Roddick fires 37 aces to advance in Tokyo; Ferrer, Del Potro, Tsonga also win

Defending champion and No. 1 seed David Ferrer, as well as No. 2 Andy Roddick and rising young Argentine star No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro advanced on Wednesday at the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. Tennis Masters Cup hopefuls Fernando Gonzalez, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tommy Robredo also advanced to the third round, keeping alive their chances to play in the year end tournament in Shanghai.

After losing in his first match last week at the China Open in Beijing, Ferrer got back on track, as he held of a strong effort from rising young American Jesse Levine, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Ferrer smashed five aces, won 81 percent of first serve points and was able to convert on four of thirteen break point chances. In the third set, the Spaniard lost only five points on his serve. Ferrer next meets World No. 593 and Tokyo resident Takao Suzuki, who upset No. 15 seed Simone Bolelli of Italy, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(5). It was the first time Suzuki won consecutive matches since he reached the quarterfinals here in 2006, eventually losing to Roger Federer.

Sometimes you can win an ATP Tour singles match without winning as many points as your opponent, but today that wasn’t the case for Roddick. Playing against the very steady Czech player Ivo Minar, the No. 2 seed won 127 points compared to Minar’s 122, en route to a 7-6(11), 6-7(4), 7-6(2), in two hours and 44 minutes. Fresh off winning the China Open title last week, which was his 26th career title, Roddick smashed 37 aces past Minar. It was the most career aces Roddick had ever hit in a three set match. Roddick won 82 percent of his first serve points, while breaking serve twice throughout the match. Minar also won a high percentage of first serve points, winning 77 percent, while also breaking serve on two opportunities. Roddick now improves to 42-13 on the season and will next meet Beijing Olympics quarterfinalist Jurgen Melzer for a spot in the quarterfinals. Melzer easily defeated German Simon Stadler, 6-2, 6-3.

No. 5 Del Potro, who put together a winning streak of 23 matches throughout the summer leading up to the US Open, smoothly dispatched Israeli Dudi Sela, 7-5, 6-0, in 70 minutes. Del Potro was able to cruise to the victory by firing six aces and winning 71 percent of his service points. The 20-year-old Argentine, has now won 26 out of his last 27 matches, which includes titles in Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles and Washington. He will next face No. 11 seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who defeated Philippines qualifier Cecil Mamiit, 7-6(7), 6-4. Del Potro, who is currently ranked at a career best No. 12, has never played Nieminen in an ATP level match. They did however play at a clay court Challenger tournament in Italy in 2005, with the Argentine winning 6-3, 6-2.

No. 7 Tsonga, who defeated Novak Djokovic last week at the Thailand Open in Bangkok to claim his maiden ATP title, dug deep into his bag of tricks, coming from behind to beat American and former Vanderbilt University star Bobby Reynolds, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. Tsonga, who missed three months this year with a knee injury, improves his record to 24-9. He next plays Serbian Viktor Troicki, who crushed American Wayne Odesnik, 6-2, 6-1, in just over an hour. It will be the first meeting between the two players.

After only winning 13 points in a quick first set, No. 3 Gonzalez came from behind to beat Yen-Hsun Lu, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, in just under two hours to set up a third round showdown with American Amer Delic, a former NCAA Singles Champion at the University of Illinois. Delic, who was ranked as high as No. 60 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings last year, but currently stands at No. 135, upset fellow American No. 13 Sam Querrey, 7-6(5), 6-3. Gonzalez, a 10 time titlist on the ATP since turning pro in 1999, has never faced the Florida based American.