It's back to normal for Mahut
Source: Agencies |
July 8, 2010, Thursday
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NICOLAS Mahut's first match since his record-setting exploits at Wimbledon saw the Frenchman beat Colombia's Alejandro Falla 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 at the Hall of Fame Championships on Tuesday.
The loser of a marathon three-day contest against John Isner at the All England Club in London, Mahut returned to the court for a first-round match on grass in Newport, Rhode Island, which lasted 83 minutes - a fraction of his record 11-hour, 5-minute loss at Wimbledon.
Along with a tough opponent in Falla, Mahut also had to cope with temperatures reaching the mid-30s to seal his victory.
But he told reporters: "Nothing is worse than what I did in Wimbledon. Every match, I pray it will be easier. I can't complain any more."
The Wimbledon match was twice suspended because of darkness before Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68; the 138-game fifth set would itself have been the longest match in tennis history. But there was no danger of another marathon in Newport: The tournament plays three sets, with a tiebreaker.
Once again battling the sun - this time it was blazing, not setting - Mahut saw off a Colombian who came within three points of eliminating Roger Federer from Wimbledon in the first round.
Also advancing were top-seeded Sam Querrey, defending champion Rajeev Ram and fellow Americans Mardy Fish and Denis Kudla as well as India's Somdev Devvarman.
"I was kind of struggling out there," said Querrey, who beat Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-3. "Luckily it was only 59 minutes. (I) tried to go for second-serve aces, just get out of there."
Mahut regularly asked for a towel to wipe away the sweat, and the request became more frequent as the match went on and the points became more important; in the final game, he wiped off his brow and racket handle virtually every point. At breaks, both players slapped icepacks on their necks and shoulders while ballboys held umbrellas to shield them from the sun.
"I had no choice. Either you play or you stay in the locker room," Mahut said. "From what I did in Wimbledon, I couldn't come out there and say, 'I can't do it. It's too hot.' Now everything's different."
In Budapest, Hungary, top-seeded Alisa Kleybanova beat Kazakhstan's Sesil Karatantcheva 7-5, 6-4 in a first-round match at the Budapest Grand Prix on Tuesday.
Kleybanova took a 4-1 lead in the first set but Karatantcheva responded by playing more aggressively and won four games in a row. The Russian took the set by winning the extended rallies and chasing down long shots to the baseline.
Lead and control
In the second set, Kleybanova took a 4-2 lead and control of the match by breaking Karatantcheva's serve in the sixth game, the longest of the encounter.
Kleybanova, who reached the third round at Wimbledon before losing to Venus Williams, will face Switzerland's Patty Schnyder next.
Schnyder, last year's runner-up in Budapest, defeated qualifier Lesya Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3.
Other seeded players to advance were Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, Italy's Roberta Vinci and Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
In Bastad, Sweden, top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy breezed through to the second round of the Swedish Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Swedish wildcard Anna Brazhnikova.
Fourth-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina took little more than an hour to beat another Swedish wildcard Ellen Allgurin, 6-1, 6-3.
The loser of a marathon three-day contest against John Isner at the All England Club in London, Mahut returned to the court for a first-round match on grass in Newport, Rhode Island, which lasted 83 minutes - a fraction of his record 11-hour, 5-minute loss at Wimbledon.
Along with a tough opponent in Falla, Mahut also had to cope with temperatures reaching the mid-30s to seal his victory.
But he told reporters: "Nothing is worse than what I did in Wimbledon. Every match, I pray it will be easier. I can't complain any more."
The Wimbledon match was twice suspended because of darkness before Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68; the 138-game fifth set would itself have been the longest match in tennis history. But there was no danger of another marathon in Newport: The tournament plays three sets, with a tiebreaker.
Once again battling the sun - this time it was blazing, not setting - Mahut saw off a Colombian who came within three points of eliminating Roger Federer from Wimbledon in the first round.
Also advancing were top-seeded Sam Querrey, defending champion Rajeev Ram and fellow Americans Mardy Fish and Denis Kudla as well as India's Somdev Devvarman.
"I was kind of struggling out there," said Querrey, who beat Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-3. "Luckily it was only 59 minutes. (I) tried to go for second-serve aces, just get out of there."
Mahut regularly asked for a towel to wipe away the sweat, and the request became more frequent as the match went on and the points became more important; in the final game, he wiped off his brow and racket handle virtually every point. At breaks, both players slapped icepacks on their necks and shoulders while ballboys held umbrellas to shield them from the sun.
"I had no choice. Either you play or you stay in the locker room," Mahut said. "From what I did in Wimbledon, I couldn't come out there and say, 'I can't do it. It's too hot.' Now everything's different."
In Budapest, Hungary, top-seeded Alisa Kleybanova beat Kazakhstan's Sesil Karatantcheva 7-5, 6-4 in a first-round match at the Budapest Grand Prix on Tuesday.
Kleybanova took a 4-1 lead in the first set but Karatantcheva responded by playing more aggressively and won four games in a row. The Russian took the set by winning the extended rallies and chasing down long shots to the baseline.
Lead and control
In the second set, Kleybanova took a 4-2 lead and control of the match by breaking Karatantcheva's serve in the sixth game, the longest of the encounter.
Kleybanova, who reached the third round at Wimbledon before losing to Venus Williams, will face Switzerland's Patty Schnyder next.
Schnyder, last year's runner-up in Budapest, defeated qualifier Lesya Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3.
Other seeded players to advance were Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, Italy's Roberta Vinci and Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
In Bastad, Sweden, top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy breezed through to the second round of the Swedish Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Swedish wildcard Anna Brazhnikova.
Fourth-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina took little more than an hour to beat another Swedish wildcard Ellen Allgurin, 6-1, 6-3.
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