Hewitt Hopes on Clay Diminished with 1st Rd Loss
Posted on May 23, 2006Former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, never a fan of generating his own pace on the slow red clay, lost in the first round of his lone French Open tune-up Monday, falling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) to unheralded Brazilian Marcos Daniel at the ATP stop in Poertschach.
Trailing 4-3 in the third-set tiebreak, the former world No.1 twisted his ankle and collapsed behind the baseline clutching his foot.
Richard Gasquet, who French fans have been impatiently waiting on for a breakthrough, turned his weekend misfortunes around after a loss in the qualifying, gaining entry to the main draw Monday as a "lucky loser" after the injury withdrawal of Rainer Schuettler and upsetting No. 3 seed Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in a lopsided affair.
Seeded winners on the day were (5) Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Wang) and (6) Nicolas Almagro (d. C.Rochus).
Other unseeded players into the second round were Italian Potito Starace (d. A.Martin), Czech Jiri Novak (d. Phau), Romanian Andrei Pavel (d. Berlocq), and Jurgen Melzer winning the all-Austrian battle with Stefan Koubek in straight sets.
"I was a bit nervous and should have wrapped up victory sooner," Melzer said. "I made too many unforced errors as I had to get used to the conditions. It was really hot on center court, which made play a bit slower as usual on this surface."
Highlights of Tuesday play are Marach vs. "Rappin'" Vince Spadea, (1) Davydenko vs. Zib, (4) Tursunov vs. (Q) Monaco, (7) Horna vs. Moodie, and (8) Simon vs. (Q) T.Popp.
Trailing 4-3 in the third-set tiebreak, the former world No.1 twisted his ankle and collapsed behind the baseline clutching his foot.
Richard Gasquet, who French fans have been impatiently waiting on for a breakthrough, turned his weekend misfortunes around after a loss in the qualifying, gaining entry to the main draw Monday as a "lucky loser" after the injury withdrawal of Rainer Schuettler and upsetting No. 3 seed Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in a lopsided affair.
Seeded winners on the day were (5) Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Wang) and (6) Nicolas Almagro (d. C.Rochus).
Other unseeded players into the second round were Italian Potito Starace (d. A.Martin), Czech Jiri Novak (d. Phau), Romanian Andrei Pavel (d. Berlocq), and Jurgen Melzer winning the all-Austrian battle with Stefan Koubek in straight sets.
"I was a bit nervous and should have wrapped up victory sooner," Melzer said. "I made too many unforced errors as I had to get used to the conditions. It was really hot on center court, which made play a bit slower as usual on this surface."
Highlights of Tuesday play are Marach vs. "Rappin'" Vince Spadea, (1) Davydenko vs. Zib, (4) Tursunov vs. (Q) Monaco, (7) Horna vs. Moodie, and (8) Simon vs. (Q) T.Popp.