Winston-Salem
The tennis career of Mardy Fish was looking more uncertain after the 31-yea-rold quit with heat exhaustion to give Finnish 11th seed Jarkko Nieminen a 7-5, 6-7(3), 3-2 win into the third round of the grand slam tune-up. Fish, who has barely played for the past 19 months since his 2012 heart scare, has said he will try to decide on his future after the US Open, which begins on Monday. The official reason given was that he “felt unwell.”
“It obviously felt very hot and humid today, the weather just got to me a little bit and I just couldn’t go any more,” said the American. “I had heat stroke and wasn’t feeling good, so I had to stop.” Added Nieminen: “I felt for one and a half sets I played really good tennis. I don’t know when Mardy started to feel worse, but he played good tennis.”
Former NCAA champion Steve Johnson upset second seed Andreas Seppi 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5, sending out the Italian who had taken over the tournament showcase top spot after the injury pullout of Czech Tomas Berdych.
Other seeds continued to shine in North Carolina under the threat of west weather, with French number five Benoit Paire ending the run of US veteran James Blake 7-6(9,) 2-6, 6-3. Spanish seventh seed Fernando Verdasco beat Tim Smyczek of the US 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 while Argentine eighth seed Juan Monaco (dispatched Nicolas Mahut of France 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4. Monaco will bid for an eighth quarter-final of 2013 when he next plays Alexandr Dolgopolov, a winner over Daniel Gimeno-Traver 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Number 12 Dmitry Tursunov stopped Belgian David Goffin 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. There was a loss for No. 14 Martin Klizan, beaten by Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain 6-4, 6-1. Austrian Jurgen Melzer benefitted from a retirement from Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker, winning 7-5, 6-7(4), 4-2. Gael Monfils beat GuidoPella 6-2, 6-2.
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Winston-Salem (250/Hard). Defending Champion: John Isner
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
U. S. Open (Slam/Hard). Defending Champion: Andy Murray
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of August 20, 2013
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….10980
2..(2) Nadal…………..8860
3..(3) Murray………….8700
4..(4) Ferrer………….7210
5..(5) Berdych…………5075
6..(6) Del Potro……….4740
7..(7) Federer…………4695
8..(8) Tsonga………….3470
9..(9) Gasquet…………2625
10.(10) Wawrinka………..2610
11.(11) Raonic………….2555
12.(12) Nishikori……….2405
13.(13) Haas……………2185
14.(15) Janowicz………..2113
15.(16) Almagro…………2110
16.(17) Simon…………..2040
17.(14) Isner…………..2025
18.(18) Fognini…………2025
19.(19) Cilic…………..1805
20.(20) Anderson………..1740
21.(21) Tipsarevic………1685
22.(22) Robredo…………1620
23.(23) Seppi…………..1550
24.(24) Youzhny…………1475
25.(25) Kohlschreiber……1445
26.(26) Lopez…………..1435
27.(27) Paire…………..1415
28.(28) Dimitrov………..1375
29.(30) Verdasco………..1290
30.(31) Monaco………….1275
DRAWS
Winston Salem — Week of August 19
1 Berdych (WC)
–bye
Berankis
de Schepper
Nielsen (Q)
Bautista Agut
–bye
14 Klizan
11 Nieminen
–bye
Fish (WC)
Donskoy
Zemlja
Garcia-Lopez
–bye
6 Querrey
3 Isner
–bye
Bogomolov
Hanescu
Goffin (Q)
Sock
–bye
13 Tursunov
9 Melzer
–bye
de Bakker (Q)
Sijsling
Williams
Blake
–bye
5 Paire
7 Verdasco (WC)
–bye
Russell
Smyczek
Haase
Mannarino
–bye
12 Rosol
15 Monfils
–bye
L Mayer
Pella
Rufin
Istomin
–bye
4 Robredo
8 Monaco
–bye
Mahut
Kubot
Gimeno-Traver
Roger-Vasselin
–bye
10 Dolgopolov
16 Andujar
–bye
Bogaerts (WC)
Lu
Reynolds
Johnson (Q)
–bye
2 Seppi
TUESDAY
Winston-Salem
Singles – Second Round
[Q] S Johnson (USA) d [2] A Seppi (ITA) 67(5) 64 75
[4] T Robredo (ESP) d G Rufin (FRA) 76(5) 46 63
[5] B Paire (FRA) d J Blake (USA) 76(9) 26 63
[7] [WC] F Verdasco (ESP) d T Smyczek (USA) 36 63 63
[8] J Monaco (ARG) d N Mahut (FRA) 67(4) 63 64
[9] J Melzer (AUT) d [Q] T de Bakker (NED) 75 67(4) 42 ret. (toe)
[10] A Dolgopolov (UKR) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 46 61 64
[11] J Nieminen (FIN) d [WC] M Fish (USA) 75 67(3) 32 ret. (unwell)
[13] D Tursunov (RUS) d [Q] D Goffin (BEL) 46 75 61
R Bautista Agut (ESP) d [14] M Klizan (SVK) 64 61
[15] G Monfils (FRA) d G Pella (ARG) 62 62
R Berankis (LTU) d *[LL] D Kudla (USA) 64 64
A Bogomolov Jr. (RUS) d **[LL] J Sousa (POR) 64 61
*[LL] D Kudla (USA) replaced [1] T Berdych (CZE) – right shoulder
**[LL] J Sousa (POR) replaced [3] J Isner (USA) – hip
Doubles – First Round
[3] D Marrero (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) d [WC] J Cerretani (USA) / R Haase (NED) 46 75 10-7
S Gonzalez (MEX) / S Lipsky (USA) d [4] C Fleming (GBR) / J Marray (GBR) 64 75
P Hanley (AUS) / J Peers (AUS) d V Hanescu (ROU) / L Rosol (CZE) 76(5) 64
[WC] E Butorac (USA) / F Nielsen (DEN) d N Mahut (FRA) / B Paire (FRA) 63 76(3)
F Cermak (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d [Alt] J Levinsky (CZE) / Y Lu (TPE) 61 75
New Haven
Holder Petra Kvitova made a winning start as she beat German teenager Annika Beck 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The 2011 Wimbledon winner and third seed wrapped up the first round at the last WTA outing before the US Open as she rallied from a set down, then concentrated with six breaks of serve from eight chances to advance.
Russian Elena Vesnina reached the quarter-finals at Yale University as she put out German second seed Angelique Kerber, turning in a victory after three defeats in the series. She came from a break down in the second set for the 6-2, 6-4 sweep. “She’s a very tough player, can win on any surface and is a fighter, so it was important for me to get early confidence by winning the first set,” said the Russian. 2009 finalist Vesnina has now earned a second top 10 win this season.
Vesina will play for the semis in the event which wraps up on Saturday to give players a day to train at the Open, when she faces Czech Klara Zakopalova, who beat teenaged Monica Puig 6-4, 6-1.
THIS WEEK ON THE WTA:
New Haven (Premier/Hard). Defending Champion: Petra Kvitova
NEXT WEEK ON THE WTA:
U. S. Open (Slam/Hard). Defending Champion: Serena Williams
RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of August 20, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1 (1) SWilliams 12260
2 (2) Azarenka 9505
3 (3) Sharapova 8766
4 (4) RAadwanska 6335
5 (5) ERRANI 5125*
6 (6) Li 4825
7 (7) Bartoli 4246
8 (8) WOZNIACKI 3490*
9 (10) KERBER 3420
10 (13) Stosur 3210
11 (11) Jankovic 3125
12 (9) KVITOVA 3090*
13 (12) VINCI 3065
14 (14) Flipkens 2961
15 (15) Ivanovic 2940
16 (17) STEPHENS 2865*
17 (16) Kirilenko 2620
18 (18) LISICKI 2615*
19 (20) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2375*
20 (19) CIBULKOVA 2281
21 (21) CIRSTEA 2250
22 (22) Petrova 2212
23 (24) VESNINA 2127*
24 (23) HALEP 2040*
25 (25) Hampton 1881
26 (26) MAKAROVA 1875*
27 (27) Kanepi 1781
28 (28) Cornet 1730
29 (29) Kuznetsova 1679
30 (31) Rybarikova 1575
DRAWS
New Haven — Week of August 19
1 Errani
–bye
Makarova
Wozniak
Halep
Hantuchova (WC)
Suarez Navarro
5 Vinci
4 Wozniacki
Peng
Knapp (Q)
Svitolina (LL)
Jovanovski
Goerges (WC)
Schmiedlova (Q)
6 Stephens (WC)
7 Lisicki
Mladenovic
Pavlyuchenkova
Cirstea
Riske (Q)
Voegele (Q)
U Radwanska
3 Kvitova
8 Cibulkova
Zakopalova
Puig (Q)
Hsieh
Vesnina
Morita (Q)
–bye
2 Kerber
TUESDAY
New Haven
Singles – Second Round
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. (2) Angelique Kerber (GER) 62 64
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (7) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 75 63
Klara Zakopalova (CZE) d. (Q) Monica Puig (PUR) 64 61
Singles – First Round
(3) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. (LL) Annika Beck (GER) 46 63 63
Doubles – First Round
Soler-Espinosa/Suárez Navarro (ESP/ESP) d. (1) Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN) 64 63
(4) Huber/Llagostera Vives (USA/ESP) d. Pennetta/Raymond (ITA/USA) 64 75
Marosi/Moulton-Levy (HUN/USA) d. Dulgheru/Shvedova (ROU/KAZ) 76(6) 63
Black/King (ZIM/USA) d. (WC) Hantuchova/Hingis (SVK/SUI) 63 61