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Rafter, Kafelnikov out Two seeds defeated at Dubai Open
Updated: Wednesday February 28, 2001 10:29 PM
DUBAI (Reuters) -- Andrei Medvedev thumped fifth seed Patrick Rafter 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday while third seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov was beaten by Sweden's Thomas Johansson. Australian Rafter made a fine start against Medvedev, who is feeling his way back following a lengthy break from the game. The Ukrainian tore two ligaments in his right foot at the end of July, and didn't play or practice again until December. Rafter gained a break in the second game and led 4-1 before letting things slip. He double-faulted twice in succession to drop his serve in the seventh game, and although he held a set point at 6-5 Medvedev escaped and then dominated the tiebreak. Rafter managed to sneak the second set, but he double-faulted again to gift Medvedev a 3-1 lead in the decider. "I just felt like I struggled all day out there, especially with my serve -- and that didn't give me much confidence for the rest of my game," Rafter said. "I just wasn't convincing with my serve and volley game today. I missed too many volleys and let him back into the match. "I had that set point and I guess it would have been different if I'd have broken and won the first set, but it's disappointing. "At the end of the first set he was starting to return very well. He was seeing my serve very well and he was aggressive from the baseline and I couldn't force the issue. "One thing I was impressed with today was his second serve. It was very deep and hitting the lines. I couldn't be aggressive on it." Medvedev was thrilled to be in the quarterfinals so soon after his comeback, which began in Auckland last month. "Today I can say I played one of my best matches in a very long time," he said. "I started badly and slowly got myself back into the match and won the tiebreak, and everything seemed to fall into place. "The last two sets, even though I lost the second one, I thought I played very, very well. If I would have lost this match I would still have come out and said I was happy." Johansson's 7-6, 7-5 victory means he has now won his last six meetings with Kafelnikov, suggesting that he would be a valuable addition to the team that will play Russia in the second round of the Davis Cup in April. Although the Swede broke serve in the opening game Kafelnikov broke back immediately, and the pattern was repeated after Johansson broke to lead 4-3. Then, after Johansson claimed the first set on a tiebreak, it was Kafelnikov who got the break to lead 4-3 in the second. The Russian went on to serve for the set at 5-4, but was broken, and after holding off a break point at 5-5 Johansson broke serve again for the match, winning the last four games. In other action, last year's runner-up and number seven seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain eased into the quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 win over Czech Jiri Novak, and sixth-seeded Slovak Dominik Hrbaty edged through a tough battle with Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic 5-7 7-6 6-3. Second seed Magnus Norman was also stretched, the Swede recovering from 2-4 in the final set to beat Romania's Andrei Pavel 1-6 6-3 7-6. Top seeded Russian Marat Safin beat Julien Boutter of France 7-5 7-6(7-5). German qualifier Lars Burgsmuller reached the quarterfinals when last week's Rotterdam champion Nicolas Escude retired after losing the first set 6-2. The Frenchman slipped while going for a ball on the very first point of the match, and despite receiving treatment was unable to continue.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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