Estoril Site
April 14, 2024

Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal defeated Goran Ivanisevic to reach the second round of the Estoril Open and set up another exciting clash with fellow 17-year-old Richard Gasquet.

In a match postponed from Tuesday, Nadal broke the former Wimbledon champion's serve four times en route to a 6-4, 6-1 victory in 65 minutes, while Gasquet - born just 15 days after Nadal - produced a stunning comeback to defeat second seed Nicolas Massu of Chile.

The French teenager lost the first eight games and was seemingly on his way to a fast exit, before coming back to win 0-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4) in exactly three hours, saving two match points at 5-6 in the second set. It was Gasquet's second win against Massu this year, having defeated the Chilean in the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires in February.

"I played very badly at the beginning of the game," said Gasquet. "I was not feeling very good on the court and I was down 6-0, 2-0 and was just hoping not to lose 6-0, 6-0. I was not happy with my game so I tried to put every ball in the court and then everything started to change.

"I tried to fight on every point, I saved two match points in the second set and played very well on those two points, and then I was full of confidence in the tie-break and I played very well in the third set."

Nadal, playing Ivanisevic for the second time in as many months after Croatian retired from their second round clash in Miami with a recurrence of his shoulder injury, took the first set after breaking for the second time in the match in the 10th game.

The Spaniard, who reached his first career ATP final in Auckland earlier this year, then took full control of the match in the second set, breaking to lead 2-0 and again for 5-1 before clinching victory after a close exchange at the net. Nadal, who currently stands in 18th position in the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race, is now 15-8 in 2004.

"I didn't feel very well but it was important to win the game," said Nadal. "The balls are heavy and jump a lot, so I did have some problems getting used to it. Still I remained focused and that helped to win the match."

Explaining his decision to come to Estoril instead of his native Valencia, Nadal added: "I chose to come to Estoril because it is a bigger tournament. If I had chosen Valencia, probably I would be third seed - here I'm not even seeded, so that proves what I said about this tournament."

Nervous

For Ivanisevic, it was his first ATP clay court match since losing in the qualifying competition at the ATP Masters Series event in Rome three years ago.

"At 4-5, I played a bad game," said Ivanisevic. "That was the time I had been playing better and he was starting to get nervous. I had him, he couldn't hurt me anymore. I started to return better and to serve better, but it was a stupid game. I expected it after not playing on clay for two and a half years, I knew it was going to be up and down, but it happened at the worst possible time at 5-4."

And Ivanisevic was highly impressed with his young opponent's game. "If I could have served like that in Miami, I think I could have beaten him there, but on clay it's different," said Ivanisevic. "He's going to be very, very dangerous. He has an unbelievably heavy forehand. For me, it's okay because it goes to my forehand, but against a right-hander, he will kill them with his forehand, they're going to jump out of the stadium. He's going to be very, very dangerous."

Quarterfinals

Meanwhile, Romanian Victor Hanescu continued his impressive form with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Belgian Olivier Rochus to reach the quarterfinals. Hanescu, who defeated top seed Rainer Schuettler on Tuesday, booked his place in the last eight against German qualifier Florian Mayer.

The 20-year-old, playing in just his third ATP main draw having also reached the second round at the Australian Open earlier this year, followed up his first round victory over No. 7 seed Gaston Gaudio with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Radek Stepanek, the Czech who upset defending champion Nikolay Davydenko in the first round.

Frenchman Olivier Patience also advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal after defeating Jiri Vanek 6-3, 6-2. The 24-year-old Patience, who recorded his first ATP victories en route to the third round at the Australian Open earlier this year (l. to Blake), will now meet fifth seed Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentine who was 6-0, 2-0 up against Portuguese wild card Diogo Rocha when the 19-year-old retired with a right adductor strain.