Rejuvenated Schuettler Stops Hewitt
German Rainer Schuettler rallied from a break down in the third set to defeat
Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and advance Thursday to the quarterfinals of
Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo. Schuettler had won just two matches at ATP
tournament level this season after finishing the 2003 season at a career-high
No. 6 in the INDESIT ATP Entry Ranking with 71 match wins.
Schuettler will next meet Tim Henman, who survived his third consecutive
three-setter to defeat Chilean Nicolas Massu 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Henman breathed a
sigh of relief when he saw Schuettler topple Hewitt, an opponent he is yet to
beat in seven attempts.
Carlos Moya improved to 14-2 on clay this season and 26-5 on the year when
he defeated new Estoril champion Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 7-6 to reach the
quarterfinals. Moya is 3-0 in career meetings with Chela (all on clay). Moya
has reached four finals this year, winning titles in Chennai and Acapulco.
Moya has a 25-7 career record in Monte Carlo. He won the title in 1998 and was
runner-up in 2002. He reached the quarterfinals last year.
Moya plays Russian Nikolay Davydenko for a place in the semifinals.
Davydenko had never been beyond the second round of an ATP Masters Series
event before this week and was a modest 3-9 on the season coming into Monte
Carlo.
Tough Argentine David Nalbandian, who had not played a tournament match
since March 1 due to an ankle injury, continued his charge with a 6-3, 6-2 win
over Frenchman Fabrice Santoro. Nalbandian, who did not win an ATP title last
year despite qualifying for the Tennis Masters Cup, next meets countryman
Guillermo Coria.
Top players' absence gifts Hewitt title
opportunity
By John Roberts in Monte Carlo
21 April 2004
Independent.co.uk
Imagine next month's Monaco Grand Prix without the Schumachers, Barrichello,
Button and Montoya and you have this week's Monte Carlo Masters tennis
championships in a nutshell.
The world's top two, Roger Federer, the Wimbledon champion, and Andy Roddick,
the US Open champion, along with the charismatic Andre Agassi, chose not to
come, and, to compound matters yesterday, Juan Carlo Ferrero, the French Open
champion, stuttered to a halt on the first lap. Ferrero, who was hoping to equal
Ilie Nastase's record of winning the title three years in a row, was eliminated
in the opening round by Alex Corretja, his 30-year-old Spanish compatriot, 6-2,
6-3.
Corretja, currently ranked No 100 and here on a wild card, played commendably
well, but was helped by his opponent's errors. Ferrero's display confirmed that
his semi-final defeat in Valencia last week by another countryman, the
20-year-old Fernando Verdasco, was more ominous than was at first thought.
Ferrero yesterday refused to give a customary post-match interview, and will be
fined by the ATP Tour.
So we are left to admire the efforts of the remaining big names as they attempt
to enliven the tournament. Competitors such as Lleyton Hewitt, the former
Wimbledon and US Open champion.
On his only previous visit to the clay courts here two years ago, Hewitt was on
top of the world but had the misfortune to be drawn against Carlos Moya, the
Spanish former French Open champion, and was eliminated in the first round.
Yesterday, ranked No 19, Hewitt was drawn against Julien Benneteau, a talented
Frenchman with a wild card, ranked No 113. The Australian was made to struggle,
but at least left a visible footprint by winning, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old
Benneteau was primed to give a good account of himself after advancing to the
fourth round of last month's Nasdaq-100 Open, where he was within two points of
defeating Guillermo Coria, a French Open finalist last year.
Hewitt, having netted a backhand to lose serve at 3-4 in the opening set, won
the first five games of the second set. The Frenchman also lost his serve in the
opening game of the final set, but he broke back immediately and competed on
equal terms until Hewitt broke to love at 4-4, roaring with relief.
While Hewitt agreed that it was difficult to adjust to the different balls in
use at various tournaments, Marat Safin said the balls did not bother him as
much as his diminutive Belgian opponent, Olivier Rochus, who defeated him at
Wimbledon in 2002 and took the opening set in their match yesterday: "He has
very good hands and plays very fast," Safin said, having recovered to win, 4-6,
6-3, 6-3.
The Russian, who is based in Monte Carlo, then left to attend the Champions'
League semi-final between Monaco and Chelsea with a ticket courtesy of Roman
Abramovich. Asked if he knew the Chelsea chairman, Safin smiled and said: "No,
not personally. Friend of the friend of the friend of the concierge of the hotel
where he is staying."
Hewitt scrapes past wildcard in Monte Carlo
2004-04-20 10:15:27 GMT (Reuters)
MONACO, April 20 (Reuters) - Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt struggled
for three sets under the Monte Carlo sun on Tuesday before beating French
wildcard Julien Benneteau for his first victory in the principality.
Playing his first claycourt tournament of the year, the Australian won 3-6 6-3
6-4 after an hour and 48 minutes to reach the second round of the $2.89 million
Monte Carlo Masters.
"It's always tough... the first tournament on clay," the Australian said.
"I didn't feel too comfortable out there -- made a slow start and by the end it
was just a dogfight."
Seeded 16th, the former U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion will play Gaston Gaudio
of Argentina or Italian Filippo Volandri next.
"I can probably only get better after today's match to be honest," he said.
"The next round will be a tough match... there's not too many easy matches in
these tournaments."
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