World number one Gustavo Kuerten suffered a major disappointment when he crashed out of the Brazilian Open in the first round to unseeded compatriot Flavio Sarreta. The top seed had obviously not yet recovered from his disappointing exit at the hands of Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarter-finals of the US Open last week and despite great support from the home crowd, he went down 6-4 2-6 4-6.
Although both players were guilty of some terrible unforced errors, it was Kuerten who looked the more lethargic of the two and as more and more of Kuerten's shots failed to find their target, Sarreta grew in confidence. The 21-year-old from Sao Paulo produced two brilliant backhand passes to break Kuerten's serve in the final game of the match. Kuerten did his best to stay in the tie and saved two match points, but then dumped a third into the net to hand Sarreta victory.
However, Kuerten did not seem too upset by his defeat and instead was more concerned by the events in the United States. "It is only when things like these happen that we take notice that a bad loss or a big win mean nothing compared to what we are seeing," he said.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
