TENNIS in DEPTH.

Rafael Nadal got to work with his 2011 Sony Ericsson Open campaign Saturday night, defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. The two-time Sony Ericsson Open runner up felt he played a complete match and was satisfied with the way he served. “I’m very happy about how I played. I think I played at a high level tonight,” Nadal said. “The feeling was better than last week, so that’s important. My serve worked very well at the end of the match.” In the third round, Nadal will square off against friend Feliciano Lopez. Though he’s defeated his compatriot in six of their eight meetings, he knows Lopez has the ability to play superior tennis. “I know it’s going to be a difficult match because he has a very good serve, good volley, and he’s very dangerous… but if I play well I’ll have my chances.”

Nadal intends to approach his match against Lopez with an assertive game plan. “I have to play aggressive with my forehand, try to move him, and go to the net when I have the chance,” explained Nadal.

Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych required three sets to get past Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, but came through 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-0 to advance into the third round. The No. 7 seed overpowered his opponent in the first and third sets, winning 24 of 25 service points. Up next for the Czech is Argentinean Carlos Berlocq, a three-set winner over No. 28 seed Ernests Gulbis.

Janko Tipsarevic upset 18th seeded Marin Cilic in a late day-session match, winning 6-3, 7-6(4). The win gave the spirited Serb his first win over the Croat, after losing their first five meetings, all on hard courts. Awaiting Tipsarevic in the third round is Philipp Petzschner, who took out doubles partner Jurgen Melzer, the No. 10 seed, 6-3, 6-4.

Bookmark It

An obviously ailing Andy Roddick tried to gut out his opening match with his powerful serve but it wasn’t enough as the defending Sony Ericsson Open champion was ousted 6-4, 7-6 (4) by 67th-ranked Pablo Cuevas Saturday afternoon on Stadium Court. Roddick called for the trainer several times but it was unclear whether he was sick or suffering from a lower-body injury. He was clearly limping in the second-set tiebreaker in which he drew to 4-5 with four service winners, but consecutive forehand errors gave the match to the 25-year-old Uruguayan, who notched his first-ever victory over a Top 10 player. The loss will see World No. 8 Roddick fall from the Top 10 of the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, possibly to as low as No. 15, which would be his lowest since June 10, 2002 when he was No. 15. The American has spent just four weeks outside the Top 10 since August 2006.

The eighth-ranked Roddick, winner of the Sony Ericsson Open in 2004 and 2010, was unable to move to his right and was forced to watch most of Cuevas’ 15 aces go by without as much as a step. Roddick, who won his 30th career title in Memphis last month, pulled out of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships with flu-like symptoms. However, he led the U.S. to a Davis Cup victory over Chile and then lost in the quarterfinals to Richard Gasquet at Indian Wells last week. Roddick, 28, had 33 unforced errors and just 20 winners, compared to 26 and 36 respectively for Cuevas, who reached his first career third round in a Masters 1000 event.

Bookmark It

Ana beat Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-2, 6-0 in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. The 23-year-old quickly found her feet against the elder Japanese, hitting freely to all corners of the court. The 19th seed will next meet France’s Virginie Razzano in round four.

Kim Clijsters won her first match of the Sony Ericsson Open over qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova. The mother of one and 2011 Australian Open champion closed out the match in 50 minutes, allowing Yakimova to take only two games. Clijsters claimed the first set 6-1 and broke Yakimova to go up 4-1 in the second set. At 5-2, with Clijsters up 30-0, Yakimova won two points in a row to hold off a break, but Clijsters answered with two points to take the match 6-1, 6-1. The No. 2 seed could face Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the next round.

Other winners in the day session were No.9 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, No.12 seed Petra Kvitova, No.15 seed Marion Bartoli, No.24 seed Maria Kirilenko, No.25 seed Dominika Cibulkova, No.28 seed Jarmila Groth and unseeded players Virginie Razzano, Ekaterina Makarova and Lourdes Domínguez Lino. Razzano pulled off the biggest upset of the day so far, edging No.14 seed Kaia Kanepi in a competitive two-setter, 63 76(5). In her first match since reaching the final of Indian Wells last week and making it back into the Top 10, Bartoli beat Ayumi Morita in a see-saw duel, 63 26 61. Bartoli lost seven of eight games from 63 10 up, finding herself down 1-0 in the third set; but she caught fire again and reeled off six games in a row to win.

Kirilenko also pulled off a comeback win, winning 11 straight games from 75 31 down to dispatch qualifier Sania Mirza, 57 63 60. Next up for Kirilenko is Radwanska -

Bookmark It

On a disturbing afternoon in the Florida sunshine, Andy Murray played without belief, poise or any semblance of authority, turning in one of the most horrific performances of his career to lose his opening appearance to Alex Bogomolov Jr, an American qualifier ranked 118 in the world.

Andy Murray’s poor post-Australian Open slump continued as he was broken seven times in an embarrassing 6-1 7-5 second-round loss to Alex Bogomolov Jr at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. After going out to American qualifier Donald Young in the second round at Indian Wells earlier in the month, the British number one slumped once again as he failed to find any kind of form against the world number 118. The 23-year-old has still not won a match since beating David Ferrer in the semi-finals in Melbourne. The Scot went into the match with renewed confidence after confirming friend Dani Vallverdu will act as a de facto coach following the departure from his support staff of Miles Maclagan last summer. But there were no signs of any advantage as he got off to the worst possible start, some confident returning from his American opponent bringing up break point in game one, which he duly converted. And there was more of the same in game three as Bogomolov broke again. With Murray failing to make any impression on his opponent’s serve, he did at least get on the board when he held in game five to make it 4-1. But it proved to be only the briefest respite as Bogomolov held before incredibly breaking for a third time to take the set. Murray went on the front foot and, in the first game of the second set, earned his first break point of the match, taking full advantage to shift the momentum a little. But that did not signal the start of great things for the British number one, with the first four games of the set all going against serve. Bogomolov broke the sequence as he held in game five, and Murray followed suit to make it 3-3. Just as it seemed the set was settling into a more conventional pattern, Bogomolov broke again and, at 5-3, he was serving for the match. He could not finish the task, however, and Murray broke back before levelling at 5-5. Again Bogomolov bounced back, though, and sealed victory with his seventh break of the match.

Murray admitted his frustration at being unable to take his form from the practice court into competition, but backed himself to bounce back. ”In practice I have been competing well,” he said on his official website. “Especially this week, chasing everything down, playing a lot of good points and feeling good, then in matches I haven’t been able to get it going at all.

“It’s happened to me in the past where I’ve had bad moments and I’ve come back well from them.” Meanwhile there were similar problems for fourth seed Robin Soderling, although the Swede finally overcame Croatian Ivan Dodig 3-6 6-2 6-4 to reach the third round. It was Soderling’s first outing since he lost his opening match in Indian Wells where he played despite ankle and virus problems.

However, he had been in great form beforehand winning three tournaments and Friday’s success means he is now leading the ATP Tour with 20 wins.

“The first round is always very difficult,” said the relieved Scandinavian. “Obviously I didn’t play my best tennis today, but I’m still very happy that I won.

“I know I can wake up tomorrow feeling great.”

Two more seeds joined Soderling with wins, as number 14 Mardy Fish beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-3 and Serb 16th seed Viktor Troicki stopped Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-3 6-3.

Bookmark It

Kei Nishikori will face World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open after beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6(5), 6-2 on Thursday at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami. Nishikori withstood 11 aces from France’s recent Davis Cup hero and converted both the break points he created to seal victory in one hour and 35 minutes. The 21 year old, who took part in the football Hope Match for Japan on Wednesday evening, improved to a 9-5 match record on the season, highlighted by reaching the semi-finals in Delray Beach (l. to Tipsarevic). ”He’s No. 1 right now, and it’s going to be my challenge match,” said Nishikori about playing Nadal. “I’m really excited to play. Always I’m excited to play like Rafa and top players. I will do my best. I have to do something different in my game, a little bit, of course. But I guess more aggressive than usual.”

Bulgarian qualifier Grigor Dimitrov, another upcoming talent on the ATP World Tour, did not fare so well in his first-round match as he was beaten by Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-4 in 68 minutes. The No. 36-ranked Stakhovsky broke serve four times from nine opportunities as he recorded his 10th win of the season and set a second-round meeting with No. 32 seed Juan Monaco.  Two Spaniards came through three-set tussles to book their place in the second round. Left-hander Feliciano Lopez fired 19 aces as he fought past 20-year-old Lithuanian Richard Berankis 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in two hours and 26 minutes, while Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo needed two hours and 40 minutes to get by France’s Adrian Mannarino 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-2.

Bookmark It

All of the top names moved through, including Samantha Stosur, who put on a 62 61 clinic of former Top 15 player Zheng Jie. Stosur, the No.4 seed here, was ruthless during the 58-minute rout, breaking away from 2-all in the first set with nine straight games to lead 62 50, then even holding match points in that game; she closed it out in the next game. ”I played quite well. I don’t think I hit the ball out of this world fantastic, but I did what I had to do,” Stosur said. “Against a player like Zheng, you want to be able to do that from start to finish. She competes hard for every single point..” Stosur, a quarterfinalist here the last two years, will next play No.30 seed Lucie Safarova, who beat Patty Schnyder earlier, 62 64. “We’ve had some tough matches in the past,” Stosur said. “Lucie is a good player who can pretty much beat anyone on her day. I haven’t played a lefty for a while. That’s something I’ll have to adjust to, especially on the return. Hopefully I’ll have a good match.” Safarova leads Stosur in their head-to-head series, 3-0.

Stosur’s fellow top seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic also had wins under sunny skies. No.6 seed Jankovic rolled past Monica Niculescu, 63 61, while No.1 seed Wozniacki held off a late charge from Bethanie Mattek-Sands, letting a 5-3 second set lead go but eventually moving ahead, 62 75.

The first upsets of the week took place as well and they were surprisingly lopsided. No.10 seed Shahar Peer suffered a 62 62 setback to former Top 20 player Anabel Medina Garrigues, while No.13 seed Flavia Pennetta lost the last seven games of the match to fall to Czech lefty Iveta Benesova, 63 60.

Bookmark It

Bethanie Mattek-Sands celebrated her 26th birthday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Sofia Arvidsson to advance to the second round. Mattek-Sands will face top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday. Mattek-Sands lost the one time she played Wozniacki, in the 2009 Italian Open. ”It’s a good challenge for me and I like challenges,” Mattek-Sands said. “You just got to go into the match knowing you’re not going to get free points. For me, I’ll stick to my same game plan. I’m going to play aggressive.”

Dinara Safina beat Jelena Dokic 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Safina missed three months last year because of a back injury. ”Slowly, I am starting to get some matches behind me,” Safina said. “I’m still far from being at my best, but we are working day by day and with each win it helps me to get closer to where I want to be.”

In other first-round play, Kimiko Date Krumm, at 40 the oldest player in the women’s singles draw, beat Zuzana Ondraskova 6-4, 6-3.

Bookmark It

A charity football match was played last night in Miami to raise funds for devastated Japan which is facing disastrous earthquake and tsunami consequences. Novak Djokovic captained the ATP World Tour Allstars. The tennis boys fell 4-2 to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a second-tier team in the United States as goals from Andy Murray and Marcos Baghdatis were not enough to give them victory. The result had little meaning, of course, compared to the funds raised for the American Red Cross’ relief efforts in Japan.

It was a special evening for Japan’s no.1 Kei Nishikori, who took the field with Djokovic and Murray in the Allstars starting team. The match was followed by a gala dinner which also sought to raise funds for the relief work.

Proceeds from the game and a dinner raised $100,000 for the American Red Cross Japan disaster relief effort, organizers said.

Bookmark It