Tennis Capsules: Blake to play 6-foot-10 Karlovic in Davis Cup

POREC, Croatia - James Blake knows the importance of winning the opening match in Davis Cup competition, and the American faces that task when he meets huge-serving Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.

Blake will lead the U.S. team in the quarterfinals after Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick withdrew because of a hip injury. Roddick pulled out Monday, a day after losing an epic five-set final to Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

"If you win, it relieves a lot of pressure for the second singles," Blake said after Thursday's draw for the best-of-five series.

The 6-foot-10 Karlovic reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, losing to Federer. Karlovic served up a record 51 aces in a match last week at Wimbledon, and 55 at the French Open.

"You have to take chances of your rare opportunities against him, maybe in tiebreaks, and try to keep your serve," Blake said.

Mardy Fish, who replaced Roddick, will play Croatia's No. 1 Marin Cilic in the second singles on Friday.

Fish had to make last-minute schedule changes to arrive at the Croatian seaside resort.

"I'm obviously excited to fill in for Andy," he said. "That's my obvious role in the past couple of years."

This will be Croatia's fifth appearance in the quarterfinals, but it's bidding to reach the semifinals for the first time since winning the competition in 2005. Croatia has won 10 of its last 11 home ties.

Cilic, ranked No. 15, said Croatia's chances in the series are 50-50. He considers Mike and Bob Bryan, the top-ranked doubles team, as a major American advantage.

"Their almost assured victories in the doubles in the Davis Cup have a huge influence," Cilic said. "They give a major boost to the single players to make them more relaxed."

In doubles play Saturday, the Bryan twins will meet Karlovic and Lovro Zovko. In the reverse singles on Sunday, Cilic will play Blake and Karlovic will face Fish.

The United States, the 32-time champion, has never beaten Croatia in Davis Cup competition. The two nations have met twice, in 2002 and in 2005.

The U.S., the 2007 Davis Cup champion, is bidding to reach the semifinals for the fourth year in a row. Last year, the Americans lost to eventual champion Spain in the semifinals.

The winner of the best-of-five series will face the Czech Republic or Argentina in the semifinal in September.

Czechs to face Argentina in Davis Cup quarterfinals

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic - Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic will face Juan Monaco of Argentina in the opening singles match of the Davis Cup quarterfinals series.

Thursday's draw also put Ivo Minar, who replaced Radek Stepanek in the singles competition, against Juan Martin del Potro on indoor carpet at CEZ Arena.

Stepanek was ruled out of singles because of a knee injury he suffered at Wimbledon last week, but he will play doubles on Saturday with Lukas Dlouhy. They will face Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer.

The winner of the best-of-five series will face the United States or Croatia in the semifinal in September.

Spain plays Germany without Nadal, Ferrer

MADRID - Davis Cup defending champion Spain will play without injured Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer when it faces Germany in the quarterfinals.

Nadal was ruled out with knee tendinitis, which kept him out of the championship matches last year against Argentina. Ferrer is out with a muscle strain.

Fernando Verdasco will play Andreas Beck and Tommy Robredo will face Philipp Kohlschreiber in Friday's opening matches.

In Saturday's doubles, Verdasco returns to partner with Feliciano Lopez against Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev. Reverse singles on Sunday closes out the contest at the 12,000-capacity Puerto Banus bull ring.

Wimbledon finals ratings best in 10 years

NEW YORK - Roger Federer and Andy Roddick's epic Wimbledon final last Sunday was the most-viewed men's final at the All England Club in 10 years.

NBC said Thursday that an average of 5.71 million people tuned in to watch Federer win his record-setting 15th Grand Slam title. The number was the highest since Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi in the 1999 final, attracting 5.85 million viewers.

The 3.8 rating and 10 share was the best for a men's final since Sampras defeated Patrick Rafter in 2000, and surpassed last year's classic between Federer and Rafael Nadal by 9 percent.

Federer beat Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 in a match that lasted 4 hours, 16 minutes. The fifth set was the longest in major final history.

Two-time defending champion Santoro wins

NEWPORT, R.I. - Two-time defending champ Fabrice Santoro of France won his rain-delayed opening round match, beating Italy's Flavio Cipolla, 6-3, 7-5, at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Thursday.

Santoro, 36, the oldest singles player on the ATP tour, had his match postponed by heavy rain Tuesday and halted in the first set Wednesday.

The second-seeded Santoro will face 2002 Newport champ Taylor Dent in the second round Friday.

"I feel like they are very happy to see me back," said Santoro, who promised to return for one more year if he won Newport last year.

But he wasn't about to make that commitment again.

"I don't want to promise anything I can't hold," he said. "I feel like it's time for me to retire at the end of the year and start a new life."

In other opening round matches, seventh-seeded American Kevin Kim advanced when Sebastien Grosjean retired after the second set with a shoulder injury; lucky loser Rajeev Ram ousted Alejandro Falla of Columbia, 6-4, 7-5; eighth-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine beat Canada's Frank Dancevic, 7-6 (9), 2-6, 7-5; Austria's Samuel Groth edged Brazil's Ricardo Mello, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3; and Belgium's Olivier Rochus defeated Alexander Peya of Austria, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

After two days of heavy late-afternoon rain, the singles matches didn't get under way until late in the afternoon to allow the soggy courts to get in better condition.

"The way the courts were, they were marginal for a guy to go out and cover the whole court," said tournament director Mark Stenning about why the doubles were played first.

Dulko saves match points to make Bastad semis

BASTAD, Sweden - Unseeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina saved match points for the second straight day, eliminating second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (6) Thursday in the Swedish Open quarterfinals.

Dulko saved two match points at 6-4 down in the tiebreaker, rallying to win 8-6. The day before, she staved off four match points to defeat fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea in the second round.

Seeking her fourth career title, Dulko will face Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the semifinals. The Spaniard beat seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki edged Maria Kirilenko of Russia 7-5, 7-6 (4). Kirilenko had set point in the first and served for the second at 5-4.

Wozniacki will play third-seeded Flavia Pennetta, who stopped Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 6-2.

Tennis player suspended, fined for racial abuse

LONDON - An Australian tennis player has been suspended for six months for racial abuse.

The ATP says former Australian Open junior champion Brydan Klein was penalized for making a racial slur during a qualifying match against South Africa's Raven Klaasen on June 13 at the grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, England.

The ATP says the 19-year-old Klein has been fined an additional $10,000 on top of the $14,000 fine he received on site. Klein was found guilty of aggravated behavior under the ATP Code of Conduct.

The suspension covers all ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events.

The final two months of the suspension and extra fine will be waived if he successfully completes a racial sensitivity training course.

2 men arrested for stalking tennis player Mirza

HYDERABAD, India - Police in India have arrested two men for stalking tennis player Sania Mirza.

Police nabbed Ajay Singh Yadav on Thursday as he tried to barge into Mirza's house apparently to profess his love and seeking to marry Mirza a day before she is to be engaged to Sohram Mirza.

Police said Singh reached the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, rushing to Mirza's house and demanding to see her. Police took him into custody when he refused to leave.

Police says he's as an engineering student. The arrest came a day after another engineering student was arrested when he tried to enter Mirza's house. The student threatened to commit suicide if Mirza's engagement ceremony was not canceled.

-- Omar Farooq