Champ Kuerten gets through marathon tie
AUCKLAND: Holder Gustavo Kuerten battled for almost three hours before beating Spain's Alex Corretja 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 in the first round of the Auckland Open on Tuesday.
The Brazilian, who was given support by the home crowd, overcame the world-ranked number 100 in 2 hours 49 minutes.
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POWERING ON: Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil plays a forehand return against Alex Corretja of Spain during their match at the New Zealand Open in Auckland . Kuerten, the defending champion, won 6-7, 7-6, 7-5.--APpic. |
Kuerten beat Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty in last year's final, and the Slovakian made it through to the second round with an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over New Zealander Mark Nielsen.
While Corretja's star may be waning, rising Spanish ace Rafael Nadal shrugged off his late arrival to upset fourth seed Sjeng Schalken 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
Eighth-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen was also shown the exit losing 6-1, 6-4 to Fabrice Santoro of France, while the biggest surprise of the day saw Gilles Muller from Luxembourg beat former world No. 6 Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 7-5, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1. – Agencies
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