TOKYO, 1 October 2003 — Top German seed Rainer Schuettler swept aside Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi to reach the third round at the Japan Open yesterday.
The Australian Open finalist, who has never reached the quarterfinals in his three visits to Tokyo, cruised through 6-0, 6-4 win in 81 minutes.
“I had a pretty good start, that was difficult for him. I think he was more under pressure, he had to risk more, so he also made more mistakes, because he had to go for the shots,” said Schuettler.
Other winners were 1999 Japan Open winner and sixth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, seventh seed Lee Kyung-taik of South Korea and American eighth seed Jan-Michael Gambill.
But 16th seed Gregory Carraz of France lost to Dennis van Scheppingen of the Netherlands 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, and 12th seed John van Lottum, of the Netherlands, went down to Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland 2-6, 3-6.
Kiefer breezed past American Alex Bogomolov Jr. 7-5, 7-6 (9-7), Lee outclassed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, and Gambill shot down Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 6-3, 6-4.
Russia’s new tennis heart-throb, 16-year-old Maria Sharapova, cruised through her first round match for the loss of two games against South Korean Kim Jin-hee.
The fifth seed pummeled South Korean 6-2, 6-0 behind a flurry of baseline winners.
Big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who stunned defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of Wimbledon, dispatched Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-4.
The 2.08-meter Karlovic will next play second seed Sebastien Grosjean of France in an intriguing second-round match.
Meanwhile, Ashley Harkleroad made a superb start in the women’s tournament as the 18-year-old American demolished Japanese wildcard Maika Ozaki 6-0, 6-0 in blustery conditions.
Safina Ousts Maleeva to Advance in Moscow
Russian wild card Dinara Safina got her bid for a first WTA title on home soil off to a flying start at the $2.3 million Kremlin Cup yesterday by ousting defending champion Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria.
The 17-year-old Safina, who has won two WTA titles since turning professional last year, held her nerve against a spirited fightback by her more experienced opponent before coming away 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 winner in their first round tie.
In the second round Safina takes on Italy’s Francesca Schiavone, who battled back from a set down to oust Russian Lina Krasnorutskaya 2-6, 6-0, 6-4.
US eighth seed Meghann Shaughnessy crashed 7-5, 6-3 in her first round tie with big-hitting Greek Eleni Daniilidou.
In the men’s event, Argentina’s Agustin Calleri, the second seed, cruised into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Russia’s Denis Golovanov. Calleri, 27, broke twice in the first set to gain a 1-0 lead in 25 minutes.
Eighth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov opened his quest for the sixth title here with a 6-0, 7-6 (13-11) first round win over compatriot Igor Kunitsyn.
Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny suffered a 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 defeat at the hands of Austria’s Stefan Koubek in their first meeting.
Crowd favorite Marc Rosset of Switzerland — the only player to have played in all 14 tournaments here — barely broke a sweat in booking his second round place hammering Germany’s David Prinosil 6-1, 6-1.
