Sports News
Mardy Fish Falls in Hall of Fame Opener
Top-seeded Mardy Fish lost his first match at the Hall of Fame tennis championships for the second straight year, falling to qualifier Rohan Bopanna, 7-6, (6) 7-5 on Wednesday.
The No. 1 seed hasn't won the title in the tournament's 32-year history on the grass courts at the Hall of Fame.
"Obviously, it's extremely, extremely disappointing to lose here again,'' Fish said. "I've never ever played well here. I so desperately wanted to play well here. Every year I walk off the court thinking, 'Why can't I get that tiebreaker or that break point.'''
Fish, ranked 41st in the world entering the week, led 5-2 in the first-set tiebreaker before Bopanna won the next three points. Bopanna got even at 5-all with an ace.
Fish regained the lead at 6-5, and Bopanna held serve on the next two points before winning the set when Fish put a backhand slice into the net.
"It's tough to get into a groove on these courts,'' Fish said. "You don't get too many true bounces.''
Fish, a Minnesota native and self-described "big Twins fan,'' threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. But, like his favorite team, which was swept in three games by the Red Sox, Fish lost the only two sets he played.
"It's tough to think about that now,'' Fish said of his trip to Fenway. "It was a special time for me. I didn't throw a strike. It was high.''
In the second set, Fish led 2-1 and was one point away from breaking serve, but Bopanna followed with consecutive aces and won the game when Fish flubbed a return at the baseline. Bopanna then broke Fish to take control, 3-2.
Fish broke Bopanna's serve to tie the set 5-all, but Bopanna recovered by breaking back. He went up 40-30 in the 12th game with an ace, and the match ended when Fish hit a lunging backhand into the net.
"Yes, my biggest win,'' he said of his first quarterfinal appearance in an ATP event. "Especially with the surface, I like, I wasn't concerned who I was playing.''
In other matches, fourth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn defeated Mikhail Ledovskikh, 6-1, 6-1; No. 7 seed Frank Dancevic, Canada's top player, beat qualifier Brendan Evans, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3); Prakash Amritraj, son of former player V. J. Amritraj - a three-time winner at Newport - beat Jesse Levine, 7-5, 6-3; and Ivan Navarro ousted Rik De Voest, 7-5, 6-4.
Tennis
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