Nadal books rubber match with Tsonga

INDIAN WELLS, California: Defending champion Rafael Nadal swept aside US youngster Donald Young and booked a rematch with Aussie Open foe Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Indian Wells ATP Masters Series on Monday.

Nadal, ranked No 2 in the world and seeded second behind world No 1 Roger Federer, beat 86th-ranked Young 6-1, 6-3, taking full advantage of the 18-year-old wild card's early nerves to pocket the first set quickly.

Young steadied in the second set, but was broken in the sixth game to trail 2-4. With Nadal serving for the match at 5-3, Young was unable to capitalize on one break point and the Spaniard duly served out what he called a "comfortable" win.

"I think he started very nervous," Nadal said. "You see the score, it was 4-0 (in the first set). In the second set, I have the break for 4-2, I think he had some mistakes.

"I didn't play my best tennis, but I didn't play bad."

Next up for Nadal is Tsonga, who was unseeded when he stunned the second-seeded Spaniard in straight sets in the Australian Open semifinals in January.

Tsonga, now ranked 17th in the world, defeated fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (5), 6-4.

"It's going to be important for me to serve well," Nadal said of his looming encounter with Tsonga, who fell to the Spaniard in the first of their two meetings to date, at the US Open last year.

"He's strong in his serve," Nadal said. "From the baseline I must try to play a little bit more aggressive than in Australia."

Third-seeded Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic advanced on cue in the $5.7 million tournament, which features a WTA tier-one event as well as the men's Masters Series.

Serbia's Djokovic capped the night session on stadium court with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Unseeded South Korean Lee Hyung-Taik, ranked 52nd in the world, pulled off the upset of the day, downing world No 5 and fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3).

Women's top seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced with ease, downing Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-3, 6-0.

Ivanovic, whose runner-up finish to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open propelled her to No 2 in the world, was pleased to turn in a solid performance after her erratic 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 victory over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru in the previous round.

"I'm definitely better," she said. "That's very positive, and I finished the match strong and did some things I was practicing and working on, so I'm happy about that."

Ivanovic's third-seeded compatriot Jelena Jankovic also cruised into the fourth round, posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama.

Jankovic, ranked No 4 in the world, encountered little resistance from Sugiyama and said her biggest concern was to maintain her focus in the breezy conditions.

"I really tried to do my job out there. I didn't want to let her get into the match," she said.

AFP

(China Daily 03/19/2008 page24)