Fernando Gonzalez wound up his formal Australian Open preparation with a defeat of Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) in relegation round play at the Kooyong Classic Friday. The programme was reduced to the Gonzalez-Ljubicic match after Juan Martin del Potro withdrew Thursday from Friday's semi-final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the eight-man event. Tsonga played a practice match against ...

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number three Novak Djokovic and U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro kicked off their Australian Open preparations with easy first-round wins at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne Wednesday. Del Potro cruised to a 6-3 6-3 victory over Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, before Serbian Djokovic made light work of experienced German Tommy Haas 6-2 6-3 at the ...

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic has taken the final spot at this week's Kooyong Classic after champion Roger Federer withdrew from an event he traditionally uses as a final warm-up for the Australian Open. The 30-year-old Ljubicic, a nine-time ATP tour champion, completes a strong eight-man field at the Melbourne invitational, boasting world number three Novak Djokovic of ...

PARIS (Reuters) - Russia's Nikolay Davydenko and Spain's Fernando Verdasco moved closer to spots at the World Tour Finals in London with contrasting second-round wins at the Paris Masters on Tuesday. World number seven Davydenko, who would make sure of entering the November 22-29 season finale with a semi-final appearance here, brushed aside German Benjamin Becker 6-2 6-1. Verdasco ...