Nadal Is Upended, Blake Advances in Stockholm Open

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal was upset by Joachim Johansson , 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), yesterday at the Stockholm Open.

Johansson, ranked 690th, was playing in his first ATP event since February after being sidelined for months because of right shoulder and elbow injuries.

Johansson aced Nadal four times in the opening game and broke to lead 2-1. The Swede saved a break point at 5-4 before clinching on his third set point.

In the second set, both players held serve until the tiebreaker. Johansson took a 5-4 lead, and another ace, his 17th of the match, gave him two match points.

Earlier, defending champion James Blake downed Thomas Johansson , 6-3, 6-2.

Blake is in sixth place in the ATP race leading to next month's season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in China, where the top eight players qualify. He is coming off his fourth ATP title of the year, in Bangkok two weeks ago. Only top-ranked Roger Federer (nine) and Nadal (five) have won more titles this year.

Other seeded players to advance were No. 5 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, No. 6 Olivier Rochus of Belgium, No. 7 Kristof Vliegen of Belgium and No. 8 Robin Soderling of Sweden. . . .

Andy Roddick surged through the first set in 18 minutes and beat Argentina's Jose Acasuso , 6-0, 7-6 (7-2), to reach the second round of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna.

The third-seeded American yielded just three points on his serve in the first set. In the second, Roddick missed three match points at 6-5 before winning the tiebreaker.

"I was surprised myself I got off to such a good start," Roddick said. "In the second set, Jose played much better and took away the opportunities I had in the first."

Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, the defending champion, defeated Florian Mayer of Germany, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals.

The sixth- and seventh-seeded players -- Tommy Haas of Germany and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain -- were eliminated. Fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez reached the quarterfinals by beating Carlos Moya , 6-3, 6-4, in a match between Spaniards.

Jurgen Melzer of Austria faced a match point, but downed Ferrero, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. At 5-4 in the second set, Ferrero was one point from victory, but Melzer hit a forehand winner. . . .

Maria Sharapova , playing her first match since winning the U.S. Open, beat fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova , 6-4, 7-5, to reach the quarterfinals at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Among the men, top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Teimuraz Gabashvili , 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals in another match between Russians.

The only two Americans playing singles lost. Kevin Kim retired with a back injury after dropping the first set, 6-0, to Max Mirnyi of Belarus. Among the women, sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland eliminated Chanda Rubin , 6-3, 6-0.

· AUTO RACING : David Ragan was tabbed by Roush Racing to replace Mark Martin in the No. 6 Ford next season.

The car will continue to be sponsored by AAA.

Martin, who has driven the No. 6 since 1988, had planned to step back from Nextel Cup racing, but announced last week he was ending his longtime partnership with Jack Roush to drive a Chevrolet for new owner Bobby Ginn .

Martin, currently third in the points, will finish out the season with Roush and then move to the MB2 Motorsports team to drive a 22-race Cup schedule in 2007.

· COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Saturday's Maryland-Virginia football game will not be available live on Comcast SportsNet, Terrapins athletic officials announced yesterday. ESPN refused to sell Comcast the rights to broadcast the game, associate athletic director Brian Ullmann said. Instead, the game will be shown on ESPN360, an Internet-only broadcast not available to most of the Washington metro area. The service is available to Verizon customers and those in the Charlottesville area. The service is not available to Comcast Internet subscribers. However, University of Maryland students, faculty and staff with university IP addresses will be able to access ESPN360 to see the game.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports