[情報] Seeds sitting pretty so far!

[establish (Est)]

Seeds sitting pretty so far! 

By Guillaume Baraise
Friday, May 23, 2003

The men's draw for the first round at the Paris Open, conducted by guest of
honour Michael Chang, has generally kept the fancied players apart.
Nonetheless, Lleyton Hewitt (N°1), Andre Agassi (N°2) and Juan Carlos Ferrero
 (N°3) will all have their work cut out should they reach the second round.

The draw, which this year took place in the restaurant under the
Suzanne Lenglen court, is always an exciting occasion and generally
attracts large numbers of fans. This year was no exception, with even
a few players looking on, eager to discover their first round opponent.
In a break with protocol, it was a player himself who made this year's draw,
namely 1989 champion Michael Chang, awarded a wild-card for his final
Roland-Garros appearance. Chang will be up against French hopeful
Fabrice Santoro in the first round.

With his best tennis years behind him, Chang's ambitions this year are
modest. So who will win the French in 2003? Not last year's quarter-finalist,
Romanian Andrei Pavel, out with a back injury, or prodigious young
Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who has withdrawn due to an elbow problem.
Potentially interesting last sixteen matchings are: at the top of the
draw; Hewitt (N°1)/Kuerten (N°15), Costa (N°9)/Nalbandian (N°8),
Ferrero (N°3)/Grosjean (N°15), Schalken (N°12)/Noddick (n°6), and
at the bottom of the draw; Federer (N°5)/Schuettler (N°11),
Novak (N°13)/Moya (N°4), Coria (N°7)/Srichaphan (N°10), and
Corretja (N°16)/Agassi (N°2).

Tough draw for the local boys

But at Roland-Garros, as at any major championship, surprises and upsets
are never in short supply. Certain seeds will be tested straightaway, such
as Thai, Paradorn Srichaphan, never at home on clay and up against
Slovak Dominik Hrbaty. Lleyton Hewitt will face American Brian Vahaly,
Andre Agassi will take on Karol Beck, Juan Carlos Ferrero will meet Swiss
hopeful Michel Kratochvil (returning after injury), Roger Federer takes on
Luis Horna from Peru and Andy Roddick, who encounters Armenian Sargis
Sargsian, all benefit from easier games on paper.

The pick of the first round games would appear to be Gustavo Kuerten (N°15)-
Marc Rosset, even though the Swiss plays far fewer games these days. French
stars will need all the encouragement they can get from their home crowd in
a draw which has been far from kind to the home grown players.
Sebastien Grosjean (N°15) meets Romanian Adrian Voinea who often thrives on
the French clay. And even should he make the second round, the boy from
Marseille finds himself in a part of the draw which is simply
littered with Spaniards! Arnaud Clement (N°32) will have to foil
Thomas Enqvist's power game while six other Frenchman come up against
seeds! Paul-Henri Mathieu who reached the last sixteen in 2002 is pitted
against many people's outside choice for the tournament, Argentinian
Gaston Gaudio (N°28). Casablanca winner, Julien Boutter, takes on
Yevgeny Kafelnikov (N°17), who has played very well on clay this year.
Antony Dupuis, who recently triumphed over Albert Costa will be looking
for another spot of giant-killing when he takes on Moroccan
Younes El Aynaoui (N°23).

Open for Federer

Once past the first round, however, certain seeds will need to be playing at
their best if they are to continue in the competition. World N° 1
Lleyton Hewitt in particular, who is likely to meet
Russian Nikolay Davydenko, already a winner this year in Adelaide and Estoril.
 Andre Agassi too, will have to be at the top of his game to beat a certain
Marcelo Rios. And if the Chilean is physically prepared the Roland-Garros
crowd could be in for a treat. Ferrero will have to overcome either
Swede Magnus Norman or Chilean Nicolas Massu, both firmly at home on clay.

One favourite, at least, has a rather lenient draw: Roger Federer could very
well go a long way in this year's tournament at least on paper assuming he
manages to overcome Vince Spadea (N°29) in the third round. But then last
year Federer was severely trounced in the first round by Hicham Arazi while
coming off a marvellous Masters Series win in Hamburg.So you never know.



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