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| 24 May 2002 | |
| Felder and Baghdatis ousted in Milan |
Day four of the Trofeo Bonflgio was played under what the referee, Massimo Morelli, called 'London weather'.
Michail Zverev (GER), at 14 the youngest player left in the boys singles, had the biggest win of his career by knocking out title hopeful and No. 2 seed Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 64 64. Zverev has made his name on the Italian clay this season by reaching the quarterfinals in Santa Croce, semifinals in Salsomaggiore and final in Prato. His next opponent will be Belgian Steve Darcis, who defeated Mathieu Montcourt (FRA) 76 62.
Thursday was not a good day for Uruguay, as both players in action fell to lower ranked opponents. No. 3 seed Marcel Felder had an impressive 36-5 win-loss record this year going into his third round match against the Czech Tomas Berdych. With three titles under his belt and a runner-up position in Santa Croce last week, he was expected to ease past an opponent ranked sixteen places lower on the ITF Junior World Rankings. However the 16 year-old from Valasske Mezirici was not intimidated by Felder's record and ousted the Uruguayan in straight sets 63 64.
No. 7 seed Martin Villarubi also fell on day four, going down76 64 to No. 10 Jo Wilfred Tsonga, one of the three French players who reached the Australian Open semifinals in January.
Two seeds to struggle were No. 1 Brian Dabul (ARG), who was pushed to the edge by No. 15 Franco Ferreiro (BRA), finally winning 26 63 75; and Australian Open champion Clement Morel (FRA), seeded No. 4, who overcame unseeded Florian Lemke (GER) 75 57 63.
No. 5 and 6 seeds, Andreas Seppi (ITA) and Lamine Ouahab (ALG) secured quarterfinal positions with straight sets wins over No. 12 Dudi Sela (ISR) and Anze Kapun (SLO) respectively.
The girls' singles by comparison was relatively straightforward with just one match not going according to seeding. Russian Ekaterina Bytchkova, ranked No. 156, posted her best result this year by defeating No. 6 seed Andreja Klepac (SLO) 63 06 62. Bytchkova will now face top seed Myriam Casanova in the quarterfinals, after the Swiss player put out No. 14 Aurelia Miseviciute (LTU) 64 60.
No. 2 seed Australian Open champion Barbora Strycova (CZE) put out Elke Clijsters (BEL) 76 62, and her third-seeded compatriot Petra Cetkovska lost only three games to unseeded Evguenia Linstskaia (RUS), winning 63 60 book her quarterfinal place.
Other seeds to move through were No. 5 Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER), who defeated No. 11 Mariana Correa (ECU) 62 60; and No. 8 Zsuzsanna Babos (HUN), who overcame Shadisha Robinson (US) 46 60 64. Santa Croce champion Maria Kirilenko (RUS), seeded No. 13, beat Jarmila Gajdosova (SVK) 75 76; and No. 10 Vera Douchevina (RUS) knocked out Lina Stanciute (LTU) 62 61.
Photographs by Francesco Panuzio
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