Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Rajeev Ram of the US 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the St Petersburg Open on Thursday.
Third-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia also reached the final eight by beating Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-3, 6-3. Klizan hit five aces and never faced a break point. He next faced Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, who advanced when eighth-seeded Jurgen Zopp of Estonia retired with a back injury after losing the first set 6-3.
Earlier, fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini eliminated 2009 champion Serghiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, while fellow Italian Flavio Cipolla made the final eight with a 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 victory over Grega Zemlja of Slovenia.
Youzhny served hard in the first set and allowed Ram to score only three points on receiving. Youzhny then made a break in the opening game of the second set and held his serve to close the match on his first match point.
Yesterday, in his eighth quarter-final appearance at the tournament since 2001, Youzhny was to face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, who was leading 6-1 and 3-1 when Paolo Lorenzi of Italy retired with a left Achilles injury.
Fognini was leading 3-1 and 40-15 up in the first set when he made three double faults and Stakhovsky broke him and forced a tiebreaker.
He then accelerated to a 5-1 lead in the second set and though the Ukrainian broke for 5-4, Fognini served the match out to love.
Next up for him is Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain, who ousted Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-4, while Cipolla was to play against Gimeno-Traver of Spain, who stopped Lukasz Kubot of Poland, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
MOSELLE OPEN
AP, METZ, France
Seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France continued his successful return after several months out with a knee injury on Thursday, reaching the quarter-finals of the Moselle Open with a 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 victory over compatriot Nicolas Mahut.
It was Monfils’ second match since losing to Brian Baker of the US at the Open de Nice in May. The 2009 Metz champion hit 12 aces to secure a match against second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber.
“The fatigue builds up, I have lots of little niggles,” Monfils said. “I still feel a bit heavy, so I push and grimace a bit. But day after day, I’m getting better.”
Kohlschreiber, a runner-up three years ago, defeated Benoit Paire of France 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.
Third-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain was forced to retire with an abdominal injury when trailing Ivo Karlovic 6-2, 2-2. The Croatian faces Nikolay Davydenko in the quarter-finals after the eighth-seeded Russian defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 7-5, 6-4.
Fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy is also through after cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Frenchman Vincent Millot in just over an hour. American Jesse Levine faces a quarter-final against top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after beating Michael Berrer of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
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