His dossier says 29 years old. He feels like 25. And the gray streaks invading his dark hair suggest late 40s.
Nothing, however, is confusing today to Davide Sanguinetti, who at a relatively advanced tennis age seems finally in command of his future and headed for his best season since turning pro in 1993.
“I’m more relaxed. I no longer feel pressure,” Sanguinetti said Thursday after disposing of Kristian Pless of Denmark 6-3, 6-2 to go into the quarterfinals of the International Tennis Championships.
It’s a relaxation born of maturity … and an eight-week killer fitness program last year that finally kicked his long, lean body in the right direction.
Sanguinetti’s victory at the Delray Beach Tennis Center improved his record for the season to 12-4 and came on a damp, dismal day which washed out two other quarterfinal matches — top-seeded Andy Roddick of Boca Raton vs. Hyung-Taik Lee of South Korea, and No. 4 Nicolas Massu of Chile vs. Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.
They’ll make up those matches at noon today, and the winners will have to return to play in the evening session. If Roddick wins, he will play the second night match on stadium court, around 9 p.m.
The rain began at about 3 p.m., after Sanguinetti and Michael Llodra had checked in with second-round wins. Llodra, the super-aggressive Frenchman, disposed of No. 8 seed Markus Hipfl of Austria 6-3, 6-4.
Sanguinetti’s late-blooming career is a partly a result of having spent two years studying at UCLA. But there also had been a less than total commitment to the game.
His only winning season was 1998, when he finished runner-up at this tournament to Andrew Ilie — the same year he reached the quarterfinals of his first Wimbledon. He had a 33-30 record with an expectation of better things to come.
But his aggregate record was only 38-75 from 1999-2001. The turnaround came when he connected with former Italy Davis Cup trainer Pino Carnovale, who ground him through two months of intensive workouts. “It was hell,” Sanguinetti said. But he was smiling as he said that. He knows what it has done for his career.
“I owe Carnovale 50 percent of my earnings for his work,” he said.
At Milan last month, Sanguinetti won the first title of his career — in his home country — registering remarkable wins over Juan Carlos Ferrero, Nicolas Escude and Roger Federer in the final.
His win over Pless was typical Sanguinetti stuff — tough serving (he faced only one break point) and a sly mixture of shots that kept his 21-year-old opponent off-balance.
If he makes the final, he could face Roddick, who beat Sanguinetti in a split-setter in the second round at San Jose last week.
“His game fits me well,” Sanguinetti said. “He serves well, but I return well. If you can return his serve, he can get a little frustrated. He’s serving 140 mph, and his second is 120 mph. I don’t know how he can do it. He has to slow down because his shoulder is probably going to pop out.”
Drenched
It has been a tough week for the ITC with cold weather the first day, high winds the second and third and rain on Thursday.
Players scheduled for late afternoon and evening matches retreated to the gymnasium on the grounds to shoot baskets, play video games at the arcades set up there or, like Srichaphan, just put their feet up and read.
The forecast today is for sunshine with the rain headed offshore.
Excusable abuse
ATP supervisor Mark Darby decided against fining Wayne Arthurs after the left-handed Aussie trashed his racket on the stadium court concrete after double-faulting on match point to Jan-Michael Gambill in their first-round match on Tuesday. Darby said he had to consider the circumstances — a frustrated player with no record for previous bad behavior who didn’t throw the racket but slammed it against the surface.
Charles Bricker can be reached at .
