Coria Masters Monte-Carlo

看板Latin_AM作者Nalbandian (小班)時間21年前 (2004/04/28 03:28)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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Coria Claims Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo Shield Third seed Guillermo Coria captured his second ATP Masters Series s hield with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 victory over fourth seed Rainer Schuettler in the final of the Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo. Coria, who claimed the his first shield in Hamburg last year after reaching the final in Monte-Carlo, went one stage further this time around after sealing his victory in 1 hour, 57 minutes. “I was prepared to play a very long match and very long points, but, in fact, the result doesn't really reflect what it was on the court because every game was very tight,” said Coria. “During the first and third sets, Schuettler was always present on the court. He even had several breakpoints he was not able to convert.ꀠI had one chance and I converted it. But the result doesn't really show the truth.” The 22-year-old Argentine has now won his last 26 matches on clay dating back to the semifinals at Roland Garros, where he lost to Martin Verkerk. In that stretch, he has won clay court titles in 2003 in Stuttgart, Kitzbuehel and Sopot, and this year in Buenos Aires and Monte-Carlo. Coria, who moved up to third position in the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race, extended his record this year to 23-5 (11-0 on clay). “I hope to follow in the footsteps of Juan Carlos Ferrero, who won first Monte-Carlo and then the Roland Garros. Guga won here also. But what I will do, entering into this tournament, is to think match by match. I will only think about my next match. I will not try to think about the fact that one player won or lost. I will only take care of my own matches.” He also became the first Argentine to win the Monte-Carlo title since his former coach Alberto Mancini defeated Boris Becker in 1989. Coria, who also reached the final of the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami earlier this month, gained revenge for his loss to Schuettler at the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston last November. He now leads their head-to-head series 2-1. En route to the 12th title of his career, the Argentine defeated Thomas Enqvist, Nicolas Kiefer, Andrei Pavel, countryman David Nalbandian and Russian Marat Safin. Schuettler, who was celebrating his 28th birthday on Sunday, was appearing in his first ATP Masters Series final and first on the ATP circuit this year. He also was attempting to become the first German to win in Monte-Carlo since Baron Gottfried von Cramm won back-to-back titles in 1936-37. Schuettler, whose best performance this year before arriving in Monte-Carlo was a quarterfinal run in Rotterdam, defeated three former World No. 1 players en route to the final. The former Australian Open finalist posted an impressive win over three-time Roland Garros champion Gustavo Kuerten in the first round, defeated French qualifier Jean-Rene Lisnard in the second round, former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in three sets in the third round, No. 6 seed Tim Henman in the quarterfinals and No. 5 seed and Carlos Moya in the semifinals. Both Kuerten and Moya also were former winners in Monte-Carlo as well as Roland Garros. “I think he played a very good match,” said Schuettler. “I mean, he didn't miss a lot of shots. I was trying to go for the shots. And especially in the first and third set, I had a lot of break chances, but I just didn't make them. That's the difference. If I get more confidence with the way I am playing and then I make some of the important points, then I'm getting back into the match. But second set was really not good.ꀠAnd if you miss so many balls against a solid player like he is, then it's really difficult.” Despite the loss, Schuettler added: “I will never forget the way I played here. I will never forget the experience to play center court with a lot of people. I mean, even though I lost today, maybe it sounds strange, but I will never forget that.ꀠI hope I will forget the result, but not the atmosphere out there.” http://montecarlo.masters-series.com/1005/players/gallery/images/pic-25-04-04-n03-g.jpg