Kuerten eases past Ivanisevic to reach last eight

Gustavo Kuerten cruised past Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic 6-2 6-1 in the third round of the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati on Thursday evening to set up a quarter-final clash with Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

"I didn't look very good for a Wimbledon champion," Ivanisevic said. "I had be at the very top of my game to beat him since he's the number one player in the world but he didn't have to do anything, it was a poor performance by me."

Kuerten, who served 10 aces and posted an excellent first serve percentage of 72, never offered the Croatian a chance to break his serve.

In the 42-minute match, Ivanisevic was only able to win four points on Kuerten's serve in the Brazilian's seven service games.

"He saw that I was serving well and that he didn't have any chance to break me," said Kuerten.

The Brazilian will be hoping to improve on his 6-3 win-loss record over Kafelnikov, who advanced by beating Alberto Martin of Spain 6-2 2-6 6-4.

"I broke his serve early in the first set and he was frustrated. He wasn't playing too well, but I did expect much more trouble tonight," Kuerten added.

Ivanisevic said that through the years he has had more trouble when playing matches at dusk and night because he cannot see the ball that well.

Kuerten actually had a similar problem but during the past 18 months he has been wearing contact lenses to sharpen his vision.

Ivanisevic unfortunately realises that with his Wimbledon champion status there are more featured night matches in his immediate future.

"I was playing on a court where nobody could find me, out in the parking lot someplace," Ivanisevic said.

"That's where I've been playing the last couple of the years, now I'm on the centre courts."

Rain Delay
After waiting through a nearly two hour rain delay to play one final game in less than two minutes, 22nd-ranked Jan-Michael Gambill captured a 6-3 6-4 third round win over Guillermo Canas of Argentina.

Gambill now faces seventh-seeded Tim Henman, a player he has beaten on all three occasions they have played.

Nevertheless, Gambill has not played Henman in nearly two years since the 1999 Stockholm tournament and he expects another tough encounter.

"In the past it's been my returns getting me through those matches," Gambill said. "We've had really close matches.

"He's playing better than back then, I believe I am too, so I think we'll have a tough match tomorrow."

Eighth-seeded Patrick Rafter, who won the title here in 1998 over Pete Sampras, was given a first set test from wildcard James Blake before posting a 7-6 6-2 third round victory.

Most players at the tournament consider Rafter, who will meet Britain's Greg Rusedski in the quarter-finals, the favourite to take the title here.

Rafter is seen as the man to beat because his kick first-serve and volley game is tailor made for the hard, quick ball that tends to fly for many of the other players.

Both Andre Agassi, who went out in the first round, and Pete Sampras, who fell in the second round, complained that they couldn't control the ball in use at this event.

Fellow Australian and fifth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt also moved into the quarter-finals, where he will meet Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, following a tough 1-6 6-4 7-6 win over Max Mirnyi of Belarus.