Rainer Schuettler of Germany serves to James Blake of the United States in the second round of the Paris ATP Masters Series in Paris October 29, 2003. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
o5 seed German Rainer Schuettler rallied from a set down to rattle American James Blake and gain the round of sixteen.
The 27-year-old German downed his 23-year-old young opponent 4/6, 6/2, 6/3 in 1 hour and 33 minutes. His foe in the next round will be Chilean Nicolas Massu, the number 10 seed.
Schuettler deployed his trademark counterpunching game and broke the American for the first time in the fourth game to race ahead 3-1. But Blake, who scored his first win of the European indoor season on Monday with a win over Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, took charge and immediately broke back to even the contest at 3-all. The Harlem native felt stronger as the match progressed and overwhelmed Schuettler by dictating the tempo with his huge forehand.
But never count the relentless Schuettler out. The 6-ranked German, a runner-up in Australia this past January, raised his game in the second set and found his comfort zone, breaking his opponent three times (2nd, 4th and 6th game) to draw the match even.
Frustrated by the terrier-like retrievals of his opponent, Blake, ranked 36th, was driven to the point of despair as Schuettler coasted to an easy victory.
Rainer lost to Andrei Pavel . This is great news for andrei, though. Anyway, Rainer has played far too many tournies this year..........31!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, Rainer says playing week after week is his way of staying fit, keep his rythm. If he had physical problems he would have stopped playing doubles over the last weeks I think. He hasn'T been injured all year unlike the other top players so he must be doing something right for him. Even after Paris he said he is not physically tired but mentally so he will have to relax before Houston and get his head off tennis for a few days.
BTW for those who have German TV, Rainer will be on the ZDF Sportstudio tonight as an interview guest.
@sam. sorry. i forgot to answer about your german lessons. i´m really impressed that you like german. everybody i know who´s learning hate that because it´s to hard. especially " der die das" "ein eine einer" and so on
Rainer and Coria have played once, which Coria won. However, it was on clay, Coria's best surface.
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