Top seeds on collision course
August 6th 2009 06:19
THE Washington Tennis Classic will play host to several intriguing third-round match-ups after most of the top seeds won overnight.
Third-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s and sixth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic’s round-two defeats were the biggest surprises, but six other less-fancied seeds also fell by the wayside.
American John Isner, a semi-finalist at Indianapolis and quarter-finalist in Los Angeles in the past two weeks, was responsible for Tsonga’s demise.
Top-ranked Indian Somdev Devvarman, the world No.153, overcame Cilic after beating fellow qualifier Yuichi Sugita in round one.
Isner and Devvarman, a two-time US college champion, face French qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac – 14th-seed Dmitry Tursunov’s second-round conqueror – and towering 11th-seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic respectively.
But most interest will be centre around the all-American Andy Roddick-Sam Querrey clash and the battle of past Washington champions Juan Martin del Potro and Lleyton Hewitt.
Wimbledon finalist Roddick won both of his previous contests against Querrey, but neither was convincing and the latter stretched the world No.5 the full distance in Memphis in February.
Querrey is also in the form of his life, having reached three straight finals, and is on the verge of breaking into the top 20.
Australian Hewitt defeated Argentine del Potro in straight sets at the All England Club in their only meeting to date.
Hewitt, a former world No.1 now ranked 42, appears to be returning to somewhere near his best after an injury enforced layoff at this time last year.
He eliminated 15th-seeded Israeli Dudi Sela in round two, but needed all three sets, while del Potro, the world No.6, dropped the first set against Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu.
The other key third-round match-up is between 10th-seeded German Tommy Haas, a former world No.2 who is enjoying a career renaissance, and in-form former world No.1 Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The pair hasn’t met in four years, but Ferrero holds a 3-1 edge.
A menacing, unseeded Maria Sharapova looks set to wreak havoc at the Los Angeles Tennis Championships after a come-from-behind three-set victory over world No.9 Victoria Azarenka today.
Sharapova returned from a major shoulder injury only three months ago, but has already claimed the scalps of fellow Russian Nadia Petrova (twice), China’s Li Na, Italian Francesca Schiavone and now Azarenka.
American Venus Williams humbled the three-time grand slam champion in the quarter-finals at last week’s Stanford Classic, but a big run at this week’s event should have her on track to be a genuine challenger at the US Open.
The best of the upcoming third-round matches appears to be between Australian Sam Stosur and Serbian Ana Ivanovic.
Their three prior clashes have been in grand slams, with Ivanovic holding a 2-1 advantage after toppling Stosur at last month’s Wimbledon Championships.
But Stosur seems to be improving every tournament, while Ivanovic is still battling to recapture the form that saw her win last year’s French Open trophy and ascend to world No.1.
It will be power versus finesse when Russian Petrova and Italian Flavia Pennetta cross paths in another quality match-up, while second seed Vera Zvonareva takes on Belarussian Yanina Wickmayer.
World No.1 Dinara Safina should cruise past China’s Zheng Jie, although Zheng pushed Safina to a third-set tiebreak in Rome in May.
Out-of-sorts Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and Dane Caroline Wozniacki joined Azarenka on the sidelines in round two.
Third-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s and sixth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic’s round-two defeats were the biggest surprises, but six other less-fancied seeds also fell by the wayside.
American John Isner, a semi-finalist at Indianapolis and quarter-finalist in Los Angeles in the past two weeks, was responsible for Tsonga’s demise.
Top-ranked Indian Somdev Devvarman, the world No.153, overcame Cilic after beating fellow qualifier Yuichi Sugita in round one.
Isner and Devvarman, a two-time US college champion, face French qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac – 14th-seed Dmitry Tursunov’s second-round conqueror – and towering 11th-seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic respectively.
Big-serving American John Isner upset Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overnight to continue his rich vein of form.
But most interest will be centre around the all-American Andy Roddick-Sam Querrey clash and the battle of past Washington champions Juan Martin del Potro and Lleyton Hewitt.
Wimbledon finalist Roddick won both of his previous contests against Querrey, but neither was convincing and the latter stretched the world No.5 the full distance in Memphis in February.
Querrey is also in the form of his life, having reached three straight finals, and is on the verge of breaking into the top 20.
Australian Hewitt defeated Argentine del Potro in straight sets at the All England Club in their only meeting to date.
Hewitt, a former world No.1 now ranked 42, appears to be returning to somewhere near his best after an injury enforced layoff at this time last year.
He eliminated 15th-seeded Israeli Dudi Sela in round two, but needed all three sets, while del Potro, the world No.6, dropped the first set against Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu.
The other key third-round match-up is between 10th-seeded German Tommy Haas, a former world No.2 who is enjoying a career renaissance, and in-form former world No.1 Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The pair hasn’t met in four years, but Ferrero holds a 3-1 edge.
A menacing, unseeded Maria Sharapova looks set to wreak havoc at the Los Angeles Tennis Championships after a come-from-behind three-set victory over world No.9 Victoria Azarenka today.
Sharapova returned from a major shoulder injury only three months ago, but has already claimed the scalps of fellow Russian Nadia Petrova (twice), China’s Li Na, Italian Francesca Schiavone and now Azarenka.
American Venus Williams humbled the three-time grand slam champion in the quarter-finals at last week’s Stanford Classic, but a big run at this week’s event should have her on track to be a genuine challenger at the US Open.
Serbian Ana Ivanovic booked a third-round Los Angeles showdown with Australian Sam Stosur after beating American Vania King.
The best of the upcoming third-round matches appears to be between Australian Sam Stosur and Serbian Ana Ivanovic.
Their three prior clashes have been in grand slams, with Ivanovic holding a 2-1 advantage after toppling Stosur at last month’s Wimbledon Championships.
But Stosur seems to be improving every tournament, while Ivanovic is still battling to recapture the form that saw her win last year’s French Open trophy and ascend to world No.1.
It will be power versus finesse when Russian Petrova and Italian Flavia Pennetta cross paths in another quality match-up, while second seed Vera Zvonareva takes on Belarussian Yanina Wickmayer.
World No.1 Dinara Safina should cruise past China’s Zheng Jie, although Zheng pushed Safina to a third-set tiebreak in Rome in May.
Out-of-sorts Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and Dane Caroline Wozniacki joined Azarenka on the sidelines in round two.
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