Ivanisevic And Enqvist Hit The Heights In More Ways Than One

Goran Ivanisevic and Thomas Enqvist both notched up impressive opening victories at the Seguros Bolivar Champions Tennis in Bogota on Thursday, despite having to overcome the physical demands of playing at an altitude of 2600 metres in a city that lies in the heart of the Andes mountain range.

Enqvist, who completed his rookie year unbeaten on the ATP Champions Tour in 2009, came through a testing 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over his boyhood idol John McEnroe in front of a a packed, 5000-people crowd. Ivanisevic had to endure an even bumpier ride en route to a 7-5, 2-6, 14-12 (Champions' Tie Break) win over Pat Cash.

Enqvist said after his match that it was a particularly special experience to play seven-time Grand Slam Champion McEnroe for the first time.

“A dream really came true for me today because I got to play John McEnroe,” he said. “John was one of my idols growing up and I remember watching his matches with (Bjorn) Borg so it’s just amazing for me to play him today finally. I’m so excited.”

McEnroe, whose last trip to Colombia was to celebrate his 21st birthday more than 30 years ago, was pleased with his performance against Enqvist, a man 16 years his junior.

“I think I handled the altitude pretty well generally,” said McEnroe. “Thomas is really young and strong and I put up a pretty good fight there, just not quite good enough I guess. The crowd here is amazing. They really enjoy tennis which is fantastic and they really helped give me some energy out there.”

Zurich Open finalist Ivanisevic also had to withstand a plucky effort from Australian legend Cash before narrowly closing out a tricky three set victory. The 2001 Wimbledon Champion admitted that he had struggled to adjust to the physical challenges of playing his first match at high altitude.

“That was so tough today,” said Ivanisevic. “It was tough physically to get used to the altitude and the ball is flying. It was really difficult because no amount of training can prepare you for those conditions. The crowd here is so great thought that I promise to play better for them tomorrow!”

Also in Group A on Thursday Wayne Ferreira swept to a convincing 6-4, 6-2 victory over home favourite Mauricio Hadad. The straight sets win ensures that South African Ferreira is sitting at the top of the group going in to the second day’s play. In the second match in Group B, Yevgeny Kafelnikov continued his impressive recent run of form with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Colombian Davis Cup hero Jaime Cortes.

Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top two players in each group will meet in Sunday's final.

To view the order of play and the round-robin groups, click results.

After Bogota, the ATP Champions Tour will move on to Sao Paulo, Brazil and Barcelona, Spain.