ROME, May 8: World No 2 Rafael Nadal’s bid to win the Rome Masters for the fourth successive year was buried on Wednesday when he lost 7-5, 6-1 to Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Ferrero, the 2001 champion, got the match-turning break at the end of tough first set.
The unseeded player then broke Nadal again in fourth game of the second and quickly finished off his Spanish compatriot, who had treatment on a foot injury at 4-1 down.
Nadal paid tribute to Ferrero but said the injury had hampered his performance.
“I have this pain in a point at the back of my foot, so it was tough for me,” the 21-year-old said. “I just congratulate Juan Carlos. I think this is an important win for him because he’s trying to go to the Olympics.”
Ferrero will meet Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round after the Swiss beat Britain’s Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6.
Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko cruised in the third round with an 6-2, 6-2 win over Croatian wildcard Mario Ancic, while Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic quelled some early resistance from Belgium’s Steve Darcis to prevail 6-4, 6-0.
Serbia’s Djokovic had to recover an early break in the first set and save two break points in the ninth game before Darcis threw away his final service game of the set to love with a series of unforced errors.
The Belgian looked dismayed at having contributed to his downfall and the world No 3 was able to run away with second set to go through the third round.
Nadal was not the only top 10 seed to tumble. Argentine David Nalbandian, the seventh seed, lost an exciting match against Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-5.
Nalbandian came off worse in a five-break first set and saved seven match points in two separate games before surrendering his serve at the end of the second.
Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer also suffered an upset, collapsing after taking the first set against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic to go down 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
However, American James Blake, the eighth seed, laboured to a 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 win over Italy’s Andreas Seppi.
Roger Federer moved into the third round on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Guillermo Canas.
The world No 1 will face Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who beat Italy’s Potito Starace 6-3, 6-7, 7-6.
Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Second round: Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3); Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt 16-Andy Murray (Britain) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); 14-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Nicolas Mahut (France) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) bt 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) 7-5, 6-1; Simone Bolelli (Italy) bt Gilles Simon (France) 6-4, 6-4; Igor Andreev (Russia) bt 13-Juan Monaco (Argentina) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; 8-James Blake (US) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1; 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-2, 6-2; 12-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Evgeny Korolev (Russia) 6-3, 6-2; Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt 5-David Ferrer (Spain) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Luis Horna (Peru) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1); Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt 7-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-4, 7-5; 3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-4, 6-0.
HENIN BREEZES THROUGH
BERLIN: Justine Henin took just 58 minutes to beat Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan 6-0, 6-2 and reach the third round of the German Open on Wednesday.
The world No 1 from Belgium, playing a tournament on her favourite clay surface for the first time this year, breezed through the first set and stayed in ruthless form in the second, taking two break points out of two to seal an easy win.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic had a few more problems in her first match of the tournament — the top eight seeds received a bye for the first round — before winning 7-6, 6-2 against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan.
Ivanovic, the second seed, took time to adjust to the heavy clay court at the Steffi Graf Stadium and was grateful to come through the opening set with a 7-0 victory in the tiebreak.
That emphatic scoreline seemed to encourage her, and the Serb looked a lot more fluent as she completed victory in 90 minutes.
Fourth seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic also had a few problems early on before her class told in a 7-5, 6-0 win over Peng Shuai of China.
Results:
Second round: 10-Agnes Szavay (Hungary) bt Yan Zi (China) 6-1, 6-1; 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Catalina Castano (Colombia) 6-3, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) bt 16-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-3, 6-3; 11-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Angelika Bachmann (Germany) 6-1, 6-1; 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) bt Chan Yung-jan (Taiwan) 6-0, 6-2; Sybille Bammer (Austria) bt Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5); Gisela Dulko (Argentina) bt Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-2, 7-5; 15-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3; 2-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 7-6 (7-0), 6-2; Vera Dushevina (Russia) bt Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt 6-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 1-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; 4-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt Peng Shuai (China) 7-5, 6-0; 13-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 6-4, 6-3.—Reuters
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