hamstring. “I knew it would be a tough opening match against Patty, and that’s how it turned out,” Dementieva said.