Andy Roddick enjoyed an easy ride into the second round of the Shanghai Masters yesterday as Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber was unable to continue in a 6-3, 2-1 victory for the tenth seeded American.
“We’ve all been on the bad side of having to pull out of a match, it’s not fun,” said Roddick, who lost his opening match in Shanghai last year and has tumbled out of the top 10. “But I thought I hit the ball well in what we did play today. I started to hit pretty well last week also, even though I lost the match to Gael [Monfils in Tokyo].
“I’m glad that I can get through today and keep trying to build on it,” he said.
Chinese tennis showed robust health as unheralded Bai Yan, No. 465 in the world, upset veteran Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4 to move into a match with fourth seed Andy Murray.
RIDING HIGH
Bai, 21, is riding high from titles at a pair of low-level Chinese Future events in recent weeks while Murray is struggling to escape another slump after a quarter-final loss last week in Beijing against Ivan Ljubicic.
“I’ll just do my best job and give my best performance,” Bai said. “All I know is that I can probably put him under some pressure.”
Bai has watched Murray numerous times on television, even if the Briton will likely have no idea who his opponent is.
“He’s a talented player, much better than me, I think, but I hope to learn from him in our match and I think it will be a good opportunity for me,” Bai said.
FIRST ROND
Bai’s only other ATP appearance came in Beijing two years ago, when he lost in the first round to Japan’s Go Soeda.
Fellow Chinese wildcard Zhang Ze gave Ivan Ljubicic a scare before the Croatian restored order with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win.
Spain’s David Ferrer bounced back from losing the China Open final 24 hours earlier with a 7-6, 6-1 win over Frenchman Michael Llodra.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon marathon man John Isner sent down 24 aces in a 4-6, 7-6 (11/9), 7-6 (9/7) defeat of Lukasz Kubot.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set