The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Jankovic and Azarenka make quarterfinals

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Thursday, May 07, 2009
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Jankovic and Azarenka make quarterfinals

ROME: Reigning champion Jelena Jankovic barely had to break sweat on Wednesday as she coasted into the WTA Italian Open quarterfinals when Kateryna Bondarenko retired with an illness.

Their third round match had been uncompetitive before the Ukrainian’s retirement with third seed Jankovic charging to a 6-1, 1-0 lead before the end came.

In another early match sixth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus thrashed ninth seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2.

Almagro upset

Third-seed Nicolas Almagro made a shock exit from Munich’s ATP tournament on Wednesday when he was beaten 7-6(2), 6-4 by Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in the second round.

Youzhny will now meet France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the quarterfinals after the seventh-seed beat Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr 6-1, 6-4 in just 74 minutes.

Hewitt’s landmark win

On Tuesday, Australian Lleyton Hewitt clinched his 500th tour-level singles match win in dramatic fashion as he moved into the second round.

Hewitt, a two-time ATP World Tour Champion, saved two match points before prevailing 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-6(8) against German Philipp Petzschner.

“I think there are only two other active players have won that many,” said the 28-year-old Hewitt.

“That obviously means I’m getting old. I’ve been around for a long time. It’s something I guess you retire and you look back on it and realise you’ve had a pretty good career.

Important results:

At Estoril (Estoril Open): Second round: Men: Paul Capdeville bt Massimo Gonzalez 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Fabio Fognini bt Gaston Gaudio 6-3, 6-4.

Women: Jarmila Groth bt Iveta Benesova 7-5, 6-4; Sorana Cirstea bt Maret Ani 7-5, 6-2; Sabine Lisicki bt Elena Bovina 6-4, 7-5; Anna-Lena Groenefeld bt Kristina Barrois 6-4, 6-4; Yanina Wickmayer bt Olga Govortsova 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

At Rome (WTA Italian Open): Third round: Jelena Jankovic bt Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 1-0 retired; Victoria Azarenka bt Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2.

At Munich (BMW Open): Second round: Mikhail Youzhny bt Nicolas Almagro 7-6(2), 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Denis Gremelmayr 6-1, 6-4. First round: Lleyton Hewitt bt Philipp Petzschner 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-6(8).

At Belgrade (Serbia Open): Second round: Lukas Kubot bt Igor Andreev 3-2 retired; Kristof Vliegen bt Christophe Rochus 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. First round: Flavio Cipolla bt Marcos Baghdatis 1-6, 6-3, 6-1; Brian Dabul bt Nicolas Massu 6-2, 6-1; Leonardo Mayer bt Wayne Odesnik 6-3, 6-2. — Agencies

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