Hewitt Edges Ferrero for Rotterdam Title

Posted on February 24, 2004

At the end of 2003, after skipping a number of ATP events while suing the men's tour in the Australian courts, Lleyton Hewitt said the 2004 season could see a return to No. 1 for the former top-ranked Aussie. Sunday at Rotterdam, the No. 6-seeded Hewitt looked on course with a grinding 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-4 win over an exhausted No. 2-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero.

"He is a tough opponent, he doesn't give you too many cheap points," Hewitt said. "It was going to be a tough match, I dug deep today and kept fighting...from the baseline we were having a bit of a slugfest out there. I just had to try to hang in there and find a way to win...it's my first time here and (Tournament Director) Richard Krajicek has put on a wonderful event." It was the second title for Hewitt in 2004, while Ferrero is still looking for his first.

In the doubles final, the Aussie/Czech pairing of Hanley/Stepanek edged Israelis Erlich/Ram 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-5 for their first title as a team. Hanley defended a title for the first time in his career, winning in Rotterdam last year with Wayne Arthurs.

Last year Guillermo "El Mago" Coria flew under the radar of many, but was still in the race to finish as the year-end No. 1 just weeks before the season-ending ATP Masters Cup. Sunday on the clay at Buenos Aires, Coria showed why he will again challenge for the No. 1 ranking in 2004, stomping former No. 1 and French Open winner Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-1 in just over an hour for his first title of the year.

"I played my best tennis of the tournament," El Mago said. "I knew I had to make use of all my opportunities to win and Moya gave me quite a few."

It was the 20th straight claycourt match win for Coria, and Moya's first tournament in a month after coming off a twisted ankle during the Aussie hardcourt season. "When I came to Buenos Aires I still felt the ankle bothering me. I still continue to feel it, but that's no excuse," Moya said. "I haven't regained my usual rhythm after the layoff and after losing the first set today, I realized it was going to be hard as I was getting a bit tired." In the all-Argentine doubles final, Arnold/Hood d. Veronelli/Browne 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-4.

Sweden's unseeded Joachim Johansson won his first career ATP title Sunday at Memphis, defeating No. 8 seed Nicolas Kiefer 7-6(5), 6-3.

"I haven't seen that much of Memphis but it's always going to be very close to my heart for the rest of my life," J.J. said. "It was one of my goals to win a tournament this year. I'd won a few challengers and I was playing well at the end of last year so I was hoping I could keep that form up and keep playing like that this year and that's what happened."

In the doubles final, (1)Bryan/Bryan beat South Africans Jeff Coetzee/Chris Haggard 6-3, 6-4. It was the second title of the year for the brothers, who were appearing in their fifth straight tournament final. "We're just building confidence now that we're the No. 1 team," said Bob. "Last year we were No. 1 for a little while but now we really feel like the No. 1 team and feel like we're the team to beat. If we play well, we're not just trying to hold it, we're still going for our shots and we're not afraid to lose. That's our philosophy. It all started here. We lost two in a row, so it would have been heartbreaking to lose three in a row. It's always great to win a title, I don't care where it is." Nice Memphis plug.

World No. 1 Roger Federer pulled from the Open 13 in Marseille this week with an unknown injury, but it didn't put much of a dent in the strong field featuring seeds Juan Carlos Ferrero, Guillermo Coria, Paradorn Srichaphan, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, Al Costa, Arnaud Clement, and Marat Safin making his first appearance since his runner-up effort at the Aussie Open. The field is also chock full of dangerous unseeded floaters in Thomas Enqvist, Goran Ivanisevic, two-time 2004 winner Dominik Hrbaty, and veteran Andrei Pavel. First round match-ups of interest are (1)Ferrero vs. French homeboy Gregory Carraz, (5)Gonzalez vs. the crafty Kucera, (7)Clement vs. Ivanisevic, (6)Costa vs. Hicham Arazi, (4)The Beast vs. Pavel, and (2)Coria coming off the clay to face Russian Nikolay Davydenko on his favorite hardcourt surface. There are two former champions in the field in three-time winner Enqvist (2002, 1998-97) and Fabrice Santoro (1999). Marc Rosset, a winner in 1994-93, competes in the final round of qualifying. On court Monday are O.Rochus vs. Beck, Bjorkman vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, and the final round of qualifying.

The Spaniards and the Argentines come out in force this week at the Brasil Open 2004 in Costa Do Sauipe, featuring seeds former No. 1 Carlos Moya, Nicolas Massu, former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten, former nothing Agustin Calleri, Mariano "The New Ball that Deflated" Zabaleta, Felix Mantilla, Gaston Gaudio, and Juan Ignacio Chela. Floaters in the field include French teen Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Lapentti, and Guillermo Canas. Spain wins the battle of men in the main draw compared to Argentina 8-6. Gustavo Kuerten (2002) is the lone returning champ in the field as the event enters its fourth year on the ATP tour. On court Monday are Volandri vs. (8)Mantilla, (5)Zabaleta vs. Montanes, (WC)Mello vs. (7)Gaudio, and Levy vs. Ramirez-Hidalgo.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
As expected, top-seeded Kim Clijsters thumped Italian veteran Silvia Farina Elia 6-3, 6-0 Sunday to win her home-country title in Antwerp, her first title in Belgium and her second of the year, played out in front of 14,000 spectators. "It even gave me goosebumps in my face," Clijsters said of the raucous cheering. "This is why I want to return here." In the doubles final, top-seeded (1)Black/Callens d. (4)Casanova/Daniilidou.

On Saturday in Hyderabad, Australian Nicole Pratt won the first WTA Tour title of her 15-year career by beating Russian teenager Maria Kirilenko 7-6(3), 6-1 at the Indian Open. It was the first final for the teenage Russian Kirilenko. 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.

The Saturday 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, (2)Svensson/Tu beat Sharapova/Zvonareva 6-4, 7-6(0) for their first title of the year.

The WTA stop in Dubai this week pumped in some guarantee money to produce a stellar field in seeds Justine Henin-Hardenne (who pulled out sick last week), Venus Williams (who is perpetually injured), Jennifer Capriati (returning from a back injury), Anastasia Myskina, Ai Sugiyama, Jelena Dokic (mentally injured), Francesca Schiavone, and former Wimbledon winner Conchita Martinez. Silvia Farina Elia, pounded in the Antwerp final on Sunday by Kim Clijsters, pulled from the event citing "rest and recovery." You need to recover from getting bageled? The top four seeds receive byes, so as is customary at WTA events, take a nap until the QF/SF round. Potential QF match-ups are (1)H-H vs. (8)Martinez, (4)Myskina vs. (6)Dokic, (5)Sugiyama vs. (3)Capriati, and (7)Schiavone vs. (2)Venus. H-H (winner in 2003) is the only defending champ at the event. On court Monday are Molik vs. Vento-Kabchi, An.Barna vs. Maleeva, and Schiavone vs. Kuznetsova.

Four-time champ Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga heads the dirt field this week at Bogota for the Copa Colsanitas Bolivar, joined by seeds Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, Emilie Loit, Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad, Anabel "Funky Cold" Median Garrigues, Ludmila Cervanova, Arantxa "Not That Arantxa" Parra, and Melinda "The Correct Element is" Czink. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova withdrew with a pulled muscle. On court Monday are Bondarenko vs. Wartusch, Falcon vs. Leon Garcia, Birnerova vs. Martinez Granados, Ditty vs. Pelletier, Garbin vs. Cervanova, Devidze vs. Alves, and Popadic vs. Gallovits.

2004 SINGLES TITLE LEADERS
(through Feb. 22)

2--Kim Clijsters (BEL)
2--Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL)
2--Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
2--Dominik Hrbaty (SVK)
-----------------------
1--Guillermo Coria (ARG)
1--Eleni Daniilidou (GRE)
1--Lindsay Davenport (USA)
1--Anthony Dupuis (FRA)
1--Nicolas Escude (FRA)
1--Roger Federer (SUI)
1--Amy Frazier (USA)
1--Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)
1--Joachim Johansson (SWE)
1--Carlos Moya (ESP)
1--Nicole Pratt (AUS)
1--Andy Roddick (USA)
1--Paola Suarez (ARG)
1--Ai Sugiyama (JPN)
1--Vera Zvonareva (RUS)

2004 DOUBLES TITLE LEADERS
(through Feb. 22)

2--Cara Black/Renee Stubbs (ZIM/AUS)
2--Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA)

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Tennis' preeminent couple, Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters, both captured titles over the weekend...After losing the Rotterdam final, Juan Carlos Ferrero is now 11-11 in career finals...With his win at Rotterdam Sunday, Lleyton Hewitt passes Mark Philippoussis in the ATP Entry Rankings to once again claim the title of top Aussie...Spain went 0-2 in finals Sunday (Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya losing)...Guillermo "El Mago" Coria is the first Argentine to win the Buenos Aires tournament since Guillermo Perez-Roldan in 1987...Nicolas Kiefer had lost six straight matches before going on to reach the final at Memphis (l. to Joachim Johansson)...Joachim Johansson had played just 25 career ATP-level matches before winning the Memphis title Sunday, and was not broken once throughout the week...Germany's Nicolas Kiefer was given a verbal abuse warning for firing off some f-bombs during the Memphis final...Guillermo Coria took a late wildcard into Marseille this week, moving onto the hardcourts after winning on clay at Buenos Aires...Why is the logo for this week's WTA stop in Bogota a picture of an exceedingly fat woman playing tennis?...Gustavo Kuerten is looking pretty...different...with his new buzz cut...Joachim Johansson on his father, former Swedish Davis Cup player Leif Johansson: "He was a big server. A lot of people said he had a bigger serve than me, but I don't know if that's true. People in Sweden say that, but maybe over the last year they've changed their minds. Hopefully I can come back to Sweden and show them. He was my coach throughout my whole life, and has helped me a lot. I played a tournament in New Orleans once and there was a friend of his who didn't recognize my dad who came up to me and said 'You serve like Leif Johansson,' and I said 'He's my father.'"...The Bryan brothers have reached five straight tournament finals: Tennis Masters Cup doubles, Adelaide, Sydney, Australian Open, and Memphis (where they've reached four straight)...Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal is apparently recovering from a knee problem and preparing for a return at Dubai...Maggie Maleeva moved back into the Top 20 this week on the WTA Rankings.