Ferrer exits in surprise defeat

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:27

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko stayed on course for his fourth final appearance in Portugal with a 7-5 6-2 win over another former winner, Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The Russian will meet sixth seed Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals after the American’s 2-6 6-1 6-4 win over Ivan Navarro. Hernandez next faces Paul Capdeville, who beat Maximo Gonzalez 2-6 6-2 6-3.

In the first round, James Blake overcame his poor form and a partisan crowd to battle past Frederico Gil 5-7 6-4 6-2. The former top 10 player, who was celebrating his first clay-court victory of the season, will meet France’s Marc Gicquel in the second round.

Italy’s Fabio Fognini is also through to round two after a 6-3 6-4 victory over former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio. The Argentinian has endured a miserable few seasons since his 2004 triumph at Roland Garros and his ranking has slumped to 400.

In the women’s event, top seed Iveta Benesova fell to a straight-sets defeats at the hands of Jarmila Groth.

The Czech crashed to a 6-4 7-5 loss against the Slovakian as all the other seeds in action progressed to the quarter-finals.

Second seed Maria Kirilenko thrashed Maria Emilia Salerni 6-3 6-0 while Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, seeded third, beat Maret Ani 7-5 6-2.

Fourth seed Sabine Lisicki was a 6-4 7-5 winner over Elena Bovina but Ekaterina Makarova, seeded sixth, was made to battle all the way for a 5-7 7-5 7-5 victory over Melinda Czink.

Seventh seed Shahar Peer and eighth seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld were straight-sets winners, beating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Kristina Barrois respectively, while Yanina Wickmayer also made it through.

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