Novak Djokovic crushed Lukasz Kubot 6-1, 6-2 as the top seed at the Swiss Indoors showed on Thursday that his untouchable form is rapidly returning after six weeks out with injury.
Djokovic, who had struggled in his opening match over three sets, was absolutely untroubled by the Polish qualifier ranked 64th in the world, going through to the quarter-finals in just 54 minutes.
“Today was a really comfortable match,” the world No. 1 said. “I felt good on court. I’m happy to be playing better. This was the goal, I expected that I would struggle with rhythm after not playing for six weeks, but I have no complaints with my game. It was a good performance and I’ll try to do better tomorrow [Friday].”
Photo: EPA
Djokovic lifted his impressive record this year to 66 wins and three defeats as he won again after overcoming a back injury that he called the worst of his career.
“I’m not 100 percent and to be honest I don’t expect to get there this week, I would be surprised if I did. I only started serving a few days before my first match and I could tell I was lacking rhythm on second serve, but it was getting better today,” he said. “I need to stay positive and increase the rhythm and intensity of each match.”
The champion in 2009 and a losing finalist against Roger Federer last year, Djokovic is scheduled to face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who booked his last-eight ticket on Wednesday.
Elsewhere on Thursday, seventh seed Andy Roddick lost his serve three times in the first set, but recovered to put out Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. The victory moves Roddick into a quarter-final with four-time champion Roger Federer.
The pair last met in the semi-finals in Basel a year ago, with the Swiss winning in straight sets. The quarter-final will be their fourth meeting in Federer’s hometown since 2001.
“It is what it is,” Roddick said of the contest. “There won’t be any surprises, neither of us are likely to worry. It will be about who executes better.”
In-form Florian Mayer followed up a third-round upset of Rafael Nadal in Shanghai with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Ivan Ljubicic.
“I’m surprised by this win, but I have so much confidence from beating Nadal. I know on my best game I can defeat anyone,” 22nd-ranked German Mayer said.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori continued his Shanghai momentum after a run to the semi-finals in China.
The 21-year-old, who stands as Asia’s best-ranked player with a No. 32 ranking, easily overcame Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
The week ended early for James Blake of the US, with the 31-year-old exiting at the hands of Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4.
VALENCIA OPEN
AFP, VALENCIA, Spain
Second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, ranked No. 8 in the world, was beaten 7-6, (7/5), 6-2 in the second round of the Valencia Open on Thursday by world No. 116 Sam Querrey of the US.
The defeat is a severe blow to Tsonga’s chances of taking one of the three remaining berths in the ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month.
Tsonga was the No. 2 seed in Valencia and the shock win for Querrey means he is now scheduled to face Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals.
Del Potro won the final second-round game on Thursday evening, beating South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-4, and while he is currently ranked No. 11 in the world, further success in Valencia could mean he advances toward a place in London at the expense of Tsonga and world No. 9 Nicolas Almagro, who was a first-round loser.
Juan Carlos Ferrero made sure of his place in the quarter-finals by beating Alex Bogomolov Jr of the US 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-2 in almost three hours.
Two very close first sets were shared, before Ferrero made his experience show by racing into a 5-0 lead in the decisive third set.
Bogomolov, ranked at a career-high No. 33, may have been suffering from his exertions on Wednesday when he beat Feliciano Lopez in three sets in the final game of the first round.
He did rally slightly to pull two service games back, but Ferrero made sure he reached the quarter-final stage in his home city for the first time ever.
The win means the Valencia-born former world No. 1 remains on course to play his friend David Ferrer in the semi-finals.
To do that he would have to beat the Argentine Juan Monaco, ranked No. 41 in the world, who beat the 44th-ranked Fabio Fognini in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
In the other match on Thursday, Marcelo Granollers took 2 hours, 13 minutes to beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Last year’s runner-up Granollers, from Barcelona, is now scheduled to play No. 3 seed Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals.
The quarter-final line up is completed by the game between top seed Ferrer and Nickolay Davydenko.
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