Suzuki revs up but crashes out
Japanese newcomer scares No. 2 seed Corretja
Posted: Monday January 18, 1999 10:05 PM
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Alex Corretja survived an early scare from newcomer Takao Suzuki AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Takao Suzuki was ranked 116th in the world, had never been in a Grand Slam event, and was playing on Center Court in a tournament where no Japanese man had won a match since 1989.
Still, for much of his 3-hour, 40-minute first-round Australian Open duel with second seed Alex Corretja, it looked like Suzuki should have been the favorite and Corretja the challenger.
The 22-year-old Japanese pushed the Spaniard around with a serve-and-volley game that sometimes had Corretja pinned in the corners and sometimes futilely chasing delicate touch shots that dropped just over the net.
Suzuki served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set before Corretja combined deadly passing shots and a bit of luck to turn the match around and win 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
"He just played fantastic tennis. He served unbelievably. Even his second serve was aggressive," Corretja said.
Suzuki blamed "heavy legs" and an inability to put in more first serves (he made 59 percent) for his loss.
He said he wasn't surprised at doing so well, and wasn't nervous about playing on Center Court, where his Japanese fans cheered him on with shouts of "Ganbare [Hang in there]."
"I want to play again here," he added.
"I think my game has improved. It doesn't matter winning or losing," said Suzuki, who reached the top 125 in the rankings last year after ending 1996 at 433rd and 1997 at 374th.
Last year, he won three titles on the Challenger circuit and reached his first quarterfinal on the regular ATP Tour in a tournament in Stockholm, beating Sweden's Thomas Enqvist, currently ranked 21st, on the way.
He was granted a wild card entry into the Australian Open, where no Japanese man has won a match since the recently retired Shuzo Matsuoka 10 years ago.
Japanese women, meanwhile, have been regulars at the Grand Slam events, and four are playing in this Australian Open. The first in action, Yuka Yoshida, lost Monday to Canadian Maureen Drake, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4. Ai Sugiyama, Nana Miyagi and Miho Saeki play Tuesday.
Corretja, playing in his 20th Grand Slam tournament, was the highest-ranked opponent Suzuki had ever played.
But Suzuki frequently left him helpless.
In the third set, he reached 4-4 by serving four aces in a row -- Nos. 15-18 out of 20 in all.
He then broke for 5-4 by forcing some errors and finally hitting a stunning drop volley off a passing attempt by the Spaniard.
Serving for what would have been a spectacular upset, he won the first point but then popped up a half-volley for Corretja to put away. At 15-15, Corretja mis-hit a forehand, but the result was a perfect lob that let him finish off the point with an overhead. Two passing shots gave him the break back to 5-5.
Asked if he considered Corretja lucky, Suzuki said, "I don't think so. Many things happen for him and for me."
In the tiebreak, Suzuki took a 3-0 lead on a angled volley, a drop volley and a miss by Corretja. But the No. 2 seed started his comeback with the 13th of his 16 aces.
Corretja broke again in the final set's first game, after eight deuces, and Suzuki called for the trainer to help him try to revitalize his legs.
"I used up my energy before then," he said.
Suzuki seemed to hobble at times after that, and Corretja easily wrapped up the match, but not before the Japanese drew huge applause for fighting off the first match point with a sharply angled backhand volley.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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