Brady loses first match since Australian Open final

Associated PressMar 1, 2021, 8:39 PM EST

Getty Images

DOHA, Qatar — Jennifer Brady lost her first match since the Australian Open final, falling to Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Qatar Open on Monday.

Brady, who lost to Naomi Osaka in her first major final just over a week ago, made 25 unforced errors against her Estonian opponent. Kontaveit had only nine unforced errors and didn’t face a single break point against the seventh-seeded American.

“I was expecting a very, very tough match but I’m very happy with the way I played and very pleased to get to the second round,” Kontaveit said.

Kontaveit will play three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the second round after the German beat wild card Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-4, 6-2.

Garbine Muguruza beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 7-6 (4) to book a second-round match with last year’s Doha winner, Aryna Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye. “Good match ahead,” Muguruza said. “I’m excited to face these top players. I feel like every match is hard.”

Eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka needed six match points to win against Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-3 in a first-round match between former Grand Slam champions. Azarenka will play Elena Rybakina or Laura Siegemund in the second round.

Kiki Bertens returned after five months off the tour and was beaten by Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-2. It was the 11th-ranked Dutch player’s first match since a fourth-round loss at the French Open in October and a subsequent Achilles tendon operation. She missed the Australian Open to build up fitness.

Maria Sakkari beat Mayar Sherif 6-0, 6-3 in the first round.

U.S. player Amanda Anisimova withdrew from the Doha Open on Monday after injuring her ankle in a fall. The 2019 French Open semifinalist missed the Australian Open because she was in quarantine after a positive coronavirus test before her scheduled charter flight.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.