Ginepri Blows 2-0 Set Lead at Oz Open; Tanner Gets 2 Years Jail

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport fought off a stern test from Karolina Sprem 7-6(4), 6-3 to lead the seeds into the third round Wednesday, joined by (4) Maria Sharapova (d. Harkleroad), (6) Nadia Petrova (d. Muller), (8) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Sromova), (14) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Parra Santonja in three), and (17) Daniela Hantuchova (d. (WC) Amanmuradova).

"I wasn't feeling that great on the court," said Henin-Hardenne who won her first set in a tiebreak. "Not very comfortable. I didn't know her at all and it took me almost a set to get used to her game. There was no rhythm in the match. I was doing the mistakes and the winners. That's not the kind of game I like. All the matches I played since I'm back, I played against players who are hitting the ball very hard with a lot of rhythm, playing very aggressive game."

Two lower seeds were ousted on the day in Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual edging (18) Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-4, and Ukraine qualifier Olga Savchuk shocking (23) Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-4.

Unseeded players into the third round Wednesday were Russians Elena Vesnina (d. Schruff, bagel in the first) and Maria Kirilenko (d. countrywoman Voskoboeva), Italians Mara Santangelo (d. Srebotnik in three) and Maria Elena Camerin (d. Bychkova from a set down), Croatian Jelena Kostanic (d. Ondraskova), France's Virginie Razzano (d. Martinez Granados), and American Laura Granville (d. the Venus-killer Pironkova).

On tap for Thursday in Melbourne are (21) Ivanovic vs. the Aussie Stosur, (2) Clijsters vs. M.Yuan, (3) Mauresmo vs. Loit in an all-French, Hingis vs. Laine, (5) Pierce vs. Benesova, (7) Schnyder vs. Asagoe, (32) Mirza vs. Krajicek, (12) Myskina vs. Jackson, (31) Dulko vs. Nakamura, (22) Groenefeld vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, (15) Schiavone vs. Castano, (20) Pennetta vs. Sucha, Bammer vs. Z.Yan, (19) Safina vs. Arvidsson, (27) Bartoli vs. Vinci, and (16) Vaidisova vs. Chakvetadze.

Roddick Breezes, Ginepri Collapses at Aussie Open

American No. 13 seed Robby Ginepri made a shock exit Wednesday at the Australian Open, for the first time in his career blowing a 2-0 set lead in a 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 loss to 24-year-old No. 177-ranked German Denis Gremelmayr, who had only one career tour win to his credit entering Melbourne.

Other upsets on the day were orchestrated by Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis (d. (17) Stepanek in five) and France's Gilles Simon (d. (19) Berdych in four).

Seeded players into the third round Wednesday were (2) Andy Roddick (d. Moodie), (4) David Nalbandian (d. Wawrinka in four), (7) Ivan Ljubicic (d. Kohlschreiber), (8) Gaston Gaudio (d. Burgsmuller), (10) Thomas Johansson (d. Malisse in five), (11) David Ferrer (d. Bracciali in four), (18) Mario Ancic (d. Hernych), (20) James Blake (d. Faurel in four), (26) Jarkko Nieminen (d. Y.-T. Wang), and (31) Feliciano Lopez (d. Muller in four).

"It wasn't the cleanest of matches to be perfectly honest, but luckily five minutes after it's over it doesn't matter if it was the best performance you ever put on or you just scraped by," said Blake after coming from a set down against the qualifier Faurel. "A win's a win. I'm allowed to play in the third round."

Ljubicic overcame foot problems to advance in straight sets.

"It's not ankle, it's toes," Ljubicic said. "Yeah, I have some problems with the toes, the skin on both toes. It's little bit -- well, it's not really -- it's like burned skin, you know, so I need those toes to be taped to protect that the toe is not touching the shoe, but sometimes it goes off. But, I mean, no really problems."

In the only two all-unseeded match-ups on the day, France's Julien Benneteau straight-setted Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and countryman Fabrice Santoro did likewise to Andrei Pavel.

Lining up for Thursday are (1) Federer vs. Mayer, (3) Hewitt vs. Chela, (6) Coria vs. Luzzi, (15) Ferrero vs. Tipsarevic, (24) O.Rochus vs. Luczak, (25) Grosjean vs. Monaco, Goldstein vs. Haas, (5) Davydenko vs. K.Kim, Healey vs. Delic, in doubles (1) Bryan brothers vs. Hanescu/Pavel in a Davis Cup preview, (21) Kiefer vs. Pashanski, (28) Verdasco vs. Vliegen, Bogomolov Jr. vs. Mathieu, Phau vs. Horna, (30) Mirnyi vs. Sanguinetti, (12) Hrbaty vs. D.Norman, and (23) Andreev vs. Sluiter.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
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