RIO DE JANEIRO, 13 September 2003 — Top seeded German Rainer Schuettler dropped just one game to unheralded American Paul Goldstein to advanced to the third round of the $380,000 Brazil Open ATP men’s tournament at the Costa do Sauipe resort near Salvador on Thursday. Schuettler posted a 6-0 6-1 victory. Local hero Ricardo Mello gave the Rio de Janeiro fans something to cheer about as he outlasted Argentine sixth seed Juan Ignacio Chela 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 after seventh seeded Brazilian Flavio Saretta had lost to Ramon Delgado of Paraguay 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
But there was no such scare for the No. 3 seed Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten who beat Werner Eschauer of Austria 6-2, 6-1, as did No. 2 seed
Sjeng Schalken of Netherlands who got past Gregory Carraz of France 7-5, 6-4. Other to advance were, No. 5 seed Vincent Spadea of the US, who beat Hermes Gamonal of Chile 6-1, 2-6, 3-1 when injury forced Gamonal to retire; Argentina’s Gaston Etlis, who was taken the distance by American Eric Taino 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) and No. 8 Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark quelled a gritty Wesley Moodie of South Africa 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.
Rubin and Dementieva
Stay on Course for Final
In Bali, Indonesia, top seeds Chanda Rubin and Elena Dementieva remained on course for a showdown after they both secured one-sided victories to reach the last four of the Wismilak International yesterday.
American No. 1 seed Rubin trounced Anca Barna of Germany 6-2, 6-2, while Russian Dementieva outplayed fifth seeded Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-2. Rubin was in ominous form as she used her huge forehand to outrally her opponent.
Four unforced errors from Barna allowed Rubin to grab a 3-1 lead and the American broke again to clinch the set when her opponent double faulted.
In the second, Barna gifted Rubin a 2-0 lead after producing two consecutive double faults in the second game. The 10th-ranked Rubin reeled off the last three games to book a place against Japan’s Saori Obata, who outlasted Indonesia’s Angelique Widjaja 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Second seed Dementieva had a tough time breaking Tamarine’s resistance. Dementieva twice broke serve in the opening set only to have Tamarine recover.
But the Russian was still able to build a 5-2 lead and broke a third time to take the set. The world No. 9 continued to run Tamarine ragged in the second and she closed out the match by winning the final four games.
Rain Halts Play at
Romanian Open Again
In Bucharest, play at the Romanian Open was halted yesterday after just 20 minutes because of heavy rain. Bad weather had also washed out play at the men’s tournament on Thursday. Four second-round matches had been scheduled to be completed yesterday, including second seed Nicolas Massu of Chile against Frantisek Cermak of the Czech Republic.
“We are waiting for the rain to stop to start the matches again,” tournament director Dumitru Haradau said. “We are also thinking of scheduling the matches later under floodlights.”
Australian Aces Recovering
Fitness for Davis Cup
In Melbourne, Australia’s Davis Cup one-two of Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis appeared to be over their US Open injury scares as next week’s date with Switzerland draws closer. But that’s just not the case for Argentina in the other semifinal in the worldwide competition, set for Sept 19-21. Their squad against Spain is already missing Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian, who picked up thigh and wrist injuries, respectively, in New York at the just-concluded Grand Slam.
Paes Not to Play
Until Next Year
Leander Paes, who is undergoing treatment in the United States for a non-malignant brain lesion, will not return to action for the rest of the year, Indian Davis Cup captain Ramesh Krishnan said yesterday.
“Leander will not play until next year,” Krishnan said in a telephone interview from Madras after speaking to Paes.
