Shanghai Rolex Masters – Young and Roddick are through

Written by: Global Chick on 11th October 2011

Shanghai Rolex Masters - Young and Roddick are through

Andy Roddick of the USA hits a return against opponent South Africa's Kevin Anderson during their first round match at the China Open in Beijing, China, 03 October 2011. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL |

Bangkok finalist Donald Young started his week at the Shanghai Rolex Masters with a comfortable straight set win over Chinese wildcard Mao-Xin Gong. The in-form American will now face Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round. The Swiss number two fought hard to move into the second round against Argentinian Juan Monaco. Wawrinka came through in three sets 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden had a great win over the much higher ranked player World No. 45 Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-4 6-4 . Ebden is currently ranked number 124 on the ATP Tour singles ranking.

The number eight seed Frenchman Gilles Simon faces Spain’s Albert Montanes in his opening round. Montanes came through in three sets against Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

The top eight seeded players in the 64-player main draw all have a bye in the first round. The No. 5 seed Mardy Fish can expect a tough first round after Bernard Tomic downed South African Kevin Anderson 7-6(5) 6-7 (4) 6-3 in two hours and 37 minutes. Fish and Tomic faced off last week in Tokyo, Fish won in three sets. “I’m happy I won against a player like Kevin because he can beat so many world class players on his day,” the Australian number one said.”

Spaniard Tommy Robredo won in two tiebreak sets over Stephane Bohli of Switerzland. The number seven seed Nicolas Almagro will be waiting for Robredo in the second round.

American powerhouse Andy Roddick defeated Chinese Taipei qualifier Yen-Hsun Lu 6-2 3-6 6-2 in his opening round. Roddick was out on court for almost three hours today. “He plays so high risk,” the World No. 15 said. The American will continue his Shanghai campaign against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

There will be another all-Spanish second round battle between Juan Carlos Ferrero and the No. 16 seed Fernando Verdasco. The former world number one Ferrero ousted Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-6 6-4. Pretty left hander Verdasco earned a second round spot after a win over Chines wildcard Zhe Li 6-2 6-2.

World number two Rafael Nadal will meet Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in his opening round. Garcia-Lopez took out Indian Somdev Devvarman 6-4 6-3.

Argentinian wildcard David Nalbandian won 7-5 6-4 over Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Nalbandian is every player’s first round nightmare opponent. The former Top 10 player is looking to improve his ranking he is currently ranked No. 57. Nalbandian had 12 break points and converted 3 in the match that lasted one hour and thirty minutes. Florian Mayer will be next up for Nalbandian. Mayer crushed Italian Fabio Fognini by only losing two games.

Fabio Fognini had a better day on the doubles court with fellow Italian Simone Bolelli. The Italians won their first round 6-4 6-4 over Chines wildcards Di Wu and Ze Zhang. Their second round opponents will be last week’s China Open winners Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic.

Marcel Granollers and Viktor Troicki took out mark Knowles and Lukasz Kubot 10-7 in the third set match tiebreaker to advance into the second round where the World No. 1 doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan are waiting.

Oliver Marach and Janko Tipsarevic will meet the number two seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor after they defeated Alex Bogomolov and Rajeev Ram in the first round. Marach is continuing his great form. He won the PTT Thailand Open two weeks ago with Qureshi.