Coria outslugs Zabaleta in longest match of tournament
By Nyree Epplett
Monday, June 2, 2003
It took him four hours, 41 minutes and spanned two long days, but No7 seed
Guillermo Coria finally arrived in the Roland-Garros quarter final late Monday
afternoon.
In the longest match of the tournament to date, Coria wore out fellow Argentine
Mariano Zabaleta 6-4 7-6(4) 5-7 6-7(4) 6-3 in a fiery claycourt slugfest that
ended when Zabaleta simply ran out of steam.
Like two raging bulls the South Americans went at it, locking horns from the
back court for almost three hours on Sunday before bad light suspended play at
9pm. Coria led by two sets to one but the fight had been a ferocious one.
Refreshed and revitalized, the flashy Zabaleta leapt into the fourth set, using
his deadly forehand and some spectacular volleying to break Coria's shaky serve
in the second game and open up a 4-2 and then a 5-3 lead. But the gritty
seventh seed – the junior winner here in '99 - clawed his way back with a
string of gutsy winners, taking his countryman's serve to draw even at 5-5.
Zabaleta surged to take the tiebreak, but his reserves had been spent and the
big man from Tandil wilted under the relentless pressure. Despite a massive 97
winners (to Coria's 46) he made an unforgiving 146 unforced errors (to his
foe's 87). His backhand combusted in the final set, and he will rue a wad of
missed opportunities (he converted only eight of 20 break points).
Despite saving two match points, he dumped a backhand into the net to hand
Coria his 10th straight victory and his best ever Grand Slam showing. In fact,
this has been the best season of Coria's short career - he won Hamburg just
over a week ago, and was a finalist in Monte Carlo and Buenos Aires.
The youngest player left in the draw (at 21 years of age), Coria (who is named
after Argentine great Guillermo Vilas) will now face the oldest player,
33-year-old former champion Andre Agassi.
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