GSTAAD (Switzerland), July 11: Marc Rosset dropped to his knees in pure relief after a welcome victory into the quarter-finals Thursday at the 600,000-dollar Swiss Open.
The 30-year-old Swiss, the 1992 Barcelona Olympic champion, upset fourth seed Andre Pavel on the fast clay of this resort village, taking a 7-5, 7-6 (7/1) second-round victory.
Rosset remains the last home hope standing after five who started the week. The Geneva player is competing in only his third main draw at the ATP level this year, having had to drop down to the Challenger level as his ranking sunk.
He knows the pressure is on: “I’ve lost the feeling of playing in front of crowds. I was in Challengers in front of two or three people. It’s always fun to play at home.
“I was very nervous before the match, I didn’t want to lose one and two. I was lucky and got off to a good start.”
The Swiss reached the quarters in February in Marseille, losing to Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
His other top level performances this season were a first-round defeat at the Masters in Miami and a first-round victory on grass at Queen’s club prior to Wimbledon, where he lost to 16th seed Nicolas Escude.
Rosset and Pavel last met three years ago, with the Romanian winning in three sets at Miami. Rosset’s two wins in the series came in Russia on indoor carpet in 1998 and 1999.
Pavel was fresh off a knockout of Argentine Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian in the first round.
Seventh seed Gaston Gaudio advanced over young Russian Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 to line up against Rosset in the Friday quarters. Gausionj won their match a year ago. “I remember having a lot of break points,” said Rosset. “It was a tight two sets.”
Spaniards were dominating the bottom half of the day’s program on a perfect sunny day at 1,080 metres.
Second seeded French Open finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero was taking on compatriot David Sanchez in the pair’s first meeting. Ferrero stopped compatriot Alberto Martin in the first round.
Two-time champion and eighth seed Alex Corretja, who lost in the Roland Garros semi-finals will battle Felix Mantilla, another former winner in the Alps.
The two have squared off on five previous occasions with Corretja n arrowing leading the head-to-head, 3-2. However, Mantilla has defeated Corretja on two of four meetings on clay.
Results
Second round:
Alex Corretja (Spa x8) bt Felix Mantilla (Spa) 6-4, 6-4; Marc Rosset (Swi) bt Andre Pavel (Rom x4) 7-5, 7-6 (7/1); Gaston Gaudio (Arg x7) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.—dpa