ROME – In a rain-soaked fourth day of play, Harel Levy
showed his victory over Pete Sampras was no fluke.
The Israeli had no problems advancing to the quarterfinals of
the Italian Open on Thursday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Germany's
Nicolas Kiefer.
Also grabbing quarterfinal spots on Foro Italico's red clay were
South Africa's Wayne Ferreira and Sweden's Andreas Vinciguerra.
Ferreira beat Roger Federer 7-6 (4), 6-2, a day after the Swiss
teenager had knocked off No. 2 seed Marat Safin of Russia.
Vinciguerra disposed of France's Sebastien Grosjean, 6-2, 6-3.
Rain halted a showdown between No. 10 Alex Corretja of Spain and
No. 7 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, with the Spaniard leading 7-6
(2), 4-3. Play in that match is slated to resume Friday, preceded
by a showdown between No. 1 seed Gustavo Kuerten and No. 16 Franco
Squillari of Argentina, which was rained out Thursday.
After the rain subsided, Nicolas Lapenti of Ecuador and Jacobo
Diaz won their respective night matches to advance to the
quarterfinals.
In other suspended action, Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero was
leading Julien Boutter of France 5-2.
Of the first six seeds, only the Brazilian Kuerten remains. He
beat Michael Chang, the last of the tournament's Americans, in a
6-1, 6-1 exercise Wednesday.
Israel's Levy, 22, practices with Kuerten, currently the world's
most-feared clay-court player.
"Just by watching him you can learn a lot," he said of the
Brazilian, "and by practicing with him, even more."
Kuerten, who finished last season atop the men's rankings after
winning his second French title, came to Rome favored at the $2.95 million Italian Open, which is part of the Masters Series.
The Brazilian lost in the finals at Foro Italico last year to
Magnus Norman, the fifth seed, who lost in straight sets in the
first round. Top American seeds Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, both
playing their first European clay matches, also fell in the
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ALSO SEE
Thursday's results
Safin loses temper, then match in Rome
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