Tennis Sports

New Zealand No 1 Marina Erakovic has advanced to the quarter-finals of the United States national indoor tennis championships in Memphis today.

Erakovic exacted revenge over Sofia Arvidsson, knocking the second seed out of the US$235,000 WTA event with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory. Arvidsson, ranked 38th in the world, beat the Kiwi in the final at last year’s tournament.

Erakovic will play American Jamie Hampton in the next round for a spot in the semifinals. Revenge may well be on her mind again – Hampton knocked Erakovic out of the ASB Classic earlier in the year.

The New Zealander will also look to advance in the doubles draw with British partner Heather Watson. T

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SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Top seed Milos Raonic will vie for a third consecutive title at the SAP Open after handling third-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday’s semifinals.

The Canadian is looking to become the first player in the Open Era to capture three Bay Area titles in a row.

Raonic, who is 3-3 in career ATP finals, will face Tommy Haas for the first time on Sunday.

The fourth-seeded Haas beat second-seeded American John Isner 6-3, 6-4 earlier Saturday. The German veteran had lost to Isner in the second round at this event five years ago.

Haas will be appearing in his 25th career final and first since finishing runner-up at Washington last August. He captured his 13th and most recent title in Halle two months earlier.

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Serena Williams has played down her chances of regaining the world No 1 ranking this week following her shock quarter-final loss in the Australian Open last month.

Speaking ahead of the Qatar Open in Doha the American, who needs to reach the semi-finals to usurp Victoria Azarenka, confessed the top spot is not her main focus.

“I obviously want it and if it happens it would be great, but if not I won’t miss anything,” she said.

“I had a great chance to be number one and I wanted it a lot, but I didn’t get there,” she said, reflecting on her surprise exit to Sloane Stephens in Melbourne.

While Williams enjoyed a successful end to the 2012 season, with two Grand Slam victories and two other major titles, she urged caution of those expecting too much of her.

“I’ll just see how it plays out and do the best I can,” she said.

“If that’s winning a tournament or five then that’s great.

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Britain’s Anne Keothavong defeated Dea Herdzelas 6-4 6-2 in Israel. Read full article…

The International Tennis Federation has announced the official team nominations for the 2013 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group and World Group II first round ties, schedule to take place from 9 and 10 February.

World Group 1st Round Tie:

CZECH REPUBLIC v AUSTRALIA

Venue: Cez Arena, Ostrava, CZE (hard – indoors)

Czech Republic

Petra Kvitova Lucie Safarova Lucie Hradecka Andrea Hlavackova Captain: Petr Pala

Australia

Samantha Stosur Casey Dellacqua Jarmila Gajdosova Ashleigh Barty Captain: Alicia Molik

ITALY v USA

Venue: 105 Stadium, Rimini, ITA (clay – indoors)

Italy Sara Errani Roberta Vinci Karin Knapp Nastassja Burnett Captain: Corrado Barazzutti

USA

Sloane Stephens Varvara Lepchenko Jamie Hampton Liezel Huber Captain: Mary Joe Fernandez RUSSIA v JAPAN

Venue: Olympic Stadium, Moscow, RUS (hard – indoors)

Russia Maria Kirilenko Ekaterina Makarova Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Elena Vesnina Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

Japan

Ayumi Morita Kimiko Date-Krumm Misaki Doi Kurumi Nara Captain: Takeshi Murakami

SERBIA v SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Venue: Hala “CAIR”, Nis, SRB (hard – indoors)

Serbia Ana Ivanovic Jelena Jankovic Bojana Jovanovski Vesna Dolonc

Captain: Dejan Vranes

Slovak Republic Dominika Cibulkova Daniela Hantuchova Magdalena Rybarikova Jana Cepelova Captain: Matej Liptak