Kuerten rampant in Hamburg as lower seeds fall
Ossian Shine
Top seed Lleyton Hewitt dished out a tactical lesson and world number two Gustavo Kuerten proved he is back to his best as they both posted solid second round wins at the Hamburg Masters on Wednesday.
Hewitt thumped German wildcard Bjorn Phau 6-3 6-3 while Brazil's baseline wonder Kuerten proved beyond all doubt that he has recovered from hip surgery as he swept past Romania's Andrei Pavel 6-3 7-6.
Kuerten put on a masterful performance to confound critics who thought his return would allow him insufficient time to prepare for the defence of his French Open title in 12 days.
"I am feeling really good," said Kuerten who underwent surgery in February and returned to the tour a fortnight ago.
"I'm playing well, hitting the ball well...today was a very important win for me.
"Today was the best match I have played since returning...I am satisfied and happy."
Less satisfied on a cold and windy day in the north German port city were fifth seed Tim Henman, eighth seed Thomas Johansson and 10th seed Sebastien Grosjean who all lost.
NOT SURPRISED
Johansson, the Australian Open champion, fell to Argentine claycourt specialist Mariano Zabaleta 6-4 6-2, while dynamic Spaniard Tommy Robredo put paid to Grosjean's chances 7-5 7-5.
Henman was ousted by Romania's Adrian Voinea 7-6 2-6 6-4, blowing a chance to take over at the top of the ATP Champions Race next week.
"That certainly wasn't the best result this week, but there's still plenty to work on," the Briton said afterwards.
Australian Open champion Johansson was disappointed, but not surprised by his defeat. "I can't complain at all," he said. "He is, after all, a fantastic player on clay.
"He fights so well and just played better than me. I knew that could happen. You know, he is a class player on this surface."
Zabaleta, who has won one ATP title and reached the final of three others, all on clay, will next face Max Mirnyi.
The Belarussian squeezed past former French Open champion Carlos Moya in two tiebreak sets.
Kuerten's millimetre-perfect groundstrokes bagged him the first set in his match and a series of courageous drop shots and passes saw him fend off five set points in the second while trailing 6-5 before clinching the tiebreak 7-5.
SPEEDY EFFORT
Kuerten faces a third round meeting with Argentine 15th seed Guillermo Canas, who beat Fernando Gonzalez 2-6 7-6 6-0.
"I will have to make sure I get off to a good start because he is dangerous," Kuerten said.
Hewitt, meanwhile, was a class apart, teaching the 138th-ranked Phau a tactical lesson.
Hitting hard and deep, Hewitt moved the German around the court effortlessly and Phau had very little firepower to make a mark of his own on Hewitt's defences.
The Australian will face 14th seed Jiri Novak in the third round after the Czech blasted Felix Mantilla 6-2 6-0.
There were also wins for sixth seed Marat Safin and 13th seed Andy Roddick.
Russia's Safin beat Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4 6-2, while Roddick cruised past Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-4 6-4.
Seventh seed Tommy Haas gave the German fans something to cheer, though, by thrilling his home-town crowd with a 7-5 6-3 win over Dutchman Sjeng Schalken as he looks to go one better than his runners-up spot at the Rome Masters last week.
