Tennis Capsules: WTA Tour: SWilliams questionable for US Open

Serena Williams is questionable for the U.S. Open because of her recent foot injury, according to the WTA Tour.

Williams cut her right foot on broken glass at a restaurant shortly after winning Wimbledon. The tour said last week she needed surgery and would miss three tournaments leading up to the Open.

On Monday, tour spokesman Andrew Walker said Williams is questionable for the final Grand Slam of the year. Williams’ return to the Open has been widely anticipated because of her tumultuous semifinal loss there last year, when she threw a tirade at a line judge at the end of a match against Kim Clijsters and was fined a record $82,500.

Because of the injury, Williams is missing the entire World Team Tennis season with the Washington Kastles. Her team said she cut the bottom of her foot and needed stitches.

“Hey guys I’m doing better,” Williams tweeted Monday. “Thanks for all the love.”

On Sunday night she tweeted: “can’t wait to get out of bed & back on the courts & do what i do best!”

Ranked No. 1, Williams won her fourth Wimbledon crown and 13th major title July 3. The injury occurred shortly thereafter in Europe and at first was not believed to be serious.

After hurting her foot, Williams played in an exhibition in Brussels on July 8 against Clijsters before a world-record tennis crowd of 35,681.

Williams attended a WTT match the next night in Glen Falls, N.Y., and did not play but briefly discussed her injury with reporters. When asked how she was able to play against Clijsters, Williams said, “Those Belgian doctors and waffles.”

Williams subsequently withdrew from upcoming tournaments in Istanbul, Cincinnati and Montreal. The last of those, at Montreal, begins Aug. 16, and the U.S. Open starts Aug. 30.

After winning the Australian Open at the end of January, Williams was sidelined through April because of an injured left knee.

Fish cruises to 6-3, 6-3 first-round Atlanta win

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Sixth-seeded Mardy Fish beat James Ward of Great Britain 6-1, 6-2 Monday night in the first round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

No. 8 seed Benjamin Becker of Germany was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Michael Russell, who at 32 is the oldest American ranked in the ATP top 100 world rankings.

Fish took off last week after earning his fourth career title — and his first on grass — July 10 at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I. Winning the tournament moved Fish’s world ranking up 30 spots to 49th.

After taking a couple of days to rest, Fish practiced late last week on hardcourts for the first time since March. He won 21 of his 25 potential points on first serve.

Atlanta is hosting its first ATP event since 2001 and the tour’s first North American summer event on hardcourts as players prepare for the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 30. Top seed Andy Roddick, No. 2 seed John Isner, No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt and fourth seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina will play their first singles matches later in the week.

-- George Henry

Hawthorn retires after 54 years at Fordham

NEW YORK — Bob Hawthorn, the men’s tennis and squash coach at Fordham for 54 years, has retired, ending the longest tenure of any coach in school history.

Hawthorn began his coaching career at Fordham in 1956, one of the last hirings of legendary athletic director Jack Coffey.

A 1953 graduate of Fordham, Hawthorn was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977. He taught at Fordham Prep from 1958 to 2005. He became a registered nurse in 1985.

In February 2006, Hawthorn was inducted into the College Squash Association Hall of Fame and the CSA honored him by creating a Hawthorn Championship Division.

He and his wife live in New Rochelle, where they raised seven children, all of whom attended Fordham and either played or served as manager of the tennis team under their father.

Dushevina, Paszek reach 2nd round of Slovenia Open

PORTOROZ, Slovenia — Sixth-seeded Vera Dushevina of Russia rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over countrywoman Anna Lapushchenkova in the first round of the Slovenia Open on Monday.

Tamira Paszek of Austria, who won the tournament in 2006 but is a wild card this year, also advanced to the second round by beating Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia 7-5, 6-2.

Andreja Klepac of Slovenia lost 6-3, 6-4 to Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay.

Two other Russian players also reached the second round. Virginie Razzano ousted Zuzana Kucova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-5, and Anna Chakvetadze defeated fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1.

Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is set to play on Tuesday. French Open champion Francesca Schiavone withdrew from the tournament because of an injury.

Olaru beats Woerle at Gastein Ladies

BAD GASTEIN, Austria — Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania rallied to beat Kathrin Woerle of Germany 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 Monday in the first round of the Gastein Ladies.

Olaru, who lost to Germany’s Andrea Petkovic in last year’s final, had 11 double-faults but converted her seventh match point. Woerle has yet to win a singles match on the WTA Tour this season.

Alize Cornet of France routed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-0 to set up a second-round match against either the top-seeded Petkovic or Iveta Benesova.

Earlier Monday, Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine saved a match point before beating Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-2.

The 132nd-ranked Koryttseva rallied from 4-0 down in the second set and saved the match point when Malek was serving at 5-4.

Simona Halep of Romania also advanced by defeating Renata Voracova of Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2.

The Gastein Ladies is the final clay-court tournament of the WTA Tour season.

Starace, Fognini advance at German Open

HAMBURG, Germany — Spanish qualifier Pere Riba upset 2009 German Open runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 Monday for a spot in the second round of the clay-court tournament.

Italian duo Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini also reached the second round. Starace defeated German qualifier Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-0 and Fognini beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-4.

In other matches, Florian Mayer of Germany beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 6-1, and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina defeated Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Rochus’ brother Christophe also lost, going out 6-3, 7-6 (6) to Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

Others who advanced included Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Florent Serra of France.