Gasquet spoils Medvedev's ATP return
No. 2 seed loses in straight sets at Geneva Open after coming back from hernia operation
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev fell to a 6-2, 7-6(5) defeat by Frenchman Richard Gasquet at the Geneva Open on Tuesday on his return to the ATP Tour, having spent six weeks recovering from a hernia operation.
Russia's Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion, had been out of action after undergoing surgery following the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
The 26-year-old looked rusty in his first match back and Gasquet was in inspired form as he maintained constant pressure to outmanoeuvre the Russian in the opening set before taking a 3-1 lead in the second.
Medvedev found his rhythm with his powerful forehand and serve, winning
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the next three games on the bounce as he began to show signs of his pre-surgery form and looked to push for the decider but Gasquet prevailed 7-5 in the tiebreak.
The result earned the 35-year-old Gasquet his first win over a top-two player since 2005 and a place in the quarter-finals, where he will meet either Marco Cecchinato of Italy or Kamil Majchrzak of Poland.
Medvedev, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open for the first time last year, will head into this year's tournament woefully short of match practice when the Grand Slam begins on Sunday.
Makarova notches upset in Strasbourg
Ekaterina Makarova of Russia recovered from a tough opening set to produce a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romania's Sorana Cirstea on Tuesday in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
The third-seeded Cirstea saved five of 10 break points but was outplayed over the last two sets. Makarova won despite five double faults.
Eighth-seeded Pole Magda Linette rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 second-round victory over Brit Heather Watson. Belgium's Maryna Zanevska also reached the quarter-finals by beating France's Harmony Tan 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the second round.
Other first-round winners were American Bernarda Pera, France's Fiona Ferro and Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam.
Tomljanovic cruises at Morocco Open
Second-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic won 78 per cent of her first-serve points while posting a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in second-round play at Rabat, Morocco.
Tomljanovic saved 9 of 12 break points while overcoming seven double faults. In another second-round match, Australia's Astra Sharma defeated Croatia's Petra Marcinko 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
In first-round matches involving seeded players, No. 4 Mayar Sherif of Egypt rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Chloe Paquet of France, and fifthseeded Anna Bondar of Hungary outlasted Italy's Cristiana Ferrando 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Pavlyuchenkova will miss rest of season
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a 2021 French Open finalist, said Tuesday that she will miss this year's tournament at Roland Garros and the rest of the 2022 season due to a knee injury.
Pavlyuchenkova, who turns 31 in July, said she has been bothered by knee pain all season. She missed more than two months after the Australian Open but the rest didn't cure the knee.
The pain was constant last
week while she was partnering with fellow Russian Veronika Kudermetova to win the doubles crown at last week's Italian Open.
“I have been playing this in my head for the last week and it has been a really tough decision to make, as Roland Garros was always very special to me, especially after a dream run last year,” Pavlyuchenkova wrote on Instagram. “But due to the pain for a long time, now the injury is limiting me physically and mentally to compete and practice fully.”
Pavlyuchenkova lost to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets in last year's French Open final. It marked the first time she had reached the final of a Grand Slam.