Nalbandian, Lopez Upset at Rotterdam; Henman WinsPosted on February 16, 2005 David Nalbandian and Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez's hopes of crafting their indoor games came crashing down in the first round at the ATP stop in Rotterdam Monday with the Argentine and Spaniard respectively ousted by unseeded opponents.
Nalbandian was defeated in three sets by Czech Radek Stepanek, while F-Lo was outscrambled by diminutive qualifier Olivier "The Roach" Rochus of Belgium. "To beat a Top 10 guy is always nice," said Stepanek, who dropped 21 aces on the Argentine. "I'm playing well indoors for the past couple of months. I hope I can keep my form all season. I was working very hard in the off-season and I think it's paying off." Nalbandian blamed the loss on difficulties seeing the yellow balls against a green advertising backdrop. No. 3 seed Tim Henman was the lone seeded winner on the day, defeating Nicolas Kiefer in straight sets. Other un-seeds into the second round were France's Michael Llodra (d. (WC) Peter "Nuclear" Wessels, coming from a set down), and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (d. Dent). On the schedule for second-round play Wednesday are (5) Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. (Q) Wang, Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. (2) Coria, Pavel vs. (WC) Schalken, (1) Federer vs. (Q) Ulihrach, Ferrero vs. Stepanek, Grosjean vs. (Q) Wawrinka, (7) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Ljubicic, and Berdych vs. (6) Davydenko. |
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