NEWPORT, R.I.—Top-seeded Mardy Fish lost his first match at the Hall of Fame tennis championships for the second straight year, falling to qualifier Rohan Bopanna, 7-6, (6) 7-5 on Wednesday.

The No. 1 seed hasn’t won the title in the tournament’s 32-year history on the grass courts at the Hall of Fame.

“Obviously, it’s extremely, extremely disappointing to lose here again,” Fish said. “I’ve never ever played well here. I so desperately wanted to play well here. Every year I walk off the court thinking, ’Why can’t I get that tiebreaker or that break point.”’

Fish, ranked 41st in the world entering the week, led 5-2 in the first-set tiebreaker before Bopanna won the next three points. Bopanna got even at 5-all with an ace.

Fish regained the lead at 6-5, and Bopanna held serve on the next two points before winning the set when Fish put a backhand slice into the net.

“It’s tough to get into a groove on these courts,” Fish said. “You don’t get too many true bounces.”

Fish, a Minnesota native and self-described “big Twins fan,” threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. But, like his favorite team, which was swept in three games by the Red Sox, Fish lost the only two sets he played.

“It’s tough to think about that now,” Fish said of his trip to Fenway. “It was a special time for me. I didn’t throw a strike. It was high.”

In the second set, Fish led 2-1 and was one point away from breaking serve, but Bopanna followed with consecutive aces and won the game when Fish flubbed a return at the baseline. Bopanna then broke Fish to take control, 3-2.

Fish broke Bopanna’s serve to tie the set 5-all, but Bopanna recovered by breaking back. He went up 40-30 in the 12th game with an ace, and the match ended when Fish hit a lunging backhand into the net.

“Yes, my biggest win,” he said of his first quarterfinal appearance in an ATP event. “Especially with the surface, I like, I wasn’t concerned who I was playing.”

In other matches, fourth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn defeated Mikhail Ledovskikh, 6-1, 6-1; No. 7 seed Frank Dancevic, Canada’s top player, beat qualifier Brendan Evans, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3); Prakash Amritraj, son of former player V. J. Amritraj—a three-time winner at Newport—beat Jesse Levine, 7-5, 6-3; and Ivan Navarro ousted Rik De Voest, 7-5, 6-4.

Budapest Grand Prix

BUDAPEST, Hungary—Katalin Marosi of Hungary upset third-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-2, 7-6 (2) in the second round.

Marosi, ranked 799th, took a 4-2 lead in the first set but was broken while serving for the match at 5-4.

In the tiebreaker, the 44th-ranked Pironkova won the first two points before Marosi won the next seven.

“It turned out soon that her forehand is much weaker than her backhand, so I played accordingly and also made some drop-shots she didn’t like,” Marosi said.

Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic eased into the quarterfinals by defeating Mathilde Johansson of France 6-0, 6-1.

“I was playing a good forehand. It was my best stroke today, so I tried to play it as much as I could,” the seventh-seeded Zakopalova said.

Zakopalova will face Greta Arn of Hungary, who defeated Zuzana Kucova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1.



Palmero International

PALERMO, Sicily—Anabel Medina Garrigues advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives.

The 31st-ranked Medina Garrigues won the clay-court event in 2001 and three straight times between 2004 and 2006.

Also, No. 7 Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine edged Chinese qualifier Han Xinyun 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and No. 8 Tathiana Garbin of Italy eliminated Olivia Sanchez of France 7-5 6-4.

Qualifier Margalita Chakhnashvili and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also made the last eight.



Swedish Open

BASTAD, Sweden—Top-seeded David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo won in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals.

Ferrer, the defending champion, defeated Boris Pashanski of Serbia 7-5, 6-1. Robredo defeated Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3.

It was Bjorkman’s last singles match at the clay-court tournament. The 36-year-old Swede, a nine-time Grand Slam doubles champion, is retiring after this season. He has won six doubles titles at Bastad.

Ferrer will play eighth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden and Robredo will take on seventh-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in today’s quarterfinals.



Soderling, the last Swede in singles, downed Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-3, while Nieminen beat Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-3, 6-1.