Ferreira’s Tennis Stock Continues Recent Rise

Playing Anthony Dupuis of France wasn’t the first thing on Wayne Ferreira’s mind when he awoke Monday.

It was his battle with the NASDAQ.

“It’s kind of hard when you live in California,” said Ferreira, a South African who recently moved to Berkeley and has been day trading stocks for six months. “But I get up every day at 6:30 to check the market.”

He was trading for two hours Monday before he defeated Dupuis, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the $375,000 Mercedes-Benz Cup tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA, in what was 1 hour 4 minutes of uninspired play.

Ferreira, the No. 5 seed, will next play Wednesday against the winner of today’s first-round match between Sebastien Lareau of Canada and Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.

Ferreira’s day began on the wrong foot when the NASDAQ dropped 120 points during the time he was trading. He fared better on the court as Dupuis couldn’t break serve. But the match was sloppy, with Ferreira successful on only 49% of his first serves.

“It was pretty easy today. I played decent,” Ferreira said. “He made a lot of errors.”

Both players advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s tournament, with Ferreira falling to eventual winner Pete Sampras and Dupuis losing to Australian Andrew Ilie.

Ferreira said he has set aside money that he figures he can lose in the stock market. So far he has lost 10 percent of the total, but it won’t deter him from the hobby he said he began out of boredom during his tennis travels. Ferreira’s wife, Liesl, had traveled with him in the past, but now stays home since the birth of their son, Marcus, in September.

“With tennis, I have control if I win or lose,” he said. “But with trading you have no control. That’s the rush.”

Last year, Ferreira, an 11-year veteran of the ATP Tour, finished outside the top 50 for the first time since 1990. This year he has improved the ranking to No. 21 in the points race and reached the semifinals in the Sybase Open at San Jose.

Ferreira could meet Michael Chang in a quarterfinal match Friday. He has never defeated Chang.

“I’m playing more competitive tennis now,” Ferreira said. “I’m beginning to scare people again.”

Despite the tournament’s appeal being hurt by seven marquee players who dropped out because of injuries, including top-seeded Andre Agassi who made his announcement Monday, Ferreira thinks it has weakened the field but that it’s still a competitive tournament.

“The Davis Cup made it a long season,” he said. “It was tough year to stay healthy.”

In an earlier Monday match, Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe defeated Haiti’s Ronald Agenor, 35, the oldest player on the tour, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, in 2 hours 10 minutes. Ullyett served nine aces to Agenor’s one in what was their second meeting.

Marcos Ondruska of South Africa lost 6-3, 6-2 to No. 8 seed Arnaud Clement of France, and Jan Kroslak of Slovakia defeated France’s Cyril Saulnier, 6-2, 6-2.

In the night match, American Justin Gimelstob deafeated Australian James Sekulov, 6-3, 6-3. With Agassi dropping because of a back strain, Mark Philippoussis of Australia, seeded second, becomes the highest remaining seed in the competition.

Featured Matches

Today at the Mercedes-Benz Cup at the Los Angeles Tennis Center:

STADIUM COURT

* 11 a.m.: Lionel Roux (France) vs. Taylor Dent; Jason Stoltenberg (Australia) vs. Bob Bryan.

* 7:30 p.m.: Paul Kilderry (Australia) vs. Michael Chang; Andrew Ilie (Australia) vs. Alex O’Brien.

GRANDSTAND COURT

* 11 a.m.: Scott Draper vs. Neville Godwin (Russia); Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) vs. Sebastien Lareau (Canada).