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Entry system ranking: 143 (282 points (-1)) Champions Race: 126 (7 points)(-3) Current tournament: Place: Monte Carlo, Monaco Next tournament:
Place: Munich, Germany
Date: April 29 - May 5, 2002 Draw Size: 32 Surface: Clay Prize Money: US $381,000 Stadium Court Seating: 3,800 Tournament Director: Rudi Berger Website: www.iphitos.de
Thanks Ivanna for the photo! (Norman in Bueno Aires)
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Fan favourites Rafter,
Kuerten advance at Masters-Canada Source: Canadian Press Publication date: 2001-08-01 MONTREAL (CP) - Fan favourites Pat Rafter and Gustavo Kuerten each scored two-set victories Wednesday to move into the round of 16 at the $2.95-million US Tennis Masters Series-Canada. Rafter, the ninth seed from Australia, downed Sweden's Magnus Norman 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) while the top-seeded Kuerten of Brazil beat Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-1, 6-4. Rising American talent Andy Roddick upset former world No. 1 Carlos Moya of Spain 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in a side-court thriller at du Maurier Stadium and fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrera of Spain downed Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-3. Rafter and Kuerten are on opposite sides of the draw and can only meet in the final, but in a tournament that has already lost stars like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin to injury or first-round upsets, they have emerged as the favourites. "As a player, you never look that far ahead," said Rafter, who is easing back into tournament play after his loss in the Wimbledon final to Goran Ivanisevic. "There's still too many good guys in my way and in Guga's way. I take it one match at a time." That's especially true for Kuerten, the three-time French Open champion whose next opponent is the talented Roddick. "It'll be a tough match, I'm sure," said Kuerten, a finalist in Montreal in 1997. "I'll have to be ready when I get a chance because there probably won't be many chances, especially when he's serving." The ninth-seeded Rafter, a two-time U.S. Open winner who won the Canadian event in 1998 in Toronto, improved to 4-0 in his career against the unseeded Norman, a former top-5 player on the rebound from a hip injury. Rafter, who took a break in Bermuda after Wimbledon, said he was "a bit of a mental midget right now." "My concentration was coming and going more than I'd like it to," he said. "And Magnus didn't play great tennis. "It turned into a pretty ugly match, but they're always good to get through. I'll have to play better as the tournament goes on." Roddick, 18, who has rocketed into 35th spot in ATP ranking this year, wasted two match points in the second set after exhorting the du Maurier Stadium crowd to applaud what he thought was his impending victory. Moya, coming off a win on clay courts in Croatia two weeks ago and an emotional win over Montreal native Greg Rusedski in the first round, battled back to tie the set 5-5. He then broke Roddick's serve before forcing a third set, moving the young American to whack the net in disgust. The two held service in the final set until Moya broke for a 5-4 lead and Roddick smashed his racquet on the court, drawing a warning from the chair umpire. "I was thinking 'I'm going to get my first ATP fine,"' Roddick joked later. But Moya handed service back with a weak game, Roddick held with two sizzling aces and put the match away with another service break. "I wasn't upset at the two match points, I was upset at the game I played at 5-5," said Roddick, who hopes to improve his ranking at least enough to be among the 32 seeds at the U.S. Open at the end of the month. A win over Kuerten would help that cause immensely. "I've never played him before, but I like to play against the best players," said Roddick. "That's what I'm out here for." In another upset, Jerome Golmard of France downed 13th seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-4, 6-3. Johansson won the tournament the last time it was held in Montreal in 1999. Clement Arnaud of France, the 10th seed, breezed by Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-1, 6-2. Alberto Martin of Spain ousted 17th seeded Dominik Hrbaty of the Czech Republic 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-4 and Jan-Michael Gambrill of the United States, seeded 16th, downed Noam Behr of Israel 6-3, 7-6 (9-7). Fabrice Santoro of France finally lost a set to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer but still won their match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In four previous meetings, Santoro had not dropped a set to Kiefer.
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