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Mardy Fish beat Olivier Rochus 5-7 6-3 6-4 to win the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, USA

Aravane Rezai beat Gisela Dulko 6-3 4-6 6-4 to win the Collector Swedish Open Women in Bastad, Sweden

Agnes Szavay beat Patty Schnyder 6-2 6-4 to win the GDF SUEZ Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo beat Roberto Bautista-Agut 7-6 (6) 6-4 to win the Open Diputacion Ciudad Pozoblanco in Pozoblanco, Spain

DAVIS CUP

World Group Quarterfinals

France beat Spain 5-0 at Clermont-Ferrand, France

Argentina beat Russia 3-2 at Moscow, Russia

Serbia beat Croatia 4-1 at Split, Croatia

Czech Republic beat Chile 4-1 at Coquimbo, Chile

Americans Zone Group II Second Round: Venezuela leads Peru 2-1; Mexico beat Paraguay 4-1

Americas Zone Group II Playoffs: El Salvador beat Bolivia 4-1; Netherlands Antilles leads Guatemala 2-1

Asia/Oceania Zone Group I First Round Playoffs: Chinese Taipei beat Philippines 4-1; Uzbekistan beat Korea 3-2

Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Second Round: Thailand beat Indonesia 4-1; New Zealand beat Pakistan 3-2

Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Playoffs: Pacific Oceania beat Malaysia 4-1; Hong Kong China beat Sri Lanka 3-2

Europe/Africa Zone Group I First Round Playoffs: Netherlands beat Belarus 4-1

Europe/Africa Zone Group II Second Round: Lithuania beat Ireland 3-2; Slovenia beat Bulgaria 5-0; Portugal beat Cyprus 5-0; Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Estonia 3-2

Europe/Africa Zone Group II Playoffs: Great Britain beat Turkey 5-0; Monaco beat Norway 5-0; Denmark beat Egypt 5-0; Hungary beat FYR Macedonia 4-1

SAYINGS

“We beat Spain, the defending champions. It’s unbelievable.” – Michael Llodra, after leading France over Spain in Davis Cup play.

“It’s magical. They pulled for each other. I hope it’s just the start of a long story for that squad.” – French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget after his team beat two-time defending champion Spain.

“Personally, I had a lot of responsibility with the package that I carried on my back before this tie but right now I feel so relieved that we won. We won in one of the toughest atmospheres against a team that has a lot of success in this competition.” – Novak Djokovic, after leading Serbia over Croatia.

“The only problem is that some words you can understand. Probably when you play in other countries they also say stuff but you don’t understand them.” – Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, commenting on what was said by the passionate Croatian crowd during their Davis Cup doubles match.

“It was a very difficult match but at the end I showed I could win these matches and these tournaments.” – Aravane Rezai, who won her fourth career WTA Tour title, capturing the Collector Swedish Open Women.

“To win two times at home, I can’t describe this feeling.” – Agnes Szavay, a native of Hungary, who successfully defending her GDF SUEZ Grand Prix singles title in Budapest, Hungary.

“I don’t know if any of us said we’re just going to be doubles players. We just excelled on the doubles court a little more than we did on the singles. As much as we would have loved to win more in the singles titles, we did in doubles.” – Todd Woodbridge, as he has partner Mark Woodforde were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“She was fire and I was ice.” – Natasha Zvereva, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame along with her doubles teammate Gigi Fernandez.

“I can’t believe actually that I’m here. This is kind of the last straw. A guy in a wheelchair is being inducted into the Hall of Fame.” – Brad Parkers, a pioneer of wheelchair tennis who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“I’ve certainly lost a lot of heartbreak finals, and it feels good to win one.” – Mardy Fish, after coming from behind to win the Campbell’s International Hall of Fame tournament.

SO LONG, BILLIE

Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams combined to knock Billie Jean King out of one part of the record book. A world record tennis crowd watched Clijsters beat the Wimbledon champion 6-3 6-2 in an exhibition in Brussels, Belgium. The crowd of 35,681 at King Baudouin Stadium surpassed the previous record of 30,472 set in 1973 at the Houston Astrodome in the Battle of Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. It originally was supposed to be an all-Belgian affair, but Williams stepped in when Justine Henin withdrew after injuring her elbow. Another tennis superstar also got into act: Martina Navratilova umpired the match.

STANDING ROOM ONLY

Brussels wasn’t the only spot on the tennis map to have an overflowing crowd. Wimbledon attracted a record crowd for the final Sunday. The All England Club reported that 32,036 spectators attended the final day, which included Rafael Nadal capturing his second men’s singles title, this time with a straight-sets victory over Tomas Berdych. Overall attendance for the two-week tournament was 489,946, the second-highest total for 13 days. The record was set in 2009 when 511,043 fans attended Wimbledon.

SEIZING THE MOMENT

In their first meeting in Davis Cup competition, it was Serbia that came out on top of Croatia. Ranked second in the world, Novak Djokovic won his two singles matches while Nenad Zimonjic showed why he’s one of the top doubles players in the world, teaming victoriously with Janko Tipsarevic as Serbia advanced to the semifinals of the international team tennis competition for the first time. The two countries were formerly part of Yugoslavia. Since they split, Croatia won the Davis Cup in 2005. “This is probably the sweetest victory in my career because this is not just an individual win, but a victory for my country,” Djokovic said after Serbia captured the tie 4-1. “Serbia is writing history by reaching the semifinals. Beating Croatia in this kind of heated atmosphere is really something big.” The tie was played in Split, Croatia.

France crushed two-time defending champion Spain as Gilles Simon and Julien Benneteau wrapped up the 5-0 victory in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Spain played without its top player, Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, while France was missing its top player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It was the first time Spain had been beat 5-0 since 1957, when it lost to South Africa, and it was the first time Spain has lost to France in 87 years. “Hopefully they will keep the same level of play and by September our team will be even stronger,” said French captain Guy Forget. “Maybe it’s our time now.”

David Nalbandian beat Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (5) 6-4 6-3 in the decisive fifth match as Argentina ended Russia’s 17-tie winning streak at home. The last time the Russians had lost at home was to the United States in the 1995 final. Nalbandian has been sidelined with a hamstring problem since April, but he won both of his matches in straight sets, on the opening day downing Nikolay Davydenko 6-4 7-6 (5) 7-6 (6).

It made no difference that Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek stayed at home. The Czech Republic beat Chile 4-1 and advanced to a semifinal matchup against Serbia. Chile’s top player, Fernando Gonzalez, also missed the tie because of injuries. Instead, Ivo Minar and Jan Hajek won their opening day singles in straight sets and the Czech Republic clinched the victory when Lukas Dlouhy and Hajek won the doubles.

SLIPPING

For the first time since November 2003, Roger Federer is not ranked either first or second in the world. The super Swiss tumbled to number three in the world, behind Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, after losing in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Federer also lost in the quarters at Roland Garros in June, which broke a record of 23 consecutive semifinal or better appearances in Grand Slam tournaments going back to the French Open in 2004. Since he was last ranked third in the world, Federer has won 15 of his record 16 Grand Slam tournament singles titles. He is one week short of tying Pete Sampras for the most weeks spent at number one: Sampras leads with 286 weeks.

SHARING THE THRILL

Two doubles teams are among the newest inductees into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Australia’s Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde – the “Woodies” – headed the class of seven inductees into the Newport, Rhode Island, USA, shrine. Also enshrined were doubles partners Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva. The Woodies combined for 11 major titles and 61 ATP Tour championships from 1991-2000, a men’s record that is shared with American twins Bob and Mike Bryan. “I think we won our fourth tournament we played together,” Woodbridge said. “It was close on average to every fourth tournament we won the next 10 years. That’s pretty good business.” Fernandez and Zvereva won 14 Grand Slam tournament titles as a team. Also inducted were Brad Parks, the pioneer of wheelchair tennis, Owen Davidson and Derek Hardwick. The latter was enshrined posthumously.

SPREADING THE WEALTH

The richest purse in tennis will go to the US Open singles champions as each will earn a record USD $1.7 million. The purse for the year’s final Grand Slam tournament will top USD $22.6 million, an increase of USD $1 million from last year. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) said each singles champion can also earn an additional USD $1 million. The bonus money is for the US Open Series, 10 hard-court tournaments that are linked to the US Open. The two-week tournament in New York City begins August 30.

SETTING OFF ALARMS

A first-round match at the Hall of Fame grass-court tournament in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, is being investigated by tennis officials. The investigation was triggered by irregular betting on the match between Great Britain’s Richard Bloomfield and Belgian Christophe Rochus. Bloomfield, ranked number 552^nd in the world, defeated his higher-ranked opponent 7-6 (1) 6-3. “If people are willing to risk four pounds to win one, that is indicative of a substantial gamble,” said Tony Calvin, spokesman for online gambling exchange Betfair. Bloomfield had been rated even money against his 160^th-ranked foe. In the hours before the match, the odds on Bloomfield winning shortened to 1-4. After he won the first set, the odds shortened to 1-8. Notification of the irregular betting pattern was made to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), an independent body created by the sport’s governing bodies. Bloomfield also was involved in a betting controversy in 2006 when he beat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina in a first-round match at Wimbledon.

SINCE WHEN?

When Mardy Fish captured the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, it was the first time since 2003 that Americans had won the Newport, Rhode Island, USA, tournament two years in a row. Fish beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium 5-7 6-3 6-4. Last year, American Rajeev Ram was the winner.

STAYING POWER

Maybe Nicolas Mahut didn’t spend as much time on the grass courts at Newport, Rhode Island, USA, as he did at Wimbledon, but he went one round further. In his first match since his record-setting exploits at Wimbledon, the Frenchman won his opening round match at the Campbell’s International Tennis Hall of Fame Championships, defeating Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-3 1-6 6-3. Mahut lost his second-round match to Canadian Frank Dancevic 7-6 (5) 6-3. Still, it was much better than his record-setting 11-hour, 5-minute loss to John Isner at the All England Club. Mahut lost the fifth set 70-68, which in itself would have been the longest match in tennis history. “Nothing is worse than what I did in Wimbledon,” Mahut said. “Every match, I pray it will be easier. I can’t complain any more.”

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Bastad: Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta beat Renata Voracova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-6 (0) 6-0

Budapest: Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin beat Sorano Cirstea and Anabel Medina Garriguez 6-3 6-3

Newport: Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione beat Santiago Gonzalez and Travis Rettenmaier 6-4 6-4

Pozoblanco: Marcel Granollers and Gerard Granollers-Pujol beat Brian Battistone and Filip Prpic 6-4 4-6 10-4 (match tiebreak)

SITES TO SURF

Stuttgart: www.mercedescup.de/

Bastad: www.swedishopen.org/

Bogota: www.tennissegurosbolivar.com/web/

Palermo: www.internazionalisnaiopendisicilia.it/

Prague: www.pragueopen.cz/

Portoroz: www.sloveniaopen.si/