BARCELONA, 30 April 2004 — Argentine Gaston Gaudio swept to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over defending champion Carlos Moya in the third round of the Barcelona Open yesterday.
In the quarterfinals Gaudio will face three-times French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, who defeated Argentina’s Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Kuerten built up a 5-0 lead in the first set but Canas fought back, winning the second set in a tiebreak, only for the Brazilian to take the third with the help of his trademark powerful baseline shots.
Moya, the Spanish number two seed, struggled to find his rhythm after Gaudio, Barcelona champion in 2002, consolidated an early break of serve to claim the first set.
Moya fought back from 3-1 down in the second set but was unable to peg back his 13th-seeded opponent and failed to win a single point in the last game of the match.
Gaudio adapted better to courts slowed by rain, which had delayed the start of play for four hours. He also took full advantage of his strong service, which Moya was unable to threaten.
Another Argentine, No. 3 seed David Nalbandian, eased his way to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spanish wild card Marc Lopez but countryman Mariano Zabaleta went out 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 to fifth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.Belgian qualifier Kristof Vliegen secured his place in the quarterfinals of the $1.17 million claycourt tournament with a 6-3, 6-4 win over France’s Olivier Patience.
Schuettler Downs Haas in All-German Clash
In Berlin, top seed Rainer Schuettler maintained his perfect record against fellow German Tommy Haas to advance to the Munich Open quarterfinals yesterday.
Schuettler, runner-up at the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday, won the second-round match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, his fourth victory in as many matches between the pair.
Schuettler goes on to meet Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.
Jiri Novak, seeded third in the claycourt tournament, lost in straight sets to fellow Czech and occasional doubles partner Radek Stepanek.
The unseeded Stepanek won 6-3, 7-5 and will next meet Peruvian baseliner Luis Horna, who advanced to the last eight by knocking out seventh-seeded American Taylor Dent. Horna was leading 6-4, 3-1 when Dent withdrew because of injury.
Mauresmo Battles Past Daniilidou
In Warsaw, top seed Amelie Mauresmo overcame a strong challenge from Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, winning 6-2, 7-6 (7 3) to reach the quarterfinals of the J and S Cup yesterday. The match was always going to be a difficult one for Mauresmo. Daniilidou has been in good form this year, retaining her title in Auckland and then recently reaching the semifinals in Miami, and she provided a good test for the defending champion.
She was extremely persistent and Mauresmo found it almost impossible to out-rally her, especially in the second set. In the first, Daniilidou was let down by her serve. She paid the price for three double-faults in the second game as Mauresmo broke to take a 2-0 lead, but Daniilidou responded by breaking back in the fifth game with a fine backhand winner.
In other second round matches, third seed Vera Zvonareva beat Lenka Nemeckova 6-1, 6-3, and ninth seed Francesca Schiavone set up a meeting with Mauresmo by overcoming Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-3.
Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova needed just 40 minutes to overwhelm Vera Douchevina 6-0, 6-1, sixth seed Silvia Farina Elia struggled before getting the better of Polish wild card Marta Domachowska 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and Magdalena Maleeva will meet Venus Williams after upsetting seventh seed Patty Schnyder 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
