HALLE, Germany, 10 June 2003 — Rainer Schuettler made a confident start to his bid for a first tournament win on home soil when he beat Dane Kenneth Carlsen 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Gerry Weber Open yesterday.
The German, seeded second, took advantage of a host of unforced errors from Carlsen to set up a second-round meeting with either Frenchman Nicolas Escude or Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
“I actually prefer playing on grass to clay,” the Australian Open finalist said. “I think it suits my game.”
“I have improved my serve a lot in the last couple of years so I feel confident on grass now. I am only playing two grasscourt tournaments, here and at Wimbledon but I feel confident of doing well there too.”
Hoping to emulate former Halle winners Michael Stich, Nicolas Kiefer and David Prinosil, Schuettler looked set for a tough battle when Carlsen, who had won both their previous matches, broke serve in the opening game. But the world number eight hit back immediately to break back in the next game, and then lost only three more points on his own serve to cruise to the first set in 43 minutes.
Consistency was the watchword for third seed Jiri Novak as he cruised past another German, Hendrik Dreekmann, 6-2, 6-4 in little over an hour. Novak will now play either Austrian Stefan Koubek or Swiss qualifier Yves Allegro.
Fifth seed Younes El Aynaoui had no trouble against German wild card entrant Christopher Koderisch, who was playing his first ATP Tour match, winning 6-1, 6-2.
There were victories for two Spaniards as Feliciano Lopez edged out Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 7-6, 6-3 and Fernando Vicente hammered Lee Hyung-taik Lee of South Korea 6-4, 6-0, while German Lars Burgsmueller beat Swiss qualifier Jean-Claude Scherrer 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Roger Federer, the top seed, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the defending champion who is seeking a record fourth Halle title, are due to play their opening-round matches today.
Krajicek Cracks Philippoussis
in Queen’s Upset
In London, former Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek promptly found his feet on grass yesterday, knocking 14th seed Mark Philippoussis out in the first round of the 800,000-euro Queen’s club event 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. The 31-year-old Dutchman confirmed that he will be winding down his career at the end of this year — perhaps reserving the right to play on his favored grass of Wimbledon again in 2004.
Krajicek cracked open the contest on a sunny day as he saved four break points in the first set, then dominated in the second against a demoralized Philippoussis, the 1997 champion. Krajicek saved two Philippoussis set points in the first and rolled through the second set on the way to victory in 77 minutes. Frenchman Anthony Dupuis put out another Australian seed as he upset another grass threat, Britsh-based number 16 Wayne Arthurs, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8). Finn Jarkko Nieminen made the change after a Roland Garros second-week performance on clay, beating Slovak Karol Beck 6-2, 6-1 American tenth seed Jan-Michael Gambill started the grass campaign poorly for Swede Thomas Enqvist, taking a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) win.
