Wayne Ferreira tamed Ivan Ljubicic in two tight tiebreakers as the Tennis Masters Madrid began on Monday, setting up a second-round match against top-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Playing the first match of the day on court one, the South African overcame a sore groin and elbow to win 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5).
In the opening centre-court match, Gaston Gaudio of Argentina rallied from a set down to beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Juan Ignacio Chela, another Argentine, also advanced, defeating Spain’s Alberto Martin 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
In other first-round matches, Vincent Spadea of the United States beat Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-4, 7-5; Chile’s Nicolas Massu ousted Fernando Verdasco of Spain, 7-6 (2), 6-4; Alex Corretja defeated fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, and Robby Ginepri of the US eliminated Belgium’s Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-3.
Ferreira will meet Ferrero, who received a first-round bye along with the 15 other seeded players, midweek.
Ferreira, the second-oldest player in Madrid at age 32, is looking forward to meeting the Spaniard. He beat Ferrero in January at the Australian Open.
”It’s going to be fun for me,” Ferreira said. ”It’s nice to play these kind of matches. I don’t have any pressure on this match. It’s all enjoyment factor for me and I’m trying to battle through the rest of the year.”
Ferreira improved his record to 3-1 against Ljubicic, having beaten the hard-serving Croat twice in five-set matches last year in early rounds at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
”I think I got a little lucky,” Ferreira said. ”He served really well and definitely had his chances. Overall, I played a good match. I won, which is always nice. But even if I hadn’t, I still played well.”
Ferrero, who lost to eventual champion Andre Agassi in the Madrid quarterfinals last year, is trying to hold on to his number one ranking in the Spanish capital this week. The French Open champion has topped the rankings for the five past weeks.
Andy Roddick is close behind. The US Open champion, bidding for an unprecedented third straight Tennis Masters title following his wins in Montreal and Cincinnati, will meet the winner between fellow American James Blake and Belarus’s Max Mirnyi at the bottom half of the draw.
Roddick, who leads the calendar-year ATP Champions Race, lost his opening match to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia last year. The American has yet to win a set in Madrid, having lost a first-round doubles match on Monday with compatriot Mardy Fish to Czechs Martin Damm and Cyril Cuk 6-3, 6-3.
The tournament is played on Green Set, a fast hard-court surface, on three different courts at Pabellon de Cristal. The centre court is in the Rockodromo Arena, which has 9 400 seats.
Last year, Madrid replaced Stuttgart in the Tennis Masters Series — the most prestigious tournaments behind the four Grand Slams — after 11 years in the German city. This is the next-to-last stop in the nine-tournament series that ends in Paris.
Agassi won the inaugural tournament in Madrid when Czech Jiri Novak pulled out of the final because of a groin injury, but the American will not defend his title.
Having already clinched a spot in next month’s Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, Agassi decided to stay in the US to be with his wife Steffi Graf, who recently gave birth to the couple’s second child.
Ferrero, Roddick and Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, the third seed here, have also qualified for the season-ending event along with Guillermo Coria and Rainer Schuettler. Six players are battling for the last two spots: Carlos Moya, David Nalbandian, Mark Philippoussis, Sjeng Schalken, Sebastian Grosjean and Paradorn Srichaphan.
Coria and Nalbandian are not playing in Madrid. Lleyton Hewitt will not be in the Spanish capital either, focusing on the Davis Cup final in five weeks between Australia and Spain in Melbourne. — Sapa-AP