Tennis News

Martina Hingis will face top-ranked Serena Williams and two former No. 1 players in World Team Tennis competition.

The WTT announced its 10-team schedule on Thursday. Hingis will play for the New York Buzz and face Williams on July 9 at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Hingis is a five-time Grand Slam singles champion and the youngest woman to be ranked No. 1. She retired for a second time in 2007, when she was given a two-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine. She denied taking the drug but did not appeal the ruling.

Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki will begin their grass-court seasons at Eastbourne.

Clijsters celebrated her return to professional tennis following a two-year layoff with victory at the 2009 U.S. Open, where the 26-year-old Belgian beat Wozniacki in the final.

Clijsters, who won the title at Eastbourne in 2005, said the tournament would provide her with solid preparation for Wimbledon.

Elena Dementieva believes a relaxed schedule has been the secret to her success so far in 2010 and hopes it pays off at the BNP Paribas Open.

The No. 4 seed is coming off victories already this year at the Medibank International, in Sydney, beating Serena Williams in the final; and a victory at the Open GDF Suez in Paris.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Dementieva, ranked seventh in the world, spoke about her successes so far this year and her strategy to win at the BNP Paribas Open.

American teenager Sloane Stephens won her first match at WTA Tour level at the tender age of 16 as she beat Lucie Hradecka to advance to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Stephens had to fight for it but eventually beat the Czech 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (9-7) to go through.

But hers was a rare American success as Shenay Perry and Melanie Oudin made quick exits,

Perry lost 6-2 4-6 6-3 to Karolina Sprem, while Oudin went down 3-6 6-3 6-0 to Italian Roberta Vinci.

Melanie Oudin made a strong start but wasn't able to escape a tricky first round encounter against Roberta Vinci, falling to the crafty Italian in a see-saw battle, 36 63 60.

Oudin, ranked No.41 in the world - America's No.3 player, with the Williams sisters both in the Top 5 - started quickly, capturing the first set in 34 minutes. But she was broken in a four deuce game in the fourth game of the second set and Vinci took over from there, taking that middle set and rolling through the decider at love.

The Serbian goes into BNP Paribis Open ranked just behind Roger Federer in the world, as he strengthens ties to the U.S.

Roger Federer and former tennis greats Pete Sampras, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf will play in exhibition matches on Friday to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Andy Murray believes the players should be involved in deciding who leads Britain's Davis Cup side should current captain John Lloyd be asked to leave.

Lloyd is under pressure after GB's loss to Lithuania, which means they will drop into the Davis Cup's lowest tier if they lose to Turkey in July.

"I would like to think the players ... should have a strong say on who they think should come in," said Murray.

"It's very important the players are comfortable with who the captain is."

Mardy Fish, the BNP Paribas Open runner-up in 2008, beat Michael Berrer of Germany, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 in a first-round match Thursday at the Tennis Garden.

Fish, 28, sidelined most of the second half of last season due to a fractured rib and left knee surgery, will face No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who won that 2008 final in three sets and is 3-0 against him.

“I feel like I can beat him but I haven’t,” Fish said of Djokovic. And for a while against Berrer, it didn’t look as if he’d get to try again.

Italy's Roberta Vinci booked a second-round clash with two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over rising US teen star Melanie Oudin at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Thursday.

Unheralded American Sloane Stephens, 16, booked a second-round match with defending champion and 12th seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

Stephens, ranked 747th in the world, beat Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (9/7).

While men's first-round action continues on Friday, the women's second round gets under way.