Russian tennis player Dmitry Tursunov said he was approached several times with offers of bribes to fix matches, a newspaper reported Friday. “I was approached in Madrid in the middle of the season last year, and at some other tournament,” Tursunov told the daily Izvestia. The 29th-ranked Tursunov, who played on the Russian team that beat Germany in the Davis Cup semifinals last weekend, refused to…

Mercedes-Benz will end its sponsorship of the men’s ATP tennis tour when the current three-year contract expires at the end of 2008. The company has been one of the main sponsors of the ATP since 1996. The German carmaker said Friday it would shift focus to golf, equestrian and soccer, as well as fashion and lifestyle.

Roger Federer has pulled out of the Japan Open tennis tournament. “I’m so disappointed that I have to withdraw from the Japan Open,” Federer said in a statement released by organizers Friday. “I have not physically recovered 100 percent from the U.S. Open and Davis Cup.” Federer said that he was told by his doctor that in order to avoid the risk of serious injury he should not play in a tournament…

Tour veterans Virginia Ruano Pascual and Alicia Molik breezed into the quarterfinals of the Guangzhou International Open on Thursday. Top-seed Anabel Medina Garrigues also reached the last eight, defeating Jelena Kostanic Tosicbut 6-2, 6-2, but home favorite and No. 3 seed Peng Shuai was a casualty on a bad day for Chinese players.

The United States will travel to Austria for the first round of next year’s Davis Cup, and Russia has a tough opener against Serbia. Thursday’s draw for first round of the 2008 World Group comes nearly two months before the United States hosts defending champion Russia in this year’s final in Portland, Ore., from Nov.

Maria Sharapova withdrew Wednesday from next week’s Porsche Grand Prix because of a lingering shoulder injury. The fourth-ranked Russian has not played since losing to No. 30 Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round of the U.S. Open. Most of the top-ranked players are scheduled to compete in the Stuttgart indoor event, organizers said.

Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore., will host the Davis Cup final between the United States and defending champion Russia from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. The U.S. Tennis Association planned to announce the site formally Wednesday. It’s the first Davis Cup final in the United States since the country won the 1992 championship by defeating Switzerland at Fort Worth, Texas.

When Pete Sampras retired five years ago, he wasn’t sure if he would play tennis again, never mind step foot on a clay court. This week, Sampras will play a senior tour event on a surface that haunted him throughout his record-breaking career. “I didn’t think I’d ever play on clay again,” Sampras said.

German veterans Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler won rain-interrupted matches Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Mumbai Open. Kiefer defeated third-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3, and Schuettler downed seventh-seeded Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-3. Fabrice Santoro defeated fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 6-2.

Ivo Karlovic used 23 aces to defeat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (2), 6-3 Tuesday at the Thailand Open. Mischa Zverev, last year’s quarterfinalist, defeated American Michael Russell 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, and qualifier Dominik Meffert moved past American Amer Delic 7-5, 6-1. Michael Llodra beat Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-6 (2), 7-5.

Top-seeded Venus Williams cruised into the second round of the Korea Open on Tuesday, defeating American qualifier Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-3. Despite warm conditions at Seoul’s Olympic Park tennis arena, the Wimbledon champion barely broke a sweat as she used her powerful serve to dominate the match. Spears, whose right arm was heavily strapped, failed to win a single point from Williams’s first…

Third-seeded Ai Sugiyama lost in the first round of the Korea Open on Monday, beaten by 17-year-old Ayumi Morita 7-5, 6-3 in an all-Japanese match. Two other seeded players from Japan were eliminated on the outdoor hardcourts — No. 7 Aiko Nakamura and No. 8 Akiko Morigami. Morita, ranked 136th, reached the quarterfinals last week in Bali, Indonesia.

Top-seeded Richard Gasquet dropped only nine points on his serve Monday in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Kristof Vliegen at the Mumbai Open. The Frenchman converted his third break point in the fourth game of the first set, and then broke again in the sixth as Vliegen struggled with his serve. In the second set, the Wimbledon semifinalist went ahead after breaking Vliegen in the fifth game.

Brazilian tennis player Marcelo Melo was banned for two months Monday for a doping violation. The doubles specialist tested positive for the stimulant isometheptene June 10 at the Wimbledon warmup tournament at Queen’s Club, the International Tennis Federation said. The ban was reduced from the usual two years because Melo did not take the substance to “enhance his sporting performance,” the ITF…

Victoria Azarenka defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 Monday in the first round of the Fortis Championships. The 18-year-old Azarenka will face third-seeded Nadia Petrova, who received a bye to the second round. Later, seventh-seeded Shahar Peer was to play Lucie Safarova, and Anne Kremer was to face Michaella Krajicek.