Robby Ginepri defeated David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4 Tuesday to advance to the third round of the Paris Masters. Ginepri improved to 4-1 against the Spaniard and next faces either defending champion Tomas Berdych or Olivier Rochus. Dmitry Tursunov moved into the third round when Nicolas Almagro retired with a torn thigh muscle while trailing 6-3, 5-4.

Martina Sucha of Slovakia defeated Chanda Rubin of the United States 6-4, 6-2 in a first-round match of former champions at the Bell Challenge on Monday. Sucha won the title in 2004, four years after Rubin won the championship. Rubin was a top-10 player until she was plagued by injuries to her left knee in 2004.

Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters is scheduled to make her comeback from a two-month injury layoff Wednesday when she begins her defense of her Gaz de France Stars title as the tournament’s new top seed. Clijsters was promoted to the top seed when Nadia Petrova withdrew, citing fatigue. In Monday’s only first-round matches, sixth-seeded Vera Zvonareva beat fellow Russian Vera Dushevina 7-6 (3), 6-1, and…

Richard Gasquet won his third title of the season Sunday, beating Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-1 in an all-French final at the Lyon Grand Prix. Gasquet, seeded fourth, dropped only two sets during the tournament. His other championships came in Nottingham, England, and Gstaad, Switzerland. “It is my first title in my home country and it means a lot,” Gasquet said.

Maria Sharapova won her fifth title of the season Sunday, beating defending champion Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-2 in the Generali Ladies final and advancing to No. 2 in the rankings. Sharapova has won 16 straight matches and has not lost since before the start of her successful run to the U.S. Open title. The top-seeded Russian overtook Justine Henin-Hardenne in the rankings and now trails only Amelie…

Third-seeded Mario Ancic beat defending champion Thomas Johansson 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the St. Petersburg Open final Sunday to win his third career title. Ancic, who won the Ordina Open grass tournament in June, converted his only break point in the first set to take the lead. Johansson, playing in his first final this season, broke Ancic in the sixth game of the second set to go up 5-2.

Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters have qualified for the season-ending WTA Championship, joining the top players next month in Madrid, Spain. Hingis and Clijsters earned the final spots Saturday when Patty Schnyder of Switzerland lost to Maria Sharapova in the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria.

Amelie Mauresmo wants tennis coaches to stay in the stands. Maria Sharapova had no idea coaches were even allowed on the court. Both players are competing at the Zurich Open, one of five tournaments where the WTA Tour is testing this rule change. “Are they’re doing that here?” Sharapova said Tuesday. “I didn’t know.” Coaching during matches has been barred from ATP, WTA and Grand Slam tournaments.

Tim Henman beat Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3 Monday to advance to the second round of the Madrid Masters, while former French Open champions Carlos Moya and Gaston Gaudio both lost. Henman, who needed a wild card to make the main draw, will now face David Ferrer. Gaudio took the first set from Nicolas Massu, but after he lost the second he retired with a stomach injury.

Fifth-seeded Martina Hingis began her bid for a second Zurich Open title with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Anna-Lena Groenefeld in Monday’s first round. It was Hingis’ first match on home soil and her first appearance at the tournament in six years. “I’m returning defending champion,” Hingis joked. “There were a lot of people that I know and friends who came to see the match.

Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic defeated fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 Sunday to win the BA-CA Tennis Trophy. The top-seeded Croatian, who won his third ATP title this season, held serve throughout the tournament for the second straight year. Ljubicic, who allowed only one point on serve in the first set, broke to lead 3-1 with his strong groundstrokes.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko reclaimed his title and teenager Anna Chakvetadze pulled off an upset, winning all-Russian finals Sunday at the Kremlin Cup. Davydenko, the 2004 champion, beat Marat Safin 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 for his fourth title this season and Chakvetadze upset fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-4 for her second straight win.

James Blake defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-2 Sunday to win the Stockholm Open for the second straight year. The second-seeded American became the first player since Thomas Enqvist in 1996 to defend his title at the Royal Tennis Hall. “I’m really happy that I did get a chance to defend. I’ve never done it successfully before,” Blake said after receiving the winner’s trophy from Bjorn Borg.

Wild card Iroda Tulyaganova upset sixth-seeded Olga Poutchkova of Russia 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday to advance to the Tashkent Open finals. Tulyaganova will meet Sun Tiantian of China in the title match after the 2004 Olympic doubles champion beat Belarus teenager Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-4 to reach her first career WTA singles final.