March 19, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

INDIAN WELLS (California), March 18: Defending champion Rafael Nadal swept aside US youngster Donald Young and booked a rematch with Aussie Open foe Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Pacific Life Open on Monday.

Nadal, ranked number two in the world and seeded second behind world number one Roger Federer, defeated 86th-ranked Young 6-1, 6-3, taking full advantage of the 18-year-old wild card’s early nerves to pocket the first set quickly.

Young steadied in the second set, but was broken in the sixth game to trail 2-4. With Nadal serving for the match at 5-3, Young was unable to capitalize on one break point and the Spaniard duly served out what he called a “comfortable” win.

Next up for Nadal is Tsonga, who was unseeded when he stunned the second-seeded Spaniard in straight sets in the Australian Open semi-finals in January.

Tsonga, now ranked 17th in the world, defeated fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

Third-seeded Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic advanced on cue in the 5.7 million-dollar tournament, which features a WTA tier one event as well as the men’s Masters Series.

Serbia’s Djokovic capped the night session on stadium court with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Unseeded South Korean Lee Hyung-Taik, ranked 52nd in the world, pulled off the upset of the day, downing world number five and fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/3).

France’s Richard Gasquet, the eighth seed, advanced with an impressive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela.

Women’s top seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced with ease, downing Italy’s Tathiana Garbin 6-3, 6-0.

Ivanovic, whose runner-up finish to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open propelled her to number two in the world, was pleased to turn in a solid performance after her erratic 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 victory over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru in the previous round.

Ivanovic’s third-seeded compatriot Jelena Jankovic also cruised into the fourth round, posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Third round: Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) bt 5-David Ferrer (Spain) 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 7-6(3); 16-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) bt 21-Juan Monaco (Argentina) 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-2; 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt 27-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-3, 6-2; Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt 18-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-0; 17-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt 14-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 7-6(5), 6-4; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Donald Young (US) 6-1, 6-3; 9-James Blake (US) bt 19-Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-3, 6-4; 8-Richard Gasquet (France) bt 28-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-2, 6-1.

Women’s singles:

Third round: 1-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt 31-Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-3, 6-0; 24-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Chan Yung-Jan (Taiwan) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; 6-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-3, 7-6(3); 12-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Russia) 6-0, 6-3; 20-Anabel Medina (Spain) bt Evgeniya Rodina (Russia) 6-3, 7-5; 13-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) bt 19-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt 27-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-1, 6-1; Casey Dellacqua (Australia) bt 32-Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-1, 4-0 (Paszek retired).—Agencies