Schnyder in good form for Wimbledon

Schnyder - who reached the fourth round of the French Open earlier this month - looks on form for Wimbledon Keystone

Switzerland's Patty Schnyder has maintained her strong French Open form, beating Slovenian, Martina Sucha 6:2, 5:7, 6:2 in the first round of the Vienna ATP.

By contrast, fellow-Swiss, Emmanuelle Gagliardi, playing in the first round of Britain’s Nottingham ATP, failed to match Schnyder’s win.

Gagliardi was out-played by fourth-seeded Israeli, Anna Smashnova, 2:6, 2:6.

Both tournaments are considered key warm-up opportunities ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.

In other games on Monday, Switzerland’s Michel Kratochvil survived the first round of the $365,000 Nottingham ATP. Starting poorly, he quickly found his touch to eliminate Englishman, Jamie Delgado, in 7:6 (7/5), 6:3.

Across the Channel, compatriot, Yves Allegro had little bother reaching round two of the Hertogenbosch tournament in Holland, beating Spain’s Alex Calatrava, 6:4, 6:2.

Switzerland’s top-ranked male player, Roger Federer, overcame Holland’s Richard Krajicek 6:2, 7:5.

Federer 9th in world

The latest ATP world rankings, released on Monday, saw Federer reach ninth place, behind world number one, Lleyton Hewitt, from Australia.

Kratochvil rose to 46th spot, while Marc Rosset is 114th, and Ivo Heuberger 123rd.

Former women’s number one, Martina Hingis has slid to ninth, after pulling out of the French Open last month. Hingis has also decided to by-pass Wimbledon in order to recuperate from an injury.

swissinfo with agencies