Schuettler Shows Ferrer the Exit in Dubai
In the first match of The Dubai Tennis Championships on Monday, two-time quarterfinalist Rainer Schuettler knocked out fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer.
The German triumphed 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 for a first match win since losing in the Chennai Open second round to Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen at the start of the 2006 season.
Schuettler, currently ranked No. 98 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, made it two wins out of two over Ferrer adding to his 2003 Hamburg AMS victory.
In the second round Schuettler, the 2003 Australian Open finalist, will meet Slovak qualifier Ivo Klec, who won his first ATP-level match over Italian Daniele Bracciali.
Buoyed with the confidence of appearing in last week’s Rotterdam quarterfinals, Olivier Rochus extended his career lead to 3-0 over France’s Fabrice Santoro.
The Belgium, who has also reached the Heineken Open semifinals in Auckland this year, booked his place in round two with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Rochus awaits the winner of Tuesday's match between No. 3 seed Nikolay Davydenko and Marat Safin, the 26-year-old Russian returning to the ATP circuit for the first time since August 2005.
Meanwhile wild card Tim Henman, who today lost the British No. 1 ranking for the first time since November 1999, advanced safely recording a 6-2, 7-6 win over Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
Henman, currently ranked No. 49 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, a three-time quarterfinalist in Dubai, will meet either last week's Rotterdam winner Radek Stepanek, the No. 7 seed, or Dutch qualifier John van Lottum in round two.
In other first round matches at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, Russian Igor Andreev overcame Andreas Seppi of Austria 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 and Czech Robin Vik defeated Yugoslav qualifier Janko Tipsarevic.
