Preview of Wednesday's Matches
Five seeds remain in the 2004 Heineken Open singles second round as the
business end of the tournament approaches most of the heavy hitters have
moved through comfortably and the others have shown considerable class
beating uncharitable first round opponents.
The players in the second round include third-seeded Gustavo Kuerten
of Brazil, defending champion, and second seed Jiri Novak of the Czech
Republic. They are scheduled to meet, respectively, Alberto Martin of
Spain and qualifier Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
The other seeds remaining are (1)Guillermo Coria of Argentina,
(5)Vincent Spadea of the USA and (6)Gaston Gaudio of Argentina. Coria
had a solid win in round one, but the law of averages always bites
quickly. On Wednesday he meets former champion Slovak Dominik Hrbaty, coming
fresh off a straight sets first round victory AND a tournament victory
in Adelaide.
Spadea meets the young Dutch qualifier Fred Hemmes Jr, who cannot be
underestimated. Gaudio is in the same boat, facing German qualifier
Philipp Kohlschreiber whose four wins have been equally impressive.
The other three matches are between Raemon Sluiter of Holland and David
Sanchez of Spain, Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Gregory Carraz, and
Rafael Nadal of Spain versus qualifier Mario Ancic of Croatia.
