The Spaniard faces Christophe Rochus in the Valencia final
from ATP Tennis
3 May 2003
Top seed and world No. 3, Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to the first final of the CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana, improving his clay record to 16-1. In Saturday’s second semifinal, Ferrero defeated Brazil’s Flavio Saretta 7-6(3), 6-2 on route to his third ATP final of the year. The Spaniard began the European clay court season by claiming the Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo title. The following week, Ferrero continued his clay court dominance before losing to Marat Safin in the semifinals of the Open Seat Godo in Barcelona. Ferrero is only one match away from claiming his eighth career title. In the final, he meets Belgium’s Christophe Rochus.
Advancing to his first ATP career final, Rochus ended the chance of an all Valencian final by defeating Fernando Vicente 6-3, 6-2 in the first semifinal. Prior to Valencia, Rochus had lost his confidence and suffered first or second round defeats in every event he had played in 2003. His career best result came in Palermo 2000, where the Belgian lost to his brother, Olivier Rochus.
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from ATP Insider
1 May 2003

->> – BURNING RUBBER: the CAM Open Comunidad in Valencia, top seed JUAN CARLOS FERRERO joined Spanish golfing star SERGIO GARCIA at the Circuito Ricardo Tornos, Valencia’s famous racing track which played host to the World Superbike Championship in March 2003.

The Valencian sports stars met at the circuit – which is located in Cheste about 20 kilometres from Valencia Capital – to race official cars of the tournament up to speeds of 190 kph on the twisty circuit. Joining them were MARKUS HIPFL, SARGIS SARGSIAN and wild card GUILLERMO GARCIA-LOPEZ, along with tournament director MIGUEL MAESO and Ferrero’s coach ANTONIO MARTINEZ.

“One of my greatest passions apart from tennis is speed,” said Ferrero. “Normally, I can’t find the time to get to a race track. It was a great experience to go out there and test the cars and the circuit. Pushing myself and driving at extreme speeds actually relaxes me on a tennis court.” Garcia, currently at No. 11 in golf’s official world rankings, said: “I love racing cars and I am a big tennis fan. Combining the two things today was something special.” Hipfl added: “You don’t realise when you are in the official cars travelling to and from the club, but they are very fast. There were a lot of bends on the circuit, but we still managed to reach 180-190 kmh on the short straights. We were really pushing the cars to the limit.” After burning rubber on the track, they entered the circuit’s clubhouse to sample the famous Valencian dish, seafood Paella.

Marat Safin survives a thriller against Gaudio
from the official ATP website
26 April 2003
Spanish stars, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya, both moved closer to a rendezvous in the final of the Open SEAT Godo 2003 in Barcelona Friday when each of them notched straight set victories over their quarterfinal opponents. Ferrero, who has now won 10 consecutive matches in the month of April since losing to Marcelo Rios at the NASDAQ-100 Open, defeated No. 7 seed Gustavo Kuerten, while Moya defeated the only unseeded player left in the draw.
Ferrero took the first set and broke Kuerten in his final service game to win 6-4, 6-4 and move into the semifinals of the event for the third time in four years. Moya had little trouble with Estoril champion Nikolay Davydenko, winning 6-3, 6-4. Davydenko broke Moya to start the match, but the Spaniard’s all-court game, mixing drop shots and forehand winners, overwhelmed the 21-year-old Russian, who has captured two ATP titles this year. Moya is into his fourth ATP semifinal on the year.
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Marat Safin Also Reaches Quarterfinals
from the official ATP website
25 April 2003
Top seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Italian qualifier Filippo Volandri Thursday at the Open SEAT Godo 2003 in Barcelona, while two other Spaniards also advanced into Friday’s quarterfinals. After going down 4-0 in the first set, Volandri fought back, but Ferrero closed out the first and moved into the quarterfinals of a tournament for the fifth time in 2003 with a 6-4, 6-4, victory.
Volandri, who has qualified for two consecutive tournaments, going 9-2 during that time and breaking into the Top 100, will likely move up another five positions when the ATP Rankings come out on Monday.
Ferrero next faces Gustavo Kuerten, who received a walkover when ninth-seeded Younes El Aynaoui withdrew from the event due to a throat and ear infection. Kuerten’s coach, Larri Passos, had originally wanted to avoid telling him that El Aynaoui was forced to withdraw from the tournament, so that Kuerten would be very focused in the morning practice. But El Aynaoui had already explained the situation and word got out that Kuerten had received a walkover.
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from AFP
21 April 2003
MONACO, (AFP) – The French Open is more than a month away but men’s tennis is already deep into Hispanic mode with Juan Carlos Ferrero having pocketed a second straight Monte Carlo Masters Series title on Sunday at the expense of Argentine Guillermo Coria. Ferrero’s 6-2, 6-2 win means he can confidently hope to keep the Roland Garros crown in Spanish hands by succeeding Albert Costa, the man who beat him in last year’s Paris final.
The claycourt Armada now heads home from Monaco to Barcelona, where many of the top Spaniards are based and which has turned into a production line of stars.
The 23-year-old Ferrero, from Onteniente near Valencia, eschews a move to the Catalan metropolis but confirmed after his win over Coria that home comforts are a vital ingredient of success, even if the top stars spend three quarters of their year criss-crossing the continents.
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From ATP Tennis
21 April 2003

Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 19-year-old wild card Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana on Tuesday. Ferrero has been a terror on the clay this season, winning the title at the Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo and reaching the semifinals last week in Barcelona. The Spaniard now stands in the fourth position of the ATP Champions Race, and is looking for a strong run in Valencia this week to challenge for the No. 3 spot, held by Rainer Schuettler.

What the Players Said…
Ferrero: “It wasn’t a good match because it is difficult to play against someone who you practice with so often.”

“I am taking a risk with my clay court schedule. It is pretty heavy from now up until Roland Garros. I am scheduled to have one week off before Paris. Playing here is not as tiring as competing abroad. I wanted to see this tournament happen and now that we have the event, I want to see it grow.”