The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Roddick survives a Bogdanovic scare to enter the quarterfinals

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Friday, Jun 15, 2007
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Roddick survives a Bogdanovic scare to enter the quarterfinals

Mahesh and Stepanek's campaign in the Stella Artois ends

— PHOTO: AP

STRETCHED: Andy Roddick overcame Alex Bogdanovic in the Stella Artois championships in London on Thursday.

LONDON: Andy Roddick survived a rigorous examination from British wild card Alex Bogdanovic to scrape into the quarterfinals of the Stella Artois championships on Thursday.

Roddick, the second seed, was pushed to the limit as Bogdanovic played well above his 117th place in the ATP rankings, but the American did just enough to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Next up for former Wimbledon finalist Roddick is a clash with rising Croatian star Marin Cilic, but the World No. 5 will have to raise his game considerably to win the All-England club warm-up event.

Chilean number three seed Fernando Gonzalez displayed his usual ruthless efficiency, brushing aside Robby Ginepri 6-2, 7-5.

He reached the Australian Open final this year and was in peak form right from the start in west London. Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek's campaign in the Stella Artois championships was cut short in the second round by third seeds Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyet, who inflicted a straight set defeat on the Indo-Czech duo.

Bhupathi and Stepanek went down 1-6, 4-6 to Australian Hanley and his Zimbabwean partner Ullyet.

Bhupathi and Stepanek had beaten the Serbian pair of Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 7-5 in the first round.

Earlier, Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna's hope for a place in the main singles draw of the event was dashed after the Indian was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) in the second qualifying round.

Rain plays spoilsport

At Birmingham, rain postponed play at the DFS Classic on Thursday, with more wet weather expected on Friday. Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, had been scheduled to play Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek in the third round.

The results:

At London: ATP Stella Artois championships (third round): Fernando Gonzalez bt Robby Ginepri 6-2, 7-5; Marin Cilic bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Andy Roddick bt Alex Bogdanovic 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3. Second round: Marat Safin bt Sebastien Grosjean 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

At Halle: ATP Gerry Weber Open (second round): Marcos Baghdatis bt Robin Soderling 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen bt Andrei Pavel 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1; Florian Mayer bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4; Marc Gicquel bt Benjamin Becker 6-2, 7-6(5).

At Barcelona: WTA Barcelona KIA Open (second round): Agnes Szavay bt Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-1; . — Agencies

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