Holder Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina came from behind to defeat Lu Yen-hsun 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Legg Mason Classic on Tuesday.
※It was a difficult match, my first match of the hardcourt season,§ Del Potro, the tournament*s second seed behind Andy Roddick, told reporters. ※It took some time to find my rhythm.§
In a match that started late Tuesday night and ended well past midnight, del Potro lost the opening set after dropping his serve at 3-3.
PHOTO: AP
Taiwan*s 62nd-ranked Lu broke in the seventh game of the first set and held through to take the set, but surrendered a break in the penultimate game of the second set and another to open the third.
World No. 6 Del Potro broke again for a 5-2 lead and held again to reach a third-round match against Australia*s Lleyton Hewitt or Israel*s Dudi Sela.
※Lu is a good player and he played a good first set,§ Del Potro said. ※I was able to turn it around in the second set and take control in the third. I*m glad to be through to the third round.§
PHOTO: AP
Sixth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia fell to qualifier Somdev Devvarman of India 7-5, 6-4 in what the 24-year-old called the biggest win of his career.
※At this point, I*m just happy I got through,§ Devvarman, who won back-to-back US collegiate singles titles at the University of Virginia, told reporters after his fourth victory in four days. ※I*m going to use my day off well.§
Eighth seed Tomas Berdych and 10th seed Tommy Haas, a Wimbledon semi-finalist, both advanced.
PHOTO: AP
Czech Berdych defeated Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 7-6 and German Haas eased past Frank Dancevic of Canada 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Germany*s Benjamin Becker took the long route to victory, clubbing 27 aces to close out American Robby Ginepri 7-6 6-7 7-6 in the first round. The win set up a second round meeting with Roddick yesterday.
﹥LA CHAMPIONSHIPS
REUTERS, LOS ANGELES
Former title winner Ana Ivanovic overcame a mid-match slump before advancing to the third round of the LA Championships with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory against US wildcard Vania King on Tuesday.
The sixth-seeded Serb was joined in the last 16 by second-ranked Vera Zvonareva, who was pushed all the way in the night match before edging out China*s Shuai Peng 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in two hours, 19 minutes.
Seeking her first title since October last year, Ivanovic struggled with King*s relentless counterpunching in the first two sets, but in the final set, last year*s French Open champion was able to overpower her plucky opponent.
※I felt happy with the way I was moving and playing,§ said Ivanovic, on court for the first time since a thigh injury forced her to retire from a Wimbledon fourth round match against Venus Williams in late June.
※It*s just the first match and I have the ability to improve. I had an opportunity a few times to put the ball away but had a little doubt in my mind as to which shot to take,§ Ivanovic said.
King, who grew up in nearby Long Beach, was frustrated with her inability to trust her shots in the latter stages of her tussle with the 2007 champion.
※I was nervous,§ King said. ※It*s something I*ve struggled with, 〝getting a mental block because they*re in the top 10, but I think I*m doing a much better job of staying mentally tough.§
There were no upsets in the day*s first round matches, as 12th seed Li Na of China advanced when Japan*s Ayumi Morita retired while trailing 6-0, 2-0 and 13th seed Samantha Stosur of Australia eased past Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-1 6-2.
Chinese 14th seed Zheng Jie defeated Olga Savchuk of the Ukraine 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 and 17th seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany battled past Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm 7-6, 2-6, 7-5.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina will kick off her title defense against Slovakia*s Daniela Hantuchova in the second round yesterday, while three-times grand slam champion Maria Sharapova will play third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier