Federer Seeks Roche Counsel for Another Year



Posted on September 13, 2005


Spaniards Ferrero, Moya Win at ATP Beijing

Former world No. 1s Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya led the seeds on the opening day of play at the China Open in Beijing, each posting narrow wins in advancing into the second round.

The No. 6-seeded Ferrero came from a set down to outlast the hard-charging Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, while the No. 8-seeded Moya successfully navigated a first-set tiebreak to defeat crowd favorite Paradorn Srichaphan in straight sets.

"It was a close match and then three minutes later it was over," said Moya, who quickly ran out the second set after breaking the Thai at 3-3. "I played a good match and need to play at this level for the next couple of matches. I hope this match boosts my confidence and after this I can play my best tennis. Sooner or later I know I'm going to play well again so I hope it's here."

Ferrero appeared sloppy in the first set, and in the third blew a break and needed five match points to close things out.

"I think I played quite well and didn't want it to end because I started to feel good," Ferrero said. "On the match points, Lee saved two by hitting aces and I made mistakes on two more before the end came."

Un-seeds into the second round were Dutchman Peter Wessels (d. Arthurs), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Burgsmuller), and Austria's Stefan Koubek (d. Heuberger), all in straight sets.

On tap for Tuesday in Beijing are (WC) Bjorkman vs. (4) T.Johansson in an all-Swedish, (3) Nalbandian vs. Pless, (Q) Zeng vs. (2) Coria, (7) Youzhny vs. (Q) Healey, (WC) Sun vs. (LL) Matsui, (WC) Wang Jr. vs. (Q) Gregorc, Schuettler vs. Nieminen, Karanusic vs. Gimelstob, D.Norman vs. (Q) A.Hadad, and Udomchoke vs. Okun.

Two Seeds Win, Puerta On Today at ATP Bucharest

Both seeds in action advanced Monday at the ATP stop in Bucharest, with No. 6 Jose Acasuso defeating Argentine countryman Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets, and No. 7 Paul-Henri Mathieu coming from a set down to defeat David Sanchez 6-1 in the third.

"It was very difficult but I played very well today," said the defending champ Acasuso. "Chela is a great player, he plays very well. I felt good on the court today and I'm very happy."

Mathieu gutted out the win while still recovering from a recent illness.

"I think I played a good match, the first set was tough. I was sick at the US Open and it was difficult for me to recover," the Frenchman said. "After the first set I think I played solid. It's a good win. I had five days to practice on clay before coming so it was okay."

Also into the second round were un-seeds Davide Sanguinetti of Italy (d. Sabau), Germany's Florian Mayer (d. O.Hernandez, bagel in the second), and Frenchman Florent Serra (d. (WC) Crivoi from a set down).

Four more were added to the clay dance floor with the completion of the qualifying in Al Portas (ESP), Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP), Oliver Marach (AUT), and Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL).

On tap for Tuesday on the red dirt are (8) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Zabaleta, (1) Puerta vs. Tipsarevic, A.Martin vs. (3) Pavel, (4) Hanescu vs. "You Say" Potito Starace, Behrend vs. (2) Volandri, Waske vs. Andreev, Montanes vs. (5) Gael "Force" Monfils, (Q) Marach vs. (Q) Fyrstenberg, (Q) Portas vs. Christophe "The Roach" Rochus, Horna vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, and an all-Spanish in Almagro vs. (Q) Ramirez Hidalgo.

Seeds Schiavone, Li Advance at WTA Bali

Italy's No. 4 seed Francesca Schiavone (d. Jackson in three) and China's No. 7 Na Li (d. Llagostera Vives) were the only seeded players in action advancing into the second round Monday at the WTA stop in Bali, Indonesia.

"It was very tough, but I was tired because I had problems with the flight and it took me 40 hours to get here from New York," Schiavone of her three-set struggle.

Li, who is now 25-11 on the year, is looking to best her Estoril runner-up effort earlier in the year during the claycourt season -- or to lower the bar and settle for a semifinal.

"I was happy with my first match today -- I felt I played within myself," Li said. "My goal here is to reach at least the semifinals, so I'll be working hard this week to achieve that."

Unseeded players into the second round were Japan's Rika Fujiwara (d. Grandin 7-6 in the third), another Italian in Maria Elena Camerin (d. Domachowska in three), and the Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko (d. Cho).

The final four players completed the main draw after the final round of qualifying Monday, with winners Martina Muller (GER), Tiantian Sun (CHN), Tomoko Yonemura (JPN), and Zi Yan (CHN).

Scheduled for Tuesday in Bali are Yan vs. Prakusya, Groenefeld vs. Sprem, Bychkova vs. Mirza, Molik vs. Diaz-Oliva, Pous Tio vs. Shaughnessy, Vento-Kabchi vs. Zheng, Yonemura vs. Nakamura, and Ruano Pascual vs. Sun.

X-CORRECT
Yeu-Tzuoo Wang won the Istanbul Challenger last week.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Rainer Schuettler
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