Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo will play at the Eastbourne grass-court tournament, a warmup to Wimbledon. Mauresmo, who won her second-round match at the French Open on Wednesday, said she will compete at Devonshire Park on June 19-24. Mauresmo regained her No. 1 ranking in March after winning the Australian Open and titles in Paris and Antwerp.

The International Tennis Federation sent condolences to the Iraqi Tennis Federation on Tuesday following the deaths of a coach and two players in Baghdad. Gunmen shot and killed coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and players Nasir Al-Hatam and Wissam Adel Auda on Friday, reportedly because they were wearing shorts.

Venus Williams pays enough attention to her tennis to know she no longer is ranked in the top 10. Precisely where she stands, however, is a bit of a mystery to her. “What am I ranked?” Williams asked Monday after beating Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-4, 6-3 in the first round at the French Open. Told her ranking, she asked: “What am I seeded?” When that reply came, she answered: “Oh, man.

Showing the steady baseline game that helped him win the French Open two years ago, Gaston Gaudio began his bid for another title Monday by beating qualifier Roko Karanusic 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. The No. 10-seeded Gaudio has yet to win a tournament this year and arrived in Paris with a three-match losing streak.

Top-seeded Benjamin Kohlloeffel moved into position to become UCLA’s first NCAA men’s singles champion in 31 years, beating Mississippi’s Erling Tveit 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals Sunday. “I don’t think either of us played their best tennis,” Kohlloeffel said. “I guess I was the better of the worse. I don’t know what was wrong.

Andy Roddick got through a second practice session at Roland Garros on his injured left ankle with no apparent problems Sunday and his coach said the fifth-seeded American probably will play at the French Open. “It looks that way right now,” said John Roddick, Andy’s older brother and coach. “The progress has been faster than we expected, and with the Tuesday start, it looks good.” The clay-court…

When Amelie Mauresmo sat down for her pre-tournament news conference at the French Open, the chair broke. She took a tumble, then rose with a laugh, able to shake off her latest collapse at Roland Garros. When the tournament begins Sunday, the Frenchwoman will be more than the hometown favorite. She’s ranked No.

If Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are going to build a rivalry for the ages, it wouldn’t hurt the TV ratings or buzz factor if there were a bit of animosity — or at least a difference of opinion. Well, it looks like they’ve got the latter. Both usually say all the right things about the other’s talent and place in the game, but a touch of tension arises when it comes to Federer’s contention that…

Prospects for U.S. women at the French Open already seemed bleak, what with Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport sidelined, and Venus Williams a bit rusty. After Friday’s draw, things look about as tough as could be. Of the 12 Americans in the women’s field, Venus Williams is the only one who’s seeded, and most of the 11 others drew top opponents right from the start.

Two-time champion Serena Williams withdrew from Wimbledon on Friday because of a chronic knee injury. She had also withdrawn from the French Open, which starts Sunday. Wimbledon starts June 26. Williams won Wimbledon in 2002 and 2003, beating her older sister Venus in both finals. She reached the third round last year, while Venus won the title for the third time.

Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo and No. 3 Maria Sharapova withdrew Sunday from the Italian Open, an important clay-court tuneup for the French Open. Mauresmo, the two-time defending champion in Rome, said she had a cold and fever. Sharapova has a bruised bone in her right ankle. Mauresmo lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne in the German Open semifinals Saturday.

Lleyton Hewitt has withdrawn from next week’s Hamburg Masters Series tennis tournament because of a calf muscle injury, his management team said in a statement Friday. The injury means Hewitt will play the second Grand Slam of the year with only one clay-court warmup tournament — at Poertschach, Austria, beginning May 22, one week before the French Open.

Top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 3 David Nalbandian reached the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters on Thursday. Federer dispatched 14th-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in 56 minutes, while Nalbandian beat Alberto Martin of Spain 7-5, 6-4 for his eighth straight victory. The only trouble for Federer, who needed a second-set tiebreaker Wednesday to eliminate Italian wild card…

Martina Hingis beat fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-2 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the German Open. Defending champion Justine-Henin Hardenne joined Hingis in the next round with a 6-1, 6-0 rout of 15th-seeded Maria Kirilenko. Li Na of China won 6-1, 6-0 against Colombia’s Catalina Castano.