[Munich]Federer Wins 2003 Debut on Clay
Federer Wins 2003 Debut on Clay
Henman and Schuettler join the Swiss in the second round.
Top-seed Roger Federer, who plays in his first claycourt event of the season,
cruised past Zeljko Krajan 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the second round at the BMW
Open on Tuesday. Federer, who has captured two titles on the ATP circuit in
2003, plays here for the first time in his career. Federer's next opponent is
Dutchman Raemon Sluiter, who advanced by defeating qualifier Renzo Furlan 7-5, 6-4.
Last year's runner-up Rainer Schuettler opened his Munich campaign by scoring
a 6-4, 6-3 win over Austrian Jurgen Melzer. The No. 4 seeded German meets
Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. The dangerous Russian, who has already
won two ATP titles on the ATP this season, defeated American Cecil Mamiit 7-5,
6-1.
Wild card Tim Henman, who played in his first event since Indian Wells, needed
three sets to defeat Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. The seventh-
seeded Brit, who is working his way back after various shoulder injuries,
plays in Munich for the first time in his career. His victory over Lapentti
was only his second match win of 2003.
Sixth-seed Mikhail Youzhny came back from being a set behind to defeat
Norwegian qualifier Jan Frode Andersen 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. In the next round he
meets another player who came through the qualifying, Harel Levy, who scored
a 6-3, 6-1 win over Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen.
Elsewhere Stefan Koubek ousted German wild card Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-4. Last
year's semifinalist Radek Stepanek defeated Frenchman Olivier Mutis.
Jean-Rene Lisnard scored a 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Martin Verkerk.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Federer: "It's always nice to win your first match on a different surface at
a different venue. It's my first tournament on clay, I don't really know what
to expect. I've been practicing on clay for the last two weeks."
"I'm happy to be in Munich. I will try to win as many matches as possible, I
hope to keep my winning streak going."
"It's a nice feeling to be seeded number one. I won in Marseille and Dubai
being the top seed."
Henman: "I'm just happy to be out here and play. I spent too much time at
home."
"It's a good win for me. It feels good. I played for two hours and ten minutes
without any pain. I'm happy with the way I played, I hope it stays like this."
"There's an element of relief and also satisfaction, it's been difficult in
the last few weeks. I've put a lot of work in building up my strength. We will
see how it feels tomorrow. That's the most important thing. "
"I just went out there not thinking of my shoulder. Winning and losing wasn't
on my mind, that helped me."
Schuettler: "I wasn't too happy with my performance today. I played much better
in the second set though. I have to raise my level for the next round."
"I was a bit nervous in the beginning. I played the final here last year and I
was a bit nervous walking onto court. But that's also good because then you
know it's important."
Melzer: "It wasn't that easy, I made too many errors. I made enough breaks to
probably win three matches but that didn't help."
WEDNESDAY MATCHES
Four seeds will be in action as the bottom half of the second round matches
will be played on Wednesday.
No. 2 Paradorn Srichaphan meets Czech Radek Stepanek for the first time.
Stepanek was a surprise semifinalist here in Munich one year ago and he scored
wins over Nicolas Kiefer and Nicolas Lapentti before falling to Rainer
Schuettler. The Thai, who broke into the Top 10 in the Entry Rankings on April
21, recently made the cover of the "Asian Heroes" special issue of Time Asia
Magazine.
Third-seed Sjeng Schalken, who reached the Munich quarterfinals in 1995, meets
hard-serving Australian Wayne Arthurs, who before coming to Munich had hit a
total of 204 aces in 2003. The two have played each other three times in the
past, but this is the first time they face each other on clay. Arthurs has
played here once before, in 2001 when he lost to Jiri Novak in the
quarterfinals.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov, seeded No. 5, takes on Germany's Alexander Waske for a
spot in the quarterfinals. The Russian veteran has only won one match in his
four appearances at the BMW Open. 28-year-old Waske who resides in Frankfurt
makes his Munich debut this year.
Finland's Jarkko Nieminen plays against Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard. Both
players compete in the Munich main draw for the first time. Nieminen, who
reached two finals in 2002, has a semifinal appearance in Milan as his best
result this season. 23-year-old Lisnard had a 9-8 record for 2003 with a
semifinal in Chennai as his best effort.
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