France’s Marc Gicquel advanced to the second round of the Open Sud de France after beating countryman Michael Llodra 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Tuesday.
Llodra had won their only previous meeting, five years ago in Lyon, but this time Gicquel was more clinical, converting two of his five break-point opportunities, whereas Llodra took only one of eight chances. Both players had six aces.
Gicquel next plays countryman Gilles Simon, who is seeded second.
Photo: AFP
In other first-round matches, Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin also advanced, hitting nine aces in a 6-4, 7-5 win over qualifier Marsel Ilhan of Turkey and he next plays fourth seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia.
Adrian Mannarino beat Vincent Millot 6-4, 6-4 and Albano Olivetti won another all-French match 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 against Kenny de Schepper.
Also in the first round on Tuesday, wild-card entry Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France beat qualifier Andres Artunedo Martinavarr of Spain 6-4, 6-3.
ROYAL GUARD OPEN
AP, VINA DEL MAR, Chile
Sixth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine was knocked out of the first round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile on Tuesday, losing to Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-5.
In another match featuring a seeded player, No. 8 Federico Delbonis of Argentina defeated Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round.
Others reaching the second round on Tuesday included Aljaz Bedene, Paolo Lorenzi, Pablo Carreno Busta, Martin Alund, Daniel Taro and Santiago Giraldo.
ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB
Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic hit a record-equaling 44 aces to defeat Daniel Brands of Germany and advance to the second round of the Zagreb Indoors on Tuesday.
The towering Karlovic matched the record of Mark Philippoussis in the number of aces in a best-of-three match, beating Brands 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).
Australian Philippoussis delivered 44 aces in Kuala Lumpur in 1995 against Byron Black of Zimbabwe.
Earlier on Tuesday, Michael Berrer of Germany defeated Croatia’s Borna Coric 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
In other first-round matches, Germany’s Bjorn Phau defeated local hope Ante Pavic 6-3, 6-4, Dusan Lajovic beat fellow Serb Pedja Krstin 6-2, 6-3 and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia defeated Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 6-4, 6-4.
NADAL RECOVERY
AP, MADRID
Medical scans have revealed no serious problems as Rafael Nadal continues his recovery from a back injury sustained at the Australian Open.
A statement from the world No. 1 player says all checks “were satisfactory and showed positive evolution” regarding the injury.
Nadal is continuing to work out in the gym and his return to the tennis court — starting today — will decide “when he is ready to return to competition.”
The Spaniard is scheduled to play in Buenos Aires next week.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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