Seeds depart in Romania
September 23rd 2009 12:02
THREE of the Bucharest Open’s eight seeds tumbled out of contention in round-one action overnight.
Top-seeded Romanian Victor Hanescu’s straight-sets defeat to Spaniard Oscar Hernandez was the biggest shock, but fourth-seeded Russian Igor Andreev and seventh-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi joined him on the scrap heap.
It was Hanescu’s second straight first-round exit at his home event.
Tournament favourites Nicolas Almagro and Juan Monaco, of Spain and Argentina respectively, cruised through their opening matches.
Almagro faces Italian claycourt specialist Fabio Fognini in a tough second-round contest.
Seeds Albert Montanes, Pablo Cuevas and Daniel Koellerer are also into the second round.
Frenchman Fabrice Santoro and German Benjamin Becker were the only seeded first-round casualties in Metz.
The top four seeds – Gael Monfils, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Philipp Petzschner – all received opening-round byes.
The most interesting clash of the day featured French former world No.7 Richard Gasquet and German qualifier Michael Berrer.
Gasquet progressed 6-3 2-6 7-6(5) and it could be just what he needs to shake the rust from his three-month drug ban.
The 23-year-old faces Santoro’s conqueror, Christophe Rochus, in his next match.
Seeds Andreas Beck and Ivan Ljubicic also advanced, but the latter needed a third-set tiebreak to edge past French qualifier Sebastien de Chaunac.
The tough day for seeds also carried over to the WTA Tour, with Romanian Sorana Cirstea a surprise departure at the Korea Open.
Fellow seeds Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, of Russia, and Sybille Bammer, of Austria, were upset in second-round play tonight, while top-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova barely survived against Japanese up-and-comer Ayumi Morita.
Spanish second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues is already into the quarter-finals and the other three seeds – Francesca Schiavone, Alisa Kleybanova and Vera Dushevina – are into the second round.
Defending champion Maria Kirilenko also won last night, in three sets over Australian qualifier Sophie Ferguson.
Seven of the eight seeds still remain in the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan.
Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru was the only seed to lose in round one – against Russian world No.120 Ekaterina Bychkova.
Top seed Yaroslava Shvedova, fifth seed Stefanie Voegele and sixth seed Monica Niculescu are into the quarter-finals after winning their respective second-round matches tonight.
Shvedova and Niculescu meet in the final eight.
Top-seeded Romanian Victor Hanescu’s straight-sets defeat to Spaniard Oscar Hernandez was the biggest shock, but fourth-seeded Russian Igor Andreev and seventh-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi joined him on the scrap heap.
It was Hanescu’s second straight first-round exit at his home event.
Tournament favourites Nicolas Almagro and Juan Monaco, of Spain and Argentina respectively, cruised through their opening matches.
Almagro faces Italian claycourt specialist Fabio Fognini in a tough second-round contest.
Seeds Albert Montanes, Pablo Cuevas and Daniel Koellerer are also into the second round.
Argentine Juan Monaco eased his way into the second round of the Bucharest Open overnight.
Frenchman Fabrice Santoro and German Benjamin Becker were the only seeded first-round casualties in Metz.
The top four seeds – Gael Monfils, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Philipp Petzschner – all received opening-round byes.
The most interesting clash of the day featured French former world No.7 Richard Gasquet and German qualifier Michael Berrer.
Gasquet progressed 6-3 2-6 7-6(5) and it could be just what he needs to shake the rust from his three-month drug ban.
The 23-year-old faces Santoro’s conqueror, Christophe Rochus, in his next match.
Seeds Andreas Beck and Ivan Ljubicic also advanced, but the latter needed a third-set tiebreak to edge past French qualifier Sebastien de Chaunac.
The tough day for seeds also carried over to the WTA Tour, with Romanian Sorana Cirstea a surprise departure at the Korea Open.
Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, with coach Larri Passos, survived a tough opening-round encounter in Korea.
Fellow seeds Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, of Russia, and Sybille Bammer, of Austria, were upset in second-round play tonight, while top-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova barely survived against Japanese up-and-comer Ayumi Morita.
Spanish second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues is already into the quarter-finals and the other three seeds – Francesca Schiavone, Alisa Kleybanova and Vera Dushevina – are into the second round.
Defending champion Maria Kirilenko also won last night, in three sets over Australian qualifier Sophie Ferguson.
Seven of the eight seeds still remain in the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan.
Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru was the only seed to lose in round one – against Russian world No.120 Ekaterina Bychkova.
Top seed Yaroslava Shvedova, fifth seed Stefanie Voegele and sixth seed Monica Niculescu are into the quarter-finals after winning their respective second-round matches tonight.
Shvedova and Niculescu meet in the final eight.
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