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Maria Sharapova splits with coach Sven Groeneveld

  • Posted: Mar 10, 2018

Maria Sharapova has “mutually agreed” to part company with her coach of four years, Sven Groeneveld.

Groeneveld started working with Sharapova in 2014, and helped her to win the French Open that season.

The pair remained a team during the Russian’s 15-month doping ban for taking meldonium in 2016.

But the 30-year-old Russian has won just five matches this year, and was beaten in the first round at Indian Wells this week.

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Sharapova said the pair had enjoyed “four successful and challenging years of collaboration”.

“Although we have mutually agreed to part ways during this time, I have been incredibly fortunate to have a team leader like him in my corner for the past four years,” she added.

The Dutch coach has previously worked with players including Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Britain’s Greg Rusedski.

“Maria has been one of the most hardworking and professional players I have ever worked with and I have the deepest respect for her as a player and person,” he said.

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Indian Wells: Great Britain's Cameron Norrie loses in first round of BNP Paribas Open

  • Posted: Mar 10, 2018

British number three Cameron Norrie lost his opening match in the main draw at Indian Wells.

The 22-year-old had come through qualifying to face world number 109 Taro Daniel of Japan.

Daniel, 25, edged the first set 6-3 but Norrie dominated the second, taking it 6-1 to force a decider.

But the US-born Japanese player, who is ranked two places higher than his opponent, held firm to reach the second round.

His reward is a last-64 tie against former world number one and 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic

“I think I started badly and I couldn’t find the court that much,” Norrie said.

“I came out with a lot of energy in the second and started being more aggressive.

“The start of the third was a battle and he hit some good shots and got up 4-1 and played well to close it out but I was very positive throughout the match.”

Elsewhere, British number one Kyle Edmund will face the experienced Israeli Dudi Sela in his opening singles match on Sunday after the world number 97 beat Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk 6-4 6-4.

But Edmund and doubles partner Franko Skugar of Croatia were beaten 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 by Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta and David Marrero.

However, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares made it through thanks to a 6-3 6-4 win over the wildcard pairing of Germany’s Philipp Petzschner and Dominic Thiem of Austria.

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Federer Opens Bid For Sixth Indian Wells Title

  • Posted: Mar 10, 2018

Federer Opens Bid For Sixth Indian Wells Title

Mar102018

Thiem, Dimitrov begin their BNP Paribas Open campaigns

It is rare these days Roger Federer has a score to settle with an opponent he has lost to and never beaten before. The defending BNP Paribas Open champion will earn that chance on Saturday when he takes on Federico Delbonis in the second round.

Federer trails the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head ledger 0-1 after the Argentine prevailed on clay in Hamburg in 2013. Delbonis advanced to the second-round showdown after he saved two match points to deny American Ryan Harrison in three sets.

Much like their lone prior encounter, the No. 67 in the ATP Rankings will look to dictate play with his powerful lefty forehand against the five-time Indian Wells champion. Delbonis’s best result came two years ago when he stunned then No. 2 Andy Murray to reach the fourth round.

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Federer is contesting his 450th match at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level, having compiled a 350-99 record. He is bidding for a record sixth BNP Paribas Open title – his 28th Masters 1000 crown – and arrives having reclaimed the No. 1 ATP Ranking with his 97th ATP World Tour title in Rotterdam.

Should the Swiss bow out before the semi-finals, though, he will relinquish the No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal. Federer is undefeated in 2018 having also successfully defended his Australian Open crown in January.

The man Federer defeated for the title in Rotterdam, Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, will open his Indian Wells campaign on Saturday against talented Spanish lefty Fernando Verdasco. In a match sure to fill the Hot Shots reels, Dimitrov will carry a 2-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into the match but the pair hasn’t met since 2015.

Dimitrov is coming off a surprise opening loss to Malek Jaziri in Dubai, while Verdasco fell in the opening round in Acapulco to Diego Schwartzman. Former World No. 7 Verdasco also lost to Schwartzman in the final of the Rio Open in the week before.

Opening the day’s play on Stadium 1, it will be a battle of the single-handed backhands when Austrian No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem meets #NextGenATP Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas for the second time. Thiem prevailed in two tight sets in the quarter-finals in Doha in January but saw enough in his opponent to suggest the 19-year-old could rise to at least the Top 20 in the ATP Rankings. Tsitsipas took down Moldovan Radu Albot in his opening match.

In an all-#NextGenATP showdown, American Taylor Fritz will square off for the first time against Russian World No. 27 Andrey Rublev for a place in the third round. Fritz saved a match point in his opening match against his groomsman, #NextGenATP American Reilly Opelka. Rublev started the year with a runner-up showing in Doha while Fritz owns a 14-3 record on the ATP Challenger Tour this season.

A year ago, Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas held match two match points at the BNP Paribas Open before falling to Pablo Carreno Busta in a quarter-final thriller. On Saturday, the No. 30 seed faces a stern test in his 2018 Indian Wells opener against #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

The 18-year-old Shapovalov cruised past Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in his first-round match. Both are coming off recent semi-final runs, with Cuevas reaching the last four at last week’s Sao Paulo Open on clay and Shapovalov progressing as far on hard court at the Delray Beach Open in late February.

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Indian Wells: Johanna Konta suffers shock defeat in BNP Paribas second round

  • Posted: Mar 10, 2018

British number one Johanna Konta suffered a shock straight-set defeat by teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the second round at Indian Wells.

World number 11 Konta lost 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to her Czech 54th-ranked opponent.

She failed to convert four set points in the first set and led 4-2 in the second against 18-year-old Vondrousova.

Konta, 26, has reached just one quarter-final in 2018 and only won eight matches since reaching the 2017 Wimbledon semi-finals.

She was erratic on serve against Vondrousova, landing only 51% of her first serves, and was broken in her opening two service games to fall 3-0 behind.

The Briton recovered to lead 6-5, but then failed to take four chances to win the set on the Czech’s serve and eventually lost it on a tie-break.

She broke serve in the fifth game of the second set for a 3-2 lead – but then lost four games in a row from 4-2 up to concede the match.

Konta’s only quarter-final this season came in Brisbane in the first tournament of 2018, and she also lost in the second round of the Australian Open in January.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

Konta had plenty of opportunities to win this match – but for all the progress she feels she is making off the court, she lacks conviction on it.

After a ragged start, Konta fought back strongly and had four set points to win the first set before playing a scrappy tie-break with a couple of double faults.

In the second set, she led 4-2 but lost momentum after Vondrousova’s medical time out for a toe problem, and lost the last four games.

Konta’s serve was not a trusty weapon, and she now heads to Miami to defend her title on the back of just one quarter-final appearance in 10 tournaments.

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