Tuesday, July 21, 2009

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Knowles avoids double elimination By KELSIE JOHNSON ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com: It was a tough day for Mark Knowles at the prestigious Wimbledon tennis tournament yesterday. The Bahamian tennis professional player moved from one grueling match to start another, all in hopes of moving onto the semifinals in both the men's doubles and mixed doubles. Knowles' first match, played in the doubles division with partner Mahesh Bhupathi lasted three hours and 37 minutes and needed two tie-breakers to determine the winner. In the end the ninth seeds, Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman, got the better of Knowles and Bhupathi winning to the tune of 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 5-7 and 4-6. However, all was not lost for Knowles who teamed up with Anna-Lena Groenefeld, in the mixed doubles. The duo played the last game on court 12 yesterday against Canadian Daniel Nestor and Elena Vesnina of Russia. Knowles and Groenefeld, the ninth seeds in the tournament wasted no time in putting away Nestor and Vesnina, 6-4 and 6-4. Nestor, Knowles' former partner, was seeded fifth in the division with his teammate Vesnina. The win places Knowles and Groenefeld in the semifinals against Bob Bryan and Samantha Stosur. This match is scheduled for today at 1 p.m. Bob Bryan is expected to team up with his brother Mike Bryan later on today to play in the semifinal match of the doubles division. The Bryan's will take on Moodie and Norman, the duo who defeated Knowles and Bhupathi yesterday in a three plus hour match. This match was the second longest in the doubles division in this year's tournament for Knowles and Bhupathi who opened with a grueling match that lasted three hours and 15 minutes. As Knowles and Bhupathi moved through the rounds, the matches got harder. The second round match was also a testing one for the Bahamian/Indian duo who got past Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7) and 6-3. Thursday, July 2, 2009