By Chris Kane
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Tour veteran Xavier Malisse produced some inspired tennis in ousting No. 3 seed and defending champion Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the SAP Open.
Stepanek, ranked no. 14 in the world, was never able to find a rhythm in the surprisingly one-sided affair that lasted only one hour and 10 minutes.
In the evening session, top-seed Andy Roddick fought off a second-set run by qualifier Ryler DeHeart, winning, 6-1, 7-6 (1). DeHeart lead 3-0 in the second set and served for the set at 5-3, but was unable to convert.
Stepanek became the first defending champion to lose in the SAP Open first round in 20 years. The Czech had started the year solidly by reaching the finals in an attempting to defend his title in Brisbane before losing to Roddick. He lost a tough five-set match in the Australian Open in a difficult first round match up with Ivo Karlovic.
Malisse, once ranked as high as 19th in the world after making the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2002 (where he lost to David Nalbandian), had slipped to No. 107 before stunning Stepanek. It was his first victory over a top 20 player since 2008 when he exacted revenge on Nalbandian in Miami. The 29-year-old Belgian will look to continue his run when he faces American
Michael Russell in the second round.
German Tommy Haas, the No. 4 seed, was also eliminated Wednesday, falling 7-6 6-2 to Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.