 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Zabaleta upsets Ferrero at Generali Posted: Friday July 25, 2003 4:24 PMKITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) -- Top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain was upset Friday in the quarterfinals of the euro925,000 (US$1 million) Generali Open, losing to Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 6-1, 6-4. Ferrero, who regained the lead in the ATP Champions race with a win earlier in the day, was dominated by Zabaleta, who capitalized on three breaks in the first set. "I have always said Zabaleta was a tough opponent and I was right," Ferrero said. "But that's tennis." Earlier, the Spaniard beat Flavio Saretta of Brazil 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the third round. Ferrero could have taken over the world No. 1 ranking from Andre Agassi of the United States with a victory in the tournament. In reaching the quarterfinals, Ferrero replaced Wimbledon champion Roger Federer atop the Champions Race, which Ferrero led for four weeks after winning the French Open in June. The top eight players in the Champions Race play in the season-ending Masters Cup. "It was very important for me to win today and I am absolutely delighted," Ferrero said. Zabaleta will next face Nicolas Massu of Chile, who beat 2001 champion Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 7-5, 6-4. Lapentti, who won this month's Swedish Open, wasted a 3-0 lead in the first set and never recovered. "I was really tired ahead of the game, as I have played nine matches in 10 days now, but I played great tennis and won deservedly," Massu said. Second-seeded Guillermo Coria of Argentina and 13th-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain advanced to their second successive semifinals in two weeks. Coria swept Lopez en route to the Stuttgart title last Sunday. Coria won twice Friday, cruising past Olivier Mutis of France 6-1, 6-0 in a third-round match postponed by rain, then ousting eighth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-3, 6-2. Coria broke his countryman twice to lead 5-1, and twice more in the second set for 4-0. Lopez upset seventh-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-5. Gaudio, with a tour-high 33 wins on clay this season, fought back after an unsteady start but appeared to tire in the third set after his three-set win over Austria's Werner Eschauer in the previous round. Lopez then capitalized on one break to beat the Argentine and advance to the semifinals.
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
