The Hindu : Sport : Gonzalez, Nalbandian make shock exits

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Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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Gonzalez, Nalbandian make shock exits

Sania Mirza-Bethanie Mettack pair in second round

— Photo AP

POWERFUL SHOW: Rafael Nadal returned to his favourite surface and routed Alexander Waske in the first-round match at the Mercedes Cup.

Los Angeles: James Blake put on a potent display of shot making on his favourite hardcourt surface, while top-seed Fernando Gonzalez was sent crashing out of the ATP Los Angeles event on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Blake beat Alexander Peya of Austria 7-5, 6-4 in his opening match which lasted one hour, 12 minutes at the UCLA hardcourt tennis facility.

“I feel like I have the ability to win this tournament,” said Blake. “But I can’t put a lot of pressure on myself or I will lose my focus. As long as I prepare properly then I am fulfilling my commitment to the tournament and I felt like I did that tonight.”

Blake, who has posted all nine of his career ATP titles on hardcourts, advances to the second round where he will face American Paul Goldstein.

Goldstein won his match over Adrian Garcia in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Tuesday.

Blake is now the highest seed left in the draw after Chilean Gonzalez was stunned 7-6(5), 6-4 by wild card Zach Fleishman of the United States.

This is the first time 27-year-old Fleishman has beaten a top ten player and only the second time he has played one as he boosted his 2007 singles record to 2-2.

World No. 6 Gonzalez had to take an injury timeout in the second set to get treatment for a lower back problem.

Russian Igor Kunitsyn made the most of his first round match by beating former Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian in straight sets 7-6, 7-5 at the UCLA tennis Stadium.

Kunitsyn rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the second set to close out the almost two hour match by winning four straight games. Kunitsyn, of Vladivostok, said he is playing the best tennis of his career.

“That was my second favourite victory,” he said. “I beat Lleyton Hewitt in Adelaide a couple of years ago in front of a full crowd, but this is the best tennis I ever played.

He said the key to beating Nalbandian, of Argentina, is to surprise him in the first round.

In other first round matches Tuesday, American Vincent Spadea beat Thiago Alves of Brazil 7-6(2), 6-2 and South Africa’s Wesley Moodie defeated Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-2.

Mardy Fish beat American compatriot Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-4.

At Cincinnati, top-seeds Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mettack cruised into the quarterfinals of the $175,000 Cincinnati Open after a straight set win over the Colombian-Chinese pair of Catalina Castano and Meng Yuan.

The Indo-American pair overwhelmed unseeded rivals 6-4, 6-0 in a first round match of the Tier 3 hard court tournament here on Tuesday. Sania and Bethanie were broken just once in the near hour-long contest. In the next round, the duo will take on either wildcards Kirsten Flower and Connie Hsu or Lilia Osterloh and Anastasia Rodionova.

In the singles, Russian top-seed Anna Chakvetadze got off to a quick start, downing Tatiana Poutchek 6-4, 6-0 in the first round on Tuesday. She next plays Romanian qualifier Anda Perianu, who defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-3, 6-2.

Second-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also won her first-round match in straight sets.

Schnyder, who fell in the semifinals here a year ago attempting to defend her title, took the first step toward reclaiming it by defeating Australia’s Monique Adamczak 6-2, 7-5.

Nadal advances

At Stuttgart, World No. 2 Rafael Nadal returned to his beloved claycourt surface on Tuesday and brushed aside Germany’s Alexander Waske 6-1, 6-1 to reach the second round of the ATP Mercedes Cup.

Nadal said the 73-minute match was a good way to rediscover his game on clay.

“It always takes a little bit of time to adjust your game from grass to clay, and I only had three days practice,” admitted Nadal, who will face Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber on Thursday in the second round.

“It was important for me to start off good in this tournament and to find my rhythm on clay quickly. The court is very fast and this is an advantage for my topspin forehand,” said Nadal.

The results:

At Cincinnati (WTA Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open): First round: Bethanie Mattek bt Iryna Kuryanovich 6-1, 6-3; Varvara Lepchenko bt Kirsten Flower 6-2, 6-2; Anda Perianu bt Melinda Czink 6-3, 6-2; Akgul Aman muradova bt Connie Hsu 6-1, 6-3; Anna Tatishvili bt Aiko Nakamura 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(4); Elena Vesnina bt Angelika Bachmann 6-3, 6-4; Jill Craybas bt Alexa Glatch 6-2, 6-4; Brenda Schultz-McCarthy bt Catalina Castano 6-2, 6-4; Anna Chakvetadze bt Tatiana Poutchek 6-4, 6-0; Patty Schnyder bt Monique Adamczak 6-2, 7-5; Angelique Kerber bt Anastasia Rodionova 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (disqualified); Olga Govortsova bt Alina Jidkova 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

At Los Angeles (ATP Countrywide Classic): First Round: Zack Fleishman bt Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(5), 6-4; James Blake bt Alexander Peya 7-5, 6-4; Robert Kendrick bt Wesley Whitehouse 6-4, 6-3; Paul Goldstein bt Adrian Garc ia 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; George Bastl bt Ilija Bozoljac 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3; Mardy Fish bt Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-4; Igor Kunitsyn bt David Nalbandian 7-6(5), 7-5; Wesley Moodie bt Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2; Radek Stepanek bt Alex Bogdanovic 6-1, 0-0 (retd.); Vince Spadea bt Thiago Alves 7-6(2), 6-2; Ricardo Mello bt Phillip King 6-4, 6-2.

At Stuttgart (ATP Mercedes Cup): First round: Rafael Nadal bt Alexander Waske 6-1, 6-1; Stanislaus Wawrinka bt Guillermo Canas 6-7(5), 6-2 (retd.); Juan-Carlos Ferrero bt Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 6-2; David Ferrer bt Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-2; P hilipp Kohlschreiber bt Simon Grul 6-1, 6-2; Feliciano Lopez bt Carlos Berlocq 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-4; Diago Hartfield bt Jan Hajek 6-4, 6-2.

At Palermo (WTA Palermo International): First round: Conchita Martinez Granados bt Caroline Wozniaki 6-3, 6-3; Edina Gallovits bt Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-1; Agnes Szavay bt Iona Raluca Olaru 6-2, 6-1; Lourdes Dominguez Lino bt Anton ella Serra Zanetti 6-3, 6-3; Sara Errani bt Virginie Razzano 6-2, 6-0; Martina Muller bt Andreja Klepac 6-2, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Maryia Korittseva 6-1, 6-4; Klara Zakopalova bt Silvia Disderi 6-2, 6-3; Emilie Loit bt Maria Martinez Sanchez 6-4, 6-3; Sorana Cirstea bt Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-4; Ekaterina Bychkova bt Ekaterina Ivanova 6-3, 6-1; Karin Knapp bt Roberta Vinci 2-6, 6-2, 6-3

At Amersfoort (ATP Dutch Open): First round: Sergio Roitman bt Jeremy Chardy 7-6(5), 6-1; Carlos Moya bt Christophe Rochus 6-2, 6-3; Werner Eschauer bt Nicolas Almagro 7-6(1), 6-4; Florent Serra bt Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-1, 6-1; Raem on Sluiter bt Luis Horna 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. — Agencies

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