Serena Williams out of Rome Masters

ROME, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Serena Williams lost to Patty Schnyder in her first match at the Rome Masters on Tuesday.

Williams, playing her first match in almost a month, appeared to be moving with difficulty at times during her 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 loss on clay at Foro Italico.

Dinara Safina, the player who overtook the top spot from Williams, bumped off Virginie Razzano of France 7-6 (1), 6-1.

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic and French Open champion AnaIvanovic all advanced to the third round, as play was disrupted by rain and went late into the night.

Williams was broken twice in the first set, came back in the second set but the 2002 champion went down 5-0 in the third, and fell for the first time before the quarterfinals in nine visits to Rome. Williams also lost three consecutive tour matches for the first time since the end of 2007.

Schnyder, ranked 20th, won for the fourth time in 12 matches with Williams, and second time in Rome.

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China Open seeks frames from Spain

BEIJING, May 6 -- Spanish tennis fans will have the chance to travel to China for the China Open in October thanks to an overseas promotion launched by tournament organizers last week.

A campaign - the Starry China Open, Charming Beijing picture exhibition - was launched last Monday inviting Spanish sports fans ahead of the Madrid Open to send their photographs from the Beijing Olympics or previous China Opens.

The two entrants with the best snaps will be invited to visit Beijing and watch the China Open.

An additional 10 people will receive a ticket to the Madrid Open and another 20 will each be sent a souvenir from the China Open. Winners will be announced at a promotion banquet on May 16 during the Madrid Open.

After five highly successful years, the China Open has grown to become a combination of a WTA Crown Pearl and ATP 500 tournament, making it Asia's premier competition and only second to the four grand slams, on the same level as the Madrid, Miami and Indian Wells ppens. The total prize money for the tournament has accordingly risen to 6,600,000 U.S. dollars from 1,100,000 U.S. dollars.

The event will be held at the Beijing Olympic National Tennis Center, the venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, from Oct 2-11.

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Nalbandian suffers exit in Estoril Open first round

LISBON, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Estoril Open twice champion David Nalbandian, fifth-seeded, suffered early brake after losing 6-2, 6-2 in the first round to Paul Capdeville of Chile in Estoril of Portugual on Monday.

Nalbandian, the 2002 and 2006 champion, was broken once in each set to lose in 52 minutes.

The Argentine, who won the Sydney International in January, had injured a hip at the Barcelona Open last month..

Top-seeded Gilles Simon beat American Robert Kendrick 6-3, 7-6 (7) Monday in the first round.

Simon was twice broken in the first set but recovered to break his opponent three times.

The Frenchman started strongly in the second set, breaking Kendrick's serve in the opening game, but the American broke back in the sixth before Simon took the tie-break 9-7.

Simon, a semifinalist at the Open 13 in Marseille and the Dubai Tennis Championships, fired four aces in the match while Kendrick had four double faults.

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Cuba announce team for volleyball World League

HAVANA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Cuban Federation of Volleyball announces on Tuesday that Cuban central and captain Roberlandy Simon leads the national team to represent Cuba at the 20th World League of Volleyball.

The list includes 19 players, among them are central Delvis Dominico, Osmany Camejo, Darien Ferrer and David de la Torre.

The auxiliars are Yoandry Leal, Miguel Dalmau, Henry Bell, Wilfredo Leon and Leonardo Leyva, while the opposes are Raydel Delgado, Rolando Cepeda, Michale Sanchez and Fernando Hernandez.

The throwers will be estn Raydel Hierrezuelo, Yoandri Diaz and Lian Sem Estrada, with the sweepers Gustavo Alvarez and Keibel Gutierrez.

Coach of the team Orlando Samuels announced that the team will travel to Argentina in the coming days to play against a local team between May 16 and 29.

Cuba will debut against Bulgaria on June 12 here, as part of the group "C" in the competition, which also is formed by Russia and Japan.

The Group "A" is formed by U.S., Italy, China and Holland, the "B" is formed by Serbia, France, South Korea and Argentina, while the "D" is formed by Brazil, Poland, Finland and Venezuela.

In the last edition U.S. won the Cup, followed by Serbia and Russia, while Cuba was not able to pass from the first round.

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Diving queen Guo Jingjing to spring into action

BEIJING, May 6 -- China's diving queen Guo Jingjing will return to the pool next week for the fifth stop of the 2009 Diving Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale, the US.

China'sGuoJingjing(top)andWuMinxia
diveduringthewomen'sthree-metre
synchronisedspringboardfinalatthe
GoodLuckBeijingFINADivingWorldCup
beingheldattheNationalAquaticsCentre
inBeijingFebruary24,2008.
(Xinhua/ReutersPhoto)

After the Beijing Olympic Games last August, when Guo claimed her third and fourth Olympic gold medals, the diving super star enjoyed six months off, shooting advertisements and attending various social activities.

She only returned to training with the national team after the Spring Festival in February.

The US Grand Prix, from May 7-10, will be her first competition and only competition before the National Games qualifications from May 16-22.

The Chinese Swimming Administrative Center considered withdrawing from the US event, because of concerns over the spread of H1N1 flu, but allowed the team to leave Beijing for the US last Sunday.

Guo's teammates include her synchro partner Wu Minxia, Olympic women's 10m platform gold medalists Chen Ruolin and Olympic men's 10m platform silver medalist Zhou Luxin.

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