Seeded in an ATP Tour event for only the second time in his career, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) lived up to the billing by knocking out a big name.
Lu, seeded eighth in the 32-player draw, overcame Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in southern Florida.
The victory deprived Hewitt, who turned 28 on Tuesday, of a planned on-court birthday celebration after the match and marked Lu’s continuing run of good form that has seen him defeat Andy Murray at last August’s Beijing Olympics and world No. 11 David Nalbandian at the Australian Open last month.
PHOTO: AFP
Last seeded in an ATP Tour in Chennai, India, in 2005, world No. 59 Lu appeared to have been hit with an unfavorable draw this week.
Although Hewitt has fallen out of the top 100 after having hip surgery in August, he reached the semi-finals of a tournament in Memphis last week before losing to Andy Roddick in three sets and seemed on the road to recovering his place among the world’s elite players.
“I never thought I would win today,” Lu said after the match, saying he handled the wind blowing in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean better than the Australian.
PHOTO: AP
After losing the tightly contested first set on a double fault, Hewitt threw Lu off by playing more defensively and relying heavily on a slice backhand in the second set.
“I was in too much of a hurry to attack, and that led to a lot of unforced errors,” Lu said.
He quickly rebounded, however, breaking Hewitt three times in the third set and running off the last three games to clinch the match.
Lu will next face 32-year-old Austrian Stefan Koubek, who won the event in 2000 when he was ranked as high as No. 20 in the world, but has since fallen out of the top 200.
With Taiwan’s next Davis Cup tie set for Friday to Sunday next week against India in Kaohsiung, Lu’s good form is well timed. Lu missed the Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan earlier this month with a bad knee, but Wang Yeu-tzuoo (王宇佐), who was sidelined for much of last year with a wrist injury, filled in admirably, winning both of his singles matches in Taiwan’s 4-1 victory.
The pain in Wang’s wrist resurfaced after the two matches, however, and after consulting with doctors, Wang decided to have surgery today to repair ligament damage that will keep him out of action for at least five months.
Without Wang, it will be up to Lu and Chen Ti (陳迪) in singles, and probably Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺) and Yi Chu-huan (易楚寰) in doubles, to take on an Indian team featuring Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, both ranked in the world’s top 10 in doubles, and Somdey Dewarman and Rohan Bopanna.
A victory would put Taiwan one win away — probably against Australia and Hewitt in mid-July — from reaching the World Group playoffs for the first time in history.
Next week’s tie will be played at Kaohsiung’s Yang Ming Tennis Center, and the Taiwanese tennis association is taking the unprecedented step of charging admission. A one-day pass will cost NT$400 and a pass for all three days will be NT$1,000.
Also on Tuesday, top-seeded Mardy Fish of the US moved into the second round in Delray Beach with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Canada’s Frank Dancevic.
Marco Baghdatis of Cyprus advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 upset win over of third-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis, while fourth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn was defeated by Russian countryman Evgeny Korolev 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France edged 2006 champion Tommy Haas of Germany 7-6 (7), 6-3 and next plays Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, who beat 16-year-old Evan King of the United States in his ATP debut 6-2, 6-4.
One-time finalist Vince Spadea of the US beat Denis Gremelmayr of Germany 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 from 6-2, 3-0 down in a repeat of a match a year ago, and Gilles Muller of Luxembourg fired 16 aces past qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the US in winning 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Dudi Sela of Israel advanced when Philipp Petzschner of Germany retired in the second set with a left wrist injury.
■MEXICAN OPEN
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Top-seeded David Nalbandian was knocked out by Austrian qualifier Daniel Koellerer 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Mexican Open on Tuesday.
Nalbandian, last year’s runner-up who won his 10th career title last month, appeared to be headed for a romp after winning the first set, but the Argentine’s serve worsened and Koellerer was able to take advantage to win only his sixth ever match on the main tour and his first since July.
Koellerer broke early in the third set and clung to the advantage, saving break points at 3-2 and 4-3 against the Argentine for the biggest win of his journeyman career.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Flavia Pennetta of Italy began their title defenses with straight-sets wins.
Almagro, back as the fourth seed, spoiled Santiago Gonzalez’s 26th birthday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Mexican wild card.
Almagro will play Potito Starace of Italy next.
Three other Spaniards also started well, with two-time champion Carlos Moya fighting past countryman Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-2 seventh-seeded Marcel Granollers topping Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-6 (3), 7-5, and Alberto Martin putting away Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6-4, 7-5.
Second-seeded Gael Monfils celebrated his career-high No. 10 ranking this week by firing 17 aces on the clay past fellow Frenchman Olivier Patience in a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win in his Acapulco debut. Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil was next.
Fifth-seeded Jose Acasuso won an all-Argentine match with Brian Dabul 6-3, 7-5.
Women’s second seed Pennetta swept Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1 to improve her record in the tournament to 25-4. Since she reached the quarter-finals on debut in 2003, Pennetta has made it to the final each year, winning in 2005 and last year. Of her six career titles, four have been in Latin America.
She faces Pauline Parmentier of France next.
■DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS
AP, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic struggled with his serve before beating Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The 21-year-old Serb broke Cipolla in the second game of the first set, but the Italian broke back in the fifth. Djokovic found his game after that, however, and was rarely troubled.
“I’m happy that I’m through in straight sets, but certainly it wasn’t the performance I was looking for,” Djokovic said. “I didn’t expect him to play so many short balls, and with a change of pace, and that’s probably what didn’t give me a lot of rhythm. But it’s my first match here, and I didn’t have a lot of practice and arrived just two days ago from Europe.”
Djokovic, who retired from the Australian Open quarter-finals complaining of heat, reached the Open 13 semi-finals in Marseille last week.
Third-seeded Gilles Simon of France also struggled before advancing, defeating Kuwaiti wild card Mohammed Ghareeb 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, and eighth-seeded Marat Safin of Russia lost to Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
Israeli player Andy Ram, who was given a special permit to play after Shahar Peer was denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for last week’s women’s tournament, plays his first doubles match today. Ram and partner Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe will face Safin and David Ferrer.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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