ESTORIL, 28 April 2005 — Former French Open champion Albert Costa rolled back the years as he dumped fifth seed Nicolas Massu out of the Estoril Open yesterday.
Costa was trailing 3-6, 3-2 when bad light stopped their first round match on Tuesday but he was transformed when play resumed yesterday as he ran out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner.
Another seed to fall was Swede Joachim Johansson, the number three being bundled out by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-4 in the second round. The 51st ranked Costa admitted that he was heading out of the tournament before bad light intervened yesterday. Lucky loser Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica continued his impressive progress, reaching the quarterfinals after opponent Agustin Calleri retired with a back injury while trailing 6-4, 3-1.
In the women’s draw, second seed Dinara Safina celebrated her 19th birthday in style, winning a delayed first round match against Claudine Schaul 6-2, 6-1.
Third seed Gisele Dulko of Argentina beat Alyona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals where she was joined by fourth seed Li Na of China who beat Nicole Pratt 7-5, 6-1.
Korean Star Lee Sets Up Munich Duel With Haas
In Munich, Germany, South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee became the second Asian player to reach the last sixteen of the $419,754 BMW Open defeating Frenchman Jean Rene Lisnard 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 yesterday.
Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan, seeded seven, reached the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 straight sets win over Dutchman Peter Wessels yesterday.
Paradorn pits his wits against Argentina’s Juan Monaco in the next round while Lee has a tougher task against fourth seed and local German favorite Tommy Haas.
Clijsters Closes In on Warsaw Final
Belgium’s Kim Clijsters reached the quarter-finals of the WTA clay court tournament yesterday, defeating 18-year-old Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-2, 6-1.
Clijsters dominated most of the match, conceding her serve just once immediately after taking a 2-0 lead.
Playing with confidence and striking the ball much more cleanly than in her opening clay court match of the season on Tuesday, her strength of shot often forced her frustrated opponent into errors.
While Clijsters boosted her confidence with an easy victory, second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the US Open winner, admitted that she had dented hers by allowing Israel’s Anna Smashnova to take her to a third set.
The Russian eventually progressed 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.
Elena Bovina, seeded five, was stretched by Daniela Hantuchova before winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Eighth seed Silvia Farina Elia also advanced to the quarterfinals when she beat qualifier Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2.
