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| October 18, 2006 | Wednesday | Ramazan 24, 1427 |
Roddick strolls into third round at Madrid Masters
MADRID, Oct 17: Sixth seed Andy Roddick took full advantage of his powerful serve to see off Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 7-6 and move into the third round of the Madrid Masters tennis on Tuesday.
The big American, who won the Masters Series event in Cincinnati in August and lost to Roger Federer in the final of the US Open, snapped up his only break point on his way to taking the first set.
It was level pegging in the second but Roddick used his serve to good effect to win the tie break, wrapping up victory with an ace. He will face either Argentine Agustin Calleri or Czech Tomas Berdych in the third round.
Spain's Tommy Robredo, who captured the biggest title of his career when he won the Hamburg Masters in May this year, made the third round after a gritty 7-6, 7-6 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.
The world number eight fought his way back after early breaks against serve to force tie breaks in both sets and maintained his concentration on the key points as Chela lost his.
The 24-year-old became the first Spaniard to win in Madrid after first-round defeats for five of his compatriots including Carlos Moya, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez. He will now meet the winner of the match between Robby Ginepri and Mario Ancic.Torrential overnight rain delayed the start of the morning matches after the roof in the Madrid Arena sprang a leak and organisers had to wait for workmen to lay out tarpaulin sheets to prevent more water getting on to the courts.
Frenchman Gael Monfils had to retire after sustaining an ankle injury while a set up in his match against Slovak Dominik Hrbaty.
The 20-year-old Monfils won the first set 6-3 and looked to be heading for a comfortable victory but turned his right ankle as he leapt across the back of the court following a point in the second set with the score at 2-2. He retired after 52 minutes of play.
It was the Frenchman's first tournament since he sustained a stress fracture in his left foot at the US Open where he lost in the second round to Wesley Moodie.
Results:
Second round: 6-Andy Roddick (US) beat Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); 7-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).
First round: Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) beat Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-3, 6-1; Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat Gael Monfils (France) 3-6, 2-2 – Monfils retired; Robin Soederling (Sweden) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-3, 6-4.
VAIDISOVA UPSET
ZURICH: Tatiana Golovin of France crushed seventh-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 6-0 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Zurich Open.
Golovin, playing her first match since reaching the Stuttgart final 10 days ago, always held the advantage. After holding a break point for 2-0 and two more to lead 3-1, she eventually broke through by claiming Vaidisova's serve at 3-2 when the Czech put a wild double-handed backhand wide.
Vaidisova, who reached the Moscow semi-finals last week before losing to Nadia Petrova, made a succession of often unforced errors against an aggressive and increasingly confident opponent.
Maria Kirilenko, who has engaged British coach Nigel Sears during the European indoor season in an attempt to reverse a dramatic slump that had seen her win just four matches in her last 11 tournaments, earned a welcome 6-4, 7-6 win over Swiss wildcard Emmanuelle Gagliardi.
Meanwhile, Switzerland's Martina Hingis made a triumphant return to her home-town tournament on Monday when she defeated Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-0, 7-5 to reach the second round.
It was the first time Hingis has played the event since claiming the title in 2000 with victory over Lindsay Davenport, after twice finishing as runner-up.
In the only other match on the opening day of the tournament, Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik earned a second round meeting with fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Mary Pierce of France.
Results:
First round: Tatiana Golovin (France) beat 7-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 6-2, 6-0; Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Marion Bartoli (France) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Shahar Peer (Israel) beat Alicia Molik (Australia) 6-1, 6-2.—Reuters
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