The Hindu : Sport : Venus flops; Nadal, Murray march on

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport

Venus flops; Nadal, Murray march on

Paes & Dlouhy, Bhupathy & Knowles safely through; Sania suffers doubles loss

Carla Suarez Navarro posts upset of the tournament so far
Tsonga survives a Ljubicic onslaught

— PHOTO: AFP

GIANT-KILLER: Carla Suarez Navarro, who had served notice with a quarterfinal run at Roland Garros last year beating the likes of Amelie Mauresmo and Flavia Pennetta, claimed her biggest scalp yet in Venus Williams.

MELBOURNE: Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was dumped from the Australian Open on Thursday, while Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray barged into the third round. Venus lost the plot against Spain’s unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro, crashing 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 for the upset of the tournament so far and continuing her unhappy association with the event which she has never won.

Her sister Serena lived to fight another day, but she too struggled.

The three-time champion needed to mount a second-set recovery after Gisela Dulko took a 5-2 lead. The American finally woke up to reel off five games in a row to win 6-3, 7-5.

“When you go out on court you have got to expect anything,” said Venus, the sixth seed.

“I’m not surprised at how well she played. I haven’t quite figured out the areas of my game that went wrong, but I have to credit her.”

One-way traffic

In hot and blustery conditions, Nadal crushed Roko Karanusic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to stay on track for his first hardcourt Grand Slam title. The World No. 1 wrapped up his one-sided match in 97 minutes to set up a clash with 79th-ranked German Tommy Haas.

“He played aggressively, it’s not easy to play against someone who plays inside the court and hits big shots with the forehand,” Nadal said.

“But I feel very comfortable here and I’m very happy with the victory.”

Joining him in the next round was Britain’s fourth seed Murray, who wasted little energy in disposing of Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

“I’ve been playing really well for the last six or seven months and it’s probably the best I have felt coming into a Grand Slam,” said the Scot, adding that he was confident he could go “deep” into the tournament.

‘A D-minus’

Serena, who next plays China’s Peng Shuai, acknowledged her performance had not been good, rating it a D-minus.

“Today I was at like a D-minus at best,” she said. “But it’s good that I was able to win, too, when I wasn’t playing my best. I definitely will try to do better.

“She had some opportunities but I never felt like I was going to lose.”

She joins top seed Jelena Jankovic, third seed Dinara Safina and fifth seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round after they all assured their berths on Wednesday.

While Serena is considered the favourite, despite her unconvincing performance, the unassuming Elena Dementieva is in a rich vein of form.

The Russian fourth seed steamrolled over the Czech Republic’s Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1 for her 12th straight victory this year. She had claimed back-to-back titles in Auckland and Sydney.

Among the men, fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga survived a 195-minute marathon to down Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 7-6(7), 6-2.

Meanwhile, Chilean 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez sped past Argentina’s Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, setting up a clash with 24th seed Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

They were joined by sixth seed Gilles Simon, fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, in-form Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and American James Blake.

The other notable seeded casualty of the day was No. 25 Ivo Karlovic who lost 5-7, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Mario Ancic.

Mixed fortunes

Third-seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev. Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy lost the first set but regrouped in time to get past Yves Allegro and Fabrice Santoro with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win.

However, Sania Mirza finds herself left with only the mixed doubles to make an impression here after she and Vania King suffered a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 reverse to Vera Dushevina and Olga Savchuk.

THE RESULTS

Men: Singles: Second round: 24-Richard Gasquet bt Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 13-Fernando Gonzalez bt Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-3, 6-4; 6-Gilles Simon bt Chris Guccione 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; 31-Jurgen Melzer bt Andreas Beck 5-7, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-3; 17-Nicolas Almagro bt Fabio Fognini 6-2, 7-5, 6-0; 1-Rafael Nadal bt Roko Karanusic 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; 14-Fernando Verdasco bt Arnaud Clement 6-1, 6-1, 6-2; 22-Radek Stepanek bt Michael Berrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(3), 7-5.

12-Gael Monfils bt Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Mario Ancic bt 25-Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; 5-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 7-6(7), 6-2; 9-James Blake bt Sebastien de Chaunac 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; 4-Andy Murray bt Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Women: Singles: Second round: 13-Victoria Azarenka bt Tathiana Garbin 4-1 retd.; 4-Elena Dementieva bt Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1; Virginie Razzano bt 14-Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-1; 18-Dominika Cibulkova bt Chan Yung-jan 6-0, 6-2; 20-Amelie Mauresmo bt Elena Baltacha 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; 21-Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Julie Coin 6-1, 6-4.

22-Zheng Jie bt Melinda Czink 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-3; 2-Serena Williams bt Gisela Dulko 6-3, 7-5; 12-Flavia Pennetta bt Jessica Moore 6-4, 6-1; 8-Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-2; 31-Alona Bondarenko bt Severine Bremond 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-2; Carla Suarez Navarro bt 6-Venus Williams 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles: Men: First round: 3-Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark Knowles bt Mikhail Youzhny & Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-2; 4-Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy bt Yves Allegro & Fabrice Santoro 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: Women: First round: Vera Dushevina & Olga Savchuk bt Vania King & Sania Mirza, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport