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Nadal back in the groove on grass
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 12 - 06 - 2008

time French Open champion Rafael Nadal opened his grasscourt season on Wednesday with a ruthlessly efficient 6-2, 6-2 victory over experienced Swede Jonas Bjorkman at the Queen's Club ATP tournament.
The 36-year-old Bjorkman, 14 years older and ranked 100 places below the top seed, could not cope with Nadal's pinpoint power.
American Andy Roddick began his pursuit of a fifth Queen's title by preceding Nadal on Center Court and thumped down 15 aces to beat compatriot Robby Ginepri 6-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Lleyton Hewitt, also pursuing a fifth title, safely navigated his way to the third round with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Belgian Xavier Malisse. Second-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic played his usual baseline game to overcome Croatian Roko Karanusic 6-2, 7-6.
Fourth seed David Nalbandian beat Serbia's Viktor Troiki 6-4, 7-6 and fifth seed Richard Gasquet beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-3, 6-3.
Federer wins
In Halle, Roger Federer bounced back from his crushing French Open final defeat to advance into the second round of the Halle Open with a 6-4, 6-2 win over German Michael Berrer on Wednesday.
Defending champion Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, seeded three, suffered a 6-2, 7-5 second-round loss to Sweden's Robin Soderling, who pounded down 13 aces.
Second seed James Blake of the United States had an early scare against his German opponent Benjamin Becker, losing the first set, before recovering for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win.
Germany's Phillip Kohlschreiber edged out compatriot Tommy Haas 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 to reach the last eight.
Davydenko in quarters
In Warsaw, top seed Nikolay Davydenko recovered from losing the first set to beat Czech Jiri Vanek, ranked 82 in the world, and reach the quarterfinals of the Warsaw Open claycourt event on Wednesday. Davydenko, the world number four, beat the 30-year-old Vanek 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a tough match lasting two hours 11 minutes.
The Russian now faces his compatriot Evgeny Korolev, who advanced when Italy's Potito Starace retired at 7-5, 4-0 down due to a headache.
Bartoli doubt for Wimbledon
Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli has admitted fearing she could miss Wimbledon after aggravating a wrist injury during her first round exit from the Birmingham WTA event on Wednesday.
The top seed status could not help 23-year-old Bartoli as she fell 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 to Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic.
Other seeds to lose were No. 11 Casey Dellacqua, No. 6 Sania Mirza and No. 7 Olga Govortsova.
Bartoli's exit leaves world number 19 Nicole Vaidisova as the clear favorite to lift the Birmingham title. She booked a place in the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over another Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy.
Parmentier eliminated
In Barcelona, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beat fifth-seeded Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday in the second round of the upset-filled Torneo Barcelona.
Parmentier followed top-seeded Shahar Peer, No. 3 Dominika Cibulkova, and No. 8 Tathiana Garbin, who all suffered first-round defeats on Tuesday.
However, sixth-seeded Sara Errani advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 7-5.
Nuria Llagostera Vives, who eliminated Peer, became the second Spaniard to reach the last eight with a comfortable 6-3, 6-0 victory over compatriot Eloisa Compostizo de Andres.
Wednesday's other winner was France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, who beat Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6 (3), 6


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