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Friday, Jan 18, 2008
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Gonzalez in the spotlight

MELBOURNE: Fernando Gonzalez’ unexpected run to the Australian Open final last year featured upset wins over Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake and Rafael Nadal.

This year, the competition so far hasn’t been as high-calibre, but the Chilean star remains in the spotlight. And there’s more potentially to come. Gonzalez, who lost to Roger Federer in straight sets in last year’s final, beat Greek player Konstantinos Economidis in the first round in a match that featured a five-minute suspension in play while police used pepper spray to subdue rowdy fans, ejecting three of them from the grounds.

On Thursday, boisterous flag-waving Chilean fans cheered noisily on Show Court 2 when Gonzalez beat South Korea’s Lee Hyung-taik.

Next up, a potential headache for crowd security and police — Gonzalez faces Croatian Marion Cilic in a third-round match on the weekend.

Last year, Croatian fans clashed with Serbians at the tournament, some using sticks and flag poles. Police and private security guards ejected about 150 spectators on the first day of the tournament.

“It should be very interesting,” is all Gonzalez said on Thursday about the match.

Gonzalez said his performance last year, where he lost just one set in beating Hewitt in the third round, Blake in the fourth, Nadal in the quarterfinals and Tommy Haas in the semifinals, is a distant memory. — AP

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