Ferrero Finally Falls to Injury at French Open

Posted on May 28, 2004

No. 4 seed and defending champ Juan Carlos Ferrero's injuries caught up to him Thursday when the Spaniard was thoroughly spankied by unheralded Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 at the French Open.

"The rib was okay," Ferrero said. "But I start to feel some problems in the adductor. You know, in the third set, I feel some cracks, you know, strong cracks, you know, and I couldn't move so well. You know, that's it. It was pretty difficult to stay in the match with two injuries." We know.

Otherwise Ferrero seemed pretty upbeat with his spate of injuries and illnesses over the last six months. Upbeat if you look like you're going to kill yourself after the press conference.

"Probably everyone has a bad year," Ferrero said. "This is looking like a bad year for me."

Other seeds dismissed on the day were (10)Sebastien Grosjean (l. to (Q)"You Say" Potito Starace), (14)Jiri Novak (l. to Gaudio in five), (24)Jonas Bjorkman (l. to Swedish countryman Enqvist in four), and (25)Ivan Ljubicic (l. to Koubek in four).

Seeds into the third round were (1)Roger Federer (d. Kiefer), (8)David Nalbandian (d. (Q)Falla after dropping the first set), (12)Lleyton Hewitt (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer in four), (19)Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk (d. Hanescu, who retired in the fifth set with injury), (23)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. Kucera in four), (26)Al Costa (d. C.Rochus), and (28)Kuerten (d. Elseneer). (20)Marat Safin and Felix Mantilla were suspended due to darkness at 7-7 in the fifth set.

Other un-seeds into the third round were Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (d. Elsner who retired in the second set with injury), Frenchman Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau (d. Ferrer in four), and Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee (d. Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience).

On court Friday are Escude vs. Youzhny, (5)Moya vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, (22)Chela vs. Corretja, (20)Safin vs. Mantilla (to finish), Santoro vs. Roddick-killer Mutis in an all-French, (11)Massu vs. (17)Robredo, Llodra vs. Jeanpierre in another all-croissant, (3)Coria vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, and (9)Henman vs. "Julio &" Galo Blanco.

The Williams sisters led the American seeded charge Thursday at Roland Garros, with winners (2)Serena (d. Kirilinko after losing the first set), (4)Venus (d. Kostanic), and (7)Jennifer Capriati (d. Peschke).

"I think I'm working on things specifically, you know, kind of the whole mindset out there, the whole game plan of being aggressive," says Capriati, who has benefited from the cake-like draw. "I mean, can't expect it to just turn on, you know, like later on in the week. I think you have to build up to it."

Other seeds advancing were (6)Anastasia Myskina (d. Strycova), (11)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Rittner), (17)Francesca Schiavone (d. Razzano in three), (23)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (d. Likhovtseva 6-1 in the third), (25)Elena Bovina (d. Groenefeld who retired in the first set with injury), and (30)Mary Pierce (d. Leon Garcia).

A number of low-rent seeds were sent home Thursday in (12)Ai Sugiyama (l. to Ruano Pascual 6-1 in the third), (16)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (l. to Asagoe in three), (20)Conchita Martinez (l. to Navratilova-killer Gisela "Sgt." Dulko), and (29)Petra Mandula (l. to Denisa "Hanging" Chlad-kova).

Other un-seeds into the third round were Katarina Srebotnik (d. Perry), Swiss Myrian Casanova (d. Vento-Kabchi in three), and Silvija Talaja (d. Foretz in three).

Friday on the women's side at Roland Garros the seeds finally meet, with matches including an all-Russian in (10)Vera "Warren" Zvon-areva vs. (18)Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova, (3)Mauresmo vs. Parra Santonja, Garbin vs. Zheng, (9)Dementieva vs. (19)Smashnova-Pistolesi, (14)Suarez vs. Perebiynis, (8)Petrova vs. Weingartner, (5)Davenport vs. Irvin in an all-American, and (21)Maleeva vs. Shaughnessy.

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