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Andy Roddick executes a 'tweener

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STOCKHOLM OPEN

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Soderling Wins Opener; Two-Time Champ Johansson Falls


Top Swede Robin Soderling advanced to the second round at the If Stockholm Open with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over German Benjamin Becker on Wednesday. The No. 4 seed broke his opponent once in each set to notch his 10th match win in Stockholm (10-5 record).
Soderling, currently No. 35 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, reached his first of seven ATP finals at this event in 2003 (l. to Fish) and also was a semifinalist in 2006 (l. to Blake).


The 26-year-old will look to reach his seventh quarterfinal of the season when he faces Argentine lucky loser Juan Monaco, who defeated Jonas Bjorkman in the Swedish veteran's last singles match on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, two-time champion and 2007 finalist Thomas Johansson of Sweden fell in his opening match to Spanish No. 7 seed Albert Montanes (pictured), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. It marked just the fourth time in 13 event appearances that the former World No. 7 had lost in the Stockholm first round. Johansson titled at this event in 2000 (d. Kafelnikov) and '04 (d. Agassi) and was runner-up in 1998 (l. to Martin) and 2007 (l. to Karlovic).
The 27-year-old Montanes became the oldest first-time ATP titlist this year when he defeated Belgian Steve Darcis in the Amersfoort final. He goes on the face Swiss George Bastl, a 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(4) winner over fellow qualifier Frederik Nielsen of Denmark.
Third-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen survived a scare in the first round, rallying from a set down to defeat Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5. The 27-year-old, who fired 11 aces and broke serve four times in the 2 hr., 20 min., encounter, is making his ninth straight appearance in Stockholm and improved to a 12-8 event record. He has reached the final twice in 2001 (l. to Schalken in five sets) and in ’06 (l. to Blake) and was also a quarterfinalist last year (l. to Blake).
The World No. 33 made a strong start to the season, reaching his eighth ATP final (1-7 record) at Adelaide (l. to Llodra) and his first Australian Open quarterfinal (l. to Nadal). In July he advanced to the quarterfinals at Bastad (l. to Robredo) and has a 22-24 season record.
Nieminen next will face Frenchman Arnaud Clement, who converted five break points as he ended Swedish qualifier Bjorn Rehnquist’s bid with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. The 30-year-old Clement is currently No. 86 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings down on a career-high No. 10 (April 2, 2001). The ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to del Potro) and Wimbledon (l. to Schuettler) quarterfinalist improved to an 11-15 match record.
German fifth seed Rainer Schuettler became the first player through to the quarterfinals after breaking serve four times to defeat Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti 7-6(6), 6-3 in the second round. The 32-year-old was also a quarterfinalist in Stockholm in 2000 (l. to Grosjean) and '05 (l. to Sanguinetti) and improved to a 7-5 event record.
It will be the third ATP quarterfinal (or better) appearance for Schuettler in as many weeks, after he made a semifinal exit at Beijing (l. to Sela) and a quarterfinal exit at Tokyo (l. to Gasquet). The right-hander kick-started his season with a semifinal effort at Wimbledon (l. to Nadal) and has improved his South African Airways ATP Rankings from No. 91 at the start of the year to his current position of No. 34.
In the other second round match, Spaniard Oscar Hernandez ousted No. 6 seed Jose Acasuso of Argentina 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 as he converted on three of his 15 break point opportunities. The 30-year-old Hernandez is through to his sixth ATP quarterfinal this year, and his first on hard court.



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BANK AUSTRIA-TENNIS TROPHY

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Del Potro Into Shanghai Contention; Gonzalez Saves 5 M.P.


Bildagentur Zolles/Robert Zolles Argentine Juan Martin del Potro moved up one spot to No. 8 in the ATP 2008 Race after booking his place in the Bank Austria-Tennis Trophy second round on Wednesday.
The third seed beat beat wild card Martin Fischer of Austria 7-6(7), 6-4 in two hours and 12 minutes. With a 30-2 match record since July, del Potro will next meet German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round as he bids to qualify for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.

Del Potro, who moved past James Blake in the ATP 2008 Race, is looking to claim one of four remaining singles berths to Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai and to finish inside the year-end Top 10 for the first time in his career.
In second round action, Fernando Gonzalez (pictured) reached his third ATP quarterfinal in as many weeks after saving five match points to beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 4-6, 7-6(11), 6-1 in two hours and 11 minutes. Gulbis squandered match points at 6-4, 7-6, 9-8, and 11-10 in the second set tie-break. Second seed Gonzalez, who clinched the second set on his third set point, won the deciding set in 23 minutes with Gulbis winning just 10 points. It was the pair’s first meeting. Gulbis, 20, dropped to a 22-20 mark this year.
The 28-year-old Gonzalez, who can add 38 points to his ATP 2008 Race tally of 279 points should he capture his third ATP title of the season, improved to 39-13 on the season. The 2006 Vienna runner-up (l. to Ljubicic) started the week at No. 11 in the ATP 2008 Race just seven points behind No. 10-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. Should he win his quarterfinal on Friday, Gonzalez would rise to No. 10 in the ATP 2008 Race.
Frenchman Gael Monfils, who began the year with a modest 5-7 record, improved to a 23-14 record on the season with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Austrian Alexander Peya. Monfils next meets tough Czech Radek Stepanek.
Fifth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who could add 42 points to his current ATP 2008 Race total of 253 points should he capture the Vienna title this week, knocked out Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-1, 6-2 in 69 minutes. The 24-year-old Verdasco, who clinched his second ATP title at Umag (d. Andreev) in July, improved to 42-23 on the season. He is currently No. 15 in the ATP 2008 Race.
German Philipp Petzschner reached his second ATP quarterfinal in three weeks by hitting six aces past fellow qualifier Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 83 minutes.



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ATP KREMLIN CUP

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Mathieu Advances; Youzhny Dealt First Round Exit


Fourth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu (pictured) improved his ATP Kremlin Cup tournament record to 13-3 after reaching the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in Moscow on Wednesday.
The Frenchman, who converted three of 12 break point chances in the 1 hr., 26 min., encounter, captured the title on his debut in 2002 (d. Schalken) and finished runner-up on his fourth visit last year (l. to Davydenko). In the second round he will face Beijing finalist Dudi Sela.

Currently No. 23 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Mathieu has now secured his 30th match win of the season (30-24 record) and entered having reached his seventh ATP final in Metz last week (l. to Tursunov).
Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili defeated his third-seeded compatriot Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(1) to hand the Moscow native his sixth first round defeat at the ATP Kremlin Cup.
World No. 66 Gabashvili, who also resides in Moscow, served nine aces and won just two points more than Youzhny in the 2 hr., 43 min., encounter. The victory leveled their head-to-head at 1-1 after Youzhny had won their first clash at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami last year.
The 26-year-old Youzhny, currently No. 22 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, dropped to a 27-19 match record for the season. He captured his fourth ATP title in Chennai (d. Nadal) at the start of the season and has made three quarterfinal exits at the Australian Open (l. to Tsonga), Marseille (l. to Baghdatis) and Gstaad (l. to Garcia-Lopez).
Gabashvili is a four-time ATP quarterfinalist in 2008 at Rotterdam (l. to Simon), Zagreb (l. to Ljubicic), Amersfoort (l. to Gicquel) and Bucharest (l Gasquet) and improved to 13-11 on the season. He will look to reach the quarterfinals in Moscow for the first time when he challenges Youzhny’s doubles partner this week, Mischa Zverev, in the second round.
Zverev progressed with a 6-3, 7-6(7) victory over compatriot Denis Gremelmayr. The Moscow-born German citizin, who partnered Youzhny to the Tokyo doubles title last week, is through to the second round for the first time on his third visit.
The 21-year-old has compiled a 14-21 match record on the season, highlighted by reaching three quarterfinals at Rotterdam (l. to Karlovic), Umag (l. to Verdasco) and New Haven (l. to Verdasco).
With the withdrawal of Russian No. 5 seed Dmitry Tursunov due to a right shoulder injury, his doubles partner whom he had been due to face, Igor Kunitsyn, instead found himself up against lucky loser Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan. The World No. 71 took full advantage, booking a second round spot with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory. He next will face American Robby Ginepri.








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STOCKHOLM OPEN

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Bjorkman Bows Out; Nalbandian, Ancic Make Strong Starts


Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman played the final singles match of his career Tuesday at the If Stockholm Open, as he fell to Argentine lucky loser Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-4 in the first round. Bjorkman, who received a standing ovation afterward, dropped serve five times during the 69-minute match to finish his singles career with a 414-362 record.

"It was a very emotional match," said 1997 Stockholm titlist Bjorkman. "I felt I could have played a lot better than I did because I was playing well during practice during the last weeks."
Bjorkman Plays Final Singles Match
Meanwhile, fellow Swede and wild card recipient Joachim Johansson enjoyed a win in his first match since coming out of retirement, defeating Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 7-6(5) in one hour and 29 minutes. The 26-year-old Johansson had originally retired from the ATP circuit in February after suffering from shoulder injurires for three years, and had played his last professional match in Stockholm last year.
"I'm very happy for the win," said the former World No. 9. "I didn't feel anything on my shoulder, so that is very positive. Regardless on how I do in Stockholm I want to take things slowly, and get back on the circuit little by little. If I can't use my protect ranking in the next six months I will go back to playing Futures and try to get back tp the top step by step."
Johansson will next play top seed David Nalbandian, who dropped only eight points on serve and converted five of seven break points as he dispatched American Bobby Reynolds 6-1, 6-1 to claim his 30th match win of the season. World No. 7 Nalbandian is currently No. 26 in the ATP 2008 Race – 114 points back of James Blake in the No. 8 spot – and can gain 40 points by winning the Stockholm title.
The Buenos Aires resident reached consecutive ATP finals in February, clinching his eighth title at Buenos Aires (d. Acasuso) and finishing runner-up at Acapulco (l. to Almagro). In November he will lead Argentina in the Davis Cup final against Spain after factoring in their semifinal win over Russia in his last appearance in September.
Croatian second seed Mario Ancic (pictured) bounced back from a first round upset last week in Metz by firing 19 aces to claim his 30th match win of the season with a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over Belgian Olivier Rochus. He will attempt to reach the Stockholm quarterfinals for the third time in four event appearances when he faces Belgian No. 1 Steve Darcis, who defeated Olivier's brother Christophe Rochus 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The 24-year-old Ancic has made just two ATP main draw appearances since a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon (l. to Federer) due to a recurrence of glandular fever. The former World No. 7, currently No. 31, began the season well, reaching his 10th ATP final at Marseille (l. to Murray) and the Zagreb semifinals.
Fifth-seeded German Rainer Schuettler also made a strong start to his campaign, allowing Australian Chris Guccione just three games as he raced to a 6-0, 6-3 victory 54 minutes. The 32-year-old Schuettler, who only surrendered 10 points on serve throughout, reached the Stockholm quarterfinals in 2000 (l. to Grosjean) and 2005 (l. to Sanguinetti) and has a 6-5 tournament record.
The right-hander kick-started his season at Wimbledon, where he reached his second Grand Slam semifinal defeating No. 8 James Blake in the second round before ultimately losing out to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. In the past two weeks, he reached the Beijing semifinals and Tokyo quarterfinals.
Sixth seed Jose Acasuso of Argentina saved one match point down 2-5 in the third set before battling back to defeat German wild card Matthias Bachinger 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4) in two hours and 15 minutes. He will come up against Oscar Hernandez in the second round after the Spaniard needed just 55 minutes to defeat Czech Ivo Minar, 6-4, 6-3.




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