The men, meanwhile, have only got as far as quarterfinals but only one seeded player remains in Sydney – Lleyton Hewitt, who demolished Andreas Seppi 60 62.
Please. Someone. Take his hair gel away.
It was a good day for two of NB’s unsung heroes, Julien Benneteau and Leonardo Mayer – or Lamb and Horseface to you. Benneteau caught a lucky break when Stanislas Wawrinka was forced to withdraw with a neck injury, but overcame lucky loser Taylor Dent by the skin of his teeth in a third-set tiebreak, while Mayer beat Pablo Cuevas in straights. And Tomas Berdych was accounted for by wildcard Peter Luczak.
You probably do not need to remember this face.
And two men on the comeback trail, Marcos Baghdatis and Richard Gasquet, both posted encouraging victories. Good stuff.
Auckland, meanwhile, strenuously resists any attempt to make it interesting after Juan Carlos Ferrero rolled his ankle and was forced to retire just 4 games into his match with Michael Lammer. The injury may or may not put him out of the Open:
“It’s disappointing to get injured in the first tournament and I have some doubts about the tournament in Australia. I will try to recover but I don’t know,” Ferrero told reporters.
“They say it’s not too bad, I will have to wait three or four days with some ice, take some anti-inflammatories and see how it goes.
“I want to play over there so I will do everything in my power to make it, but we’ll see. I cannot tell you now.”
Isner put out Pico, Arnaud Clement beat Ferru, and Philipp Kohlschreiber accounted for Nose Job. Hey ho.
But Tommy continues to win.
Auckland
Singles – Second Round
[1] T Robredo (ESP) d S Greul (GER) 76(1) 76(2)
A Clement (FRA) d [2] D Ferrer (ESP) 75 64
[Q] M Lammer (SUI) d [3] J Ferrero (ESP) 31 ret. (right ankle sprain)
M Gicquel (FRA) d [4] N Almagro (ESP) 60 63
[5] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d T Bellucci (BRA) 64 61
[6] J Melzer (AUT) d [WC] S Grosjean (FRA) 62 67(5) 76(1)
J Isner (USA) d [7] J Monaco (ARG) 57 64 63
[8] A Montanes (ESP) d [WC] J Statham (NZL) 76(6) 62
Doubles – Quarter-finals
J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) d [2] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) 62 63
[WC] M Daniell (NZL) / H Tecau (ROU) d [3] M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 36 76(5) 10-8
R Wassen (NED) / H Zeballos (ARG) vs M Melo (BRA) / B Soares (BRA)
T Bellucci (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) d L Arnold Ker (ARG) / J Monaco (ARG) 75 64
Sydney
Singles – Second Round
[WC] P Luczak (AUS) d [2] T Berdych (CZE) 16 64 62
J Benneteau (FRA) d *[LL] T Dent (USA) 63 57 76(2)
M Baghdatis (CYP) d [6] V Troicki (SRB) 75 63
[4] L Hewitt (AUS) d A Seppi (ITA) 60 62
R Gasquet (FRA) d [8] B Becker (GER) 62 76(4)
M Fish (USA) d E Korolev (KAZ) 61 62
P Starace (ITA) d [LL] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 63 32 ret. (leg)
[Q] L Mayer (ARG) d P Cuevas (URU) 64 62
Doubles – Quarter-finals
R Hutchins (GBR) / J Kerr (AUS) d [3] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) 76(3) 61
S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) vs [WC] C Ball (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) 00 – postponed until Thursday
Doubles – First Round
**[Alt] B Becker (GER) / S Lipsky (USA) d [4] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) 63 76(4)
* [LL] T Dent (USA) replaced [3] S Wawrinka (SUI) – neck muscle strain
** [Alt] B Becker (GER) / S Lipsky (USA) replaced J Erlich (ISR) / F Lopez (ESP) – (Erlich – right rib)
