Madrid Masters (2nd Round)

Fish Makes Swift Start; Almagro Ousted By Bolelli

Newly-married American Mardy Fish (pictured) made short work of his first match back on court, defeating Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-4 at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid. He will play No. 15 seed Richard Gasquet in the second round.

The 26-year-old Fish performed especially well on serve, firing 13 aces and only dropping one point behind his first serve in the 1 hr., 10 min., encounter. He was playing his first match since marrying Stacey Gardner on September 28, when his doubles partner this week, James Blake, acted as groomsman. Currently ranked No. 25, Fish improved to a 31-21 match record on the season. Recently, he reached his 11th ATP final at New Haven (l. to Cilic) and advanced to the US Open quarterfinals for the first time (l. to Nadal).

Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli set up a second round clash with British fourth seed Andy Murray after dismissing Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-6(4), 6-1. The 23 year old, who is making his debut in Madrid after taking Marat Safin’s place in the main draw, improved to 26-27 on the season after handing World No. 17 Almagro his third straight defeat.




Frenchman Gilles Simon saved four match points as he progressed to a second round meeting with No. 11 seed James Blake, defeating Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(7). The 23-year-old Nice native faced four match points when serving at 4-5 in the third set and trailed 3-5 in the tie-break before prevailing after 2 hr., 9 min. He improved to a 41-22 match record on the season.

Simon has won three titles this season at Casablanca (d Benneteau), Indianapolis (d Tursunov), and Bucharest (d Moya). The right-hander is currently No. 12 in the ATP 2008 Race, 51 points behind No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro. He is bidding to secure one of four remaining berths at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.

World No. 24 Marin Cilic secured his place in the second round with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus. The Croat, who captured his maiden ATP title at New Haven (d. Fish) in August, goes on to face No. 13 seed Fernando Verdasco.

Spaniard Tommy Robredo battled through his opening match against Italian Andreas Seppi, capitalizing on his two break point opportunities to secure the 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 win in two hours and 19 minutes. The former World No. 5, who entered the week at a No. 19 ranking, goes on to face eighth seed Andy Roddick. The American has won all eight of their previous meetings, most recently prevailing in a third-set tie-break this year in the ATP Masters Series Rome quarterfinals. Head-to-head: Robredo vs. Roddick

"I have never beaten him, but this year I lost against him in Rome in a great three set match," said Robredo. "It would be very nice to play against him having the support of 10,000 people. I feel in good shape. Let's see if we can beat him and make him go home... I will try my best."

Meanwhile, Czech Tomas Berdych needed just 53 minutes to get through his first round match as he broke German Rainer Schuettler six times en route to the 6-1, 6-2 victory. Berdych, who won his sole ATP Masters Series title in 2005 at Paris (d. Ljubicic), is making his first appearance since clinching the Tokyo title two weeks ago (d. del Potro).

The former Top 10 player next confronts Argentine David Nalbandian in the Madrid second round for the second straight year. Nalbandian won that match in a third-set tie-break before going on to clinch the title with successive wins over del Potro, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.