Ferreira makes light of his flight to see off Gaudenzi

Tennis

Some people travel better than others, as Wayne Ferreira demonstrated by reaching the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open, having arrived at 5am on Wednesday morning on the same flight from South Africa as the crestfallen Thomas Muster.

Yesterday, while Muster was still trying to find his bearings and wondering if his No 1 ranking would survive beyond a week after losing in the first round to Australia's Sandon Stolle, Ferreira continued to make a successful defence of his title.

Ferreira may have been fortunate that an injury forced Younes El Aynaoui to retire after the opening set of their first-round match on Wednesday night, but his reserves of stamina were tapped yesterday when he defeated Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

Muster, recounting the previous day, when he and Ferreira finally arrived from a Davis Cup tie in Johannesburg prolonged by rain, said: "I woke up at 1.30 in the afternoon and didn't know where I was. I had to realise I had left South Africa and was in Dubai and had a match to play. My timing and reaction was not the same."

Stolle, acclimatised after reaching the final of the qualifying event, won a third-set tie-break 7-0, the result which gave Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, who are playing in San Jose, an opportunity to supplant the Austrian in the rankings.

Ferreira, who had lost to Muster in the Davis Cup match on Monday, was asked why he thought he had coped better with the journey. "I got here at the same time. I slept, got up, had something to eat, and went back to sleep. I recommend more sleep to Muster."

The South African will need to stay alert. He now faces the booming serve of Goran Ivanisevic, the fourth seed, who continued his progress with a 6-3, 7-5 win against Karel Novacek.

Ivanisevic whipped 14 aces past Novacek, who is awaiting developments of allegations that he and Sweden's Mats Wilander tested positive for cocaine at last year's French Open. Ivanisevic observed that Novacek was "not very confident and didn't hit the ball so hard."

Stolle, who was promoted to the main draw as a "lucky loser", avoided an anti-climax after the excitement of the night before. He advanced to the last eight, raising his game in the final set to defeat Russia's Andrei Cherkasov, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

The notion of Stolle beating Muster conjures a magical bridging of the generation gap. Inevitably, the son of Fred was asked if it was an advantage or a burden to carry the name of the former champion of France and the United States.

"If anything, it's been a bonus," he said, "because I've been around elite players. Growing up, I didn't take notice of my father as well as I should. Dad was pretty tough on me, but it was a big advantage having a dad like that rather than one pampering me."

Since all the goliaths have been slain in the top half of the draw, it seems appropriate that Hendrik Jan Davids should be slinging his shots with remarkable accuracy.

The 27-year-old Dutch qualifier, ranked No 295, has generated rather less publicity than Stolle, but he also advanced to the quarter-finals and is guaranteed $30,000 (pounds 20,000).

In his previous tournament of the year, Davids was defeated in the first round in Zagreb by Johan van Herck, of Belgium. Like many an unsung nomad of the ATP Tour, however, Davids has taken refreshment here.

Yesterday, following up a first-round win against Stefano Pescosolido, Davids accomplished a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Alberto Berasategui, the Spaniard failing to reproduce the form which enabled him to eliminate the third-seeded Jim Courier.