Pe’er, Sela lose in Holland; Nalby in more trouble

Israel's top tennis stars each head into Wimbledon after facing first-round losses at the Den Bosch Open.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Peer 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Shahar Peer 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Shahar Pe’er and Dudi Sela will enter Wimbledon in inauspicious form after suffering straight-set exits at the Den Bosch Open in the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Pe’er, ranked No. 47 in the world, dropped to a 6-2, 7-6 (5) secondround defeat to the in-form Dominika Cibulkova (13), who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros two weeks ago by beating world No. 1 Victoria Azarekna.
The 25-year-old Israeli has now gone 11 tournaments without progressing past a second round.
Sela (106) has won consecutive matches just once in his last 12 ATP Tour tournaments after falling to a 6- 1, 6-2 first-round loss to Poland’s Lukasz Kubot (48) on Tuesday.
Sela hasn’t been past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon three years ago, while Pe’er has failed to do so since last January’s Australian Open.
Wimbledon starts on Monday.
Elsewhere, Petra Kvitova’s preparations for the defense of her Wimbledon title suffered a setback when she was beaten by Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in the first round of the Eastbourne International on Tuesday.
The No. 2 seed, who beat Maria Sharapova in the final of last year’s Wimbledon, lost 7-5, 6-4 to Makarova who is ranked 48th in the world.
Kvitova had looked in good shape heading into the grass-court season, having lost in the semifinals of the French Open to eventual champion Sharapova.
Meanwhile, British police are investigating a complaint of assault after Argentine player David Nalbandian injured a linesman in a petulant outburst during the final of the Queen’s Club tournament at the weekend.
The governing body of men’s tennis (ATP) said separately that they had fined the player the maximum of 10,000 euros ($12,600). Nalbandian had already forfeited prize money (at least $56,800) and ranking points for the week.
The ATP also said he could face an additional fine or ban once the governing body has finished reviewing the incident.
Nalbandian was leading Sunday’s match 7-6, 3-3 when he dropped serve in the seventh game and reacted by kicking out at a wooden advertising board which disintegrated on impact and slammed into official Andrew McDougall’s left leg.
A shocked McDougall cried out and instantly clutched his shin.
When he rolled up his trouser leg, blood could be seen seeping from the wound.
He received some on-court attention before being escorted off the ground to the club’s medical center.
After prolonged discussions between officials, umpire Fergus Murphy disqualified Nalbandian for “unsportsmanlike behavior” and awarded the match to his Croatian opponent Marin Cilic.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Monday: “An allegation of assault has been made to us relating to an incident at the...tennis tournament and we are now investigating.”
Nalbandian apologized after the incident, saying: “I know what I did is a mistake, 100 percent. I feel very sorry for the guy. I didn’t want to do that. But sometimes you get angry and you cannot control those moments.”
Reuters contributed to this report