BNP Paribas Masters
Friday 31 October
Schuettler Stopped On Way To Semis
After jumping out to a one-set lead, Rainer Schuettler ended up falling to Andrei Pavel in the quarterfinals, 62 36 26. The first set was 28 minutes, but the tide turned in the second - which lasted an incredible 52 minutes, and the third finished up in 32 minutes. Maybe the tough two-setter yesterday combined with Pavel not having to play in the round of 16 had an impact on the match. Rainer had five aces and five double faults (three in the 2nd, two in the 3rd).
More to come/translations later
Schuettler Shots... Photos
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Thursday 30 October
Rainer Advances to Quarters
Schuettler defeated Nicolas Massu 64 75 to move into the quarterfinals. He will next face off against Andrei Pavel, who benefitted from a walkover as Coria withdrew due to fever. Lifetime, Rainer is 0-3 against the Romanian, but they haven't played since last October in Vienna. Previously, Schuettler's outcomes were: 06 46 in Vienna 2002, 1999 in Davis Cup World Group 1st round 67(2) 26 26, and 36 67 in Lippstadt in 1996.
Rainer's match again kicks off the day, he plays on Center Court at 2pm. Live ticker available through the tourney's site. The winner will face the Arazi v Novak victor in the semifinals.
Thursday's match of the day was the Federer match, who barely got by 13th seeded Verkerk. He saved three match points in the second set and a fourth match point in the third to win 67(3) 76(12) 76(6). Other results on the day had some surprises as Jiri Novak (14th seed) upset #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 75 75 and qualifier Arazi sent Srichaphan home 76(3) 63. This keeps the battle for both the year-end number one and the final Houston spot very interesting. With JCF's loss, Roddick is now the #1 player heading into Houston and with Srichaphan's loss the #8 spot goes to Nalbandian for the year-end event. "Roddick must still play well in Houston if he wants the No. 1 spot," Ferrero said. He, Roddick and Federer are mathematically the only ones who can finish the year at #1.
At the close of Thursday, it also means that in his half of the draw, Rainer is the highest remaining seed.
The ATP's site had this on their main page Thursday morning: "Schuettler Advances, Srichaphan Battles for Houston Berth - Rainer Schuettler soared into the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Masters, defeating Nicolas Massu 64, 75. Schuettler's showing in the final eight is testament to his consistent play throughout the year. This is the fifth time this year the German has reached the quarterfinals at a Tennis Masters Series event. Guillermo Coria withdrew from the event with a fever, allowing Andrei Pavel to proceed to the quarterfinals."
Current standings going into Friday's play:
1st Roddick, A. 847; 2nd Ferrero, J. 841; 3rd Federer, R. 725; 4th Coria, G. 646;
5th Agassi, A. 605; 6th Schuettler, R. 601; 7th Moya, C. 436; 8th Nalbandian, D. 392; 9th Philippoussis, M. 323; and 10th Grosjean, S. 322
With their run to the finals in St Petersburg, both Rainer and Kohlmann moved up in the doubles entry rankings this week. Kohlmann advanced 15 spots to #48 with 984 points in 23 events. Rainer jumped up 27 places and now has 720 points in 20 tournaments. In the ATP Doubles race, the tandem has cracked the Top 50 and sit at #47 with 52 points. Kohlmann paired with Julian Knowle own the #21 spot with 120 points.
Schuettler Shots... Photos
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Wednesday 29 October
Rainer Into Round of 16
Schuettler opened up his Paris run with a three set win over American James Blake, 46 62 63. After a slow start, which isn't unusual, Rainer got back into his game and took the match after breaking Blake three times in the second.
Rainer advances to the third round where he faces Nicolas Massu of Chile who is the 10th seed here in Paris. Massu has won Amersfoort, Szczecin and Palermo, was a finalist at the Madrid TMS, Kitzbuhel, Bermuda and Bucharest, reached the semifinals in Mantova and was a quarterfinalist in Casablanca and Valencia.
In their only meeting, Rainer lost to Massu 64 67(4) 36 in October last year at the Stockholm Open's Round of 16.
They are first up on Thursday as they play at 11:30am on Center Court. Live ticker available through the tourney's site.
However, the best match of the day had to have been Kuerten defeating Philippoussis in three sets - a tough three at that - 67 (5-7) 76 (13-11) 76 (7-1).
Schuettler Shots... Photos
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Tuesday 28 October
Schuettler's match against Blake has been scheduled "not before 1pm" on Center Court for Wednesday. There is a ticker through the event's site via the 'live' button and updated scores on the day at the ATP's site.
Rainer's doubles partner, 16th seed Tommy Robredo won his singles match earlier today against Gaudio, 75 63. The two then took to the court for their match against Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley. Schuettler and Robredo fell to the strong Aussie pair 36 46.
Schuettler In Paris
Monday 27 October
Most of the big guns of the ATP are in Paris for the BNP Paribas Masters. This is the last regular event of the year (aside from TMS Houston finale) and Rainer Schuettler is on tap to play both singles and doubles here.
Agassi and Hewitt withdrew weeks ago, and just days ago defending champ Marat Safin pulled out due to blisters. Moya isn't here and Nalbandian, who is in the hunt with Philippoussis for the final Houston spot, could be questionable (wrist) after pulling out of Sunday's final in Basel.
The top six seeds are: Ferrero, Roddick, Federer, Coria, Schuettler and Nalbandian
The German is seeded fifth and has a first round bye, he will face either American James Blake or Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in 2nd round action. These two play Monday as the last match of the day on Center Court, and follow a match that starts "not before 6:30pm."
**Blake defeated Gonzalez 63 64.**
Rainer has played Blake only once in singles, earlier this year in the fourth round of the Australian Open, winning 63 64 16 63. Blake has been a finalist in Long Island, semifinalist at San Jose, and reached the quarters in Houston, Indian Wells TMS, Scottsdale, and Washington.
It would be the first meeting between Schuettler and Gonzalez, this year the Chilean was part of the World Team Championship, a finalist in Metz and Washington, semifinalist in Stuttgart, and quarterfinalist at Hamburg TMS, Umag, Estoril, French Open/Roland Garros, and Acapulco.
In doubles action, Rainer is teaming with Spaniard Tommy Robredo, they face Aussie pair Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley in the first round. This is the first year Robredo and Schuettler have teamed up, playing in two previous TMS events at Montreal and Cincinnati in August. In their two Canada matches they defeated Chris Haggard (RSA) and Graydon Oliver (USA) 64 64 and then fell to Bob and Mike Bryan 36 46 in the second round, while in Cincinnati they lost to Americans Todd Martin and James Blake, 36 46.
Arthurs and Hanley, who are sixth in the ATP Doubles Race, are coming off their finals appearance in the Stockholm Open where they lost to Woodbridge and Bjorkman 36 46. Their info on the Masters Cup pages details: Teaming up for the first time in 2003, the Australians won the Rotterdam title in February and then the Tennis Masters title in Rome in May to jump into contention for a Houston berth. They strengthened their claim by winning Shanghai.
Last year was Rainer's second at this event, he lost to Andre Clement in the first round 57 36 and in doubles he teamed with Sjeng Schalken (NED), falling to Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) and Andrei Pavel (ROM) 67(3) 26. In November 1999 he was a qualifier and fell to Fabrice Santoro 26 36 in the first round.
Tuesday's schedule: Rainer and Robredo's match is scheduled as the only match of the day for Court 2 on Tuesday at 6pm and "after suitable rest." Robredo plays a singles match earlier against Gaudio (who overcame wildcard Gasquet 16 76(11) 64) which starts after the 1pm start of the Arazi/El Aynaoui.
Of doubles note, Black/Ullyett upset top-ranked Bryan/Bryan 76(3) 63 on Monday. Ullyett and Black face the winner of the Schuettler/Robredo v Arthurs/Hanley match.
Schuettler Stopped On Way To Semis
After jumping out to a one-set lead, Rainer Schuettler ended up falling to Andrei Pavel in the quarterfinals, 62 36 26. The first set was 28 minutes, but the tide turned in the second - which lasted an incredible 52 minutes, and the third finished up in 32 minutes. Maybe the tough two-setter yesterday combined with Pavel not having to play in the round of 16 had an impact on the match. Rainer had five aces and five double faults (three in the 2nd, two in the 3rd).
More to come/translations later
- ATP's review of Friday's matches. "I didn't take my chances. In the second set, I started bad. I got an early break in the second and the third, and I had, I don't know, two or three breakpoints. I just made two. That's definitely not enough. On the other side, he played well. Yeah, so he was the better player today," said Rainer.
- Netzeitung's article
- Sport.ARD mention
- Sport1 article. Aus gegen den Angstgegner
- Sportbild brief mention
- Sportgate story
- TennisMagazin.de piece
- MSNBC's tennis report. "Pavel's last 16 opponent here, fourth seed Guillermo Coria, withdrew with a fever and on Friday his German opponent finally ran out of gas after playing in 31 tournaments in 2003. “Maybe I was little bit more fresh than he was. He had a very difficult year behind him,” said Pavel. Finalist in the Australian Open in January, Schuettler will become the first and only player to compete in 100 singles matches this season when he takes part in the season-ending Masters Cup in Houston next month."
Thursday 30 October
Rainer Advances to Quarters
Schuettler defeated Nicolas Massu 64 75 to move into the quarterfinals. He will next face off against Andrei Pavel, who benefitted from a walkover as Coria withdrew due to fever. Lifetime, Rainer is 0-3 against the Romanian, but they haven't played since last October in Vienna. Previously, Schuettler's outcomes were: 06 46 in Vienna 2002, 1999 in Davis Cup World Group 1st round 67(2) 26 26, and 36 67 in Lippstadt in 1996.
Rainer's match again kicks off the day, he plays on Center Court at 2pm. Live ticker available through the tourney's site. The winner will face the Arazi v Novak victor in the semifinals.
Thursday's match of the day was the Federer match, who barely got by 13th seeded Verkerk. He saved three match points in the second set and a fourth match point in the third to win 67(3) 76(12) 76(6). Other results on the day had some surprises as Jiri Novak (14th seed) upset #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 75 75 and qualifier Arazi sent Srichaphan home 76(3) 63. This keeps the battle for both the year-end number one and the final Houston spot very interesting. With JCF's loss, Roddick is now the #1 player heading into Houston and with Srichaphan's loss the #8 spot goes to Nalbandian for the year-end event. "Roddick must still play well in Houston if he wants the No. 1 spot," Ferrero said. He, Roddick and Federer are mathematically the only ones who can finish the year at #1.
At the close of Thursday, it also means that in his half of the draw, Rainer is the highest remaining seed.
The ATP's site had this on their main page Thursday morning: "Schuettler Advances, Srichaphan Battles for Houston Berth - Rainer Schuettler soared into the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Masters, defeating Nicolas Massu 64, 75. Schuettler's showing in the final eight is testament to his consistent play throughout the year. This is the fifth time this year the German has reached the quarterfinals at a Tennis Masters Series event. Guillermo Coria withdrew from the event with a fever, allowing Andrei Pavel to proceed to the quarterfinals."
Current standings going into Friday's play:
1st Roddick, A. 847; 2nd Ferrero, J. 841; 3rd Federer, R. 725; 4th Coria, G. 646;
5th Agassi, A. 605; 6th Schuettler, R. 601; 7th Moya, C. 436; 8th Nalbandian, D. 392; 9th Philippoussis, M. 323; and 10th Grosjean, S. 322
With their run to the finals in St Petersburg, both Rainer and Kohlmann moved up in the doubles entry rankings this week. Kohlmann advanced 15 spots to #48 with 984 points in 23 events. Rainer jumped up 27 places and now has 720 points in 20 tournaments. In the ATP Doubles race, the tandem has cracked the Top 50 and sit at #47 with 52 points. Kohlmann paired with Julian Knowle own the #21 spot with 120 points.
- Stats from the match
- ATP's review of Thursday. Rainer said: "It was tough. With him, you always have to play long rallies. We played two sets in I think one hour 40. So it shows that we had some very long rallies and I'm very happy that I broke back finally in the second and then I won the match."
- Sports Illustrated's AP report. Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany beat No. 10 Nicolas Massu of Chile 6-4, 7-5 to advance to Friday's quarterfinals.
Schuettler, playing his 95th singles match of the season, will meet Andrei Pavel of Romania. Pavel advanced with a walkover third-round victory after Argentine Guillermo Coria withdrew from the tournament with a fever.
Schuettler, an Australian Open finalist, is 68-27 overall with two titles this season. - Yahoo Deutschland report. "That was a hard piece of work," said Rainer. "We played only two sets and were nevertheless there for 1:44"
"I wasn't thinking of defeat at any time. Today I tried to attack even when down, to which I would not have dared myself months ago."
"I was physically fit, but mentally rather tired," said Schuettler. The long season is catching up to him somewhat, and it showed up in the fact that he was annoyed at easy errors and reacted angrily. "That is not usually my kind," he added. - South Africa's Sunday Times report
- Netzeitung's report
- Sport.ard's brief recap
- Sport1 article
- Sportbild report on the day
- Sportgate's similar wire report
- TennisMagazin.de article
Wednesday 29 October
Rainer Into Round of 16
Schuettler opened up his Paris run with a three set win over American James Blake, 46 62 63. After a slow start, which isn't unusual, Rainer got back into his game and took the match after breaking Blake three times in the second.
Rainer advances to the third round where he faces Nicolas Massu of Chile who is the 10th seed here in Paris. Massu has won Amersfoort, Szczecin and Palermo, was a finalist at the Madrid TMS, Kitzbuhel, Bermuda and Bucharest, reached the semifinals in Mantova and was a quarterfinalist in Casablanca and Valencia.
In their only meeting, Rainer lost to Massu 64 67(4) 36 in October last year at the Stockholm Open's Round of 16.
They are first up on Thursday as they play at 11:30am on Center Court. Live ticker available through the tourney's site.
However, the best match of the day had to have been Kuerten defeating Philippoussis in three sets - a tough three at that - 67 (5-7) 76 (13-11) 76 (7-1).
- ATP's recap. Rainer said: "In the first set I was very disappointed I lost it. I was leading with a break 3-1, then I lost the set 6-4, so I was a little bit upset about that. But I was happy I made an early break in the second set. Then in the third I started to play better and better."
- Yahoo Deutschland report
- ESPN's update of the day.
Two of the most improved players of 2003, Rainer Schuettler and Guillermo Coria, joined Federer in the last 16...
Fifth seed Schuettler muddled past American James Blake 4-6 6-2 6-3.
Like Coria, Schuettler has already booked his spot in Houston next month but he struggled in the first set against Blake, who had numerous chances to break the German's serve but took only two.
The American broke for 5-4 and won the set with an ace, before losing the first four games of the second while trying, and failing, to hit the cover off the balls.
In a match of mediocre quality and 12 breaks of service, there were then four successive breaks before Schuettler won it. He eased through the third to reach a last 16 match against 10th seed Nicolas Massu of Chile.
"That match was not good enough to write a book about," Schuettler said. - Netzeitung mini report
- Sport.ard's brief recap
- Sport1's review of the day
- Sportbild report
- Sportgate Said how Rainer was only satisfied with winning the match, not with how he played. "That was frustrating," he said, also mentioning that he was still tired from his busy week in Russia. "I could train only
a half hour on another lining other than center court," he said about arriving in Paris from St. Petersburg on Monday. "However I do not want to remember now that I am tired. Finally only Houston comes after Paris, and then it's vacation." - TennisMagazin.de article. New Rainer quotes, "If against Massu I win, I advance a place to five in the champions race. That is a additional motivation."
On facing Massu: "He is a very good fighter, and I must play better than today to win."
Tuesday 28 October
Schuettler's match against Blake has been scheduled "not before 1pm" on Center Court for Wednesday. There is a ticker through the event's site via the 'live' button and updated scores on the day at the ATP's site.
Rainer's doubles partner, 16th seed Tommy Robredo won his singles match earlier today against Gaudio, 75 63. The two then took to the court for their match against Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley. Schuettler and Robredo fell to the strong Aussie pair 36 46.
Schuettler In Paris
Monday 27 October
Most of the big guns of the ATP are in Paris for the BNP Paribas Masters. This is the last regular event of the year (aside from TMS Houston finale) and Rainer Schuettler is on tap to play both singles and doubles here.
Agassi and Hewitt withdrew weeks ago, and just days ago defending champ Marat Safin pulled out due to blisters. Moya isn't here and Nalbandian, who is in the hunt with Philippoussis for the final Houston spot, could be questionable (wrist) after pulling out of Sunday's final in Basel.
The top six seeds are: Ferrero, Roddick, Federer, Coria, Schuettler and Nalbandian
The German is seeded fifth and has a first round bye, he will face either American James Blake or Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in 2nd round action. These two play Monday as the last match of the day on Center Court, and follow a match that starts "not before 6:30pm."
**Blake defeated Gonzalez 63 64.**
Rainer has played Blake only once in singles, earlier this year in the fourth round of the Australian Open, winning 63 64 16 63. Blake has been a finalist in Long Island, semifinalist at San Jose, and reached the quarters in Houston, Indian Wells TMS, Scottsdale, and Washington.
It would be the first meeting between Schuettler and Gonzalez, this year the Chilean was part of the World Team Championship, a finalist in Metz and Washington, semifinalist in Stuttgart, and quarterfinalist at Hamburg TMS, Umag, Estoril, French Open/Roland Garros, and Acapulco.
In doubles action, Rainer is teaming with Spaniard Tommy Robredo, they face Aussie pair Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley in the first round. This is the first year Robredo and Schuettler have teamed up, playing in two previous TMS events at Montreal and Cincinnati in August. In their two Canada matches they defeated Chris Haggard (RSA) and Graydon Oliver (USA) 64 64 and then fell to Bob and Mike Bryan 36 46 in the second round, while in Cincinnati they lost to Americans Todd Martin and James Blake, 36 46.
Arthurs and Hanley, who are sixth in the ATP Doubles Race, are coming off their finals appearance in the Stockholm Open where they lost to Woodbridge and Bjorkman 36 46. Their info on the Masters Cup pages details: Teaming up for the first time in 2003, the Australians won the Rotterdam title in February and then the Tennis Masters title in Rome in May to jump into contention for a Houston berth. They strengthened their claim by winning Shanghai.
Last year was Rainer's second at this event, he lost to Andre Clement in the first round 57 36 and in doubles he teamed with Sjeng Schalken (NED), falling to Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) and Andrei Pavel (ROM) 67(3) 26. In November 1999 he was a qualifier and fell to Fabrice Santoro 26 36 in the first round.
Tuesday's schedule: Rainer and Robredo's match is scheduled as the only match of the day for Court 2 on Tuesday at 6pm and "after suitable rest." Robredo plays a singles match earlier against Gaudio (who overcame wildcard Gasquet 16 76(11) 64) which starts after the 1pm start of the Arazi/El Aynaoui.
Of doubles note, Black/Ullyett upset top-ranked Bryan/Bryan 76(3) 63 on Monday. Ullyett and Black face the winner of the Schuettler/Robredo v Arthurs/Hanley match.
posted by Sprtswrtr @ 11:16 AM
