Top-seeded Andy Roddick weathered high temperatures to beat Rajeev Ram 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-3 in the second round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Thursday.
Roddick is aiming for his 20th career tournament title on hardcourts and third this year.
“The first game of the third, I was down a couple of break points,” Roddick said.
PHOTO: AFP
“If he breaks the first game of the third, I think it’s a long way back because he started serving a little bit better in the second set. That was probably the pivotal moment in the match,” he said.
Belgium’s Xavier Malisse defeated Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko 6-3, 6-3, while third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt lost a late match 6-4, 6-2 to Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko.
Hewitt blamed an injury, which he refused to disclose, with keeping him from playing at full capacity. He acknowledged, however, that the injury occurred before he arrived in Atlanta.
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson was a 7-5, 6-3 second-round winner over Donald Young.
■GERMAN OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, Germany
Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan upset defending champion Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the German Open on Thursday.
Third-seeded Juergen Melzer of Austria advanced to the last eight by beating Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 7-6 (4).
Sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, while seventh-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil defeated No. 10 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 7-5, 6-4. Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat wild card Julian Reister of Germany 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Florian Mayer of Germany made the last eight by dispatching Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 7-6 (1), 6-0.
In other matches, Andreas Seppi edged Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Italian encounter and another Italian, Potito Starace, beat Spanish qualifier Pere Riba 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
■GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, Austria
Alize Cornet of France beat defending champion and top-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the Gastein Ladies.
Cornet won 6-2, 7-5 and was next due to face Austrian Patricia Mayr, who upset No. 7-seeded Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-3, 6-4.
Petkovic broke early for a 2-0 lead before losing the next six games to drop the first set. She then served for the second set at 5-3, but was broken when she double-faulted and lost her next service game as well to slip to defeat.
Garbin broke Mayr in the opening game but lost serve twice before dropping the first set. The 123rd-ranked Mayr closed out the match on her first match point.
Julia Goerges of Germany also advanced on Thursday by defeating Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-2, 7-5.
Yvonne Meusburger defeated 2008 finalist Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic 7-5, 7-5.
■SLOVENIA OPEN
AP, PORTOROZ, Slovenia
Second-ranked Jelena Jankovic injured her ankle during the second round of the Slovenia Open and retired hurt on Thursday.
Jankovic was cruising at 6-1, 2-1 against Belarusian qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova then stepped awkwardly when chasing a ball on the baseline and twisted her ankle. Jankovic continued to play after getting medical help, but lost that set 6-3 and eventually retired after losing the first game of the third.
Ksenia Pervak beat qualifier Alexandra Panova 6-2, 7-5 in an all-Russian match.
Pervak jumped into the draw to replace French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who withdrew with a wrist injury.
Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-3, 6-0 to face Johanna Larsson of Sweden who defeated Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 7-5, 6-1.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB