Federer Falls to Former Roland Garros Champ Costa at ATP Rome

Posted on May 7, 2004

Is it an upset when you're beaten on clay by a former French Open champion? Perhaps only if you're world No. 1 Roger Federer.

Federer, playing his first claycourt tournament of the season, was beaten 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday by Albert Costa on the wet dirt at the ATP Masters Series-Rome.

Federer put the fear of god in the Spaniard early, taking the first set 6-3 with an almost flawless display of baseline power and touch around the net, but the Swiss' game began to collapse when Costa turned up the aggression.

"At the beginning he was hitting the ball very hard and I was a little scared," Costa said. "But then I realized that if I didn't play more aggressively I would lose, so I started to take more risks. I came off the baseline a bit more and the tactics worked."

With a set in his pocket, Federer failed to convert on three break point chances early in the second set, then the mental wheels came off.

"I played really aggressive in the beginning -- it worked well," Federer said. "And I also volleyed some great shots, which, kept me holding my serve. So I was trying to play as good as I could in the second also, but he got into the game, he got the break and started to feel how he should play me."

Only eight matches total were completed due to the rain Wednesday, with other winners including (15)Lleyton Hewitt (d. (WC)Seppi in a match continued from Tuesday), (4)Tim Henman (d. Stepanek), (8)Nicolas Massu (d. Labadze), Russian Nikolay Davydenko (d. (13)Gonzalez in three), Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna (d. (14)Verkerk in three), American Vince Spadea (d. Arazi in three), and Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta (d. Mantilla).

Four matches were suspended in-flight in (5)David Nalbandian leading Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta 3-1, (7)Sebastien Grosjean leading (Q)David Ferrer 7-6(4), 0-2, Italy's Filippo Volandri leading (11)Sjeng Schalken 2-1, and Roddick-killer Guillermo Canas tied with David Sanchez 2-2.

Due to the rain yesterday, lots of players doubling up Thursday in Rome in (6)Moya vs. Ljubicic, (11)Schalken vs. Volandri to finish, Zabaleta vs. (4)Henman, Saretta vs. (5)Nalbandian to finish, (11)Schalken or Volandri vs. Saretta or (5)Nalbandian, (Q)Karlovic vs. Robredo, (6)Moya or Ljubicic vs. (Q)Karlovic or Robredo, Safin vs. (10)Srichaphan, (Q)Ferrer vs. (7)Grosjean to finish, (8)Massu vs. Safin or (10)Srichaphan, Costa vs. Horna, (15)Hewitt vs. Pavel, Spadea vs. Davydenko, D.Sanchez vs. Canas to finish, (15)Hewitt or Pavel vs. D.Sanchez or Canas, (12)Novak vs. Mirnyi, and (12)Novak or Mirnyi vs. (Q)Ferrer or (7)Grosjean.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
World No. 2 Kim Clijsters struggled on her return to WTA tour play from a wrist injury on Wednesday, needing three sets to subdue Spanish qualifier Marta Marrero 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in Berlin.

The top-seeded Clijsters is wearing a brace around her left wrist, hampering her on the two-handed backhand.

"I wasn't expecting to come back and play my best tennis straight away," Clijsters said. "I'm glad I could get through this match. The wrist is not 100 percent and the brace is definitely restricting me but I have to live with it."

Only one seeded upset on the day, with Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga ousting (9)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva 6-1 in the third.

Other seeded winners on the day were (2)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Dulko), (3)Venus (d. Daniilidou), (4)Anastasia Myskina (d. Kostanic), (7)Elena Dementieva (d. Cohen-Aloro in three), (8)Ai Sugiyama (d. Likhovtseva), (10)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Bovina), (11)Paola Suarez (d. Schett), (13)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Gagliardi), (16)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. Dechy 6-1 in the third), and (17)Maria Sharapova (d. Mandula, who retired in the first set with injury). In two all-unseeded match-ups, Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova edged Maria Sanchez Lorenzo in three, and Croat Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem beat American Meghann Shaughnessy.

Thursday the seeds meet in Berlin, with scheduled matches including Capriati vs. Sharapova, Venus vs. Smashnova-Pistolesi, Chladkova vs. Mauresmo, Clijsters vs. The Spreminator, Dementieva vs. Kuznetsova in an all-Russian, Schnyder vs. Myskina in an all-attitude, Suarez vs. Petrova, and The Fabulous One vs. Sugiyama.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Andy Roddick reached the semifinals at the Masters Series-Rome on clay in 2002...The letter to the Argentine Tennis Federation to get Gustavo Luza canned was signed by 14 players. Thanks for the reader corrections/comments on the Dish, hopefully we'll have a bulletin board up soon where readers can relentlessly hammer our mistakes.

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