Australian Open 2003: Must-See Matches - Quarterfinals
1/20/03 3:38 PM
By USTA.com staff
Men
Wayne Ferreira (RSA) [9] vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) [4] –
Well, this is certainly the closest matchup(前兩盤是ㄚ,但...) in the
men's draw as far as last names go. Not since Daja Bedanova faced Iveta
Benesova in the first round on the women's side have television
announcers been so anxious about a match. All surname jokes aside, this
really is a great matchup. Both players were hot coming into the week,
each losing to Hyung-Taik Lee late in the warm-up tournament in Sydney
last week (Ferreira in the semis, Juan Carlos in the final). And both
players have been extremely consistent in this tournament, with the South
African looking as good as he ever has in 12 prior appearances here. He
always seems to come alive here in Australia, reaching the semifinals
back in 1992, and the quarterfinals last year. "I've always had some good
results here," he said. "I've always played well here. I can't say why.
Maybe it's just beginning of the year, still fresh."
Andre Agassi (USA) [2] vs. Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) [12] –
The winner of the Ferrero-Ferreira match will play the winner of this
match. It's always so hard to imagine Andre losing to anyone when he's
rolling along like this, but then it happens every so often that he
throws in one blah performance out of nowhere and plays down to his
opponent. He can't allow Grosjean to control the pace, especially with
the Frenchman coming off a nearly four hour, gruelling five set match
with Felix Mantilla two days ago, and Andre barely breaking a sweat when
Guillermo Coria was forced to retire in the second set after just 48
minutes of play. Andre has to take advantage of that and not allow
Sebastien to get off to a hot start, one of the few things that seems to
rattle the American. So far, the two have split four prior matches, with
Agassi winning at home at the 1998 US Open, and again in Spain last year
, and with Grosjean winning at his home at the 2001 Roland Garros and
then once here in Australia later the same season.
Andy Roddick (USA) [9] vs. Younes El Aynaoui (MAR) [18] -
Andy comes off a thrilling comeback from the dead, down two sets to one.
Younes comes off a masterpiece against world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. Who's
in for a letdown? If we had to guess, we'd say El Aynaoui is a little
more shocked to be in the quarterfinals after seeing his opponent step o
nto the court in the round of 16. He even admitted to being nervous late
in the match when he was trying to hold on: "I think I served a double-fa
ult. I was realizing that I could win the match. That's the nerves." Rodd
ick, on the other hand, felt confident, even when down early. "Even when
I was down, for some reason I thought I still had a chance," he said. "It
felt nice." If El Aynaoui gets up early, Andy won't give up easily. And
if Andy is up early, look out. (也就是說不管怎樣Andy都會贏嘍...他說ㄉ:p)
David Nalbandian (ARG) [10] vs. Rainer Schuettler (GER) [31] -
In what is probably going to be the least-hyped match, we have a dandy
here. Surely a lot of people will point to the path that the German has
taken to get this far, not even having to play a third round match when
No. 3 Marat Safin was forced to retire, and beating a tired James Blake
in the fourth round in what has been the toughest opponent he has faced
to date. Nalbandian, on the other hand, comes off two straight bigtime
wins against No. 20 Xavier Malisse and No. 6 Roger Federer, and he is
much more well-known name after a trip to the finals at Wimbledon last
year. But Schuettler has been getting rave reviews from his opponents.
James Blake says, "He's a great player. He's been around for a while. He'
s got just a really solid game." Plus, in 2002 Schuettler played
Nalbandian three times, winning twice. Nalbandian may be the favorite,
but don't discount the German just because he's unknown.(oops..小班要小心
ㄌ:p)
Women
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) [7] vs. Venus Williams (USA) [2] -
The up-and-coming Hantuchova has made a few headlines recently about a
possible dethroning of Anna Kournikova as the most popular female player
to watch, but the real challenge for real tennis fans will come on Centre
Court at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday when she tries to beat Venus William
s for the first time in her career. Daniela is oh-for-three, including a
loss here at the Australian open last year, and another at Wimbledon the
year before. Daniela feels more confident this year: "I'm really looking
forward for this match. I mean, the last year it was very close. This tim
e, it's already in the quarterfinals which is great. I have learned a lot
since last year, and I've got more experience. So hopefully this time I
will be able to go one step more than I did last year."
Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) [5] vs. Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) –
Virgina, you remain the last un-seeded player alive in the entire
tournament. And with Nicole Pratt and Lleyton Hewitt's losses, there are
no more Aussies still playing. So you, Virgina, may have just inherited
the role as fan favorite Down Under. "It's going to be a very tough match
for me, I'm going to do my best," she declared. This comment came after
her match, and before Virgina knew if she'd be facing Henin-Hardenne or
Lindsay Davenport. It came long before the three hour plus match that saw
Henin-Hardenne fall to the ground in pain twice, long before any thought
s that the winner of that match might not be 100% with just one day off.
Ironically, the doubles specialist Ruano Pascual (No. 2 in the world as
opposed to No. 62 in singles) was supposed to face Henin-Hardenne in her
third round doubles match, but Justine decided to drop out to try to
recover for the singles match.
Kim Clijsters (BEL) [4] vs. Anastasia Myskina (RUS) [8] – Will a tough
loss for her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt be a distraction for Clijsters?
Doubtful. The Belgian keeps rolling along almost effortlessly, yet to
drop a single set in either singles or doubles (with Ai Sugiyama of Japan
). In fact, she dropped only four games to No. 20 Amanda Coetzer last
round, bringing her four match total up to ten. Ten games in four matches
! Incredible. In contrast, Myskina has only won in straight sets once,
and has had tough matches the entire tournament. If Russia's highest-rank
ed female can be the first to make Clijsters sweat, Anastasia will no
longer be such an anonymous name. Otherwise, it'll be up to one of the
two women below.
Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs. Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) [25] –
To Serena, this is the first of three more matches that will give her the
"Serena Slam" – four straight Grand Slam titles. But it's also a
rematch of sorts, as it was Shaughnessy that Serena was playing against
in Sydney last year when she twisted her ankle and was forced to retire,
then withdraw from the following week's Aussie Open. So there is a
little extra involved in the back of Serena's mind, who admits she's been
taping up her ankles all tournament long just in case. As for her America
n counterpart Shaughnessy, this is her first-ever quarterfinal in a
Grand Slam, so don't be surprised if she's a little shell-shocked early
on.Unfortunately, that may be all the time Serena needs.
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