22 July 2004	Thursday	04 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

INDIANAPOLIS, July 21: Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan was pushed to a first-set tiebreaker before cruising past Frenchman Thierry Ascione 7-6, 6-1 in the second round of the RCA Championships here on Tuesday.

The fourth-seeded Paradorn, who lost to America's Andy Roddick in the final here last year, got stronger as the match wore on to win his first career meeting with Ascione.

The top 16 seeds received byes into the second round at this event. Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was the only other seeded player in action and the number 10 recorded an easy 6-2, 6-3 victory over American Rajeev Ram.

There were also 13 first-round matches, among which Australia's Wayne Arthurs dropped a 7-6, 6-1 decision to Rik De Voest of South Africa and Armenia's Sargis Sargsian was upset 6-3, 6-3 by Gregory Carraz of France.

Roddick is the tournament's number one seed and he begins the defence of his title on Wednesday against Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland, who eliminated Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.Tuesday's results (prefix number denotes seeding):

FIRST ROUND: Karol Beck (Slovakia) beat Amer Delic (US) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) beat Jan-Michael Gambill (US) 6-4, 3-0 - retired; Julien Jeanpierre (France) beat Gilles Elseneer (Belgium) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Rik De Voest (South Africa) beat Wayne Arthurs (Australia) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1; Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) beat Jan Vacek (Czech Republic) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat Brian Vahaly (US) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; Todd Reid (Australia) beat Michael Llodra (France) 4-6, 6-3, 3-0 - retired; Sebastien De Chaunac (France) beat Antony Dupuis (France) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Noam Okun (Israel) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-3, 6-1; Jeff Morrison (US) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); Gregory Carraz (France) beat Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) 6-3, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro (France) beat Hyung-taik Lee (South Korea) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Alex Bogomolov Jr (US) beat Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) 6-4, 6-4.

SECOND ROUND: 10-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Rajeev Ram (US) 6-2, 6-3; 4-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat Thierry Ascione (France) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

VENUS IN 3RD ROUND

CARSON: Second seeded American Venus Williams bounced back from a tough loss at the weekend to trounce compatriot Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-1 in a second round match at the JP Morgan Chase Open on Tuesday.

Williams, who was edged in three sets by Lindsay Davenport in the final at Stanford on Sunday, overwhelmed the 19-year-old Harkleroad in just 50 minutes. Fourth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia also won her second round match, crushing American Lilia Osterloh 6-4, 6-2.

Seventh seeded Russian Nadia Petrova also advanced with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 victory over 16-year-old Jessica Kirkland in another second round contest. In first round action, ninth seed Patty Schnyder, 10th seed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi and 15th seed Amy Frazier all advanced, but 16th seed Meghann Shaughnessy was knocked out in three sets by Jelena Jankovic.

TUESDAY'S RESULTS:

FIRST ROUND: 15-Amy Frazier (US) beat Alina Jidkova (Russia) 6-2, 6-2; 10-Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (Israel) beat Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) 6-2, 6-1; Barbara Schett (Austria) beat Claudine Schaul (Luxembourg) 6-3, 6-4; Nicole Pratt (Australia) beat Petra Mandula (Hungary) 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Cara Black (Zimbabwe) 6-2, 6-4; Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) beat Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-2, 6-2; Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Vilmarie Castellvi (Puerto Rico) 6-3, 6-2; Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) beat Teryn Ashley (US) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Jelena Jankovic (Serbia & Montenegro) beat Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 6-3; 9-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Lindsay Lee-Waters (US) 6-1, 6-4; Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic) beat Abigail Spears (US) 6-3, 6-4.

SECOND ROUND: 7-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Jessica Kirkland (US) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Venus Williams (US) beat Ashley Harkleroad (US) 6-2, 6-1; 4-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Lilia Osterloh (US) 6-4, 6-2.

CROATIA OPEN RESULTS

UMAG: Tuesday's results from the Croatia Open ATP tournament:

FIRST ROUND: 6-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Olivier Patience (France) 6-3, 6-2; Tomas Zib (Czech Republic) beat 3-Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-3, 6-4; 1-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Roko Karanusic (Croatia) 6-4, 6-4; 4-Filippo Volandri (Italy) beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia & Montenegro) 7-6, 6-1; Alex Calatrava (Spain) beat Arnaud Di Pasquale (France) 6-4, 6-3; 2-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 6-4, 6-2; 7-Flavio Saretta (Brazil) beat Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-3, 6-1; Christophe Rochus (Belgium) beat Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 6-3, 7-5; 5-Alberto Martin (Spain) beat Jerome Golmard (France) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. -Reuters