From news.com.au staff 05jun00 PARIS: Mark Philippoussis was outplayed by Spain's brightest new talent here overnight, losing 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the fourth round of the French Open at Roland Garros. Ferrero goes through to a quarter-final against 10th seeded countryman Alex Corretja who beat Swiss Davis Cup hero Roger Federer in three sets. In other fourth round matches, fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten beat 11th seed Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-4) while fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov downed unseeded Fernando Vicente of Spain 5-7 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 8-6. Australia's last representative, Lleyton Hewitt, plays Spaniard Albert Costa tomorrow for a quarter-final berth. Philippoussis beat second seed Pete Sampras in his first-round match here but was rarely in danger of troubling the 20-year-old Spaniard whose rise up the rankings has only been eclipsed by Hewitt this year. The big-serving Australian was forced to play catch-up tennis from the start as Ferrero cruised through the first two games for an early lead. Philippoussis was looking slow-footed and made twice as many errors as his opponent during the first two sets. Ferrero led by one set and four games to love before Philippoussis got his delivery to bite, serving his first ace as he took the first of his two games for the set. Philippoussis's adrenalin only started pumping in the third set as his first serve improved and he broke to lead 4-2 and held serve to take the set. Philippoussis holds the serve speed record for the tournament to date at 213km and at one point it looked as if he had released a 238km delivery. But organisers later confirmed a computer error. Philippoussis struggled to stay in the match when two double faults handed Ferrero a final set break at 2-0 but could make no impact on the eventual outcome. "(It) just got away from me," he said after the match. "Never had a chance to get in a groove. I was always playing catch-up tennis." They had never met before but Philippoussis had been aware of Ferrero's reputation as Spain's rising star. "I knew he how he was going to play. I think I was a little surprised by the amount of pace he had on his shots. "I knew he was going to be dangerous so I definitely wasn't taking him lightly." Meanwhile, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt pulled out of the men's doubles overnight, citing tendonitis in Rafter's right shoulder. Rafter retired due to shoulder injury in his US Open match against Pioline last August, had surgery in October and did not return to competition until February this year. Hewitt later won through to the third round of the mixed doubles with Belgian partner Kim Clijsters while Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge were through to a men's quarter-final against Czechs Jiri Novak and Daivd Rikl. Scud bitten by the 'Mosquito' By Julian Bristow - Paris 06/04/00 Mark Philippoussis was completely outclassed in his match against the 'Spanish Mosquito' Juan Carlos Ferrero today. "He_s just another player," Scud had remarked before playing the 20-year-old 16th seed for the first time. But Ferrero was more than a cut above his peers in the fourth round of the French Open. It is difficult to imagine who might stop him winning his first Grand Slam title if he can keep up the form which saw him blitz Scud 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Yes, the giant-sized Australian looked flat in the first two sets, never recovering after dropping his first serves in both sets. Ferrero, on the other hand, was faultless. His deep ground strokes often smoked pass Philippoussis and he ran down unreturnable serves, drop shots and Scud smashes. Meanwhile, Philippoussis was let down by his greatest weapon, his first serve, and looked sluggish as he strove to keep up with the speedy Spaniard. Relief came in the third set. Scud improved his serving percentages and was better able to control the points. The fastest serve he clocked was 238kmh, just shy of Greg Rusedski's 239.7 kmh record. Ferrero remained cool through the challenge and quickly dampened his opponent's confidence as he snatched Scud's first service game of the fourth set. At 5-3, he drilled a brutal forehand winner at Philippoussis for a place in the quarter-finals. Australia now has only one player left in the men's singles - 19-year-old Lleyton Hewitt - who resembles Ferrero in stature and is just as fast. Hewitt plays Spaniard Albert Costa tomorrow. Nicknamed the Mosquito by his Spanish peers due to his physique and also _Chavalito_ which means _little kid_, Ferrero's next opponent is fellow Spaniard Alex Corretja. A French Open runner-up in 1998, Corretja defeated Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6, 6-2. In other Day 7 results, fourth Venus Williams defeated Anke Huber 7-6, 6-2 on Court Central. She will play either Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario or Barbara Schett in the quarter-finals. Scud bites the dust By LINDA PEARCE, PARIS One of Juan Carlos Ferrero's nicknames is ``the Mosquito''. Last night the 16th seed enhanced his reputation as one of the rising stars of men's tennis by sucking the life out of Mark Philippoussis' hope of reaching his first French Open quarter-final. Ferrero, making his debut at Roland Garros, will now make up one half of an all-Spanish affair against elder statesman Alex Corretja, who downed Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2. Philippoussis, a dejected 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 loser, was left to plot his Wimbledon campaign on more hospitable grass. But this result could not be blamed solely on the surface; for the first two sets, Philippoussis was outplayed, outclassed. Against high-quality opposition, the precision and purpose he had shown during his earlier wins over Pete Sampras, Paul Goldstein and Hicham Arazi were gone. Error followed error. And his most famous weapon? Crucially, when faced with such punishing Ferrero groundstrokes, his first-serve percentage was as miserable as the ace count. Mercifully, some improvement arrived with the return of the Philippoussis serve in the third set, with one 238kmh delivery at 0-15 in the ninth game falling just one kilometre short of Greg Rusedski's world record. And so, back to a one-set deficit and holding a break point at the start of the fourth, the world's No.25 was briefly back in the match. Briefly being the key word. Two double faults and a costly backhand volley error helped Ferrero to break Philippoussis' opening serve, as he had in sets one and two, and again the Australian could not recover the lost ground. Philippoussis said he had started nervously but was satisfied to have equalled his best effort at Roland Garros. ``I'm a little bit disappointed,'' he said. ``I feel comfortable. It's not that I'm afraid to play on this surface. I can learn a lot from this tournament and take some positive things away.'' The loss leaves the Australian flag in the hands of Lleyton Hewitt, bidding for a first appearance in a grand slam last eight. Just like Ferrero, in fact, for whom it seems sure to be one of many. The 20-year-old's other nickname is ``Chavalito'', or ``little boy'' in reference to his status as the youngest member of the vast Spanish armada that provided four of the tournament's last 16 men. Last year, he took the biggest jump of any player into the top 50, rising 345 spots to No.43 while claiming his first title with an upset in Majorca over Corretja. Meanwhile, there is something about Roland Garros that must be meant to challenge Martina Hingis. The only grand slam title the world No.1 has not won could easily have slipped from her grasp once again yesterday during an unconvincing three-set win over unseeded Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir. Hingis survived, 6-3, 0-6, 6-1, dropping her first set of the tournament on the way to the quarter-finals, where her next opponent, Chanda Rubin, was the first player through on the strength of a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Natasha Zvereva. Much credit must go to the crafty Dragomir, a fourth-round regular in Paris, but looking for a time like she would this year progress a step further in the most unexpected fashion. In the end, a mid-match string of seven consecutive games meant all she finished with was credit for a rare 6-0 set against Hingis. ``She has awesome hands,'' Hingis said of Dragomir. ``After the second set I just knew that I just had to really want it, play a different game. I was hitting too short, had to make her play, just hope to get her tired. Just fight my way through this match.'' Jason Stoltenberg had not enjoyed such a happy ending the previous afternoon. In 11 years at Roland Garros, Stoltenberg felt he had never had a better chance of reaching a French Open quarter-final. It was the third round, he led 5-3 against 15th seed Younes El Ayanaoui, and was on the verge of levelling at one set all. Then, pop. His right groin. Two games later Stoltenberg hobbled out of the tournament He was in a quarter of the draw weakened by the loss of world No.1 Andre Agassi and the prospects were encouraging. Instead, Stoltenberg spent Saturday night busy with ice and compression treatment, in doubt for Queen's Club next week but trying to ensure he will be fit for Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals four years ago. ``The tricky thing about the grass and Wimbledon is that it's slippery. They've had a lot of rain, I'm sure they're going to have a lot more rain. You're just slipping all the time and that really worries me,'' Stoltenberg said. More galling for the understated Stoltenberg was the fact he sensed, on the point before he overstretched, that El Ayanaoui was also troubled by a leg injury. CONTINUING shoulder tendinitis problems for Pat Rafter have been officially blamed for the withdrawal of the Rafter-Hewitt team from the doubles draw. Rafter and Hewitt had been scheduled Ferrero eliminates hard-serving Philippoussis By CHRIS WRIGHT PARIS (June 4, 2000 10:47 a.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - Juan Carlos Ferrero is a star in the making, says fellow Spanish clay courter Alex Corretja. His judgment looked spot on Sunday after 20-year-old Ferrero eliminated big-serving Australian Mark Philippoussis to reach the French Open men's singles quarter-finals. Tenth-seeded Corretja, who knows what it's like to walk out for the final here at Roland Garros - having lost to Carlos Moya in 1998 - now has to work out how to deal with the man who stands between himself and a place in the last four. Ferrero, one of four Spaniards playing in the last 16 and himself seeded 16, shot down Philippoussis, the man they call Scud, 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in 2 hour 22 minutes and said he had always dreamed of starring at Roland Garros. "The atmosphere is great, the courts, the people, everything. I used to dream of starring here when I used to watch the event on television," said Ferrero, who hurtled into the world top 50 last year after jumping 302 places in the rankings. Ferrero said he had expected to win against Philippoussis and had been aided by the Aussie's serve not functioning at maximum efficiency. I think against Mark on clay I'm the favorite if I'm on form," he said. "I made sure I got to grips with his service and took the opportunities he gave me. But he had a high percentage of second serves and I was able to dominate." Although facing Corretja will be the sternest of tests for him in his first ever Grand Slam quarter-final, the youngster, nicknamed Mosquito for his slender frame, said even if he went down fighting it would at least be to a compatriot. "At least there will be one Spanish semifinalist," he smiled. "It's bound to be a baseline slog. It's always difficult against Corretja. He's very solid and he has a great serve. "Perhaps he's the favorite as he's older and has more experience in Grand Slams - but we know each other's games very well. It'll probably be a long one." Ferrero bagged his first ATP Tour title in Mallorca last year - beating Corretja in the final - and showed his form at the Australian Open last January with a run to the third round. He has already reached two finals this year, on hard courts in Dubai and also on clay at Barcelona, where he received a straight sets lesson from Russia's Marat Safin. Corretja quickly dubbed Ferrero "one of the best prospects I've ever seen" after watching him last year, saying his footwork and groundstrokes from both flanks are the hallmarks of a player destined for greatness - although his serve remains a weak point. "He'll be a really tough rival. He's really come on these past few months and he's mentally strong. He'll be a tough obstacle to knock over," Corretja said. |