Fuente : Wimbledon
http://www.wimbledon.org

WIMBLEDON: Around the Courts: Men's Singles

/noticias.info/ Wednesday, 22 June, 2005

Nikolay Davydenko, the eighth-seeded Russian, was forced to retire in the second set against Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman after sustaining a wrist injury. The unfortunate Russian, a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open and a semi-finalist at Roland Garros, has had an unhappy Wimbledon history, losing in the first round in his three previous appearances.

On Court 6, the No.25 seed, Nicolas Kiefer, saw off the challenge of Italy's Alessio Di Mauro in a protracted affair that lasted more than two hours. The Italian was only able to break Keifer once, in the second set. Keifer cleaned up with a straight sets win, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

Hard-working qualifier Justin Gimelstob of the USA gave another brave performance on Court 14 in his first ever encounter with Nicolas Massu of Chile, a doubles semi-finalist at this year's French Open.

In a match lasting more than three hours, with more than 270 points played, Gimelstob's coolness at the net earned him precious break points, which Massu conceded too easily. The American eventually won 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-0) to equal his best efforts at Wimbledon in 2000 and 2003.

Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, making his second appearance at Wimbledon, defeated the veteran Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. The German had put out French Open finalist Mariano Puerta in the previous round. Today's match was over in less than an hour and a half as Berdych found an answer to the Burgsmuller serve early on and never looked back. The German, ranked 30 places below Berdych at 102 and making his fifth appearance at Wimbledon in 10 years, was unable to improve on his second round performance in 2003.

Russia's Mikhail Youzhny came back from a set down to defeat Jeane-Rene Lisnard of France 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. After conceding the first set meekly, the No.31 seed recovered to dash the hopes of the Frenchman. Youzhny, who reached the second rounds of two Grand Slams this year (the Australian Open and Roland Garros), took the next two sets with ease.

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile defeated Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3. The Chilean shattered Zib's dreams of making the third round for the first time. Gonzalez forced Zib on to the back foot right from the start and kept him there throughout the match with a variety of shots, including 28 aces.

Written by Luis Lopez notas_de_prensa_archivo