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| April 26, 2002 | Friday | Safar 12, 1423 |
Hewitt moves ahead as Moya falls
BARCELONA, April 25: Australian top seed Lleyton Hewitt stepped up a gear at the Barcelona Open Thursday to beat Argentina’s David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-4 and move through to the quarterfinals.
Carlos Moya’s challenge at the million-dollar clay-court tournament spluttered to a halt, though, as he went down 6-4, 6-2 to Argentine baseliner Gaston Gaudio.
Moya, seeded 12 and a finalist at Monte Carlo last week, was run ragged by the 23-year-old Gaudio, who broke the Spaniard in his first service game and never looked back.
Defeat for Moya marked the first time in seven appearances in Barcelona he had failed to make it to the quarter-finals.
The result also dashed hopes of a rematch with Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat him in last year’s final and again in Monte Carlo and was due to play his third-round match against fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin later Thursday.
Hewitt’s performance against clay-court specialist Nalbandian was a clear step up from his tentative victory over Spanish teenager Marc Lopez Wednesday.
“That was much better,” said Hewitt who had been unhappy with his form the previous day. “The more matches I play on clay the better I feel.
“I wouldn’t say I’m there yet but I feel better about the way I’m hitting the ball.”
Hewitt, hitting crisply throughout, ran away with the first set and broke again for a 3-2 lead in the third.
Nalbandian broke back to love but the Argentine lost his serve again in game nine, putting an attempted drop shot into the net on break point. Hewitt served out for victory in the next.
Hewitt now faces sixth seed Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, who encountered few problems in a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Spain’s David Sanchez.
“Younes (El Aynaoui) is an under-estimated player,” Hewitt said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him.
“He’s got a big game, a big serve and a huge forehand. He’s a tough opponent on this surface and I’ll have to play at least as well as I did today to beat him.”
Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Third round: Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) beat 12-Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-4, 6-2; 15-Albert Costa (Spain) beat Stefano Galvani (Italy) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3); 1-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat 16-David Nalbandian (Argentina) 6-2, 6-4; 6-Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) beat David Sanchez (Spain) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).
Wednesday’s remaining results:
Second round: Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat 4-Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-4, 6-3; Alberto Martin (Spain) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4; 3-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 6-4, 6-3; 5-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Sergi Bruguera (Spain) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; Cedric Piolone (France) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
AGASSI WINS
HOUSTON (Texas): Top seed Tommy Haas crashed out in the second round of the $400,000 U.S. Clay Court Championships when he fell 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to Australian Wayne Arthurs Wednesday.
But second seed Andre Agassi eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 win over South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee to remain unbeaten on clay this season.
Arthurs fired 22 aces and saved seven out of eight break points, but still almost let the match slip when he went 4-1 behind to the German in the tie-break.
The Australian, though, swept the next six points to register his fifth career victory over a top 10 opponent, and his first since beating countryman Patrick Rafter in the French Open last year.
Arthurs will now take on Argentine Guillermo Coria, who also rallied to claim a 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 win over Brazil’s Flavio Saretta.
Playing in his first event since picking up a record fifth Miami Masters crown last month, Agassi appeared more comfortable on the dirt than he did in his opening-round match when he was stretched to three sets by Russian teenager Mikhail Youzhny.
The 31-year-old American, chasing his first clay court title since winning the 1999 French Open, needed just one break to take the first set against Lee, and then stamped his authority on the match by breaking the Korean to start the second.
Agassi will now meet Kristian Pless, the Dane advancing with a 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 win over Israel’s Noam Okun.
Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding:
Second round: Wayne Arthurs (Australia) beat 1-Tommy Haas (Germany) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Kristian Pless (Denmark) beat Noam Okun (Israel) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5; 2-Andre Agassi (US) beat Hyung-Taik Lee (South Korea) 6-4, 7-5; Guillermo Coria (Argentina) beat Flavio Saretta (Brazil) 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0.
KOURNIKOVA PULLS OUT
BERLIN: Russian Anna Kournikova has pulled out of the Hamburg women’s tennis tournament starting Monday and of the German Open the following week in Berlin.
Organisers said Thursday that she had refused wild cards for both events and had decided to play smaller tournaments in Bol, Croatia, and Warsaw instead.
“I am very sorry for the Berlin fans because I like it there a lot but after a long injury break I don’t feel fit enough to take part in such a demanding tournament,” she said in a statement sent to the organisers of the German Open.
Defending champion and world number one Venus Williams will be the main attraction in Hamburg with Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Jelena Dokic also in the draw.—Reuters
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