by Karen Collins
11 January, 2003

Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero has set himself up for an assault on the Australian Open after capping off another finals appearance on hard courts, although defeated 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-7 (5-7) in two hours and 37 minutes by Korean Hyung-Taik Lee in Sydney’s adidas International on Saturday.

The 2002 French Open finalist, although unhappy not to take advantage of a match point in the third set, felt he played well and pronounced himself pleased as he looked ahead to Melbourne Park.
As one of the world’s best clay-court players in the past three years, Ferrero improved his hard court game in 2002, with a win at Hong Kong.

He also reached the hard court final of the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai (indoor) losing to world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt 6-4 in the fifth set in his last appearance of the year.

He eventually finished with a 22-12 record and reached a career-high ranking of No.2.

Kicking off this season in Sydney he looked solid and hopes his improvement will lead to a strong showing in Melbourne after withdrawing last year due to bursitis in the right knee.

The No.2 seed broke in the first game to love and didn’t look back to easily account for the qualifier in the first set but then Lee – whose only other final appearance was a loss to Andy Roddick in Houston in 2001 – found his feet.

He broke Ferrero in his opening service game of the second set as the No.4-ranked player struggled to hold all but one of his service games in the set.

Ferrero fought back from a set point in the eighth game, three in the ninth and three more in the tie-breaker before hitting a forehand three-metres over the baseline enabling the No.85-ranked qualifier to square the ledger.

In the third, Ferrero raced to 3-0 lead, but Lee – who defeated Wayne Ferreira 6-3 6-3 in the semi-final – would not relent, levelling it at 3-3.

Ferrero then had a match point on Lee’s serve in the 12th game but couldn’t convert, leading to another tie-breaker which Lee converted with the first of his two match points.

Lee goes into the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific – the Australian Open – with the confidence of knowing he is the first qualifier to win the Adidas International, formerly the New South Wales Open.