Saturday, August 12, 2000
Kuerten proving to be true No. 1
Tournament has lost some luster, not world's best
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Gustavo Kuerten lands on the court.
(Luis Sanchez photos)
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MASON — Pete and Andre are gone. Patrick never showed. But the No.1 player in the world for the year 2000 is still standing at the Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati: “Guga.”
Fourth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten, the 23-year-old Brazilian, was not the crowd favorite Friday — save for the small-but-vocal contingent high up in the stands — but he outlasted American Todd Martin 6-7 (0), 6-3, 7-6 (5) to advance to today's 2 p.m. semifinal.
He will meet No.15 seed Tim Henman, who got past Fabrice Santoro 6-1, 6-4, one day after eliminating Pete Sampras.
Today's 6:30 p.m. semifinal will have seventh seed Thomas Enqvist vs. Arnaud Clement. Enqvist beat Fernando Vicente 7-5, 6-1; Clement upset 13th seed Franco Squillari 6-2, 7-5.
This is the first time in the Open Era (since 1968) there is no American in the final four here. It also is the first time since 1977 that no previous winners of the tournament are in the semis. Clement could become the first unseeded finalist since Chris Lewis in 1981.
Kuerten, a two-time French Open champion, turned his right ankle during Friday's first set, summoned a trainer when a piece of skin ripped off his right ring finger early in the third set and fought back from a 5-2 defi cit in the deciding set.
Martin led the final tiebreaker, too, at 5-4. Kuerten scored the next three points to win.
“His level rose when it needed to and mine didn't,” Martin said. “Throughout the match, he served better when the pressure was on him, which is the sign of a very confident player.”
The loss concluded Martin's best week of the year; it was the first time he won three consecutive matches since the 1999 U.S. Open, where he was the runner-up.
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