Led by top seed David Ferrer of Spain, seeded players had an easy day on Tuesday as almost all moved through to the second round of the clay-court Copa Claro.
Ferrer had no trouble beating Argentine Andres Molteni 6-1, 6-0.
“I’m happy to get out of the first round, and I think he [Molteni] was a little nervous,” Ferrer said.
Photo: Reuters
Molteni had plenty of support from local fans, who were hoping for revenge for Spain’s victory over Argentina last year in the Davis Cup final in Seville, Spain.
“I like fans supporting the local players,” Ferrer said. “It’s the normal thing to do, and personally I like it.”
No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain advanced against Potito Starace of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and No. 3 Gilles Simon of France defeated Rui Machado of Portugal 6-3, 7-5.
No. 5 Juan Monaco of Argentina moved on when Filippo Volandri of Italy retired in the second set with an injury. Monaco was leading 6-1, 3-1.
Seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain also reached the next round, beating Eric Prodon of France 6-4, 6-1.
The biggest upset came when eighth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina lost to Albert Ramos of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Home favorite David Nalbandian defeated Wayne Odesnik of the US, 6-2, 6-3.
“Always playing at home is special,” Nalbandian said. “It was a little windy out there today and the ball was moving around a bit.”
In other matches, Benoit Paire of France defeated Javier Marti of Spain 2-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, Igor Andreev of Russia won over Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2 and Federico -Delbonis of Argentina defeated Frederico Gil of Portugal, 6-2, 6-2.
OPEN 13
AP, MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Nikolay Davydenko hit nine aces and did not face a single break point as he beat Andreas Beck of Germany 6-1, 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Open 13.
Davydenko, a semi-finalist at the ABN Amro World Tennis final in Rotterdam, Netherlands, last week, broke Beck’s serve three times in the match. The Russian next faces fourth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina for a place in the quarter-finals.
No. 5-seeded Richard Gasquet also advanced after a comfortable 6-0, 6-2 win over Go Soeda. Although the Frenchman took little more than one hour to win, he had to save seven break points against his aggressive Japanese opponent.
Gasquet next plays Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn, who saved seven of the eight break points he faced in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain.
In other first-round matches, Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Albano Olivetti advanced in straight sets, while -David Goffin of Belgium was up 6-2, 1-0 against Adrian Mannarino when the Frenchman retired.
Mahut hit 12 aces in beating Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4 and will play another Frenchman, top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the second round. Olivetti, meanwhile, did not face a break point in his 6-4, 6-3 win over Matthias Bachinger of Germany.
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