Tennis

Roddick, Henman and Robredo progress in Madrid

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-18 09:27

MADRID, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Sixth seed Andy Roddick and former British number one Tim Henman turned in impressive displays as they moved into the third round of the Madrid Masters on Tuesday.

The big American took full advantage of his powerful serve to see off Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-4 7-6, while wild card Tim Henman continued his fine run of recent form by upsetting 14th seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 6-1 4-6 6-1.

The 32-year-old, who lost to Roger Federer in the final of the Japan Open in Tokyo earlier this month, ripped through the first set.

But a determined Ferrer, who has reached the quarter-finals or better in four Masters Series tournaments this season, used his superior ground strokes to take the second.

Henman rose to the challenge, however, racing to the net from the start of the third and gave the 24-year-old no chance as he broke four times on his way to victory.

Henman will face the winner of the match between fourth seeded Argentine David Nalbandian and Julien Benneteau of France.

Roddick, who won the Masters Series event in Cincinnati in August and lost to Federer in the final of the U.S. Open, snapped up his only break point on his way to taking the first set.

It was level pegging in the second but Roddick used his serve to good effect to win the tie-break, wrapping up victory with an ace. He will face either Argentine Agustin Calleri or Czech Tomas Berdych in the third round.

GRITTY WIN

Spain's Tommy Robredo, who captured the biggest title of his career when he won the Hamburg Masters in May this year, made the third round after a gritty 7-6 7-6 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

The 24-year-old became the first Spaniard to win in Madrid after first-round defeats for five of his compatriots including Carlos Moya, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.

Torrential overnight rain delayed the start of the morning matches after the roof in the Madrid Arena sprang a leak and organisers had to wait for workmen to lay out tarpaulin sheets to prevent more water getting on to the courts.

Frenchman Gael Monfils had to retire after straining an ankle after leaping into the air while a set up in his match against Slovak Dominik Hrbaty and brought a premature end to his season.

Hrbaty will now face the winner of Wednesday's match between defending champion and second seed Rafael Nadal and American Mardy Fish.

Top seed and world number one Federer begins his bid to win a 10th title of the year later on Tuesday when he meets 2003 finalist Nicolas Massu of Chile.