The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : David Ferrer dethrones Gaston Gaudio

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

David Ferrer dethrones Gaston Gaudio

PARIS: Gaston Gaudio's reign as French Open champion came to an end on Monday when the Argentinian fifth seed was knocked out in the fourth round by David Ferrer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-4 of Spain.

It was the fourth time the duo had met this year but despite having lost their first two encounters of 2005 at Vina del Mar and in Barcelona, it was the 23-year-old Spaniard who went into the match with the edge of having destroyed the Argentinian 6-0, 6-1 on clay at the Rome Masters last month.

Ferrer, who won his only career title in Bucharest three years ago, will be playing in his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal, having never got beyond the second round before.

Coria shown the door

In another upset, the 12th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Guillermo Coria 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-2 to advance to the last eight.

The eighth-seeded Coria, a runner up at last year's French Open, was one of the favourites this year. He was a finalist at Monte Carlo and Rome, two key clay-court tune-ups for Roland Garros.

Davydenko had never been beyond the second round at Roland Garros in four previous attempts.

In the women's section, Justine Henin-Hardenne battled against a painful back and saved two match points against tough Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the quarterfinals.

In a three-hour and 15 minutes centre court marathon, the 2003 champion came through 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 7-5 and will take on another Russian, second-seeded Maria Sharapova, for a place in the semifinals.

``It's a bit of a miracle,'' said Henin-Hardenne.

``I've had problems for weeks and my body is hurting. I just hope I can recover for tomorrow.''

The first set was a desperately close contest with Henin-Hardenne breaking first to lead 3-1, but Kuznetsova, behind her powerful forehand, drew level at 4-5 down on the Belgian's serve.

A curious tie-break saw both players struggle to win points on their own serves and the Russian let slip a set point while serving at 6-5 up.

Close line-calls

Helped by a pair of close line-calls in her favour, Henin-Hardenne lifted the next three points to move one set up. Kuznetsova took the initiative with two consecutive service breaks at the start of the second set to move 4-0 up and although Henin-Hardenne fought her way back to 4-3, the Russian served out and levelled the match when her opponent weakly netted a second serve in the 10th game.

The match was finely poised with most games going to deuce and an exchange of service breaks left them locked together at 2-2. But with Henin-Hardenne starting to hold her sore back, she dropped her serve again on a double fault in the seventh game.

Two games later Kuznetsova squandered two match points and then she failed to serve out for the match. Henin-Hardenne eased ahead 6-5 and Kuznetsova played a poor game on her own serve to put the Belgian into the last eight.

Meanwhile, Sharapova needed just three games on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals. The Russian second seed had led Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 3-3 when play was halted on Sunday due to rain. Resuming on a windswept Court Suzanne Lenglen, Sharapova reeled off the three games required to advance 6-2, 6-3.

``I guess it was good just to have a good night's sleep,'' the 18-year-old said. She will now play either Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne or Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova for a spot in the semi-finals.

``I think I've been playing a lot better in my last two rounds than I did in my first two,'' Sharapova said. ``I've actually been feeling a lot better. I know it's definitely going to be a tough match either way. You have to expect the best.

``You know, hopefully I'll go out and just be even tougher and play even better than I have. That's the only way to go.''

No. 29-seeded Ana Ivanovic became the third teenager to reach the last eight. The 17-year-old from Serbia-Montenegro beat No. 22 Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

Kiefer pulls out

Ninth-seeded Guillermo Canas advanced to the men's quarterfinals when No. 28 Nicolas Kiefer withdrew hours before their match because of a sore neck.

Top-ranked Roger Federer equalled his best showing at Roland Garros when he advanced to the quarterfinals on Sunday, beating Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

Jeevan crashes out

In the boys' singles, India's Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan crashed out in the first round, losing 6-7(4), 6-2, 1-6 to Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov.

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