Nishikori continues winning ways

Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy student Kei Nishikori picked up in San Jose right where he left on in Delray Beach. Nishikori defeated Argentinean Diego Hartfield 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the SAP Open in California. His next test will without a doubt be the toughest of his career, as he will face top seed Andy Roddick in the second round tonight. Roddick survived a three set battle against Chris Guccione, winning 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5) in the first round.

That match will follow another match that pits an Academy alumnus against a top-ranked American. Second-seeded James Blake will face Jesse Levine in the first of the night matches. Levine, who has spent many years at the Academy, defeated Belgian Steve Darcis in the first round.

The winner of that match will take on Robby Ginepri in the quarterfinals. Ginepri is only one of three players to have reached the quarters already, as he beat eighth-seeded Kristof Vliegen 6-2, 6-3. The other two players in the quarters are fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Also winning yesterday was third-seeded Tommy Haas, another Academy alum. He knocked off American Robert Kendrick 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round and will face another American, John Isner, in the second round. Isner and Haas have played once before, which came last year at Washington DC with Isner winning in three sets.

Seeds dropping like flies in Rotterdam

The second, third, and fifth seeds are out at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in the Netherlands. Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko lost to Michael Llodra 6-3, 7-5, third-seeded David Ferrer fell to qualifier Mischa Zverez 6-2, 7-5, and fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych lost to Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4. The only remaining seeded player is top-seed Rafael Nadal, who is on court against Andreas Seppi right now.

Karlovic will now face Zverev in one quarterfinal match, while Gilles Simon will take on Teimuraz Gabashvili in the only other quarterfinal match that is set.

Seeds roll in Argentina

There were four matches yesterday at the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires, and in all four the seeded player won. Top-seeded David Nalbandian took down Fabio Fognini 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 and will face seventh-seeded Potitio Starace in the quarterfinals. Starace won his match over Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6-3, 6-3.

Also winning were fourth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela and fifth-seeded Nicolas Almagro. Chela beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-4 while Almagro took down Oscar Hernandez 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Now, Chela and Almagro will meet in the quarterfinals. They are 1-1 against each other in their career, with Almagro winning last year in the quarterfinals of this very tournament.

Third round set in Doha

The second round is complete at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, and there weren’t too many upsets. The biggest upset belongs to Na Li, who took down fifth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 7-6(7), 6-4 to advance to the third round. Li will now face 12th-seeded Shahar Peer. Also winning in an upset was qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn over 14th-seeded Amelie Mauresmo. Tanasugarn won 7-6(7), 7-5 and will take on fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova in he third round. Sharapova needed three sets to get by Russian qualifier Galina Voskoboeva, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic easily moved past Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-1 and takes on 16th-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round. Radwanska didn’t need much time to get by Tathiana Garbin, beating her 6-3, 6-3.

Other winners included #2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, #3 Jelena Jankovic, #6 Venus Williams, #11 Dinara Safina, and #15 Sybille Bammer.