DUBAI, 6 March 2008 — Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray all reached the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships yesterday.
The second-ranked Nadal easily beat Mikhail Ledovskikh of Russia 6-4, 6-0, while Djokovic defeated Fabrice Santoro of France 6-3, 7-6.
“Today, I didn’t know this player, but he has a very good potential,” Nadal said of his 171st-ranked opponent.
The second-ranked Spaniard will next face Roddick, who served 13 aces to beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-4.
Djokovic, who lost to Santoro the last time they played at the Paris Masters in October, thought he could lose to the Frenchman again yesterday.
“I started losing my hair in the second set. But it was OK, you know, to play such a magician with a racket,” the Australian Open champion said.
In the quarterfinals, Djokovic will face Igor Andreev of Russia, who beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-4.
Murray, who beat top-ranked Roger Federer on Monday in the first round, defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
Murray led 6-2 in the third-set tiebreaker but needed four match points to win. Verdasco finally hit the ball long after a lengthy rally.
“It was a pretty ugly point, actually,” Murray said. “I was just making sure I kept the ball in play, because I think he’s the sort of guy if you can make a lot of balls against him, keep him in the back of the court, he can get a bit impatient, and luckily he missed one at the end.” Murray said he had to overcome a sore knee in the second set and gusty wind to earn the win.
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer also advanced, beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, while fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4, and Feliciano Lopez of Spain upset eighth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-5.
Serena Makes Winning
Start in India
In Bangalore, India, Serena Williams cruised into the quarterfinals of the $600,000 WTA Bangalore Open with an error-filled win over Tzipora Obziler of Israel yesterday.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion, seeded third and given a bye in the first round, beat Obziler 7-5, 6-0 in her first singles appearance on Indian soil.
“I am happy to be in India and playing because, to be frank, I am not feeling 100 percent fit,” said Serena, the world No. 10.
“It took me time to settle down. I started making some errors and the balls were flying. She definitely gave a lot of pace, but she was not consistent and I did not get my rhythm. “The strings were loose and once I got a tighter one, I played my usual game,” she said.Serena had last month missed the Paris Open and the Antwerp event to undergo dental surgery.
Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and No. 2 Venus Williams, who also got first round byes, will be in action today in India’s richest tennis event. Fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland survived a scare from Aiko Nakamura of Japan before advancing to the quarterfinals. Schnyder dropped the first set on the tie-breaker, but recovered in time to take the next two sets at 6-4, 6-2 in a two-hour battle against the spirited Japanese.
Two seeded players, number five Agnes Szavay of Hungary and No. 6 Sybille Bammer of Austria, were knocked out in the second round.
Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan served 16 aces as she came from behind to defeat Szavay 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 30 minutes.
Amanmuradova will take on Schnyder for a place in the semifinals.
Anastasia Rodionova of Russia disposed of Bammer in straight sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Serena.
