El Mago Coria Brutalizes Schuettler in ATP Monte Carlo Final

Posted on April 27, 2004

Guillermo "El Mago" Coria extended his claycourt winning streak to 26 matches Sunday with a convincing 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 win over Rainer Schuettler in the final of the ATP Masters Series-Monte Carlo.

It is the second title of the year for Coria after the clay stop in Buenos Aires, with the 26-match streak extending from last year.

"It was very important to keep my head together and to stick to my tactics," Coria said on dismantling the baseline game of the German. "I had to stay in there a long time, and I had to play deep, and I had to put as much pressure on him as I could whenever I had the opportunity. The first set was very important mentally...he was playing quite firmly and quite strong. I kept being strong because I was able to finish the match, but he started serving hard."

Coria says he likes his chances at the French, with the Monte Carlo title a usual early indicator.

"I hope to follow in the footsteps of Ferrero, who won first Monte Carlo and then the Roland Garros," Coria said. "Guga won here also."

Schuettler, not known for his claycourt prowess, dispatched of three former No. 1s en route to the final in Lleyton Hewitt, and former French Open champs Gustavo Kuerten and Carlos Moya.

"I think right now he's just playing unbelievable good tennis," Schuettler said. "That's it. If you see, it's not a big difference from the tennis point of view. I mean, everybody in the Top 100 can beat each other. So it's not a difference, I think, from a tennis point of view. It's just, I mean, right now he's very confident."

It was also the second consecutive Masters Series final for Coria, who retired against Andy Roddick at the MS-Miami with injury. El Mago is now the odds-on favorite for the upcoming French Open, with defending champ Juan Carlos Ferrero struggling to fully recover from the chickenpox. While Coria pulled from Barcelona this week citing a "groin injury" after the Monte final, it is likely a tactical maneuver to get a week's rest before the back-to-back Masters Series events beginning next week in Rome, then Hamburg.

In the doubles final the unseeded team of Tim Henman/Nenad Zimonjic defeated (7)Gaston Etlis/Martin Rodriguez 7-5, 6-2 for their first title as a team. During the week the champions also defeated Arnaud Clement/Sebastien Grosjean, Australian Open champions Fabrice Santoro/Michael Llodra, Chileans Fernando Gonzalez/Nicolas Massu, and No. 5 seeds Martin Damm/Cyril Suk.

ATP PREVIEWS
This week the ATP moves on to claycourt stops in Barcelona and Munich. The Barcelona event, the Open Seat Godo, features an ungodly number of Spaniards and Argentines fighting it out in the 64-draw format. Eleven of the 16 original seeds are of Spanish or Argentine origins, with Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero sitting this one out to further recover from the chickpox, but with defending champ Carlos Moya back to increase his standing for the French Open.

The 16 seeds at Barcelona are Moya, David Nalbandian, Chileans Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez, former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten, Agustin Calleri, Tommy Robredo, Juan Ignacio Chela, Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, former No. 1 Marat Safin, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, Gaston Gaudio, former French winner Al Costa, Felix Mantilla and Mariano Zabaleta. Guillermo Coria withdrew Sunday night citing a groin injury after his MS-Monte Carlo win.

The Top 8 seeds receive byes in Barcelona, with few intriguing first round match-ups of interest, but floaters in the draw include Valencia winner Fernando Verdasco, former champ Todd Martin, Spanish wildcard Marc Lopez, former French runner-up Alex Corretja, Guillermo Canas, Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (vs. (12)Hrbaty), and former MS-Hamburg winner Al "The Dropshot Dragon" Portas.

In last year's controversial final, Moya lead Safin 5-7, 6-2, 3-0 when the Russian retired saying he just "too tired" to go on. The Bryan brothers won the doubles title, with the No. 2-seeded Americans besting the No. 7 seeded South Africans Haggard/Koenig in straights. Returning champs in the field are Moya (2003), Gaudio (2002), Safin (2000), Mantilla (1999), T.Martin (1998), and Costa (1997).

Rainer Schuettler takes the top seeding in Munich, joined by seeds Paradorn Srichaphan, Jiri Novak, Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk, Vince Spadea, Andrei Pavel, Taylor Dent, and James Blake. Wildcards went to Tommy Haas, Goran Ivanisevic, and Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber. Tough first round match-ups include (6)Pavel vs. Russian Nikolay Davydenko, (3)Novak vs. Russian Mikhail Youzhny, (7)Dent vs. Frenchman Anthony Dupuis, (8)Blake vs. Sargis Sargsian, (4)Verkerk vs. serving machine Joachim Johansson making his return from injury, and the clay-challenged (2)Srichaphan vs. Belgium's Olivier Rochus.

World No. 1 Roger Federer chose not to defend his title, last year easily besting No. 8 seed Jarkko Nieminen in the final. Novak (2001) is the lone returning champ in the field. On court Monday are J.Johansson vs. (4)Verkerk (first meeting), (8)Blake vs. Sargsian, Burgsmuller vs. Hanescu, Davydenko vs. (6)Pavel, Kucera vs. Stepanek, and Dupuis vs. (7)Dent.

FED CUP WORLD GROUP 1ST RD. RESULTS
U.S. d. Slovenia 4-1
Austria d. Slovak Republic 3-2
Russia d. Australia 4-1
Argentina d. Japan 4-1
Italy leads Czech Republic 2-1, suspended due to rain
France d. Germany 5-0
Spain d. Switzerland 3-2
Belgium d. Croatia 3-2

WTA PREVIEWS
Top 10er Amelie Mauresmo leads the charge on the dirt this week at Warsaw, Poland, including eight of the Top 20 players on the WTA Rankings, joined by seeds Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Paola Suarez, Silvia Farina Elia, Patty Schnyder, and Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi. Two wildcards went to Russian Vera Douchevina, and Poland's Marta Domachowska.

Frenchwoman Emilie Loit is the top seed at the talent-depleted Tier V stop in Budapest this week, joined by seeds Petra Mandula, Anika Kapros, Anca Barna, Barbara Schett, Iveta Benesova, Arantxa Parra, and Jelena Jankovic.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Former No. 1 Pat Rafter married his longtime girlfriend and underwear model Lara Feltham on Saturday at a Fijian island resort after keeping his plans secret for a year...Rainer Schuettler was attempting to become the first German to win in Monte Carlo since Baron Gottfried von Cramm won back-to-back titles in 1936-37...Top seed Luis "Me So" Horna won the Bermuda Challenger last week, with Greg Rusedski losing in the first round...American Jeff Morrison won the Mexico City Challenger...Guillermo Coria pulled from Barcelona this week citing a groin injury, good play considering the back-to-back Masters Series events beginning in Rome and Hamburg next week...Masters Series-Monte Carlo organizer Patrick Dominguez on Andy Roddick pulling out last week: "I was, myself, practically sure he wouldn't come -- not even practically, I was sure he was not coming, but the rule is the rule. You can't change the regulations. As long as a player is involved in a tournament, he cannot withdraw from the next tournament, so we had to abide by the law and wait. We were very happy when he finished Houston. Indeed, we would have been able to fix the draw in order not to have (Arnaud) Clement and (Sebastien) Grosjean playing each other in the first round, for example. So after that we had a meeting with some members of the ATP board in order to try to change that rule, because this rule is completely unfair and not adapted to the reality of tennis. Because, in fact, the result is that we lied to ourselves, and we lied to everybody else."