Sela rebounds in Belgrade; Ram & Erlich fall to Germans

Dudi Sela is back with a pair of wins to advance to the quarterfinals of the Hypo Alpe-Adria Open.

By FRANKIE SACHS
After losing two crucial singles rubbers to the Serbia-Montenegro team in the Davis Cup tie last weekend, Dudi Sela has bounced back with a pair of wins to advance to the quarterfinals of the Hypo Alpe-Adria Open in Belgrade. On Thursday, Sela defeated Ukrainian Orest Tereshchuk 6-2, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Italian qualifier Federico Luzzi for a spot in the semifinals of the $100,000 ATP Challenger event. One of the players who defeated Sela and Noam Okun in the Davis Cup tie, Janko Tipsarevic, also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 7-6(0) win over Austrian sixth seed Oliver Marach. The lone Israeli winners over the weekend, doubles stars Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich, missed a chance to reach the semis at the Open 13 in Marseilles, France, with a straight-sets defeat to Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner of Germany. The second-seeded Israelis lost 6-4, 6-4 in 69 minutes. The match was decided by a break point in each set that the Germans converted, which the Israelis never matched. Otherwise, the match was virtually even, with Kas and Petzschner winning only three more points (55-52) than Ram and Erlich. In women's action, Tzipi Obziler's run at the Bangalore Open in India came to an end with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 loss to third-seeded Mara Santangelo of Italy. However, Shahar Pe'er bounced back from a surprise first-round singles defeat on Wednesday with a doubles victory that propelled her and Ukrainian partner Mariya Koryttseva into the semifinals. The Israeli/Ukrainian duo defeated Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-1. In Saturday's semis, they'll face the second seeds and local favorite Sania Mirza and South African partner Liezel Huber.