TENNIS in DEPTH.

Marcos Baghdatis fought back from a poor opening to beat Juan Ignacio Chela and reach the quarter-finals of the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, Connecticut.

The Cypriot struggled during the first set against his Argentinian opponent, failing to win a single service game as he lost it 6-1.

But he regrouped to comfortably take the next two sets 6-3 6-2 and claim victory.

Fifth seed Andrey Golubev was the biggest casualty as he was edged out 6-3 3-6 7-6 (9/7) by Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Golubev was not the only seed to fall with Germany’s eighth seed Florian Mayer also coming off worst in his tie with Dutch 12th seed Thiemo De Bakker, who won 6-7 (2/7) 6-1 7-5.

Sixteenth seed Victor Hanescu exited after losing 7-6 (7/4) 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 to Radek Stepanek. Seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov was defeated by 10th seed Viktor Troicki having seen off American wild card James Blake in a held-over second-round match earlier in the day.

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Czech tennis players Radek Stepanek and Nicole Vaidisova have tied the knot in Prague.

They married Saturday in St. Vitus Cathedral, the country’s biggest and most famous church.

Czech public radio reported that guests included ice hockey star Jaromir Jagr and tennis player Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who reached her first WTA final at the Prague Open on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Stepanek,ranked No. 29 and was once engaged to Martina Hingis, missed most of the season with health problems. Vaidisova, who is 21 and a former top 10 player, retired this year after struggling with form.

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Ivo Karlovic and Radek Stepanek have both withdrawn from Wimbledon starting on Monday because of injury.

Stepanek was seeded 22 but is out with knee trouble, which will also sideline him for the Czech Republic’s Davis Cup quarter-final with Chile next month.

The big-serving Croatian Karlovic was due to have been seeded 25th, but has been troubled by a foot injury.

Victor Hanescu of Romania has been elevated to number 31 seed with the remaining seed still to be announced.

At 6ft 10, Karlovic is the tallest player on the tour and at last year’s Championships reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final, losing to Roger Federer.

Karlovic was also thought a formidable opponent on grass because of his unique serve, which produced a remarkable 158 aces on his run to the last eight at SW19.

The 31-year-old reached round four of the Australian Open this year, before he was beaten by Rafael Nadal.

Stepanek, also 31, reached the final of the Brisbane International in January but has failed to survive beyond the second round of any other tournament this year, losing in the first round of the Australian Open to Karlovic.

He announced in March that he was suffering from fatigue syndrome and withdrew from last week’s grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany, because of throat inflammation.

His best finish at Wimbledon is also the quarter-finals, which was in 2006.

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 Nicole Vaidisova has retired at the young age of 20 and is planning to marry long-time boyfriend Radek Stepanek in July.

The Czech was once one of the brightest new stars, and her indisputably good looks only added to her popularity, but in the recent years her results were more than disappointing, especially having in mind her wasted talent.

The fact that Vaidisova lost in the first round of an ITF tournament this year is making her retirement from the sport less of a shocking decision. Her last tennis match was loss to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in Memphis second round last month.

Vaidisova has just informed the upcoming Sony Ericsson Open in Miami that she’s rejecting a wildcard and pulled out of all her tournaments the rest of the season.

Vaidisova is ending her tennis career ranked 176th, with six WTA Tour titles under her belt – the last one came a long time ago, in Strasbourg in 2006. In addition, she can be proud of two semifinals Grand Slam showings, at the 2006 French Open and 2007 Australian Open. (source: Tennis Reporters)

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Defending champion Radek Stepanek became the first defending champion in two decades to lose in the first round of the SAP Open, falling 6-3, 6-4 to Xavier Malisse on Wednesday.

The third-seeded Stepanek was broken once in each set to become the first defending champion to lose his first match the following year at this tournament since Brad Gilbert was knocked out by Gary Muller in 1990. Stepanek beat Mardy Fish for the title last year in San Jose after losing the championship the previous year to Andy Roddick.

 Stepanek wasn’t the only seeded player to fall Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Tommy Haas lost his second-round match to Denis Istomin 7-6 (3), 6-2. Haas had five set points on Istomin’s serve in the first set before falling in the tiebreaker. He double-faulted on break point in his first service game of the second set and then was broken at love to lose the match.

In other second-round matches Wednesday, Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-0, and Tomas Berdych beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-2.

In the featured night matches, top-seeded Roddick was set to take on Ryler DeHeart, and second-seeded Fernando Verdasco faced Yen-Hsun Lu in first-round matches.

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Andy Roddick survived a second-set collapse to defeat defending champion Radek Stepanek and win the Brisbane International title in straight sets.

The American, who has been out for three months with a knee injury, won 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (9-7) after his Czech opponent double-faulted on match point.

Top seed Roddick led 4-0 in the second set and 6-1 in the tie-break, but Stepanek hit back to hold a set point.

Roddick won the next two points before Stepanek’s error gifted him victory.

“I don’t think I’ve ever squandered a lead where I’ve been putting in first serves and making approach shots,” said Roddick.

“The first time I served for it I had a double fault, but I don’t know that I missed a ball apart from that. The next one I actually made five out of six first serves and again was coming in.

“Once he got down he kind of loosened up and played more aggressively.

“I certainly don’t know if I expected to come and win my first tournament after a pretty extended lay-off.”

It is the 27-year-old’s first title in Australia in his first event back after recovering from the left knee injury he suffered in October.

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Gael Monfils fought back from a set down to topple  American James Blake 3-6 6-3 6-4 in a highly entertaining quarterfinal at Pat Rafter Arena.

The third seed’s victory has set up an intriguing clash with defending champion Radek Stepanek, who easily overcame another unseeded American in Wayne Odesnik, on Saturday.

It took Monfils four match-points to finally sink Blake, after breaking him in the seventh game of the deciding set.

Blake survived the third match point with a fortunate forehand that clipped the net cord and gave the world No.13 no chance.

One of the characters of men’s tennis, Monfils immediately walked to the net and brushed the cord before waving his finger at it and telling it not to hurt him again, leaving the Brisbane crowd in stitches.

Blake’s luck didn’t last much longer as Monfils, who served 13 aces for the match, ended his tournament with the next two points.

Blake had three more break-point chances in the match but Monfils saved seven of his nine.

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Andy Roddick’s troublesome knee was given a stern test but the big-serving American came through with flying colours in his return to the ATP tour on Monday night.

Australian Davis Cup regular Peter Luczak gave Roddick a worrying first-set scare before the top seed prevailed 7-6(5) 6-1 in his opening match at the Brisbane International.

Luczak, who has worked his way to No.77 in the rankings after an injury-hit 2009, was up 5-3 in the tense tiebreak but failed to close out the set by dropping clutch points on serve.

Roddick swiftly grabbed the opportunity given by two unforced Luczak errors and then quickly ran through the second set with his signature booming serve firing on all cylinders.

The world No.7 iced the first set with an ace, one of an amazing 15 for the match, with his weapon hitting speeds beyond 220 km/h.

Roddick finished 2009 early to rest his knee but after three months rest he moved as well as ever during his one hour and 23 minutes at Pat Rafter Arena.

Defending champion Radek Stepanek used all his smarts to work out and then work over local John Millman on Monday night to maintain his unbeaten record at the Brisbane International.

The crafty Czech took just over an hour to dispose of Millman 6-4 6-0 on Pat Rafter Arena to set up a possible second round clash with another Queenslander, Bernard Tomic.

Brisbane baseline slugger Millman was an instant crowd favourite and rose to the occasion in the opening set when he went shot for shot with the world No.12.

His first faltering step came in the eighth game as Stepanek broke to take a 5-3 lead and serve for the set.

But to Millman’s credit he immediately broke back to the delight of the parochial crowd, which regularly chanted for the 20 year old.

He was set to defy his world ranking of 307 and level at 5-all when 40-15 up on serve but consecutive double faults gave the Czech his chance.

Stepanek grabbed it with both hands to take the set and the wind went from the popular local’s sails as he lost the next seven games in his ATP tour debut.

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