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| May 8, 2003 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1424 |
Dutchman Dumps Roddick
ROME, May 7: Andy Roddick joined fellow American Andre Agassi on the Rome Masters scrapheap on Wednesday when he was dumped out of the clay court tournament by Dutch qualifier Martin Verkerk.
Verkerk, who won the Milan title earlier in the season, lost the first set to the fifth-seeded Roddick, but then hit back to win the second round clash 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4 victory over a player who was a semifinalist here last year.
However, there was no fairytale repeat success for David Ferrer who had knocked out title-holder and world number one Agassi on Monday as the Spaniard went down 6-2, 6-3 to experienced Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.
Switzerland’s fourth seed Roger Federer, the champion in Munich last week, continued his good form with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 victory over Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta.
Federer will face Spain’s Tommy Robredo, who beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-0, 6-2 and who was a quarter-finalist here last year, in the next round.
Argentine Gaston Gaudio, who put out three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten in the last round, kept up his winning ways with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over countryman Agustin Calleri and now faces either second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero or Alex Corretja.
Another ex-French Open winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov moved into the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Italy’s Giorgio Galimberti while Australian Open runner-up Rainer Schuettler of Germany put out veteran South African Wayne Ferreira 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
Second Round results:
Guillermo Coria (ARG) bt Victor Hanescu (ROM) 6-1, 7-6 (10/8); Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1; Gaston Gaudio (ARG) bt Augustin Calleri (ARG) 6-4, 6-1; Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) bt David Ferrer (SPA) 6-2, 6-3; Roger Federer (SWI) bt Mariano Zabaleta (ARG) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2; Tommy Robredo (SPA) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) 6-2, 6-0; Jiri Novak (CZE) bt Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) 6-1, 6-4; Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Alberto Martin (SPA) 6-4 6-3; Rainer Schuettler (GER) bt Wayne Ferreira (RSA) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2; Felix Mantilla (SPA) bt Mardy Fish (USA) 6-4, 6-3; Yevgeny Kafelnikov (RUS) bt Giorgio Galimberti (ITA) 7-5, 6-1; Martin Verkerk (NED) bt Andy Roddick (USA) 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4.
Clijsters cruises
BERLIN: Top seed Kim Clijsters started her campaign to regain the world number two ranking with a 6-4 6-2 win over France’s Emilie Loit in her first match at the German Open on Wednesday.
The Belgian, warming up in Berlin for the French Open starting on May 26, returned to action after a week off which made her lose the number two spot to Venus Williams.
Neither Williams sister is in the German capital with Venus nursing the stomach injury which made her pull out in the third set of the Warsaw Cup final against France’s Amelie Mauresmo on Sunday and world number one Serena taking a break.
Clijsters, who had a bye into the second round like all top eight seeds, will be back at number two if she wins here and might if she reaches the final, depending on who she faces.
The 19-year-old, who is accompanied in Berlin by her boyfriend, world number two Lleyton Hewitt, goes on to meet Colombia’s Fabiola Zuluaga in the third round.
Zuluaga knocked out American Meghann Shaughnessy 3-6 6-4 6-1 on Wednesday. Shaughnessy, the 14th seed, was one of two seeded players to fall on the third day of the $1.2 million clay court tournament.
Anastasia Myskina, seeded ninth, was also sent packing, by fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, who crushed her 6-1 6-2.
Jennifer Capriati, the fourth seed, cruised through with a comfortable 6-4 6-4 win over Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in her first match of the season on the red clay of Europe.
The 2001 French Open champion, looking forward to the Paris event, needed 89 minutes to beat Schiavone
The 27-year-old American now plays France’s Nathalie Dechy who also survived the second round easily, beating Slovenia’s Maja Matevzic 6-4 6-2.
Capriati has fond memories of the German Open, where she reached the semifinals as a bubbly 15-year-old in 1991.
Her promising career was later derailed when she lost interest in the sport and dabbled in drugs.
She was staging a remarkable comeback which eventually took her to the number one spot when she reached the final in 2001, losing to Mauresmo.
Fifth seed Mauresmo also started the tournament with a comfortable win, beating Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic 6-1 6-4 after underlining her determination by fighting back from 3-0 down in the second set.
Second round results
Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 6-1 6-4; Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4; Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzbekistan) bt Dinara Safina (Russia) 6-3 3-6 6-4; Jelena Dokic (Serbia and Montenegro) bt Marlene Weingaertner (Germany) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4; Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) bt Denisa Chladkova (Czech Republic) 5-7 6-4 6-4; Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 6-1 6-2; Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian (Switzerland) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 6-1; Anna Pistolesi (Israel) bt Anca Barna (Germany) 6-3 6-2; Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-4 6-4; Nathalie Dechy (France) bt Maja Matevzic (Slovenia) 6-4 6-2; Kim Clijsters (Belgium) bt Emilie Loit (France) 6-4 6-2; Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) bt Nadia Petrova (Russia) 1-6 6-2 6-2; Fabiola Zuluaga (Colombia) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (U.S.) 3-6 6-4 6-1.—AFP/Reuters
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