Spadea Punks Schuettler at ATP Rome

Posted on May 4, 2004

Unseeded American Vince Spadea provided the talking point at the Masters Series-Rome Monday, outlasting No. 3 seed Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Spadea led 5-1 in the third, but Schuettler tied it at 5-5 when the American broke and served it out.

"Obviously it's tough to come out here and play the world No. 5 and third seed in the opening round," said Spadea, who had lost his previous two matches against Schuettler. "I was disappointed I didn't put away the match at 5-2 (in the third set), but I had to stay positive. He forced me to work hard to win the match."

Schuettler was runner-up at the Masters Series-Monte Carlo in April. There was one other seeded upset on the day, with (16)Juan Ignacio Chela falling to Argentine countryman Mariano Zabaleta in straight sets.

Seeded winners on the day were (4)Tim Henman (d. (Q)Mayer), (5)David Nalbandian (d. Soderling), (6)Carlos Moya (d. countryman A.Martin), (10)Paradorn Srichaphan getting a rare claycourt win (d. (WC)Di Mauro in three), (11)Sjeng Schalken (d. Arthurs 6-1 in the third), and (13)Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez (d. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty).

Other un-seeds into the second round were Czech Radek Stepanek (d. Ivanisevic), qualifiers David Ferrer of Spain (d. (WC)Sanguinetti in three) and "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Haas in a three-set shocker), Spaniards Al Costa (d. (Q)Corretja) and David Sanchez (d. (Q)Andreev), Romanian Andrei Pavel (d. N.Lapentti), and Brazil's Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta (d. (Q)Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, saving two match points 7-6 in the third).

On court Tuesday are (1)Federer vs. Bjorkman (Fed leads meetings 2-0), Volandri vs. Kiefer, Canas vs. (2)Roddick (tied 1-1), (15)Hewitt vs. (WC)Seppi, (8)Massu vs. (Q)Dell'Acqua, F.Lopez vs. (7)Grosjean, (WC)Pescosolido vs. Safin, Barcelona winner Robredo vs. (9)Philippoussis, Mantilla vs. Ginepri, Clement vs. Ljubicic, Labadze vs. Gaudio, (12)Novak vs. Blake (Novak leads 3-1), T.Martin vs. (14)Verkerk in an all-big man match-up, (LL)Koubek vs. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Luis "Me So" Horna vs. Youzhny, (LL)Ramirez Hidalgo vs. Arazi, and Sargsian vs. Munich winner Davydenko.