Mardy Fish made a victorious debut as America's top-ranked men's tennis player on Thursday, defeating Albert Ramos in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the US Clay Court Championships. Fish, the top seed in this $442,500 ATP event, defeated Ramos 6-3, 6-4, turning back a late charge that saw the Spaniard pull back from 5-1 down in the second set to 5-4.
Fish, who won this title in 2006, arrived in Houston ranked 11th in the world after reaching the semi-finals of the Miami Masters last week.