What the Players Said -
Draper: "He obviously serves unbelievable, he's been doing it his whole career. He was a little bit scratchy on the ground and some volleys he wouldn't normally miss, but with that weapon of a serve it's very hard to break. I lost my serve once. I played two bad points in the match and I'm the loser. Pretty frustrating.
"I felt that I put him under more pressure a lot of the time, but it was that one game. He's a frustrating guy to play. He's a great player. I'm happy with the way I'm playing. Things are getting better all the time; I'm fit, I'm pretty confident. I'm looking forward to the Australian Open and the Davis Cup. I've got a wild card to Sydney, so I'm looking forward to that as well."
Krajicek: "I was serving very big, that saved my match today, I guess. It's not the first time but today was pretty extreme I thought. The rest of my game I was struggling with. It's maybe a combination of things, because of Scott, the way he plays, he's left handed, it was a little windy and I haven't played too many matches the last couple of months. I was just serving myself out of trouble a lot and he missed one or two shots maybe he shouldn't. Frustrating for him because in a way, he was the better player for a set and a half, but I was the one who was a set up."
On his elbow: "A couple of weeks before Wimbledon I was still struggling a lot, but I told my coach, if I don't make the American summer, I basically said we would stop. I always had the feeling that if I stop with my coach, I basically say goodbye to top tennis. I said I was going to take off until the end of the year and if the elbow still wasn't good, then I'd retire. But now there hasn't been a day yet when I'd have to hold back. I could do everything I wanted to in the end."
THURSDAY PREVIEW
Richard Krajicek has won 17 career singles titles, including the 1996 Wimbledon championship. But how long has it been since he's won an ATP tournament? You have to go back four seasons, to 1999, to find the Dutchman's last triumph. That year he won London (on indoor carpet) and the Tennis Masters Series event in Miami. It was also the year he reached his career-high ranking of No.4.
With the Adelaide draw further opening up Wednesday with the departure of top seeds Wayne Ferreira (whom Krajicek would have faced in the second round) and Max Mirnyi, the veteran may start thinking about winning the AAPT Championships title. But first Krajicek must do what Ferreira could not and defeat Argentine Franco Squillari when the pair play for a quarterfinal berth. Krajicek defeated Squillari in straight sets at Wimbledon last year en route to the quarterfinals
keep it going Richard! :bounce:
