Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal survived an early scare
to make the second round at Roland Garros as he defeated
up-and-coming Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 here on
Tuesday.
Potro served for the first set at 5-4 but Nadal rebounded to win
15 of the last 20 games of the match to improve to 15-0 lifetime at
Roland Garros.
American players suffered the worst overall results in the Open
Era history at Roland Garros, with all nine US men going on court
and only one of them left.
The only remaining hope, Robby Ginepri, finished the day locked
at one set all with Argentine Diego Hartfield. Their match was
suspended due to darkness.
The eight men, spearheaded by third seed Andy Roddick, eighth
seed James Blake, included Mike Russell, Vince Spadea, Robert
Kendrick, Sam Querrey, Amer Delic and Justin Gimelstob.
Fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez from Chile, who reached the
Australian Open final in his last Grand Slam outing, suffered a
heavy 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 defeat against Czech Radek Stepanek. Despite
winning five of his seven career titles on clay, Gonzalez has
madeit past the Roland Garros third round just once in seven
appearances.
As tournament organizers scrambled to make up for two
rain-plagued days, a historic 60 men's singles matches were
scheduled for Day 3, with seven of them were suspended at last due
to darkness.
There are also win for Swiss Roger Federer, who needed one hour
and 45 minutes to crash his American opponent Michael Russell
6-4,6-2, 6-4.
The 25-year-old world number one will be up against French
wildcard Thierry Ascione, who overcame qualifier Marin Cilic of
Croatia 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in 93 minutes.
Two other top 10 players, 7th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and
Spanish 9th seed Tommy Robredo also notched up their weather-hit
matches.
Ljubicic avoided his 16th first round exit at a major
championship by knocking out French favorite Arnaud Clement 6-1,
7-5, 7-6 (2) while the 25-year-old Robredo cruised past Argentine
Sergio Roitman 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 56 minutes.
Russian Igor Andreev came back to defeat Roddick 3-6, 6-4,
6-3,6-4, handing the American his fourth first round loss in the
last six years.
Andreev, who came in ranked No. 125, converted four of 11
breakpoints while Roddick was just two of 12 on break point
chances.
Blake went down to Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-5,
7-5. He had trouble with the big-serving Karlovic on all surfaces
and it was no different on clay, as the Croat powered 22 aces past
him. Karlovic finished with 53 winners to only 27 from Blake.
"It's no secret we haven't done that great on clay this year,
but I think we have the ability," he said. "I can't speak for
anyone else, but for me, no. I'm not gonna stop coming here."
14th seed Lleyton Hewitt continued his impressive clay court
form with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over Max Mirnyi, making just 13
unforced errors in the match.
Argentine David Nalbandian, who has reached the semifinals in
two of the past three years, reached the second round with a 6-2,
6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over South Korean Lee Hyung-Taik.
Marcos Baghdatis destroyed Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-3,
6-2, 6-4 and will now attempt to reach the third round for the
first time in his three career appearances at Roland Garros.
Among those advancing in first-round action were former world
No.1 and 2003 Roland Garros champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, 11th seed
Richard Gasquet from France, and Russians Mikhail Youzhny and
Dmitry Tursunov.
(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2007)