ESPN.com - TENNIS - Rusedski stuns Kuerten in five sets

 
Tuesday, January 23
Rusedski stuns Kuerten in five sets



MELBOURNE, Australia -- Greg Rusedski saved a fifth-set match point with a big serve and knocked top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten out of the Australian Open in the second round Thursday.

Rusedski won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 in a 2-hour, 44-minute match that pitted his net rushing against Kuerten's baseline sharpshooting.

Greg Rusedski
Greg Rusedski enjoys knocking off the tournament's top seed.

Kuerten, who rose to No. 1 late last year, still has not advanced past the second round at an Australian Open. He also has beaten the big-serving Rusedski only once in five tries.

Serving at 5-6 in the final set, Rusedski double-faulted twice, giving Kuerten a match point at 30-40. He saved it with a good serve that Kuerten returned into the net, held for 6-all and broke the Brazilian in the next game with net-charging tactics that forced misses.

But then Rusedski, a British star who put in 70 percent of first serves for the match, faltered again, giving Kuerten chances to pound in more of his favorite passing shots.

Serving at 7-all, Kuerten moved to 40-0 but double-faulted and missed the next four points, ending with a lob just long off a drop volley by Rusedski.

Leading 8-7, Rusedski made no mistake on his serve, holding at love.

The crowd of 15,000 appeared largely on Rusedski's side after an ace by Kuerten that Rusedski and many spectators thought was out helped Kuerten hold for 6-5 in the last set. The decision was roundly booed.

"I'm more surprised than anybody ... to play such a fantastic match against the world No. 1," Rusedski said.

"When was the last time you saw me scamper for five sets around the court? Physically, it was fantastic," he added.

"I think it was my greatest victory so far," said Rusedski, who was set back by injuries last year, didn't win a title for the first time since 1994, and ended the year at 64th. He had been as high as No. 4 in 1997.

"There were a lot of times I could have lost my cool out there," he said.

Kuerten said the match came down to one point -- his match point.

"He is dangerous. I didn't do the right thing that time," the two-time French Open champion said.

Meanwhile, Yevgeny Kafelnikov was helped the most by a ball he slammed out of the court in disgust.

His frustration vented, the 1999 champion and 2000 runner-up settled down, turned a losing match around and advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory Thursday over Nicolas Kiefer.

Kafelnikov, the Olympic gold medalist, finished his three-hour match with three aces.

Kiefer slid downhill after he thought he served an ace for 30-all in the fourth set's eighth game. The umpire overruled the call, and Kiefer won only 10 points the rest of the match.

Nothing helped Tommy Haas, who led in every set, blew a 5-0 lead in the first and missed two set points in the second before losing to No. 7 seed Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

In the tiebreaker, Haas, the Olympic silver medalist, missed an easy volley and double faulted on the next point, falling behind 5-3. Hewitt finished that three-hour match with a winning backhand lob.

"It's stupid to let situations like this slip away," Haas said. "I definitely had my chances to get further here. I guess I will never know."

Hewitt, one of the home country's hopes for its first Australian Open title since 1976, had to come from behind to beat Jonas Bjorkman in the first round.

He next faces unseeded Carlos Moya, the 1997 runner-up and a former No. 1. Moya breezed past Marc Rosset 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

Canada's Daniel Nestor, who has an Olympic gold medal in doubles, upset No. 11 Franco Squillari 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5. The Argentine player was the second men's seed to fall in the first two rounds.

No. 4 Magnus Norman, a semifinalist here and runner-up at the French Open last year, defeated France's Fabrice Santoro 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-0.

No. 10 Wayne Ferreira and two French players, No. 15 Arnaud Clement and No. 16 Sebastien Grosjean, all advanced.

 




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