Djokovic passes first grass test

EASTBOURNE : Top seed Novak Djokovic passed his first grass court test of the season on Wednesday, defeating Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals at Eastbourne. The Serb is playing a preWimbledon event for the first time since 2010 and will next face the winner from a pair of Americans, Donald Young and Jared Donaldson. The former number one claimed his fifth victory without a defeat against Pospisil, who is now 4-22 lifetime against Top 10 opponents.Djokovic, who will be advised by Andre Agassi at Wimbledon, is the secondhighest-ranked men’s player to ever compete at the Aegon International .

MCENROE FOR MEN V WOMEN CONTEST

SYDNEY : An unapologetic John McEnroe has proposed competiranking tion between men and women players to prove his claim that 23-time grand slam singles winner Serena Williams would be ranked “like 700 in the world” if she competed on the men’s circuit. “I felt the need, however unfortunately, to defend myself and say what I really felt, which is about what I think she would be (in the men’s rankings),” McEnroe said on Tuesday.

“I’ve got a solution. Solve the problem, and I’m sure the men would be all for this – the men and women play together. And then we don’t have to guess.”

MALDINI’S PRO TENNIS CAREER SET TO END

LONDON : Former Italy and AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini’s professional tennis career is likely to stop at one match after a debut he described as “like writing a poem after studying years of maths”. The 49-year-old, who only took up tennis six years ago, acquitted himself well but he and his partner, Stefano Landonio, were beaten, 6-1, 6-1 by Poland’s Tomasz Bednarek and Dutchman David Pel in the first round of the Aspria Tennis Cup in Milan on Monday.