October 19, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 6, 1428

MADRID, Oct 18: World No 2 Rafael Nadal recovered from an unsteady start to overpower Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-4 in the Madrid Masters on Wednesday and set up a mouth-watering last-16 clash against Andy Murray.

Nadal, playing his first competitive match since losing to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the US Open fourth round on Sept 4, struggled to find his rhythm in the opening games, but eventually settled on the ultra-fast hard court.

The Spaniard got the measure of a fading Baghdatis in the second set, making the crucial break in the ninth game to claim victory at the scene of his triumph in 2005.

Third seed Novak Djokovic had to shake off a determined challenge from unseeded Fernando Verdasco to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.

The 20-year-old, who lies behind Nadal and Roger Federer in the rankings, will face Juan Carlos Ferrero in the last 16 after the Spaniard got the better of compatriot Carlos Moya 7-6, 6-4 in a duel between former world number ones.

Djokovic did his best to garner support from the partisan crowd at the Madrid Arena by donning a Real Madrid shirt as he walked on court to face Verdasco.

But the Serb, who won in Vienna at the weekend and is already assured of a place in the season-ending Masters Cup, found himself on the back foot against the young Spaniard and lost the first set on a tiebreak.

He fought back to take the second 6-3 and gained the edge with a break in the eighth game of the third to clinch victory in just over two and a half hours.

Eight seeds including Masters Cup hopefuls Tommy Robredo, James Blake, David Ferrer, Ivan Ljubicic and Richard Gasquet tumbled out of the tournament on Wednesday, denting their chances of making the prestige event in Shanghai.

Robredo fell victim to Argentine Juan Martin del Potro who defeated the eighth seed 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 in a marathon late match that did not finish until well after 1am local time.

Eariler, wildcard Feliciano Lopez delivered a blow to seventh seed Ferrer’s hopes of qualifying with an unexpected 7-6, 7-5 win on centre court, while Mikhail Youzhny was brushed aside by Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer.

Sixth seed Blake lost to Mario Ancic 6-3, 6-4 and Czech Thomas Berdych exited at the hands of Argentine David Nalbandian who came from a set down to claim a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over the ninth seed.

Gasquet lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets in an all-French second round contest and Ljubicic, who was beaten by Nadal in the 2005 Madrid final, was edged out by Austria’s Stefan Koubek 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.

Last year’s losing finalist Fernando Gonzalez, seeded fifth, had to dig deep to record a 7-6, 7-5 win over the combative Nicolas Almagro.

Argentine Guillermo Canas also had to battle hard to snatch a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over compatriot Agustin Calleri and earn a third-round match against Federer.

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round:

Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) beat 8-Tommy Robredo (Spain) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat 16-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-1, 6-3; Stefan Koubek (Austria) beat 12-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 6-4, 6-4; Mario Ancic (Croatia) beat 6-James Blake (US) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-3; Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat 10-Richard Gasquet (France) 7-6 (10-8), 7-5; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat 14-Carlos Moya (Spain) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4; David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat 9-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat 7-David Ferrer (Spain) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 7-5, 6-2; 13-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; 5-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 7-6 (13-11), 7-5.

SEEDS TUMBLE IN ZURICH

ZURICH: Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic joined the exodus of top players at this year’s Zurich Open on Wednesday with surprise second-round defeats.

World No 3 Jankovic was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by unseeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova while Ivanovic, the world No 4, was downed 6-3, 6-1 by fellow teenager Tatiana Golovin of France.

The two Serbs were playing their opening matches of the tournament after receiving byes into the second round.

Earlier in the day, eighth seeded former world No 1 Amelie Mauresmo lost 6-2, 4-6, 1-6 to Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko.

Originally boasting a strong field of 14 top-20 players, including seven from the top 10, the Zurich Open has now lost half of its eight seeded players.

A resident of nearby Basel, Ivanovic had described the Zurich event as a home tournament but denied that had put any extra pressure on her.

“It was more because of how I now see myself as a top player,” said the 19-year-old Serb who has shot up the sport’s rankings following runs to this year’s French Open final and the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Unusually nervous play by Ivanovic coupled with some fine shots by Golovin allowed the Russian-born Frenchwoman to take command of an entertaining first set.

The second set began with an exchange of breaks but the one by Ivanovic turned out to be her only game of the set as Golovin wrapped up the match with a five-game winning streak.

Following Ivanovic on to court for the day’s final match, Jankovic paid the price for missing too many key points against Vaidisova.

The world No 3 converted just one of four break points in the opening set, while her Czech opponent was handed two and seized them both.

In the second set Jankovic finally broke ahead but two further breaks for Vaidisova put paid to any hopes of a comeback by the favourite.

Unlike her fellow seeds, Mauresmo did at least manage to win a set, taking a comfortable lead after breaking Bondarenko twice without reply.

But like Jankovic, the Frenchwoman then missed important points in the second set and was outplayed in the third, flagging as her opponent struck a series of winners.

Organisers will be hoping to avoid similar upsets on Thursday when the top two seeds finally enter the fray.

World No 1 Justine Henin begins her campaign against Russian world No 23 Vera Zvonareva.

Fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Austrian world No 21 Sybille Bammer.

Wednesday’s results:

Second round:

Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat 3-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-4, 6-4; Tatiana Golovin (France) beat 5-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-1; Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat 8-Amelie Mauresmo (France) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1; 9-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) 6-4, 6-1.

First round: Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat Elena Dementieva (Russia) 4-6, 6-1, 4-2 – Dementieva retired.—Reuters