Tennis: Injury, defeat have top drawcards out quickly

By Foster Niumata

Marcelo Rios listens to his body.

When he woke up yesterday morning, his body told him he was fit to open his defence of his Heineken Open tennis title at Stanley St in Auckland.

But only after bracing the back that was sore in November when he pulled out of the ATP world championships with the No 1 spot on the line, and after bandaging the right hamstring he pulled last week.

Then in mid-afternoon, after tormenting Romanian Andrei Pavel for 46 minutes, his body told him "no mas." Enough.

And so, after already stunning a near-capacity stadium crowd with the way he could casually rip Pavel apart with one shot, and duff the next, off went Rios, the first titleholder to lose in the first round since 1992 and the first top seed since 1995.

The surprises were not over. Jim Courier walked into Auckland's tournament for the first time to a rousing cheer, but he could not draw inspiration or a ride from the 3200-strong crowd, and another bandannaed journeyman from the legendary home of Dracula - Adrian Voinea - put a fatal bite on the Open's other big drawcard.

The surprises were still not over. Brett Steven and James Greenhalgh, New Zealand's Davis Cup duo, upset doubles top seeds Rick Leach and Ellis Ferreira, both former top-five players with 47 titles between them.

Rios came to Auckland hoping the hamstring would come right. Hope died when he won the first set 7-5 against an outclassed Pavel, then went down 0-2.

"It's always disappointing when you retire but you've got to listen to your body and take care of it," said Rios, whose early exit meant he would not quite be getting all his appearance money, which all-up was going to be much less than the $US46,000 winner's cheque.

"It started hurting a little bit and I didn't want to force it. Now I'm going to Melbourne [for the Australian Open where he was runner-up last year] and hoping it gets better."

Pavel, in the locker room beforehand, heard Rios complain about his back, which put him in two minds, especially when he found Rios was still dangerous. He was surprised when Rios retired.

He was also taken aback by the amount of Chilean support for the world No 2.

"Everywhere he goes he's got supporters. The only thing I've got is the Romanian embassy," said Pavel, whose title in Tokyo in April made him the first Romanian since Ilie Nastase 20 years ago to win an ATP title.

Voinea played juniors alongside Pavel but never beat his countryman until two years ago. They both escaped former communist Romania when they were kids, Pavel to Germany and Voinea to Italy.

Voinea, not intimidated by Courier but uneasy that he had lost feeling for the ball after practising for only three months, seemed to find a comfort at Stanley St that Courier could not, and never gave the American a break chance in a decisive 7-6 6-1 victory.

He now meets second seed and new tournament favourite Felix Mantilla, who fought off three set-points in a thrilling tiebreaker with 107th-ranked qualifier Laurence Tieleman, a relentless Italian serve-volleyer, to win 7-6 (12-10) 6-2.

Pictured: Marcelo Rios leaving the court at Stanley St. PICTURE / FOTOPRESS