Hewitt cuts Isner to size

Roddick limps out against Wawrinka in second round

The 28-year-old Australian, back at number 23 in the world after sliding outside the top 100 following hip surgery, is nearly a foot shorter than the 6ft 9in (206cm) Isner but came up with some fine returns to disarm the Floridian.

Isner managed just five aces and racked up a whopping 37 unforced errors, leaving Hewitt to seal a second round tie against Gael Monfils or Paul-Henri Mathieu when the big American netted after 76 minutes.

“He’s had a lot of success earlier in the year ... beating guys like (Andy) Roddick over five sets so I knew it was going to be a tough match,” said Hewitt.  “It’s a matter of just taking your chances when you get into it against those guys, and I did that exceptionally well today.”

Hewitt, who had one of the biggest wins of his career in Shanghai at the 2002 Masters Cup, believes he could still win another grand slam title to add to his U.S. Open and Wimbledon triumphs.  “I’ve got better as the year has gone on,” he said. “My hip’s got a lot stronger and better as well.

Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko was the first man to reach the third round when he beat fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-2 with a minimum of fuss on the grandstand court newly built for this year’s tournament. Davydenko reached the final of the last version of the Masters Cup tour championship here last year and is in the running for one of three spots still up for grabs at the new season finale in London next month. Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, in the eighth and final spot in the race to the World Tour Finals, will play Davydenko in the last 16 after beating Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci 6-3 6-4.

Tommy Haas, the 15th seed, also beat a compatriot to take his place in the second round, the 7-6 6-4 win over Benjamin Becker earning him a tie against another German, Rainer Schuettler.  Meanwhile, Andy Roddick’s body finally gave up on him when he limped out of the Shanghai Masters after retiring in the first set of his second-round match against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

The 27-year-old fourth seed, who launched a scathing attack on the gruelling tour schedule on Monday, was 4-3 up and looking to convert a break point when he pulled up short chasing a Wawrinka backhand.

The American, who retired with a injured shoulder in his only previous tour clash with the Swiss, also lost the first match of his title defence in Beijing last week.

Bopanna-Lu through

Second seeded pair of  Rohan Bopanna of India and Hsun Yen Lu of Taipei survived a set point to scrape past Deniss Pavlovs of Latvia and Vaja Uzakov of Uzbekistan to move into the doubles quarterfinals of the $125,000 Tashkent Challenger.

In the first round match the second seeded Indo-Taipei pair of Bopanna and Lu survived a match point trailing 10-9 in the match tiebreak, to scrape past Pavlovs and Uzakov 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 12-10 and enter the last eight.

The other Indian pair of  Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja fell to the Spanish pair of Inigo Cervantes Huegun and Guillermo Plaso. The Spanish pair won 3-6, 6-3, 10-4.