 Photographer: Didier Mossiat
Date: 17 Mar 2005 |  Photographer: Didier Mossiat
Date: 17 Mar 2005 |  Photographer: Didier Mossiat
Date: 17 Mar 2005 | | | |
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| 17 Mar 2005 - Helen Mcfetridge | |
| Seeds Crash Out on Day Three |
Wednesday saw the completion of second round matches at the Banana Bowl, and if the first two days had provided little in the way of shocks then Day 3 more than made up for it with the loss of both the second and third seeds from the girls’ singles draw.
Shock of the day was the 6-3 6-1 beating dished out to second seed Giulia Gabba (ITA) by Bahamian Jessica Sweeting. Gabba had been in excellent form on the South American circuit, winning Grade 1 events in Colombia and Venezuela earlier this year, and had been widely expected to do well here. Similarly, 3rd seeded Nikola Frankova’s victory last week in Paraguay counted for nothing as she was defeated 6-4 7-6 by Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in the day’s other main upset. Dulgheru has the chance to go even further in the tournament as she faces unseeded Chilean Melisa Miranda, who knocked out her 13th-seeded compatriot Liset Brieto, in the last 16.
The home fans will be hoping their star player, 4th-seeded Roxane Vaisemberg, will be able to take advantage of Gabba’s absence in the bottom half of the draw. Vaisemberg has been in unstoppable form so far, dropping only one game in two matches, but she will face a stiffer test when she meets Ecuador’s Estefania Balda, who leads their head-to-head 2-1, in the next round. This should be a fascinating clash, as their last meeting earlier this year ended in a win for Balda in a third set tiebreak.
The shocks of the girls’ singles aren’t being replicated in the boys’ event so far, with the only seed to fall in the second round being number 16 Kei Nishikori (JPN), who lost in three sets to France’s Boris Obama. All the favourites are still going strong, although No 2 Aljoscha Thron (GER) had a narrow escape as he eventually defeated Agustin Boje-Ordonez (SPA) in a third set tiebeak.
There were no such problems for top seeded Czech Dusan Lojda as he beat home player Joao Souza in straight sets 6-2 7-5. Lojda admitted that being top seed at a Grade A event brings with it a lot of pressure, but so far he seems to be coping well with all the expectation. He takes on Romanian 15th seed Emanuel Brighiu in the last 16.
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