The world’s top five players shared top billing on a blockbuster day of tennis at the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday, but Andy Roddick failed to read the script as he was up-ended in the second round.
Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all advanced to round three, but Roddick’s US Open preparations suffered a blow with his 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (7/3) defeat to fellow American Sam Querrey in the night match.
The world No. 5 was not the only big-name disappointment, though, with seventh-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga despatched 7-6 (14/12), 6-2 by Australian qualifier Chris Guccione.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Roddick, beaten by Federer in the Wimbledon final last month, blew set points in the first-set tie-break and then led by an early break in the second set, but could not press home the advantage.
World No. 26 Querrey, who clinched his second ATP title at the LA Open earlier this month, will face Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Benjamin Becker, in the next round.
Swiss world No. 1 Federer won 6-3, 7-5 against Jose Acasuso, the Argentine who had all but beaten him at the French Open in May.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Federer will play Spaniard David Ferrer for a place in the quarter-finals.
Murray beat Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, saving a set point at 6-5 down before easing through the second set to secure a meeting with Czech Radek Stepanek, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Russian Marat Safin.
Nadal edged out Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3) and though pleased with the effort and the absence of any pain in his knees, he immediately wrote off his title chances.
“It’s difficult conditions for me. My results here in this tournament say that,” the Spaniard said.
Fourth seed Novak Djokovic eased past Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, despite 15 aces from the Croatian, to secure a meeting with Jeremy Chardy of France.
Tsonga, who upset Federer in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters last week, lost an epic first-set tie-break 14-12 against big-serving Guccione. The 124th-ranked Australian saved five set points and clinched victory with his 20th ace to set up a clash with Czech Tomas Berdych.
Paul-Henri Mathieu set up a meeting with Nadal by beating Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (11/9), 6-4, while Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain ousted Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
Garcia-Lopez will play Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who became the first lucky loser to reach the last 16 in Cincinnati since 2004 by beating Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
■TORONTO CUP
REUTERS, TORONTO
World No. 1 and holder Dinara Safina made an early exit from the Toronto Cup on Wednesday, shocked 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round by 39th-ranked Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai.
There were no such slip ups from world No. 2 Serena Williams, however, as the Wimbledon and Australia Open champion rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova.
The two results set up the possibility of a spicy subplot to the US Open, where the debate over who should be women’s No. 1 could be settled on court.
While Williams cannot overtake Safina with a victory in Toronto, a win would allow the American to slice a huge chunk off Safina’s 1,004 point advantage.
Without a Grand Slam title on her resume, Safina has been forced to repeatedly defend her No. 1 status, while Williams, who currently holds three Grand Slam titles, has been dismissive of the rankings system.
“I don’t follow the rankings anymore, been there, done that,” Williams said.
Safina, eight times a finalist this season including last week in Cincinnati, could not find her feet on the Canadian hard court and contributed to her own demise by serving up 17 double faults.
The victory was the first win in three visits to Canada for Rezai and earned her a small measure of revenge for the 6-1, 6-0 hammering she suffered at the hands of the Russian in the French Open fourth round earlier this year.
With third seed Venus Williams already out, the top half of the draw has opened up for two former No. 1s on the comeback trail, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
Sharapova, working her way back to top form after nine months recovering from shoulder surgery, also served up 17 double faults, but survived to book her place in the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) win over Austria’s Sybille Bammer.
Clijsters, playing just her second event since coming out of a two-year retirement, battled to a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 win over ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic also advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Swiss Patty Schnyder, while 11th-seeded Ana Ivanovic fell to Czech qualifier Lucie Safarova 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
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