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Injury retires Ferrero from Dubai Open

kat — Thu, 28 Feb 2002 20:38:22 +0000

Taken from Yahoo Sports – AP Sports Article
28 February 2002

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to retire Thursday from his second-round match at the $1 million Dubai Open because of a thigh injury.

Younes El Aynaoui was leading 7-5, 4-6, 2-1 when a left thigh strain forced Ferrero to quit.

El Aynaoui will play Rainer Schuettler in the quarterfinals. Schuettler upset No. 6 seed Roger Federer 6-3, 6-1.

Ferrero dropped the first set when he had his service broken in the 12th game. He was treated by the trainer during and after the set and came back strongly in the second.

“It’s not very bad (the injury) but I have to play in Miami next,” Ferrero said. “It started bothering me at 3-2 in first set.

“I did not want to play some more tennis as I had to make up 300 points. I did feel so bad as I had to defend the title. But I have to be positive.”

Ferrero and El Aynaoui each served 32 aces.

“It’s very, very difficult to stand on court not knowing what he was up to or what he wanted to do,” El Aynaoui said. “He was kind of relaxed with his shots, but when I made him run he did go for the ball. At the end I’m just relieved that I got away with it.”

Federer, playing a lackluster game, went down tamely to Schuettler.

“I had practiced hard and was pretty fit. I can last the tough matches,” Schuettler said. “He (Federer) has a big strong serve, and he could have come into the match at any time. It is not easy to play him when he is on form,” he said.

Federer is the fourth top player to be eliminated in the first two rounds, following Goran Ivanisevic, Sebastien Grosjean and Ferrero.

In other matches, Tim Henman beat Max Mirnyi to set up a meeting with Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson, who had an easy passage to the quarters when Alex Calatrava retired because of a lower back injury.

Ferrero bids to reclaim Dubai title

kat — Tue, 29 Jan 2002 20:29:14 +0000

Taken from the Official Dubai Championships Website
29 January 2002

The little man they call ‘Mosquito’ is looking forward to defending the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open title he won last year – and to becoming the first player in the 10 year history of the tournament to win it twice. Juan Carlos Ferrero beat all-comers in 2001 to claim the handsome Silver Dhow trophy in the men’s week event at the two-week Dubai Tennis Championships.

It was a victory that set him up for the most successful season of his career, with Ferrero finishing as world number five, the highest placing for a Spaniard since Alex Corretja, another Dubai champion, climbed as high as three after his win in Dubai in 1998.

Ferrero also claimed an impressive total of four ATP Tour titles and compiled a career-best 16-match winning streak, which was second in the year only to world number one Lleyton Hewitt, who managed 17 straight victories.

After winning just one of his first three matches of the year, Ferrero took off once he landed in Dubai, beating the US Open champion Marat Safin and then embarking on his remarkable run through the European clay court events, claiming further titles in Estoril, Barcelona and Rome before he was finally stopped in the Hamburg final by fellow Spaniard Albert Portas.

Ferrero continued his progress at Roland Garros, reaching the semi-finals of the French Open before losing to eventual champion Gustavo Kuerten, and after making his Wimbledon debut and beating former semi-finalist Jason Stoltenberg he returned to the clay and reached the final in Gstaad.

Then, after a successful American hardcourt season, he led Spain to victory in the Davis Cup over Uzbekistan to take his country back into the World Group. He rounded off a great year by reaching the semi-finals of the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney.

“The Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open was the first step on the road to success for Juan Carlos in 2001 and we’re looking forward to seeing what he will achieve here in 2002,” said Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free.

“No player has won the title twice, let alone in consecutive years, but Juan Carlos has proven himself to be a great champion and in his title defence against the likes of Tim Henman, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Goran Ivanisevic we are sure to witness some spectacular matches.”

The Dubai Tennis Championships, comprising the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open back-to-back with the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, runs from 18th February to 3rd March and is held under the patronage of HH General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence, UAE.

Ferrero wins first 2001 title

kat — Mon, 05 Mar 2001 13:24:39 +0000

Taken from the Official ATP Tour website
5 March 2001

Juan Carlos Ferrero captured the second ATP title of his career when his top seeded opponent Marat Safin was forced to retire with a back injury 52 minutes into the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Ferrero, the seventh seed from Spain, was leading 6-2, 3-1 in the battle of the New Balls Please stars when Safin decided he could no longer continue. The 21-year-old Russian incurred the injury during his semifinal win over Thomas Johansson.

“It is difficult for [Marat] to play at a good level if he’s injured,” said Ferrero, who moves to 17th position in the ATP Champions Race 2001. “I think it is better for him to stop.”

Ferrero, who defeated Jonas Bjorkman, Jiri Novak, Magnus Norman and saved two match points against Dominik Hrbaty to reach his first final of the year, became the second Spaniard to win in Dubai following Alex Corretja’s title in 1998.

The 21-year-old from Onteniente finished the ATP Champions Race 2000 at No. 12, and was part of the winning Spanish Davis Cup team last December. It was his first title since winning in Mallorca in 1999, and he was a finalist in Dubai and Barcelona last year.

Safin: “Sorry for the crowd.”

For Safin, it was a disappointing end to what had been a good week for the Russian. “I’m really sorry for the crowd who paid for the ticket and watched only half a match,” said Safin. “I definitely couldn’t play 100 percent…If you cannot serve and volley, you just have to play from the baseline and hold your serve.”

Safin, who won seven titles in 2000 including the US Open and the Tennis Masters Series events in Toronto and Paris, reached his first final of the year with victories over David Prinosil, Julien Boutter, Andrei Medvedev and Johansson. He stands in 12th position in the ATP Champions Race 2001.