Beckham leads Ferrero appreciation society
MADRID (AFP) - England football skipper David Beckham exchanged the bitter hostility of Istanbul for the raucous atmosphere of the Rockodromo arena as he watched Spain's tennis king Juan Carlos Ferrero battle his way into the third round of the Madrid Masters.
French Open champion and world number one Ferrero had to saved two match points to scrape a dramatic 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) victory over veteran South African Wayne Ferreira in the 2.45-million-euro tournament.
The top seed, who had trailed in the opening set 1-3 as Real Madrid star Beckham took his seat, lost the second set and put up a desperate battle in the third in front of 9,000 screaming fans.
The second-round win kept Ferrero's world number one spot safe for the time being, with Andy Roddick and Roger Federer still breathing down his neck.
The late arrival after the third game of the high-profile Beckham, and his his showbusiness wife, caused a stir at the Rockodromo along with the presence of other Real Madrid players.
Ferreira had his own problems with the crowd later in the match as he squandered two match points with the South African star angrily hitting out at the spectators' behaviour as he tried to close out the tie.
"The crowd should be ashamed of themselves, it was a disgraceful performance," said Ferreira.
Once Ferrero had saved the match points in the ninth game of the final set, the stage was set for a comeback by the popular top seed.
Earlier, both Roddick and Federer boosted their hopes of eventually deposing the Spaniard from his top spot.
Second-seeded American Roddick had the more testing task as he quelled a fight-back from big-hitting Belarussian Max Mirnyi 6-1, 6-7 (9/11), 7-5.
The US Open winner needed 21 aces and 60 winners to get out of a jam in a match which started as a deceptively easy second-round contest.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon winner Federer, the third seed, had a more relaxing time as he beat Spanish veteran Alex Corretja 6-4, 6-3.
The pair were joined as winners at the Rockodromo by seventh seeded Thai Paradorn Srichaphan who beat Spain Albert Costa 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1.
Roddick raced away against world number 24 Mirnyi, a semi-finalist last week in Vienna against Federer, taking the opening set in 26 minutes.
But that all changed in the second as Mirnyi levelled with a tie-breaker and forced the American to save break points in the third before finally powering through.
"I couldn't have played a better first set," said Roddick, competing on the tour for the first time since winning the US Open in New York.
"I don't think I had an unforced error in the tie-break, but I still lost it - credit to him.
"I was just trying to hang around in the third. He's definitely someone you don't want to play in the second round, he's got a lot of game."
The talented 22-year-old Federer, fresh from his sixth title of the season in Vienna where he thrashed Carlos Moya, cut down Corretja who is bidding for a doubles place for Spain's Davis Cup final squad to play Australia.
France's Sebastien Grosjean, the sixth seed, crushed Spain's David Ferrer 6-4, 6-2 while Jan-Michael Gambill upset Dutch tenth seed Sjeng Schalken 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.
Two other Americans, Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri also went through.
Fish followed up on his first-round defeat of Briton Tim Henman as he ousted Spain's 14th seed Tommy Robredo 7-6 (16/14), 6-2 while Ginepri, better known for his British actress girlfriend Minnie Driver than for his game, began changing that perception as he knocked off fourth seed Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 6-4.
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