Fresh from his record seventh clay-court French Open victory, Rafael Nadal arrived at the pre-Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Halle, as Swiss star Roger Federer warmed up for his bid for a sixth title on the grass here. "I'm delighted to be playing again in Halle," said Nadal, who has not played here since his first round elimination in 2005, favouring London's Queen's club to north-western Germany, ahead of his bid for a third Wimbledon title. The world number two will take to the courts on Wednesday in doubles with fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers, before opening his singles campaign against Slovak Lukas Lacko, who beat Russian qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in their first round tie on Tuesday. Nadal has won his three previous meetings with the 58th-ranked Slovak but the Spaniard nevertheless dropped the second set of their clash in Doha last year 6-0. Federer, beaten by world number one Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi-final last Friday, is bidding for his sixth Halle title with his first opponent Germany's Florian Mayer on Thursday. Home hope Tommy Haas advanced to the second round on Tuesday after Australian Bernard Tomic withdrew citing illness while trailing the German 5-2 in the first set. "He told me he'd been sick for the past ten days and still didn't feel well but had wanted to play," said former world number two Hass. Tomic, ranked 27th, was eliminated in the second round of the French Open, but had been hoping to warm-up for Wimbledon here after reaching the quarter-finals last year in the All England club. The 34-year-old Haas, the 2009 winner here, on Monday received a wild-card to play his 13th Wimbledon, and next faces Spanish sixth seed Marcel Granollers who eliminated German qualifier Misha Zverev 6-4, 6-2. Italy's Andreas Seppi, the seventh seed, who gave Djokovic a scare in the last-16 at the French Open, fell to Czech veteran Radek Stepanek 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) in their first round clash.
GMT 10:15 2018 Tuesday ,23 January
Brewers make offer to Japanese pitcher DarvishGMT 11:51 2018 Monday ,22 January
Jos Buttler hailed as ‘the difference’ between England and Australia in tourists’ winGMT 11:38 2018 Monday ,22 January
New Zealand to bowl in first T20 against PakistanGMT 13:13 2018 Friday ,19 January
New Zealand beat Pakistan by 15 runs to seal series sweepGMT 07:19 2018 Friday ,19 January
Man Utd set to make Sanchez highest-paid Premier League playerGMT 13:43 2018 Thursday ,18 January
Ben Stokes ‘delighted’ to be cleared to play for England againGMT 10:25 2018 Monday ,15 January
Roy record powers England to opening victory over AustraliaGMT 10:15 2018 Monday ,15 January
India thrash Aussies in U19 World Cup

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor