Hard Work on Hot Day
Seeds fell, qualifiers marched on and lower-ranked men gave marquee players all sorts of difficulty.
Thursday’s biggest upset in the hot and humid conditions came when American Mardy Fish clinically beat second seed Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-4 6-4. A man who underwent two wrist surgeries in 2005 after winning Olympic silver in Athens, Fish’s recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. He made the big-serving Croatian look downright ordinary at times, all the while looking composed and confident himself.
Already Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco had shocked Olivier Rochus of Belgium, who many were picking to go deep in the draw (as usual). The young South American was all and German Philipp Kohlschreiber had easily tipped out two-time Heineken Open champion Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-2 6-3, embarrassing the fifth seed with far greater accuracy. Devotees of underdogs were rubbing their hands with glee and saying prayers of thanks to patron saint Lisa Simpson, while gamblers were tearing up wager slips left, right and centre.
"Philipp was playing pretty good and he was hitting so hard and so well and I had to run a lot. But in the end I beat him and it is great to be in the semifinals," said 24-year-old Tommy Robredo (pictured above), the current world No7.
"When you have a tough opponent then you get stronger. If you keep winning easy and you have a tough opponent then you are never sure how you are going to react. It gives me a lot more confidence,” said the Spanish top seed who in the second round beat countryman Alberto Martin 6-4 6-2. Also in the second round was seventh seed Agustin Calleri of Argentina defeating Frenchman Florent Serra 6-4 6-1, third seed David Ferrer of Spain thrashed Italian Daniele Bracciali 6-0 6-1, Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela beat Chile’s Nicolas Massu 7-5 4-6 6-3 in a three-hour marathon and Belgian Kristof Vliegen beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-6(2) 2-6 7-5.
Later in the quarterfinals Calleri finally woke brilliant qualifier Monaco up from the dream that began for him six days ago, winning 4-6 6-4 6-3, Robredo ended Kohlschreiber’s run 6-4 5-7 6-2, Ferrer stopped Vliegen’s 3-6 6-3 6-2, Fish served intelligently to beat Chela 7-6(3) 7-6(8), and order to a certain extent was restored after a day when the attrition rate for big names was unusually high.
