Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun defied jet lag to advance to the second round of the BB&T Atlanta Open in Georgia on Wednesday.
After taking part in the OEC Kaohsiung Challenge Cup on Monday evening, Lu flew to Atlanta to begin the US summer season. The No. 7 seed’s first-round match against lucky loser Alex Kuznetsov of the US was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but the delay to the tournament in Greater Kaohsiung meant it was postponed to Wednesday.
Despite having endured an 18-hour journey to Atlanta via Los Angeles and having only half a day in the US to become accustomed to the time difference, the Taiwanese No. 1 defeated the world No. 171 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour, 22 minutes.
Photo: EPA
The world No. 42 saved six of seven break-point chances and converted three of eight to set up a second-round clash with world No. 66 Benjamin Becker of Germany, the runner-up at the Dutch Open this year.
Lu told reporters he felt pretty good in the first set, but that the fatigue and jet lag caused him to become a little distracted in the second.
Lu and Australia’s Matthew Ebden were also due to face second seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Scott Lipsky of the US in the first round of the doubles on Tuesday, but they had to pull out of the tie after Ebden injured his wrist during his 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Becker in the first round of the singles.
Photo: AFP
In the second-round singles matches on Wednesday, big serving Sam Querrey of the US was bounced out 6-2, 6-4 by Israel’s Dudi Sela.
Despite notching eight aces to none and winning 86 percent of points on his first serve, ninth seed Querrey won just six of 26 second-serve points to be ousted by the world No. 94.
That was not the only shock of the second round, with sixth seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan taken out by Slovakian world No. 91 Lukas Lacko 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
Photo: AFP
Lacko saved eight of 12 break-point chances to catapult him toward victory, while Istomin could only save one of seven.
In other second-round matches, fourth seed Vasek Pospisil of Canada beat qualifier Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 7-5, 6-3 to set up a clash with Sela, while 21-year-old Jack Sock of the US took out New Zealand’s Michael Venus 6-4, 6-2 to advance to a third-round encounter with Lacko.
“Obviously, the summer is going pretty well so far,” Sock told reporters. “I won some matches at the French [Open], Wimbledon was a great showing for me, Newport winning three matches and two matches here so far, so confidence is probably the highest it has ever been.”
Photo: EPA
SUISSE OPEN
AFP, GSTAAD, Switzerland
Juan Monaco held his nerve in a tight final set to upset third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 on Wednesday for a second consecutive place in a quarter-final at the Suisse Open.
The Argentine, whose ranking has dropped to world No. 105, has won six of his eight meetings with Garcia-Lopez, who he also beat in the second round in Gstaad a year ago.
The unseeded South American missed his first chance to serve out victory in the concluding set, but advanced to the last eight on his second opportunity two games later, going through on his second match point.
A year ago, Monaco held a match point in his quarter-final against eventual Suisse Open champion and current top seed Mikhail Youzhny.
“I like Gstaad, last year I played a great match against the champion. We both deserved to win it. I was happy with conditions [at 1,010m altitude] and I’m back again,” Monaco said. “This year, I’m feeling great. I was a little nervous when I was serving for the match at 5-2. I missed that opportunity, but I just tried to get focused on the changeover, thinking of where I’m going to serve. I had to play relaxed, it’s the only way to play a good game. The last game was difficult, but I’m m happy with how I played today.”
“Every match for me is very important at this moment,” said the player who reached his third quarter-final of the season.
Monaco stood 23rd in the ATP rankings in early 2011 and won four titles — three on clay — in 2012. His last trophy came the week before last year’s French Open in Duesseldorf, Germany.
He stands outside the top 100 for the first time in more than eight years.
Argentine fifth seed Federico Delbonis was also sent packing by Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci as the two-time former champion advanced 6-4, 6-4.
Second seed Marcel Granollers fared far better, though, with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4 defeat of Swiss wild-card Yann Marti, while Spain’s Pablo Andujar beat Slovenia’s Blaz Rola 6-3, 6-3.
In a first-round match interrupted by darkness on Tuesday, Swiss wild-card Henri Laaksonen defeated Gianni Mina of France 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3).
CROATIA OPEN
AP, UMAG, Croatia
Defending champion Tommy Robredo beat fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Croatia Open.
Robredo, seeded second, converted only two out of 11 break-points on his way to victory. The Spaniard played a very solid game from the baseline and won 90 percent of his first serves.
Third seed Marin Cilic of Croatia also advanced, beating Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-3. It was Cilic’s fourth victory over Sijsling in as many encounters and the Croatian was dominant from the start.
He took a 5-2 lead in the first set, before Sijsling leveled for 5-5. Cilic then broke in the 12th game on his second set point.
Cilic, who won the tournament in 2012 and reached the 2011 final, broke again at 3-2 in the second set, before easily finishing off the match.
“It is good that I won in two sets, conditions here are tough with humidity and heat,” Cilic said. “I have adjusted well to the conditions, but winning as fast as possible is always recommended.”
Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic also reached the quarter-finals, defeating Spain’s Pere Riba 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta advanced by walkover after Carlos Berlocq of Argentina withdrew.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier