Rafael Nadal News

MIAMI: Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt rallied from a first-set deficit to down Israeli lucky loser Dudi Sela 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 Wednesday in the ATP Masters and WTA hardcourt tournament here.

Teimuraz Gabashvili earned a chance at the top player in the world Thursday by winning his first-round match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili set up a second-round meeting with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal after a straight-sets win at the Sony Ericsson Open on Thursday.

The conversation that inspired the Andy Roddick weight-loss program occurred shortly after he hired Larry Stefanki as coach in December.

Well, I got one right. Picking Rafael Nadal to win Indian Wells that is. But can and will Rafa continue his domination, and will I pick him to complete the cross-continental ATP tennis double by winning IW and Miami back-to-back? As much as I like his draw, right now, I have to say no.

ANDY Murray has already won ten high-level tournaments in his short career but he craves a first title in Britain and wants to make it happen before launching his Wimbledon challenge this summer.

That is hardly debatable after the counterpunching, scrappy Spaniard beat the stylish Swiss five times in a row, including in the finals of the most recent Australian Open, Wimbledon and French Open.

Roger Federer earned the ATP Tour’s Stefan Edberg sportsmanship award for a record fifth consecutive year, and he was chosen the favorite player for the sixth year in a row in a poll of fans on Wednesday.

The draws and seeds were chosen for this week’s Sony Ericsson Open on Monday and the finalists at the recently concluded BMW Tennis Championship are both seeded as expected.

SEGA have recently released a new batch of screenshots for their upcoming multiplatform tennis game, Virtua Tennis 2009.

He said it in a very matter-of-fact way, but the effect of the words was profound.

Days before Rafael Nadal stepped onto the purple courts here for the first time this week, tennis guru Bud Collins predicted his reception.

Indian Wells, California - World number one Rafael Nadal saved five match points before beating David Nalbandian 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 in a classic fourth-round encounter at the ATP event in Indian Wells on Wednesday.

Rafael Nadal won with his powerful groundstrokes _ and with an excellent plan. Adjusting to playing in swirling winds that made it difficult even to toss the ball up to serve, Nadal breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Andy Murray in the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday for his second Indian Wells title in three years.

Either Venus or Serena Williams has won the Sony Ericsson Open in eight of the last 11 years.