Hewitt Faces Ferrero for Rotterdam Crown

Posted on February 23, 2004

The Sunday Rotterdam final will be a battle of former No. 1s in No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. defending champ Max "The Beast" Mirnyi 7-6 in the third in his semifinal) against No. 6 seed Lleyton Hewitt (d. (5)Tim Henman in straight sets).

"Tim is a hell of a player and we have always had a lot of tough matches," said Hewitt, who improved to 7-0 against the Brit, yet still threw him a bone with some praise. "Even though the score was 6-3, 6-3 today I was down a break in the second set and I had to work extremely hard to get out of that set." Hewitt leads the head-to-head against Ferrero 4-3, and the Spaniard will try to avenge his loss in last year's Davis Cup final. The all-unseeded doubles final will be Erlich/Ram vs. Hanley/Stepanek.

In Memphis, Swede Joachim Johansson reached his first ATP final Saturday with a straight-set upset of No. 2 seed Mardy Fish. The monster-serving Johansson will face an unlikely opponent in No. 8 seeded German Nicolas Kiefer, who has struggled mightily over the past few years but showed signs of his old form in defeating former slam winner Thomas Enqvist in straight sets.

"I've been serving very well this week and playing well from the baseline so I'm happy with my game so far," said J.J., who at one point laid out four consecutive aces against The Fish. "I think I raised my game today from yesterday. It feels great to be in my first final, especially with the way I've been playing this week and to be in my first final in the States feels nice for me." Kiefer has not won a final since 2000, and last week lost to the Swede in three sets at San Jose in their only previous meeting. The doubles final will be (1)Bryan/Bryan vs. unseeded South Africans Coetzee/Haggard.

Buenos Aires got its No. 1 vs. No. 2 claycourt dream final Saturday when top-seeded Guillermo "The Magician" Coria beat French teen Richard Gasquet 7-6(1), 6-1, and No. 2 Carlos Moya bested Argentina's Jose Acasuso 7-6(3), 7-5.

"I played really well, very solidly and with aggressive tennis," said The Magician. "Gasquet is very young and he's got a lot ahead of him. But I knew that he would be tired and that his strategy would be to play the ball short." The head-to-head is tied 2-2, with The Magician winning their last meeting at the 2003 Masters Cup. The doubles final will be a crowd-pleasing all-Argentine contest in Arnold/Hood vs. Browne/Veronelli.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Australian Nicole Pratt won the first career WTA Tour title of her 15-year career on Saturday by beating Russian teenager Maria Kirilenko 7-6(3), 6-1 at the Indian Open in Hyderabad. It was the first final for the teenage Russian Kirilenko. "I'm really happy to win this title as it has come after a long wait," the Aussie said. "I knew I had a good chance going into the final because I felt I was playing really well these past few days. My aim is to break into the Top 50 in the world and my dream is to play in the Olympics." In the doubles final, the South African/Indian wildcard team of Huber/Mirza beat the Chinese (3)Li/Sun 7-6(1), 6-4 in their first-ever partnership.

Kim Clijsters' victim in the Antwerp final will be...31-year-old Italian Silvia Farina Elia. The No. 2-seeded Clijsters pounded the chunky Swiss Myrian Casanova 6-1, 6-2 in her semifinal, while Farina Elia edged Croatia's Karolina Sprem 6-4, 7-5. Clijsters leads the head-to-head 5-0, but many of the encounters have gone to three sets. "It's always tough playing Silvia because she doesn't give you any rhythm," said Lleyton's fiance. "Her slice shots force you to bend down all the time." Yeah, bending the knees, that can be tough.

The Memphis final featured No. 1 seed Vera Zvonareva defeating two-time defending champion Lisa Raymond 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, saving three match points. Another Raymond choke, ouch. In the doubles final, Zvonareva can make it two titles on the day when she and partner Sharapova face (2)Svensson/Tu.

ATP SWEDISH WINNERS IN MEMPHIS
Joachim Johansson is attempting to become the fourth different Swedish winner in Memphis:

Bjorn Borg, 1977 d. Gottfried
Stefan Edberg, 1985 d. Noah
Stefan Edberg, 1987 d. Gilbert
Magnus Larsson, 2000 d. B.Black

ATP GERMAN WINNERS IN MEMPHIS
Nicolas Kiefer is attempting to become the third German to win the Kroger St. Jude:

Michael Stich, 1990 d. Masur
Tommy Haas, 1999 d. Courier

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
Andy Roddick (back spasms) and Roger Federer (unknown injury, pulled from Marseille) will both have a chance to heal injuries next week...Next week on tour: WTA Dubai, WTA Bogota, ATP Marseille, ATP Costa do Sauipe (Brazil).