Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun wins Israel Open title

After flirting briefly with the red clay in Barcelona recently, Asia's no.1 player Rendy Lu Yen-hsun was back on hard court and the effort paid off.

Rendy won the men's singles title at the Israel Open on Saturday after his opponent pulled out with an injury.

Rendy was leading Benjamin Becker 6-3, 3-1 when Becker decided to retire due to his ailing right shoulder.

The Taiwanese swept through five matches at the second-tier tournament without losing a single set despite entering the competition with a sore back and struggling with his first serve.

For winning the title, Rendy earned almost US$15,000 as well as keeping his rank in the top 70 players in the world.

He is scheduled to play next in a Turkish tournament, Izmir Cup, in the coming week where he is the top seed.

Updates: Here are more photos of Rendy in Israel!

Thanks to Esther for the photo!

(Via rti.org.tw; Image via Israel Open)

Moneymaker Kei Nishikori to be featured in ESPN the Magazine

Kei Nishikori is currently ranked at no. 118 in the world and yet his endorsement deals are said to have approached the level of top 10 players like Andy Roddick and the Williams sisters.

How does he do that?

You can read all about it on the ESPN website or download the article here.

The story written by Lindsay Berra will appear in the May 18 issue of ESPN the Magazine.

Thanks to Olivier of IMG for this piece of article.

Happy Mother's Day from HCFoo

I'll be away for the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day and Wesak Day.

Hence, I'm not going to update my blog.

So, are you planning something special for your beloved Mom?

If you haven't come up with any plan, let Nikolay Davydenko and Sabine Lisicki show you how to make the world famous Portuguese tarts "Pasteis de Belém" for your Mom.

The recipe is not a secret anymore. Check this out.

Looks like plenty of work but what the heck! It's your Mom's special day.

(Images by ATP via menstennisforums.com)

Jelena Jankovic has too much time to spend in Rome

Jelena Jankovic took time out while competing at the Italian Open to do some shopping at the GF Ferre boutique and visit the Piazza di Spagna or better known as the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Her mom Snezana accompanied her during the photo shoot.

Coming back to the court, Jankovic was leading 6-1, 1-0 when Kateryna Bondarenko called for the trainer and withdrew because of flu yesterday.

They were on court for only 35 minutes.

“I would have loved to finish the match, because I was playing pretty well in that first set,” Jankovic said.

“I felt the ball really well and I had good timing.”

Jankovic will play Svetlana Kuznetsova next, who ousted crowd favourite Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

(Images by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)