The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Ferrero, Safin bow out

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

Sport

Sport - Olympic Games

Ferrero, Safin bow out

ATHENS, AUG. 17. Healthy at last, Justine Henin-Hardenne looks ready to challenge for an Olympic medal and put up a strong defence of her U.S. Open title. The top-seeded Belgian reached the third round in Athens by beating Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday. She's dropped just 10 games so far after being out since May because of a viral infection.

She'll face Nicole Pratt of Australia next. Pratt was a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 winner over Tathiana Garbin of Italy, who upset defending champion Henin-Hardenne in the second round of the French Open.

Former World No. 1 and fifth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain double-faulted twice while serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set to let America's Mardy Fish take control and claim the biggest victory of his career, a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win.

``In a normal tournament, I would have tried just as hard, but there's definitely something extra there,'' said Fish, who came to Greece on a three-match losing streak.

``I kept saying to myself: `This is the Olympics. This is the Olympics. I can't really go out like this, in two straight sets.'''

Another Major champion, No. 9 Marat Safin of Russia, made another early exit from an Olympics, losing to Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-3.

At Sydney in 2000, fresh off his U.S. Open victory, Safin lost in the first round.

After losing his Wimbledon opener in June, Safin said he wasn't looking forward to competing at the Olympics because he doesn't think tennis belongs at the event. ``If you don't take your chances, you don't deserve to win,'' the Russian said.

In other early matches, Taylor Dent of the United States beat Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 7-6 (4), 6-3, and No. 16 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile defeated Hyung-taik Lee of South Korea 7-5, 6-2.

The results: Men's singles (second round): Igor Andreev (Rus) w/o Agustin Calleri (Arg); Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Lee Hyung-taik (S. Kor) 7-5, 6-2; Taylor Dent (US) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) 7-6 (4), 6-3; Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Joachim Johansson (Swe) 7-6 (3), 6-4; Max Mirnyi (Blr) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 6-3, 6-4; Mardy Fish (US) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4; Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Wayne Arthurs (Aus) 7-6 (2), 6-3; Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Marat Safin (Rus) 7-6 (4), 6-3; Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Jiri Novak (Czech) 6-4, 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4.

Women's singles (second round): Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (Ven) 6-2, 6-1; Karolina Sprem (Cro) bt Angelique Widjaja (Indo) 6-3, 6-1; Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Akiko Morigami (Jpn) 7-6 (5), 6-2; Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Cho Yoon-jeong (S. Kor) 2-6, 7-6 (0), 6-4; Nicole Pratt (Aus) Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2; Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Kristina Brandi (US) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) 7-5, 6-4. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport