Novak Djokovic repelled a determined challenge from Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez as he continued the defense of his Dubai championships title with a three-set win on Wednesday.
Top seed Roger Federer had no such difficulties against Spaniard Marcel Granollers, winning 6-3, 6-4 with a flurry of spectacular winners to reach the quarter-finals.
Second seed Djokovic won 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, but the outcome hung in the balance until the final few minutes as Lopez, who reached the final in 2004 and 2008, tormented Djokovic with a varied and aggressive game.
Serb Djokovic took the opening set with just one break of serve, leading 3-1 when Lopez double-faulted, but he was quickly in trouble in the second.
Lopez broke to love in the second game and Djokovic was unable to respond as his opponent made frequent approaches to the net and showed greater persistence and accuracy.
A further break for 6-2 closed out the set, but Djokovic began strongly in the third, showing more aggression as he forced a forehand error to break for 1-0.
Lopez levelled at 3-3, but Djokovic regained the advantage on his third break point in the next game and that proved decisive.
Eighth-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis lost 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine and third seed Czech Tomas Berdych -defeated Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 7-6.
Also through to the last eight are Richard Gasquet, a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Sergei Bubka, Florian Mayer, who dismissed Andrey Golubev 6-3, 6-4, Gilles Simon, who defeated Lukas Rosol 6-2, 6-3, and Philipp Petzschner, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.
QATAR OPEN
REUTERS, DOHA
Women’s world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki moved into the -quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian Nadia Petrova, but third seed Francesca Schiavone was upset by China’s Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday.
Second seed Vera Zvonareva also secured a spot in the last eight with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, while fifth seed and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia thrashed India’s Sania Mirza 6-0 6-1.
Li Na, who beat Wozniacki to reach the final of the Australia Open last month, was upset 6-2, 6-1 by Czech Klara Zakopalova, while France’s Marion Bartoli cruised past Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-0.
DELRAY BEACH
AFP, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Qualifier Ryan Sweeting upset third seed Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the US$442,500 ATP Delray Beach International Championships.
Sweeting won six of the last seven points, denying Querrey’s fightback bid in the final game. Sweeting fell behind 0-40, but saved three break points, then rescued another with a second-serve ace before winning on his only match point.
Sweeting, ranked 118th, advanced to a match today against Japan’s 66th-ranked Kei Nishikori who breezed past US wild card James Blake 6-3, 6-4.
Nishikori’s only ATP crown came at Delray Beach in 2008.
French eighth seed Adrian Mannarino advanced to the second round by rallying to defeat Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
Mannarino will next face Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla and could meet US second seed Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals. Fish is the highest-ranked player in the field after US top seed Andy Roddick withdrew due to illness.
In the night match, sixth seeded Janko Tipsarevic outlasted Blaz Kavcic 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3.
MEXICAN OPEN
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Third-seeded Nicolas Almagro beat Italian Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Mexican Open on Wednesday.
The Spaniard downed Volandri in just over an hour as he stormed closer to adding the Mexico trophy to the titles he picked up at Argentina and Brazil in the last two weeks.
Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain cruised past Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico 6-2, 6-2.
Other seeded men in the tournament had mixed results.
No. 4 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland needed three set to defeat Fabio Fognini of Italy 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine had an easier time, winning beating Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-1, 6-4.
Seventh-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina advanced, defeating Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-3, 6-4.
However, No. 5 Albert Montanes of Spain went out against Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3, 6-4.
In a late match, Thomaz Belluci of Brazil rallied to beat Spaniard Ivan Navarro 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
On the women’s side in the combined ATP-WTA event, top-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany was eliminated by Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (8).
Three other seeded women fared better.
Third-seed Greta Arn of Hungary defeated Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina defeated Silvia Soler Espinosa of Spain, 6-1, 6-1 and No. 6 seed Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain won her match when Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine retired in the second set while trailing 6-3, 1-0.
Seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain downed Madalina Gojnea of Romania 6-4, 6-3.
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