BARCELONA, 19 April 2005 — Former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson rattled off a whirlwind 6-2, 6-1 win over Austria’s Stefan Koubek in the first round of the Barcelona Open yesterday.
The ninth-seeded Swede, the 2002 winner in Australia, will face Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, who disposed of Philipp Kohlschreiber with an equally emphatic 6-1 6-2 victory, in the second round of the 850,000 euro ($1.10 million) clay-court tournament. Tenth seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia also brushed aside Frenchman Jerome Haehnel 6-1, 6-1, but there were defeats for Igor Andreev and former French Open champion Albert Costa.
Andreev, who won his first ATP tournament when he beat Spain’s David Ferrer in Valencia earlier this month, fell victim to Argentine youngster Juan Monaco 6-3, 2-6 6-3.
Monaco heads for a second round match against Max Mirnyi of Belarus who beat off a strong challenge from Costa to win through 7-6 (7-4) 3-6, 7-6 (7-2).
Costa, who won at Roland Garros in 2002, was 5-3 down in the decisive third set but fought back to force the tiebreak only to lose out 7-2 to his big-serving opponent. There was better luck for fellow Spaniard Felix Mantilla, winner in Barcelona in 1999. The 30-year-old claimed a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 victory over unpredictable Frenchman Michael Llodra.
Dutchman Peter Wessels will face Gaudio’s fellow countryman Guillermo Coria after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Cyril Saulnier of France.
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez got the better of fellow countryman Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-2 and will meet the winner of today’s all-Spanish clash between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Albert Montanes. Top seed Marat Safin of Russia and Spanish Rafael Nadal, who became the youngest winner of a Masters Series event in 15 years with his victory over Coria in Monte Carlo on Sunday, will be in action later in the week.
