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TENNIS: Blake dodges bad weather to progress to next round

US No. 1 James Blake dodged heavy rain and thunder to secure a quick-fire win, but other stars were not so lucky as the Olympic tennis tournament faced serious weather disruption yesterday.

Blake, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Gonzalez waited out a two-hour rain delay before booking their place in the second round, but top US women’s seed Serena Williams was frustrated by a series of showers.
Williams was on and off Center Court and was leading Belarus’s Olga Govortsova 6-3, 2-1 when the heavens opened with a vengeance, forcing a halt to proceedings.
Only nine of 18 matches in the morning session were completed, giving officials a headache as they juggle the packed singles and doubles schedule.
Blake defeated Australia’s Chris Guccione 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Athens bronze medalist Gonzalez of Chile eased past China’s Sun Peng 6-4, 6-4 while Russian fourth seed Davydenko overcame dangerous Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2.
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur of Australia, Italian Francesca Schiavone and Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova also progressed in the women’s draw.

IVANOVIC PULLS OUT
AFP, BEIJING
Top seed Ana Ivanovic pulled out of the Olympic tennis tournament yesterday with a thumb injury, calling it “the worst moment of my career” and dealing a fresh blow to the injury and rain-hit event.