Three-times former champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil turned back the clock to upset top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the French Open on Saturday.
It was a mesmerising performance from the player who dominated clay-court tennis for five years until 2002 when he was sidelined with a bad hip injury brought on by his whiplash style of play.
And it left Federer, the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, at times shaking his head in disbelief and uncharacteristically stumbling over his own feet as he tried to keep pace.
”For me it’s a great pleasure to come here and play,” said Kuerten, the winner here in 1997, 2000 and 2001. ”I didn’t expect to play because of my physical condition but this is a very special tournament for me.
”It makes me go over the limit and if it wasn’t for this tournament I wouldn’t be here. Roland Garros is like a second home for me and to beat the
number one player is a great achievement and the crowd’s passion is special.”
Kuerten needed five sets to make it past the first round as he played his first tournament in a month to rest his aching hips.
But it did not show as he broke Federer’s serve in the opening game. The world No. 1 immediately broke back but Kuerten again grabbed the advantage in the third game and held on to take the set in 42 minutes.
It was much of the same in the second set with Kuerten dictating the play and Federer relying on his serving to get him out of trouble.
But there was nothing he could do about the exquisite drop shot that Kuerten employed to make the breakthrough in the third game and which left Federer sprawling at the net.
Kuerten needed treatment for a thigh strain after the seventh game of the set and had to clean his contact lenses, but he was rarely in difficulty on his serve and wrapped it up 6-4 in 38 minutes.
In a tense third set with the packed centre-court crowd, many of them sporting yellow Brazilian football shirts, firmly behind the Brazilian, games went with serve until the fifth game when an increasingly wayward Federer gifted Kuerten two break points.
He converted on the first as Federer hit a forehand long.
Kuerten wasted three break points to go 5-2 up but with the chants of ”Guga, Guga” reverberating around the stadium he reached match point on his own serve and clinched it when a mishit Federer backhand failed to reach the net.
The Brazilian next plays either Feliciano Lopez of Spain or South Korea’s Lee Hyung-Taik for a place in the last eight.
A win there would leave him just two games away from a fourth title which would put him level with 1920s Frenchman Henri Cochet as the only man to win the French Open four times. Only Bjorn Borg has done better with six wins.
For Federer it was another French flop as he has failed to make it past the quarter-finals here in six appearances. It also ended his hopes of achieving the Grand Slam of Australia, French, Wimbledon and US titles.
”He was really at the top of his form and the crowd was totally behind him. There was nothing I could do,” he said.
”He has won this tournament many times, so he deserves everything that the fans give him here. He’s a great guy.” – Sapa-AFP