Posts Tagged ‘Valencia’

from the official Valencia tournament website
17 April 2004
In the first semifinal of the II Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, 20-year-old Fernando Verdasco needed only 60 minutes to stun top-seed and defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-1, reaching his second career ATP-level final in the process.
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from the official Valencia tournament website
15 April 2004

Top seed and defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero lived up to the home crowd’s expectations when he defeated Czech Jan Vacek 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals of the II Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana Thursday. Ferrero now has three quarterfinal appearances in five events this season, but is still looking for his first title since lifting the Valencia trophy in 2003.

In the next round the 24-year-old Spaniard takes on Croatian Mario Ancic, who found himself among the final eight after scoring a 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. This is the 20-year-old Monte Carlo resident’s second quarterfinal effort of the season following his career-first appearance in an ATP final in Milan in February (l. to Antony Dupuis).

“It was a tough match, because Ruben is a clay court player. But I think I was playing very well,” said Ancic after the win. “I was doing the things I needed to do, playing from the back but also looking to come in,” continued the Croatian.

Ancic is looking for revenge against the Spaniard after having lost to him on two occasions in 2003.

“I’ve lost twice against him. This is his home, and I know there will be lots of people on his side. No matter what, I will have to play a little better in the quarterfinals, but I’m feeling good.”

from the official Valencia tournament website
13 April 2004

Top seed and defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to the second round of the the II Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana on Tuesday, scoring a comfortable 6-2, 7-5 win over close friend and wild card Israel Matos Gil. The 21-year-old Spaniard is a member of the Academia Equelite-Juan Carlos Ferrero in Villena and made his debut at an ATP-level event this week.

This was Ferrero’s first ATP clay court event of the season and over the weekend he led Spain to a 4-1 victory over the Netherlands at the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Palma de Mallorca, winning his two singles matches.

The Spaniard holds a 12-4 match record for the season but has yet to win an ATP title in 2004. His best effort is a final appearance in Rotterdam, where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Last year he claimed four titles in as many as seven finals, including Roland Garros, his first Grand Slam crown, the ATP Masters Series event in Monte-Carlo, and Valencia.

Ferrero’s opponent in the second round is Czech Jan Vacek, a player he defeated in four sets in his opening round match at the US Open last year.

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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