The Hindu : Arthurs upsets El Aynaoui

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Arthurs upsets El Aynaoui

NOTTINGHAM June 19. Australian Wayne Arthurs upset top-seeded Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco to reach the third round of the Samsung Open — the final grass-court warmup for Wimbledon.

Arthurs won 6-4, 7-6 (6-4) on Wednesday, and American Mardy Fish also won over Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-4.

Hicham Arazi of Morocco defeated sixth-seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 (6-4), 6-2 and Briton Rusedski won over Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-4, 6-1.

In other second-round matches at the Wimbledon warmup: German Alexander Popp won over Andre Sa of Brazil 7-6 (6-4), 3-6, 6-3; Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, defeated Arvind Parmar of Britain 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

``El Aynaoui is a good player and the No. 1 seed, so it was a good win for me today,'' Arthurs said. ``I knew his backhand was his weakness, so I placed a lot of my serves to that side.''

``I will be looking to take this level of serving with me next week to Wimbledon. If I can keep serving as well and hold my serve, I should be able to create some opportunities in each set.''

Arthurs faces Arazi next.

``I have never played Arazi before, but I rate him as one of the most talented players on the tour,'' Arthurs said. ``When he gets going, he can make things happen with the balls. He is a great player to watch.''

Arzai had few problems with Mirnyi.

``I was expecting a tougher match against Max (Mirnyi),'' Arazi said. ``He has a big serve and moves well. My tactic was to focus hard on keeping my serve.

``I saved several break points on my serve during the first set, even when I was 0-40 down. I kept my first-serve percentage high, pushing him back.

``I was also returning well so I felt confident going into the tiebreak.''

Rusedski is trying to return from an injury plagued year.

``I'm getting better with every match, and I have got five matches and I've won back-to-back ones, which I haven't done on the main tour for a long time,'' he said.

``That was another positive step forward. If I can win in straight sets that's great for me. There's nothing better than winning matches as preparation, no matter how hard you practice you can't substitute match play.''

The results:

Wayne Arthurs bt Younes El Aynaoui 6-4, 7-6 (6-4); Mardy Fish bt Michel Kratochvil 6-3, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman bt Arvind Parmar 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; Greg Rusedski bt Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-1; Hicham Arazi bt Max Mirnyi 7-6 (6-4), 6-2; Alexander Popp bt Andre Sa 7-6 (6-4), 3-6, 6-3.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport