By wire sources Montanes loses in opening round in Brazil ADVERTISING SAO PAULO — Seventh-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain lost to Filippo Volandri of Italy in the first round of the Brazil Open on Monday. Volandri needed 65 minutes to
Montanes loses in opening round in Brazil
SAO PAULO — Seventh-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain lost to Filippo Volandri of Italy in the first round of the Brazil Open on Monday.
Volandri needed 65 minutes to defeat the 51st-ranked Montanes in Sao Paulo, converting four of his seven break points to advance.
Wild card Javier Marti of Spain beat 2009 semifinalist Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-4, and Brazil’s Ricardo Mello eliminated Pere Riba of Spain 6-4, 6-2.
Jeremy Chardy, Paul Capdeville, Igor Andreev and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo qualified for the main draw.
South America’s biggest city is hosting the event for the first time after 11 editions in the northeastern city of Costa do Sauipe. The tournament is now being played indoors because of the rainy weather in Sao Paulo this time of the year.
Mathieu upsets Lopez in ABN Amro fist round
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Paul-Henri Mathieu rallied from a set down Monday to upset fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the opening round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine also went out in the first round, losing 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Mathieu, who is ranked No. 733 after missing the entire 2011 season with a knee injury, looked sharp in beating Lopez in a match that lasted nearly three hours.
Another Frenchman, fifth-seeded Richard Gasquet, overcame an injured Flavio Cipolla to win his first-round match 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
After losing the first set, Cipolla easily took the second, but struggled in the decider with a left thigh injury.
Jesse Huta Halung advanced to the second round by beating two-time Rotterdam finalist Ivan Ljubicic. The Dutchman won 7-6 (6), 6-3 against the 2005 and 2007 runner-up to secure his first win at the tournament.
He meets the winner of Thiemo de Bakker’s match against seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki.
Another Dutchman, Robin Haase, faces Nikolay Davydenko today with fellow Russians Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Kunitsyn also meeting later today.
Ivanovic advances in Qatar when opponent quits
DOHA, Qatar — Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open on Monday when Carla Suarez Navarro withdrew midway through their match because of a back injury.
Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, was leading 6-1, 4-1. Trailing 1-2 in the second set, Suarez Navarro had already sought courtside treatment from the WTA Tour medical team. The Spaniard then briefly left the court before resuming the set.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia joined Ivanovic in the second round after a 7-5, 6-3 win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
After a slow start, the former French and U.S. Open champion breezed through the second set to set up a match against Jie Zheng of China or Maria Kirilenko of Russia.
Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan rallied from a set down to beat 10th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. It was the 20-year-old Pervak’s fourth win of the season.
China’s Shuai Peng, seeded 14th, defeated qualifier Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman 6-0, 7-5. Israel’s Shahar Peer blanked Moroccan wild card Nadia Lalami 6-0, 6-0.
McEnroe wins doubles exhibition at SAP Open
SAN JOSE, Calif. — John McEnroe teamed up with Jack Sock to win a doubles exhibition against Gael Monfils and Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-4 on Monday on the opening night of the SAP Open.
McEnroe showed off the sharp volleying skill that made him a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and entertained the crowd throughout the exhibition. The 52-year-old McEnroe won the Bay Area tournament five times in singles and also got his last tour win here in doubles in 2006.
By wire sources
