The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Argentina and U.S. shocked

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 24, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Argentina and U.S. shocked

Dusseldorf: It was the day of the underdog at the 1.85 million euro ($2.36 million) ATP World Team Championship with favourites the United States and Argentina both falling to opening group defeats on Monday.

Gaston Gaudio, French Open champion in 2004, and World No. 3 David Nalbandian spearheaded a strong Argentina challenge but the Czech Republic showed no fear to win the Red Group match.

Gaudio started as strong favourite against Czech Robin Vik — ranked 57 places below him in the world rankings — but was convincingly beaten in straight sets.

The defeat piled the pressure on Nalbandian, a winner at the recent ATP event in Estoril, to win his singles match against Tomas Berdych to keep Argentine hopes alive.

However Berdych, ranked 20th in the world, triumphed 6-4, 6-4 to seal a Czech win and render the doubles match irrelevant.

Argentina will now have to win its last two matches against Germany and Italy to have a chance of reaching Saturday's final.

The United States also started the tournament as one of the favourites for the title but came unstuck in its first match against Davis Cup holder Croatia.

Sania advances

Fifth seed Sania Mirza beat Turkish wild card Ipek Senoglu 6-3, 6-1 in the first round at the Istanbul Cup on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old next plays Michaela Krajicek, who advanced after Irina Kotkina retired, trailing 6-0, 4-0.

The results: At Dusseldorf: World Team Cup: Blue Group: Croatia bt U.S. 2-1 (Ivan Ljubicic bt James Blake 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4); Ivo Karlovic lost to Robby Ginepri 6-4, 7-6(1); Ivan Ljubicic & Ivo Karlovic bt Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan 6-3, 7-6(3).

Red Group: Czech Republic bt Argentina 2-1 (Robin Vik bt Gaston Gaudio 7-6(5), 6-3; Tomas Berdych bt David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-4; Tomas Berdych & Leos Friedl lost to Jose Acasuso & Sebastian Preito 6-0, 2-6, 10-3).

At Portschach (HYPO Group Tennis International): First round: Juan Ignacio Chela bt Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 6-3, 6-1; Jiri Novak bt Bjorn Phau 6-3, 6-3; Jurgen Melzer bt Stefan Koubek 6-4, 7-5; Richard Gasquet bt Dominik Hrbaty 6-0, 4-6, 6-3; Nicolas Almagro bt Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-4; Potito Starace bt Alberto Martin 7-5, 7-6(5). Andreas Seppi bt Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-4; Oliver Marach bt Vincent Spadea 6-4, 6-3. Julia Schruff bt Emma Laine 6-2, 6-4; Shuai Peng bt Gisela Dulko 6-2, 6-3.

At Istanbul (WTA Istanbul Cup): Second round: Anastasia Myskina bt Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-2. First round: Michaela Krajicek bt Irina Kotkina 6-0, 4-0 (ret.); K. Sprem bt Jelena Kostanic 6-2, 7-6(3); T. Pironkova bt Mariana Diaz-Oliva 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3; E. Gagliardi bt Eleni Daniilidou 6-1, 2-0 (ret.); Catalina Castano bt Alona Bondarenko 6-3, 6-3. Anastasia Yakimova bt Angelique Widjaja 6-2, 6-1; Mashona Washington bt Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6(9), 6-7(5), 6-3; Tamira Paszek bt Alicia Molik 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; Ueszula Radwanska bt Maria Elena Camerin 6-4, 7-5; Shahar Peer bt Jamea Jackson 6-2, 6-1; Mara Santangelo bt Melinda Czink 6-1 (ret.).; Meghann Shaughnessy bt Anna Chakvetadze 1-6, 6-4, 6-0; Dominika Cibulkova bt Ashley Harkleroad 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0; Sania Mirza bt Ipek Senoglu 6-3, 6-1.

At Strasbourg (The Strasbourg International): Zheng Jie bt Yuan Meng 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Elena Vesnina bt Karin Knapp 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3); Martina Müller bt Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-1; Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Amy Frazier 6-1, 6-1; Timea Bacsinszky bt Lisa Raymond 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; Anna Smashnova bt Anne Keothavong 6-3, 6-1; Li Na bt Ekaterina Bychkova 6-2, 6-2; Peng Shuai bt Gisela Dulko 6-2, 6-3; Julia Schruff bt Emma Laine 6-2, 6-4; Aiko Nakamura bt Shinobu Asagoe 6-1, 7-5. — Agencies

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