source: www.atptour.com MONTREAL AUG. 02, 2001 Roddick Rocks Kuerten Teen Sensation Shows Off Serving Prowess Top seed Gustavo Kuerten bore the full brunt of Andy Roddick's crushing serve during his elimination from Tennis Masters Series Montreal on Thursday. The American teen sensation fired 36 unreturnable serves, as he terminated Kuerten 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2. After splitting sets with 2000 ATP Champions Race winner Kuerten, Roddick broke open the match at the beginning of the third set when he twice broke the Brazilian to surge to a 3-0 lead. Roddick effectively delivered the knockout punch in the following game when he saved three break points to hold serve (he served consecutive aces at 15-40 to stave off the first two break points). In the quest to reach his first Tennis Masters Series semifinal, Roddick will play Romanian Andrei Pavel, who thrashed Moroccan Hicham Arazi 6-0, 6-2. A humble Roddick said that the win over Kuerten was a significant moment in his young career, but added that he did not expect an easy time against the lesser-known Pavel: "It's pretty cool ... I have a great deal of respect for Gustavo. He's still a better player (than me) by far, but I was just fortunate today," Roddick said. "It's a big win for me obviously. But I don't think anyone goes into the quarterfinals of a Masters Series tournament an overwhelming favorite. I'll just go out there and do my best." Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero reached his first Tennis Masters Series hardcourt quarterfinal when he defeated American heartthrob Jan-Michael Gambill 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-3. Sitting third in the ATP Champions Race 2001, Ferrero would displace Kuerten in second position if he reaches his third Tennis Masters Series final of the year (Rome and Hamburg). Should he win Montreal, Ferrero would move within five points of Race leader Andre Agassi, who fell in the first round. "I have a good chance to move up in the Race, so I'm going to try to play my best tennis,'' Ferrero said. Ferrero will now face Wimbledon finalist Patrick Rafter who defeated Todd Martin 6-2, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal clash with the Spaniard. Rafter had won six of the seven previous meetings against Martin going into the match and he continued his success against the 31-year-old American this evening. The Australian, who has lost to Ferrero the two times they have played, is showing the kind of form that helped him to capture the title in Montreal in 1998. Germany's Tommy Haas ground out a brutal three-hour victory over Jerome Golmard 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(5). An exhausted Haas battled a mixture of factors, including intense heat and lack of sleep. "The first hour and a half, I was really feeling the heat," he said. "It was very tough just to move left and right. I could really feel a difference once the clouds started coming in and the heat wasn't as bad anymore � And I've been playing three matches in a row now starting at 11 o'clock in the morning. So that means getting up at 7:30 every morning. And coming from L.A., I still have trouble falling asleep before 1:00, 1:30 in the morning. So I'm not getting that much rest." Haas will next meet Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clement, who defeated Spain's Alberto Martin 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. |