The Hindu : Sport : Ivanovic crashes out; Nadal powers on

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Ivanovic crashes out; Nadal powers on

Grand Slam debutante Coin pulls off a major upset

— PHOTO: AFP

GIANT-KILLER: Julie Coin, who qualified for the main draw after having failed to do so at the three other Majors, surprised Ana Ivanovic with her big game.

NEW YORK: World No. 1 Rafael Nadal wasted no time booking his place in the third round, steamrolling Ryler DeHeart while women’s top seed Ana Ivanovic became the biggest casualty of the US Open on Thursday. French qualifier Julie Coin scored one of the most shocking upsets in Grand Slam history sending World No. 1 Ivanovic crashing out in the second round.

Coin, who is ranked 188th in the world, was making her Grand Slam debut after successfully coming through the qualifying rounds. She had tried but failed earlier this year to qualify for the other three Grand Slams.

The 25-year-old Coin clinched the 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win on her third match point in the one hour, 57 minute match at the main Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“Today I felt nervous at the beginning and then it went away,” said Coin.

Error-prone

Ivanovic looked like the more nervous of the two in the third set. She posted a total of eight double faults and made 37 unforced errors to 26 for Coin.

“This is very disappointing to me but something I have to accept,” Ivanovic said. “I never saw her (Coin) play before. She played a lot better than I expected. She served very well.”

Coin moves through to the next round where she will play countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo.

Dynamic performance

Nadal ripped returns on serves, laced passing shots, and crafted crisp volleys in a dynamic performance to beat DeHeart 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.

Nadal, who has won eight titles this season including his fourth Roland Garros crown and first Wimbledon trophy, has never made it past the quarterfinals at the US Open and hasn’t made it to a hardcourt Grand Slam final.

But he looks poised to make a run this week as he smacked 21 forehand winners and made just 11 unforced errors in the one hour, 40 minute night session match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Nadal advances to the third round where he will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia.

“He is a good player. I am going to have to play better to beat him,” Nadal said.

Murray fights off Llodra

Andy Murray dug deep to beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(7) to reach the third round. The sixth-seeded Briton saved two set points in the fourth-set tiebreak before winning it to advance to a clash with Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

Ninth seed James Blake advanced when his Belgian opponent Steve Darcis retired at 0-1 in the third set after the first two sets had been split. Seventh seed David Nalbandian and tenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka also made the third round, the former a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 winner over Andrey Golubev and the latter defeating Wayne Odesnik 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-2.

The Japanese men were also celebrating Thursday as Kei Nishikori advanced to the third round when Roko Karanusic, of Croatia, retired at the end of the second set with the Japanese teen leading 6-1, 7-5.

Nishikori, who is playing in his first US Open, will face fourth seed David Ferrer, of Spain.

“I tried to go to the net more often, because he was using the slice a lot,” Nishikori said.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles advanced to the second round of the men’s doubles beating the Swedish duo of Johann Brunstrom and Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-4.

Williamses roll on

Serena and Venus Williams rolled over their opponents on Thursday with Serena defeating Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-1, 6-1 and Venus brushing aside 113th ranked Rossana De Los Rios 6-0, 6-3.

Serena needed just 58 minutes to dispatch Vesnina who is ranked 71st in world.

Asked if she would have preferred a more competitive match, Serena said she likes to get them over quick.

“Not too many long rallies but I am serving well,” said the fourth seeded Serena.

The seventh-seeded Venus moves through to the third round where she will play Alona Bondarenko who beat Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

Serena next faces Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama.

“She’s pretty much relentless,” said Serena of Sugiyama. “I better be ready. That girl is a tough cookie.”

Sugiyama rallied to beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1.

Fast rising Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova too moved up with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania.— Agencies

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Second round: Women: 4-Serena Williams (USA) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-1, 6-1; Julie Coin (Fra) bt 1-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; 32-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 2-6, 6-4, 6-0; 30-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1; 16-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Peng Shuai (Chn) 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-1; 7-Venus Williams (USA) bt Rossana De Los Rios (Par) 6-0, 6-3; 17-Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Bethanie Mattek (USA) 7-6(5), 6-1; 18-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Raluca Olaru (Rou) 6-2, 6-2; 6-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Roberta Vinci (Ita) 6-4, 6-3; 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt Mariana Duque (Col) 6-0, 7-6(3); Severine Bremond (Fra) bt 20-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) 7-5, 6-3; 19-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (Tpe) 6-4, 6-2.

Men: 1-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Ryler DeHeart (USA) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; Sam Querrey (USA) bt Nicolas Devilder (Fra) 7-6(6), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; 17-Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) bt Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3; Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt 25-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-0 retired; 25-Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Evgeny Korolev (Rus) 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 14-Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2; 7-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Andrey Golubev (Kaz) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; 16-Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Jose Acasuso (Arg) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; Mardy Fish (USA) bt 24-Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 6-Andy Murray (Gbr) bt Michael Llodra (Fra) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(7); 9-James Blake (USA) bt Steve Darcis (Bel) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 retired; 4-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Andreas Beck (Ger) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(5); 10-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt Wayne Odesnik (USA) 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-2.

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