Verdasco departs, Serena stunned
Source: Agencies |
May 14, 2010, Friday
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LOCAL favorite Fernando Verdasco was denied a place in the last eight of the Madrid Masters when he was upset 5-7, 3-6 by Juergen Melzer in a battle of the big-hitting left-handers yesterday.
Spanish sixth seed Verdasco, who lost to compatriot Rafa Nadal in the final of Monte Carlo Masters last month and reached the last four of the Rome Masters, had treatment on what appeared to be an ankle problem at the end of the first set. He committed 41 unforced errors and unseeded Austrian Melzer dashed the crowd's hopes of a possible semifinal tomorrow between Verdasco and Rafael Nadal when he broke the Madrid native for a sixth time on his first match point.
In the women's third round, eighth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia beat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 7-6 (3), 6-2, Li Na of China beat Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 and Shahar Peer of Israel defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 7-5, 6-2.
On Wednesday, world No. 1 Serena Williams was battered into a 6-4, 2-6, 3-6 submission by a fired-up Nadia Petrova in the third round.
American Williams, who won her 12th grand slam singles title at the Australian Open in January before injury sidelined her for three months, looked increasingly distraught as the match wore on in the face of some relentlessly accurate hitting from the 16th seed.
Serena appeared to have given up the ghost well before she sent a forehand over the baseline on the Russian's first match point.
Serena's defeat put a slight dampener on the Williams family celebrations as sister Venus had earlier made sure she would climb back to No. 2 in the world rankings following her 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Francesca Schiavone.
"We definitely can celebrate," Serena said.
"I think it's a great feat to be back at world No. 1 and 2. That's so amazing and I feel really good. It's a moment that we can definitely hold no matter what."
Venus has made no secret of her desire to snatch back the top spot back and laughingly said: "I congratulate her on that ranking but I am aiming to get there myself!"
Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic edged a tense all-Serbian second-round battle when she beat Ana Ivanovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Both players looked well below par in a match littered with errors.
Second-seeded Nadal advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Ukrainian qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.
Nadal broke early to take control of the first set, although Dolgopolov pressured the Spaniard's serve in the second with some blistering groundstrokes. A superb forehand down the line by Nadal gave him a breakpoint which he converted to go 4-3 up in the second. Dolgopolov saved a match point serving at 5-3 down but Nadal still broke to close out the match.
At 21, the 62-ranked Dolgopolov is the youngest player in the ATP top 100.
"He's very unusual and very difficult to play against. He's very fast with his shots and he has a fast serve too," said Nadal. "It was an important victory for me because for a moment the match wasn't under control."
Earlier, fifth-seeded Andy Roddick withdrew from the tournament before his second-round match against Feliciano Lopez due to illness. Lopez instead played and beat Spanish countryman Oscar Hernandez, who failed to qualify.
Spanish sixth seed Verdasco, who lost to compatriot Rafa Nadal in the final of Monte Carlo Masters last month and reached the last four of the Rome Masters, had treatment on what appeared to be an ankle problem at the end of the first set. He committed 41 unforced errors and unseeded Austrian Melzer dashed the crowd's hopes of a possible semifinal tomorrow between Verdasco and Rafael Nadal when he broke the Madrid native for a sixth time on his first match point.
In the women's third round, eighth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia beat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 7-6 (3), 6-2, Li Na of China beat Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 and Shahar Peer of Israel defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 7-5, 6-2.
On Wednesday, world No. 1 Serena Williams was battered into a 6-4, 2-6, 3-6 submission by a fired-up Nadia Petrova in the third round.
American Williams, who won her 12th grand slam singles title at the Australian Open in January before injury sidelined her for three months, looked increasingly distraught as the match wore on in the face of some relentlessly accurate hitting from the 16th seed.
Serena appeared to have given up the ghost well before she sent a forehand over the baseline on the Russian's first match point.
Serena's defeat put a slight dampener on the Williams family celebrations as sister Venus had earlier made sure she would climb back to No. 2 in the world rankings following her 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Francesca Schiavone.
"We definitely can celebrate," Serena said.
"I think it's a great feat to be back at world No. 1 and 2. That's so amazing and I feel really good. It's a moment that we can definitely hold no matter what."
Venus has made no secret of her desire to snatch back the top spot back and laughingly said: "I congratulate her on that ranking but I am aiming to get there myself!"
Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic edged a tense all-Serbian second-round battle when she beat Ana Ivanovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Both players looked well below par in a match littered with errors.
Second-seeded Nadal advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Ukrainian qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.
Nadal broke early to take control of the first set, although Dolgopolov pressured the Spaniard's serve in the second with some blistering groundstrokes. A superb forehand down the line by Nadal gave him a breakpoint which he converted to go 4-3 up in the second. Dolgopolov saved a match point serving at 5-3 down but Nadal still broke to close out the match.
At 21, the 62-ranked Dolgopolov is the youngest player in the ATP top 100.
"He's very unusual and very difficult to play against. He's very fast with his shots and he has a fast serve too," said Nadal. "It was an important victory for me because for a moment the match wasn't under control."
Earlier, fifth-seeded Andy Roddick withdrew from the tournament before his second-round match against Feliciano Lopez due to illness. Lopez instead played and beat Spanish countryman Oscar Hernandez, who failed to qualify.
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