Defending champion Andy Roddick made a shock early exit from the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday, suffering a second-round loss to Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 7-6.
The world No. 8, who struggled physically and needed medical treatment during the second set, said he was likely suffering from a lingering bronchial infection.
“I had a little trouble breathing out there today. I’ve had something for a little while, but I’m going to have it checked out when I get home,” the American told reporters.
Photo: AFP
Roddick was broken in the seventh game as 67th-ranked Cuevas took charge, and although he battled on in a tight second set, he looked sluggish and bowed out in the tie-break with consecutive forehand errors.
“I’m just frustrated. You don’t like going out there with less than what you have got and I feel like I have been doing that a lot,” he said. “It’s not like I’m super mad because I had chances or lost, or didn’t play. It’s just frustrating.”
The win was the first for Cuevas against a top-10 ranked player and it left the tournament without another drawcard after Britain’s Andy Murray was defeated by US qualifier Alex Bogomolov on Friday.
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal had no such problems, however, and was satisfied with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Kei Nishikori of Japan.
Leading 2-1 in the first set, Nishikori failed to convert on two break opportunities and Nadal promptly broke the Japanese player in the ensuing game. In the eighth game, Nishikori again failed to convert on two break points.
Nadal broke Nishikori in the opening game of the second set and held serve to close out the match.
Third-seed Roger Federer also advanced, enjoying a routine 6-3, 6-3 win over Czech Radek Stepanek earlier on Saturday.
The victory took Federer alongside Pete Sampras with 762 career wins, equaling seventh overall. Jimmy Connors tops the list with 1,241 wins.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese star Lu Yen-hsun saw an early season slump continue yesterday when he lost to world No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-0, 6-1 in the second round.
Ranked No. 43 in the world, Lu has not made it past the second round in any ATP Tour tournament he has played this year.
Lu last played Youzhny in January in a highly publicized exhibition series in Taiwan that also featured tennis great Andre Agassi of the US and Marat Safin of Russia.
However, he was no match for his familiar foe in Miami, having trouble with both his return and his service game. Lu had five double faults and managed to win only eight points on his returns. He is now 0-2 in career head-to-head matchups against Youzhny.
After making an impressive run to the final eight at Wimbledon last year, Lu has managed to win only three singles matches this season — over Lleyton Hewitt of Australia at India Wells, a first-round win over Pere Riba of Spain in Florida and a Davis Cup win over Gong Maoxin of China in Shanghai.
The 27-year-old will next pair up with German partner Florian Mayer to go up against Xavier Malisse of Belgium and Britain’s Jamie Murray in the men’s doubles first round.
In women’s doubles, Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan and Zheng Jie of China lost to India’s Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-2, 4-6 (10-7) in the first round.
With compatriot Chuang Chia-jung and Anatasia Rodionova of Australia also bowing out in the women’s doubles first round, Hsieh Su-wei, who teamed up with Romanian Monica Niculescu for a 6-3, 7-6 opening round victory, is the only female Taiwanese player left in the tournament.
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