Today?s third round tilts at the Tennis Masters Canada were decidedly lacking in drama. All eight matches were decided in straight sets, and only one of the sixteen sets went to a tie-break. One of the encounters did produce a shocker, and we shall start our tour of the grounds there?

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Karol Kucera def. (2)Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 7-5
3rd round
Court 1
Previous head-to-head: First meeting

The big upset tonight came completely out of left field. French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero had been ultra-impressive in cruising through the first two rounds without losing a set. Tonight he came up flat as a pancake on Court One against a ghost from the late 1990s, former top ten standout Karol Kucera.

As the first set began, we reflected on the oddness of seeing Ferrero, seeded second and leading the ATP Champions Race, playing on Court One and not in the main stadium for the second day in a row. But things quickly got odder. As Ferrero opened up tentatively and sloppily, the veteran Slovak Kucera raced out to a 5-0 lead, cracking his smoothly struck winners just as he had done when he was one of the feared players on tour. Kucera was as surprised as anyone, especially since he had been worried all d ay about a back injury. ?Today I woke up and the left side of my back was a little tight,? said the ?Baby Cat? after the match. ?I couldn?t really turn to the left. When I was warming up an hour and a half before the match it was still tough for me to serve. The trainers did a very good job, just 45 minutes before the match. Then I didn?t feel anything, and I had a very good start. So it was unexpected, very much.? Ferrero did mount a mini-comeback to 5-3 before Kucera closed out the set.

Ferrero?s normal intensity was lacking, and he was not pushing forth his well-known grunt. Still, the Spaniard ran out to a 4-1 second set lead. We felt this had more to do with Kucera?s shot-making going off kilter than with any significant resurgence in Ferrero?s game. Kucera agreed: ?I had a little problem to concentrate. I was sweating a lot. Then I changed the t-shirt, changed the grip, put a wristband on myself, and suddenly I was feeling better.? The Slovak sprung to life, holding serve and then, at 4-2, breaking Ferrero with a sharply angled cross-court backhand winner (this shot was a great weapon for him all day) at 30-40.

However, Kucera handed the break back immediately, allowing Ferrero to serve for the set at 5-3. The Spaniard, sadly for the pro-Ferrero crowd, botched this game badly. He opened it with a terrible drop shot that landed well short of the net. And at 15-30, a double fault. Kucera seized the opportunity immediately, cracking a first serve return winner off the forehand side to get back on serve. Kucera returned well all evening, and said the fact that he had dealt with the big serves of Jan-Michael Ga mbill and Martin Verkerk in previous rounds gave him confidence. ?They are big serving guys, and Ferrero doesn?t serve as good. So I had a good feeling and that?s why I could break him six times.?

Ferrero was not to win another game. At 5-5 he again played poorly on his serve, tossing in another costly double fault on break point. Kucera served out the match easily at 6-5, as Ferrero shanked a forehand wide on match point. Make the final: 6-3, 7-5. The Mosquito is out, and the Baby Cat is back!

This season has seen a renaissance in Karol Kucera?s career. A top ten player in 1999, Kucera was then set back by two separate wrist injuries -- first to his right wrist, then his left -- that sent him careening out of the top 100. Karol found the road back to the top to be difficult. ?I?m not a guy who can be back very soon, like an Agassi, you know. Not so many guys can come back so quickly. It?s so tough to get back to the circuit again, and get your focus. And there?s always new young players com ing up, which makes it hard.? But 2003 has seen things finally start to click, starting with a final in January in Chennai -- his first since 1999 -- followed by a title in Copenhagen in March.

The Baby Cat, now 29, is now ranked 41 and rising. He is clearly enjoying his return to form after years of injury and doubt. ?Yeah, I think it?s nice for me. I had my peak already, probably. But I knew I had the guts to come back and I believed in myself. Hopefully this year is going to be a good one. I think I have an opportunity to do top 30, and maybe even better if I do well. So we?ll see.?

Next up for Kucera in tomorrow?s quarterfinals is the intimidating Andy Roddick, one of the in-form players on tour. Kucera does not intend to shy away from the task, and feels that if he can get some second serves to work with from the hard-hitting American, he can do some damage. ?I know Roddick has improved a lot. He?s a very promising player, and young. But I know I can beat guys like this if I?m playing well. I was once in the top ten already, top twenty for two years. So I know how to stick with these guys.? And make no mistake, Roddick is aware of the danger an in-form Kucera might present. ?He?s a streaky player, some days he?s very, very good,? said the young American star. ?He?s beaten every player you can think of.?

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Quarterfinal preview

Tomorrow?s quarterfinals shape up this way:

• (1)Andre Agassi vs. (8)Rainer Schuettler

  The press box this afternoon was jammed with Quebec media, eager to see the surprising, 313th-ranked wild card Simon Larose do battle with the great Andre Agassi. When Larose raced to a 4-1 lead by playing high-risk, aggressive tennis, a historic upset win by the Canadian briefly looked possible. But Agassi put his foot down and allowed Larose only two games the rest of the way, pulling away to a 6-4, 6-2 win in 62 minutes.

  Agassi, whose draw has been kind so far (two Canadian wild cards and unseeded Nikolay Davydenko), will play his most dangerous foe yet, the speedy German Rainer Schuettler, in the quarters. Schuettler, seeded 8th here, dominated 10th seed Jiri Novak, 7-5, 6-0. Agassi and Schuettler last met in the Australian Open final, and Agassi won that encounter comprehensively.

  Our prediction: The draw has helped give Agassi a chance to go deep into a Masters Series tournament, and he will surely not want to waste it. Agassi in straight sets.

• David Nalbandian vs. Feliciano López

  We were assured of a 100% unseeded quarterfinal when all four seeds in this section of the draw bowed out in the opening round. The chosen two are a pair of 21-year-old Hispanics. Nalbandian has yet to lose a set, and dominated Vincent Spadea, 6-4, 6-2 in the opening match of the day on stadium court. The 2002 Wimbledon runner-up out of Cordóba, Argentina has been extremely sharp this week.

  As for the powerful Spaniard López, his thundering lefty serve and heavy groundstrokes proved too much for erratic Slovakian qualifier Karol Beck to handle today in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) triumph. Nalbandian?s excellent returns will be put to the test against the vicious kicking deliveries of López.

  Our prediction: Nalbandian in two close sets.

• Max Mirnyi vs. (3)Roger Federer

  Unseeded Mirnyi (pictured at right, shaking hands with Paradorn Srichaphan), number one in the doubles ranking, has been on a roll in singles this week. ?The Beast? followed up his dramatic win over Lleyton Hewitt yesterday evening with a surprisingly easy 6-3, 6-2 cruise past Paradorn Srichaphan. Mirnyi was attacking as relentlessly and effectively today as he did yesterday. But Paradorn, who is not the defensive player that Hewitt is, was not sharp, and his passing shots were too inaccurate to worry the big Belarussian. On the other hand, Mirnyi defended against Srichaphan?s attacks superbly, notably scoring with some pinpoint backhand passes.

  Federer came within an eyelash of losing in the first round to Gastón Gaudio, but pulled that match out of the fire and has been razor-sharp since. The Wimbledon champion took care of business today, with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the 16th seed, Tommy Robredo.

  Our prediction: Federer has great passing shots from both wings and does not mind playing net-rushers, as he showed against Greg Rusedski yesterday. But Mirnyi, who has often teamed with Federer in doubles, is in a form that can make life difficult for anyone. The Beast will be scary, but Federer?s class will win out in three.

• (6)Andy Roddick vs. Karol Kucera

  See above for the Kucera report! As for Roddick, he accounted for Sébastien Grosjean, 6-3, 6-3. It was exactly the same score by which Roddick had defeated Grosjean on grass in the Queen?s Club final in June. This time Grosjean was done in by his poor serving -- just 42% of his first serves landed in play. Additionally, Roddick was much more opportunistic, converting on 3 of 5 break points, compared to 0 of 7 for Grosjean. ?It could have gone either way tonight,? said Roddick generously, ?becaus e I was down 0-40 on my serve and then I hit a couple of dinky little passing shots to break him a couple of times.?

  Our prediction: Kucera can handle big servers fairly well. Is he back to where he once was? We say not quite. Roddick is on fire and should win in straights.

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Quotable quotes

Andre Agassi was a veritable quote machine today. He drew a laugh from the fans with this comment on his early 1-4 deficit against Simon Larose: ?It?s a good thing tennis isn?t the first one to four games, or I would have lost very badly.? In his press conference he was asked for two pieces of advice he might give to Larose. ?Get a coach, and get a good coach.? Finally, Andre revealed that he has talked to his old rival and fellow new father, the probably-retired Pete Sampras, several times recen tly. ?Just checking in, making sure his son isn?t doing anything before mine did.?

Simon Larose, like most players on tour, grew up watching and admiring Agassi on television. ?It was weird to see him on the other side of the net instead of a screen.?