Posts Tagged ‘ATP’

Gaudio’s victory in the initial round at Barcelona

Previous French Open champion Gaston Gaudio achieved his initial and first match in almost two years on Tuesday, downing Argentine countryman Diego Junqueira 6-4 3-6 6-4 at the Barcelona Open.

Gaudio, the Barcelona winner seven years ago, transformed six of his seven break chances and rallied from a break down in the final set for his earliest triumph at ATP level since the 2007 French Open, a span of 23 months.

Gaudio said, “It’s always pleasant to gain after being out for so long, but I’m scarcely at a level where I can be contented”.

Fourth seeded David Ferrer waited a stubborn face from Kazakhstan qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin to win 6-s3 3-6 6-1. After winning the opening set, the 12th ranked Spaniard cracked for a 3-1 lead in the second frame before Kukushkin used his dominant ground strokes to score consecutive breaks and take it to a third set.

But Ferrer made steady himself and set the Kazakh on the run in the fourth game and impelled a return into the net for a break point and a 3-1 lead that would push him to conquest. Igor Andreev also recently linked up Ferrer in the third round when he downed Spanish wild card Alberto Martin 6-2 6-2.

In other primary round matches, seeded players Radek Stepanek, Robin Soderling, Richard Gasquet and Feliciano Lopez all won. The merely seed to exit was No.11 Marat Safin, the 2000 champion missing to Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4 6-1.

Third seeded Nikolay Davydenko will fight in opposition to Arnaud Clement on Wednesday after the Frenchman ousted Guillermo Canas 7-6 (7-0) 6-3.

Top ranked Rafael Nadal starts his trail for a fifth straight Godo trophy against Portuguese qualifier Frederico Gil on Wednesday.

Azarenka kicked out Kuznetsova to attain Miami final

Belarus Victoria Azarenka sophisticated to her initial main final by crushing Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 at the WTA and ATP hard-court tournament on Thursday. Azarenka linked on 63% of her initial functions for her primary vocation triumph over Kuznetsova, while her Russian rival dedicated 46 natural faults.

19 years old 11th seed will face the winner of a afterward semi-final that pits world number one Serena Williams, the dominating US and Australian Open champion in opposition to Sister Venus, the prevailing Wimbledon champion. Azarenka looks for her third career title after captivating her original and primary tops at Brisbane and Memphis earlier this year. She is looking for her original title in one of the WTA’s best Premier proceedings.

Azarenka who qualified for the semi finals last month at Indian Wells, said by expressing her feelings, “It’s the largest moment and dream in my career, It feels and seems immense that all the work I’ve been doing is paying off. I was just annoying to play in every position and every point from the start to the end”.

She further said, “The second set was not so well for me and it did not go in favour of me, but I was still hanging in there and just play in every position and each point no matter what”. Victoria Azarenka ceased an untimely service smash in the opening set, but she gained the next four games to pocket the set.

Kuznetsova competition to a 5-1 pass en route to making level the match at one set apiece, but Azarenka cracked Kuznetsova in the earliest game of the third set to achieve the superior hand.

Azarenka lost her first chance to serve out the match, Kuznetsova saving one match point then flouting serve courtesy of an Azarenka double error. But in the next game Azarenka crushed Kuznetsova, and preserved the conquest on her third match point after two hours and 40 minutes played in boiling heat.

Azarenka prescribed “The last points and the last games were really hard and difficult to even walk there, but I’m just so glad that I found power and that fighting moment that I had to fight no matter what.”

Murray and Federer succeeding at Miami quarter-finals

Federer and Murray will be the participants of ATP quarter finals. British fourth seed Andy Murray and second seed Federer moved into the quarter finals of the ATP and WTA hard-court tournament with directly set triumphs.

Federer turned American qualifier Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2 while Murray running scared Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-0. Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic as well got a 6-3, 6-2 conquest over Czech Tomas Berdych. Federer required just 85 minutes making a set up in the final eight by ousting 27 year old Dent who wasted eight break-point chances.

Federer said, “I had to arise with some superior transitory shots to be able to create dissimilarity, He might have got a little bit weary towards the end.”

Murray now will have to face eighth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who crushed Czech 18th seed Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2.

On the other hand Murray said, “I didn’t build much faults and mistakes, high proportion of first serves used my slice very well just reserved judgment and thinking all the way during the match. From the beginning to obtain a smash untimely, set the tone for the rest of the match. He didn’t really get well from that.”

Federer moved to the next round where he will countenance fifth seeded American Andy Roddick who superior with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 win over France’s Gael Monfils.

Federer said of Roddick, “We’ve had several large matches over the years; I played and performed him at the Australian Open and done fine against him. He appears like he distorted a couple of things in his game so it should be a good match”.

The eighth seed Russian Svetlana Kuzentsova became the first semi-finalist in the women’s draw by thrashing Danish 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1. Ahead for Kuznetsova will be also Russian 11th seed Victoria Azarenka or Australian Samantha Stosur, who previously ousted second ranked position Russian Dinara Safina.

Djokovic, who achieved and won the Miami cap in 2007, swooped Berdych’s every error to advance.

Djokovic said, “I was annoying to attach with him all the time, because I knew he’s very violent and aggressive, but not actually reliable from the baseline. He makes a lot of natural faults, particularly from the forehand side, so I distorted the pace and I played a well tennis.”

Djokovic will now be in the front of French 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who carried off seventh-seeded countryman Gilles Simon 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-2 in another fourth-round match.

Tsonga, who seemed a little bit ill before the match, is the first Frenchman in a decade to arrive at the quarter-finals at Miami. And Djokovic knows he is in for a fight.