ARTICLE Pained Ferrero through
A slightly bruised and battered Juan Carlos Ferrero survived two injury scares to battle past Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4 7-6 7-5 in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday. The third-seeded Spaniard received painkillers and a rub-down from a trainer after he twisted his back sharply in the sixth game of the first set.
The French Open champion's injury woes continued in the third set when he fell and felt sharp pain in his left forearm.
While worrying at the time, Ferrero said the injuries were unlikely to affect his progress in the tournament.
"Everything is OK," 23-year-old Ferrero told reporters.
"I went to the doctor and he told me to take some anti-inflammatory tablets but he thinks it's going to be OK," he said.
Ferrero dropped his serve after receiving treatment for his back complaint but quickly broke back twice to secure the first set. Coping better with the heat than Volandri, Ferrero then took the second-set tiebreak 7-3.
But more pain awaited in the third set, which the gangly right-handed baseliner began by again dropping his serve.
Then in the fifth game of the final set he hurt his forearm when he lunged for a volley and again required treatment from a trainer, who strapped the injury to allow Ferrero to continue.
While he did not think he fell very heavily, Ferrero said he immediately felt pain in his forearm.
"I feel a lot of pain when I fell down," he said.
Brushing aside the pain and disruption to his rhythm, Ferrero immediately broke back to level the third set score at 3-3.
He then calmly closed out proceedings on his second match point on Volandri's serve, forcing the Italian into a wild backhand that flew wide.
Ferrero was very happy with his performance against a player he regards as a tough opponent despite Volandri's modest world ranking of 46.
"Today I take a lot of rhythm, there was a lot of long points and a lot of rallies. I was serving good," Ferrero said.
Ferrero also said he had considered not coming to Melbourne after a long, hectic year which was capped off by a draining loss to Australia in the Davis Cup final in Melbourne in November.
He said he had weighed up the benefits of skipping the opening grand slam tournament of the year in favour of resting but was glad he changed his mind and returned to Melbourne, where he reached the quarter-finals last year in his best previous performance.
Ferrero's next opponent is Sweden's Joachim Johansson.
MATCH STATISTICS
Volandri(ITA) Ferrero(ESP)
1st Serve % 70 of 114 = 61% 59 of 102 = 58%
Aces 2 2
Double Faults 7 6
Unforced Errors 53 34
Winning % on 1st Serve 44 of 70 = 63% 43 of 59 = 73%
Winning % on 2nd Serve 20 of 44 = 45% 22 of 43 = 51%
Winners (Including Service) 30 16
Break Point Conversions 4 of 5 = 80% 6 of 10 = 60%
Net Approaches 15 of 19 = 79% 14 of 21 = 67%
Total Points Won 101 115
Fastest Serve 187 KPH 191 KPH
Average 1st Serve Speed 165 KPH 175 KPH
Average 2nd Serve Speed 136 KPH 144 KPH
A slightly bruised and battered Juan Carlos Ferrero survived two injury scares to battle past Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4 7-6 7-5 in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday. The third-seeded Spaniard received painkillers and a rub-down from a trainer after he twisted his back sharply in the sixth game of the first set.
The French Open champion's injury woes continued in the third set when he fell and felt sharp pain in his left forearm.
While worrying at the time, Ferrero said the injuries were unlikely to affect his progress in the tournament.
"Everything is OK," 23-year-old Ferrero told reporters.
"I went to the doctor and he told me to take some anti-inflammatory tablets but he thinks it's going to be OK," he said.
Ferrero dropped his serve after receiving treatment for his back complaint but quickly broke back twice to secure the first set. Coping better with the heat than Volandri, Ferrero then took the second-set tiebreak 7-3.
But more pain awaited in the third set, which the gangly right-handed baseliner began by again dropping his serve.
Then in the fifth game of the final set he hurt his forearm when he lunged for a volley and again required treatment from a trainer, who strapped the injury to allow Ferrero to continue.
While he did not think he fell very heavily, Ferrero said he immediately felt pain in his forearm.
"I feel a lot of pain when I fell down," he said.
Brushing aside the pain and disruption to his rhythm, Ferrero immediately broke back to level the third set score at 3-3.
He then calmly closed out proceedings on his second match point on Volandri's serve, forcing the Italian into a wild backhand that flew wide.
Ferrero was very happy with his performance against a player he regards as a tough opponent despite Volandri's modest world ranking of 46.
"Today I take a lot of rhythm, there was a lot of long points and a lot of rallies. I was serving good," Ferrero said.
Ferrero also said he had considered not coming to Melbourne after a long, hectic year which was capped off by a draining loss to Australia in the Davis Cup final in Melbourne in November.
He said he had weighed up the benefits of skipping the opening grand slam tournament of the year in favour of resting but was glad he changed his mind and returned to Melbourne, where he reached the quarter-finals last year in his best previous performance.
Ferrero's next opponent is Sweden's Joachim Johansson.
MATCH STATISTICS
Volandri(ITA) Ferrero(ESP)
1st Serve % 70 of 114 = 61% 59 of 102 = 58%
Aces 2 2
Double Faults 7 6
Unforced Errors 53 34
Winning % on 1st Serve 44 of 70 = 63% 43 of 59 = 73%
Winning % on 2nd Serve 20 of 44 = 45% 22 of 43 = 51%
Winners (Including Service) 30 16
Break Point Conversions 4 of 5 = 80% 6 of 10 = 60%
Net Approaches 15 of 19 = 79% 14 of 21 = 67%
Total Points Won 101 115
Fastest Serve 187 KPH 191 KPH
Average 1st Serve Speed 165 KPH 175 KPH
Average 2nd Serve Speed 136 KPH 144 KPH
