All the important news from the first round of play in this week’s three events!
Costa do Sauipe
In the last match on Monday, Carlos Moya had some trouble beating Santiago Ventura and had to go three sets to get the job done. Today, third seed Igor Andreev’s poor start to 2008 continued when he lost badly to qualifier Eduardo Schwank , who played a solid match. Looks like the Russian just plays well when he thinks he should… Second seed Nicolas Almagro beat Nicolas Massu in straight sets. Surprisingly, Massu didn’t look interested in winning the match. After his awful loss in Davis Cup to Jamie Baker, Agustin Calleri lost again, this time to Sergio Roitman in two easy sets. Potito Starace came back from his ban and lost to Ivo Minar in three sets. One of the biggest upsets of the day was Sebastien Decoud’s win over countryman Jose Acasuso. It was Decoud’s first win on the ATP tour.
But the biggest story today is that Guillermo Coria won his first match after quite a long time. His last official win was against Calleri in Amersfoort Quarterfinals in 2006. He beat qualifier Francisco Aldi in straight sets, the second one having an unbelievable eleven breaks of serve and 18 double faults. Despite the hilarity of the stats, the win was an important one for Coria, who called it the “happiest day” of his career. okayyyyyy.
Tuesday also saw Gustavo Kuerten play his last match in his home country. Guga fought valiantly against Carlos Berlocq, playing him very tight in the first set and even having an early break. Unfortunately, after losing the first, he had to see the trainer and simply was unable to keep competing at that high level. But come back tomorrow for a special piece about Guga and his last matches in Brasil. Such a special player deserves special attention, and we will bring it to you tomorrow!
Here are the full results from Tuesday’s play in Costa do Sauipe:
Singles – First Round
[2] N Almagro (ESP) d N Massu (CHI) 63 62
[Q] E Schwank (ARG) d [3] I Andreev (RUS) 63 62
I Minar (CZE) d [4] P Starace (ITA) 64 46 62
[5] F Volandri (ITA) d [Q] D Munoz-De La Nava (ESP) 62 64
S Roitman (ARG) d [6] A Calleri (ARG) 63 62
[Q] S Decoud (ARG) d [7] J Acasuso (ARG) 63 16 76(3)
G Coria (ARG) d [Q] F Aldi (ITA) 64 75
P Luczak (AUS) d [WC] M Daniel (BRA) 75 64
O Patience (FRA) d J Brzezicki (ARG) 63 75
C Berlocq (ARG) d [WC] G Kuerten (BRA) 75 61
O Hernandez (ESP) d P Cuevas (URU) 76(5) 64
Doubles – First Round
[2] F Cermak (CZE) / L Friedl (CZE) d J Brzezicki (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) 36 63 10-8
N Almagro (ESP) / M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) d O Hernandez (ESP) / S Roitman (ARG) 63 64
[4] M Granollers-Pujol (ESP) / R Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) d P Luczak (AUS) / B Pashanski (SRB) 63 62
L Arnold Ker (ARG) / S Prieto (ARG) d N Devilder (FRA) / O Patience (FRA) 64 61
Delray Beach
In Delray Beach, the opening day provided that the tournament will have a new champion this year as both former champions in the field, Xavier Malisse and Tommy Haas, lost on Monday night. After his loss to Diego Hartfield in his first match of 2008, Haas commented that his shoulder was okay but he was feeling weak – his serve had trouble getting over 110mph, but it is good news that he is not in pain. Malisse’s downfall is that he was only able to convert 2 of 17 break points. He admitted afterwards that he just played badly and had no confidence and that the windy conditions made it even more difficult.
In today’s wind and rain-affected results, Gilles Muller beat rising American Jesse Levine in two tight sets. This marks Muller’s first ATP-level win since last year at Wimbledon. Michael Russell took advantage of Dudi Sela’s late withdrawal and beat lucky loser Alex Bogomolov Jr. losing only a single game. Mardy Fish somehow finished a match without double faulting or facing a break point, an astounding feat regardless of who his opponent was. At press time, three matches were left unfinished and several others were postponed as rain moved into Delray Beach again.
Here are the full results from Tuesday’s play in Delray Beach:
Singles – First Round
[8] M Fish (USA) d [Q] M Crugnola (ITA) 61 75
M Russell (USA) d [LL] A Bogomolov Jr. (USA) 61 60
G Muller (LUX) d [WC] J Levine (USA) 75 76(4)
I Kunitsyn (RUS) d B Becker (GER) 63 76(1)
[LL] M Mirnyi (BLR) d [Q] L Gregorc (SLO) 76(5) 62
[1] J Blake (USA) vs R Kendrick (USA) 32 – postponed due to rain
Y Schukin (RUS) vs [3] S Querrey (USA) 16 13 – postponed due to rain
[6] V Spadea (USA) vs D Gremelmayr (GER) 30 – postponed due to rain
D Young (USA) vs [Q] A Delic (USA) – postponed due to rain
[LL] A Bogomolov Jr. (USA) replaced [4] D Sela (ISR) – personal
**[LL] M Mirnyi (BLR) replaced [7] V Hanescu (ROU) – illness
Doubles – First Round
[3] E Butorac (USA) / T Perry (AUS) vs M Fish (USA) / M Knowles (BAH) – postponed due to rain
[Alt]S Huss (AUS) / A Kuznetsov (USA) vs [4] I Kunitsyn (RUS) / J Thomas (USA) – postponed due to rain
**[Alt]S Huss (AUS) / A Kuznetsov (USA) replaced D Sela (ISR) / P Capdeville (CHI)
Marseille
In Marsellie, Monday only saw two main draw matches, one of which had a notable result. Robin Soderling made a successful return to the ATP Tour after an extended injury break with a hard-fought three-set win over Jarkko Nieminen.
The big guns hit the court today and lived up to expectations, Led by top seed Andy Murray, all seeds in action won, including Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat Hyung-Taik Lee, and Marcos Baghdatis, who beat former tournament champion Arnaud Clement. Perhaps not so much an upset but a disappointment for the local French crowd, Stanislas Wawrinka beat Grosjean in three tough sets, and the aging Frenchman’s poor results sadly continue.
Here are the full results from Tuesday’s play in Marseille:
Singles – First Round
[4] A Murray (GBR) d [Q] J Huta Galung (NED) 64 64
[5] J Ferrero (ESP) d H Lee (KOR) 64 61
[6] M Baghdatis (CYP) d A Clement (FRA) 63 64
J Benneteau (FRA) d A Pavel (ROU) 62 10 ret. (lower back)
N Mahut (FRA) d [Q] M Elgin (RUS) 63 63
[Q] T Gabashvili (RUS) d M Berrer (GER) 76(5) 64
S Wawrinka (SUI) d S Grosjean (FRA) 36 64 64
Doubles – First Round
M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d I Karlovic (CRO) / L Zovko (CRO) 75 64
S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) d [WC] C Haggard (RSA) / N Mahut (FRA) 46 63 10-8
