Harrison wins, Vinci ousts Oudin

Men’s Day 1 wrap

17-year old rising star Ryan Harrison has shocked fellow American Taylor Dent on Day 1 at Indian Wells, dumping him from the season’s first ATP 1000 event year in straight sets. Harrison justified his wildcard into the event, needing little over an hour to take the match 6-3 6-4.

In conceding 207 ranking places to Dent and not having won a main draw match at this level in 2010, all figures pointed to a Harrison defeat. But the highly rated youngster showed the talent that saw him a surprise winner at the American wildcard playoff that gained him entry to this year’s Australian Open, his first grand slam.

In other men’s results, Mardy Fish’s inconsistent 2010 took a turn for the better, defeating No.51 ranked German Michael Berrer in three sets. Fish, who has two semi-final appearances at Sydney and Delray Beach to his name for the year as well as disappointing results in Memphis and the Australian Open, was no match for Berrer in the opening set.

The German was unstoppable on serve, winning 83% of points when his first serve landed. Fish, however, recovered to set up a daunting second round showdown with second seed, Novak Djokovic.
Experienced German qualifier Rainer Schuettler also won through in straight sets, while Croat Mario Ancic, returning from the recurrence mononucleosis that crippled his 2009, fought back from a set down to beat American qualifier Bobby Reynolds.

Round two will see the big names enter the men’s draw, with Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray all in action in the coming days.

Men’s singles results, Thursday – First round
[WC] C Moya (ESP) d [Q] T Smyczek (USA) 76(7) 76(5)
M Fish (USA) d M Berrer (GER) 16 61 63
[WC] R Harrison (USA) d T Dent (USA) 63 64
J Chardy (FRA) d P Starace (ITA) 61 41 ret. (back)
M Ancic (CRO) d [Q] B Reynolds (USA) 46 63 64
M Chiudinelli (SUI) vs E Gulbis (LAT)
P Cuevas (URU) d F Gil (POR) 64 75
D Koellerer (AUT) d R Ram (USA) 61 63
F Fognini (ITA) d O Rochus (BEL) 64 16 75
[Q] B Dabul (ARG) d L Mayer (ARG) 76(4) 62
P Petzschner (GER) d C Rochus (BEL) 62 75
F Serra (FRA) d A Falla (COL) 61 62
[Q] R Delgado (PAR) d A Beck (GER) 67(2) 62 64
[Q] R Schuettler (GER) d [Q] T Alves (BRA) 75 60
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d L Lacko (SVK) 46 64 75
[Q] K Anderson (RSA) d [Q] B Phau (GER) 63 63

Women’s Day 1 wrap

America’s No.3 Melanie Oudin has been defeated in the opening round of the BNP Paribas tournament at Indian Wells after failing to capitalise on a strong start against Italian Roberta Vinci. The world No.41, Oudin was only able to convert two of her eight break points for the match as the more experienced Vinci ran away with the contest.

Oudin’s defeat, coupled with Shanay Perry’s three set loss to Karolina Sprem, means that only one American woman was able to progress past the first round after Jill Craybas won on Wednesday. It is a disappointing result, given the reliance of the

Lucie Safarova was also upset, the world No.39 going down in three sets to German Julia Goerges, who served eight aces to none and now faces another difficult test in 13th seed Yanina Wickmayer.

Second round singles matches of note include No.1 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova taking on Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, whileother seeds Kim Clijsters, Ana Ivanovic and Sam Stosur of Australia will begin their tournaments.

On Day 1 of the women’s doubles, experienced pair of America’s Lisa Raymond and Australian Rennae Stubbs was eliminated in a super tiebreaker by young stars Maria Kirilenko and Agnieszka Radwanska.

The fourth seeds, who have won three grand slam titles as a pair, were no match for the up and comers, going down 10-3 in the extended tiebreaker used if doubles matches finish at one set all.

Women’s singles results, Thursday – First round
Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d Alizé Cornet (FRA) 64 16 62
Sybille Bammer (AUT) d Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 36 75 61
Sara Errani (ITA) d (Q) Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) 75 62
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d (Q) Michelle Larcher de Brito (POR) 62 62
Roberta Vinci (ITA) d Melanie Oudin (USA) 36 63 60
Petra Kvitova (CZE) d Alberta Brianti (ITA) 63 64
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) d (Q) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 62 36 61
Julia Goerges (GER) d Lucie Safarova (CZE) 75 36 63
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 63 63
Julie Coin (FRA) d (WC) Tamira Paszek (AUT) 64 63
(Q) Petra Martic (CRO) d (WC) Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 76(4) 61
(Q) Karolina Sprem (CRO) d (Q) Shenay Perry (USA) 62 46 63
(Q) Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) d Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 60 75
(Q) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. (Q) Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 63 62
(Q) Sloane Stephens (USA) d. Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 76(5) 76(7)
(WC) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 75 75

Tim Rose