Tennis-Nadal and Henin-Hardenne tumble out in Miami

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

MIAMI, Mar 25 (Reuters) Spain's Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium were sent packing from the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Carlos Moya won the ''battle of Mallorca'', defeating world number two Nadal 2-6 6-1 6-1 in the second round of the men's event yesterday.

In the women's competition, third seed Henin-Hardenne lost 7-5 6-4 to American Meghann Shaughnessy.

The 29-year-old Moya gave a masterful display against French Open champion Nadal, who was beaten by Roger Federer in last year's Nasdaq final.

Nadal saved two match points against his fellow Spaniard before losing his serve for the fifth time to send Moya through.

The 19-yar-old Nadal was playing in his fourth tournament since recovering from an ankle injury.

Six-times champion Andre Agassi withdrew with a chronic back injury before his opening match against Belgium's Christophe Rochus.

''It's been the same story for a little while,'' the 35-year-old American told reporters.

''There are a couple of good days followed by a series of difficult ones. It has been frustrating and exhausting, this whole process of trying to push myself through just a few events this year.'' Two men's seeds advanced to the third round, number five Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeating American Mardy Fish 6-4 7-5 and number six Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia overcoming Czech Robin Vik 6-3 6-7 6-3.

Henin-Hardenne, who had won all three previous matches against Shaughnessy, suffered only her third defeat of the season.

''She played really well and I wasn't at my best,'' said the Belgian.

''I lacked a little bit of confidence, I played more neutral rather than going for the winners. It's not easy to lose that way and not easy to accept but that's the way it is.'' Henin-Hardenne, the Australian Open runner-up, had her serve broken seven times and committed 27 unforced errors against Shaughnessy, who next plays Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

World number one Amelie Mauresmo needed only 44 minutes to power past Australian Samantha Stosur 6-0 6-0.

The Frenchwoman was in imperious form and faced only one break point.

There were also victories for fifth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova, 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and 13th-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.

Former world number one and 2000 champion Martina Hingis comfortably beat China's Tiantian Sun 6-3 6-2, the Swiss player's comeback after a three-year layoff gaining pace.

Reuters PM KP0913

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X