Sport

Rohan Bopanna upsets Mardy Fish

— File Photo

STUNNING PERFORMANCE: Rohan Bopanna stunned top seed Mardy Fish in the pre-quarterfinals of the Hall of Fame tennis championships.

New Delhi: Indian Davis Cup player Rohan Bopanna pulled off one the biggest wins in his career by toppling World No. 41 American Mardy Fish to advance to the singles quarterfinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, United States.

Qualifier Bopanna, ranked as low as 374, beat the top seed 7-6(6), 7-5 in a gruelling second round contest and now faces Davis Cup teammate and wild card entrant Prakash Amritraj, who beat Jesse Levine of the U.S.A. 7-5, 6-3 in his second round clash on Wednesday.

“I was not concerned about his rankings. I just played an aggressive game,” an elated Bopanna said after the win.

This is for the first time that Bopanna has made it to the quarterfinals of an ATP event.

Bopanna and Amritraj can also find themselves in opposite side of the court in the doubles event, if they manage to win their quarterfinal clashes with their respective partners.

The Gstaad Open was hit with a second injury walkover in as many days as sixth seed Nicolas Kiefer had to withdraw from his second-round match with a foot injury on Thursday.

The 31-year-old German had only gotten going again after missing a year from summer 2006 until June 2007 with a wrist injury which required surgery.

On Wednesday, eighth seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina went though the first round without firing a shot when Belgian Kristof Vliegen pulled out ill.

Kiefer did himself damage in a Tuesday doubles match but waited until the last minute before handing a place in the quarterfinals to Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Potito Starace beat Russian Marat Safin in the second round of the Swedish Open to take his second win in a row over a former World No. 1 at the claycourt tournament.

The Italian took advantage of Safin’s lack of recent claycourt practice to win 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 and set up a meeting with Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.

The results: At Newport: ATP Hall of Fame Championship: Second round: Rohan Bopanna bt Mardy Fish 7-6(6), 7-5; Igor Kunitsyn bt Mikhail Ledovskikh 6-1, 6-1; Frank Dancevic bt Brendan Evans 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(3); Prakash Amritraj bt Jesse Levine 7-5, 6-3.

At Bastad: ATP Swedish Open: Second round: Tomas Berdych bt Thomas Johansson 7-6(2), 6-2; Fernando Verdasco bt Ervin Eleskovic 6-0, 4-2 (retd.); Potito Starace bt Marat Safin 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4; Bjorn Rehnquist bt Michael Ryderstedt 6-3, 7-5; David Ferrer bt Boris Pasanski 7-5, 6-1; Tommy Robredo bt Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen bt Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-1.

At Gstaad: ATP Swiss Open: Second round: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez w/o Nicolas Kiefer; Stanislas Wawrinka bt Stephane Bohli 7-6(6), 5-7, 7-6(3); Victor Hanescu bt Ivo Karlovic 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-6(11).

At Stuttgart: ATP Mercedes Cup: Second round: Michael Berrer bt Nicolas Almagro 7-5, retd.; Agustin Calleri bt Pablo Cuevas 5-7, 7-5, 6-1; Albert Montanes bt Oscar Hernandez 7-6 (4), 6-4; Richard Gasquet bt Lukas Rosol 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2