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| May 20, 2003 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1424 |
Roddick overwhelms Martin
ST POELTEN (Austria), May 19: Top seed Andy Roddick warmed up for next week’s French Open by beating Alberto Martin in the first round of the Austrian Grand Prix claycourt tournament on Monday.
The 20-year-old American, a winner of five titles to date but looking for his first of the season, dispatched the Spaniard 6-1 7-6.
Roddick, whose five titles have all been captured on home soil, has this year been a finalist in Houston and Memphis and reached the last four at the Australian Open.
The American next plays unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber, who overcame Austria’s sole representative Juergen Melzer 6-4 0-6 6-2.
Three seeds failed to clear the first hurdle. Fourth seeded American Taylor Dent lost 2-6 7-6 6-4 to Croat Mario Ancic, while compatriot and fifth seed Jan-Michael Gambill lost 7-5 3-6 6-3 to wild card entrant and former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek.
Seventh seed Karol Kucera of Slovakia was swept away 6-2 6-1 by Dutchman Martin Verkerk. However, sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia had no problems in dismissing Slovak Karol Beck 6-4 6-2. French Open defending champion and second seed Albert Costa plays his first-round match on Tuesday.
Behrend stuns Rios
DUESSELDORF (Germany): Tomas Behrend, the world number 102, produced a stirring fightback to beat Marcelo Rios 3-6 7-5 7-6 and pull hosts Germany level with Chile at 1-1 in their World Team Cup tie on Monday.
On a day when rain forced the players indoors to a special court laid on top of an ice rink, Fernando Gonzalez beat Lars Burgsmueller 6-4 7-6 to put Chile ahead but Behrend came from 6-3 4-2 down to beat the former world number one.—Reuters
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