Kei Nishikori couldn't expect anything more worse than being punished in front of his home crowd.
In just 55 minutes, Richard Gasquet, the world no. 13 crushed Nishikori 6-1, 6-2.
"He played really well and there wasn't much I could do," Nishikori told the near-capacity crowd of 9,123 at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum.
"I knew he was strong. I respected him too much."
The unseeded Nishikori was hard-pressed to live up to the exorbitant expectations placed on him in the wake of a breakout year that included becoming the first Japanese to win an ATP event in 16 years.
Already Japan's top male player in over a decade, the 18-year-old never displayed the poise or confidence that carried him to victories in the first two rounds, his first-ever wins in an ATP tournament on home soil.
Gasquet, 22, took advantage of a shaky Nishikori. On one serve, Nishikori did the unimaginable by dropping his racquet (click on picture to see larger version).
"It's hard to play at home, he's only 18 years old," said a sympathetic Gasquet, like Nishikori a former junior star.
"I'm sure he was a little bit nervous. I have three years more experience than him."
Gasquet said he sees a bright future for Nishikori, who will likely land in the upper 70s when the rankings are released next week, exceeding his career-best of 81.
"It's his first year on the tour, so it's tough," Gasquet said.
"He won a tournament and made the fourth round of the U.S. Open. If he is not injured, he will be in the top 10. He has a good forehand, a good backhand. There is no reason for him not to go into the top 10."
In the quarterfinals, Gasquet, the losing finalist here last year to Spain's David Ferrer, will face 2003 champion Rainer Schuettler, the 12th-seeded German who squeezed past No. 8 seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (12-14), 6-4.
As expected, Argentina nominates a fast indoor arena to host the Davis Cup tennis final against Spain to blunt the clay-court dominance of top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
The Argentine tennis association nominated Cordoba's Estadio Orfeo as its first choice for the final, with Mar del Plata's Islas Malvinas stadium as its second option. However, there is a problem.
Argentina's bid to host the Davis Cup final against Spain on indoor carpet will only be accepted if the country's tennis federation selects a venue that meets stringent crowd capacity requirements, International Tennis Federation (ITF) officials said.
And the Cordoba's Orfeo Stadium falls short of the 12,000-seating capacity required by the ITF to host a final.
Argentina have never hosted a Davis Cup tie on any surface except clay, but captain Alberto Mancini had made it clear immediately after their 3-2 semi-final win over Russia that he would prefer to play on carpet.
That is a nod to the talent of Spain's Rafael Nadal, who has 123 of his last 126 matches on clay.
A Cordoba final would also satisfy the wishes of David Nalbandian to play in his home province.
"Cordoba has the best conditions compared with the others," Nalbandian said last week.
"I was born in this province so I would love to play here, but there are a lot of other factors to be considered and we are working to choose the right option."
Argentina are hosting the Davis Cup final for the first time.
They finished as runners-up in the tournament in 1981 and 2006, losing 3-1 to the United States and 3-2 to Russia respectively.
(Via The Canadian Press, sportinglife.com, Image via Davis Cup official website)
Rafael Nadal becomes the latest tennis player to join Serena and Venus Williams, Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick off the court and in beauty and fragrance industry. The world no. 1 tennis player has signed a deal with Paris-based Inter Parfums to be global ambassador for its Lanvin line of fragrances.
Nadal will help develop a new Lanvin fragrance which is set for a summer 2009 launch.
The positioning of the new fragrance line, which is to be called Lanvin L'Homme Sport, will be built around Nadal's image.
A range of products will be aimed at a younger market than is usual for the Lanvin brand.
Inter Parfums is planning to launch the brand throughout Europe and the US.
Inter Parfums creates and manufactures several brands of fragrances and cosmetics under license, including Burberry, Paul Smith, Christian Lacroix and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Updates: Someone in the menstennisforums.com wonders what fragrance Nadal is using in this picture. Is it an advertisement or something? Any idea?
Serena Williams bagels Li Na in the first set. However her game collapsed right after that.
With the results 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, the loss to the China player costs Serena her no. 1 ranking.
By dropping the second-round match at the Porsche Grand Prix, Serena will be overtaken by Jelena Jankovic in Monday’s new rankings, the WTA said.
Serena gained the top spot when she beat Jankovic in the U.S. Open final three weeks ago for her ninth Grand Slam title.
Jankovic will play her first match in the tournament today against Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.
“Obviously, I want to be No. 1 but I am not focusing on that. I am focusing on winning titles and that goes hand in hand (with getting No. 1),” Serena said.
“I am not worried. It will come again if I win tournaments. I play to win titles and Grand Slams, although obviously the No. 1 is also on my mind.”
Williams was playing her first match since the U.S. Open, getting a first-round bye in Stuttgart.
“I started making a lot of errors and I just gave it to her,” she said.
“Maybe I started doubting myself.”
Li, ranked No. 30, said she was so nervous at the start of the match her hands were cold.
“I didn’t have a chance in the first set,” Li said.
“But I looked at the clock and I saw it was only 20 minutes (into the match) so I told myself I could be winning in an hour. I knew I just had to hang in there.”
Serena's sister, Venus Williams is still in the Stuttgart tournament and watched Serena’s defeat.
Li Na at an autograph session earlier this week.
Li who missed 11 months with a rib fracture last year and right-knee surgery in March said,“I believe I can go into the top 10 if I stay healthy."
(Images via Yahoo! Sport, sonyericssonwtatour.com)
Kei Nishikori couldn't expect anything more worse than being punished in front of his home crowd.
In the quarterfinals, Gasquet, the losing finalist here last year to Spain's David Ferrer, will face 2003 champion Rainer Schuettler, the 12th-seeded German who squeezed past No. 8 seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (12-14), 6-4.
