from Ticker
19 February 2004

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Ticker) – No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain survived a scare Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the ABM AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

Ferrero, who has dropped to third in the world rankings, reached the final eight with a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) victory over John van Lottum of the Netherlands. It was the first meeting between the players.

Ferrero is playing in his first tournament since falling to Switzerland’s Roger Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open.

“I didn’t play my best tennis today but I’m winning matches and I’m in the quarterfinals,” he said. “It’s not easy to play on an indoor court and to play Dutch players in front of their home crowd.”