The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Coria, Henman advance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 22, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Coria, Henman advance

MONTE CARLO, APRIL 21. Britain's Tim Henman and Argentine Guillermo Coria powered into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday. While last year's runner-up Coria made light work of German Nicolas Kiefer 6-0, 6-3, Henman was equally impressive on a surface he regards his least favourite, beating David Sanchez 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.

Having beaten American Vince Spadea in the opening round, the sixth-seeded Briton displayed another solid, if a little erratic, performance in only his second claycourt match of the season.

A semifinalist two years ago for his best ever result on clay, Henman suffered a second-set hiccup and nerves at key moments but did enough to win.

``I was a little more aggressive today... pleased with my game,'' he said. ``I am winning at the moment and that's what it is all about.'' Henman will face either Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or Chile's Nicolas Massu in the third round.

Beaten in last year's final by Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero - a shock first-round casualty this year - Coria looks more and more the man to beat. The Argentine swept past Kiefer in 75 minutes. Third seed this time, Coria has won his last 22 matches on clay and has only lost four games in his two rounds in Monte Carlo.

However, Spain's Carlos Moya, winner in 1998 and finalist in 2002, had the easiest task of the day.

His opponent, Finn Jarkko Nieminen, pulled out with a broken right wrist and the fifth seed made it directly into the third round.

In other action 14th-seeded Dutchman Martin Verkerk, the surprise French Open finalist last year, was dismissed by Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-2.

Fabrice Santoro celebrated a record 14th year at the tournament, beating Taylor Dent 6-3 6-2 to reach the third round.

The 31-year-old Frenchman is not the oldest player in the draw but no other player has visited the principality's clay courts more often. Having made his debut aged 16 in 1989, Santoro has missed the tournament just twice - in 1994 and 1999.

Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain was knocked out by compatriot Alex Corretja 6-2, 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday.

``I'm not surprised, I'm happy,'' said Corretja, the wild card entry who ended Ferrero's 12-match winning streak in Monte Carlo and his bid for a record-tying third successive title in 68 minutes.

``When you play a guy that you know is probably the best player on clay — for sure the best player on clay last season — you always know it's going to be tough.''

It was second-seeded Ferrero's second straight heavy loss on clay — he claimed only three games in the failed defence of his Valencia Open title on Saturday.

Other first-round winners on Tuesday included 1998 champion Carlos Moya, former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, and new U.S. clay court champion Tommy Haas.

Ferrero never recovered from losing his opening service game as Corretja, the 1997 Monte Carlo runner-up, carved leads of 3-0 in the first set and 5-2 in the second.

Corretja beat a top-three player for the first time since 2000, when he topped then No. 1 Andre Agassi in Washington.

``For me it's a great win,'' Corretja said. ``I think I play pretty solid, attacking very well, and of course I took advantage of his errors. He made some errors or mistakes with his forehand trying to attack.''

Fifth-seeded Moya, who lost to Ferrero in the final two years ago, overcame Armenia's Sargis Sargsian 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3. Moya, a winner this year in Chennai and Acapulco, was to meet Jarkko Nieminen in the second round, but the Finn broke his right wrist at the end of his win against Italian qualifier Uros Vico and had to withdraw.

Hewitt, who also has two titles this year, beat French wild card Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 despite making 32 unforced errors and landing less than half of his first serves.

The results:

Men's singles: Second round: Guillermo Coria bt Nicolas Kiefer 6-0, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro bt Taylor Dent 6-3, 6-2; Ivan Ljubicic bt Martin Verkerk 6-3, 6-2; Tim Henman bt David Sanchez 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-3; Nicolas Massu bt Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-4; David Nalbandian bt Feliciano Lopez 6-0, 5-7, 7-6(4); Lleyton Hewitt bt Gaston Gaudio 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-1; Carlos Moya w/o Jarkko Nieminen; Agustin Calleri bt Nicolas Escude 6-2, 6-3; Marat Safin bt Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko bt Alex Corretja 6-2, 6-1; Andrei Pavel bt Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-0.

First round: Nicolas Escude bt Gregory Carraz 6-4, 6-2; Lleyton Hewitt bt Julien Benneteau 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Nicolas Massu bt Flavio Saretta 6-3, 6-0; Alberto Martin bt Guillermo Canas 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Jonas Bjorkman bt Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 3-6, 7-5; Gaston Gaudio bt Filippo Volandri 4-6, 7-5, 6-4; Feliciano Lopez bt Robin Soderling 7-5, 6-4; David Nalbandian bt Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-0; Juan Ignacio Chela bt Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 6-3; Sebastien Grosjean bt Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-2; Wayne Arthurs bt Thierry Ascione 7-6(5), 6-4; Martin Verkerk bt Albert Portas 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Alex Corretja bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-3; Carlos Moya bt Sargis Sargsian 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3; Andrei Pavel bt Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3; Tommy Haas bt Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4; Marat Safin bt Olivier Rochus 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. — AP

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