Argentina’s Guillermo Coria, the hottest player on clay this year, confirmed his position as French Open favourite by moving into the third round on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 win over countryman Juan Monaco.
The 22-year-old Coria, who has been beaten only once in his past 34 clay-court matches, clinched victory over the qualifier after two hours and 24 minutes and now faces either 30th seed Mariano Zabaleta, another Argentinian, or Croatia’s Mario Ancic.
Coria reached the semifinal at Roland Garros last year before falling to Martin Verkerk but that setback sparked a 31-match winning streak on clay that only came to an end two weeks ago with defeat at the hands of world number one Roger Federer in Hamburg.
”I think I played better in my first match,” admitted Coria, who had disposed of Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in his opener.
”Monaco was playing well and I didn’t play deep enough. However, when I started to do that I felt a lot better.
”I think I have learned a lot from reaching the semifinals last year. That was great experience and I can now play with a lot of confidence.”
Joining Coria in the third round was 1998 champion Carlos Moya of Spain, the fifth seed, who defeated countryman Fernando Vicente 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 to record his 11th win in 11 career meetings over his fellow Spaniard.
Moya will next face either 31st seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia or Dutchman Raemon Sluiter for a place in the fourth round.
Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan, seeded 13, went out in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 to Alex Corretja of Spain, twice a runner-up in Paris.
Paradorn, a fast-court specialist, has never got beyond the third round and freely admitted on the eve of the tournament that he was using the event to warm-up for the forthcoming grass-court campaign.
In the women’s singles, China’s Jie Zheng shocked France’s Emilie Loit, the 31st seed, 6-4, 6-1 to make the third round.
The Chinese 21-year-old next meets either defending champion and world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne or Italy’s Tathiana Garbin.
Zheng has now become the first Chinese woman to make the third round of Roland Garros.
”My mother is here with me this time. That’s why I’ve won two matches. I hope she can bring me more luck in the next game,” explained the Chinese player.
Nadia Petrova, the eighth seed, and Vera Zvonareva, seeded 10, kept the Russian title push on track with straight set wins.
Petrova, a semifinalist in 2003, defeated qualifier Yuliana Fedak of the Ukraine 6-0, 6-1, while Zvonareva came back from a set down to see off Spain’s Magui Serna 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. — Sapa-AFP