Volandri Weathers Moroccan Challenge at ATP Casablanca
Posted on April 6, 2005No. 2-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri put down the challenge of wildcard Younes El Aynaoui, who is returning to the tour after a foot injury, defeating the Moroccan 6-3, 7-6(5) Tuesday on clay at the ATP stop in Casablanca.
"It wasn't easy," Volandri said of beating the home-country El Aynaoui. "I was 5-1 up in the second set and I thought I had won the match. He had some lucky shots, hit some lines, and little by little I started thinking too much and this is never good. Plus the crowd was so much behind him, that is game grew and he could have turned the situation."
The Last of the Moroccans were eliminated Tuesday, with wildcard Hicham Arazi losing to defending champion Santiago Ventura in straight sets.
Other seeded winners on the day were (5) Florian Mayer (d. Ulihrach) and (6) Mariano Puerta (d. Behrend), while upset victims were (3) Luis Horna (l. to Clement) and (4) Fabrice Santoro (l. to Vanek in three).
Un-seeds into the second round were Spain's Dave Sanchez (d. (Q) Ascione), French qualifiers Gilles Simon (d. Acasuso in three) and Marc Gicquel (d. (Q) Mertinak from a set down), Argentina's Juan Monaco (d. Sanguinetti), and Serb Janko Tipsarevic (d. Mutis).
Scheduled for Wednesday on the red dirt are D.Sanchez vs. (8) C.Rochus, Zib vs. the defending champ Ventura, (7) Muller vs. Tipsarevic, and Nieminen vs. (2) Volandri.
"It wasn't easy," Volandri said of beating the home-country El Aynaoui. "I was 5-1 up in the second set and I thought I had won the match. He had some lucky shots, hit some lines, and little by little I started thinking too much and this is never good. Plus the crowd was so much behind him, that is game grew and he could have turned the situation."
The Last of the Moroccans were eliminated Tuesday, with wildcard Hicham Arazi losing to defending champion Santiago Ventura in straight sets.
Other seeded winners on the day were (5) Florian Mayer (d. Ulihrach) and (6) Mariano Puerta (d. Behrend), while upset victims were (3) Luis Horna (l. to Clement) and (4) Fabrice Santoro (l. to Vanek in three).
Un-seeds into the second round were Spain's Dave Sanchez (d. (Q) Ascione), French qualifiers Gilles Simon (d. Acasuso in three) and Marc Gicquel (d. (Q) Mertinak from a set down), Argentina's Juan Monaco (d. Sanguinetti), and Serb Janko Tipsarevic (d. Mutis).
Scheduled for Wednesday on the red dirt are D.Sanchez vs. (8) C.Rochus, Zib vs. the defending champ Ventura, (7) Muller vs. Tipsarevic, and Nieminen vs. (2) Volandri.