Masters Cup Qualifier Gaudio Gagged at Paris

French Open champion Gaston Gaudio received a preview of his task ahead later this month at the Masters Cup, on Wednesday at the Masters Series-Paris losing in his opening-round match to Spaniard Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.

The No. 7-seeded Argentine is far and away the most comfortable on clay, but will be forced to fend for himself in Houston against the Top 7 players in the world, all who rate from strong to brilliant on the fast courts.

This year Gaudio put together a 5-7 win-loss record on hardcourt with a 1-2 record on indoor carpet, otherwise playing on the red dirt at every opportunity. The Argentine was handed the French Open title by his choking countryman Guillermo Coria, but lost in his other four claycourt final appearances at Barcelona, Bastad, Stuttgart and Kitzbuhel.

Taking a break after the French Open, Gaudio had only played two matches in three months, and this week visited the site of his greatest triumph.

"It felt great to be back in Paris," Gaudio said. "I even went back to Roland Garros again to practice this week."
FOLDHERE
Seeded winners on the day were (1) Andy Roddick (d. Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian), (6) Marat Safin (d. Ljubicic after dropping the first set in a tiebreak), (13) Guillermo Canas (d. (Q) Tsonga), (14) Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu (d. (Q) C.Rochus), and (17) Vince Spadea (d. Davydenko).

Other seeded players coming up short Wednesday were (10) Tommy "The R." Robredo (l. to Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer 6-1 in the third), (12) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (l. to (WC) Saulnier), (15) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez (l. to (Q) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi), and last week's Basel winner (16) Jiri Novak (l. to Youzhny).

The winner in the lone all-unseeded match in the second round was Czech Radek Stepanek (d. (LL) Hanescu).

The doubles results Wednesday were full of upsets in winners (WC) Benneteau/Mahut (d. (2)Bryan/Bryan in two tiebreaks), (3) Bjorkman/Woodbridge (d. Arthurs/Hanley), and Zimbabwe's finest Black/Ullyett (d. (1) Knowles/Nestor).

Thursday's line-up of third round action is (13) Canas vs. (18) Haas, (3) Henman vs. Youzhny, (14) Massu vs. (2) Hewitt, (1) Roddick vs. (Q) The Beast, (WC) Saulnier vs. Soderling, (6) Safin vs. "Tuna" Melzer, Czechs Damm/Suk vs. (3) Bjorkman/Woodbridge, Spadea vs. (Q) Stepanek, F-Lo vs. (11) Pavel, Hrbaty/Novak vs. (WC)Benneteau/Mahut, and (4)Bhupathi/The Beast vs. Gold medalist Chileans Gonzo/Massu.