Roddick advances with straight sets win
POERTSCHACH, Austria (AP) – Andy Roddick defeated Alexander Peya 6-4, 7-5 Monday to advance to the second round of the Hypo Group International. The second-seeded American dropped just six points on his serve and twice broke the serve of Peya, an Austrian who was a wild-card entry to the tournament.
“It was a close match. I played well but made too many unforced errors,” Roddick said. “A first match in a tournament can be pretty tough.”
At 5-4 in the first set, Roddick converted his first break point after Peya hit two double faults, followed by a forehand error. At 6-5 in the second set, Roddick converted his third match point on Peya’s serve after the Austrian missed a volley.
Peya said Roddick’s serve made the difference.
“I felt very good on court and was playing really well in my own service games,” Peya said. “But I couldn’t find an answer to his strong serves. If you don’t get any chance, it is quite demoralizing.”
Roddick will face Kristian Pless of Denmark in the second round. Pless defeated Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-3.
Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia also advanced, defeating Amer Delic of the U.S. 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8). Also through to the next round is Albert Montanes of Spain, who beat Daniele Bracciali of Italy 6-0, 6-4. Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea defeated Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, winning 6-3, 6-0.
Strasbourg International
STRASBOURG, France – Fourth-seeded Li Na of China defeated Masa Zec-Peskiric of Slovenia 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Strasbourg International.
Eighth-seeded Akiko Morigami of Japan lost to Caroline Maes of Belgium 7-5, 6-4, and ninth-seeded Emilie Loit of France beat Sun Tiantian of China 7-5, 6-3.
Istanbul Cup
ISTANBUL, Turkey – Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Olga Govortsova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to set up a second-round match against top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the Istanbul Cup.
Sharapova had a bye in the first round of the clay-court tournament that also features Venus Williams, who is seeded fourth and is scheduled to face Tatiana Putchek in the first round.
Second-seeded Elena Dementieva also had a bye and will play Jelena Kostanic Tosic, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
Fifth-seeded Alona Bondarenko dropped only one game in defeating Pemra Ozgen of Turkey 6-1, 6-0, while seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Ekaterina Bychkova 7-5, 7-5.
World Team Cup
DUESSELDORF, Germany – James Blake and Marty Fish both lost in singles and the U.S. team dropped its opening match to Chile at the round-robin World Team Cup.
Fernando Gonzalez defeated Blake 6-4, 7-5 and Nicolas Massu beat Fish 6-4, 7-6 (1) in the clay-court event.
The top-ranked doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan gave the United States its only point against Chile with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jorge Aguilar and Julio Peralta.
The Americans face Argentina today. The eight-nation field is split into two groups, with the winners of each advancing to Saturday’s final. Argentina, Chile, Sweden and the U.S. are in the Red Group, with Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany and Spain in the Blue Group.
In Monday’s other match, the Czech Republic defeated Spain 2-1.
Blake was up 5-2 in the second set, but Gonzalez won the last five games – including the final 11 points – to close out the match.
“He played well and I didn’t at the end of the set,” Blake said. “I thought I’d played well to get to that point, and then I just got a little tentative and he took advantage and served unbelievable at that point.”
While he still has at least two more matches here to prepare for the French Open, Blake said next week’s Grand Slam event was not uppermost on his mind.
“I’d like to get some wins for my team,” he said. “It’s not much fun right now when you disappoint your teammates, teammates that you’re such good friends with and have their faith in you. To lose the way I did is frustrating right now and that’s all I’m thinking about. I’m not too worried about Paris right now.”