TELECOM ITALIA MASTERS ROMA, MAY 6, 2003
Gaudio Glides Past Guga
Kuerten, Srichaphan and Grosjean all go down on Day 2 in Rome.
The one-time winner and two-time finalist on the other side of the net didn't
seem to faze Gaston Gaudio as the Argentine defeated 1999 champion Gustavo
Kuerten in three sets in first round action at the Telecom Italia Masters Rome
on Tuesday.
Gaudio fought off the Brazilian in the third set to capture the match, 6-3,
2-6, 6-4. Gaudio has now won two straight matches against Kuerten, who won the
title in 1999 and reached the finals the following two years.
No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero rattled off his 30th victory of the year with
a straight sets victory against Australia's Mark Philippoussis. Ferrero has a
30-6 record on the year and a stellar 18-1 count on clay. The Spaniard already
has two titles since the clay season began (Monte Carlo, Valencia) and Ferrero
is now shooting for his second title in Rome after capturing the crown in 2001.
Carlos Moya, the No. 3 seed this week, secured his spot in the second round
with a 6-2, 6-4 win against fellow Spaniard Fernando Vicente. Moya, who
captured the title in Barcelona two weeks ago, improved to an ATP-best 20-2
this year on clay. The Spaniard also led the ATP in clay court wins last year
when he compiled a 34-7 record.
Switzerland's Roger Federer continued to demonstrate his top-form on clay by
defeating France's Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. The No. 4
seed has won six straight matches dating back to his march through Munich for
the BMW Open title last week. Federer has won three titles in 2003 and would
like to add the Rome title to a mantle that already includes last year's
Tennis Masters Series crown in Hamburg.
Federer's victim in last week's Munich final, Finland's Jarkko Nieminen,
caused Tuesday's first upset after defeating No. 9 seed Paradorn Srichaphan,
6-1, 6-2. Nieminen's game has picked up since the clay court season began.
The Finnish player reached the third round in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and
did not drop a set in Munich before losing to Federer. Srichaphan, however,
hasn't been fortunate enough to have Nieminen's recent success as the Thai
No. 1 has failed to advance past the first or second round in four straight
events.
No. 13 seed Sebastien Grosjean was sent home early after a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3
loss to Spain's Tommy Robredo. Grosjean was playing in his first clay court
match of the year and hadn't play in an ATP match since losing to Mardy Fish
in the second round at the NASDAQ-100 Open.
Spain's Alex Corretja picked up his third clay court win of the year by
rallying to defeat Albert Portas in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Corretja is
trying to dispel a recent streak of losses, including a first round defeat
in Monte Carlo and Valencia and a third round loss in Barcelona. However,
the path doesn't look any clearer for the Spaniard, who will face Ferrero
in the second round.
Argentina's Agustin Calleri showed why he's been one of the most consistent
performers on clay in 2003 with his 6-2, 6-2 victory against Austria's Stefan
Koubek. The Argentine has compiled a 19-6 record on clay including his title
in Acapulco and final in Estoril and will face Gaudio in the second round.
Joining Calleri and Gaudio in the second round were another pair of Argentines,
as Juan Ignacio Chela defeated Olivier Rochus, 6-1, 6-1 and Mariano Zabaleta
moved past Spain's David Sanchez, 6-4, 6-2.
In other action, Yevgeny Kafelnikov rallied back after dropping the second
set to defeat No. 16 seed Younes El Aynaoui.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Kuerten: "Well, it was a close match and we're both good players. I think that
the level of confidence meant a lot in my defeat; I wasn't very confident. I
had a break at 3?2 in the third set, and I had some opportunities to win.
Maybe it would have turned around the match. But that's how it goes in such
a tournament where you have such good players."
"I'm feeling well and physically ready to play more matches. But I'm just not
able to get my rhythm. During one week so far, maximal that I have been
playing is two matches in a single week from almost one month and a half. So
that's for sure causing me a lot of trouble.
Federer: "It was a difficult match for me today because I've only been
practicing one and a half hours on this, with these new balls. Different
brand, different bounce here. So it's always difficult the first round at a
different venue."
"I knew he was gonna be a really tough opponent because he hasn't been playing
well, he's absolutely motivated. Same as me, I'm coming from a win. He hasn't
been playing much, so he really wants to do well. I knew he was going to be a
dangerous opponent, so I'm very happy to have won this match. Now I can kind
of not relax, but I know how it works with these balls, you know. I can
approach the match a little bit differently mentally. I feel good, you know,
of course always after I win."
"I think mentally and physically, I can change a match now. Before, it was
more just because maybe little lucky, you know. But now I feel like I can
really do it and turn around matches by hanging in there. This is also why
I turned around this match today and I turned around the finals last week,
you know, two days ago, three days ago."
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
◆ From: 61.230.106.85
※ 編輯: esnique 來自: 61.230.106.85 (05/07 13:08)