Thu, Jul 24, 2014 page18

• Nervy Robin Haase wins Gstaad opener

  HIGHS AND LOWS: There was much to cheer for the Swiss fans when Yann Marti defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver, while sixth seed Gilles Simon fell victim to illness

  • AFP, GSTAAD, Switzerland
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  Last year’s finalist Robin Haase had to fight through an extended case of first-match nerves to advance over Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 on another rainy day at the Swiss Open on Tuesday.

  The Dutchman, who lost the final a year ago on the Bernese alpine clay to Russian Mikhail Youzhny, failed to close out his win in two sets against the world No. 99 Nedovyesov, who beat him in the spring in Casablanca, Morocco.

  Haase led a set and 5-4 when he was broken, with Kazakhstan’s Nedovyesov winning a tiebreaker to take the contest into a deciding set.

  

  Switzerland’s Yann Marti celebrates his victory over Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in their Suisse Open first-round match in Gstaad, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

  Photo: EPA

  The seventh seed found his game just in time, though, breaking for 3-1 to earn the edge for eventual victory.

  Haase admitted that his case of early-match nerves lasted much longer than expected as he finally advanced in just under two hours in a contest played in the mid-teens Celsius and with occasional drizzle.

  “It’s normal to have some nerves, but they usually go away in the first few games,” said world No. 51 Haase, winner of two career ATP Tour titles. “In the first and second sets I was playing with nerves. It was only in the third set that I relaxed for the first time. I was feeling a lot of pressure, I had finalist points to defend from last year and I’ve not been playing that well on clay. I’ve had some good matches, but I lost them. I can only look ahead to the next round. There are no certain [easy] matches anymore.”

  

  Jack Sock of the US returns to Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia in their Atlanta Open first-round match at Atlantic Station in Georgia on Tuesday.

  Photo: AFP

  Haase, whose two titles came on clay in Kitzbuehel, Austria, in 2011 and 2012, won his 12th match of the season and improved to 5-1 at Gstaad.

  A pair of players quit matches, with sixth seed Gilles Simon falling victim to illness and stopping while trailing 6-2, 3-2 against Pablo Andujar.

  Germany’s Jan-Leonard Struff was leading 6-2, 1-0 when Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer retired from their first-round match with a left adductor strain.

  

  Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko returns to Nathan Pasha of the US in their Atlanta Open first-round match at Atlantic Station in Georgia on Tuesday.

  Photo: AFP

  Swiss wild-card Yann Marti finished off a match halted on Monday, beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver 5-7, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5).

  Two-time champion Thomaz Bellucci began his quest for a hat-trick as he beat Austrian qualifier Gerald Melzer, the brother of Jurgen Melzer, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and a quarter.

  Kenny de Schepper of France beat Italy’s Filippo Volandri 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), while Blaz Rola of Slovenia stopped Brazilian qualifier Fabiano de Paula 6-4, 6-4.

  

  Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin serves to Rajeev Ram of the US in their Atlanta Open first-round match in Georgia on Tuesday.

  Photo: AFP

  ATLANTA OPEN

  Reuters

  Rising US star Jack Sock eased past Colombia’s Alejandro Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4, but Uzbekstan’s Denis Istomin put a dent in the large home field in the first round of the Atlanta Open in Georgia on Tuesday.

  On a day for the local contenders, 21-year-old Sock, who teamed up with Canadian Vasek Pospisil to win a surprise Wimbledon men’s doubles crown earlier this month, underlined his promise by swatting aside Gonzalez in just over an hour.

  Ranked fourth in the US men’s pecking order behind world No. 12 John Isner, No. 61 Sam Querrey and No. 64 Steve Johnson, Sock has carried his stellar doubles form into singles in recent weeks, reaching the semi-finals at the Newport International in Rhode Island.

  Sock’s quarter-final upset of Isner at Newport shot his ranking to a career-high No. 69, three places above his current No. 72, and the highly-fancied Nebraskan will be eager to maintain his form ahead of next month’s US Open.

  Americans Robby Ginepri and Tim Smyczek also advanced, but sixth seed Istomin was too strong for Rajeev Ram, winning 6-1, 6-4.

  The 27-year-old Uzbek No. 1 has yet to crack a maiden ATP Tour title, though has come close in the US, reaching the finals in San Jose, California, and New Haven, Connecticut.

  “I’d like to get that first title and I’d like to get it here,” Istomin told reporters.

  The Atlanta Open is the start of the US Open Series, a set of tournaments that are a prelude to the year’s final Grand Slam which starts on Aug. 25.

  In other first-round action, hot-headed Australian Marinko Matosevic topped the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos 6-0, 6-2, while Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko defeated Nathan Pasha of the US 6-2, 7-5..

  CROATIA OPEN

  AP, UMAG, Croatia

  Fifth seed Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic needed a late rally to beat world No. 100 Diego Sebastian Schwartzman 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2) in the first round of the Croatia Open in Umag on Tuesday.

  Schwartzman was serving at 4-3 in the third set and the Argentine even had game point to increase his lead, but Rosol broke back to level and then comfortably won the tiebreaker.

  Spain’s Albert Montanes, who has twice reached the quarter-finals in Umag, cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over teenager Alexander Zverev.

  The 17-year-old German rose to a career-high No. 161 on Monday after the reaching semi-finals in Hamburg, Germany, last week.

  Another Argentine, eighth seed Carlos Berlocq, beat Slovakia’s Andrej Martin 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

  Though there were no service breaks in the opening set, before Berlocq took a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set on his way to a place in the second round.

  Sixth seed Andreas Seppi, a three-time semi-finalist at the Croatia Open, also advanced to the second round after beating fellow Italian Marco Cecchinato 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 6-1.

  In the late matches, Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain defeated Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-3, while another Spaniard, Pere Riba, rallied to beat Jiry Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-3.

  Dutchman Igor Sijsling also booked a place in the second round, beating Germany’s Julian Reister 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to line up a match against 2012 champion Marin Cilic.

  In other matches, Argentine qualifier Horacio Zeballos beat Croatian wild-card Ante Pavic 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, while Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia beat Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-3. Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas came from a set down to defeat Mate Delic of Croatia 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
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