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 Hamburg awaits Kafelnikov's absence leaves No. 1 open for Krajicek, Moya
Posted: Monday May 03, 1999 12:11 PM
HAMBURG, Germany (Ticker) -- The No. 1 ranking in men's tennis is up for grabs again this week at the $2.45 million German Open, the fourth Super 9 event of the season. Although Yevgeny Kafelnikov replaced Pete Sampras as the top player this week, the Russian's reign could be in jeopardy this week from the top two seeds here -- Dutchman Richard Krajicek and Carlos Moya of Spain. With Kafelnikov pulling out of this event with a viral infection, Moya, who earlier this year had a two-week taste of life at the top of the rankings, and Krajicek can take over the No. 1 spot next week if they win here while accumulating enough bonus points. Krajicek, who won a pair of titles this season at the Guardian Direct Cup in London and the Lipton Championships -- the Super 9 event in Key Biscayne, Florida -- plays on clay in a tournament for the first time in 1999 this week. He went 1-1 on the dirt in the Netherland's first-round Davis Cup tie against France in April. The 27-year-old Krajicek is coming off consecutive quarterfinal finishes in Asian tournaments. He has reached the quarterfinals or better in his last five events. Moya, despite holding the top spot for 14 days in March, is still searching for his first title of the year. He slipped to sixth in the world after he failed to defend his Monte Carlo Open title two weeks ago. Moya, who has been hampered lately with a blister on his thumb, will defend his French Open crown in three weeks. Britain's Tim Henman is seeded third but is playing on his worst surface. He has lost two of three matches on clay this year but gained a measure of confidence two weeks ago at Monaco where he teammed with Olivier Delaitre of France to win the doubles title.
Marcelo Rios of Chile puts his aching body to the test this week as the fourth seed. Rios missed the early portion of the season with a broken rib and was forced to retire from the final of the Monte Carlo Open against Gustavo Kuerten with a thigh injury. Greg Rusedski of Britain is seeded fifth, followed by defending champion Albert Costa and 1997 finalist Felix Mantilla of Spain and Kuerten of Brazil. The top eight seeds received first-round byes. Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, Sweden's Thomas Johansson, Tommy Haas of Germany, Francisco Clavet of Spain, South African Wayne Ferreira, Cedric Pioline of France, Marc Rosset of Switzerland, and Marat Safin of Russia fill out the remaining 16 seeds. Ferreira and Safin are in action today, taking on German wild card Michael Kohlmann and Daniel Vacek of Germany, respectively. Ferreira is playing in Hamburg for the eighth time in his career, reaching the quarterfinals in 1995 and 1996. He reached his only final of the year last month in Tokyo but lost to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer. Kohlman, making his first appearance at this event after losing in the first round of qualifying last year, reached his first career tour quarterfinal last week in Munich. The youngest player in the main draw, Safin has advanced to semifinals in 1999 at St. Petersburg and Rotterdam. He defeated Vacek in the third round of the French Open last year. A pair of unseeded Americans, Michael Chang and Jan-Michael Gambill, play first-round matches today. Chang, who has lost seven of his last 10 matches, plays Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands. Gambill faces Fredrik Jonsson of Sweden. First prize is $361,000.
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