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

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Ivanovic crashes out; Nadal powers on

Jankovic beats Zheng; Paes-Dlouhy advance

— 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.

NEW YORK: Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic defeated Zheng Jie of China 7-5, 7-5 in the third round of the U.S. Open here on Friday.

In the second round of men’s doubles, the seventh-seeded Indo-Czech combination of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy battled past Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) and Potito Starace (Italy) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

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 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. “I don’t know how I did it. I am not thinking about anything right now. Just enjoying the moment.”

Error-prone

Ivanovic looked 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.

“I did well. I had to come back in the third set from 3-0 down in games so I am happy with the victory,” Nadal said. “I am happy to be in the third round, for me this is a very important tournament.”

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 U.S. 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 digs deep

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.

Seventh seed David Nalbandian scored a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over Andrey Golubev.

Bhupathi-Knowles win

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. — Agencies

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Women: Third round: 2-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Zheng Jie (Chn) 7-5, 7-5. Second round: 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; Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) bt Jessica Moore (Aus) 6-1, 6-3; 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; Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt 13-Agnes Szavay (Hun) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Men: Second round: 11-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Bobby Reynolds (USA) 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4; 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, retd; 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, retd; 4-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Andreas Beck (Ger) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(5).

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