Top Seed Ljubicic Survives Match Point at ATP NottinghamPosted on June 15, 2005 Top-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic survived a scare in his opener at the ATP grasscourt event in Nottingham Tuesday, edging Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(8), saving a match point in advancing into the second round.
Not a seed was uprooted on the day, with other winners into the second round including (2) Thomas Johansson (d. (LL) Tursunov), (4) Richard Gasquet (d. Zib), (6) Paradorn Srichaphan (d. (Q) Hilton), (7) Olivier Rochus (d. K.Kim 7-6 in the third, saving a match point), and (8) Max Mirnyi (d. Sargsian, bagel in the second). "It is great to play on your birthday and win and I am really happy to be back here," said the defending champ Srichaphan. "I have great memories of winning the tournament last year and the first thing I did when I came back was go on center court and get that memory back." In the only all-unseeded match-up, Croat giant Ivo Karlovic continued his fine standard with a straight-set win over Russian Igor Andreev. On the lawns Wednesday are (WC) Marray vs. (4) Gasquet, (6) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. (Q) Vacek, Berdych vs. (2) T.Johansson, (1) Ljubicic vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in an all-Croat, (3) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Carlsen, Beck vs. (7) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, (5) Taylor "Acci-" Dent vs. (Q) Rettenmaier in an all-American, and H.-T. Lee vs. (8) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi. |
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