ROTTERDAM, March 3: US Open champion Patrick Rafter met unexpected resistance from wild card entry Peter Wessels in the Abn Amro Indoor Tournament fighting through 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 here last night.The Dutch world number 218 looked shocked to find himself serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set against the top-seeded Australian.
But Rafter, No. 3 in the ATP tour rankings, recovered to force a tie-breaker, then steam rollered his way through the final set.
Another big-serving heavyweight, Britain's Greg Rusedski, also struggled, despite creating eight break points. The third seed squeezed through after three tie-breakers against Moroccan Karim Alami, 6-7 (9-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), in a marathon match without a single service break.
The reigning champion here, Dutchman Richard Krajicek had a much easier passage to round two.
Krajicek is seeded only five here this year but looked relaxed and in form as he ousted Dutch wild-card entry Dennis Van Scheppingen in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. Theother seed to start on day one, Spaniard Sergi Bruguera, seeded six, also progressed against Moroccan Hicham Arazi, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
This $ 725,000 ATP tourney has attracted one of its strongest fields ever, with five top-ten players starting. Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, ranked fourth in the world, and Swede Jonas Bjorkman, ranked five, are among the stars who start on Tuesday.
Unseeded, Belgian Johan Van Herck bested Czech Jiri Novak, 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) and Swede Mikael Tillstrom ousted German Marc-Kevin Goellner 6-1, 6-3.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
