Ivan Dodig of Croatia beat No. 8 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8) on Monday in the opening round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
The unseeded Dodig survived two match points in a third-set tiebreaker, winning when Tomic netted an easy volley to end the nearly three-hour match.
“I was really happy after the match because I’ve been losing tight, tight matches,” Dodig said. “This is going to give me more confidence.”
American Donald Young also won, outlasting Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (6). Young, 22, survived a shaky outing in which he was broken five times and had seven double faults.
The 19-year-old Tomic, Australia’s top-ranked player, lost for only the third time this season. His only other losses have been to third-ranked Roger Federer and No. 4 Andy Murray.
“Last year, he showed that he can play good tennis against great players and will soon be one of the top players in the world,” Dodig said of Tomic. “This match, it was just a matter of a little bit of luck. I was a little more lucky in the tiebreaker.”
American John Isner, the tournament’s top seed, was to play his first match yesterday against Gilles Muller. Isner is ranked a career-best 13th.
Second-seeded American Andy Roddick, the defending champion in Memphis, is to play his first match tonight. The 29-year-old is 27th in the latest ATP rankings, his lowest position since August 2001.
Among those advancing to the second round in the Memphis International, the accompanying women’s event, were No. 3 seed Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, No. 4 seed Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, who upset No. 6 seed Elena Baltacha of Britain 6-2, 6-1.
Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, the 2006 Memphis champion, also won her first-round match, a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Heather Watson of Britain.
In a doubles exhibition, former world No. 1 John McEnroe, who turned 53 last week, teamed with 19-year-old Jack Sock to beat Sam Querrey and James Blake, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
COPA CLARO
AP, BUENOS AIRES
Rising Japanese star Kei Nishikori reached the second round of the Copa Claro with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory over former top-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain on Monday.
The fourth-seeded Nishikori reached the quarter-finals last month of the Australian Open and showed in Argentina that he could also play on outdoor clay, probably his least favorite surface.
In another key first-round match, Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who will retire next month after the Masters tournament in Florida, advanced after Spaniard Albert Montanes retired during the second set with a hip injury.
Gonzalez was leading 7-5, 1-0.
No. 6-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 6-4 to advance.
Also in the first round, Carlos Berlocq of Argentina defeated Pere Riba of Spain, 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-0, Victor Hanescu of Romania won over Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4) and Facundo Bagnis beat fellow Argentine Leonardo Mayer 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
The 22-year-old Japanese overcame five double faults to beat the former French Open champion Ferrero.
“He [Ferrero’s] been one of the greatest players, so I am really happy to win this,” Nishikori said. “I’m not really used [to] it [clay], but I’m trying to play good on clay.”
Nishikori moved to the US at the age of 14 and attended the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida.
It has paid off. At the age of 18, he won at Delray Beach to become the youngest man to win an ATP title since Lleyton Hewitt captured his first in 1998 at 16.
“I’m feeling really confident. I’m playing well this year and trying to improve my ranking [No. 17],” he said. “If I keep playing like this, I have some chance to get to the top.”
Gonzalez said he felt sorry for his Spanish opponent, but valued any opportunity to play another match with his career winding down.
“It strange what happened to Albert,” Gonzalez said. “But it’s good for me. The more times I have a chance to play, the better.”
OPEN 13
AP, MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Ivan Ljubicic hit 27 aces en route to beating Florent Serra of France 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 on Monday and reach the second round of the Open 13.
The seventh-seeded Croat broke for a 4-2 lead in the final set.
Ljubicic also broke Serra’s serve at 4-4 in the first set, but the Frenchman dominated the second-set tiebreaker, winning five straight points to take a 5-1 lead before leveling the match at one set apiece.
A runner-up at this tournament in 2005, Ljubicic will next face Paul-Henri Mathieu of France or Karol Beck of Slovakia.
Also, Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France downed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Nieminen, who won the Sydney International last month, dropped serve twice to lose the opening set. The Finnish lefty saved four break points in the next set to force a tiebreaker, but Roger-Vasselin jumped out to a 4-0 lead before clinching victory.
Roger-Vasselin will play Flavio Cipolla, who defeated eighth-seeded Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an all-Italian match.
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