Hantuchova rallies past Sugiyama in Zurich
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) – Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-1, 6-3 Tuesday in the first round of the Zurich Open. Schnyder will play Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, who plans to retire after the tournament.
Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia rallied to beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 and will oppose top-seeded Lindsay Davenport of the United States in the second round.
Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia also advanced, beating Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-4, 7-6 (7), and will meet second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France.
Also, Nathalie Dechy of France beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3). Dechy will meet fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia.
Madrid Masters
MADRID, Spain (AP) – Fifth-seeded David Nalbandian beat Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (1), 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Madrid Masters.
Nalbandian, last year’s runner-up, was one of three seeded players to advance. Spain’s David Ferrer, seeded 11th, beat Argentina’s Agustin Calleri 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, and American Robby Ginepri, seeded 16th, overcame a loss in the first set to beat France’s Sebastien Grosjean 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Nalbandian lost in last year’s final to Russia’s Marat Safin, who is not competing this year.
“I think I can win this sort of tournament,” Nalbandian said. “If that happens, I will be close to the Masters Cup. That’s why I’m playing right now, to be able to get there.”
The season-ending Masters Cup is from Nov. 7-13 in Shanghai, China. Four berths are still at stake.
In other matches, Ivo Karlovic beat Greg Rusedski 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) in a first-round matchup of big servers.
The Rochus brothers from Belgium, Christophe and Olivier, also advanced to the second round.
Christophe Rochus, a qualifier, topped France’s Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4, while Olivier Rochus saved a match point in the second-set tiebreaker en route to a 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych.
In other first-round matches, Spain’s Carlos Moya beat Italy’s Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-2, and Argentina’s Jose Acasuso advanced when Mikhail Youzhny retired with a lower back injury. Youzhny was trailing 2-0 in the third set. The Russian won the first 7-6 (5) and lost the second 6-4.
Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion, was beaten by hard-serving Max Mirnyi 7-5, 7-6 (2).
The pair served a combined 33 aces. Karlovic have 24, above his ATP Tour-leading average of 18.8 per match.
“I have to give him credit,” Rusedski said. “He served fantastically well. Missed three volleys the whole match. I didn’t do much wrong. I didn’t drop my serve.”
All 16 seeded players received byes into the second round. Spain’s Rafael Nadal is the top-seeded player in an ATP Masters Series event for the second time this year. He plays Victor Hanescu of Romania on Wednesday.
A year ago, Nadal came into Madrid ranked 50th. This time he enters ranked second with 10 titles, including three Masters Series titles and his first Grand Slam, at the French Open. The other two Masters titles came on clay in Monte Carlo and Rome.
American Andy Roddick is seeded second, and Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko is third.