Under-fire LTA told to be more transparent

THE All Party Tennis Group has criticised the Lawn Tennis Association for a lack of openness and called on the governing body to prioritise the grass roots. The Parliamentary group was asked to carry out a review of the LTA by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe in December. Attention was thrust on to the review by Great Britain's Davis Cup loss to Lithuania earlier this month, which put GB within one defeat of the lowest tier of the competition.

Chair Baroness Billingham of Banbury has made public the letter she sent to Sutcliffe outlining the review's findings. The letter read: "We feel it is crucial that the LTA should be more transparent and accountable in the setting of their priorities and the use of their funds.

Given the remarkable level of expenditure, in excess of 60million annually, it should be possible to deliver better outcomes than at present."

Meanwhile, fourth seed Rafael Nadal was given a scare by Argentina's David Nalbandian before edging into the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Nadal dropped the first set on a tie-break against the former Wimbledon finalist, who has missed much of the last year due to injury.

But Nadal turned up his level of play, as he needed to, and eventually won 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-2 to set up a clash against his fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.