Andy Murray’s injured ankle proved less troublesome than that of opponent Sergiy Stakhovsky, who retired while trailing 6-7 (3), 6-3, 5-3 on Monday in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The fourth-ranked Murray was leading 30-0 on Stakhovsky’s serve in the ninth game of the third set when the Ukrainian retired.
“It was a bit strange with both of us struggling with our ankles toward the end of the match, but he was aggressive, fought very well and hit some unbelievable volleys,” Murray said.
PHOTO: EPA
“I played a couple of bad games in the first set and was disappointed with my serve. But I was always having chances on his serves, so I wasn’t really worried,” the Scot said. “But I think I tweaked my ankle about an hour-and-a-half into the match. I have got to see the physio now. The ankle was feeling a lot better during practice, but I was wearing braces then.”
Qualifier Marco Chiudenelli of Switzerland also advanced to the second round, beating seventh-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (7). Chiudenelli is making a third comeback after two career-threatening injuries.
“I cannot call this dream-come-true yet, though beating someone like Karlovic is great,” the 27-year-old Chiudenelli said. “I think I will have to beat a few more players before I can call it a dream come true.”
PHOTO: EPA
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain defeated Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, and fifth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia rallied to beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.
“It was really tough to get back in the match after losing that first set, losing my first two service games,” Cilic said. “It helped that I saved two break points in the first game of the second set and got myself a little bit into the match, and started serving a bit better after that.”
The tournament has been hit hard by withdrawals. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Roger Federer pulled out with injuries, while defending champion Andy Roddick withdrew under protest.
Roddick said he wouldn’t play because he disagreed with the Emirates’ decision to deny Israeli Shahar Peer a visa to play in last week’s women’s tournament. Israeli player Andy Ram was granted a visa for the men’s tournament, however.
■ACAPULCO OPEN
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela rallied to beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday to advance to the second round of the Acapulco Open.
“This is a very important victory, Cuevas is a good player who is coming from the qualifying rounds, he played a great first set but I was able to take him down,” said Chela, who is 162nd on the ATP rankings.
Chela, a winner here in 2001 and 2007, has won only two other titles — in the Netherlands in 2002 and Portugal in 2004.
“I like Mexico very much, people is very nice and I love the surface,” Chela said. “Right now I’m not thinking about a victory, it’s a long road.”
Sixth seeded Alberto Montanes had a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 win over Mexican Bruno Echagaray and will next play fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno Traver, who beat Ecuadorean Nicolas Lapentti, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
In other men’s matches, Brazilian Thomaz Belluci beat Nicolas Devilder of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, Leonardo Mayer defeated fellow Argentine Diego Junqueira 7-6, 6-3 and Italy’s Potito Starace eliminated Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-4, 6-2.
In women’s matches, fourth-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic had an easy 6-2, 6-0 win over Ukrainian Olga Savchuk while Czech Klara Zakopalova beat 2006 Acapulco champion Emilie Loit of France, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Petra Cetrovska of the Czech Republic beat Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2, 6-2, Italian Tathiana Garbin defeated Jill Craybas of the US 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-3 and Roberta Vinci of Italy had a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
■DELRAY BEACH
AP, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Second-seed Sam Querrey defeated Guillermo Canas of Argentina 7-6 (3), 6-4 to advance to the second round at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Monday.
American Querrey, who asked for a wildcard into the tournament on Friday, had 13 aces during the 1 hour, 38 minute match.
Querrey took advantage of three of 10 break points and will next face Christophe Rochus of Belgium, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Croatia’s Roko Karanusic.
Earlier, Austrian Stefan Koubek’s return from injury continued to gain momentum as he beat American Bobby Reynolds 6-4, 6-3.
“In general, I’m very happy because it was quite easy,” said Koubek, who was sidelined for six months after surgery to repair a spinal disk last May. “It was a very solid match.”
The 266th-ranked Koubek, who won the tournament in 2000, broke serve twice in the first set and once in the second set to secure the win.
In other first round matches, fifth-seeded Steve Darcis of Belgium was upset by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, in the opening match of the day. Also, sixth-seeded Florent Serra of France beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Taylor Dent, also on the comeback trail following two back surgeries in 2007, joined fellow American Ryan Sweeting, Canada’s Frank Dancevic and Russia’s Evgeny Korolev in qualifying for main draw spots on Monday.
Dent, who thought he’d never play again and was out of action from February 2006 to last May, earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador to qualify.
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