SYDNEY, 14 January 2004 — World No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero’s Australian Open preparations were left in disarray after he was dumped out of the Sydney International by unknown Australian teenager Chris Guccione here yesterday.
The 1.98-meter (6ft 6in) 18-year-old left-handed Guccione, ranked 447 in the world, thundered down 19 aces and claimed the only service break to inflict a humiliating 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) defeat on the Spaniard.
Guccione described the victory as “unbelievable” and said it was the best match of his brief career. “It’s good to see that I can match all these guys,” he told reporters.
Ferrero can be excused for harboring an intense dislike of playing in Australia after going down to Mark Philippoussis as Spain blew the Davis Cup in Australia last November.
Guccione ambushed Ferrero winning the first set in 24 minutes and went on with the job in the second set, winning through to the second round on his fourth match point.
He wrapped up the victory with an ace against the nonplussed Ferrero and will now play South African Wayne Ferreira.
Ferreira, who is one of the great survivors of the men’s tour, eliminated American James Blake 6-2, 6-4 yesterday.
Philippoussis set up a second-round meeting with under-fire Greg Rusedski today with a fitful 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. British No. 2 Rusedski has been under intense scrutiny since going public last week and confessing to a positive test for the banned substance nandrolone at a tournament in Indianapolis last July.
Apart from Ferrero’s demise it wasn’t all bad news for the Spanish Armada.
Third seed Carlos Moya, a finalist here in 1997, took out American Alex Bogomolov, 7-5, 6-4, Tommy Robredo won the all-Spanish match with Albert Costa 6-2, 6-3 and Felix Mantilla won through when French qualifier Richard Gasquet retired with heat exhaustion down 0-3 in the first set.
France had two wins with Arnaud Clement beating American Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-3 and Michael Llodra, last weekend’s Australian Hardcourt finalist, downing Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-2.
In the women’s event, Russian sixth seed Elena Dementieva ousted American Ansley Cargill 6-0, 0-6, 6-3, while South African Amanda Coetzer came from behind to defeat Swiss Patty Schnyder, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya had a surprisingly easy 6-2, 6-2 win over one-time world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova of the Slovak Republic, and Israel’s Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi eliminated Swiss Myriam Casanova 6-3, 6-3.
It’s Kuerten for Corretja in Tense New Zealand Open Showdown
In Auckland, riding a Brazilian wave, crowd favorite and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten came from the brink of defeat to oust popular Spaniard Alex Corretja from the first round of the New Zealand Open men’s tennis tournament yesterday.
Kuerten, the tournament third seed, was made to struggle for every point before taking out the two hour 46 minute match 6-7 (7- 9), 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.
The other seed to fall was eighth seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen, beaten by Fabrice Santoro, who barely raised a sweat in winning 6-1, 6-4 in a tick over an hour, while the biggest surprise of the day saw Gilles Muller from Luxembourg beat former world No. 6 Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in a lengthy three-set battle.
