Racing Post
October 4, 2004, Monday
ON THE LINE… SARGIS SARGSIAN
SARGIS SARGSIAN has won an impressive 11 of his 16 carpet-court
matches since 2001 and could be a player to follow on this year’s
swing.
The Armenian has failed to fire on hard, clay and grass courts this
season, managing just 14 wins from 37 matches, but he played his best
tennis of this season to reach the last 16 of the US Open in late
August.
Sargsian showed what a great competitor he is at Flushing Meadows
when twice coming back from the brink of defeat – against Paul-Henri
Mathieu and Nicolas Massu – to win in five sets.
Closer inspection of Sargsian’s displays on carpet since 2001 reveal
a player capable of performing well above his present ranking of 45
on this surface.
He was the only player to reach two carpet-court finals last season,
in St Petersburg and Moscow, and in the Kremlin Cup he lowered the
colours of Yevgeny Kafelnikov, one of the finest carpet players of
all time.
Jiri Novak and Rainer Schuttler are other top-class players who had
no answer to Sargsian’s smooth groundstrokes and potent serve on
carpet last term.
The 31-year-old is no spring chicken and before hanging up his racket
he will be keen to add to his sole ATP title, which he captured in
1997 on grass in Rhode Island.
Sargsian has entered this week’s Grand Prix tournament in Lyon and,
providing he stays injury-free, will almost certainly travel to
Russia to play in the Kremlin Cup and St Petersburg Open, in which he
will bid to go one better than last season.