The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sania carries on her good work

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 22, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Sania carries on her good work

NEW DELHI: Sania Mirza continued with her good work and reached the doubles quarterfinals with Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine as the duo beat qualifiers Sybille Bammer of Austria and Jewel Peterson of the US 5-7, 6-2, 6-0 in the $170,000 WTA Tour event in Cincinnati.

Sania and Yuliana will meet Angela Haynes and Bethanie Mattek of the US who ousted the fourth-seeded Alina Jidkova of Russia and Shahar Peet of Israel 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Meanwhile in singles play, top seed Patty Schnyder advanced to the quarterfinals by rallying for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Aiko Nakamura of Japan on Wednesday. Ranked 12th in the world, Switzerland's Schnyder improved to 35-13 on the season.

In the quarterfinals, Schnyder will face Israeli Shahar Peer, who pulled off the lone upset of the day with a 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 victory over sixth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan. Fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia punched her ticket to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over American Chanda Rubin.

Hantuchova will next face Korean Yoon Jeong Cho, who rallied past Russian Tatiana Panova, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-2.

Nadal breezes through

At Stuttgart, Rafael Nadal easily beat American qualifier Hugo Armando 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday at the Mercedes Cup to extend his winning streak on clay to 30 matches. The French Open champion reached the third round, slamming an overhead to keep alive a streak dating back to April.

The 19-year-old Spaniard is chasing his sixth straight title on clay and eighth overall this year, which would match top-ranked Roger Federer's tour best.

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Spain's Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo 6-4, 6-1 to reach the third round, while 2004 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio, seeded third, rolled past Germany's Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain fought back to oust Italy's Potito Starace 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2, while sixth-seeded Jiri Novak beat Romania's Razvan Sabau 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Rainer Schuettler, who has slumped to 91st in the rankings, gave German fans something to cheer as he beat seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-5, 6-3. Argentina's Juan Monaco upset fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Nadal will face Fernando Verdasco, who ousted Igor Andreev 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5). Another win for Nadal would push the 19-year-old into a four-way tie for the sixth longest streak on clay with Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and Guillermo Coria. The record is held by Guillermo Vilas, who won 53 straight in 1977.

Paradorn advances

At Indianapolis, Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan moved into the third round of the $600,000 ATP Indianapolis Championship with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Frenchman Gregory Carraz here on Wednesday.

The ninth-seeded Thai was still dealing with a case of jet-lag after flying to the American heartland from a Davis Cup weekend in Japan. "I was a little tired," Paradorn said after his 85-minute effort over Carraz, a 2004 semifinalist against Nicolas Kiefer, this year's second seed.

Paradorn, a 2003 finalist here, is looking to rejuvenate his 2005 season after winning only one match in the last three Grand Slams.

The former world number nine, who is now ranked 43rd, improved his modest year's mark to 15-19 and stands just 11-18 since reaching the Chennai final in the first week of the season.

"I'm trying to regain my level this year," Paradorn said. "I've dropped but I've still been playing a lot of tennis. My ranking is down but I'm still hungry. I still have my desire, even if people in Thailand expect me to win everything. I want to return to the Top 20."

Easy for Puerta

At Amersfoort, Netherlands, top-seeded Mariano Puerta defeated Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia-Montenegro 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round of the Priority Telecom Open on Wednesday and is set to enter the top 10 rankings.

Puerta, the French Open finalist, broke Tipsarevic twice in each set, and saved the only break point he faced. If Puerta beats Costa Rican qualifier Juan Antonio Marin in the second round, the Argentine will rise from a world No. 12 ranking into the top 10 for the first time in his career.

In second-round play, third-seeded Nicolas Massu of Chile beat Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5, and will next face David Sanchez, who ousted Spanish countryman Alex Calatrava 6-2, 6-2.

Agustin Calleri of Argentina upset sixth-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-4 with the only break in the match at 5-4 in the second set. Calleri didn't face a break point on serve.

In the quarterfinals, he'll play Dutch wild card Melle van Gemerden, who knocked out fourth-seeded Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-2, 7-5.

The results: At Stuttgart (Mercedes Cup): second round: Juan Monaco bt David Ferrer 6-4, 6-2; Gaston Gaudio bt Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-3; Fernando Verdasco bt Igor Andreev 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5); Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Albert Costa 6-3, 6-4; Nikolay Davydenko bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 6-1; Alexander Waske bt Jose Acasuso 7-5, 6-4; Jarrko Nieminen bt Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4; Jiri Novak bt Razvan Sabau 4-6, 6-4, 6-0; Tomas Berdych bt Phillip Kohlschreiber 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3: Andreas Seppi bt Alberto Martin 6-4, 6-4; Tomas Zib bt Andrei Pavel 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; Tommy Robredo bt Potito Starace 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3; Rafael Nadal bt Hugo Armando (USA) 6-1, 6-2; Rainer Schuettler bt Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-3.

At Cincinnati (Cincinnati Women's Open): second round: Patty Schnyder bt Aiko Nakamura 4-6, 6-1, 5-3; Daniela Hantuchova bt Chanda Rubin 6-2, 7-5; Shahar Peer bt Ai Sugiyama 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4; Yoon Jeong Cho bt Tatiana Panova 6-7 (6/8), 6-2, 6-2.

At Indianapolis (RCA Tennis Championships): second round: Paradorn Srichaphan bt Gregory Carraz 6-3, 7-6 (3); Paul Goldstein bt Max Mirnyi 0-6, 6-3, 6-3; Kevin Kim bt Lee Hyung-taik 7-6 (8), 6-4; Mardy Fish bt Andy Murray 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Giovanni Lapentti bt Cyril Saulnier 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Nicolas Kiefer bt Antony Dupuis 7-5, 6-4; Bjorn Phau bt Jan Hernych 7-6 (3), 6-3; George Bastl bt Dominik Hrbaty 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-4; Noam Okun bt Xavier Malisse 6-2, 6-4; Kenneth Carlsen bt Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 2-6, 6-4; Taylor Dent bt Jan-Michael Gambill 6-3, 6-4; Karol Beck bt Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 7-5; Rajeev Ram bt Tomas Cakl 7-5, 7-6 (3).

At Amersfoort (Priority Telecom Open): second round: Nicolas Massu bt Jiri Vanek 6-4, 7-5; Melle van Gemerden bt Christophe Rochus 6-2, 7-5; David Sanchez bt Alex Calatrava 6-2, 6-2; Agustin Calleri bt Victor Hanescu 7-6 (5), 6-4. First round: Mariano Puerta bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-2.

At Palermo (Palermo International): second round: Roberta Vinci bt Jelena Kostanic 7-5, 6-3; Tszvetana Pironkova bt Ana Smashnova 7-6 (7/0), 6-4.

Anabel Medina bt Conchita Martinez Granados 7-5, 6-2; Nathalie Vierin bt Marta Domachowska 6-2, 6-3. — Agencies

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