[ROTTERDAM]Dutch Night at ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Winning his first ATP match on home soil in almost three years, Dutch star
Richard Krajicek took out Spain's Tommy Robredo in three sets on Tuesday at
the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. Krajicek, who last won an ATP match in
the Netherlands in s'Hertogenbosch in 2000 and missed all of 2001 with a right
elbow injury, is now a solid 7-4 on the year in singles, having reached at
least the quarterfinals in two of four events this year.
Another veteran who impressed was Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who needed
just 43 minutes to dispatch up-and-coming Spanish star Feliciano Lopez. For
the Russian veteran it was a good way to celebrate his 29th birthday in style. Not surprisingly, top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero needed two tiebreak sets to defeat hard-serving Australian Wayne Arthurs and advance to the second round. The last time these two met, Arthurs fired 36 aces in a four set loss at the US Open.
Tim Henman returned to ATP action for the first time in four months since
undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in mid-November. He was
defeated by Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets. Ljubicic served 13
aces, including 5 on his second serve, and served notice that he is one of
the hot players at the moment having won two singles matches in his country's
Davis Cup victory over the United States last weekend.
In the late match, a pair of Dutch wild cards met in the first round, with
Raemon Sluiter prevailing in three sets.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Yevgeny Kafelnikov: "I am at an age when perhaps your best days are
behind you, but I still feel I have a lot of energy and that I am playing
well. After my surgery (in December) I felt very good physically and
rethought my plans. I can still go through all my matches and play without
concerns of fitness."
"I look upon my career as very successful. I have no regrets and I am not
ashamed of anything I have done."
"My desire is to get to the stage where I was 3 or 4 years ago. I feel I
must get back into the best possible condition. I always say, get back into
shape and I will find success again."
Ivan Ljubicic: "Since reaching the semifinals in Milan, I have been playing
so well. I have played five tournaments and lost three times to the eventual
champion - I think that says a lot."
"I could feel that Tim needs some matches. I have 12 matches under my belt.
This is a difficult tournament to make a comeback. He was going to have to
play a Top 50 player. I am sure he will be back soon. All he needs is a
couple of wins and he'll soon find his game."
"I feel I am the best server in the world right now - really. I understand
how well I am playing. Mentally I have changed my second serve, I am really
going for the points on my second serve, but I have not altered the action
technically."
"Even if Henman was at the top of his game, I think it would have been a
very good match."
Tim Henman: "It's a funny mixture of emotions. Even though I'm disappointed
that I lost... if I'm honest I felt pretty pleased with the way my shoulder
felt. It's my first match and I was playing without any pain or infringement
and that's something I've been looking forward to for a long time."
"At times there was an element of apprehension when I was going for the shots
so it will take time to build up the confidence in my game. I need to be
patient."
"He served phenomenally well. It felt most of the time he was hitting two
first serves which I guess happens when you grow up watching Ivanisevic."
"I always want to win but I have to look at the bigger picture and if it
takes me six months to get back into form then so be it. From the middle of
August last year till the end of the season, I played in pain and that's not
much fun. Although I don't enjoy losing, it just felt good out there to play
pain free."
Richard Krajicek: "I was a bit slow around the court but especially at the
net. I want to be faster."
"I was really pleased with the atmosphere in the ahoy stadium. I look around
and see my name in the banners as one of the past winners. It was eight years
ago but it seems like only the other day that I was winning here."
On the year so far:
"I had a mental dip at the beginning of the year in Australia, but I did a
job in Milan where I won two matches."
On the match:
"I was focused to win today. I knew exactly what I had to do. For the first
time in months I am delivering my first serves well. There's no pain. By the
third set I was serving slower. I was struggling with my nerves when Robredo
broke back in the second set."
On his schedule:
"I am going to play six to seven tournaments before Wimbledon, including
Tennis Masters Miami and a couple of clay court tournaments."
WEDNESDAY PREVIEW
Wednesday's action gets underway with a blockbuster match-up between Roland
Garros champion Albert Costa and two-time defending ABN AMRO World Tennis
Tournament champion Nicolas Escude of France. Escude is one of the most
dynamic and exciting indoor players in the world and showed his class last
week with a semifinal performance at the Open 13 in Marseille. Escude was
forced to withdraw from his semifinal against Jonas Bjorkman with a strained
right hamstring but felt he would be ready for Rotterdam. He
said withdrawing from Marseille was more of a precaution than anything else,
because he did not want to risk severe injury. "It's deceptive because I am
really playing well at the moment," he said in Marseille.
Jonas Bjorkman also plays his first singles match of the week in Rotterdam on
Wednesday. He is an impressive 7-2 on the year in singles, having reached the
quarterfinals in Milan, the final in Marseille and winning two Davis Cup
matches against Brazil in five sets. He says he is hitting the ball as well
as ever and looks to Andre Agassi for inspiration on being at the top of
one's game in the latter stages of one's career. Bjorkman faces off against
qualifier Peter Wessels.
Marat Safin, returning from an injury that forced him to withdraw from the
Australian Open one month ago, takes to the court against flashy Belgian
Xavier Malisse, while Roger Federer looks to break his 0-3 winless streak
against Thomas Enqvist in the first night match. Federer is coming off a
tournament win at the Open 13 in Marseille, where he dropped just one set
(to Holland's Raemon Sluiter) and captured a tournament his countryman Marc
Rosset won three times. "It's a dream to win Marseille," said
Federer, who reached his first ATP final in Marseille in 2000.
And in the day's only second round match, local favorite Sjeng Schalken plays
one of the Rockin Rochus brothers for the second consecutive time, this time
facing the younger Olivier Rochus.
--
不知道Safin的傷好的怎麼樣了，希望這次別再出事了。
--
我是一隻小火雞，
快樂的生活在沙皇的農城裡~~
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
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