Posts Tagged ‘Gaudio’

How will Jelena Dokic, Maria Sharapova, and Gaston Gaudio fare at the French Open, in your opinion?

Maria sucks on clay
Jelena had that run in Australia, but had an injury
and Gaston hasn’t played in forever

…any expectations for them, at all?

Gaudio’s victory in the initial round at Barcelona

Previous French Open champion Gaston Gaudio achieved his initial and first match in almost two years on Tuesday, downing Argentine countryman Diego Junqueira 6-4 3-6 6-4 at the Barcelona Open.

Gaudio, the Barcelona winner seven years ago, transformed six of his seven break chances and rallied from a break down in the final set for his earliest triumph at ATP level since the 2007 French Open, a span of 23 months.

Gaudio said, “It’s always pleasant to gain after being out for so long, but I’m scarcely at a level where I can be contented”.

Fourth seeded David Ferrer waited a stubborn face from Kazakhstan qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin to win 6-s3 3-6 6-1. After winning the opening set, the 12th ranked Spaniard cracked for a 3-1 lead in the second frame before Kukushkin used his dominant ground strokes to score consecutive breaks and take it to a third set.

But Ferrer made steady himself and set the Kazakh on the run in the fourth game and impelled a return into the net for a break point and a 3-1 lead that would push him to conquest. Igor Andreev also recently linked up Ferrer in the third round when he downed Spanish wild card Alberto Martin 6-2 6-2.

In other primary round matches, seeded players Radek Stepanek, Robin Soderling, Richard Gasquet and Feliciano Lopez all won. The merely seed to exit was No.11 Marat Safin, the 2000 champion missing to Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4 6-1.

Third seeded Nikolay Davydenko will fight in opposition to Arnaud Clement on Wednesday after the Frenchman ousted Guillermo Canas 7-6 (7-0) 6-3.

Top ranked Rafael Nadal starts his trail for a fifth straight Godo trophy against Portuguese qualifier Frederico Gil on Wednesday.