※ [本文轉錄自 Spain_PL 看板]
作者: andalucia (錯覺) 看板: Spain_PL
標題: Pavel Upsets Robredo; Clement, Santoro Set Up All-French Semifi
時間: Sat Oct 4 22:27:05 2003
Pavel Upsets Robredo; Clement, Santoro Set Up All-French Semifinal
Andrei Pavel scored the surprise of the day when he notched his first
career win over Tommy Robredo on Friday at the inaugural Open de Moselle in
Metz. Pavel, who was playing in his first ATP quarterfinal of the year, upset
No. 1 seed Robredo 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-1 to go through to the last four. The
Romanian has been out with a wrist injury for much of the year but claimed
his first match win of 2003 here in the first round and hasn't looked back
since, advancing to his first ATP semifinal since Bucharest (l. to Acasuso)
last year.
Pavel is joined in the last four by big-hitting Chilean Fernando Gonzalez,
a straight sets winner over Spaniard David Ferrer. Having scraped through his
second round match against Tomas Behrend in a third set tie-break, No. 3 seed
Gonzalez defeated Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 to secure his third semifinal berth of the
year, following Stuttgart (l. to Robredo) and Washington (d. Agassi). This
was the third meeting between these two in 2003, with Gonzalez edging ahead
2-1 in their head-to-head series.
Fabrice Santoro thrilled the home crowd when he claimed his spot in the
semifinals following a tight 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in his quarterfinal match
against Germany's Alexander Popp. Santoro has a 14-18 match record in 2003
and advances to his first semifinal of the year. The French veteran is
seeking is fifth career title and his third on home soil, having already
claimed Lyon '97 (d. Haas) and Marseille '99 (d. Clement).
Arnaud Clement ensured that there would be a French finalist in Metz
when he secured his spot in the last four when qualifier Philipp Petzschner,
trailing by a set and 3-0, retired with a thigh strain. The No. 4 seed from
France advances to his third semifinal of the year, following his
performances at Halle (l. to Kiefer) and 's-Hertogenbosch where he reached
the final (l. to Schalken).
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Robredo:"I did not take advantage of the opportunities I had.
I had breakpoints in the first set but did not take them, and then I lost
the tie-break which can always go either way. I played a good second set but
the match changed with a stupid point I played in my first service game in
the final set. I got broken for the first time in the match and that was it.
Pavel served and volleyed very well today and he was difficult to break."
Pavel:
"I am very happy and surprised to have reached the semifinals. I never
expected to get this far in this tournament. When I arrived here I was just
concentrating on my first match. I had a tough draw against Hrbaty. I was
lucky to win that one, 4-1 and then match point down in the third set.
Everything's been going my way since then. I've won my three matches in
three sets and I'm pretty proud of my form."
About his injuries: "After Bercy last year I took some rest and had a very
bad winter. I caught two bad viruses then started practicing again but
injured my back. It got worse and worse and in Miami I decided to stop.
Then I injured my wrist...I was finally able to hit the ball again at the
end of July. When I returned to the ATP circuit in Palermo last week I was
so excited."
Gonzalez: "It was a weird first set with a lot of breaks. I
was returning better than last night but wasn't serving as well. I'm happy I
won in two sets as I was starting to get tired from the long match against
Behrend."
About facing Pavel next: "Pavel is a good player and must be very confident
after winning his first three matches of the year this week. He'll be very
dangerous on this surface."
Santoro:"It was a very hard match and I'm really happy to have
got through. Popp is a dangerous player, he serves well and hits the ball
very hard. It's great to be in the semifinals in a tournament in France and
it's my first semifinal of 2003. It's been a difficult year for me with the
elbow injury so I'm very excited about finally playing a semifinal."
Clement:"I watched him play against Ascione last night and
he's got such an atypical game. He goes for a lot with his shots but makes
a lot of mistakes. It's always difficult to play a qualifier because he's won
a lot of matches to get there but maybe he was tired too. I'm very happy to
be in the semifinal and now that I play Fabrice (Santoro), there will be a
Frenchman in the final. It's great for this tournament in its inaugural year.
I've never beaten Fabrice before but I know his game quite well now."
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.162.58.17
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.162.58.17