Fish advances at Delray Beach with ease

Delray Beach: US second seed Mardy Fish needed only 20 minutes to reach the second round of the USD 442,500 ATP Delray Beach International Championships when German rival Bjorn Phau retired.

Fish led 5-0 and had dropped only six points in Tuesday`s match, breaking Phau twice before the German halted the match, advancing the American into a second-round meeting with Brazil`s Ricardo Mello. South African fifth seed Kevin Anderson rallied to beat US lucky loser Donald Young 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 after two hours and 30 minutes, booking a second-round match against Frenchman Florent Serra. In the night match, Juan Martin del Potro easily beat Richard Berankis 6-4, 6-1 to advance. Del Potro, of Argentina, won 79 percent of his first serves, converted 80 percent (four of five) of his break-point chances and kept his double faults to a minimum (two) in the 76-minute match.Serbian sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic also advanced, winning an epic marathon tie-breaker and a lopsided one to eliminate Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (16/14), 7-6 (7/1) despite 18 aces from the Croatian, who lost in last year`s final. Tipsarevic will next face Slovenian qualifier Blaz Kavcic, who eliminated Colombia`s Robert Farah 6-1, 6-4. Japan`s Kei Nishikori also opened with a victory, downing Argentina`s Brian Dabul 6-2, 7-6 (7/5). He will next face US wild card James Blake, who ousted German seventh seed Benjamin Becker on Monday. Colombia`s Alejandro Falla advanced 6-1, 2-0 over Czech lucky loser Jan Halek, who retired 27 minutes into their first-round match.Falla will next face Wednesday`s winner between Argentina`s Leonardo Mayer and French eighth seed Adrian Mannarino. Croatia`s Ivan Dodig also reached the second round, dispatching Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Dodig will next face Israel`s Dudi Sela, who eliminated Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Matosevic had replaced US top seed Andy Roddick in the 32-man draw when the American pulled out Monday, citing illness after a three-set Memphis final struggle before capturing his 30th career ATP title. Latvian Ernests Gulbis, the 2010 Delray winner, is playing in Dubai this year. Bureau Report