KITZBUEHEL, Austria, 26 July 2003 — Top seed and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero suffered a surprise 6-1, 6-4 loss to ninth seeded Argentine Mariano Zabaleta in the quarterfinals of the Generali Open yesterday.
The Spaniard appeared sluggish and worn out from having to play two matches in one day at the 925,000-euro ($1.06 million) claycourt tournament.
The 23-year-old beat 15th seed Flavio Saretta 7-6, 6-3 a few hours earlier on a sweltering day after their third round encounter was rained off on Thursday.
Ferrero, last year’s runner-up, could have seized the world number one spot for the first time from Andre Agassi if he had won this last major clay event of the year.
Second seed Guillermo Coria also had to contest two matches in a day, although he managed to storm into the semifinals with a ruthless 6-3, 6-1 rout of eighth seed Juan-Ignacio Chela. The 21-year-old Argentine, who was equally unforgiving in his third-round 6-1, 6-0 victory over Frenchman Olivier Mutis earlier in the day, next faces 13th seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain. Lopez wore down another Argentine, seventh seed Gaston Gaudio 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in the day’s second quarterfinal. Unseeded Chilean Nicolas Massu became the first to reach the semifinals after wearing down 2001 Kitzbuehel champion Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 7-5, 6-4.
Roddick Shakes Off Rust to Power Into Quarters
In Indianapolis, Andy Roddick showed no signs of the rustiness which blighted his return to action earlier this week as he powered past Gregory Carraz 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the RCA championships on Thursday.
Elsewhere at the Indianapolis event, former Wimbledon semifinalist Xavier Malisse underlined his return to form and fitness with a 6-4, 6-2 third round win over Jan-Michael Gambill. Ninth-seeded Malisse of Belgium reached the last four of Wimbledon in 2002 and, after a season interrupted by a series of injuries, he looked comfortable again in his 65-minute victory over Gambill. Number two seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand was workmanlike in beating American Alex Bogomolov 6-4, 6-3 in their third round tie while Kafelnikov was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by German Kiefer.
American Robby Ginepri, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger, will meet Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, after the third seed eased past Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 6-4, 6-2. Australian Scott Draper equaled his best showing of the year by beating sixth-seeded American Mardy Fish 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 to earn a last-eight meeting with Paradorn.
Clinical Clijsters Overwhelms Liu in California
In Palo Alto, California, second seed Kim Clijsters began her quest for a second Bank of the West Classic title with a 6-1, 6-1 thrashing of American wildcard Amber Liu in their second round match on Thursday.
Earlier, seeded players Meghann Shaughnessy and Eleni Daniilidou were sent crashing out of the tournament in an afternoon of upsets. Swiss teenager Maria-Gaianeh Mikaelian took out sixth seed Shaughnessy of the US 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, while Italian veteran Francesa Schiavone romped over seventh seed Daniilidou of Greece 6-3, 6-2. However, ninth seed Lisa Raymond had little trouble moving into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over 18-year-old American qualifier Angela Haynes was to set up a match against third seed Jennifer Capriati the next day.
She was joined in the quarterfinals by Venezuelan veteran Maria Vento-Kabchi, who trounced Russia’s Alina Jidkova 6-1, 6-3.
