Rosset suffers another early exit

Hard Times? Rosset reaches for a book during a break in his match with Clément Keystone

Marc Rosset's recent bad form continued on Tuesday when he was knocked out in the first round of the ATP tournament in Rotterdam.

The Swiss number two was beaten in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) by the French number one Arnaud Clément. With Clément in strong form and up to 12th in the world rankings the result might not have been a major surprise, but it has cast fresh doubt on Rosset’s suitability for the Swiss Davis Cup team.

If Rosset were to make himself available for April’s second round tie against France, the Swiss captain Jakob Hlasek would face some difficult selection choices.

While Rosset has failed to make it beyond the second round of any tournament this season, the younger members of the Swiss team have been in generally good shape.

Michel Kratochvil reached the third round of the Australian Open in January and made it through to the quarter-finals in Marseille last week before going out to Swiss number one Roger Federer.

George Bastl has also reached a quarter-finals match this season at the ATP tournament in Sydney. Perhaps more importantly, Bastl and Kratochvil have both managed to beat Clément this season.

All speculation will of course become academic if Rosset decides not to put himself forward for the Davis Cup tie. Having once said that he would never play for Switzerland while Hlasek remained captain, the Genevan has recently suggested that he could be persuaded to change his mind.

However Hlasek and Rosset have not yet met to discuss a possible reconciliation.

swissinfo with agencies