Upsets at Rogers Cup

Upset, upset, upset. Lleyton Hewitt retired from his match versus Florent Serra with an upset stomach. A few hours later, Guillermo Coria fell to a sharp-serving Juan Carlos Ferrero. Then, Andy Roddick was pushed over by Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets.

This continues a string of high-seed losses at the Rogers Cup, with Tim Henman (#10), Ivan Ljubicic (#13), Radek Stepanek (#14), and Fernando Gonzalez (#16) all bowing out in the first round. Hewitt and Roddick were seeded #2 and #3 respectively. Coria was seeded #7.

Other seeds still abound in the draw, though they are largely dark horses. Among them are Richard Gasquet (#15), Thomas Johansson (#12), French Open finalist Mariano Puerta (#8), David Nalbandian (#9), Nikolay Davydenko (#5), and Tommy Robredo (#11). The top two big fish and the remaining favorites to win this tournament are Andre Agassi (#4) and Rafael Nadal (#1). Agassi faced Alberto Martin yesterday and defeated him 6-4,6-2. Nadal's first round match was not as easy, as he faced his mentor Carlos Moya and overcame him 6-3,6-7(0),6-3.

posted by Noelle De Guzman @ 9:25 AM