ORDER OF PLAY Day 4: Wednesday, 31 May

Court 1 - 11:00 Start

1. Flavio Saretta (BRA) vs. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)[6]
2. Jelena Jankovic (SCG) vs. Marion Bartoli (FRA)[25]
3. Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)[24]
4. Mara Santangelo (ITA) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[8]

Posted by nana at 3:17 AM

RESULTS/ARTICLE Ferrero escapes on Court No2

JC won! 6-3 2-6 6-2 6-4

Juan Carlos Ferrero is in to the second round at Roland Garros, but not without a fight from 17-year-old Juan Martin Del Potro.

The 2003 French champion needed four sets and two hours, 57 minutes to oust the youngest man in the draw, 6-3 2-6 6-2 6-4, on a cold and overcast Monday. At times, the Argentine qualifier controlled the match, but seemed to run out of gas as Ferrero pulled away over the final two sets.

The match mirrored Ferrero's recent history, during which his ranking dropped to No70 in the world, rose to 18th and is now at No27. The Spaniard had little trouble claiming the first set after building a 5-1 lead. But in the second, Del Potro attacked and reeled off the final four games to level the match.

Del Potro, in his Grand Slam debut, returned brilliantly in the second set, earning break points in all four of Ferrero's service games. That trend continued early in the third, but the youngster showed his inexperience and allowed Ferrero to reclaim control of the tilt.

With a chance to break to 2-0, Del Potro got tight and passed up four break points. Ferrero held and, in a flash, led, 5-1.

In the fourth set, Ferrero made an early break hold up, finally closing out the match when a Del Potro return died in the net.

Ferrero is still trying to find his form on clay. He reached the Barcelona quarters and the round of 16 in Monte Carlo and Hamburg, but also lost his opening round match three times (Salvador, Valencia and Rome).

Ferrero, the No24 seed, will play Philipp Kohlschreiber or Olivier Marach in the second round. He has yet to face either.

Posted by Veer at 11:06 PM

ORDER OF PLAY for Day 2: Monday, 29 May

Court 2 - 11:00 Start

1. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)[24]
2. Aravane Rezai (FRA) vs. Alberta Brianti (ITA)
3. Vincent Spadea (USA) vs. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)[6]
4. Laura Granville (USA) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[8]

Posted by nana at 3:27 AM

RG - FIRST ROUND
JC faces Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the first round of RG. They've met once earlier this year in Buenos Aires. It took three sets but JC came out the victor.

> head-to-head

Posted by nana at 10:33 AM

ROLAND GARROS - DRAW
The draw's out! It looks pretty good for JC, for at least the first two rounds. In the first round he faces a qualifier (could be tricky, but ah - he can do it!) In the second round he could either face Marach or Kohlschreiber. He's seeded, 24.

>>full draw

Posted by Veer at 4:25 AM

ARTICLE Ferrer dumps Ferrero to reach Hamburg quarter-finals

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- David Ferrer beat fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday to secure a place in the Hamburg Masters quarterfinals.

Ferrer took the opening set without much trouble from the 2003 French Open champion.

However, the 16th-seeded Ferrer then struggled to get his serves across the net and Ferrero broke to take a 2-1 lead in the second set.

Ferrer recovered to lead 5-4 and collect three match points on his opponent's serve. Ferrero saved the first two with big serves but Ferrer won with a backhand down the line.

"It was a difficult match even if the result doesn't show it," Ferrer said. "There were a lot of long rallies with Ferrero."

[...]

> source
> photos

*geh* At least now JC has more time to rest and prepare for Roland Garros. Vamos!

Posted by nana at 2:27 AM

PLAYER BLOG

Tommy Robredo mentioned JC twice in his Wednesday blog entry.

"Right now I'm going back to the hotel for a siesta and then I will chat again on messenger. I'm sure most of the talk will be about the football. The players' party is on tonight at the hotel but for sure I will miss that. I'll just get room service for dinner and then a lot of the players will try to find a room to watch the match as a group, which will be more fun. David Ferrer and his coach, who are Barcelona supporters, will be cheering with me but Ferrero and Verdasco will be cheering against Barcelona because they support Madrid. They don't care if Arsenal wins; they just want Barcelona to lose. I think that Carlos Moya, who is a Barcelona supporter, has flown to Paris for the game.

[...]

I saw Ferrero and Garcia-Lopez in the players' lounge fighting to see who could make the fastest lap time in a Formula 1 car game."

> Tommy in Hamburg

Hope JC does a Players Blog soon! ^^

Posted by nana at 11:54 AM

INTERVIEW with RAINER SCHÜTTLER

Just posting the bits where Schuttler talks about his match against JC.

Q: What was the reason?

A: Good question. And a very surprising one (laughs).

I will just go over the match again. The first set was more or less like yesterday, I couldn't get into the game. I didn't feel well. He played these high spin balls, he put me under pressure especially on my backhand. His serve was tough as well, he served with a lot of kick and the balls jump far from the body and relatively high. I had some problems with that at the beginning.

It got better in the second set. I managed to play with a lot more pressure. At least the third set was better than the first one.

It was a mixture between playing really well and not so well. But he returned really well. Whenever I tried to put pressure on him or when I was at the net, he returned well and got to the balls really well. He was definitely better in the third set. I was sort of sleeping a bit in the first set, that was unfortunate. But at least I was fighting mentally yesterday and today, I tried to work on every ball to get into the game. I managed to do that twice.

[...]

Posted by nana at 7:12 AM

ORDER OF PLAY for Thursday, May 18th 2006

Center Court starting at 11:00 CET

1. Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP) vs. David FERRER (ESP)
2. Mario ANCIC (CRO) vs. James BLAKE (USA)
3. Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) vs. Jose ACASUSO (ARG)
4. Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI) vs. Fernando VERDASCO (ESP)
5. Nikolay DAVYDENKO (RUS) vs. Jarkko NIEMINEN (FIN)

Posted by nana at 5:21 AM

RESULTS

JC won! He defeated Schuettler 6-3 3-6 6-2.
The first two sets, Ferrero didn't play stunning, but in the third set he was unbelievable! The tv commentator (of Sport 1.1) even said: ''If he's able to keep playing this way, I can see him win Roland Garros this year!''

JC will face Ferrer in the next round.

Funny fact: In the 2nd set, at 2-2, Schuettler missed a really easy smash. He gave his racket to one of the linesmen, sat down on the linesman's chair and said like '' You can play for me.''
JC played along and served to the linesman, who wasn't even able to return the ball.

Posted by Veer at 12:42 AM

ORDER OF PLAY for Wednesday, May 17th 2006

Center Court starting at 11:00 CET

1. Radek STEPANEK (CZE) vs. Björn PHAU (GER)
2. Max MIRNYI (BLR) vs. Nicolas KIEFER (GER)
3. Rainer SCHUETTLER (GER) vs. Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP)
4. Andy MURRAY (GBR) vs. James BLAKE (USA)
5. Jose ACASUSO (ARG) vs. Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO)

Posted by nana at 4:38 AM

INTERVIEW

Q: Are you glad that Federer and Nadal are not coming?

Ferrero: Well, I’m supposed to, because they are in great form, and they played the last two finals in the Masters series, so maybe we have more chances when they are not here, but you never know.

Q: Can you understand why they pulled out of the tournament?

Ferrero: I can understand that, yes.

Q: Is it too much to have two Masters Series after another?

Ferrero: Yes, mostly when you play the finals over five hours, it can be very difficult to recover within 24 hours to play here.

Q: Are you surprised about Nadal’s and Federer’s form or do you still think that you can beat them?

Ferrero: Well, they are playing at a very good level. I think you need a lot of confidence to win against them right now.

Q: Is it more difficult to play back-to-back clay court Masters than it is to play back-to-back Masters on other surfaces?

Ferrero: Maybe, because on clay you have to play the longest matches and of course it is hard in the final. The thing in 2001 I won Rome and then I had to come here and I did the finals, so I think you can do it.

Q: Is it absolutely crucial to try and change the tournaments?

Ferrero: I think it is very important and they will do it, or else it is bad, because we finish so late and we start so soon, so we will feel tired.

Q: Is it more difficult to win Roland Garros now than it was a few years before, were there more players you could win?

Ferrero: I don’t know, I think the level right now is very high and you can lose against any player in the top 100. But it is always difficult to win.

Q: With clay court player people always say, let’s see how they do on other surfaces to see if they are great players. Do you think that’s unfair? Would you consider Nadal a great player like that or yourself?

Ferrero: I think South American players or myself, we can play very well on hard court, I won Montreal last year, I won Madrid and I did a final in a Master Cup, so I think the specialists on hard court, it’s more difficult for them to play on clay. They always say that the Spanish guys can only play on clay, but I don’t think that’s true.

Q: You also played very good indoors, you play good on hard court. Maybe that is the reason why you are not so good on clay as you used to be, because you focus on hard court?

Ferrero: No, I don’t think so. I try to play very good on any surface, I don’t think that I lost something on clay court. I think today for example I played a very good match like I always played on clay court.

Q: What makes him so special on clay, was he so physical on court?

Ferrero: Yes, physical is very important because he runs around so much, he runs to impossible balls. Also, I think he is very strong mentally. You have to be like him on court, you have to try to win every point. (…)

Q: How many players are capable of winning the French Open, is it just two or three or maybe a dozen players?

Ferrero: I don’t know exactly how many players, but there are some of them. It is very difficult to give two or three names.

Q: But the ones who separate themselves from the others.

Ferrero: The guys who are in very good form now are Nadal, Federer, the South American guys, the Spanish guys and not many more.

Q: Do you include yourself?

Ferrero: Yes, why not?

Q: Do you play at the same level as a few years ago?

Ferrero: Yes, why not.

Q: There is also a mental point of course, to play several matches best of five.

Ferrero, I know, but I did it.

Q: Is it difficult for you to come to a big tournament like the French and know that you won it before? Would it be easier for you if you hadn’t done it before?

Ferrero: You have to do the same things as always. I mean, sleep well, eat well, rest well, it’s also important here.

Q: Now you have no doubt that you can do it?

Ferrero: Yes, I played three finals and I won one.

Q: How often do you use that, going to the court and thinking, I’ve got these finals?

Ferrero: I want to win more tournaments and get more points.

(…)

Ferrero: I think Olivier Rochus is a great tennis player and I won a great match today.

Q: You haven’t played your best for a while, but you are playing as well and feeling as well as you used to three years ago?

Ferrero: Yes.

Posted by nana at 10:52 AM

RESULTS
Juan Carlos Ferrero won a hard match against this years Munich champion Olivier Rochus from Belgium 7:6 (7:4), 5:7, 6:3.

Posted by nana at 2:35 AM

ORDER OF PLAY

JC will be playing second on court M1 tomorrow!
At 11.00 Sanguinetti vs Nieminen will be starting, next up are JC and Rochus.
Good luck, Ferrero!

Posted by Veer at 5:19 AM

HAMBURG MAIN DRAW

(1)FEDERER, Roger SUI vs (WC)SCHUETTLER, Rainer GER
ROCHUS, Olivier BEL vs FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP
SAFIN, Marat RUS vs Qualifier
LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP vs (16)FERRER, David ESP

(11)JOHANSSON, Thomas SWE vs MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
GASQUET, Richard FRA vs VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL
BERDYCH, Tomas CZE vs SERRA, Florent FRA
NOVAK, Jiri CZE vs (8)ROBREDO, Tommy ESP

(4)DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs MASSU, Nicolas CHI
WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI vs SEPPI, Andreas ITA
SRICHAPHAN, Paradorn THA vs ROCHUS, Christophe BEL
SANGUINETTI, Davide ITA vs (13)NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN

(11)ANCIC, Mario CRO vs Qualifier
Qualifier vs YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS
MONFILS, Gael FRA vs MURRAY, Andy GBR
MOYA, Carlos ESP vs (5)BLAKE, James USA

(7)GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI vs TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS
HRBATY, Dominik SVK vs (WC)MAYER, Florian
CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG vs VERDASCO, Fernando ESP
Qualifier vs (10)CORIA, Guillermo ARG

(14)GINEPRI, Robby USA vs GROSJEAN, Sebastien FRA
VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA vs PASHANSKI, Boris SCG
ACASUSO, Jose ARG vs (WC)GREUL, Simon GER
Qualifier vs (3)LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO

(6)GAUDIO, Gaston ARG vs MARTIN, Alberto ESP
RUSEDSKI, Greg GBR vs Qualifier
HORNA, Luis PER vs MIRNYI, Max BLR
Qualifier vs (9)KIEFER, Nicolas GER

(15)STEPANEK, Radek CZE vs BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP
SANTORO, Fabrice FRA vs (WC)PHAU, Bjorn GER
MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs Qualifier
HAAS, Tommy GER vs (2)NADAL, Rafael ESP

> full draw (pdf)

Posted by nana at 4:06 AM

RESULTS JC fell in the first round to Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 1-6, 3-6!



> Next tournament: Masters Series Hamburg

Posted by nana at 4:17 AM

ORDER OF PLAY Tuesday 09 May

COURT 5 - Starting at 1.00 pm

1. Paradorn SRICHAPHAN (THA) c. Tomas BERDYCH (CZE)
2. (6)Nikolay DAVIDENKO (RUS) c. Boris PASHANSKI (SCG)
3. Paul Henri MATHIEU (FRA) c. Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP)

Posted by nana at 4:08 AM

EXHIBITION
JC is scheduled to play an exhibition doubles match with Nicola Pietrangeli vs Tony Roche/Carlos Moya. A funny fact is that Rafael Nadal will be the chair umpire! Sounds like fun.. Hopefully Juan Carlos will have a great time and of course good luck to him and Nicola!

Posted by Veer at 11:37 PM

Monday, May 08, 2006

ROME MAIN DRAW
Tough draw! JC faces Paul-Henri Mathieu from France in the first round and he might face Nalbandian in the second. Other seeded players in his quarter are Kiefer, Coria and Blake.

Good luck, Ferrero!

>> full draw (pdf)

Posted by Veer at 11:21 PM