Gone again
Slumping Moya ousted at Marseille Open
Posted: Tuesday February 02, 1999 10:13 PM
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See ya, Moya: The Spaniard is off to a slow start for the second straight year Clive Brunskill/Allsport |
MARSEILLE, France (Ticker) -- Top seed Carlos Moya of Spain
continued his early season struggles as he fell to Swiss
teenager Roger Federer today in first-round action at the
$514,250 Marseille Open.
Moya, the reigning French Open champion, was eliminated by the
former Wimbledon junior champion, 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-3, to fall
to 2-4 this season.
The 22-year-old Moya suffered his second straight first-round
exit as he lost in five sets to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer at the
Australian Open. Last season, the Spaniard won only one of his
first six matches before finishing with a 49-26 record.
At 17, Federer is the youngest player in the draw. He received
a wild card entry and is playing in just his third ATP Tour
event.
He reached his first career ATP Tour quarterfinal in Toulouse,
France last year, defeating a pair of top-50 players in
Guillaume Raoux of France and Australian Richard Fromberg before
losing to eventual winner Jan Siemerink. Federer reached the
U.S. Open juniors final last year.
Three other seeds were eliminated in opening-round play. Raoux
toppled fifth seed Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden, 6-3, 6-4;
Fabrice Santoro of France dumped seventh seed Daniel Vacek of
the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-3; and French qualifier Julien
Boutter posted a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win over eighth seed Marat
Safin, the 19-year-old Russian.
Only two seeds advanced to the second round. Third seed Cedric
Pioline of France, a finalist in 1996, rebounded from a
first-round loss at the Australian Open by defeating American
Jeff Tarango, 6-4, 6-2. Also, sixth seed Nicolas Escude of
France held off Morocco's Karim Alami, 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6
(7-2).
In matches involving unseeded players, Dominik Hrbaty of
Slovakia routed Costa Rica's Juan Antonio Marin, 6-2, 6-1;
Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine outlasted Swedish qualifier Fredrik
Jonsson, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3); and Andrei Pavel of Romania
dispatched Spaniard Galo Blanco, 6-4, 7-5.
Australian Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia will try
to shake off jet lag when he squares off against Sjeng Schalken
of the Netherlands in the first round on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Kafelnikov made the long trip from Melbourne
after capturing his second career Grand Slam title with a
victory over Thomas Enqvist of Sweden on Sunday.
Enqvist, who topped Kafelnikov, 6-4, 6-1, in last year's final
to win his second straight title here, is not entered this week.
Kafelnikov, whose other Grand Slam title came at the 1996 French
Open, moved from 10th in the world to third -- equaling a career
best -- in this week's ATP rankings. Pete Sampras and Alex
Corretja are first and second.
First prize is $72,000.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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