http://www.daviscup.org/news/matchreport.asp?id=12259
08 Feb 2003, DC 官網
Shaky Schuettler falls to Gaudio in Buenos Aires
Twenty-four-year-old Gaston Gaudio has defeated Germany’s Rainer Schuettler in
the first rubber of the Argentina-Germany Davis Cup by BNP Paribas first round
tie in Buenos Aires. In a match lasting only one hour 35 minutes, the
Argentine No. 3 (currently No. 22 in the world) defeated the recent Australian
Open finalist 62 63 60 in an impressive display of penetrating ground strokes,
clever serving and delicate touch shots. Spurred on by the passionate support
of a vociferous Buenos Aires crowd, Gaudio has got his country off to a perfect
start in this important first round encounter.
Despite much cooler conditions than earlier in the week, the temperature on
court was certainly high, as Gaudio turned up the heat to break the German’s
serve in the very first game. Schuettler was visibly uncomfortable in the first
set, finding it difficult to find his range in the cool windy conditions.
Gaudio consolidated this early break by holding serve to 15 in the second game
and continued to dominate the early exchanges, breaking serve again in the
fifth and seventh games, finally securing the first set 62 in just 29 minutes.
In the second set, Schuettler looked to be regaining some of the form that took
him to the final in Melbourne. He started to get to grips with the slow and
slightly damp clay court and managed to string a series of points together,
including some sublime passing shots in the early games. At 1-1 however, Gaudio
broke serve yet again and showed no signs of letting up.
It was clear that he was the more experienced clay-courter of the two and at
times seemed to be playing with German, cleverly bringing him into the net with
a delicate drop-shot, only to send him back-peddling with a crafty lob or push-
shot down the line. The momentum he had gathered in the first two sets carried
over into the third set where he went from strength to strength, increasing his
first serve percentage to 77% and breaking three times to clinch the set 6-0.
In his post-match press conference, a delighted Gaudio commented: “I am really
happy with my performance. I was delighted to be able to play in front of my
family and home crowd. It is always special for me to play in Argentina in
Davis Cup.” With Schuettler’s impressive current form, the result today was
not at all anticipated; not least by Gaudio who remarked: “I didn’t think it
was going to be so easy. I was expecting him to play a good match because he
was coming from Australia with a lot of confidence. I just went out there and
played my game.”
This was the third occasion these two players have met, with the previous two
encounters split at one apiece. However, this encounter - the first on clay -
was by far the most decisive and one-sided. A rather deflated Schuettler
admitted that he found it difficult to get used to the slow court surface and
tricky playing conditions and felt he was never able to get into the match.
It is now up to the 27-year-old Davis Cup debutant Lars Burgsmuller to shoulder
the responsibility of keeping his country’s hopes alive in this tie. He now
faces Wimbledon finalist and world No. 9 David Nalbandian in the second singles
rubber. The two have never met before, although Nalbandian certainly goes into
the match as strong favourite. Gaudio predicts that his friend and team mate
will send Argentina into the second day’s play with a 2-0 lead and foresees
victory in the doubles rubber on Saturday afternoon: “If everything goes like
today, maybe we’re going to finish the match on Saturday.” An optimistic
prediction? Perhaps not, given Argentina’s current scintillating form.
Tommy Haas arrived in Buenos Aires with his family yesterday to give his team
psychological support. However it looks like much more than psychological
support is needed if Germany are going to turn the tables and emerge
victorious. Yet, as is ever the case in Davis Cup competition, anything is
possible and it would be very foolish indeed to write off German chances at
this early stage in the contest.
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看來Schuettler在紅土完全不行..
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