Mardy Fish talks survival at LA Tennis Open

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There was no huge reason why Mardy Fish fought through some physical and psychic pain Thursday night at the LA Tennis Open at UCLA. He didn’t have to scrap through 2 hours, 22 minutes of side-splitting aches and win a 26-point second-set tiebreak after he’d already lost the first set. But Fish competed for every one of his 235 points won over Chris Guccione, who also happened to win 235 points. And at the end it was Fish who advanced to the quarterfinals, owner of a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (12), 6-4 victory.

Fish tweaked his side at a Davis Cup match earlier this month and he slapped an ice pack on the thing as soon as the final ball had been struck Thursday.

‘I’m trying to manage it as best I can,’ Fish said Thursday night. ‘When I hurt it, it being Davis Cup and all, I probably went too far because you want to give it everything you have. I’m about 90% but I don’t want to injure it further. I love this tournament and want to do well here but I’ve got to look down the road and there are some pretty big tournaments coming up. I’ve got to be careful.’

Fish and his wife, Stacey Gardner, a UCLA grad, have recently moved to Beverly Hills and Fish said he now considers this his hometown tournament. ‘I’ve got a lot of friends and family coming,’ he said. ‘But I just have to manage this injury carefully.’

-- Diane Pucin