Schuettler, Grosjean to Battle for First Title of 2003
No. 1 seed Rainer Schuettler took one step closer to winning his first
title of 2003 as well as qualifying for the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston
when he defeated Frenchman Cyril Saulnier in 1 hour 16 mins at the AIG
Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo Saturday. This is 27-year-old
Schuettler's third final of the year (Australian Open and Costa do Sauipe)
and he'll be looking to win, after a title drought of two years. (1999 Doha,
2001 Shanghai).
"I tried to play high risk with my first serve and I made the points. The
only reason it looked easy was because I made an early break in the second
set and mentally it was tough for him to come back because I was playing
well," said the German after advancing to his tenth career final.
Second seed Sebastien Grosjean took out No. 3 seed and popular Asian
Paradorn Srichaphan, who was playing in his second consecutive Tokyo
semifinal. Almost seven years ago, the two met in Osaka in the final
of the Super Junior event (about to take place next week). Grosjean
won that match to become the No. 1 junior for the year. Fast forward
to 2003 and like Schuettler, Grosjean is looking to win his first title
in 11 months (St Petersburg 2002). The last time the 25-year-old Frenchman
found himself in the final of an ATP event was at Queen's in June (l. to
Andy Roddick).
"I didn't start the match very well. He was playing better than me. And
slowly I came back. I was a little bit more aggressive than him. I came
more to the net and that made a difference at the end. Paradorn is a
really good player. He's 10 in the world so it's a good win for me,"
said Grosjean.
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