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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 10:15 a.m., Friday, June 13, 2008

Tennis: Spadea, Ascione get Wimbledon spots

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England — Vincent Spadea and Thierry Ascione earned Wimbledon spots today when organizers decided not to award the final two of eight wild cards in the men's draw.

Spadea, an American ranked 110th, and Ascione, a Frenchmen ranked 119th, were the two players next in the rankings who were eligible to play at the grass court major, which starts June 23.

The 34-year-old Spadea will be at his 13th Wimbledon. He lost in the first round the past two years and his best performance was the fourth round in 2004, when he reached a career-high No. 19 ranking.

Ascione will make his second Wimbledon appearance. He lost in the first round in his only other attempt in 2004.

The other men's wild-card recipients were 2002 semifinalist Xavier Malisse, Britons Jamie Baker and Alex Bogdanovic, Canada's Frank Dancevic and Jeremy Chardy of France.

Australia's Samantha Stosur was awarded a wild card Friday for the women's draw, joining six others announced earlier in the week. The others are former junior No. 1 Urszula Radwanska of Poland, Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro and Britons Elena Baltacha, Naomi Cavaday, Katie O'Brien and Melanie South are the others.

There is one more women's singles' wild card to be announced.