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Kuerten knocked out Clavet becomes first winner on Olympic center court
Posted: Monday January 10, 2000 11:35 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Francisco Clavet eliminated top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a first-round upset Monday at the Adidas International. After splitting the first two sets, the 32-year-old Spaniard had three match points before pouncing on Kuerten's second serve at 30-40 and clinching the match when the World No. 5 hit a forehand too long. Clavet, who last year became the oldest player, at 31, to finish in the top 50 on the ATP rankings, became the first men's winner on center court at Sydney's new 2000 Olympics tennis venue. Kuerten, who survived a long deuce game to go 4-4 in the decider, showed his frustration in the last game and earned a code violation for slamming his racquet after volleying into the net at 0-15 and 4-5 down. The 1997 French Open champion compiled his best season last year but said his game had suffered recently for a lack of match practice. "It's difficult, it was my first match and I had a lot of time off not playing a match," he said. "It was difficult to play my best." The Brazilian said he'd planned to use the Olympic test event to buildup for the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 17 in Melbourne, but would have to concentrate on doubles to warm-up for the first Grand Slam of the Millennium. Clavet said winning against a top five player was the best way to start a new year. "It doesn't matter what tournament you're playing or who you're playing -- it's always good to beat a top five player," he said. "It's (also) good to beat the younger players to keep them down to earth a bit." Clavet, ranked No. 38, could get a shot at one of the youngest players on the circuit in the second round if Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, winner of the Australian Hardcourt championship in Adelaide on Sunday, gets past Sebastian Grosjean of France in his first-round match on Tuesday. Defending titleist Todd Martin was playing Andrei Medvedev of the Ukraine in the next match scheduled for center court. In earlier men's matches, seventh-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia beat Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett 6-1, 7-5 and Arnaud Clement of France defeated Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the opening women's match on center court, sixth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France dropped the first set before overcoming Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-7 (7-2), 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and 29 minutes. Mauresmo, runner-up to Martina Hingis at last year's Australian Open, traded breaks three times with Sugiyama before losing a first-set tie break. Mauresmo recovered her serve and dominated the second set to win 6-0. She had a match point at 5-2 in the third before losing her grasp on that game and then surrendering another break of serve to allow Sugiyama back into the match. Sugiyama saved another match point at 5-6 with a desperate forehand passing shot to force the tie-break but Mauresmo kept her composure to win the decider 7-5. "I didn't play my best tennis but it's good to win your first game of the season -- it's good for your confidence," said Mauresmo, whose powerful physique attracted plenty of media scrutiny at last year's Australian Open. She said she'd been impatient to get back to Australia after an "up and down" year in 1999 and had refocussed her off-court training from gym sessions to concentrate on running and injury prevention. In other women's matches, Olga Barabanchikova, a qualifier of Belarus, came from a set down to upset Germany's Anke Huber 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, Dominique Van Roost of Belgium defeated Argentine qualifier Paola Suarez 6-2, 6-2 and Russia's Elena Likhovtseva defeated Sandra Nacuk of Yugoslavia 6-7 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
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