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Last month, Abu Sitta reported that he had been banned from Germany 'for the month of April', and accused the authorities there of stifling freedom of expression
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Raonic and Del Potro through in Memphis
Canadian wildcard Milos Raonic defeated Spain’s Fernando Verdasco for the second time in four days, advancing to the second round of the ATP-WTA indoor tournament in Memphis on Wednesday.
Raonic ousted second seed Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) at the $1.32 million event, booking a second-round date against Czech Radek Stepanek.
On Sunday, Raonic defeated top seed Verdasco 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5) in the ATP San Jose final, denying the Spaniard his second title in a row at the event while becoming Canada’s first ATP singles winner in 16 years.
In the rematch, Verdasco and Raonic exchanged breaks in the 11th and 12th games of the third set to set up the deciding tie-breaker, which Raonic took after two hours and one minute.
Also advancing to the second round was 2009 US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro, who downed US sixth seed John Isner — the famed Wimbledon marathon man who won the longest match in tennis history — 6-4, 6-3 in 74 minutes.
Argentine wildcard Del Potro, who lost a semi-final last Saturday to Verdasco, is coming back from a wrist injury that required surgery last May and cut short his 2010 campaign. He faces Croatian Ivan Dodig next.
Australian Lleyton Hewitt ousted Taiwanese seventh seed Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) while US third seed Melanie Oudin also was sent packing, leaving only one seeded player in the women’s final eight.
Former world number one Hewitt booked a second-round date with Frenchman Adrian Mannarino for a berth in the quarter-finals opposite Serbian Janko Tipsarevic or US top seed Andy Roddick.
On the women’s side, Russian Evgeniya Rodina bounced Oudin 6-1, 7-5 as the seventh of eight seeds exited. Rodina will next face British qualifier Heather Watson, who defeated French qualifier Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
The only seed in the 32-player WTA event to reach the quarter-finals was Canadian number six Rebecca Marino, who outlasted Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, who became a ninth seed after Frenchman Gael Monfils was forced to withdraw with a left wrist injury suffered last week in San Jose, retired from his match trailing Frenchman Florent Serra 6-2, 1-0.
Serra faces US qualifier Michael Russell next.
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