Top-seeded Gael Monfils dispatched Slovakian veteran Dominik Hrbaty 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the second round of the SA Tennis Open on Tuesday.
“I feel real good — physically the shots were there and so was the head,” said the Frenchman, making his debut in Johannesburg. “I was a bit worried about the altitude, playing so high above sea level, and I tightened my racket strings, but it wasn’t a problem. This is fast tennis because the ball travels faster at altitude. You come up to the net more. It’s fun.”
Second-seeded David Ferrer and third seed Feliciano Lopez, both of Spain, also won their first-round matches.
Ferrer accounted for Karol Beck of Slovakia 6-1, 7-5, while Lopez struggled more to put away Monaco qualifier Benjamin Balleret 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
“It was a really hot day and I found it difficult to keep up the intensity,” Lopez said. “After 45 minutes, I was really feeling tired and three double-faults and a few loose shots cost me the second-set tie-breaker. Still, I fought back in the third set when I served well and looking back it was a good win.”
He’ll next meet another Slovak, Blaz Kavcic, who eliminated France’s Thierry Ascione on Monday.
Fourth-seeded Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to Dustin Brown of Jamaica, who earned his first ATP Tour win, and India’s Somdev Devvarman, ranked 162, upset sixth-seeded Xavier Malisse 6-4, 6-2.
Taiwan’s seventh-seeded Lu Yen-hsun beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-2, and other winners included Josselin Ouanna of France, Thiago Alves of Brazil and South African wild-cards Raven Klaasen and Izak van der Merwe.
■MOVISTAR OPEN
AP, SANTIAGO
Former champions Fernando Gonzalez and Jose Acasuso wasted no time in their quests for another Movistar Open title with lopsided opening victories on Tuesday.
Gonzalez, who beat Acasuso a year ago for his fourth hometown title, dispatched Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, while Acasuso hammered local wild-card Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-1, 6-1.
Top-seeded Gonzalez is trying to win his third Movistar Open in a row and his fifth in 10 attempts. He’ll next face another Spaniard, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.
Sixth-seeded Acasuso, champion in 2006, could run into Gonzalez again in the semi-finals. He conceded only five points on serve and broke Podlipnik-Castillo five times. The Argentine will next play countryman Eduardo Schwank, who took more than three hours to beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Third-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil defeated Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, but fourth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, a two-time semi-finalist, was upended by Ricardo Mello of Brazil, who won 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in his season opener.
Two other seeds — both making their debuts in Santiago — also exited.
No. 5 Heracio Zeballos of Argentina fell to Lukasz Kubot of Poland 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, and No. 7 Simon Greul of Germany lost to 208th-ranked qualifier Joao Souza of Brazil 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
Spaniards Pere Riba and David Marrero, and Chile’s Paul Capdeville were also winners.
■ZAGREB INDOORS
AP, ZAGREB
Fifth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic was knocked out of the Zagreb Indoors in the first round by German Michael Berrer 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 on Tuesday.
Berrer, winner of last week’s Challenger event in Heilbronn, Germany, recovered from a 1-3 deficit in the second set to continue his successful run.
In the second round today, Berrer will face Croatian wild-card Petar Jelenic, who won on his ATP Tour debut against Serbian qualifier Ilija Bozoljac 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.
Sixth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany recovered from a poor start against Swedish qualifier Andreas Vincuguerra. After losing the first five games and the set, Becker won 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).
Becker will next face compatriot Philipp Petzschner, who also came from a set down to defeat Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-1.
Daniel Koellerer of Austria defeated Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and will meet the winner of the match between top-seeded Marin Cilic and the Czech Republic’s Jan Hajek.
Other winners included Lukas Lacko of Slovakia and Alexandre Sidorenko of France.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
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Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take