Moya exits, Ferrero and Srichaphan move on
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-16 10:21

Top seed Carlos Moya suffered a surprise first round exit in China Open, losing 6-3, 6-3 to French 19-year-old Joe-Wilfried Tsonga, who attended ATP tournament for the first time, here late Wednesday evening.

The Frenchman, just being upgraded from young group, was apparently an awkward stranger to handle for Moya, the former French Open champion.

Tsonga played more aggressive to stand up as the dominator throughout the match. He was seemingly the No. 1 of the tournament with three aces in the opening game and kept firing powerful serves to curb Moya's return effectively.

 The top seed's unforced errors and double faults were twice as much as that of Tsonga, which cost Moya his service twice in first set and three times in second set. It took eighty minutes for Tsonga to wrap up his first victory in ATP tour.

Second seed Juan Garlos Ferrero powered into the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 demolition of Justin Gimelstob from the United States on the rain-interrupted court. Sixth seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand thumped French Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the second round.

 "He is a tough player and has good serves. Although I hoped to leave a deep impression to Chinese fans, I just couldn't find the control of the match. He was a better player today and that was why I lost," said Moya.

"I expected he would be nervous to play with a top-ranked player like me, but he didn't and gained confidence after three aces in the opening game. I hope I can come to play and win here next year," added the Spaniard.

"This is the first time for me to play in ATP tour tournament, so I am just happy to win here. Moya has done a lot of good things for tennis in the past and now and I hold great respect for him," said Tsonga.

Moya had won three tournaments of ATP tour this year, namely Indian Open, Abierto Mexicano and Rome Masters. He also cruised into the third round of US Open.

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