David Ferrer is already into his second semifinal of the young 2013 season while Bernard Tomic stays hot in Sydney.

Venus Williams has withdrawn from Auckland.

Notes: (8) Lu opens against Simon, and (6) Lopez vs. (WC) Del Potro; other wildcards to Brit James Ward and Aussie Matthew Ebden; Baghdatis beat Gasquet in last year’s final; Del Potro makes his first tournament appearance since October and only his third in the last 11 months after a right wrist injury that required surgery; American Donald Young lost in the qualifying as did Aussie Carsten Ball; seeds Querrey, Gulbis and Lopez have losing career records in Sydney; the Bryan brothers, winners in 2009, are the top seeds in the doubles; Baghdatis, the only returning champ in the field, is looking to become the first back-to-back winner since James Blake (2007-06); Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt (twice) won back-to-back titles, but no one has one three in a row in Sydney in the Open Era.

Roger and Rafa coming off the final at the cash-grab Abu Dhabi exo where Rafa won in two tiebreaks; organizers shelled out appearance money for world No. 1 Rafa and No. 2 Roger, but it falls off from there with No. 13 Tsonga the No. 3 seed; the Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka gets a wildcard; Federer likely to face two qualifiers in first two matches; Davydenko won the title last year, beating Roger and Rafa; returning champs in the field are Davydenko (2010) and Federer (2006-05).

Notes: Should be called the Spanish Open with four Spaniard leading the seeding and five seeded total.

According to the Times of India, Vijay Amritraj received a “consultancy fee” of $140,000 each year for his association with the ATP Chennai Open, about twice the amount the tournament winner receives. Game, set, match, Vijay.

The Brisbane International in Australia kicks off the 2010 WTA Tour in wild fashion, featuring the return of former world No. 1 Justine Henin, fellow Belgian comeback queen and former No. 1 Kim Clijsters as the top seed, in addition to seeds Nadia Petrova, former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova, Alisa Kleybanova, Aleksandra Wozniak, Melinda Czink and Iveta Benesova.

Roger Federer isn’t above some mind games going into the Australian Open, saying that defending champion Novak Djokovic may have made a mistake switching from Wilson to HEAD right before a Grand Slam: “I mean it’s tough because there’s always a factor with the weather, how do you play, day form, you know, other contenders, the pressure, now a new racquet,” Federer said on Djokovic defending the Aussie Open title. “I’m quite surprised he made a switch like this in the best phase of his career. He can for sure play good tennis, but I think when it comes down to the crunch you just have that bit of a doubt maybe, because you are not quite that comfortable with that racquet. But we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a big test for him.”…

Top-seeded Elena Dementieva, continuing her confident run since capturing gold at the 2008 Olympics, won her 12th career title Saturday in the all-Russian final at the ASC Classic in Auckland, sweeping past unseeded Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-1. ADHEREL Dementieva was successful even without the constant presence of her mother/coach Vera. “The crowd’s support was awesome, [...]

Officials at the Hopman Cup exhibition were shocked when Marat Safin showed up for the event with a black and bloodied eye and cuts on his face after getting in a brawl in Moscow.