Henman stumbles again at Rome

Coria broke Henman’s serve in the 15-minute opening game of the match, when the Briton snatched a mid-court forehand wide into the tramlines. He broke again in the fifth game, taking advantage of a double fault and another wide forehand to go 4-1 ahead.

Henman’s unforced errors continued in the second set, with Coria passing his opponent at the net to break in the first game. At 40-15 up in the fifth game, Henman looked to have belatedly found his rhythm, but after failing to put away a smash his opponent fought back to advantage, and the Argentine chased down a drop volley to flick the ball down the line for a winner to go 4-1 up.

Costa joins Federer in Swiss Open field

GSTAAD: French Open champion Albert Costa will play in the Swiss Open in July, organisers said on Monday.

The Spaniard will join defending Gstaad champion and countryman Alex Corretja at the clay court tournament, which will be held between July 7 to 13.

“The quality of the draw has risen to new heights after Albert Costa confirmed his appearance,” the tournament organisers said in a statement. Swiss favourite Roger Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, winners in Munich and Valencia respectively last week, have already confirmed their attendance in Gstaad.

Venus pulls out of German Open

BERLIN: Neither Williams sister will take part in this week’s German Open after Venus pulled out on Monday because of a left abdominal strain.

Venus told organisers she would miss the $ 1.2 million clay court tournament starting on Monday because of the injury which forced her to pull out of the Warsaw Cup final on Sunday.

Venus’s younger sister Serena, the world No 1, has already withdrawn from the Berlin event saying she needs a rest.