Posts Tagged ‘2003’

By MaliVai Washington from ESPN.com
5 May 2003
Juan Carlos Ferrero is on fire. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, you have to think he’s the favorite going into the French Open.
Roger Federer looks like this finally might be the year he breaks out to win a Grand Slam event.
There is no question Ferrero is one of the top two or three players on clay and that’s been the case for the past two years. With Gustavo Kuerten still rebounding and trying to find his form after his injury-filled year and a half, there’s no question that Ferrero is the front-runner of those who can contend on clay.
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from Reuters
4 May 2003
VALENCIA, Spain, May 4 (Reuters) – Local hero Juan Carlos Ferrero breezed to a 6-2 6-4 victory over Christophe Rochus to win the inaugural Valencia Open on Sunday.
Ferrero, born just outside Valencia in Onteniente and the top seed at his home-town tournament, broke twice at the start of the match for a 4-0 love lead against the unseeded Belgian.
From then on the result was never in doubt, as Ferrero clinched the first set and moved smoothly into a 4-2 lead in the second to set up an overwhelming victory that completed his record of not having lost a set at the tournament.
It was a second clay-court title of the season for Ferrero, who won the Monte Carlo Masters last month and also reached the semi-finals in Barcelona last week.
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The top seed captures his third title on home soil and moves to second position in the ATP Champions Race 2003
from ATP Tennis
4 May 2003
Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero claimed the ninth ATP title of his career with a 6-2, 6-4 victory of Belgium’s Christophe Rochus in the final of the CAM Open Comunidad Valenciana presented by Onofre.
Ferrero, who moves up to second position in the ATP Champions Race 2003, captured his second title of the year (Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo) and is now 29-6 for the season with a 17-1 record on clay.
En route to the final, Ferrero defeated wild card Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Albert Portas, Agustin Calleri and Brazil’s Flavio Saretta without dropping a set.
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from ATP Tennis
Juan Carlos Ferrero continues to bolster his reputation as the most feared player on clay this season, improving his clay record to 15-1. On Friday, the Spaniard defeated Agustin Calleri 6-3, 6-4 at the CAM Open Comunidad Valencianato to advance to his fourth ATP semifinal of the year. Ferrero began his season on clay at the Tennis Masters Monte-Carlo, where he captured the title. A week later, he stormed through the semifinals in Barcelona. And this week, he’s now two matches away from claiming his eighth career title in his home country. Ferrero now meets Flavio Saretta of Brazil, who upset No. 4 seed Gaston Gaudio 3-6, 7-6(3) 6-3.
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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.