Ferrero Beats Pain for Opening Win at French Open

Posted on May 26, 2004

Defending champ Juan Carlos Ferrero showed what a pain-killing injection can do for an injured rib, putting on an impressive display in beating a hot-handed Tommy Haas 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to move into the second round Tuesday at the French Open.

"You know, at the beginning I feel like, you know, I couldn't play in 17 or 20 days one match and also one set, because I have a lot of problems," said the No. 4-seeded Ferrero, whose problems also extend to his grasp of English. "So I start to feel better and better in the second set, you know. I start to feel my forehand very good, you know, and my backhand. Physically, I start to feel a little bit tired in the third set, but I was passing the -- enjoying the time and try to not thinking physically I'm tired."

Ferrero is attempting to defend big ranking points from his win over Dutchman Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk in the 2003 final. The rib injury for Ferrero is just one of many problems striking the Spaniard in 2004, including the chickenpox and a wrist injury.

Top-seeded Roger Federer set the tone for his run at a first Roland Garros title with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 spanking of Belgium's Kristof Vliegen. Club Fed was joined among the seeded winners by (8)David Nalbandian (d. Gasquet), (10)Sebastien "Skateboard Kid" Grosjean (d. (Q)K.Kim), (12)Lleyton Hewitt (d. (WC)Di Pascuale in four), (14)Jiri Novak (d. Dupuis in four), (19)Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk (d. (WC)Boutter), (20)Marat Safin (d. Calleri who retired in the third set with injury), (23)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. N.Lapentti in four), (24)Jonas Bjorkman (d. Dent in five), (25)Ivan Jlubicic (d. Arazi in five), (26)Al Costa (d. Saretta in four), and (28)Gustavo Kuerten (d. (Q)Almagro in five).

Un-seeds into the second round were two Germans in Nicolas Kiefer (d. Ascione) and (Q)Daniel Elsner (d. (Q)Peya), three Belgians in Gilles Elseneer (d. Hidalgo Ramirez in five), Christophe Rochus (d. (LL)M.Lopez) and Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (d. (7)Schuettler, coming back to Earth on the dirt), three French homeboys in (WC)Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience (d. Volandri), Julien Benneteau (d. (29)Max "The Beast" Mirnyi in four), and Fabrice Santoro (d. countryman (32)Clement 16-14 in the fifth, setting the record for the longest match), Spaniards Felix Mantilla (d. (LL)Salzenstein in four) and Dave Ferrer (d. O.Rochus), Austrians Stefan Koubek (d. D.Sanchez 6-0 in the fifth) and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. W.Ferreira in four), Slovak Karol Kucera (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic), Korean lucky loser Hyung-Taik Lee (d. Soderling coming back from 0-2 sets down), Italian qualifier "You Say" Potito Starace (d. Tursunov), Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla (d. Pless in four), Russian Igor Andreev (d. Vacek), and Swedish veteran Thomas Enqvist (d. Carlsen). Suspended by darkness was an all-Argentine dirtball battle with Guillermo Canas tied with Gaston Gaudio 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 3-6.

On court Wednesday for the men are (3)Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. Monaco, Santoro vs. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze, (9)Henman vs. Burgsmuller, Agassi-killer Haehnel vs. Llodra in an all-FRA, (22)Chela vs. Verdasco in a bell-ringer, (30)Zabaleta vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Canas vs. Gaudio to finish, (21)Pavel vs. Youzhny, (5)Moya vs. Vicente in an all-ESP, (2)Roddick vs. the Frenchman Mutis, Mayer vs. Escude, (11)Massu vs. Voltchkov, "Julio &" Gallo Blanco vs. Luis "Me So" Horna, (13)Srichaphan vs. Corretja (run, don't walk, to the betting site), (27)Spadea vs. Jeanpierre, and (17)Robredo vs. Garcia-Lopez.