HALLE, Germany, 13 June 2003 — Top seed Roger Federer moved a step closer to his first grasscourt title by beating Spaniard Fernando Vicente 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the Halle Open quarterfinals yesterday.
The world number five, who faces Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in the last eight, dropped serve in the opening game to hand Vicente an advantage which he maintained to take the first set. But the Swiss then began to play more aggressively, dominating the net, and Vicente had no answer as Federer leveled the match.
Another break put him 2-0 up in the third and he raced away with the set to clinch victory in one hour, 23 minutes.
Fifth seed El Aynaoui, a quarterfinalist at this year’s Australian Open, ended the run of another German, Lars Burgsmueller, 6-3, 6-3.
The Moroccan, with his big forehand working well, dominated the early proceedings against Burgsmueller, and one break was enough to give him the first set.
Burgsmueller lifted the crowd’s expectations when he broke El Aynaoui to lead 2-0 in the second set, but the German then dropped his serve immediately.
Three break points for Burgsmueller came and went in the sixth game, and El Aynaoui snatched the vital break in the seventh game, before breaking again two games later to seal victory.
Karol Kucera, who beat three-times champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the opening round, saw off Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-3 to reach the last eight.
The Slovakian next plays another Frenchman Arnaud Clement after the eighth seed outplayed hard-hitting Croat Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-2.
Hewitt and Roddick Motor
Into Stella Quarters
In London, Lleyton Hewitt survived a huge scare in the shape of a giant Belgian yesterday before narrowly keeping alive his hopes of a record fourth successive Stella Artois title.
The Australian world number one and Wimbledon champion withstood a barrage of swinging left-handed serves and powerfully-clubbed ground strokes from Dick Norman before finally advancing 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in a shade over two hours.
Hewitt’s reward is a place in the quarterfinals of the 800,000-euro grasscourt event, where he will play France’s Sebastien Grosjean, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Todd Reid.
Hewitt was joined in the last eight by third seed Andy Roddick, who was also made to fight for his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Britain’s Greg Rusedski.
During the Center Court match Roddick threatened Rusedski’s service speed record with a 147 miles (236.6 km) per hour delivery. That serve was officially clocked as the second fastest ever, just a touch slower than Rusedski’s world record 149-mph (239.8 km) serve hit in Indian Wells five years ago. Roddick will face fellow American Taylor Dent in the last eight.
An imposing figure at the best of times, the 2.03 meter Norman is even more of an obstacle on a slick grass court and Hewitt was made to scrap all the way.
After nicking the opening set on a tiebreak he was powerless to prevent the towering Belgian from charging through the second to square matters at Queen’s Club.
With clouds gathering overhead, the two seemed inseparable in the third set as it lurched toward what looked like an inevitable tiebreak. At 4-4, Norman threw everything at Hewitt, forcing the top seed to fight off six break points.
A cheeky lob over the enormous Norman clinched Hewitt the game and five points later the match was his when the Belgian’s backhand rolled along the turf into the net.
In later action, second seed Andre Agassi takes on former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek while British number one Tim Henman meets France’s Cyril Saulnier.
