Andy Roddick of the United States returns a ball during
the men's singles second round match against his compatriot Brendan Evans at the
2008 China Open in Beijing, capital of China yesterday. Roddick won 2-0.-
Xinhua
Andy Roddick overcame a Davis Cup hangover and jet lag to reach the
quarterfinals of the China Open yesterday. Spain's David Ferrer wasn't as
fortunate.
Despite falling behind early, the second-seeded Roddick defeated fellow
American Brendan Evans 6-4, 6-3.
Seeded No. 1, Ferrer was never in his second-round match, falling 6-3, 6-3 to
Dudi Sela of Israel, who is No. 92 in the ATP rankings behind the Spaniard.
No. 3 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile escaped with a scare. The defending champion
and Olympic silver medalist last month in Beijing rallied to beat Go Soeda of
Japan 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1, while No. 4 Richard Gasquet of France had fewer
problems in beating Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei 7-5, 6-1.
Both Roddick and Ferrer had byes in the first round and some extra days off
following Spain's emotional Davis Cup semifinal victory last weekend over the
United States in Madrid. But it was Roddick who was ready to rebound despite
falling behind early against Evans.
"From 2-4 down in the first set I started feeling a little better," Roddick
said. "It's a little tough going from clay last weekend in Spain to dealing with
the jet lag and what not."
Roddick was mentored by Andre Agassi as a young player. After the match, he
gave his younger compatriot a few tips.
"I told him (Evans) I thought he took his foot off the accelerator a little
bit when he was up in the match," Roddick explained. "And maybe he stopped being
as aggressive as he was to get in the lead, and that allowed me to get a
rhythm."
Roddick also acknowledged the outdoor hard court in Beijing suits him better
than the red clay in Spain.
"I'm able to do some more stuff on a quicker court, a hard court," he said.
"Clay limits my game a little bit more."
Ferrer beat Roddick in a grueling five-set match in the Davis Cup. He didn't
look for excuses yesterday, noting Sela had also played Davis Cup against Peru
in Israel before traveling to China.
"I was maybe a little bit tired and didn't sleep well these last two nights,"
Ferrer said. "That's no excuse. He played better than me. It's not a good day
for me."
Sela has never reached the semifinals of a top-line ATP event, and will get
his chance against Tommy Robredo. The sixth-seeded Spaniard reached the
quarterfinals by beating Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. In another
second-round match, No. 7 Rainer Schuettler beat Jean-Claude Scherrer 6-1, 6-4.
In two other men's second-round matches, Bjorn Phau of Germany beat Sam
Querrey of the United States 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain
defeated Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-4.
On the women's side, Zheng Jie of China gained a quarterfinal berth by
beating Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-1, 6-2. Zheng is the only Chinese woman remaining
in the draw after four others lost in the first round.
No. 2 Ana Ivanovic also reached the quarterfinals, beating Alize Cornet 6-1,
7-6 (1). And No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced by defeating Russian
countrywoman Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 6-3.
In other women's second-round matches, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat
No. 8 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-3, 6-2, and No. 5 Vera Zvonareva of Russia
advanced by defeating Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Defending champion Agnes Szavay of Hungary was ousted by Anabel Medina
Garrigues of Spain 6-2, 6-2.
The China Open is a combined ATP and WTA event, played together to make up
for scheduling time lost during the Beijing Olympics.