TENNIS WORLD

Spanish fifth seed Fernando Verdasco (pictured) made a smooth start to his Bank Austria-Tennis Trophy campaign in Vienna on Monday, dismissing Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round.
The Vienna debutant dropped just seven points behind his first serve and was able to convert two of eight break points to defeat World No. 145 Crivoi in their first meeting after 1 hr., 33 min.
The Madrid resident Verdasco, who at No. 13 is currently two places down on a career-high No. 11 (July 21) in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, improves to 41-23 for the season. The 6’2’’ left-hander won his second ATP title in Umag (d. Andreev) and also finished runner-up at Nottingham (l. to Karlovic) in his first grass court final.
He next will face Argentine Guillermo Canas, who served nine aces and converted three of six break points as he accounted for Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6(2), 6-3.
Coming into Vienna, the 30-year-old Canas had not won a match since reaching the Beijing Olympic Games second round (l. to Simon), falling first round at the US Open (l. to del Potro) and last week in Metz (l. to Acasuso). Earlier in the season, the Buenos Aires resident made semifinal exits at Las Vegas (l. to Querrey) and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Gicquel). He now improves to 21-20 for the season.
World No. 61 Canas has performed well at Vienna in the past and is a two-time runner-up. On his first two visits in 2001 and 2004 he reached the title match, falling to Tommy Haas and Feliciano Lopez respectively. Last year he lost in the first round (l. to Ferrero).
Meanwhile, Ivo Karlovic fired 17 aces but was unable to defeat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first round as the Spaniard converted one of four break points to record his second victory over the Croatian No. 4 seed 6-4, 7-6(4) in 1 hr., 32 min.
Former World No. 1 Ferrero, current No. 44, is making his sixth appearance in Vienna and was the runner-up in 2005, falling to Ivan Ljubicic in the final; last year he made a semifinal exit at the hands of Stanislas Wawrinka.
The 28-year-old Ferrero stands on a 19-13 match record for the season, highlighted by a runners-up finish at Auckland (l. to Kohlschreiber) and a quarterfinal effort two weeks ago in Beijing (l. to eventual champ Roddick). He next will face either two-time champion Ivan Ljubicic or home favorite Jurgen Melzer.
Elsewhere, Czech qualifier Jan Hernych secured his second round spot with a close 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over Croatian Roko Karanusic. The World No. 129, who converted on five of 21 break point chances in the match, improves to 4-7 for the season. He now faces either top seed Stanislas Wawrinka or fellow qualifier Philipp Petzschner of Germany.

Info and photo from ATP