Gaudio De-Pantsed in Hamburg, Furlan Wins Seniors Rome

Posted on May 18, 2006

Furlan Shocks Bruguera for Senior Rome Trophy

36-year-old Renzo Furlan, who reached a career-high No. 19 in 1996 on the ATP Rankings, thrilled the Rome crowd Wednesday night on his birthday with a 6-4, 4-6, 13-11 win over two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera to become the first Italian to win a Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions event.

Bruguera had beaten Furlan in all seven of their meetings on clay during their playing days on the ATP tour. For Bruguera it was his first senior loss of the year on clay after raising the Barcelona title three weeks ago.

Bruguera, who could have unseated world No. 1 Marcelo Rios with the win, will have to settle for the No. 2 spot on the World Senior Rankings, while Furlan debuts at No. 7 tied with Richard Krajicek and Todd Martin.

"I had a big opportunity to play with great players like Sergi, John McEnroe and Pat Cash this week," Furlan said. "These guys are part of the history of tennis so I'm really happy to win this tournament. I had a bad record against Sergi on clay. This is my first time beating him on clay so it's a great feeling."

Furlan shocked John McEnroe in the final round robin match of his group to gain the final. The runner-up effort for Bruguera allowed him to bump Jim Courier from the No. 2 ranking.

"It was great to play out here on the Campo Centrale in front of all the fans. Of course it's always a shame to lose but Furlan played very well especially at the end of the match today and he deserved it," Bruguera said.

Cedric Pioline won the all-French face-off for 3rd/4th place, defeating Henri Leconte 6-2, 6-7(4), 11-9, taking him to the No. 3 ranking ahead of the No. 4 McEnroe, dropping Courier to No. 5.

The next senior tour stop will be in Split, Croatia on Aug. 3-6, 2006.

2006 TENNIS-X.COM WORLD SENIOR RANKINGS
(through May 17)

1. Marcelo Rios (800 pts.)
2. Sergi Bruguera (730)
3. Cedric Pioline (650)
4. John McEnroe (635)
5. Jim Courier (600)
6. Pat Cash (530)
7T. Renzo Furlan (400)
7T. Richard Krajicek (400)
7T. Todd Martin (400)
10. Thomas Muster (375)

The Tennis-X.com World Senior Rankings is a cumulative ranking for senior tour players combining results from the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions in Europe, and the Outback Champions Series in the U.S.

2006 World Senior Tour Champions

March 10-13, Naples, Florida, USA -- Jim Courier
March 29-April 1, Doha, Qatar -- Marcelo Rios
April 6-9, Hong Kong -- Marcelo Rios
April 20-23, Barcelona, Spain -- Sergi Bruguera
April 27-30, Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Todd Martin
May 13-17, Rome, Italy -- Renzo Furlan
Aug. 3-6, Split, Croatia -- ???

Last Germans Exit, Blake Thumps Murray at Hamburg

The final three German's were shuttled out of the Masters Series-Hamburg Wednesday with unseeded Max "The Beast" Mirnyi ousting No. 9 seed Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-2, former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero outlasting Rainer Schuettler 6-2 in the third, and No. 15 Radek Stepanek taking out Bjorn Phau 6-4, 6-3.

"Tennis matches are fairly simple, you make fewer unforced errors, you make more winners, most of the times you are going to win then," Mirnyi said of his net-rushing win over Kiefer. "Today I was able to do that, I didn't make as many unforced errors as I did in the past matches against him. I was pretty forward and aggressive with my game, he made more unforced errors."

No. 5 seed James Blake advanced to a third-round meeting with No. 12 Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic after overpowering Brit-Scot Andy Murray in straight sets, with Ancic outlasting Spaniard Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez 6-0 in the third.

"I am very happy with the way I was playing. I needed to be because he was returning my serve so well," Blake said. "I don't feel I was making a ton of first serves. He made me feel that. It's tough to deal with but luckily when one thing wasn't going great, my serve wasn't going great, my returns were going great. So, it's a good feeling to know that something's working, that I can attack and that I can force my game on someone else."

No. 6 seed and former French Open winner Gaston Gaudio, earlier in the week hyping his own chances after the withdrawals of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, crashed out of the event Wednesday in a three-set loss to unheralded Frenchman Gilles Simon. No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic's claycourt issues were also revealed in a straight-set loss at the hands of Argentine Jose Acasuso.

Gaudio ripped his shorts when he caught his hand in his pocket running for a ball wide, after the match refusing to talk to reporters.

"[Gaudio] looked at me like 'What is the problem? We could play like this!'" Simon said afterwards. "I was like 'No, you have to change your shorts.'"

Other seeded winners on the day were (4) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Seppi), (7) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Hrbaty from a set down), (8) Tommy Robredo (d. Serra from a set down), (13) Jarkko Nieminen (d. C.Rochus 1-and-0), and (16) David Ferrer (d. Saretta).

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco beat hot-handed Serb Novak Djokovic in straight sets, joined in the third round by fellow un-seeds Paul-Henri Mathieu of France (d. Vliegen), Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean (d. Volandri), and Swede Robin Soderling (d. Monaco).

Scheduled for Thursday in Hamburg are Ferrero vs. (16) Ferrer in an all-Spanish, (12) Ancic vs. (5) Blake, Grosjean vs. Acasuso, (7) Gonzalez vs. Verdasco, (4) Davydenko vs. (13) Nieminen, (15) Stepanek vs. Soderling, (Q) Simon vs. Mirnyi, and Mathieu vs. (8) Robredo.

Clijsters Survives Shaky Win at WTA Rome

No. 2 seed Kim Clijsters was challenged in her mission this week to re-take the No. 1 ranking with a title at the Italian Open in Rome, in second-round action Wednesday coming from a set down to defeat Japanese qualifier Akiko Morigami 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

"The clay was completely different," Clijsters said. "You have to change your mindset, and you have to adjust your movement a little bit. It takes a little bit of time, especially in a match, to get used to that and to get that feeling back."

Other seeded winners Wednesday were (5) Elena Dementieva (d. Peng by walkover), (6) Patty Schnyder (d. Dushevina), (10) Anatasia Myskina (d. Vinci in three after a bagel in the first), (11) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Nakamura), (15) Flavia Pennetta (d. Castano), and (16) Dinara Safina (d. Camerin).

Unseeded players orchestrating upsets on the day were Russian Vera Zvonareva who dropped only four games against No. 17 Nathalie Dechy, and Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues who toppled No. 18 Ai Sugiyama in three sets.

Highlights Thursday on the dirt in Rome are Hingis vs. Schiavone, Safina vs. Clijsters, Venus vs. Schnyder, Dementieva vs. Groenefeld, and an all-Russian showdown in Kuznetsova vs. Myskina.

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