Holder Novak Djokovic led the way with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of recent training partner Ernests Gulbis as the bulk of Serbia’s Davis Cup squad made it to the second round of the Swiss Indoors, while Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun lost in straight sets on Tuesday.
Richard Gasquet of France, a quarter-finalist last year, eliminated Asia’s lone tournament representative as he defeated Lu 6-3, 6-1.
With Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fighting a recurring knee injury, world No. 27 Gasquet has his chances for selection in Belgrade.
PHOTO: REUTERS
World No. 3 Djokovic had practiced last week in Geneva with the Latvian, with whom he grew up at tennis school in Munich, and used the fresh experience on court to roll to victory, his third of four in their series. Gulbis was broken in the final game and ended his exit with a double-fault after 71 minutes and four breaks of serve.
Djokovic, 2-1 in titles this season after winning his second last month in Beijing, will now play one of two qualifiers — Daniel Brand of Germany and Finn Jarkko Nieminen — in the second round.
“It was a great day for us, three matches, three wins,” Djokovic said. “It can’t be better, especially before the Davis Cup.”
Djokovic’s Davis Cup teammates Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki also advanced with only a month to go before Serbia host France in the Dec. 3 to Dec. 5 Davis final in Belgrade, an historic event for the young nation.
Tipsarevic began at the St Jakobshalle with a defeat of Uzbek -Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-4, while Troicki followed the script with a 6-3, 6-0 win over German Michael Berrer.
Troicki rained down seven aces and never faced a break point as he advanced in just 49 minutes.
The Serbs are hoping to make history with an upset victory over the French, with 20,000 fans expected in the stands each day for the tie.
Tipsarevic, ranked 46th, will play top-seed and three-time champion Roger Federer in the second round. Djokovic ended the Swiss’s run of home titles at the event where he once worked as a ballboy with a victory in last year’s final.
In other actions, Colombian Santiago Giraldo beat Karol Beck of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1.
OEC TAIPEI LADIES OPEN
BY TONY PHILLIPS
STAFF WRITER
Chang Kai-chen won an all--Taiwanese clash for the second day running by downing Hsieh Su-wei 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4 at the OEC Taipei Ladies Open yesterday evening.
The highest-ranked home player left in the singles competition at the Taipei Arena faces a daunting quarter-final today against top seed Jarmila Groth, who earlier defeated Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4.
Chang needs to overcome a ranking difference of more than 50 places if she is to beat the Australian world No. 43, who won the Taipei title in 2008. However, Chang has a good record in the tournament, having reached the semi-finals last year.
Tamarine Tanasugarn carried on from where she left off after a comprehensive win on Tuesday in a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Kumiko Iijima. Fully justifying her second seeding, the 33-year-old Thai has yet to drop a set in this year’s tournament and has only lost four games in two matches.
No. 8 seed Junri Namigata of Japan also progressed, downing Romania’s Elena Bogdan 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3.
Hsieh had some consolation for her earlier defeat by winning her first-round doubles match, in which she teamed up with India’s Sania Mirza to down Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Japan’s Iijima. The second seeds prevailed 6-1, 7-5.
In other first-round clashes, Bogdan and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn defeated Taiwanese duo Hsieh Shu-ying and Lee Hua-chen 6-1, 6-3, while Indonesian pair -Yayuk Basuki and Jessy Rompies beat Han Sung-hee of South Korea and Yumi Nakano of Japan 6-3, 6-4.
Chang tasted more success when she teamed up with compatriot Chuang Chia-jung to beat Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and China’s Zheng Saisai 6-4, 6-2.
Also, Russia’s Ksenia Lykina and Beygelzimer beat Taiwan’s Chen Yi and Liu Shao-zhuo 6-3, 6-3.
VALENCIA OPEN
REUTERS, VALENCIA, SPAIN
Spaniard David Ferrer’s late push for a place in the ATP tour finals got off to a labored start with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Valencia Open on Tuesday.
Earlier, top seed Andy Murray survived a second set wobble to kick off his title defense with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
Ferrer, the world No. 8, is fighting for one of three remaining places at the season-ending ATP Tour finals in London this month.
Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Murray and Robin Soderling have qualified, while Ferrer and Mikhail Youzhny, both playing in Valencia, have a good chance of claiming berths.
Fourth seed Ferrer had to come back from a break down in the third set before prevailing in the cavernous clam-shaped Agora building in Valencia’s modernistic ‘City of Arts and Sciences.’ He will meet qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the second round.
Murray entered the tournament two weeks after beating Roger Federer in the Shanghai Masters final, but had problems on his backhand and trailed Lopez 4-1 in the second set. After losing his serve, the world No. 4 broke back and cruised through the tiebreak to win 7-1 to set up a meeting with Argentine Juan Monaco.
World No. 5 Soderling swept past Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-4, and sixth-seed Nikolay Davydenko had a similarly easy ride, hammering wild card Javier Marti 6-2, 6-2.
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