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| October 16, 2002 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 9, 1423 |
Srichaphan shocks Kuerten
MADRID, Oct 15: Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan sent former world number one Gustavo Kuerten spinning to a 6-4 6-4 defeat on a day of surprises at the Madrid Masters Tuesday.
Frenchman Arnaud Clement had earlier been outfoxed 7-6 3-6 6-4 by Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez.
Kuerten, the three-times French Open champion, found himself pinned back by Paradorn’s fizzing serve and accurate groundstrokes during the first round match on a slowish indoor court in the Spanish capital.
The Brazilian, who underwent hip surgery earlier in the season, put himself firmly back on the comeback trail by reaching the final in Lyon last week but Tuesday he was comprehensively beaten by Paradorn in just 76 minutes.
“Kuerten was a bit slow moving around court but that may have been because I was moving him around a lot,” said Paradorn, who goes on to face British number one Tim Henman in the second round.
“I was very confident out there. I felt I had nothing to lose.”
In another first-round match, Lopez came back from 3-5 down to take the first set against Clement in a tie-break, a finely judged lob from the back of the court giving him the crucial mini-break.
A poor backhand from the Spanish left-hander gifted Clement a break in game three of the second and this time the Frenchman held on to his advantage to force a decider.
Clement could not maintain his momentum, however, losing his serve in game three to give Lopez the definitive break.
The tournament, being held in Madrid for the first time since shifting from the German city of Stuttgart, will have a major say in the line-up for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup, with six places still up for grabs.
Results (x denotes seed):
First round: Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) bt Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 6-4, 6-4; Jan-Michael Gambill (USA) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3; Feliciano Lopez (Spa) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4; Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) bt Michel Kratochvil (Swi) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.—AFP
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