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| February 28, 2003 | Friday | Zul Hijjah 26, 1423 |
Arazi upsets Kafelnikov
DUBAI, Feb 27: Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov was upset by Moroccan wild card Hicham Arazi, losing 6-4 4-6 6-3.
The eighth seed made too many errors against a steady opponent, especially with his volleys, and Arazi closed out the match by winning seven of the last eight points.
A disgruntled Kafelnikov stomped off the court after the match, refusing to shake hands with the umpire.
Fifth-seeded German Rainer Schuettler saved a match point before defeating last week’s Rotterdam champion Max Mirnyi to reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Open on Thursday.
The Australian Open runner-up needed two hours 39 minutes to earn his 7-6 4-6 7-6 victory against an often brilliant but sometimes erratic opponent.
Although the big-hitter from Belarus was an intimidating figure at the net and he blasted 11 aces, he also made many careless volley errors and served 15 double-faults.
Mirnyi broke to lead 1-0 when Schuettler hit a double-fault, but he was unable to serve out the set at 5-4 and the German eutersedged the tiebreak.
In the second set, Mirnyi broke to lead 5-3, lost two set points in the next game as he double-faulted three times, but he broke again for the set.
In the final set, each player broke once to take the battle to a dramatic tiebreak. On Schuettler’s first match point at 6-5, a ball from Mirnyi was called out but the umpire reversed the call.
Keeping his composure, Schuettler then saved a match point at 7-6 and finally claimed victory on his third match point.
Results (x denotes seed):
Second round: Hicham Arazi (Mar) bt Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus x8) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Rainer Schuttler (Ger x5) bt Max Mirnyi (Blr) 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-6 (10/8) — AFP
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