Tennis World
Americans Shine at New Event
After a nine year hiatus the ATP 250 event in Atlanta is back this year, and the opening day saw victories for many of the American payers taking part. Sixth seed Mardy Fish, who is coming off a title win at Newport, made short work of Britain’s James Ward, beating the wild card 6-1, 6-2. “It was a nice match to get my feet wet on the hard court,” Fish said. “I haven’t played [on this surface] since Miami… It feels great to be back in Atlanta. It feels great to be back on American soil on the hard courts.”
Rajeev Ram also went through to the second round with a 6-4, 7-6 win over Karol Beck, while Benjamin Becker was the first seeded casualty, falling to Michael Russell 6-3, 6-3.
Andy Roddick is the top seed at the event after having accepted a wild card at the last minute. “I just felt like I wanted to play tennis,” he said on Monday. “I’m a tennis player and I feel like I haven’t played enough this year, especially in the last couple of months, so it was more just wanting to be out here.” He will face Ram for a place in the quarter-finals.
At the ATP World Tour 500 event in Hamburg things got off to a slow start, with no seeds taking to the court on Monday. Jarkko Nieminen was perhaps the biggest name in action, and won his match against Christophe Rochus 6-3, 7-6. Paul-Henri Mattieu was the victim of a minor upset, as he lost to qualifier Pere Riba 1-6, 6-0 6-3 in a very topsy-turvy affair.
