James Blake withdrew Monday from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, citing a sore right knee that had been bothering him the past couple of weeks.
Blake had been seeded second in the tournament but withdrew from Memphis for a second straight year because he said he felt he wouldn’t be able to play a competitive match. He reached the finals here in 2000 and was ninth in the ATP rankings Monday.
Fourth-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France retired hurt against Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the first round of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Monday.
Rochus was leading 6-3, 2-0 when Santoro quit with a right shoulder injury according to tournament organizers.
Eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Croatia - seeded for only the second time in an ATP tournament - hit 11 aces in beating Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-3, 6-1.
The United States will host France on indoor hard courts in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
The defending champions will play the French team April 11-13 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the International Tennis Federation said Monday.
The last time the teams played, France beat the U.S. on clay at Roland Garros in the 2002 semifinals.
Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-0 Monday to advance to the second round of the Dubai Championships.
Dementieva saved two set points in the first set and then breezed through the second after Schnyder had to take a medical time-out with a pulled right hamstring.
“I knew it would be a tough opening match against Patty, and that’s how it turned out,” Dementieva said.
Michael Llodra of France won his third career title Sunday, beating Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the ABN Amro final.
Llodra previously won the Ordina Open in 2004 and last month defeated Jarkko Nieminen to win in Adelaide, Australia.
All eight seeded players, including second-ranked Rafael Nadal, lost in the opening two rounds.
Andy Roddick used his overpowering serve to win the SAP Open for the third time in his career, beating Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday.
The top-seeded Roddick never even faced a break point in the final as Stepanek had no answer for his booming serve. Roddick closed out each set with an ace to win his 23rd career title.
There were only two service breaks in the entire match. The fourth-seeded Stepanek lost his serve at love to open the match and never recovered.
Spanish qualifier Nuria Llagostera Vives won her second WTA Tour title, defeating Maria Emilia Salerni 6-0, 6-4 Sunday in the Copa Colsanitas final.
Despite sweeping the first set, Llagostera Vives rallied from 4-2 down in the second.
“I wanted to be aggressive for the entire match and not give my opponent any chance, not let her breathe,” Llagostera Vives said.
She didn’t drop a set in winning three matches in qualifying, then five in the main draw.
David Nalbandian earned his eighth career title, rallying to defeat Jose Acasuso 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 Sunday at the Copa Telmex final.
“I’m very happy to win at home,” said the 11th-ranked Nalbandian. “It’s beautiful to pull off something I could never do before here.”
Former Argentina soccer captain Diego Maradona was in the crowd at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
Acasuso won the first set by taking advantage of Nalbandian’s errors on long rallies.
Maria Sharapova has yet to lose in 2008, as she defeated Vera Zvonareva at Qatar for her second win of the year.
SAN JOSE, Califor- nia: Top seed Andy Roddick won his first title of the year by beating Radek Stepanek 6-4 7-5 in the final of the San Jose Open.
