THE Rome Masters began with an upset yesterday when ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet was beaten by Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna 6-4, 6-1 in the first match on centre court.
The match was even until the 111th-ranked Horna broke Gasquet late in the first set. The top French player then unravelled, missing 15 forehands and committing 27 unforced errors.
"After losing the first set, I lost all my confidence," Gasquet
said. "I played my worst match of the year." The match lasted exactly one hour, and ended under light rain at the Foro Italico. After a 90-minute rain delay, Guillermo Canas rallied past Italian wild card Gianluca Naso 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-2 and will next face top-ranked Roger Federer.
Canas has won three of his five meetings with Federer, all on hard courts. They have never met on clay. Federer leads a field featuring the top nine players in the rankings, including three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal.
Nadal is off to another perfect start to the clay-court season, winning back-to-back titles at the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.
"Right now, my confidence is very high," Nadal said. "But it's going to be very tough. It's my first time playing three weeks in a row on clay. Last year, there was a week between Barcelona and Rome."
The top eight seeded players have first-round byes in this tune-up for the French Open, which begins on 25 May.
In other matches, Steve Darcis beat former No 3 Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-6 (5) to set up a meeting with current No 3 Novak Djokovic.
Mardy Fish held off Michael Llodra 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (2) and will now face Andy Roddick in an all-American match-up.
Igor Andreev defeated Lee Hyung-taik 6-4, 7-5, and Radek Stepanek beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Also advancing were Italian players Potito Starace and Andreas Seppi, Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev and Nicolas Mahut of France.
On the WTA Tour, meanwhile, teenager Sabine Lisicki upset 14th-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 7-5, 6-1 yesterday in the first round of the German Open.
The 18-year-old German trailed 4-3 in the first set before taking over the clay-court match. "I love to play in Berlin and I desperately wanted to play well," said Lisicki, who reached the third round at the Australian Open. "Of course such a victory stimulates me and gives me self-confidence."
Tenth-seeded Agnes Szavay advanced to the second round when Milagros Sequera of Venezuela retired while trailing 6-2, 3-0, and 2006 champion Nadia Petrova beat Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (2).
Aravane Razai of France advanced on a walkover when former No 1 Amelie Mauresmo, the 2001 and 2004 champion, withdrew because of a rib injury.
The full article contains 498 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
