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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Tuesday, March 13 |
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| Back injury keeps Safin at less than full strength Associated Press | |||
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Second-ranked Marat Safin, his sore
back forcing him to hit soft serves and making it a struggle just
to get around the court, was upset by Thomas Johansson on Tuesday
in the men's Masters Series tournament.
Johansson, sending the U.S. Open champion scrambling side to
side and tossing in an occasional drop shot against his slowed
opponent, won the first-round match 7-5, 7-5.
Standing flat-footed rather then arching his back when he
served, Safin hit many of his first serves around 90 mph, more than
30 mph slower than usual.
The 21-year-old Russian, afraid to make sudden movements that
might aggravate his back injury, made 33 unforced errors and hit
only 10 winners.
"I'm a little disappointed that the injury is this week, which
is Masters Series and is very important to me," Safin said. "But
all the time you have to be careful. The problem is that I'm scared
a little bit to get injured again. I have pain, but it's more that
you get scared.
"I think it is better to lose here in the first round, to
prepare myself and be 100 percent for Miami (the Ericsson
tournament next week)."
Safin hurt his back, apparently a pulled muscle, earlier this
month at Dubai, where searing pain caused him to quit in the second
set against Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Asked why he didn't default against Johansson, Safin said: "You
have to try. Why not? I tried and I didn't lose 6-0, 6-0."
Magnus Norman, the No. 5 seed, also lost his first-round match,
with Nicolas Lapentti beating him 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
In another men's match, Mardy Fish, an up-and-coming 19-year-old
from Vero Beach, Fla., eliminated Mark Philippoussis, 6-4, 6-7 (2),
6-4.
Last week, Fish advanced to his second ATP quarterfinals with
victories over Juan Ignacio Chela and Thomas Enqvist at Scottsdale,
Ariz., where Fish eventually lost to Magnus Norman.
Fish, whose father, Tom, is a teaching pro and had him hitting
balls over the net from the baseline when he was only 2, is
delighted just to be in a tournament with the world's best players.
"I've always wanted to be a pro tennis player," Fish said.
"I've dreamed of winning grand slams, making lots of money, having
nice cars, stuff like that.
"These last two weeks have been unbelievable. Hopefully I can
keep going."
Gustavo Kuerten, playing up to his No. 1 world ranking, ran his
winning streak to 14 matches with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Cecil
Mamiit in their first-round match at Indian Wells.
The two-time French Open champion from Brazil hammered Mamiit's
service, winning 70 of his 118 points on return points.
Trying for his third title of the year after winning on clay at
Buenos Aires and Acapulco, Kuerten needed just 70 minutes to
eliminate Mamiit, a qualifier.
Other winners included Lleyton Hewitt, Patrick Rafter and Tim
Henman.
Hewitt came back strong from a second-set loss to beat Albert
Costa 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. Rafter downed Greg Rusedski 6-3, 6-2, and
Henman beat Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (4).
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ALSO SEE Tuesday's results Indian Wells seeds Hingis still concentrating on getting better Sampras ends losing streak, wins Indian Wells opener | |
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