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.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care