Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina has eliminated top seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko from the second round of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut. Chela defeated Davydenko, 6-1, 7-6, late Wednesday to reach the third round of the last tournament before the U.S. Open starts Monday in New York.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, the number two seed, scraped his way into the third round with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over U.S. veteran Justin Gimelstob. Third-seeded David Ferrer of Spain, number-seven Nicolas Massu of Chile and 12th-seeded American Vince Spadea advanced to the quarterfinals. Ferrer overpowered Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3, Massu needed three sets to outlast Andy Ram of Israel 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 and Spadea knocked off Andreas Seppi of Italy, 6-3, 7-5.
But there were three upsets as well. Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany surprised 11th-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, 6-4, 6-1, number-13 Paul-Henri Mathieu fell to fellow-Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, 6-4, 7-6, and American James Blake beat 10th seed Filippo Volandri of Italy, 6-1, 6-3.
Among the women, second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France swept past unseeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva, 6-1, 6-3. Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals. Anna Chakvetadze of Russia downed countrywoman Maria Kirilenko, 6-3, 6-3, and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany topped American Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-3, 7-5.
