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Kiefer, Tursunov advance in Los Angeles
Nicolas Kiefer moved into the second round of the Countrywide Classic with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili on Monday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: July 18, 2007 06:28 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
Los Angeles:
The 30-year-old Kiefer, ranked 409th after getting as high as No 4, injured his left wrist at last year's French Open. It took two operations to repair the injury and it kept him off the tour from June 2, 2006, until this June 11.
He went 2-3 on grass courts before playing his first hardcourt match since mid-March 2006 at Miami.
"It was the first match on hard court for a long time," said Kiefer, who lost to countryman Tommy Haas in the 2004 final and was given a wild card entry into this year's 32-player field. "My fitness is very good. I just need a few matches and a few wins, play many balls, and then everything will be good."
Kiefer, who could face No 4-seeded David Nalbandian in the second round, had seven aces and won 24 of his 27 first-serve points in the 65-minute win over Gabashvili.
In other day matches, fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, last year's runner-up defeated Danai Udomchoke of Thailand 6-1, 6-4, and No 7 Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea beat Kevin Kim of the United States 6-3, 6-2 for his first win in Los Angeles in six appearances. No 8 seed Amer Delic of the United States was upset by Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 6-4.
Tursunov, who lost to Haas in last year's final, beat Udomchoke for the fourth time in four matches. Tursunov had eight aces and won 20 of 22 first-serve points.
Nicolas Kiefer, playing on a hard court for the first time in 16 months, moved into the second round of the Countrywide Classic with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili on Monday.The 30-year-old Kiefer, ranked 409th after getting as high as No 4, injured his left wrist at last year's French Open. It took two operations to repair the injury and it kept him off the tour from June 2, 2006, until this June 11.
He went 2-3 on grass courts before playing his first hardcourt match since mid-March 2006 at Miami.
"It was the first match on hard court for a long time," said Kiefer, who lost to countryman Tommy Haas in the 2004 final and was given a wild card entry into this year's 32-player field. "My fitness is very good. I just need a few matches and a few wins, play many balls, and then everything will be good."
Kiefer, who could face No 4-seeded David Nalbandian in the second round, had seven aces and won 24 of his 27 first-serve points in the 65-minute win over Gabashvili.
In other day matches, fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, last year's runner-up defeated Danai Udomchoke of Thailand 6-1, 6-4, and No 7 Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea beat Kevin Kim of the United States 6-3, 6-2 for his first win in Los Angeles in six appearances. No 8 seed Amer Delic of the United States was upset by Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 6-4.
Tursunov, who lost to Haas in last year's final, beat Udomchoke for the fourth time in four matches. Tursunov had eight aces and won 20 of 22 first-serve points.
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis
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