Davydenko survives test

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:45

The number one seed was pushed all the way by American Robbie Kendrick in the first set, needing a marathon tie-break to move ahead.

He finally won it 12-10, before breaking in game eight of the second set to seal a 7-6 (12/10) 6-3 win but things were a little easier for second seed Fernando Verdasco, who cruised to a 6-0 6-3 win over Paul Capdeville.

His fellow Spaniard, and third seed, Tommy Robredo became the highest-profile casualty so far when he was beaten 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7/5) by Jose Acasuso.

Robredo seemed set for a comfortable night when he claimed the first set with a pair of breaks but Acasuso secured the crucial break in the second before a seesaw third set went to a tie-break, which the Argentinian won.

Elsewhere, there were wins for the seventh and eighth seeds, Igor Andreev and Victor Hanescu – the latter needing three sets to get past Janko Tipsarevic – but ninth seed Nicolas Almagro was downed by Bjorn Phau of Germany.

Jurgen Melzer progressed when his opponent, Pablo Cuevas, withdrew, while Igor Kunitsyn and Fabrice Santoro were also second-round winners.

Twelfth and 13th seeds Philipp Petzschner and Andreas Beck lost to Frederico Gil and Simone Bolelli respectively, while Yen-hsun Lu saw off Andreas Seppi and Leonardo Mayer beat Olivier Rochus.

In the women’s draw, there second-round wins for Amelie Mauresmo and Anna Chakvetadze.

Eighth-seeded Frenchwoman Mauresmo strolled past Alona Bondarenko 6-1 6-1, while the Russian saw off Sybille Bammer 4-6 6-4 7-5.

Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here