NASDAQ-100 OPEN
MIAMI MARCH 23, 2003
Rios Downs Ferrero
Former World No. 1 notches first win in four tries over Spaniard,
Moya also advances
Early Sunday afternoon action at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park
saw the third big upset of the tournament in terms of seeding. With
top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt already out and No. 7 seed Marat Safin
losing last night, third-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero was the latest
victim, but his loss to Marcelo Rios is perhaps less of a surprise.
Rios, who won the title in Miami back in 1998 en route to becoming
the world's top player, feels comfortable on these courts and had
a good showing in Florida two weeks ago reaching the semifinals of
the International Tennis Championships in Delray Beach just 45
minutes north of Crandon Park.
And though Rios was 0-3 lifetime going into today's match with
Ferrero, they had yet to play on hard courts. "Every time he beat
me was on clay," said Rios after his 6-3, 7-6(2) win. "He always
plays well on clay, better than me. Today I think I served really
good. When you serve good on hard court, it's much easier than on
clay. Just to play well, move well and I was hitting my shots
about as good as I can."
Rios played a solid match, mixing up balls from the baseline, and
finishing off with a superb tiebreak punctuated by an angled touch
volley on match point. He left the court to a vocal crowd who loves
to cheer for the former champion here.
In other early afternoon matches, fifth-seeded Carlos Moya, sporting
a two-color sleeveless shirt dispatched Tennis Masters Series rookie
Fernando Verdasco in straight sets. Verdasco, a qualifier here who
grew up in Madrid with two tennis courts in his backyard, had the
best week of his professional career with wins over Karol Kucera
and Max Mirnyi in the main draw after winning two matches in qualifying.
German Rainer Schuettler, who reached the semifinals at the Pacific
Life Open last week went down to rising Czech player Radek Stepanek,
6-4, 6-4.
--
Well he writes the line wrote down my spine
It says "Oh do you believe in love there?"
--
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◆ From: 61.70.206.23
※ 編輯: Escude 來自: 61.70.206.23 (03/25 02:50)