MONTREAL, 9 August 2003 — Karol Kucera sent French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero crashing out of the Montreal Masters in the third round on Thursday as Andy Roddick advanced with a convincing win over Sebastien Grosjean.
Earlier, top seed and world number one Andre Agassi booked his place in the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2 win over local hope Simon Larose.
Kucera started strongly as he battled out a 6-3, 7-5 victory over the second seeded Spaniard after overcoming a 4-1 deficit in the second set.
The Slovakian world number 41 next plays American Roddick after the sixth seed eased to a 6-3, 6-3 win over his French opponent.
“I played so badly ... it has to rank as one of my worst ever matches,” a disappointed Ferrero said.
Kucera, who battled past hard-serving Martin Verkerk in the previous round, knows that a tough challenge lies ahead against the power game of the 20-year-old Roddick.
“Roddick is a strong player from the baseline, especially on the forehand, so it’s definitively going to be tougher,” Kucera said. Roddick breezed past ninth seed Grosjean, blasting down several aces whenever the Frenchman came close to breaking his serve.
In the same half of the draw, Wimbledon champion Roger Federer cruised past Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-3, setting up a quarterfinal match against doubles partner Max Mirnyi.
Third seed Federer had to save six game points in the first set against the No. 16 seed, but the Swiss player improved his serve in the second set. With Ferrero out, Federer is poised to become the new leader of the ATP Champions Race.
World No. 32 Mirnyi of Belarus easily disposed of Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan 6-3, 6-2 as he continued to display the form that led him past world number five Lleyton Hewitt a day earlier.
In the other half of the draw, Agassi stopped Canadian wildcard Larose’s surprise run at the tournament. Larose, who beat Brazilian world No. 14 Gustavo Kuerten in the first round, began strongly by storming to a 4-1 lead.
But the 33 year-old American then took control, winning all but two of the remaining games against his 25 year-old opponent, ranked 314 in the world. Agassi lines up against eighth seed Rainer Schuettler in the quarterfinals, after the German destroyed tenth seed Jiri Novak 7-5, 6-0.
In other games, Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who beat Britain’s Tim Henman in the previous round, beat American Vincent Spadea 6-4, 6-2. Naldandian will meet Feliciano Lopez in the last eight after the Spaniard saw off Slovakia’s Karol Beck 6-4, 7-6.
Clijsters Battles Past Sharapova
to Reach Quarterfinals
In Los Angeles, top seed Kim Clijsters needed three sets to overcome Russian teenager Maria Sharapova 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 for a place in the quarterfinals of the JP Morgan Chase Open on Thursday.
The 16-year-old Sharapova, who reached the last eight at Wimbledon as a wild card last month, had knocked out French Open semifinalist Nadia Petrova in the second round but could not go the distance with the world number two.
After a crushing second set, the Belgian came back with some brilliant serves and defensive play in the third as Sharapova lost control of her booming groundstrokes.
Clijsters next faces another Russian in 18-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova, who fought past 11th seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.
Clijsters’ doubles partner, Japanese fourth seed Ai Sugiyama, also dashed the hopes of a youngster when she beat 14-year-old Ukrainian Viktoriya Kutuzova, making her WTA tournament debut, 6-2, 6-3.
Sugiyama will meet sixth seed Magdalena Maleeva in the quarterfinals after the Bulgarian trounced Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-0, 6-3.
Second seed Lindsay Davenport staved off a potential upset when she came from behind to beat unseeded Argentine Paola Suarez 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in an error-strewn match. The American meets South African veteran and eighth seed Amanda Coetzer, who toppled 10th seed American Meghann Shaughnessy 7-6, 6-3.
Australian qualifier Nicole Pratt upset seventh seed and 1995 champion Conchita Martinez of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for a place against 16th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone, who overwhelmed compatriot Rita Grande 6-3, 6-0.
