Ivanovic makes serene progress in Cincinnati

Ana Ivanovic is safely through to the second round of the Western & Southern Open after she beat American qualifier Alexa Glatch on Monday. Ivanovic, who has only been as far as the fourth round of the US Open – her worst record of the four grand slams, looked settled on the American hard courts in a 6-0 6-2 victory. The Serb needed exactly an hour on court, breaking five times to set up a meeting with the winner of Nadia Petrova v Roberta Vinci.
No. 14 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova proved too much for home favourite Jill Craybas, earning a 6-3 6-4 win. The Russian now meets Czech Petra Cetkovska who saw off Anabel Medina Garrigues. The highest seed to advance on Monday was Andrea Petkovic, but it was a struggle for the ninth-ranked player as she came from behind to be Jarmila Gajdosova 5-7 7-6(5) 6-2.
Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson is next for Petkovic, after she recovered from a first-set bagel to beat Monica Niculescu 0-6 7-6(4) 6-3. Elsewhere, Anastasia Rodionova will provide Maria Sharapova’s second-round opposition, and there were wins for Zheng Jie, Lucie Safarova and Daniela Hantuchova. Philipp Kohlschreiber rallied from a set and a break down then kept calm as Andy Roddick lost his cool to upset the American in the first round of the Cincinnati hardcourt tennis tournament on Monday. Kohlschreiber emerged with a 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-1 victory over the 11th-seeded Roddick, who came into the tournament with a number 15 world ranking that could use a boost in time for the seedings for the US Open.
Instead, Roddick never really recovered after he was docked a point that cost him a break of serve that gave Germany’s Kohlschreiber a 2-0 lead in the third set.
Roddick had already been warned by the chair umpire for slamming his racquet to the court after dropping the second set.
He double-faulted in the second game of the third to give Kohlschreiber a break point and smacked a ball into the stands in frustration. That infraction cost him the point and the game, and after arguing with the umpire he promptly dropped three more games before holding for 5-1.
Kohlschreiber, who said he just tried to stay calm as Roddick continued to complain to the chair umpire at every changeover, served out the match, finishing it off with a service winner and shaking hands with Roddick. “I think he did the right thing, but it’s tough to call,” Kohlschreiber said of the umpire’s decision to dock Roddick a point.
“I tried to stay calm. I thought, hopefully he’s not playing his best tennis now because he’s so pumped.”
Kohlschreiber had done well to rally, and said getting a bead on Roddick’s powerful serve made the difference. “I had no chance in the first set. Finally I started to read his serve. I think that was the whole key for the match,” Kohlschreiber said. “I just tried to hang in. I was in the right spots and I started to return his serve well.” “For two sets tonight I actually hit the ball well considering,” said Roddick, who suffered an abdominal injury in July and had not played since Wimbledon. “I probably will wake up tomorrow morning feeling a little bit better about where I’m at than I did when I woke up this morning. I’m not that concerned about New York right now.” The joint men’s and women’s event — one of the ATP’s elite Masters tournaments for the men — is a tuneup for the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season that starts in New York on August 29.
With the top eight seeds enjoying first-round byes, Monday saw players jockeying for position in the second round.
Rising US talent Ryan Harrison defeated Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-3 to book a second-round match against world number one and top seed Novak Djokovic.