Four Argentines in Men's French Open Quarters

Posted on June 1, 2004

No. 8 seed David Nalbandian beat a blister-laden No. 20 seed Marat Safin 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 on Monday, one of four Argentines to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open.

"Well, I think it's not easy to play like this (with blisters)," Nalbandian said. "For him is not easy. For me either way, it's not easy. He start the match many times. It's not easy to keep focused on the match."

Joining Nalbandian Monday in the quarters were unseeded countryman Gaston Gaudio (d. Andreev), former No. 1-ranked and No. 12 seed Lleyton Hewitt (d. Malisse), and three-time Roland Garros winner and No. 28 seed Gustavo Kuerten (d. (23)F.Lopez).

"I didn't really put any pressure or goals on myself at all," Hewitt said. "You know, I came here, you know, hoping to do well. You know, you never know with this tournament. I think there's, you know, so many times you can have so many tough matches in the early stages of the tournament, you could wear yourself out towards the end. You know, draws open up. So for me, I was just taking it a match at a time, just worrying about who my next opponent was."

The men's quarters now line up as (28)Guga vs. (8)Nalbandian, (12)Hewitt vs. Gaudio, (3)Coria vs. (5)Moya, and (9)Henman vs. (22)Chela.

Half of the men's quarterfinals will be played today in (9)Henman vs. (22)Chela (career series tied 2-2, splitting their two meetings on clay), and (3)Coria vs. (5)Moya (Coria leads 3-2, winning the last three encounters without dropping a set).

There are also some fine doubles match-ups in (4)Knowles/Nestor vs. Frenchmen (6)Llodra/Santoro, and Argentines (9)Etlis/Rodriguez vs. waffles Malisse/O.Rochus.

On court today for the women's quarterfinals are (2)Serena vs. (7)Capriati, (3)Mauresmo vs. (9)Dementieva, (14)Suarez vs. (18)Sharapova, and (4)Venus vs. (6)Myskina.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
With his win Monday, David Nalbandian has now reached the quarterfinals at all four slams, joining Andre Agassi and Marat Safin (among others, you research it)...Gustavo Kuerten is 36-5 at Roland Garros, still a far cry from Bjorn Borg's 49-2...Guillermo Coria has won all 10 sets this week, and is 35-1 on clay since losing to Martin Verkerk at Roland Garros last year...Elena Dementieva got double-bageled by Amelie Mauresmo in Paris last year...There are four Argentines in the QF of a Grand Slam for the first time ever...Guillermo Coria has owned Carlos Moya in recent times, winning the last six sets against the 1998 Roland Garros champ...Reportedly, Venus Williams has a stomach problem and Jennifer Capriati has a right thigh strain, but you didn't hear that from us. Venus remains a perfect 19-0 on clay this year, while sister Serena has won 44 of her last 45 slam matches...Forecast for Tuesday: Rain likely...Tim Henman's run to the quarterfinals of the French Open represents his best-ever performance in a Grand Slam event other than Wimbledon...Greg Rusedski is playing the Surbiton Challenger this week on grass...Highlighting the lack of depth in women's tennis nowadays, for just the fourth time in the Open Era, no unseeded players have reached the women's quarterfinals at the French Open this year...Tim Henman is bidding to become the first Brit through to the semifinals of the French Open since Mike Sangster in 1963, defeating Australia's Ken Fletcher 8-6, 6-3, 6-8, 6-3...The 24-year-old Juan Ignacio Chela is appearing in his career-first slam QF...Carlos Moya is the lone Spaniard in the men's quarters, which hasn't happened since 1999 when Alex Corretja was the lone Spaniard...There have been four men from one country in the Roland Garros quarterfinals just twice before in the Open Era. The first time was in 1969, when five Australians reached the last eight (Tony Roche, Ken Rosewall, Fred Stolle, John Newcombe and Rod Laver). The second time was last year, when four Spaniards advanced to the quarterfinals (Tommy Robredo, Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlo Moya)...Argentina could go on to provide all four semifinalists, which would be only the fourth time in the Open Era that one nation has provided all four players in the semifinals of a major. It would be the first time here at Roland Garros, the other occurrences having been at the 1976 Australian Open (Australia having the full set), the 1979 US Open (USA) and the 1995 Australian Open (USA)...Gustavo Kuerten says the U.S. players have too many holes in their games to win on clay: "Well, I think, first, to play well on this surface, you have to be, first, very all-around technically perfect. I'd say you cannot have a gap on your game or a hole that your opponent would take advantage, because it's little bit slower so you have the time to place the balls a little bit more close to the lines, and then you can make the target as you have one on the match, you know. Then I think is the toughest thing maybe for the American guys, as far as they have so many tournaments down there, and all of them probably on hardcourts, the main tournaments."...Lleyton Hewitt says its good to have Tim Henman in the quarters: "Another English-speaking guy. There's not many guys in the locker room I can talk to. No, you know, Tim plays well on this surface. You know, he's very -- you know, I think in the past, last couple years, I've seen him make I think the semis in Monte Carlo a couple years ago, beat a lot of good clay court players. He's got an awkward game."