The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Andy Roddick shocked

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Andy Roddick shocked

Federer-Wawrinka combine loses

TORONTO: Rafael Nadal and defending champion Novak Djokovic eased into the last eight of the Rogers Cup on Thursday, while a racket-smashing Andy Roddick suffered a shock upset.

Frenchman Gilles Simon, who a day earlier sent World No. 1 Roger Federer tumbling out of the tournament, returned to the court and swept into the quarterfinals with a tidy 6-3, 6-4 win over Argentine Jose Acasuso.

However, No. 6 Roddick became the latest upset victim by losing to 19-year-old Croat Marin Cilic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

French Open and Wimbledon champion Nadal stopped the plucky Russian Igor Andreev 6-2, 7-6(1) to improve his unbeaten streak to 26.

Baffled

American Roddick appeared baffled by the hard-hitting Cilic, but after dropping the opening set broke at 5-4 to take the second. However, Roddick’s momentum stalled in the third and Cilic took control.

Roddick became increasingly frustrated as the match slipped away, smashing his racket and spending parts of the set arguing with the chair umpire. “Something doesn’t feel comfortable,” said Roddick, playing only his seventh match since injuring his back at the Rome Masters in early May.

Cruising home

In the doubles event, Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy set up a quarterfinal clash with Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles after a straight-set win over Roger Federer and Stainslas Wawrinka in the second round.

The seventh-seeded Indo-Czech pair beat the unseeded Swiss rivals 6-4, 6-4 in a contest lasting less than an hour.

Such was the domination of Paes and Dlouhy that they held serve throughout the match and did not face a single break point in the opening set.

The Indo-Czech pair converted the only break point that came their way in the opening set and won 91 per cent of their service points to go one up.

The second set followed a similar script and the seventh seeds broke Federer and Wawrinka once to seal the issue.

Jankovic on course

Top seed Jelena Jankovic remained on course to become the world’s top ranked player when she eased to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Melinda Czink in the third round of the Los Angeles Classic on Thursday.

Victory at this event will allow the 23-year-old Serb to leapfrog her compatriot Ana Ivanovic in the world rankings.

The results: At Toronto (Rogers Cup): Third round: Novak Djokovic bt Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-4; Marin Cilic bt Andy Roddick 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Gilles Simon bt Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-4; Andy Murray bt Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 0-6, 6-4; James Blake bt Dmitry Tursunov 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Nicolas Kiefer bt Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Rafael Nadal bt Igor Andreev 6-2, 7-6(1); Richard Gasquet bt David Ferrer 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles: Second round: Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy bt Roger Federer & Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4.

At Los Angeles (East West Bank Classic): Third round: Jelena Jankovic bt Melinda Czink 6-3, 6-2; Sybille Bammer bt Anna Chakvetadze 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Victoria Azarenka bt Samantha Stosur 6-4, 7-6(4); Nadia Petrova bt Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5; Flavia Pennetta bt Ai Sugiyama 7-6(5), 6-3; Bethanie Mattek bt Olga Govortsova 7-5, 6-2; Yuan Meng bt Melanie South 6-2, 6-3; Dinara Safina bt Alla Kudryavtseva 7-6(1), 0-6, 7-6(3).

At Portoroz (Slovenia Open): Second round: Sara Errani bt Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-4; Elena Bovina bt Camille Pin 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6); Julia Goerges bt Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko bt Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-2. — Agencies

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