ARTICLE Ferrero eyes regaining No.1 ranking after reaching semis
MELBOURNE, Australia, (AFP) - Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero has his sights on the Australian Open title and the world number one ranking after wrestling his way into the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
With Andy Roddick about to lose the top ranking after his defeat to Marat Safin on Tuesday, the way is open for world number three Ferrero or second-ranked Roger Federer to become the king of men's tennis depending on results at the year's first Grand Slam tournament.
The French Open champion emerged from a dogfight with Moroccan Hicham Arazi to win 6-1, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5) in 2hr 36min and set up a last-four showdown on Friday with either Federer or Argentine eighth seed David Nalbandian.
Federer and Nalbandian play their quarter-final later Wednesday.
"I am very close to number one and now that Roddick is out of the tournament and will lose some (rankings) points I have the chance to go closer to number one again," Ferrero said.
"Of course, I'm very motivated to try to get it again."
Ferrero occupied the top ranking for eight weeks from September to November last year before Roddick finished the year-end number one.
"I'm playing very good. I'm playing very solid, very strong. I'm serving good. So I think I have a chance to win," he said of his title prospects.
It is 23-year-old Ferrero's best performance at an Australian Open in four trips, but he has had to do it tough fighting his way through a series of injuries to stay alive.
He was hampered by a thigh strain in his Monday match against Romanian Andrei Pavel that needed lengthy treatment and followed a forearm injury earlier in the tournament and a long-standing problem with spasms in his back. He appeared to be troubled by a groin strain on Wednesday.
"I will be okay again in two days. I need some rest today and tomorrow, but with 48 hours I will be okay."
Ferrero had a terrific tussle with Arazi after strolling through the first set for the loss of just one game.
"The match was very tough. We had a lot of long points and a lot of rallies. It was a good test for my legs because two days ago I had a lot of problems and I think I passed the test today," Ferrero said.
"I played my forehand well today and pressured his backhand with my forehand all the time and I tried to get to the net sometimes.
"My serve was good and I could get some free points with some aces in difficult moments."
Arazi was backing up after his wonderful straight sets victory over Australian 10th seed mark Philippoussis in the previous round and looked a little flat early before he rallied late in the second set.
"I knew that Hicham always plays good rallies and it's more normal to beat him 7-6, 7-6 than 6-1 (in the first set)," said Ferrero, who has now beaten Arazi in four of their six meetings.
Ferrero broke his second service game as he moved the Moroccan around the back of the court and he repeated it in Arazi's next service game to storm to a 5-1 lead and the set.
The third seed broke Arazi in the opening game of the second set with the Moroccan howling in frustration over his growing number of errors.
The Spaniard was serving for the set at 5-4 and held two set points at 40-15 but in a dramatic turnaround Arazi fought back for two break points as Ferrero lapsed into error.
Arazi broke back to 5-5 and the set went to a tiebreaker.
There was a huge swing to the Moroccan who got to 6/3 and three set points, but Ferrero rubbed them out and then grabbed a set point of his own with Arazi's forehand just long after an exciting rally and then netting a backhand to put the Spaniard up two sets to love.
Ferrero's serve was coming under attack in the third set and he fought off two break points before holding in the fifth, but Arazi broke through in the world number three's next service game when a Ferrero backhand was well wide to Arazi to lead 4-3.
Ferrero was again under pressure in his next service game with Arazi holding two set points before he held for 5-4.
But Arazi dropped his next serve amid forehand errors to locked the games up.
Ferrero, steady under pressure, again played the better of the two in the second tiebreaker getting to 6/5 and match point and winning when Arazi's backhand found the net.
Ferrero is the first Spaniard into the Australian semi-finals since 1997 finalist Carlos Moya.
MELBOURNE, Australia, (AFP) - Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero has his sights on the Australian Open title and the world number one ranking after wrestling his way into the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
With Andy Roddick about to lose the top ranking after his defeat to Marat Safin on Tuesday, the way is open for world number three Ferrero or second-ranked Roger Federer to become the king of men's tennis depending on results at the year's first Grand Slam tournament.
The French Open champion emerged from a dogfight with Moroccan Hicham Arazi to win 6-1, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5) in 2hr 36min and set up a last-four showdown on Friday with either Federer or Argentine eighth seed David Nalbandian.
Federer and Nalbandian play their quarter-final later Wednesday.
"I am very close to number one and now that Roddick is out of the tournament and will lose some (rankings) points I have the chance to go closer to number one again," Ferrero said.
"Of course, I'm very motivated to try to get it again."
Ferrero occupied the top ranking for eight weeks from September to November last year before Roddick finished the year-end number one.
"I'm playing very good. I'm playing very solid, very strong. I'm serving good. So I think I have a chance to win," he said of his title prospects.
It is 23-year-old Ferrero's best performance at an Australian Open in four trips, but he has had to do it tough fighting his way through a series of injuries to stay alive.
He was hampered by a thigh strain in his Monday match against Romanian Andrei Pavel that needed lengthy treatment and followed a forearm injury earlier in the tournament and a long-standing problem with spasms in his back. He appeared to be troubled by a groin strain on Wednesday.
"I will be okay again in two days. I need some rest today and tomorrow, but with 48 hours I will be okay."
Ferrero had a terrific tussle with Arazi after strolling through the first set for the loss of just one game.
"The match was very tough. We had a lot of long points and a lot of rallies. It was a good test for my legs because two days ago I had a lot of problems and I think I passed the test today," Ferrero said.
"I played my forehand well today and pressured his backhand with my forehand all the time and I tried to get to the net sometimes.
"My serve was good and I could get some free points with some aces in difficult moments."
Arazi was backing up after his wonderful straight sets victory over Australian 10th seed mark Philippoussis in the previous round and looked a little flat early before he rallied late in the second set.
"I knew that Hicham always plays good rallies and it's more normal to beat him 7-6, 7-6 than 6-1 (in the first set)," said Ferrero, who has now beaten Arazi in four of their six meetings.
Ferrero broke his second service game as he moved the Moroccan around the back of the court and he repeated it in Arazi's next service game to storm to a 5-1 lead and the set.
The third seed broke Arazi in the opening game of the second set with the Moroccan howling in frustration over his growing number of errors.
The Spaniard was serving for the set at 5-4 and held two set points at 40-15 but in a dramatic turnaround Arazi fought back for two break points as Ferrero lapsed into error.
Arazi broke back to 5-5 and the set went to a tiebreaker.
There was a huge swing to the Moroccan who got to 6/3 and three set points, but Ferrero rubbed them out and then grabbed a set point of his own with Arazi's forehand just long after an exciting rally and then netting a backhand to put the Spaniard up two sets to love.
Ferrero's serve was coming under attack in the third set and he fought off two break points before holding in the fifth, but Arazi broke through in the world number three's next service game when a Ferrero backhand was well wide to Arazi to lead 4-3.
Ferrero was again under pressure in his next service game with Arazi holding two set points before he held for 5-4.
But Arazi dropped his next serve amid forehand errors to locked the games up.
Ferrero, steady under pressure, again played the better of the two in the second tiebreaker getting to 6/5 and match point and winning when Arazi's backhand found the net.
Ferrero is the first Spaniard into the Australian semi-finals since 1997 finalist Carlos Moya.
