Another upset
Corretja falls, leaving only one of top four men's seeds
Posted: Wednesday January 20, 1999 08:11 PM
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Christian Ruud of Norway defeated second seeded Alex Corretja 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Christian Ruud, who spent much of
last season in tennis' minor leagues, knocked out second-seeded
Alex Corretja on Wednesday, leaving the Australian Open with only
one of its top four men's seeds.
Ruud, a Norwegian ranked 86th in the world, belted back loopy
groundstrokes throughout, and on the first match point, Corretja
hit a forehand long on the 30th shot, giving Ruud a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4,
6-4 victory.
Michael Chang, who in past years has usually been one of the top
four, was thwarted in his comeback effort, falling 7-6 (7-1), 2-6,
6-3, 5-7, 7-5 to 14th-seeded Mark Philippoussis, the U.S. Open
runner-up. Chang was seeded third last year, but has slumped to
27th in the rankings after a season spoiled by knee and wrist
injuries.
Ruud reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for only
the third time in 17 tries. He had his best performance in the 1997
Australian Open, advancing to the fourth round.
Corretja is the seventh men's seed left on the sidelines. At the
top, No. 1 Marcelo Rios withdrew with a back injury and No. 4
Carlos Moya, the French Open champion, lost in the first round to
Germany's Nicolas Kiefer. And top-ranked Pete Sampras stayed home.
Corretja, the French Open runner-up, never settled into his
game. He barely survived a five-set first-round match, in which
116th-ranked Takao Suzuki of Japan was serving for the match in the
fourth set.
The Spaniard's departure left No. 3 Patrick Rafter, the U.S.
Open champion, as the highest-ranked man.
In a match that ended after midnight, Rafter combined precision
ground strokes with acrobatic volleys for a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory
over fellow Australian Mark Woodforde.
"I think I'm the best player to come from Norway," said Ruud,
who finished 1997 ranked 66th, but slipped to 172nd in May and
played much of the season on the Challenger circuit, winning four
titles in six finals. He was 36-9 record on that circuit, and 4-15
mark on the main tour.
Speaking of the long rallies, he said: "It was too risky to go
for the big shots. I just tried to keep the ball in play and let
him make the mistakes. It worked out pretty well, I think."
Ruud also said a key to the match was his recovery from 0-3 in
the third.
A Briton with backbone: Tim Henman thinks he should do well at the Australian Open AP |
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"I think that made him a bit down, and he got a bit tired and
negative," Ruud said.
Corretja said he never felt comfortable on court.
"It was terrible," he said. "I came here in really good
shape, and last week I was playing good tennis. I thought I had a
good chance."
Adding to Corretja's frustrations was a warning and possible
fine for hitting a ball boy while sending a ball back at the end of
a game.
Philippoussis gained the crucial break over Chang in the 11th
game of the final set by twice running around his backhand to slam
forehands straight down the line.
Philippoussis served 20 aces to Chang's 12 in the 3-hour,
45-minute match, and dictated the pace, going constantly for
winners.
"Mark played a tough match and came up with some good shots,"
Chang said. "At the end the crucial ones went in or dribbled
over."
Chang said he was healthy again, and hoping to beat some
high-ranked players to "get the ball rolling" in an effort to
climb back to the top 10.
Philippoussis said he felt relaxed throughout.
"I was a bit lucky at the end with those let cords, but that's
tennis," he said of a couple of shots that dribbled over in the
last two games.
With the high seeds missing, No. 6 Tim Henman was in a strong
position to win his first Grand Slam event on a court that suits
him.
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Lindsay Davenport is the first American-born female since 1985 to hold the No. 1 world ranking AP |
But he had to rebound from a choppy start in blustery winds to
reach the third round with a 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over
Australian Sandon Stolle.
"I was just really pleased about the way I turned it around in
the fourth and fifth," said Henman, whose best Grand Slam result
so far has been reaching last year's Wimbledon semifinals, where he
lost to Sampras.
"Twelve months ago there's a very, very good chance I would
have lost that match. ... To be able to come through is a big
bonus, but in future rounds I have got to try and not dig holes for
myself," he added.
"This is a tournament I should do well at. The conditions are
pretty favorable for me. ... If anything, [the court] does help the
aggressive players, the serve and volleyers and the guys that are
moving forward."
No. 7 Karol Kucera of Slovakia beat Italy's Davide Sanguinetti
7-5, 6-1, 6-4, and No. 9 Richard Krajicek beat Mariano Zabaleta of
Argentina 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.
Sweden's Thomas Enqvist, who had won two tuneup tournaments,
reached the third round by beating Zimbabwe's Byron Black 7-6
(8-6), 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.
At the top of the women's lineup, Lindsay Davenport reached th
third round with the loss of just seven games in two matches.
She beat Argentina's Florencia Labat 6-2, 6-1, and disclosed
later that she had undergone experimental magnetic therapy to help
cure an elbow injury that nagged her for the last six months of
1998.
"I swear I did this magnet therapy, it's so embarrassing, but I
put my arm under this magnet and it has not hurt me one bit
since," Davenport said. "I don't know what happened, but for
three weeks in Australia it's been great and hasn't hurt once."
No. 5 Venus Williams was just as overpowering, dispatching
Sweden's Asa Carlsson 6-2, 6-1 after losing the first two games.
No. 3 seed Jana Novotna lamented the windy conditions after an
"ugly" 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia.
No 8 Patty Schnyder didn't survive, losing 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-3
to France's Amelie Mauresmo.
No. 9 Conchita Martinez of Spain beat American Brie Rippner 6-0,
6-4; No. 11 Dominique van Roost of Belgium beat Seda Noorlander of
the Netherlands 7-6 (8-6), 6-0; No. 15 Natasha Zvereva of Belarus
beat American Meilen Tu 6-3, 7-5; and Jennifer Capriati lost to
Spain's Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
Germany's Anke Huber, a 1996 finalist and 1998 semifinalist, but
now ranked No. 18, lost 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 7-5 to Austrian Sylvia
Plischke.
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