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Ferrer played out, Ivanovic marches on

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-26 09:27

Top seed David Ferrer of Spain speaks during a press conference after he carshed out of the China Open, September 26, 2008. [Sina.com]

Top seed David Ferrer of Spain crashed out of the China Open Thursday but crowd pleasers Andy Roddick and Ana Ivanovic secured victories to save the day for high-ranked players.

Ferrer, who was playing his first match of the tournament after a first-round bye, was upset by the unseeded Dudi Sela of Israel, 6-3, 6-3.

In the following men's singles match, Roddick, a debutant at the tournament and the second seed, was merciless against compatriot Brendan Evans, winning 6-4, 6-3.

Ferrer defeated Roddick in the Davis Cup semifinal tie between US and Spain last weekend in Madrid before flying to Beijing.

Serbia's Ana Ivanovic returns against Alize Cornet of France during their China Open second round match at the Beijing Tennis Center yesterday in Beijing. Ivanovic defeated Cornet 6-1, 7-6 (7-1). [China Daily]

But the Spaniard was unable to recover on time, making a basket of errors against Sela, the world No 92.

"He played better than me and he fought more than me. I didn't fight a lot because psychologically I am not in a good moment now," Ferrer said. "Maybe I was a little bit tired because I didn't sleep very well for two nights."

He refused, however, to blame the Davis Cup tie for his loss.

The jetlag and conversion from Spain's clay courts to the hard courts of the China Open also caused Roddick to make a slow start. Even so the American smashed 17 aces on his way to an easy victory over his compatriot.

"At first, I was not in good form but after 4-2 in the first set I was much better," Roddick said.

Another tournament debutant, Ivanovic, also expended little effort to take her first win.

The Serb world No 2 defeated France's Alize Cornet 6-1, 7-6 (1) and advanced into the last eight.

She then set up a mouth-watering rematch with home-crowd favorite Zheng Jie, who beat Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-1, 6-2, yesterday.

Zheng upset Ivanovic, then world No 1, en route to the Wimbledon semifinals.

"It's going to be a tough match but I love challenges and she is the home player," the Serb said of her next opponent. "At Wimbledon, the low balls she struck brought me a lot of trouble. I think I can play better this time."

For Zheng, beating Ivanovic will be a tall order, as the world No 30 believes she is a better player on grass than hard court.

"Ana is a really good player. I won at Wimbledon and that brought me more confidence," she said. "I just want to try my best and have an exciting match."

Hours later, Zheng partnered with her good friend Yan Zi to take a women's doubles first round win over Gisela Dulko and Agnieszka Radwanska.

It was the third match in 24 hours for Zheng, who defeated Radwanska in singles on Wednesday. Although the Chinese player said her physical condition was good enough to deal with the heavy schedule, Zheng revealed she would focus more on singles next season.

This means she will play less with Yan, with whom she paired to win the 2006 Australian and Wimbledon titles and a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

"The temporary break between Yan and me is not a bad thing at all because we can focus more on singles," Zheng said. "Focusing on doubles influences our ability to play singles matches."

The Chinese players intentionally spent a lot of time on doubles play to increase their medal hopes at the Beijing Olympics, while the rest of the tennis world focused on singles play.