BANGKOK, 28 September 2004 — Thomas Johansson survived two match points before upsetting sixth seeded Feliciano Lopez in the opening round of the Thailand Open yesterday.
The Swede, who won the 2002 Australian Open but missed the entire 2003 season with a knee injury, took one hour 49 minutes to edge through 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 against the tall Spaniard. Lopez earned his first match point at 5-4 with a fiercely-struck backhand pass only for Johansson to serve the 11th of his 13 aces. Johansson’s netted backhand gave Lopez a second match point, but he buried a forehand in the net.
The Swede dominated the first set on the back of some heavy forehands, but Lopez leveled the match as he surrendered just three points on serve in the second set.
Johansson had break points in the first game of the decider and another at 3-3 but it was a more aggressive Lopez who almost snatched victory.
Now fully recovered from his injury, Johansson is approaching the form he showed in winning the Australian Open.
The only other action on the opening day of the $550,000 event saw Flavio Saretta of Brazil brush aside Indian wildcard Prakash Amritraj 6-3, 6-3. World No. 1 Roger Federer is the top seed at the indoor event with American Andy Roddick, recent China Open winner Marat Safin and Thai icon Paradorn Srichaphan providing plenty of strength in the draw. Federer, fresh from winning the US Open, starts his campaign against Frenchman Nicolas Thomann, with Roddick set to face a qualifier.
Canas Struggles to Win in Shanghai, Ferrero Pulls Out
In Shanghai, a tired but determined Guillermo Canas of Argentina held off a strong early charge from Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to win his first round Shanghai ATP match 7-6 (7 1), 6-1 here yesterday.
Canas, the tournament’s second seed, needed one hour and 45 minutes to shake off his opponent. A tough first set saw the Argentine fall behind early before he found his form with a decisive 7-1 win in a tiebreak.
The 26-year-old Canas, who was last victorious in Stuttgart in July this year, said he was pleased with his start and felt “more confident” as the game progressed.
The Buenos Aires native, who last year was plagued by injuries, said jetlag had prevented him from sleeping properly in the past two days, which severely affected his play in the early stages of the match.
French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was the Shanghai tournament’s top seed, pulled out of his match Monday due to an injury to his right hand suffered during Davis Cup play in France at the weekend, organizers said. With the Spaniard gone, the field of 32 now includes last year’s champion Mark Philippoussis of Australia and runner-up Jiri Novak of the Czeck Republic, competing for $380,000 in the ATP event that runs until Oct. 3.
In other first round matches, Denmark’s Kenneth Carlsen downed Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1, while Davide Sanguinetti of Italy topped Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3.
Pakistan Defeat Sends New Zealand to New Low
In Islamabad, New Zealand was condemned to zonal qualifying for the first time in its Davis Cup history after losing to Pakistan in a hard-fought tie here yesterday.
Pakistan’s unassuming hero was Aqeel Khan who overcame tough resistance from New Zealand’s Simon Rea to win 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 after four and a half hours of fierce tennis.
The Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group I third round playoff went into a fourth day after the last reverse singles could not be completed due to bad light on Sunday. The teams were level at 1-1 after Friday’s singles but Pakistan surged ahead with a straight sets win in the doubles.
