Lopez Stops Aussie Upstart Reid at ATP Sydney

Posted on January 11, 2005

Spaniard Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez put a halt to Aussie wildcard Todd Reid's hopes in the opening round at the ATP stop in Sydney Monday with a 6-4, 6-4 win.

Last year Reid thrilled the homecountry fans with consecutive quarterfinals at Adelaide and Sydney before reaching the third round at the Australian Open. This year Reid's ranking-plunging Aussie swing has included a first-round loss at Adelaide (l. to (Q) Delic) and now another opening-round disappointment in Sydney.

Also into the second round on the seeded side was former Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson with a straight-set win over Germany's Florian "Oscar" Mayer.

Un-seeds advancing into the second round Monday were Aussie wildcard Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs (d. Volandri in three), American Mardy "Silver" Fish (d. Soderling), Spain's Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco (d. Berdych in three), Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. Ferrer), and lucky loser (benefiting for the withdrawal of Mark Philippoussis) Jarko Nieminen (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer).

"I've played here probably three or four years now and I haven't had a win here," said Arthurs, who began the match with three straight aces. "I've had a couple of close matches. I had a very close match with Lleyton [Hewitt] I think probably two or three years ago. To get a win under the belt early in the season, it's always good for your confidence."

On tap for Tuesday in Sydney are (1) Hewitt vs. Beck, Stepanek vs. (2) Moya, Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. Llodra, (3) Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, (Q) Clement vs. Zib, Costa vs. Andreev, (Q) Bourgeois vs. (4) Pavel, (6) Davydenko vs. (Q) Minar, and (Q) Ventura vs. (8) Dent.