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Tennis-Del Potro beats Benneteau in Rotterdam final

February 17, 2013 12:00
ROTTERDAM, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro clinched his first title of the year as he overcame Julien Benneteau 7-6 6-3 in the final of the World Indoor Tournament in Rotterdam on Sunday. Del Potro, beaten in last year's final by Roger Federer, lost his serve in the first set but Benneteau had no answer to his solid baseline performance which earned him the tiebreak 7-2. An early break in the second set meant Del Potro became only the second Argentine after Guillermo Vilas to triumph at the tournament.

Olympics: Federer backs David's Games squash bid

February 15, 2013 22:00
Roger Federer will support the campaign to have squash included in the 2020 Olympics, after meeting the sport's longtime number one Nicol David at the Rotterdam World Tennis tournament. Federer, winner of 17 Grand Slam tennis titles, made his endorsement only a few days after the International Olympic Committee said it would remove wrestling from the Games, a decision which has met with a storm of controversy. "I started with a wooden racquet in squash," said Federer, after losing to France's Julien Benneteau in the Rotterdam quarter-finals.

UPDATE 3-Tennis-Roger and out! Federer sent packing by Benneteau

February 15, 2013 19:30
* Shock defeat for defending champion * Federer loses in quarter-finals (Adds Simon win) By Theo Ruizenaar ROTTERDAM, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Defending champion Roger Federer suffered a shock 6-3 7-5 defeat by Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who has yet to lift a tour title during his 13-year career, in the World Indoor Tournament quarter-finals on Friday. The top seed struggled throughout with his first serve and was broken three times in the opening set.

UPDATE 2-Tennis-Roger and out! Federer sent packing by Benneteau

February 15, 2013 17:45
* Shock defeat for defending champion * Federer loses in quarter-finals (Adds quotes) By Theo Ruizenaar ROTTERDAM, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Defending champion Roger Federer suffered a shock 6-3 7-5 defeat by Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who has yet to lift a tour title during his 13-year career, in the World Indoor Tournament quarter-finals on Friday. The top seed struggled throughout with his first serve and was broken three times in the opening set.

Tennis: Benneteau stuns Federer in Rotterdam

February 15, 2013 17:17
Frenchman Julien Benneteau sent defending champion Roger Federer crashing out of the Rotterdam World Tennis tournament on Friday with a stunning 6-3, 7-5 quarter-final upset. Federer, who lifted the trophy in his last two appearances in 2005 and 2012, last suffered defeat in the event against Tim Henman in 2004. "This was a dream match, and I played like a dream," said the 39th-ranked Benneteau, who earned a semi-final against either fifth-seeded compatriot Gilles Simon or Slovak Martin Klizan.

UPDATE 1-Tennis-Roger and out! Federer sent packing by Benneteau

February 15, 2013 17:00
* Shock defeat for defending champion * Federer loses in quarter-finals (Recasts after Federer defeat) By Theo Ruizenaar ROTTERDAM, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Defending champion Roger Federer suffered a shock 6-3 7-5 defeat by Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who has yet to lift a tour title during his 13-year career, in the World Indoor Tournament quarter-finals on Friday. The top seed struggled throughout with his first serve and was broken three times in the opening set.

UPDATE 1-Olympics-Federer backs squash for 2020 Games inclusion

February 15, 2013 14:46
(Adds quotes) ROTTERDAM, Feb 15 (Reuters) - As arguably the greatest ever tennis player, Roger Federer is urging Olympic officials to back another racket sport by including squash in the programme for the 2020 Games. "I really like the sport and I even used to play it in my younger days but that was with a wooden racket," 17-times grand slam champion Federer told Reuters after he suffered a surprise defeat in the quarter-finals of the World Indoor Tournament on Friday.

Tennis-Del Potro powers through in Rotterdam

February 15, 2013 14:30
By Theo Ruizenaar ROTTERDAM, Feb 15 (Reuters) - World number seven Juan Martin Del Potro stayed on course for his second successive appearance in the final of the World Indoor Tournament by sweeping aside Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 6-4 on Friday. The Argentine, beaten in last year's final by Roger Federer, will play Grigor Dimitrov in the last four after the Bulgarian came from behind to defeat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 7-6 6-3 in a thriller.

Tennis: Nadal out of Brazil Open doubles over knee fear

February 14, 2013 14:56
Rafael Nadal will not play his scheduled doubles match at the Brazil Open on Wednesday because of "knee overuse," organizers said. But they said the Spanish star intends to play his opening singles match Thursday against Brazilian Joao Souza. World number five Nadal had been scheduled to team up with Argentina's David Nalbandian in a second-round encounter against Argentine Horacio Zeballos and Oliver Marach of Austria. Former world number one Nadal only returned to the tour in Chile last week, where he lost in the final, after a seven-month injury absence.

Tennis-Give me more time before judging me, says Nadal

February 11, 2013 12:00
By Martyn Herman Feb 11 (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal's worst defeat on a claycourt for nine years offered ammunition to the naysayers but the Spaniard says his recovery from knee injury should be judged over time. The seven-times French Open champion's narrow loss to Argentine world No. 73 Horacio Zeballos in Vina del Mar on Sunday was rightly regarded as a shock as Nadal's defeats on clay over the past eight years can be counted on two hands.
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