Tennis Capsules: No. 1 seed Roddick battles heat to hold off Ram
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. (AP) — After losing a second-set tiebreaker, Andy Roddick needed some confidence.
His two opponents, Rajeev Ram and the stifling Georgia heat, were bearing down.
"The first game of the third, I was down a couple of break points," Roddick said. "If he breaks the first game of the third, I think it's a long way back because he started serving a little bit better in the second set. That was probably the pivotal moment in the match."
Roddick, the No. 1 seed, endured blistering temperatures to beat Ram 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-3 in the second round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Thursday.
No. 3 seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia lost the late match 4-6, 2-6 to Lukas Lacko of Slovakia.
Hewitt blamed an injury, which he refused to disclose, with keeping him from playing at full capacity. He acknowledged, however, that the injury occurred before he arrived in Atlanta.
"On Sunday, I didn't think I'd be able to compete here," Hewitt said. "For me, it was a good effort by the medical staff to be able to get me close to being 100 percent here."
Roddick, who will face seventh-seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the quarterfinals, is aiming for his 20th career tournament title on hardcourts and third this year.
Malisse defeated Ukraine's Illya Marchenko 6-3, 6-3.
Roddick, the world's ninth-ranked player and highest-ranking American, improved his ATP tour-leading match record to 27-4 on hardcourts.
Late-afternoon temperatures ranged in the mid-90s with a heat index of 100 at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
Roddick, who hadn't played a singles match since falling in the fourth round at Wimbledon last month, blamed the heat for causing his left foot to swell.
During the third set, he nearly asked for a trainer before reconsidering.
"I don't know if it's a bruise or a nerve," Roddick said. "I was going to get it worked on and treated, but I wasn't sure how it would react. It felt swollen, so I was a little scared of taking the shoe off and having it blow up a little bit. It's something that I've had before. It's manageable. It's something that happens if you haven't been in the heat for a while."
Roddick's first career victory came against Malisse in 2001 at the same venue. That was the last time the Atlanta championships were held before the event returned this year.
Improving to 33-7 this year, Roddick showed some frustration by throwing his racket in the second set, but he finished the match having won seven of eight break points, including a 4 for 4 on service saves.
Roddick had not lost a 7-1 tiebreaker since dropping a first-round match to Gilles Muller at the 2005 U.S. Open. It marked just the fourth time in his career that Roddick lost a 7-1 tiebreaker or worse.
"There's basically two ways to look at a tiebreaker," Roddick said. "You lose one or you win one. It's the same with a match. You lose or you win. It doesn't matter how many games you win. If that was the case, I probably would've won Wimbledon last year."
No. 6 seed Mardy Fish withdrew from doubles Thursday after twisting an ankle late in a second-round singles victory the night before over Robby Ginepri.
Fish, who needs to rest before his quarterfinals match, was supposed to team with Roddick in the postponed doubles match.
In quarterfinal singles, Lacko will play Russia's Kevin Anderson, a 7-5, 6-3 second-round winner over Donald Young. After No. 2 seed John Isner faces Michael Russell, Roddick-Malisse and Fish-Taylor Dent are the night matches.
Hewitt, ranked No. 30 in the world, double-faulted seven times and succeeded on just 38 percent of first serves.
"I just didn't have quite a lot of rhythm out there," Hewitt said. "Pushing off on my serve wasn't the best. I was just putting a lot of pressure on my service game."
Lacko could tell something seemed wrong with Hewitt, who underwent hip surgery in January and missed much of 2008 with a hip injury.
"Obviously, he's got some problems," Lacko said. "He was fighting through the first set. I played good ending to the first set and after breaking the second, he seemed like ... he had some minor problems. I mean he needed a couple of extra steps on his strokes."
Roddick doesn't foresee problems with his foot, though he planned to have treatment before bed and again on Friday.
If he hadn't played well in the third set, Roddick believes his foot would've hurt much worse.
"I started sticking my returns a little bit more," he said. "I missed a couple more in the third set, but the ones I made either were winners or were a little more aggressive. It was a little bit more on my terms, and I think what probably switched the match around for me."
Davydenko upset at German Open
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan upset defending champion Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the German Open on Thursday.
The 82nd-ranked Golubev lost the only previous meeting against No. 6 Davydenko, who was coming back after breaking his left wrist.
Third-seeded Juergen Melzer of Austria, the French Open semifinalist, advanced to the last eight by beating Jeremy Chardy of France 7-5, 7-6 (4) for his 15th win in the last 20 matches.
Sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the clay-court tournament for the first time in nine years.
Ferrero reached the final in 2001 but hadn't been past the third round in any of his other five attempts.
Seventh-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil defeated No. 10 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 7-5, 6-4, and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat wild card Julian Reister of Germany 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Florian Mayer of Germany made the last eight by dispatching Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 7-6 (1), 6-0.
In other early matches, Andreas Seppi edged Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Italian encounter and another Italian, Potito Starace, advanced by rallying to beat Spanish qualifier Pere Riba 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
In the quarterfinals, Golubev plays Istomin, Mayer meets Ferrero, Starace faces Melzer and Bellucci goes against Seppi.
Cornet beats top-seeded Petkovic at Gastein Ladies
BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) — Alize Cornet of France beat defending champion and top-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of the Gastein Ladies.
Cornet won 6-2, 7-5 and will face Austrian wild card Patricia Mayr, who upset No. 7-seeded Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-3, 6-4.
The 35th-ranked Petkovic broke early for a 2-0 lead before losing the next six games to drop the first set. She then served for the second set at 5-3, but was broken when she double-faulted and lost her next service game as well to slip to defeat.
Cornet, who also reached the last eight in Budapest earlier this month, saved seven of nine break points.
Garbin broke Mayr in the opening game but lost serve twice before dropping the first set. The 123rd-ranked Mayr, who has won 10 titles on the lower-ranked ITF circuit, closed out the match on her first match point.
Julia Goerges of Germany also advanced by defeating Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-2, 7-5. Goerges, who reached the semifinals in Palermo last week, will play Russia's Anastasia Pivovarova in the last eight.
Yvonne Meusburger of Austria reached the quarterfinals for a fourth straight year by defeating 2008 finalist Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic 7-5, 7-5.
Meusburger will play eighth-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia for a place in the semifinals.
Top seed Jankovic retires injured in Slovenia Open
PORTOROZ, Slovenia (AP) — Second-ranked Jelena Jankovic injured her ankle during the second round of the Slovenia Open and retired hurt on Thursday.
Jankovic was cruising at 6-1, 2-1 against Belarus qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova then stepped awkwardly when chasing a ball on the baseline and twisted her ankle. Jankovic continued to play after getting medical help, but lost that set 6-3 and eventually retired after losing the first game of the third.
It was her first tournament since Wimbledon, where she retired in the fourth round with a back injury.
In her third career WTA quarterfinals and first this year, Yakimova will next face Ksenia Pervak, who beat qualifier Alexandra Panova 6-2, 7-5 in an all-Russian match.
Pervak jumped into the draw to replace French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who was to be second-seeded but withdrew due to a wrist injury.
Third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-3, 6-0 to face Johanna Larsson of Sweden, who reached her first WTA quarterfinals by defeating Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 7-5, 6-1.
Elsewhere
Del Potro, injured '09 champ, expected at U.S. Open
Reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro might defend his title, after all.
Despite being sidelined since January because of a right wrist injury that required surgery, del Potro was on the provisional entry list released Thursday by the U.S. Tennis Association for the men's field at the year's last major tournament. The U.S. Open starts Aug. 30.
In a statement, the USTA said del Potro "is expected to return to Grand Slam competition after missing the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this year."
Del Potro won his first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer in five sets in the 2009 final at Flushing Meadows. The 21-year-old Argentine has played in only one tournament in 2010, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Del Potro's right wrist has been a problem since last year; he retired in the second round of the Shanghai Masters in October because of tendinitis in the wrist. Then, in January, he pulled out of an exhibition tournament just days before the start of the Australian Open, citing the wrist.
He had surgery in May and is currently No. 7 in the ATP rankings.
"Del Potro is working and hopefully he will be back soon," his agent, Ugo Colombini, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
All top 98 men in the rankings are on Thursday's entry list, led by No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who will be attempting to complete a career Grand Slam by adding a U.S. Open title to his five from the French Open, two from Wimbledon and one from the Australian Open.
He has won the past two major championships, while Federer's record streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances ended with a quarterfinal loss at the French Open. Federer also lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Federer, owner of a record 16 Grand Slam titles, Nadal and Del Potro are joined in the provisional field by four other winners of major tournaments: 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick, 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
-- Howard Fendrich
Nadal, del Potro to play Thailand Open
BANGKOK (AP) — Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro will be in the field of the Thailand Open.
Organizers made the announcement Thursday for the Sept. 24-Oct. 3 indoor tournament at Bangkok's Impact Arena. The U.S. Tennis Association also said del Potro is expected to return for the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 30.
Nadal, the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion, withdrew from last year's Thailand Open because of an abdominal injury.
Del Potro has been sidelined for several months because of surgery on his right wrist. He's likely to defend his U.S. Open title after being placed on the provisional entry list for the tournament on Thursday.
