sportinglife.com, UK
April 20 2004
MOYA THROUGH AFTER SARGSIAN TEST
Spain’s world number five Carlos Moya moved through to the second
round of the Monte Carlo Open after coming out on top in a tough
three-set battle with Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian to register a 7-6
(7-5) 1-6 6-3 victory.
Moya was due to meet Jarkko Nieminen in the next round but the Finn
suffered a broken right wrist at the end of his first-round victory
over Italian qualifier Uros Vico and had to withdraw.
The 27-year-old, who earlier this month returned to the island of his
birth to help Spain register a Davis Cup quarter-final win over
Holland in Mallorca, fared better than his Davis Cup team mate Juan
Carlos Ferrero, who suffered a 6-2 6-3 defeat to Alex Corretja.
Romania’s Andrei Pavel beat the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek 6-3
6-3, while Germany’s Tommy Haas overcame Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3
6-4.
Corretja, who lost to Marcelo Rios in the 1997 final, was delighted
after registering his second win in six meetings against Ferrero, who
has one the tournament twice before.
“I’m not surprised, I’m happy,” he told the event’s official website,
Corretja, who received a wild card entry into the tournament, added:
“When you play a guy that you know is probably the best player on
clay – for sure the best player on clay last season – you always know
it’s going to be tough.
“If you look at everyone’s career right now, you’re pretty much
expecting it to be the other way around, you know, Ferrero beating
Corretja 6-2 6-3. So for me it’s a great win.
“I think I played pretty solidly, attacking very well, and of course
I took advantage of his errors. He made some mistakes with his
forehand trying to attack.”