Fabrice Santoro News

Fabrice Santoro returned to the place where it all began to close the curtain on a remarkable and entertaining 20-year career.

James Blake of the United States beat French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Masters on Sunday.

Paris - Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, once nicknamed "the magician" by Pete Sampras for his habit of mystifying bigger, stronger opponents, could perform one final, record-breaking trick before his remarkable career ends.

Halloween, October 31, has been a salient day in the history of tennis - " highlighted by the pro debut of Venus Williams in 1994.

The USTA announced on Monday that Mercedes-Benz USA has signed a four-year deal to become the "Official Vehicle of the US Open" starting in 2010.

Benjamin Becker and Fabrice Santoro face tough opposition Monday in Lyon. Third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach held off the first-time pairing of Marco Chiudinelli and Peter Luczak 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals Monday at the Bank Austria TennisTrophy , an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament contested in Vienna.

Igor Andreev is playing in St. Petersburg for the first time in five years. There are six Russians in second round action Thursday at the St.

Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed two tiebreaks to overcome American Kevin Kim 7-6 7-6 and reach the Lyon Grand Prix second round on Tuesday.

Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 Tuesday in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix.

KREMLIN CLASH: Vera Zvonareva whipped Ioana Raluca Olaru, while Jelena Jankovic avenged her elimination by Yaroslava Shvedova at the US Open AP , MOSCOW Thursday, Oct 22, 2009, Page 19 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia serves to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday.

Exit Strategy: Q&A With Marat Safin Below is part two of Tom Perrotta's Q&A with Marat Safin.

Wayne Odesnik made a memorable Moscow debut today. The 91st-ranked lefthander broke serve six times and fought off a match point in the second set to surprise second-seeded Victor Hanescu, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, in a two hour, 15-minute opening-round match at the Kremlin Cup.

Second-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania and fourth-seeded Russian favorite Igor Andreev were a pair of upset victims Tuesday at the $1.08 million Kremlin Cup tennis event.

Second seed Victor Hanescu was handed his fifth consecutive loss on Tuesday, squandering a match point in a losing effort to Wayne Odesnik.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will take a 2-4 record into his second round clash against Richard Gasquet.

Marat Safin - the most popular man in China at the moment - was celebrated today at the China Open after his quarterfinal match against Rafael Nadal .

Tokyo: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame swirling on-court winds to beat his compatriot Richard Gasquet for a place in the quarter-finals at the Japan Open tennis tournament yesterday.

Hewitt is into the quarters in Tokyo. Lleyton Hewitt has fought back from one set down to defeat French veteran Fabrice Santoro in the second round of the Japan Open on Thursday.

Lleyton Hewitt has eased into the second round of the $US1,226,500 Japan Open with a 6-1 7-5 win over local wildcard Tatsuma Ito.

They're a combined 67 years old with 512 singles match victories at the top level of professional tennis and $8.6 million in prize money.