Ferrero captures 1st career Tennis Masters Series Title in Rome

kat — Tue, 15 May 2001 13:39:02 +0000

Taken from the Official ATP Tour website
15 May 2001

No. 8 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero came from behind to beat top-seed and the world’s top clay court player Gustavo Kuerten 3-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, to capture his biggest career title at the Tennis Masters Series Roma.

The 3 hour, 4 minute battle might be an early championship preview of what to expect at Roland Garros next month. Kuerten came into the final with a 24-1 record on clay this season while Ferrero was 16-1. The two played in the semifinals at Roland Garros last year and the Brazilian prevailed in five sets.

The 21-year-old earned his ATP-best fourth title of the season and climbed to 2nd in the ATP Champions Race while becoming the fourth Spanish winner in Rome. He joins countrymen Manuel Orantes in 1972, Emilio Sanchez in 1991 and Alex Corretja in 1997 to capture the prestigious clay court title. The five-set final was the first in Rome since 1989 when Alberto Mancini defeated Andre Agassi.

Ferrero entered Rome off his five-set title victory over countryman Carlos Moya in Barcelona and he continued his winning ways by not losing a set en route to the final.

“Barcelona gave me a lot of confidence because I played with the Spanish players, some very strong players,” said Ferrero, who takes his career-best 11-match winning streak into Hamburg.

“And this is the first time I won a Masters Series (title), and I am really very happy about that. But I think this tournament is giving me more confidence going to Roland Garros.”

Kuerten, who was also attempting to win his fourth ATP title of the season, finished runner-up in Rome for the second straight year. He did win the title in Rome two years ago.

“It was a great week, again. I beat some great players to get to the final,” said Kuerten, who defeated Michael Chang, No. 15 seed Franco Squillari, No. 10 Alex Corretja and unseeded Andreas Vinciguerra without dropping a set. “I played well enough maybe to win. I am still in good shape and I am playing great tennis, and besides that, I am enjoying a lot of things I am doing on the court.”

During the week, defending champion Magnus Norman lost in the first round to Italian wild card Vincenzo Santopadre and another local player, 21-year-old Federico Luzzi posted impressive wins over No. 11 seed Arnaud Clement and TMS Monte Carlo finalist Hicham Arazi en route to the Round of 16. Pete Sampras made his 2001 clay court debut and lost in the first round to eventual quarterfinalist Harel Levy.

Juan Carlos Ferrero || Juanqui.net || A Juan Carlos Ferrero website » Gustavo Kuerten

Ferrero captures 1st career Tennis Masters Series Title in Rome