Grosjean struggles but overcomes Spadea
Georges Homsi
Saturday, June 1, 2002

No10 seed Sebastien Grosjean became the third Frenchman
to reach the round of 16 at 2002 Roland Garros, following
the straight sets victories of Paul-Henri Mathieu and Arnaud
di Pasquale on Saturday.

A semifinalist last year, Grosjean beat comeback player
Vincent Spadea, a former top 20 player who ended the 2001
season at No205 on the ATP Champions Race.

Spadea had come into the match on an impressive run, having
beaten Cedric Pioline in five sets in the first round and
Romanian Adrian Voinea 8-6 in the fifth set, last round.

On a capacity Court Suzanne Lenglen, Grosjean quickly asserted
his aggression. Hitting his big forehand deep into all corners
of the court and intelligently varying the rhythm of the
rallies, he captured the opening set 6-2 after 39 minutes.

And he didn't release any of the pressure in the second set,
skipping ahead 4-2, and showing no other sign of his left groin
injury than a solid strap around his thigh.

But Spadea quickly began to get into the groove of Grosjean's
rhythm, retrieving more balls, and hitting harder and harder.
He broke back to level at 4-4. But it was in vain, Grosjean
capturing the tiebreaker 7-5 on a winning inside-out forehand.

The Frenchman raced to a 2-0 lead in the third, but Spadea kept
fighting for every point. Moving well and going for more shots,
he broke back and blocked out the loud Parisian fans to close
the tiebreaker 7-5.

Twice Grosjean broke early in the fourth set, in the fifth and
seventh games, and both times, Spadea fought his way back. At
4-4 and lifted by the screaming fans, Grosjean stood at 0-40
on the American's serve.

Spadea then cracked, committing his 22nd double fault of the
match, which incited a huge uproar from the stands. This time
Grosjean didn't let the opportunity slip away, capturing his
next service game to propel himself into the round of 16 after
three hours, 22 minutes.

"It's always good to win a match like this without playing my
best tennis. But the support of the public throughout the match
helped me a great deal. It helped me raise my level in the
important moments," Grosjean said.

His next opponent will be Xavier Malisse, the Belgian who
defeated Albert Portas, and earlier in the week, Tim Henman.

"He's a very talented player. He showed this week that his game
was well adapted to clay. I expect a tough match," said Grosjean.