Kuerten Opens Auckland Defence
In day two action Gustavo Kuerten begins his title defence against Alex
Corretja of Spain. Corretja was given a wild card after having slipped back to an ATP ranking of 100. He had a slow start to 2003 and then concentrated on Spain's Davis Cup campaign. The potential for an electrifying match-up is obvious, because both players know each others' games intimately.
Corretja made a nice observation. "I was told this was a small tournament," he said, "so I was surprised that there should be a replay of the 2001 French Open final in round one."
Kuerten has an army of supporters who follow him everywhere, bringing a distinctly South American flavour to grandstands worldwide. And who's to say they don't actually contribute to his popularity? Happy chants and samba beats help endear their man to otherwise-neutral fans, from Auckland to St. Petersburg.
New names crop up every year in Auckland. Frenchman Fabrice Santoro meets eighth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, a former winner of the junior US Open who looks destined for great things (especially if the opinion of Bjorn Borg means anything).
Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, fourth seed, meets Rafael Nadal of
Spain, a 17 sensation who played both Challenger and ATP events last season and finished the year ranked 47 in the world.
Todd Martin and fifth seed Vincent Spadea pair off for an all-American first round fixture.
Former champion Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia meets Kiwi wild card Mark
Nielsen, and Alberto Martin of Spain meets Austrian Stefan Koubek who impressed reaching last year's semifinal. Sixth seed Gaston Gaudio of
Argentina gets a tough first round draw, facing the gritty Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
