Spadea Stuns Seeded Schuettler at ATP Masters Rome

Posted on May 5, 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.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two-time Berlin champ Conchita Martinez was ousted in the first round Monday at the Tier I WTA stop, tripped up by Spanish countrywoman Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Two other seeds in action advanced in (11)Paola Suarez (d. (Q)Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues), and (16)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. Maleeva). Qualifiers had their day Monday, with four winners in Croatian Jelena Kostanic (d. Pisnik), Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi (d. Black), Spain's Marta Marrero (d. (Q)Camrin), and France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. (WC)Gehrlein).

Other unseeded winners were Germans Anca Barna (d. Pratt in three) and wildcard Julia Schruff (d. (Q)Tu), Russia's Elena Bovina (d. (Q)Zi Yan "Can Cook"), and Czech Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (d. Parra).

On court Tuesday on the red dirt are Shaughnessy vs. Dokic, Safina vs. Sharapova, Capriati vs. Schruff, Barna vs. Petrova, Zvonareva vs. Perebiynis, Schnyder vs. Hantuchova, Groenefeld vs. Sprem, Pierce vs. Likhovtseva, Vakulenko vs. Mandula, Pastikova vs. Dulko, Schett vs. Srebotnik, Mikaelian vs. Kuznetsova, Golovin vs. Daniilidou, Zuluaga vs. Testud, and Dechy vs. Strycova.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Vince Spadea's Monday win over Rainer Schuettler at the MS-Rome was his third Top 10 win of the year...The WTA Tour identified player Emmanuelle Gagliardi as Italian rather than Swiss in their Berlin tournament notes -- stone...Carlos Moya has never surpassed the quarterfinals in Rome: "I believe I am one of the favorites, but I will not say biggest favorite because it's just the first day. I played well today, but usually I don't play very well in Rome -- I don't know the reason. So hopefully this is going to be a good year for me. I got here playing really well. I'm very confident."...Goran Ivanisevic on losing first round in Rome: "The shoulder felt okay, but I play very bad today, I don't know. It is not a problem that I play bad, everybody can play bad, but I don't feel good on the court. I felt little bit lost, like I never played tennis before. Because he didn't do anything. He served okay, but, otherwise, he just put one ball in the court and that was it, you know. He didn't have to do anything. So I just didn't feel very good...I'm playing because I want to play Wimbledon and there is two choices -- to stay home and practice for two months, which I don't want to, because I don't have fun to practice so much anymore. And, plus, you know, two months, again stop and then play...Or is just to be on the tour and play. Because there are weeks I play okay. I didn't win, but that was okay. Today was not good. But for me it?s better to play, just to have a match. Shoulder is better when I play, it?s like an engine. When you stop, and then it needs time to go on again. So more I play, shoulder is better."...Tennis Canada introduced Michael S. Downey as its new president and chief executive officer Monday...Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Mary Pierce beat Tathiana Garbin and Alina Jidkova in three sets in their first round match at Berlin...Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams are not entered in Rome next week...SI's Jon Wertheim says that the rumor mill says that Heinz Gunthardt will coach Jennifer Capriati...Kim Clijsters is playing again this week in Berlin but with a wrist brace: "I cannot put as much spin on my backhand as I want and that's a problem. I guess claycourt is not the best surface to come back on because you need a lot of spin but I have to be careful. I must not overuse my backhand."