Tennis: Ferrero out, Spanish take a pounding

Teenage sensation Rafael Nadal receives treatment for pain in his chest. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Immigration staff at Auckland international airport today might be bemused at the number of Spanish passports being presented for departure - unless they are tennis fans.

It was a bad day to be Spanish on centre court at the Heineken Open yesterday as three of the US$404,000 tournament departed in succession at the ASB Tennis Centre.

Teenage sensation Rafael Nadal pulled out of his first round match after the opening set against defending champion Dominik Hrbaty complaining of a sore chest.

But he was never more than a 50-50 proposition to beat the in-form and resilient Hrbaty.

However, Czech Republic qualifier Jan Hernych tipping out former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero turned the Open on its head.

Hernych, a 25-year-old from Prague and world No 83, played like a man possessed to win 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-3 as seventh-seed Ferrero failed to come to grips with both his, and his opponent's, games.

And to cap off a miserable day, the third member of their winning Davis Cup team here, second seed Tommy Robredo, wasted a 6-4, 4-2 lead against tough Dutch qualifier Raemon Sluiter, losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In Ferrero's case it could have been all over in straight sets as Hernych had a couple of set points in the first. He couldn't take them and was blown away in the tiebreak.

But he settled whatever nerves were bothering him and an alien landing in the stands after that point would have picked the tall Czech as the hotter shot of the two.

With great respect to Hernych, it was not a result Open officials would have envisaged when they picked up Ferrero as one of the main drawcards for this year's event.

"I didn't play my best tennis," Ferrero said, in a massive understatement.

"But he played good tennis, with my help sometimes."

Hernych, buoyed by three wins in qualifying, and his familiarity with the hardcourt surface, suddenly realised the win was on.

"I think it has given me some confidence because he's a great player. The whole match I played very good," Hernych said.

He grew up on clay, but reckons hardcourt is his best surface. That's no surprise after yesterday, but he believes it is not his finest win.

Pride of place goes to his victory over Brazilian ace Gustavo Kuerten at Toronto last year.

Hernych had corrective surgery on his nose before New Year. Breathing was difficult.

Not any more. Instead it's the Spanish challenge in the Open which is short of oxygen today.

Hernych's reward is a match against another Spaniard, Alberto Martin, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Nadal said he felt pain in his chest early in his match against Hrbaty, tried to play through it but could not shake it off.

He said it was the second time it had happened to him and "I was scared. I thought to stop was better."

Ferrero played down any damage to his Australian Open hopes - "all tournaments are different" - but he's got plenty of work ahead of him if he's to make an impact in Melbourne this month.

Martin kept the Spanish flag flying with a straight-sets win over qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

But while Ferrero was a major disappointment, world No 13 Robredo fought desperately to stay alive, but Sluiter, with the sniff of victory, got better as the match wore on.

Peru's Luis Horna, the eighth seed, was thumped 6-3, 6-1 by Belgian Olivier Rochus.

Rochus now plays a third successful qualifier, Federico Luzzi, who beat Argentina's Juan Monaco in straight sets.

"There is a definitely an advantage to the guys who playing qualifying.

"Some of the other players are having their first match of the year here, and that's always tough," the entertaining Sluiter said.

And after yesterday's events, ain't that the truth.

Today's schedule

Court one (starting 11am): 1-G. Coria (Argentina) v C. Saulnier (France), followed by 3-D. Hrbaty (Slovakia) v J. Acasuso (Argentina), followed by R. Ginepri (US) v V. Spadea (US), followed by P. Starace (Italy) v Q-R. Sluiter (Netherlands), followed by but not before 7pm 5-F. Gonzalez (Chile) v M. Zabaleta (Argentina), followed by 1-G. Etlis/M. Rodriguez (Argentina) v WC-GD Jones/A. Thompson (NZ).

Court four (starting 11am): Q-F. Luzzi (Italy) v O. Rochus (Belgium), followed by Y. Allegro (Switzerland)/M. Kohlmann (Germany) v 2-C. Suk/P. Vizner (Czech Republic), followed by 6-J. I. Chela (Argentina) v R. Mello (Brazil), followed by S. Aspelin (Sweden)/T. Perry (Australia) v Acasuso (Argentina)/L. Horna (Peru).

Court six (starting 1pm): A. Martin (Spain) v Q-J. Hernych (Czech Republic).

Court seven (time to be confirmed): Chela/S. Prieto (Argentina) v 4-M. Garcia/M. Hood (Argentina).