The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Andy Roddick wins easily; James Blake stretched

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Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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Andy Roddick wins easily; James Blake stretched

Sania overcomes leg cramps to beat Akiko Morigami

— PHOTO: AFP

TURNING IT ON: Sania Mirza dug deep to rally from a set and a break down.

INDIANAPOLIS: Top-seeded Andy Roddick rolled past wild card Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Tuesday.

Defending champion and No. 2 seed Blake, coming off an upset in the final of last week’s ATP stop in Los Angeles, squeezed by Swedish veteran Thomas Johansson 7-5, 7-6(9).

Brave show

Overcoming cramps in her leg, Sania Mirza rallied to beat Japan’s Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) to enter the second round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

Morigami took control early in the match capitalising on three critical breaks to take the opening set.

Sania had her back against the wall in the second set as she trailed 3-5. But she got her act together after that and won four straight games to draw level.

The World No. 35 carried the momentum into the third set and took a 2-1 lead.

Both the players then held serves forcing a third-set tie-breaker.

Sania was also battling a leg cramp which required a medical time-out.

“I would never call for a trainer at 6-5 in the third set if I did not have to. I started to feel it when I served and I noticed I was sweating and very tight,” she said.

“There are a lot of Indians in the San Francisco area and I thought the crowd tonight really helped me out.”

Important results: At Kitzbuehel (Austrian Open): Second round: Agustin Calleri bt Rainer Eitzinger 6-3, 7-6(4); Diego Hartfield bt Oscar Hernandez 5-7, 6-0, 6-3; Tommy Robredo bt Juan-Pablo Guzman 6-1, 6-4; Florian Mayer bt Martin Vas sallo Arguello 6-1, 6-3; Fernando Verdasco bt Luis Horna 6-1, 6-4; Igor Andreev bt Olivier Patience 7-6(5), 6-2; Alexander Peya bt Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-0; Andreas Seppi bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2; Nicolas Almagro bt Ivan Navarro Pastor 7-5, 6-3.

At Umag (Croatian Open): First round: Andrei Pavel bt Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(5), 7-5; David Ferrer bt Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-2; Guillermo Canas bt Roko Karanusic 6-3, 6-3; Carlos Moya bt Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-2; Robin Haase bt Felix Man tilla 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

At Indianapolis (Indianapolis Tennis Championships): First round : Paul Goldstein bt Robert Kendrick 6-4, 6-4; Dmitri Tursunov bt Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5; Teimuraz Gabashvili bt Rajeev Ram 7-5, 3-6, 6-4; Mardi Fish bt Vince Spadea 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Hyung-Taik Lee bt Donald Young 6-2, 6-4;Ricardo Mello bt Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4; Andy Roddick bt Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-0; Ivo Karlovic bt Andre Sa 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3); James Blake bt Thomas Johansson 7-5, 7-6(9).

At Bad-Gastein (Gastein Ladies): First round : Klara Zakopalova bt Andreja Klepac 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-1.

At Stanford (Bank of the West Classic): First round : Shahar Peer bt Camille Pin 7-6(5), 6-2; Tatiana Golovin bt Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-2, 6-2; Sybille Bammer bt Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-2; Sania Mirza bt Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5); Maria Kirilenko bt Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. — Agencies

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