Costa Missing That Old Roland Garros Magic at ATP Barcelona

Posted on April 28, 2004

Former Roland Garros winner and No. 14 seed Al Costa led the Spanish exodus yesterday at Barcelona, where eight Spanish players made first-round exits. Costa was beaten in straights sets by countryman Al Montanes, one of two seeded upsets on the day, with Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic also taking out No. 12 Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty in three sets.

No. 13 Gaston Gaudio was the only seeded winner, dispatching of Dutchman "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter in straight sets. Other unseeded winners were former champ Todd Martin (d. Ferrer in three), Spaniards (WC)Nicolas Almagro (d. Corretja in three) and Fernando Verdasco (d. Mahut), Swede Thomas Johansson (d. (WC)D.Perez), Argentine Guillermo Canas (d. Marin), Ecuadorian elder brother and former Anna boy toy Nicolas Lapentti (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer), Brazil's Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta (d. Navarro in three), Germans Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp (d. Portas) and Daniel Elsner (d. Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 in the third), Czech Tomas Berdych (d. "Julio &" Galo Blanco), Slovak Karol Beck (d. van Lottum who retired with injury), and Belgian Kristof Vliegen (d. Koubek).

On court Tuesday are (Q)Wawrinka vs. (15)Mantilla, Gambill vs. (10)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, (6)Kuerten vs. T.Johansson, Beck vs. (8)Robredo, Acasuso vs. A.Martin, Karlovic vs. Vicente, (7)Calleri vs. Berdych, Montanes vs. (WC)Almagro in an all-ESP, Sanchez vs. Tursunov, Dell'acqua vs. (16)Zabaleta, Andreev vs. M.Lopez, Luczak vs. O.Hernandez, and (Q)Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience vs. Sanguinetti.

Two seeds went out on the opening day at Munich, with Russian Nikolay Davydenko outdueling (6)Andrei Pavel on the slow red stuff, and the smooth Armenian Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian taking out (8)James Blake. Seeds into the second round were (4)Martin Verkerk (d. J.Johansson, tuning up to defend those Roland Garros runner-up points), and (7)Taylor Dent (d. Dupuis in two tiebreaks). Romania's Victor Hanescu beat Germany's Lars Burgsmuller in the only all-unseeded match-up on the day.

"I played pretty well," said Verkerk on beating the serving machine and Memphis winner Johansson. "In the beginning he had a lot of power and it was a little tough, but then I started serving better and I played good from the back of the court. I've started the clay season better this year than last year but we will see what will happen in the next few months."

On tap today in Munich are (WC)Ivanisevic vs. (Q)Waske, (WC)Haas vs. Ulihrach, (1)Schuettler vs. Soderling, O.Rochus vs. (2)Srichaphan, Carlsen vs. (WC)Kohlschreiber, (Q)Kratochvil vs. Malisse, (5)Spadea vs. (Q)Kindlmann, (3)Novak vs. Youzhny, and Moodie vs. (Q)Pashanski.

WTA REVIEWS/PREVIEWS
Only one main draw result at Warsaw Monday, with Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga beating Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues in straights. The final round of qualifying was also completed, with Kveta Peschke (CZE), Kristen Schlukebir (USA), Henrieta Nagyova (SVK), and Elena Tatarkova (UKR) into the main draw. On court Tuesday are Smashnova-Pistolesi vs. Mikaelian, Bovina vs. Srebotnik, Domachowska vs. Kr.Schlukebir, Hantuchova vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, and Peschke vs. Douchevina.

Only one main draw match at Budapest Monday, with Italy's Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta easing by Hungarian wildcard Zsofia Gubacsi in straights. The final round of qualifying was also finished, with four into the big dance in Shikha Uberoi (USA), Kyra Nagy (HUN), Sanda Mamic (CRO), and Paula Garcia (ESP). Just when you thought this event couldn't get any better, top seed Emilie Loit withdrew Monday with a hand injury. On court Tuesday are a whole lot of Tier V players you've rightfully never heard of in Talaja vs. Kapros, Razzano vs. Mandula, Stosur vs. Nagy, Mamic vs. Leon Garcia, Uberoi vs. Bartoli, Vakulenko vs. Garcia, Perebiynis vs. Meusburger, Benesova vs. Foretz, Gallovits vs. Schett, Barna vs. Cervanova, Vinci vs. Kurhajcova, Nociarova vs. Jankovic, and Klepac vs. Sucha.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
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