The US were level with Kazakhstan at 1-1 in the World Team Cup after Mardy Fish defeated Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-2 and Mikhail Kukushkin outlasted Sam Querrey 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Serbia led Russia 2-0 thanks to Dusan Lajovic, who substituted for the injured Janko Tipsarevic, overcoming Igor Andreev 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, and Viktor Troicki overwhelming Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-1.
Germany took a 1-0 lead over Spain as Florian Mayer defeated Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Photo: Reuters
Fish recovered from losing the opening game against Golubev, but immediately broke back and then broke a second time for the set. After breaking to lead 2-0 in the second, he fought off three break points to hold for 5-2 before breaking again for victory.
“I served well,” Fish said. “I got a lot of free points on my serve. It [the court] is playing really slow, the balls are pretty heavy and the court’s just soft right now because of the rain, so to be able to get a few free points off my serve was key. I felt I had a pretty nice feeling on my return games as well. You know there are not many guys that are going to serve you off the court on a court like this one here, so you’re going to have your looks.”
Querrey served for victory against Kukushkin at 5-4 in the second set, but failed for the second straight day to close out the match. On Monday he led Sweden’s Robin Soderling by a set and 5-3 before losing in three sets.
Photo: Reuters
OPEN DE NICE
AP, NICE, FRANCE
French wild card Julien Benneteau upset sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the first round of the Open de Nice on Tuesday.
Benneteau converted three of four break opportunities to claim his third win in five matches over Baghdatis and avenge a straight-set loss three weeks ago in Munich.
Fourth-seeded Andy Roddick pulled out of the tournament ahead of yesterday’s match against Victor Hanescu after injuring his right shoulder at last week’s Italian Open.
Roddick said he doesn’t want to take any risks ahead of the French Open, which starts on Sunday.
Latvian wild card Ernests Gulbis rallied to beat eighth-seeded Fabio Fognini 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 after saving nine of 11 break points.
After a strong start to the season that took him to the semi-finals in Doha, Gulbis went through a poor run of form. He will now try to win consecutive matches for the first time in four months.
Sergiy Stakhovsky also advanced by beating Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-3.
The seventh-seeded Stakhovsky, a quarter-finalist at the warm-up event for the French Open last year, broke his opponent three times to set up a match against Robin Haase. The Dutch lucky loser defeated Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-3, 6-4.
Carlos Berlocq came from behind to beat Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. The Argentine will play third-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
BRUSSELS OPEN
AP, BRUSSELS
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-2, 7-5 to reach the second round of the Brussels Open.
Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia also advanced after defeating Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 6-2, 6-3.
On a good day for seeded players, No. 7 Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania came from behind to beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 and eighth-seeded Peng Shuai of China also needed three sets to beat Kirsten Flipkens 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.
Sixth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer defeated Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in a tough three-setter 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. Another Belgian also went through, qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck overcoming Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
American lucky loser Irina Falconi also advanced to the second round, defeating Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3. Fellow American Abigail Spears beat Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-3, 6-1 and Japan’s Ayumi Morita beat Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
STRASBOURG
AP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Top-seeded players Marion Bartoli and Andrea Petkovic reached the second round of the Strasbourg International with straight-sets wins on Tuesday.
Bartoli, seeded No. 1, overcame problems with her serve to beat Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-2, 6-1 after breaking the Japanese veteran six times.
The Frenchwoman next plays Elena Baltacha of Britain, who was leading 6-3 when Magdalena -Rybarikova of Slovakia retired.
The second-seeded Petkovic made light work of Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-1 in an all-German match.
Eighth-seeded Lucie Hradecka beat US qualifier Ahsha Rolle 6-3, 6-4. The Czech, runner-up to Aravane Rezai two years ago, served 10 aces and broke Rolle three times.
She will next play Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France, who defeated Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko 6-4, 6-1.
China’s Zhang Shuai beat Pauline Parmentier of France 6-2, 6-4, Mirjana Lucic of Croatia beat Christina McHale of the US 7-5, 7-6 (7) and France’s Alize Cornet prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 over Sania Mirza of India.
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