Match report

Gustavo Kuerten © Tennistalk.com
French Open
1st round
5/25/08 1 2 3 Tot
br  Gustavo Kuerten 3 4 2 0
fr  Paul-Henri Mathieu 6 6 6 3
Paul-Henri Mathieu © Tennistalk.com

  • End of the road for Guga

    5/26/08 2:36 PM | David Cox
    A glittering career which saw Gustavo Kuerten rack up 20 titles, including three slams and five Masters Series crowns, ended on Court Philippe Chatrier yesterday afternoon amid rapturous applause for a man who’s undoubtedly one of the greatest South American players in tennis history.

    The match itself was a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win for Paul-Henri Mathieu. The Guga forehand is not what it was, multiple hip operations have worn away at the movement which defined him as the best clay-courter of his generation.

    But his legend will live on and the Roland Garros crowd sent him into retirement with a send-off fit for a king. An emotional Kuerten said “Basically I'm lucky. One stage of my career was very successful, and I was able to get all the goals that I could.”

    The day’s big shock came when 1998 champion Carlos Moya was ousted in nearly four hours by Argentine qualifier Eduardo Schwank 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-7(1), 4-6, 6-3. Despite a niggling back injury, Schwank is a man on fire at the moment, a string of challenger titles putting him on a current run of 18 straight victories going into this tournament. Coached by David Nalbandian’s older brother, Schwank has gone from unranked to 74 in the world in just over two years and great things are predicted for him in the future.

    James Blake withstood a late fightback from Rainer Schuettler to progress 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(3). Blake’s only real concern came when Schuettler recovered from 5-1 down in the 3rd. Blake afterwards predicted good things for US tennis in this tournament, saying, “There are a few guys here that are definitely competent on clay. Sam's (Querrey) played well on it but he’s got a tough first round here. I've played better on it this year. Mardy (Fish) in past years has had success on the clay. Robby’s (Ginerpi) playing a little better again. At least one American will get through his match with Donald (Young). It definitely feels like the Americans are little more confident on the clay. We feel like we've learned and gotten a little more experience.”

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