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| July 25, 2002 | Thursday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14,1423 |
Spain’s Costa on course for fourth Austrian Open crown
KITZBUEHEL (Austria), July 24: French Open champion Albert Costa cruised into the last 16 of the Austrian Open on Wednesday with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Juan Antonio Marin, keeping him on course for a fourth Austrian title.
The top seed from Spain was a winner on the Tyrolean resort’s clay in 1995, 1998 and 1999 as well as a finalist last year. He needed just over an hour to beat Costa Rican Marin.
Costa said his first grand slam win at Paris last month had made him mentally stronger and more confident.
“Here I think I’m going to play good,” he added.
Costa’s second-seeded compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero also advanced into the third round while ninth seed Marcelo Rios made a swift exit.
Ferrero, gunning for his second title of the year after Monte Carlo, made heavy weather of seeing off Georgia’s Irakli Labadze 6-4 6-4.
Ferrero next plays unseeded Dutchman Martin Verkerk, who dispatched 14th seed Hicham Arazi of Morocco.
Chile’s Rios, a winner of 18 tournaments, looked off-form in losing 7-5 6-4 to French qualifier Jean-Rene Lisnard.
Eleventh seed Stefan Koubek kept alive hopes of a first Austrian win since Thomas Muster in 1993 by giving short shrift to Romanian Adrian Voinea. The Austrian raced through a 6-2 6-3 victory in just 53 minutes.
Tenth seed Juan Ignacio Chela, fresh from beating Costa to win the title in Amsterdam last week, beat his Argentine compatriot Guillermo Coria 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-2).
Already through on Tuesday to the third round of this last major clay tournament of the year are Nicolas Lapentti and Alex Corretja of Spain.
Second round: 1-Albert Costa (Spain) beat Juan Antonio Marin (Costa Rica) 6-1 6-3; 10-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-2); 11-Stefan Koubek (Austria) beat Adrian Voinea (Romania) 6-2 6-3; 12-Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4; Jean Rene Lisnard (France) beat 9-Marcelo Rios (Chile) 7-5 6-4; 2-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Irakli Labadze (Georgia) 6-4 6-4.
LOS ANGELES: Germany’s Tommy Haas, the top seed, suffered a stunning 6-4, 6-4 loss to American teenage qualifier Alex Bogomolov on Tuesday night in the first round of the 400,000 ATP event.
Haas was playing for the first time since the French Open. He spent some time with his parents in Florida and native Germany while they were recovering from serious injuries suffered in a motorbike accident.
Clearly rusty, Haas never found his rhythm against Bogomolov, a 19-year-old from Miami ranked 278th in the world who has won three titles on the Futures circuit.
Haas had his serve broken in the ninth game of the first set.
Bogomolov scored a pair of breaks to take a 4-1 lead in the second set before Haas battled back within 5-4. In the final game, he wasted a pair of chances to win before netting a backhand service return.
Haas’ early exit from the tournament that begins the American hardcourt season leading to the US Open clears the way for a number of players, including second seed Andre Agassi.
No. 3 seed Sebastien Grosjean of France and Wimbledon semi-finalist Xavier Malisse also registered first-round wins. Grosjean beat American Jack Brasington 6-1, 6-2 and Malisse of Belgium defeated American Scott Draper 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Grosjean is playing for the first time since the French Open, where he lost in the quarter-finals to Russian Marat Safin.
He set up a second round match against countryman Michael Llodra.
Israel’s Noam Okun recorded the first upset of the tournament defeating No. 6 seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4).
In the other evening match Agassi beat Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark 6-3, 6-1.
Agassi had not played since suffering a stunning straight-sets loss to Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in the second round at Wimbledon.
RESULTS (X DENOTES SEEDED PLAYER):
First round: Alex Bogomolov (USA) bt Tommy Haas (Ger x1), 6-4, 6-4; Andre Agassi (USA x2) bt Kenneth Carlsen (Den) 6-3, 6-1; Sebastien Grosjean (Fra x3) bt Jack Brasington (USA) 6-1, 6-2; Gustavo Kuerten (Bra x5) bt George Bastl (Swi) 7-5, 7-6 (9/7); Noam Okun (Isr) bt Sjeng Schalken (Ned x6) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4); Xavier Malisse (Bel x7) bt Scott Draper (Aus) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4); Max Mirnyi (Blr x8) bt Cecil Mamiit (USA) 6-4, 6-4; Martin Lee (Gbr) bt Takao Suzuki (Jpn) 6-4, 7-5; Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) bt Vincent Spadea (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 7-6 (7/2); Brian Vahaly (USA) bt Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) 6-3, 6-1; Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Justin Gimelstob (USA) 7-5, 6-1; Robby Ginepri (USA) bt Harel Levy (Isr) 6-3, 6-2.—AFP
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