Rain again pelted Montreal today, as a busy day of sixteen second round matches was on the schedule. The afternoon was broken up by two separate delays, and the heavens again opened with a vengeance at around 6:00, as Andy Roddick and Juan Ignacio Chela tried to fit in their scheduled match before the evening session started.

As was the case on Monday, which was also quite damp, the outer courts were pressed into service in the evening in order to complete the second round fixtures. Happily all matches were completed, as the final match -- Paradorn Srichaphan?s 7-5, 6-4 win over Daniel Nestor -- ended just after the stroke of midnight.

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(2)Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Younes El Aynaoui, 6-3, 6-4
2nd round
Court 1
Previous head-to-head: El Aynaoui leads 6-0

Fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero (pictured at right) finally broke through against his nemesis Younes El Aynaoui, earning his first win in seven tries against the bushy-haired Moroccan.

The match was as straightforward as the score indicates. El Aynaoui did not his bring his ??A? Game? to today?s rendezvous. His forehand blasts were too often off target, and even when they fell in play the speedy Spaniard ran most of them down. To make matters worse for the Moroccan, his suspect backhand was more suspect than usual. El Aynaoui also looked edgy, and was easily distracted by the crowd. He complained to spectators who were talking too loudly, and at one point scolded a group of boisterou s Spanish fans (who did not seem to be doing anything unsporting), in Spanish, ?Come on, we are all friends here!?

Ferrero was extremely sharp, and was full value for the win. His strategy of forcing El Aynaoui into his backhand corner and striking his backhand up the line into the open court was successful time and again. Ferrero also showed off some of the newer weapons in his arsenal, such as his improved serve (12 aces, and excellent serving on the important points). ?I think the key was I was serving good all the time,? said Ferrero. The ?Mosquito? also volleyed surprisingly well. After Ferrero delicately dr opped one particularly tasty volley well beyond the sprinting Moroccan?s reach, El Aynaoui congratulated Ferrero with a handshake and tap on the shoulder.

A brief 45-minute rain delay toward the end of the second set did nothing to change the momentum, and Ferrero, who is playing as well as anyone we have seen this week, cruised home to earn his berth in the third round.

Tomorrow?s challenge for Juan Carlos will be the resurgent Karol Kucera, who upset Ferrero?s victim in the French Open final this year, 15th-seeded Martin Verkerk, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3).

Vincent Spadea def. Arnaud Clément, 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5
2nd round
Court 2
Previous head-to-head: Spadea leads 2-0

On opening day Clément was the author of the tournament?s first shocker, a three set triumph over fourth seed Carlos Moya. Today we expected another close match for the little French speedster against Spadea, since the two are side by side in the entry ranking. Clément, at number 33, is ranked one spot higher than Spadea, but had lost to him twice in two previous meetings.

Needless to say, Spadea?s first set ?bagel? was not at all expected, least of all by Spadea, who spoke to us after the match. ?I was firing off all burners,? said the 29-year-old out of Chicago, now living in Boca Raton, Florida. ?I was serving well, returning well, and hitting well from the back court, and he came out probably a little bit cold and inconsistent. I capitalized on it.?

It looked like the rout was on with Spadea leading 6-0, 1-0 and break point, but Clément dug in his heels and started to perform at a much higher level. Clément succeeded in holding his serve for the first time, and the players stayed on serve for the remainder of the second set. With Clément now finally awake we were being treated to some dandy tennis, featuring numerous exhausting 20-stroke-plus rallies, peppered with some dynamic attacks by the Frenchman and superb counter-punching by the American. Th e tie-break went something like this:

• VS serving: Clément dumps a forehand into the net. 1-0 Spadea
• AC: The Frenchman serves-volleys, but is passed by a Spadea forehand. 2-0 Spadea, with the mini-break
• AC: Service winner to forehand. 2-1 Spadea
• VS: Spadea takes the net and Clément?s backhand pass is wide. 3-1 Spadea
• VS: Spadea nets a routine forehand and loses his mini-break. 3-2 Spadea
• AC: Service winner to backhand. 3-3
• AC: Unforced backhand error by Spadea. 4-3, Clément leads for the first time
• VS: Ace! 4-4
• VS: Clément?s backhand sails long. 5-4 Spadea
• AC: Clément changes the pace, mixing in a few moon-balls, and draws the error from Spadea?s forehand. 5-5
• AC: A spectacular point! Clément hammers an overhead, but right at Spadea, who gets it back! Clément approaches, and wins the point with an acrobatic stretch volley. 6-5 Clément, set point #1
• VS: Clément takes the set in style, with a spectacular stabbing drop volley. The match is level!

Spadea?s comments on the tie-break: ?I was up a mini-break and missed a couple of hittable and winnable easy points. I missed out on those opportunities and he came up with those acrobatic works that he?s known to do. So it was not totally shocking, but disappointing. I just had to move on from there.?

Clément continued his spectacular play in the final set, breaking early and rushing to a 4-1 lead. ?I was feeling a little physically not up to par,? Spadea admitted, ?and I just needed to get my second wind.? He got it at 4-2, setting up break point with a shot that was useful for him several times today, the lob. ?I hit a lot of stretch lobs and stretch passing shots and get-backs,? Spadea said about his fine defensive play. Clément conceded the break by driving a forehand approach into the net, and we were back on serve.

The final stages of the third set were extremely tense. Two splendid passing shots allowed Spadea to obtain another break, and he served for the match at 5-4. But Clément put him in trouble with two cracking baseline winners, and Spadea lost the game on a double fault at 15-40. Now it was Spadea?s turn to worry Clément?s 5-5 service game, and at 0-15 the American struck a lob smack on the baseline. At 30-40 Clément appeared to have a forehand winner lined up, but the ball unluckily ticked off the tape and bounced wide.

Serving for the match for the second time, Spadea kept his nerves at bay. On match point number two Clément struck an errant backhand, and the jubilant Spadea raised both in triumph and relief. ?I beared down and gave it my all,? summarized Spadea after the match, ?and just forced him to beat me.?

Vince Spadea has persevered through some tough times in the past three years. A former top 20 player, Vince set a record with 21 consecutive losses in 2000, sending his ranking plunging out of the top 200. He was forced to make the long climb back up by playing on the unglamorous Challenger circuit. ?Very difficult, very humbling, a very dismal environment,? said Vince of those Challenger days. Spadea was finally propelled back into the top 50 by his run to the semi-finals as a qualifier, last March, a t the Masters Series in Indian Wells. In that tournament, Spadea had picked his way through a quarter of the draw where the seeded players were eliminated early. Here in Montreal he finds himself in the same position, as all four seeds in his quarter lost in the first round. ?I?ve already had two tough opponents [he had defeated Raemon Sluiter in the first round], and each day it will be probably more difficult,? said Spadea. ?Hopefully it?ll turn out similar to Indian Wells? or better!?

By the way, Spadea is one of those players who never looks ahead at the draw, and immediately after the match had no idea who his next opponent would be. It will in fact be David Nalbandian, who avenged his Wimbledon loss to Tim Henman by defeating the Englishman, 6-4, 6-4. Henman credited Nalbandian with an ?aggressive and consistent performance,? while Nalbandian told us that he ?played very solid from the baseline.? Nalbandian, who agreed with Henman?s suggestion that the heavy, slower conditions may have played into his hands -- ?I am controlling the ball well? -- has only limited past experience with Spadea. ?We played two years ago in U.S. Open qualifying,? recalled Nalbandian. ?I won that match.?

Max Mirnyi def. (5)Lleyton Hewitt, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5
2nd round
Court 1
Previous head-to-head: Tied 1-1

At 6?5?, Max ?The Beast? Mirnyi is not quite as tall as Ivo Karlovic. And Montreal is not Wimbledon. But tonight?s Mirnyi-Hewitt duel, the match of the tournament so far, had the same feel as Hewitt's shock Wimbledon loss. Mirnyi, his long arms protruding from a powder blue sleeveless shirt, hammered down a torrent of devastating serves, and covered the net astonishingly well both horizontally and vertically, volleying and smashing with skill and aplomb. And we saw once again that Hewitt?s nerves, so solid in the clutch during his reign as number one, have weakened this year as he has slipped to number five.

In the first set, Hewitt, who had double-faulted twice at 4-5 (saving the game despite the doubles), double-faulted again at 5-6, 15-30 to hand Mirnyi set points. ?The Beast? cashed in on his third opportunity, when a backhand blast down the line forced a forehand error from the battling Aussie. Then, serving for the second set at 5-4, Hewitt wasted three set points -- the first on yet another double fault, the second when Hewitt could not flag down a leaping Mirnyi overhead, and the third on a Mirnyi b ackhand return winner. But Hewitt gathered himself for the tie-break, gaining the only mini-break thanks to a winning return at 4-4 and closing it out confidently with an ace.

The gripping third set moved along with no break chances until the 11th game, when Mirnyi stretched that long right arm out again and stabbed a volley that Hewitt could not handle, forcing double break point. Hewitt saved the first with a service winner, but on the second botched an easy short forehand, driving it halfway up the net. The Aussie gestured as if he was about to slam his racquet, but thought better of it. Mirnyi was remarkably composed all evening -- ?I felt I was on the right track, I just wanted to look for my opportunity and take it,? he said post-match. Max served out the victory, coming in behind a second serve on his first match point and nailing the backhand volley. Clearly satisfied but without any excessive celebrations, Mirnyi went immediately to shake his victim?s hand.

After the match Hewitt credited Mirnyi with his outstanding net coverage, and also commented that he felt his own return game was off. ?I just wasn?t executing. I just didn?t feel sharp out there on my returns.? Hewitt felt the lighting on court one didn?t do him any favours in this regard. ?Can?t say they?re the best lights on court one. I just wasn?t picking the ball up.?

Max Mirnyi, smiling and jovial when he met us, said of his big win, ?I?m happy to get through, happy to beat a good player, and hoping to take that level of tennis to the next round.? Mirnyi related that he was always confident in his chances today. ?Even when I lost to him two years ago in Cincinnati, I felt I was always in command. In all the matches we?ve played I felt like I was dictating.? Asked to comment on Hewitt?s shaky play in the clutch, Mirnyi commented, ?Obviously he?s much less match-fit this year. But Lleyton is still Lleyton, he?s still a competitive and a feisty player.?

Now Mirnyi awaits Paradorn Srichaphan in what should be hard-hitting third round slugfest. At the time of our interview Srichaphan?s late night match with Daniel Nestor was still in progress, and Max did not yet know whom he would play. ?Paradorn and I probably know each other?s game well enough. We?ve played several times against each other [4 times, with each winning twice]. It?s a great match-up, even though I hope Daniel wins because it would be good to keep the heroic trend of the Can adians going,? joked the affable big man from Belarus in a reference to Simon Larose?s exploits this week. ?But either way it would be a good match. It?s a matter of making shots and coming up with answers under pressure.? Max Mirnyi was certainly the one who did those things better tonight.

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Montreal Morsels

Simon Larose, a native of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, continues to excite the local fans. The wild card followed up his Monday upset of Gustavo Kuerten with another upset, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-5 over José Acasuso. Larose came back from 2-5 down in the first set tie-break, and was perhaps fortunate to survive a match point in the third set when Acasuso lined up an attempted winner that missed clearing the net by the smallest of margins. Larose, a career Futures and Challenger-level pla yer aged 25, is hoping that his exploits in Montreal will help attract sponsors that would permit him to hire a full-time travelling coach. ?You see these players here have 2 or 3 coaches. That costs money. For sure I?m taking this as an chance to show myself.?

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Quotable quotes

Prior to Wimbledon, Tim Henman announced that his coach Larry Stefanki would only travel with him to selected tournaments. Stefanki is not here, and today Henman said that policy is still in place. ?He will be joining me the week before the U.S. Open, but we?ll continue to work together away from tournaments. That?s where we can get the best work done.?