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52 Sport maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 AUGUST 2015 TENNIS (+356) 800 737 70 Freephone: cabs t minivans t vip transport t luxury coaches t vintage buses 2138 9575 / 9921 5286 info@cabs.com.mt w w w . c a b s . c o m . m t Maria Sharapova withdraws from Toronto tournament US Open finalists in Murray's path MARIA Sharapova's U.S. Open preparations took a major blow with the Russian world number two forced to withdraw from next week's WTA event in To- ronto. The world number two is suf- fering from right leg strain and has had to pull out from the Rog- ers Cup in Toronto. The 28-year-old Russian has not played since she lost to Ser- ena Williams in the semi-finals at Wimbledon on July 9. "I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to Toronto this year," Sharapova write on Facebook. "I miss the tournament and especially the fans. "Working hard and getting ready for my next stop in Cincinnati!" The Rogers Cup was to have been her first hardcourt tourna- ment of the summer, as she pre- pares for the year's final Grand Slam event at Flushing Meadows in New York. The Cincinnati event begins on August 16 with the US Open get- ting under way on August 31. Maria Sharapova RECENTLY Malta's Number 3 Mark Gatt returned from Sofia, Bulgaria with another bronze medal in Men's Doubles. Mark and his partner Sergey Malkov from Russia narrowly missed out on silver, bowing out to the Eu- ropean Champions Daniel Dol- bea (GER) and David Concalves (FRA) 6/3 2/6 7/10. In the singles event Mark lost out narrowly in another bronze medal match to Michael Or- fanidis (GRE) 3/6 6/3 6/7 in a three hour thriller. After nar- rowly losing out in bronze in singles, within a couple of hours Mark had to put this disappoint- ment behind him and try to win bronze in doubles. Mark and his partner played two Bulgarians Yuri Doychev and Peter Ivanov in another two hour fifteen minute battle. Sergey and Mark won 7/6 3/6 10/5. Mark also had a very close match with Nikolaos Roditis (GRE) which after trailing 2/5 in the first set moved up a gear to win eleven games on the trot to record a 7/5 6/0 victory. Mark is currently ranked in the top ten in the world in two ITF Senior Rankings. He is number 6 in Mixed Doubles, No8 in Men's Doubles and 92 in Singles accord- ing to the ITF Senior Rankings. Mark Gatt wins Bronze Medal at European Senior Tennis Championships Mark Gatt and Sergey Malkov with their Bronze Medals at the European Championships ANDY Murray could have to beat both last season's US Open finalists, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori, if he is to reach the Rogers Cup final next week. The draw for the sixth Masters 1000 tournament of the ATP World Tour season was made in Montreal on Friday with second seed Murray placed in the same quarter as US Open champion Cilic. Cilic could have to beat de- fending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last 16 though if he is to set up such a clash. If he gets over that last-eight hurdle, Murray is seeded to face Nishikori in the semis. Howev- er, the Japanese star may first have to get past Rafael Nadal - the seventh seed being his scheduled quarter-final foe. Murray, set to become a fa- ther in February after it was re- vealed earlier this week that his wife Kim is expecting their first child, receives a first-round bye. He will open his title bid against a Spaniard - either Tommy Ro- bredo or Feliciano Lopez. The Scot will be particularly keen to win that contest hav- ing lost in his opening match in Washington earlier this week to Teymuraz Gabashvili. He won in Montreal in 2009 and also claimed the title when the tournament was held in To- ronto the following year. The top half of the draw is led by world number one Novak Djokovic, who is in the same quarter as Tomas Berdych. He will be playing for the first time since successfully defending his Wimbledon crown. Stan Wawrinka is due to be the Serb's semi-final opponent, although the French Open champion has home hope Milos Raonic in his quarter. Roger Federer is not playing the event and is instead due to begin his US Open preparations in Cincinnati later this month. The action in Montreal gets under way on Monday.