Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic was ousted by Viktor Troicki of Serbia 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the Ordina Open on Wednesday. In the women’s event, seventh-seeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia beat Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan 6-4, 6-3, but injured her left ankle and had to withdraw from the tournament. That advanced third-seeded Dinara Safina to the semi-finals.
Ljubicic had 25 aces and lost his serve only once, but in the third-set tiebreaker he squandered a 3-0 lead and dropped five straight points.
“In the tiebreak I thought I had a chance but I didn’t find the weapons to finish it off,” said Ljubicic, who was seeded fourth.
PHOTO: AP
Troicki was through to his first quarter-finals since last July at Umag, where he beat Novak Djokovic en route to the semi-finals.
In the quarter-finals, Troicki will face seventh-seeded Guillermo Canas, who beat Rohan Bopanna of India 6-2, 6-4.
Arnaud Clement of France beat Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-3, and Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina beat Rainer Schuettler of Germany 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).
Top-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 7-5, while local favorite Michaella Krajicek overpowered Sania Mirza of India 6-2, 6-2. Tamarine Tanasugarn beat Ashley Harkleroad of the US 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 to reach her first quarter-finals since February at her home event in Pattaya City, Thailand, and set up a last-eight match with Krajicek.
Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine, 7-6 (3), 6-4 and faces Dementieva next.
■ EASTBOURNE OPEN
AGENCIES, EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND
Former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo is in danger of missing the Grand Slam tournament after straining her thigh on Wednesday.
Mauresmo retired while leading 2-1 in the first set against Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Eastbourne International Women’s Open, and said she was uncertain whether she would recover in time for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.
“We will try everything we can to be ready for Wimbledon even though we know it might be a little bit short,” the Frenchwoman said. “Hopefully if I rest for two, three days it will be OK. Basically, it is a tiny tear and time is running against us.”
Mauresmo, who defeated Justine Henin in the 2006 Wimbledon final, said she felt the injury after breaking Stosur in the opening game.
Mauresmo is seeded 29th for Wimbledon.
Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.
Third seed Vera Zvonareva had her Wimbledon preparations cut short when she lost to fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-3, who set up another all-Russian clash against Nadia Petrova.
There was better news for second seed Marion Bartoli as last year’s surprise runner-up at Wimbledon made short work of Austrian Sybille Bammer, dropping just three games to reach the quarter-final.
■ NOTTINGHAM OPEN
AP, NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
Defending champion Ivo Karlovic of Croatia defeated Sam Querrey of the US 7-6 (3), 7-6 (14) on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Nottingham Open.
The fourth-seeded player will face Andreas Seppi (7) of Italy, who beat Eduardo Schwank of Argentina in the second-round 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7).
Third-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain also advanced to the quarter-finals, beating Bobby Reynolds of the US 6-2, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France defeated Samuel Groth of Australia 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4, and No. 8 Gael Monfils beat Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in an all-French matchup. Marin Cilic of Croatia beat Alex Bogdanovic of Britain 6-4, 6-4.
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