ATP
REVIEW/PREVIEW
A rather uneventful day for the men at Roland
Garros, with the big boys on cruise control and
the only upset a not-such-an-upset in one of the
biggest servers on tour, Martin Verkerk, beating
No. 11 seed Rainer "I'm Going to Houston
Baby!" Schuettler. Also moving into the fourth
round were (2)Agassi (d. Coria), (4)Moya (d. Novak),
and (15)Kuerten (d. (21)Gaudio). No. 7 Guillermo
Coria led countryman Mariano "I Wanna Be
a New Ball Again" Zabaleta 2-1 sets when
the match was suspended by darkness. Kuerten,
the three-time champ, said he played his best
of the clay season. Look out T-Rob! The biggest
upset of the day went unnoticed in the doubles,
when No. 16-seeded Argentineans Etlis/Rodriguez
beat the world No. 1 team of Knowles/Nestor after
losing the first set 6-1. "We started well,
but in the second they picked up their serve,"
Nestor said. "We had few chances and didn't
take advantage of the ones we had." Nestor
played despite a chipped tooth suffered Saturday
after a collision with Knowles. A dentist glued
the tooth together Saturday. "It's amazing
how many guys have had teeth broken in tennis,"
Nestor said.
On court Monday for the men are (19)Gonzalez vs.
(30)Nieminen (first meeting), (9)Costa vs. (32)Clement
(Costa leads 2-0, including a three-set win a
few weeks back in Rome), (3)Ferrero vs. (30)Mantilla
(JC leads 6-0, all three-set wins!), and (15)Kuertem
vs. (28) Robredo (Guga leads 1-0, a dirt win in
2001 when Tommy was but a boy).
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The Russians had their way with the Americans
Sunday when Venus Williams was ousted by 18-year-old
Vera "Warren" Zvonareva, and Jennifer
"Chunky Style" Capriati was upset by
No. 76-ranked Nadia Petrova in one of the better
matches seen here this week. "She did real
well, she definitely stepped in there, and I had
definitely a lot of opportunities," said
Venus. "I felt like sometimes I went for
too much or went for too little.'' Venus shrugged
off talk of the abdominal strain, but said "I
don't think I had the kind of preparation I wanted.
I just wasn't able to do all the things that I
would normally like to do.'' Like, crush some
unknown Russian that will never win a slam? Jen's
humbler (Is that a word? Spellcheck didn't catch
it. Bam!) Petrova was the '98 junior champion,
and out-hit Capriati with an impressive 37 winners.
The top-seeded Serena Williams also advanced with
a workman-like 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 16 Ai "So
What, I Rule in Doubles" Sugiyama, her 32nd
slam win in a row, setting up a tussle with home-country
favorite Amelie Mauresmo, who beat Serena earlier
this year at Rome. "She's definitely going
to have the crowd on her side,'' said Williams,
who has reached 11 straight slam quarterfinals.
"I'm just going to go out there and do my
best and really enjoy myself. I've played in the
most hostile arenas possible, so it definitely
won't bother me at all.'' No. 4 Justine Henin-Hardenne,
who celebrated her 21st birthday, beat No. 19
Patty "I'm Looking for a New Coach to Bonk"
Schnyder in three, with H-H bitching about the
"heat rule" not being invoked. "I've
suffered from the heat in the past and I think
it's a shame that they refused to apply the heat
rule which allows for a 10-minute break after
the second set," she said. "It's a pity
because it can lead to injuries." Yeah well,
we think that it's a shame and a pity that you're
supposed to be an athlete, suck it up. Others
advancing into the quarters were (24)Martinez
(d. Davenport who retired in the second set with
a foot injury), and (8)Rubin (d. Manula 7-5 in
the third).
Today the women have the day off in singles.
DRAW ANALYSIS
Defending champion Al Costa is dog-ass tired after
three three-set wins, but now he faces France's
Arnaud Clement, who has had a horrible, injury-ridden
first five months of the year, Brother Al is looking
for the steal and should get it -- the winner
will be sacrificed to Gustavo Kuerten or Tommy
Robredo in the quarters...Will a long agonizing
grinder against countryman Felix Mantilla bring
out the arm injury in Juan Carlos Ferrero? (winner
to likely face Fernando Gonzalez)...Guillermo
Coria, who will likely advance today in his suspended
match against Mariano Zabaleta, and will set up
a classic against practice partner Andre Agassi...Carlos
Moya has been relatively under the radar during
the first week, but with a quarterfinal match
against unseeded Martin Verkerk, the former winner
would find himself in the semifinal spotlight...If
Conchita Martinez can overcome Kim Clijsters in
the quarters, you'd have a final containing either
No. 24 Martinez, No. 22 Zvonareva, or unseeded
Petrova against Serena in the final.
WOMEN'S MOST CONSECUTIVE
ROLAND GARROS SINGLES WINS
1. Chris Evert 29 (1974-75-79-80-81)
2. Monica Seles 25 (1990-91-92-96)
3T. Steffi Graf 20 (1987-88-89)
3T. Helen Wills 20 (1926-28-29-30-32)
5. Chris Evert 19 (1985-86-87)
6. Steffi Graf 18 (1995-96-97)
(Serena at 11)
TOUR NOTES, QUOTES,
AND BARBS
Pam Shriver's commentation on ESPN makes
me want to heat a poker in the fireplace and stick
it into both ears...The CNN/Sports Illustrated's
tennis site hasn't been updated since last Tuesday
because they started a special French Open site,
and forgot about their regular tennis site! Stone!
Stone! Stone! See it at: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/...SI.com's
Jon Wertheim points out that there were
more seeded men (22) than seeded women (19) left
in the draw by the third round, insinuating greater
parity on the women's side -- which is idiotic.
There are fewer women's seeds because the top
eight seeds are SO FAR ABOVE the other women;
go back to covering arena football...Not one wildcard
won a match this year, nice choices French
Tennis Federation...Lindsay Davenport is
now in doubt for Wimbledon after retiring with
a foot injury: "You know, first off I have
to kind of figure out exactly what is wrong and
what the diagnosis is...It's something that's
been bothering me for the last month on and off,
but getting progressively worse as I've been here
in Paris...I have a sac of fluid underneath my
fourth metatarsal, fourth toe. (too much information!)"...Brothers'
McEnroe had a mid-afternoon Sunday hit on
Court 6. We hear P-Mac won the groundstroke games,
but Johnny won the match...Roughly 37,000 fans
come through the gates every day at the French
Open, many who haven't showered in over two days...Amelie
Mauresmo can lose, so get off her back: "Well,
I'm always -- I always have a right to lose. That
is possibly why I'm feeling more relaxed this
year."; then you'll be much more relaxed
after playing Serena...While rain was forecasted
Sunday, none came which means it's been a rain-free
slam season (no rain fell at the Aussie open)...In
Serena's world, the only person that can
beat her is herself: "Yeah, I think that's
definitely a hundred percent accurate. I mean,
all the matches I've lost I've pretty much beaten
myself. It's not like I went out and did everything
I could have done and played great, was just amazing.
Whenever I lose, it's not because the girl I lost
to just played an outstanding match; it's normally
because I'm making 80 errors, just not doing the
things I need to do. So I think that's a very
accurate statement."...Damn Serena,
we can't wait until your playing days are over,
and your only opponent is staying under 200 pounds...STAT
DU JOUR: Zvonareva was ranked No 140 last
year, now she's No. 22...TV TIME: ESPN
takes over again with 7.5 hours of men's R16 coverage...WEATHER:
Rain here and there, with late afternoon clearing
and cooler temperatures.
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