Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich got off to a strong start at the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna on Tuesday with a straight sets win.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich got off to a strong start at the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna on Tuesday with a straight sets win.
The second seeded Israelis defeated the Argentinean pair of Gaston Gaudio and David Nalbandian 5-2, 5-3 to set up a second round meeting with Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and Czech Radek Stepanek.
Shahar Pe'er and Sania Mirza of India continued their successful doubles partnership with a first-round win over Americans Carly Gullickson and Abigail Spears 6-2, 7-6(3) at the Thailand Open in Bangkok.
The two teenagers, who reached the semifinals at the Japan Open last week, will face the winners of Wednesday's match pitting the second seeds Shinobu Asagoe of Japan and Argentina's Gisela Dulko against Saori Obata of Japan and Australia's Trudi Musgrave.
Pe'er, ranked 48th in the world and seeded eighth in the singles, will take on American Shenay Perry (97) in the second round Wednesday. The match will take place at 3 p.m. local time in order to finish before the start of Yom Kippur.
The tournament organization committee promised not to schedule Pe'er's next matches until late Thursday after the holiday ends in Bangkok.
On the men's challenger circuit, Harel Levy (249) joined Noam Okun (172) and Dudi Sela (175) in the main draw of the Swanston Challenger in Sacramento, California, late Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over American Jeremy Wurtzman (403) in the third and final qualifying round.
Levy was scheduled to play another qualifier, American Ryan Newport (377), late Tuesday in the first round. Sela, seeded eighth, was also slated to play against Zack Fleishman (281).
Also Monday, Okun upset fourth seed Jeff Morrison (147) 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.