Monfils and Youzhny in quarterfinals

ROTTERDAM: In-form Frenchman Gael Monfils, the fourth seed, advanced to the quarterfinals of the ABN-Amro tournament here on Thursday, beating Holland’s Thiemo de Bakker 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday.

Sixth-seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia also advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Marcel Ilhan of Turkey.

Roddick goes through

Andy Roddick made a winning return to action after the Australian Open with a 6-1, 7-6(1) first-round win over Ryler Deheart in the SAP Open at San Jose on Wednesday.

In doubles action on Wednesday, Rohan Bopanna, champion at Johannesburg with Aisam Qureshi, could not keep his good run going; he and his partner here Jeff Coetzee suffered a 6-1, 6-4 first round defeat to Carsten Ball and Stephen Huss.

Dementieva advances

In the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris, Russian top seed Elena Dementieva beat compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Dementieva was joined in the last eight by Italian second seed Flavia Pennetta, who beat Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova 7-6(4), 6-1.

The tournament also bade farewell to one of its favourite champions Amelie Mauresmo, who announced her retirement last year, on Wednesday night.

Tour players Dementieva, Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone, Patty Schnyder, Tathiana Garbin, Alisa Kleybanova, Julie Coin, Virginie Razzano, Alizé Cornet, Tatiana Golovin and Nathalie Dechy were present on court for the occasion, which featured a short film of Mauresmo’s career highlights.

Speaking on behalf of the players, Dementieva said: “I am feeling very sad as Amélie Mauresmo, one of the brightest players of our times, is ending her tennis career. I think future generations in France will name this time the era of Mauresmo. Of course, there are and will be new up-and-coming players but Amélie, as a person and a player, will always be remembered and I doubt that anyone will ever fill her place.”

The results: At Rotterdam (ABN-AMRO Tournament): Second round: Mikhail Youzhny bt Marcel Ilhan 6-4, 6-4; Florian Mayer bt Tommy Robredo 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Robin Soderling bt Igor Sijsling 7-6(6), 6-2. First round: Marcos Baghdatis bt James Blake 6-4, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko bt Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2.

At San Jose-USA (SAP Open): Second round: Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-0; Tomas Berdych bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-2; Denis Istomin bt Tommy Haas 7-6(3), 6-2. First round: Xavier Malisse bt Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4; Andy Roddick bt Ryler Deheart 6-1, 7-6(1); Fernando Verdasco bt Yen-hsun Lu 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3.

Doubles: First round: Carsten Ball & Stephen Huss bt Rohan Bopanna & Jeff Coetzee 6-1, 6-4.

At Costa do Sauipe (Brazil Open): Second round: Igor Andreev bt Rui Machado 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Pablo Cuevas bt Frederico Gil 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3); Carlos Berlocq bt Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6(5), 6-2; Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Nicolas Massu 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

At Pattaya (Pattaya Open): Second round: Vera Zvonareva bt Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2; Sybille Bammer bt Chang Kai-Chen 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Ekaterina Bychkova bt Vera Dushevina 6-4, 6-1; Tamarine Tanasugarn bt Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Sesil Karatantcheva bt Julia Goerges 6-2, 6-1; Yaroslava Shvedova bt Chanelle Scheepers 7-6(8), 6-3.

At Paris (Open GDF Suez): Second round: Shahar Peer bt Karolina Sprem 6-4, 6-3; Flavia Pennetta bt Alisa Kleybanova 7-6(4), 6-1; Tathiana Garbin bt Elena Vesnina 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; Elena Dementieva bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4. First round: Petra Martic bt Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Aravane Rezai bt Evgeniya Rodina 6-4, 6-4. — Agencies