Trio crash out in Madrid
Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:05
World number six Nikolay Davydenko, ranked number five here, was the biggest seed to fall after losing his second-round match to American qualifier Robby Ginepri, but he was joined by sixth seed Ferrer and number 12 Gonzalez in suffering early exits.
On paper, world number two Roger Federer appeared to have one of the day’s most straightforward wins as he eased past Radek Stepanek 6-3 7-6 (8/6). It may not have been a walkover for Federer, but his victory seemed positively comfortable compared to many of his fellow seeds on Wednesday.
Ferrer lost to Spanish Davis Cup team-mate Feliciano Lopez 6-4 7-6 (7/4) and Gonzalez fell to Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4, while third seed Novak Djokovic was pushed all the way by Victor Hanescu before the Romanian qualifier was forced to retire injured with the score at 6-7 (8/10) 7-6 (8/6) 3-1 in favour of the Serbian.
Djokovic’s fellow seeds Tsonga, Ivo Karlovic and David Nalbandian also found life difficult, although they at least managed before to progress through to the third round – unlike Davydenko.
Davydenko was sent tumbling by Ginepri 4-6 6-4 6-4, the second time in three years that the Russian has come unstuck against the same opponent at the Madrid Masters.
Frenchman Tsonga was not too far away from joining Davydenko in suffering a second-round exit though, after being put to the test by Spaniard Marcel Granollers. The Australian Open finalist lost the first set against Granollers and, having levelled up the match in the second, was taken to a tie-break in the decider before winning through 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7/5).
Nalbandian, the defending champion here, was also taken to three sets before seeing off Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2 6-7 (5/7) 6-1.
Karlovic, the 14th seed, was another player made to work hard for his win, although he only needed two sets before downing Robin Soderling 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (10/8), while 10th seed Stanislas Wawrinka squeezed past Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7/5).
One player who did not look to be in too much trouble on Wednesday was eight seed Andy Roddick, who beat Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 in little over an hour.
Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here
