Philipp Kohlschreiber opened his season with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig in the first round of the Qatar Open on Monday.
The third-seeded German was joined in the second round by sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who battled past Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Nikolay Davydenko, who has been plagued by injuries and whose ranking has fallen to No. 48 from a high of No. 3, cruised past Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-3.
Photo: Reuters
Kohlschreiber outlasted his opponent with a gritty display. With both players holding serve throughout the first set, Kohlschreiber finally found a forehand winner in the tiebreaker.
“It was a good first set and he never gave me any easy balls,” said Kohlschreiber, who wrapped up the match with an ace. “At 29, I’m one of the older guys in the tour and I hope to adjust a few things in my game next year.”
After breaking Dodig in just the second game of the second set, the German pressed his advantage and broke again in the fourth before wrapping up the match.
Troicki was stretched hard in a thrilling tie that lasted 1 hour, 45 minutes.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match, especially since it was the start of the season. Bjorn played really well and it was a tight match indeed. I’m happy to finish my match before the New Year started,” said Troicki, who fired seven aces in the match.
Top-seeded David Ferrer and second-seeded Richard Gasquet of France were to play their opening-round matches yesterday.
The US$1.05 million tournament is missing many of the game’s biggest stars, with Ferrer and Gasquet as the only top-10 players taking part in the event.
CHENNAI OPEN
AP, CHENNAI, India
Sixth-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase and eighth-seeded Go Soeda of Japan progressed to the second round of the Chennai Open with straight-set wins on Monday.
Haase overcame the challenge of local wild card Yuki Bhambri 7-5, 6-3, while last year’s semi--finalist Soeda defeated unheralded Russian Evegeny Donskoy 6-1, 6-2.
Haase, a two-time quarter--finalist in Chennai, won 78 per cent of his first serves and saved all four break points he faced.
The 25-year-old Haase returned to winning ways after finishing last season with a run of seven straight defeats.
He will now face Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene in the round of 16.
“I was nervous at the beginning of the match, but managed to stay with him,” Bhambri said. “I also had opportunities and if I had taken them, the score could have been different. It was a good match against a top-50 player and it would have been incredible if I had won.”
In the other match involving a seeded player, Soeda cruised as his opponent struggled to adjust to the conditions.
“This was a good start to the year, last year too, this was a good tourney for me,” Soeda said. “The performance gave me a lot of confidence as I’d reached the semi-finals. I trained a lot during the off-season and that helped me move well on court.”
In other matches, Frenchman Eduardo Roger-Vasselin defeated Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4 and Aljaze Bedene of Slovenia knocked out Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-2.
Meanwhile, the four qualifiers advancing to the main draw were Rubens Bemmelmans of Belgium, Cedrik-Marcel Steebe of Germany, Rajeev Ram of the US and Prakash Amritraj of India.
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