Finally, raindrops did not fall on the Toronto tournament. However, seeds continue to drop in alarming fashion. Nine of the sixteen seeds are now out of the tournament, after losses by Hewitt (to Grosjean), Kuerten (to Lareau) and Kiefer (to Novak), in the second round. We focus today on the biggest surprises, authored by guys named Sébastien.
Sébastien Lareau (WC) def. Gustavo Kuerten (4), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
2nd round
Stadium Court
Previous head-to-head: First meeting
Sébastien Lareau has become a dangerous second-round upset demon at his country's open. Last year in his home town of Montreal he knocked off 5th seed Richard Krajicek. This year, also in the second round, Lareau repeated his Canadian exploits with a confident and skilled display, knocking out a somewhat listless 4th-seeded Gustavo Kuerten in the first match on the purple stadium court.
When the players took the court it was mildly surprising to hear a louder ovation for "Guga" than for the Canadian player. Granted, the pro-Guga decibel level was augmented by a dozen or so exuberant, flag-waving Brazilians. However, many of the locals seemed to be supporting the popular Kuerten as well. This did not bother the gentlemanly Lareau in the slightest: "I think Guga is one of the best personalities on tour and everybody loves him. So I was ready for that. But I think the Canadians really
got into it as well, so it was nice."
Things started well enough for Kuerten, who took advantage of Lareau's shaky early play to take a 5-2 lead. The Canadian was making too many volleying errors, and the lack of depth of his returns and groundstrokes was being punished by Kuerten, who was quick to attack the short balls and finish points at the net. However, Guga got himself into trouble when serving at 3-5, and sudden problems with his backhand (three backhand errors in this game alone) caused him to lose his break advantage, sending the
players back on serve, where they stayed until the tie-break.
The key to Lareau's tie-break success was the only point that went against serve, coming with Kuerten serving at 1-2. It was a long forehand-to-forehand rally. Lareau took the first risk by finding a sharp angle, swinging Kuerten out wide. Guga stretched to retrieve the ball, but was now well out of position, and Lareau replied with a drop shot out of the Brazilian's reach to take a 3-1 lead. Lareau kept in front with strong serving, and converted his first set point by driving a forehand volley strai
ght at Kuerten, whose reflex forehand went well wide.
So after his strong start Kuerten had gotten a bit careless, allowing Lareau to gain some confidence with the key elements of his game, his serve-volley and his returns. "Once I started to establish my serve and volley," analyzed the cerebral Sébastien, "then I felt I could go a little deeper with my returns. The fact that I was hitting deeper meant I could take the short ball and come in." Guga's analysis was more self-critical and less tactical: "He's been on tour for a while and knows how to play.
I gave him chances I should not have given. It built his confidence with a couple of my mistakes"
The second set began with top quality tennis, the inspired Lareau serving and volleying effectively, and, surprisingly, staying with Kuerten in the baseline rallies. Guga, cheered on by his chanting compatriots, went deeper into his repertoire of shots, scoring with his patented drop shot and several perfectly placed backhand lobs. Lareau was under some pressure on his serve when he was taken to deuce in games one and seven, but served and volleyed his way out of trouble. Guga, who did not return parti
cularly well the whole match, was never able to connect with a key return on the big points.
Then, with Kuerten serving at 3-4, Lareau appeared to have him by the throat at 0-40 following several blazing returns. But the Brazilian won five straight points, the most important coming at 30-40 when he saved a break point by running down a drop volley and feathering a delicate forehand over the Canadian's head. Kuerten had got out of a big hole, was pumping his fist, and one wondered if he would ride the momentum to level the match. But it was not to be. Lareau was under pressure at 4-4, but surv
ived a three-deuce game with outstanding serves and fast reflexes at the net. The match had really heated up now!
Kuerten was now serving to stay in the match at 4-5. It started well enough for the Brazilian as he slammed his 13th ace. Lareau replied with a backhand winner, and it was 15-15. Next, Lareau comes in behind a second serve return and Kuerten sends a backhand passing attempt into the net. At 15-30, Lareau now two points from the victory, the Canadian again works his way to the net and delivers an overhead ? Kuerten stabs at it in vain. 15-40, match point: Kuerten serves and volleys, Lareau strikes a s
trong backhand return down the line, and Guga's stretch volley lands wide.
An overjoyed Lareau saluted the roaring crowd, savouring one of his biggest career victories (Kuerten is his fourth career top ten scalp after Stich in 1994, Corretja in 1998 and Krajicek in 1999). Sébastien underwent the courageous decision to completely remodel his forehand grip early this year, and after struggling to a 2-9 record prior to his breakthrough this week he is finally seeing the fruits of his hard work. It doesn't get any easier for Lareau in the third round tomorrow, however, since he mu
st take on 14th seed Patrick Rafter. Rafter was extremely sharp and efficient in a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Karol Kucera.
Again, Lareau might find many of the Canadian fans cheering for his opponent. The popular Rafter knows Lareau well, and is expecting a tough match. "I've known Sébastien for a long time. He's had a lot of success against me. He has improved certain areas of his game he needed to improve to make the next step up. It looks like he's starting to play good tennis again."
Kuerten, like most of the upset seeds this week, did not seem overly concerned about losing his first important hard court tournament since the Australian Open in January. "I took a few days vacation," Guga casually told the press between bites on a banana. "Now I'm starting to prepare myself for the U.S. Open. It's just one tournament I lost, there are still many tournaments to play."
Sébastien Grosjean def. Lleyton Hewitt (7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
2nd round
Court 1
Previous head-to-head: Hewitt leads 2-1
Perhaps inspired by the success of his Canadian namesake, Sébastien Grosjean of France produced the second biggest surprise of the day by eliminating Lleyton Hewitt, the 7th seed, in front of a large Court One crowd. Essentially, Hewitt was out-Hewitted. Lleyton is known for his tenacious baseline retrieving skills, but Grosjean plays essentially the same style, and executed it better today.
The first set was dominated by Grosjean's serve, a weapon the Frenchman used effectively throughout the match. He had 8 aces in all, and a roughly equal number of service winners, and backed the serve up with his wicked whipping forehand. This surprised Hewitt, who had described Grosjean yesterday as "not that dominant with his serve." Today, Hewitt sung the praises of his opponent's service game. "[In the first set] I think I won probably one or two points on his serve, and for a guy like myself, wit
h a good return, that must mean he's serving pretty well."
In the second set Hewitt had some more success on Grosjean's serve. After falling behind 2-4, he broke the French dynamo for the first time and pulled to 4-4. That set up a marathon 9th game on Grosjean's serve, a game in which Hewitt had four break points. On his final break chance, Hewitt caught a bad break when a Grosjean shot ticked the tape and barely trickled over the net. "I think that could have been a turning point," noted Hewitt after the match. "If I could break there and then go 5-4 up, s
erving for the set, anything could happen." But Grosjean finally held, and Hewitt found himself having to win a tie-break to stay in the match.
Here's how the tie-break went. It was a microcosm of the match, with Grosjean taking excellent care of his serve and Hewitt too erratic:
- 0-0, SG serving: LH sends a routine second serve return wide, and slaps his racquet strings angrily with his hand
- 0-1 LH: LH inside-out forehand winner
- 1-1 LH: LH sends a routine forehand into the net
- 2-1 SG: ace
- 3-1 SG: good serve followed by inside-out forehand winner
- 1-4 LH: double fault
- 1-5 LH: SG sends a second serve forehand return long
- 5-2 SG: LH comes to net behind a forehand, but his approach is short and SG lines up a pretty forehand pass up the line
- 6-2 SG, match point: LH strikes an unreturnable forehand return
- 3-6 LH, match point: forehand approach and forehand volley winner by LH
- 4-6 LH, match point: LH approaches to SG's backhand and converts an excellent backhand drop volley
- 6-5 SG: LH hits a routine forehand too wide. Grosjean wins! He celebrates as Hewitt angrily flings his racquet toward his chair.
Hewitt's comments on the aborted tie-break comeback: "After 6-2, I sort of had nothing to lose, the match was basically over. I played three good points there, and the last one was a short forehand, I probably should have made that. If I go back to 6-6, maybe he's thinking, 'Oh, I could lose the second set.'"
Hewitt, like Kuerten, was not exactly devastated by the upset loss. "I'm not too down on it. It's my first tournament on hard court. I really didn't hit a lot of balls before this tournament. I've had a bit of a sore ankle as well." Hmm. The ATP is trying to promote the Masters Series as the premier events on the tour, and cannot be too thrilled to hear its marquee players, like Kuerten and Hewitt, treating losses here with such nonchalance?.
As for Grosjean, it was a solid win which gives him hope of repeating his Super Nine (now Masters Series) success at the Lipton (now Ericsson) in 1998, when he reached the final. That Lipton tournament seemed to announce a promising career that has yet to truly take off. Maybe this will be his week? Sébastien seems a good bet to reach the quarterfinals now, as he has a winnable third-rounder tomorrow against Israeli qualifier Harel Levy. Grosjean has never played Levy, but knows something about his op
ponent and respects him. "He's a tall guy who hits hard off both sides," said the soft-spoken Frenchman, "and has a very good one-handed backhand."