Ondruska knocks off No. 1 seed

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000 | 10:31 a.m.

Ensure, hearing aids and walking sticks aren't part of Marcos Ondruska's everyday life.

But in tennis years, the 27-year-old South African isn't exactly part of the sport's purported youth movement either.

So Ondruska spent the last two weeks at the Dennis Van der Meer Academy in Hilton Head, S.C., hitting balls, playing sets and just trying to become a better player.

He's off to a good start.

Ondruska toppled top-seeded Richard Fromberg, another ATP Tour veteran, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round of the $50,000 USTA/Las Vegas Challenger Tuesday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex at UNLV. Their 2 hour, 3 minute battle was one of four matches that ended after three sets.

"I was a little nervous going into the match because I had worked so hard the last couple of weeks," Ondruska said. "To play Richie in the first round is tough because he is a good player.

"I was hoping I would get a different opponent because I worked so hard and it was difficult to play him with the wind and the cold. Now that I'm through to the second round I'm feeling much better."

In other first-round matches, second-seeded Brazilian Andre Sa ousted Mike Bryan, 6-3, 6-3, while American Jeff Salzenstein eliminated sixth-seeded Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 6-3, 6-4, and Italian Cristiano Caratti beat seventh-seeded Xaiver Malisse of Belgium, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

South African Jeff Coetzee outlasted Bulgaria's Orlin Stanoytchev, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Israel's Noam Okun advanced with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over American Michael Russell; American sensation Andy Roddick beat Israel's Nir Welgreen, 6-0, 7-6 (2), and American Robert Kendrick beat American Zack Fleishman, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

This is Ondruska's 12th year on tour. He is currently 176th in the ATP's entry system point standings, the list that determines which players are automatically entered into the main draw of tournaments, and 192nd in the Champions Race.

In 1993, Ondruska ascended to a career high-ranking (now called the Champions Race) of 27th, finishing the year ranked No. 47. He ended the following year at 97 and since then Ondruska has seen his standing fluctuate from 102 to 155.

"I didn't maybe spend as much time with my tennis as I should have," Ondruska said of his decline. "Things happened so quickly.

"I got to 27 and I maybe didn't have the backup of people that I needed to keep me focused."

Against Fromberg, Ondruska forced a third set when he broke Fromberg's serve at 4-5.

Early breaks in the third gave Ondruska a 3-1 lead and as the match wore on, Fromberg committed more unforced errors.

"I could see maybe he was getting down on himself," Ondruska said. "The second break was big in the last set because against a guy like Richie, you can never have a big enough lead so I just wanted to finish it."

Today, Ondruska is more driven than ever.

Following his win over Fromberg he returned to the court to practice his serve.

His goal is to reach the top 150 of the entry system and he plans on playing in as many challengers as he can before the Australian Open to earn more points.

"I don't know how many more years I've got left," Ondruska said. "Maybe before when I was younger I felt I've got all the time in the world.

"Now I see things differently. I'm more driven than I was before to work hard at my game. I just love to play. I'm out there and I still enjoy it."