- News>
- Tennis
Moya says French Open titles mean nothing in Rome
Rome, May 08: Carlos Moya believes a French Open title carries little weight at the Italian Open.
Rome, May 08: Carlos Moya believes a French Open title carries little weight at the Italian Open.
Moya and fellow Spaniard Albert Costa, both former winners in Paris, advanced to the semfinals of the Italian Open on Friday with straight-set wins.
``Well, it was a few years ago when I won. Costa won two years ago. Here, players have no respect for that,'' Moya said after coating past Romania's Andrei Pavel 6-1, 6-2 in 47 minutes in his second match of the day.
``They forget about who they are playing, and they don't know if you won the French Open or you were No. 1; they don't care about that,'' said Moya, the 1998 French Open champion and the top-ranked player for two weeks in 1999.
Costa, the 2002 winner at Roland Garros, defeated 12th-seeded Jiri Novak 6-4, 6-2, showing his clay-court game is rounding into shape.
The Italian Open is a big tuneup for the French Open, which starts May 24 and is the only major played on clay.
Moya and Costa will meet a pair of Argentines, David Nalbandian and Mariano Zabaleta, in Saturday's semifinals. The draw, which reads like a Davis Cup tie between Spain and Argentina, is Moya against Zabaleta and Costa facing Nalbandian.
``Well, it was a few years ago when I won. Costa won two years ago. Here, players have no respect for that,'' Moya said after coating past Romania's Andrei Pavel 6-1, 6-2 in 47 minutes in his second match of the day.
``They forget about who they are playing, and they don't know if you won the French Open or you were No. 1; they don't care about that,'' said Moya, the 1998 French Open champion and the top-ranked player for two weeks in 1999.
Costa, the 2002 winner at Roland Garros, defeated 12th-seeded Jiri Novak 6-4, 6-2, showing his clay-court game is rounding into shape.
The Italian Open is a big tuneup for the French Open, which starts May 24 and is the only major played on clay.
Moya and Costa will meet a pair of Argentines, David Nalbandian and Mariano Zabaleta, in Saturday's semifinals. The draw, which reads like a Davis Cup tie between Spain and Argentina, is Moya against Zabaleta and Costa facing Nalbandian.
On Friday, Zabaleta broke serve to go up 6-5 and served out his 6-1, 7-5 win against Chile's Nicolas Massu. Nalbandian won six straight games after falling behind 3-0 in the second set and finished with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against American Vincent Spadea.
Bureau Report