Coria Sprints to Third Round
by Neil E. Schlecht
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Despite holding the fifth seed, Guillermo Coria has been flying
under the radar so far at the US Open. Though he's one of the
hottest players on tour -- he's won four tour titles this year,
including three in a span of just three weeks, and reached the
final of the French Open -- all his major successes have come on
his favorite surface, clay.
Future opponents here might not want to take the slight Argentine
lightly. Coria, who vanquished Andre Agassi at Roland Garros this
year, is anxious to prove he can play on hard courts as well.
On a packed court 11 on a brilliant afternoon, Coria took on the
veteran Czech Bohdan Ulihrach and blew him away in straight sets,
6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Coria, an excellent ballstriker who is lightning
quick around the court, didn't really have to play his best ball
to advance against his workman-like opponent, who recently returned
to competition after an enforced hiatus for violating the tour's
doping regulation.
Coria showed flashes of petulance to go with moments of brilliance.
He tossed his racquet in only the second game, and it took a while
for him to crack one of his trademark down-the-line backhands.
The match was conspicuously low on high points; Coria was content
to run down everything and roll to victory. However, he showed
what he is capable of when serving for the second set. He had
Ulihrach on a string, bringing him to the net with a deft dropper,
following it with a perfect lob over his head and then smacking a
confident overhead off the Czech's unlikely retrieval.
Coria now advances to meet the winner of the Arnaud Clement and
Gregory Carraz match.
--
嗜香草可樂，想泡在香草可樂池子裡的變溫動物。
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