Corretja slams Zabaleta
Nyree Epplett
Sunday, June 2, 2002

2001 finalist Alex Corretja moved into his fifth consecutive
Roland Garros quarterfinal with a straight sets demolition of
Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 6-3 6-2 7-5 on Court Suzanne Lenglen
early Sunday.

No18 seed Corretja, a big soccer fan, took two hours, 35 minutes
to account for Zabaleta, giving the popular veteran enough time
to catch the last half of Spain's victory against Slovenia in the
World Cup on television.

The Spaniard, who had survived four match points in a physically
draining five set match against Arnard Clement late Friday, preserved
his energy today, playing a more consistent backcourt game than the
flashy Argentine, who committed 73 unforced errors.

Corretja served what appeared to be an ace on match point, raising
his arms into the air in a victory salute, before the serve was
called a let. He closed it out on the next point drawing Zabaleta
out wide with the serve, and then crunching a gallant backhand smash
into the open court. As is becoming customary after his matches here
this week, he then knelt down and kissed the red dirt.

This is the first time in almost a year that the Spaniard has won four
matches in a row. He now owns the longest active streak for reaching
the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and next meets Romanian Andrei
Pavel, a straight sets winner over No3 seed Tommy Haas.