TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko in Rotterdam and top seed Andy Roddick in San Jose made delayed starts to their title challenges at the ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament and the SAP Open respectively, while a clutch of players booked spots in the quarter-finals of the two events. Meanwhile in sunny Brazil, top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero led the charge of the seeds into the quarter-finals of the Brasil Open.

3rd seed Robin Soderling was the first to make it through to the last eight in Rotterdam with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over world no.245 Igor Sijsling. Joining Soderling in the quarters is German Florian Mayer who beat 5th seed Tommy Robredo in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

There were still five first round matches pending in Rotterdam, including one in which Nikolay Davydenko made surprisingly short work of last week's SA Tennis Open champion Fernando Lopez 6-4, 6-2. Up next f or Davydenko is Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who too had an easy outing against a potentially tricky opponent in American James Blake, winning by the exact same scoreline as the 2nd seeded Russian.

Fourth seed Gael Monfils recovered from dropping the first set to record a relatively comfortable 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win in the end over Belgian Olivier Rochus, while Michael Berrer and Jurgen Melzer too posted interesting wins.

The SAP Open too had its share of first and second round matches in progress simultaneously, with top seed Andy Roddick coming through a tough second set against qualifier Ryler Deheart to advance to the second round. Second seed Fernando Verdasco was taken the distance by the ever improving Yen-Hsun Lu from Chinese Taipei, the Spaniard prevailing 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3.

Not quite as fortunate was the no.3 seed and defending champion Radek Stepanek, who fell to Xavier Malisse of Belgium in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Also falling by the way side was 4th seed Tommy Haas, beaten by Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6(3), 6-2 in the second round. Istomin next faces sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarters. Kohlschreiber destroyed Israeli Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-0.

Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to the quarter-finals of the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe with a three set win over Nicolas Massu, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Up next for the former world no.1 is Argentine qualifier Carlos Berlocq who downed compatriot Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6(5), 6-2.

The other quarter-final in the top half of the draw will see 4th seed Igor Andreev take on 6th seed Pablo Cuevas. Andreev beat Portuguese qualifier Rui Machado in three well contested sets 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 while Cuevas beat another Portuguese player Frederico Gil in an even closer encounter 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3).

Second seed Albert Montanes and third seed Thomaz Belluci are in action on Thursday.

Wednesday Scores:

ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Singles - Second Round
[3] [WC] R Soderling (SWE) d [Q] I Sijsling (NED) 76(6) 62
F Mayer (GER) d [5] T Robredo (ESP) 64 36 63

Singles - First Round
[2] N Davydenko (RUS) d F Lopez (ESP) 64 62
[4] G Monfils (FRA) d O Rochus (BEL) 46 61 62
J Melzer (AUT) d [8] V Troicki (SRB) 63 30 retd.
M Baghdatis (CYP) d J Blake (USA) 64 62
M Berrer (GER) d A Clement (FRA) 76(16) 46 64

SAP Open, San Jose, U.S.A.

Singles - Second Round
D Istomin (UZB) d [4] T Haas (GER) 76(3) 62
[5] T Berdych (CZE) d J Nieminen (FIN) 63 62
[6] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d D Sela (ISR) 62 60

Singles - First Round
[1] A Roddick (USA) d [Q] R Deheart (USA) 61 76(1)
[2] F Verdasco (ESP) d Y Lu (TPE) 63 67(3) 63
X Malisse (BEL) d [3] R Stepanek (CZE) 63 64

Brasil Open, Costa do Sauipe, Brazil

Singles - Second Round
[1] J Ferrero (ESP) d N Massu (CHI) 62 57 62
[4] I Andreev (RUS) d [Q] R Machado (POR) 63 57 64
[6] P Cuevas (URU) d F Gil (POR) 75 46 76(3)
[Q] C Berlocq (ARG) d J Chela (ARG) 76(5) 62

File Photograph Copyright: Dubai Tennis Championship