Hewitt opens bid for 5th title at Queen’s Club with victory
LONDON (AP) – Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the second round of the Artois Championships at Queen’s Club on Monday, beating British wild-card entrant Joshua Goodall 6-4, 6-4 on the opening day of the Wimbledon grass-court tuneup. Robby Ginepri overcame Vincent Spadea 6-4, 7-6 (4) in an all-American battle, and next faces third-seeded compatriot Andy Roddick – who had a first-round bye. French Open champion Rafael Nadal and the other eight top seeds all had byes into the second round.
Russia’s Marat Safin defeated 495th-ranked James Ward 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Torneo Barcelona
BARCELONA, Spain – Fifth-seeded Pauline Parmentier of France ended a six-match losing streak, beating Sanda Mamic of Croatia 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Torneo Barcelona.
Parmentier, whose last win on the main WTA Tour was in February at Bogota, broke Mamic’s serve four times.
Seventh-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic outlasted Karolina Sprem of Croatia 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in 2 hours, 20 minutes, and the only other seed in action, tournament favorite Shahar Peer of Israel, fought back from 4-0 down to make it 5-5 against Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain before darkness halted play.
Eloisa Compostizo de Andres, a 19-year-old wild card from Spain, won her first match on the main tour when she defeated three-time tour winner Emilie Loit of France 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Other winners included Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
Gerry Weber Open
HALLE, Germany – Tomas Berdych served nine aces in a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Thomas Johansson to advance to the second round of the Gerry Weber Open.
The 12th-ranked Berdych’s third break of Johansson’s serve gave him a 6-5 lead in the second set, and he wrapped up the match in 1 hour, 17 minutes at the grass-court event, a key tuneup for Wimbledon.
Mischa Zverev, who is ranked No. 97, pulled off the first upset of the tournament with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded Jarkko Niemeinen.
Federer plays his first match of the tournament Wednesday against 89th-ranked Michael Berrer and will be seeking to extend his record 54-match winning streak on grass that dates to 2002.
DFS Classic
BIRMINGHAM, England – Tenth-seeded Akgul Amanmuradova and 14th-seeded Jill Craybas both lost at the DFS Classic, a grass-court Wimbledon warmup.
Uzbekistan’s Amanmuradova was beaten by Russian qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-1. American Craybas lost 6-0, 6-4 to Naomi Cavaday, a hard-hitting 19-year-old British wild card.
Britain’s 18-year-old Amanda Elliott was unable to convert her one match point against 13th-seeded Aravane Rezai. The Frenchwoman recovered to win 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (6).
The tournament has been hit by high-profile withdrawals. Maria Sharapova decided not to play due to a persistent shoulder problem, and defending champion Jelena Jankovic (arm) and French Open runner-up Dinara Safina (back) also withdrew.
Jankovic beat Sharapova in last year’s final. This time the 10th-ranked Marion Bartoli – last year’s Wimbledon finalist – is the top seed ahead of Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic.
Warsaw Open
WARSAW, Poland – Sixth-seeded Potito Starace defeated Dawid Olejniczak 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the Warsaw Open.
In another opening-round match in the clay-court tournament, Florent Serra defeated Guillermo Coria when the Argentine withdrew with an injured left wrist after losing the first set 6-3.
Jiri Vanek rallied to beat Carlos Berlocq 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Also winning were Evgeny Korolev and Marcos Daniel.
Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, No. 2 seed and defending champion Tommy Robredo and No. 5 Guillermo Canas all play today.
Copyright Associated Press 2008