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MUNICH, April 29: Rainer Schuettler, competing in Germany for the first time since reaching the Australian Open final in January, made a winning start to his Munich Open campaign against Austria’s Juergen Melzer on Tuesday.
Schuettler came through 6-4 6-3 but the local favourite had to fight for 90 minutes before converting his first match point to defeat Melzer, who reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Clay Court Championships last week, falling to eventual champion Andre Agassi.
“It was a tough match as expected and I had to fight for it,” said Schuettler, seeded fourth in the $380,000 claycourt tournament, in which he reached the final last year.
“I was a bit nervous and I’m not entirely satisfied with the way I played,” added the German, who faces an interesting test in the second round against Nikolay Davydenko.
The 21-year-old Russian, who has won his first two titles this year, advanced on Tuesday with a 7-5 6-1 win over American Cecil Mamiit.
Briton Tim Henman, the seventh seed, also survived the first round with hard-fought 7-5 4-6 6-1 victory over baseliner Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador — only his second win of the year after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Results:
Rainer Schuettler (Ger) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-4, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Cecil Mamiit (USA) 7-5, 6-1; Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Olivier Mutis (Fra) 6-3, 6-2; Tim Henman (Gbr) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1; Harel Levy (Isr) bt Kenneth Carlsen (Den) 6-3, 6-1; Raemon Sluiter (Ned) bt Renzo Furlan (Ita) 7-5, 6-4 Jean-Rene Lisnard (Fra) bt Martin Verkerk (Ned) 6-2, 6-4; Roger Federer (SWI) bt Zeljko Krajan (CRO) 6-4, 6-3; Mikhail Youzhny (RUS} bt Jan-Frode Andersen (NOR) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
DUPUIS DUMPS CORRETJA
VALENCIA (Spain): Frenchman Anthony Dupuis beat Spanish third seed Alex Corretja 5-7 6-3 6-4 to cause the first major upset at the Valencia Open on Monday.
Corretja, playing the inaugural edition of the claycourt event on a wildcard, edged the first set but dropped his serve twice in the second as Dupuis forced the decider.
Corretja came back from 3-5 down, saving a match point along the way, but the Spaniard lost his serve in the next game to hand victory to his opponent.
“The vibrations were bad throughout the game,” Corretja said.
Seventh seed Jose Acasuso of Argentina also fell on the opening day of a tournament taking place in Valencia after a move from Mallorca. Acasuso went down 6-4 7-6 to the Austrian Markus Hipfl.
Top seed and local hero Juan Carlos Ferrero will make his debut against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Tuesday.
First round results
Albert Portas (Spain) bt Karol Beck (Slovakia) 6-2 6-2; Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Magnus Norman (Sweden) 7-5 4-6 7-5; Fernando Vicente (Spain) bt Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-3; Markus Hipfl (Austria) bt Jose Acasuso (Argentina) 6-4 7-6 (9-7); Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) bt David Ferrer (Spain) 6-4 6-1; Anthony Dupuis (France) bt Alex Corretja (Spain) 5-7 6-3 6-4.
PRIZE MONEY RAISED
LONDON: Wimbledon announced a 9.5 percent increase in singles prize money for this year’s championships on Tuesday.
The men’s champion will receive 575,000 pounds ($915,600), 50,000 pounds more than Lleyton Hewitt received in 2002, and the women’s winner will take away 535,000 pounds. Serena Williams earned 486,000 for her win over sister Venus last year.
Prize money in the other events is the same as last year. In total the purse will be 9.37 million pounds.
Tournament chairman Tim Phillips said: “Leading athletes in top spectator sports such as tennis are rightly well rewarded for their outstanding talent and the entertainment they bring us.
“To reflect market forces, Wimbledon this year is paying a substantial increase to singles competitors while holding doubles prize money at last year’s level.”
First round losers in the men’s singles will make 8,630 pounds, 750 pounds more than last year. Women’s singles first round losers will earn 6,900 pounds, an increase of 600 pounds.—Reuters/AFP
