© Tim Edwards
Rios Loses At Last
He had won 25 matches in a row, six tournaments to-date, and beaten everyone there is to beat on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions. But, as Marcelo Rios discovered on day two of the Kia Champions Trophy in Frankfurt, all good things must come to an end some time.
The Chilean, who had frequently said how he intended to complete the entire year without being beaten, lost convincingly to Paul Haarhuis on Friday.
Haarhuis, who also surprised everyone by winning the BlackRock Masters last year, won 6-3, 7-6(3) to end the Rios run.
He raced through the first set, and held break points in each of the first three games of the second set before finally winning it on a tie-break.
“I’m proud of my achievement today,” said Haarhuis.
“The player that no-one could beat has finally been beaten! It’s what all the players wanted – to beat Rios, and I think it makes life more interesting on the Tour. The other players will now know that he is beatable and think that they can do it as well, and maybe Rios will feel a little less confident knowing that he can be beaten.”
Rios threw his racquet a remarkable nine times during the two-set match, and was not happy to lose his unbeaten run.
“I don’t think anyone likes to lose – it’s not a good feeling,” said Rios.
“I think he played the best match of his whole career today. I never saw him play that good before, but it was a fair match and it shows that everyone is working hard to get better and to catch me. It’s a good thing that there is more competition. I was a little bit tired today – I wasn’t feeling as good as I was at the other tournaments, but now I’m going to get ready for the (BlackRock) Masters and for sure I want to win it.”
Haarhuis still stands a chance of qualifying for the BlackRock Masters himself, but he would need to win the Kia Champions Trophy in Frankfurt to do so.
“To talk about winning the tournament is so far away,” said the Dutchman.
“I lost my first match so I still have to beat Anders Jarryd and then watch for the results in the other matches and hope they go my way if I am to reach the final. It’s a lot of ‘ifs’, and hopefully I have a chance, but I am very, very, very far away.”
On Saturday, Rios will meet Goran Ivanisevic, who defeated Jarryd 6-3, 6-3, while Haarhuis faces the Swede.
Elsewhere, John McEnroe will meet Carl-Uwe Steeb for a place in the final after both scored victories on Friday.
McEnroe overwhelmed Thomas Muster 6-1, 6-3, while Steeb squeezed past Pat Cash 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 (Champions’ Tie-Break).
Matches are played over the best of three sets with the third set taking the form of a Champions’ Tie-Break where the first player to reach ten points, and lead by two clear points, is the winner.
The tournament is played over a round-robin format with the top player in each group meeting in Sunday’s final.
The BlackRock Masters sees the top ten players in the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings compete for a $100,000 winners’ prize. The field at the Royal Albert Hall in London will increase to 12 with the addition of two wild card invitations.
To be eligible to compete on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, players must have been either a World No.1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist or champion, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active as an singles player on the ATP circuit. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.
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