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Ljubicic Wins, Baghdatis Bagged by Baby Goran at ATP Marseille
Posted on February 16, 2006
No. 2 seed Ivan Ljubicic dropped 19 total aces to successfully navigate a tricky opener Wednesday at the ATP stop in Marseille, defeating unseeded former Top 10er Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 to advance into the second round.
"I started to serve less well in the second set and gave him too many second serves," Ljubicic said. "He picked his game up as well. It's tough to come here straight after Davis Cup. But it's an important time for me, and I know I have a good chance to win matches on this surface."
No. 6 Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic defended his seeding with a difficult 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-4 win over Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, while No. 8 Sebastien Grosjean likewise put the younger French generation in its place with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Gael "Force" Monfils.
Seeds shuttled out of the event early Wednesday were No. 4 Thomas Johansson, ousted by the hot-handed 33-year-old Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro, and No. 5 Richard Gasquet, blitzed 6-0 in the third by wildcarded French countryman Arnaud Clement.
"It's a great feeling to get my 400th win, especially here in Marseille with my parents, sister and friends all watching," said Santoro, who couldn't recall who his first ATP win was over. "I don't know. I think maybe he's died by now, it was such a long time ago."
Gasquet said the effort against Clement was too much after coming off the Davis Cup weekend where he played one singles match.
"I did my best but just ran out of juice in the end," said the French teen. "I had nothing more to give. I'm extremely tired after the Davis Cup, both mentally and physically. It was tough to play against a friend, especially after being all together as part of a team over the weekend in the Davis Cup."
Other unseeded Frenchmen into the second round were Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. countryman (Q) Haehnel from a set down) and qualifier Jean-Christophe Faurel (d. F.Lopez).
Spain's Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco and Austria's Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer met in a battle of Davis cup first-round losers, with the Spaniard advancing in straight sets.
On Thursday's "B"-star-packed, French-heavy schedule in Marseille are Mathieu vs. (7) Stepanek, Andreev vs. (2) Ljubicic, Santoro vs. Rusedski, Verdasco vs. (WC) Clement, (6) Ancic vs. (Q) Faurel, (1) Nadal vs. (WC) Simon, (8) Grosjean vs. Youzhny, (LL) Korolev vs. (3) Davydenko in an all-Russian, and in doubles (3) Bhupathi/Santoro vs. Austrians Knowle/Melzer, and (1) Knowles/Nestor vs. Dent/Rusedski.
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