Guccione hammers top seed Ferrero
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Guccione is playing in his third ATP tournament
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SYDNEY, Australia -- Top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain crashed to a first round defeat against Australian teenager Chris Guccione at the Sydney international.
The 18-year-old, playing only his third ATP event and ranked 447th in the world, blasted 19 aces past the French Open champion en route to a 6-3 7-6 success.
"When someone serves like that there's nothing you can," said Ferrero.
"I'm not disappointed because I don't think I played badly. he just served well."
Guccione, a junior Wimbledon finalist last year, closed the match with his final ace after Ferrero had double faulted at 6-6 in the tiebreaker, handing his opponent his fourth match point of the match.
"To get a win over the number three player in the world just gives me a lot of confidence," said Guccione.
"I served really well which got me a few free points. Then confidence kept growing and growing -- one thing led to another and I got the win."
Guccione next faces South African Wayne Ferreira who beat American James Blake 6-2 6-4.
Third seed Carlos Moya of Spain, the highest-ranked player left in the tournament, advanced to the second round with a 7-5 6-4 win over Alex Bogomolov of the U.S.
Australia's Mark Philippoussis, seeded fourth, beat Spain's Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo 6-4 5-7 6-2 to set up a second round clash with Briton Greg Rusedski.
The women's event suffered a blow with the withdrawal of injured top seed Kim Clijsters. (Full Story)
Sixth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia beat American Ansley Cargill 6-0 0-6 6-3.
Tennis Roundup
• Defending champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, seeded third, battled for almost three hours for a 6-7 7-6 7-5 win over Spain's Alex Corretja in the first round of the ATP Auckland Open in New Zealand.
Spanish 17-year-old Rafael claimed a 7-6 6-4 upset win over Dutch fourth seed Sjeng Schalken, while France's Fabrice Santoro ousted Jarkko Nieman of Finland 6-1 6-4.
• Top seed Paola Suarez of Argentina survived a second set lapse to advance directly to the quarterfinals of the WTA Canberra Classic with a 6-3 2-6 6-1 first round win over Antonella Serra Zanetti of Italy.
Suarez's Czech second round opponent Sandra Kleinova withdrew from the tournament with illness on Tuesday.
In the second round, second seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy beat compatriot Mara Santangelo of Italy 6-3 6-3.
• Italy's Maria Elena Camerin sprung a surprise in the second round of the WTA Hobart international with a 7-6 2-6 6-1 win over Venezuelan fifth seed Maria Vento-Kabchi.
Colombian fourth seed Fabiola Zuluaga beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 4-6 6-3 6-1.
