Coria Stuns Agassi at the French; Women's Semis are Set

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Prior to the beginning of the French Open, tournament organizers secretly hoped for their dream match-ups. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a Guillermo Coria vs. Martin Verkerk semifinal!" On Tuesday at Roland Garros that ratings-buster came true, with (7)Coria ousting (2) Andre Agassi in four sets (with the Argentinean exploiting the "right-hand side weakness" of Agassi) in their first claycourt meeting, and the unseeded Verkerk outlasting a frustrated (4) Carlos Moya 8-6 in the fifth on Lenglen. "He's a good mover, no question about it," praised Agassi of his opponent, whom he'd decimated twice in previous meetings on hardcourt. "It gives him a lot of options in his game. He's a good decision maker in the court. Today he was hitting a good variety of shots and executing real well. He deserved to win that match. The scoreboard doesn't lie." We were waiting for the Serena-standard "I didn't play well," but The Boss always the gracious loser. Verkerk hammered 27 aces in jumping out to a 2-0 sets lead against Moya before floundering, but found his game again in the fifth and saved two match points before closing it out. "I thought it would be tough against Carlos. I won. It's amazing, I don't know how it happened." said the Dutchman, who exhibited some of the kookiest facial expressions ever seen at Roland Garros. With the win, Verkerk becomes just the third Dutchman to ever reach the French semifinals and the first unseeded semifinalist since Franco Squillari in 2000.
In doubles QF action, (5)Paes/Rikl upset (2)Bhupathi/Mirnyi, while (3)Bryan/Bryan had little trouble with unseeded Bertolini/Prieto.
Today is the conclusion of the quarters with (9)Costa vs. (28)Robredo (first meeting) in an all-Spanish affair, and (3)Ferrero vs. (19)Gonzalez (Gonzalez leads the head-to-head 2-0, with hardcourt and carpet wins in 2002).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The only upset in the women's quarters Tuesday was unseeded Russian Nadia Petrova ousting countrywoman and No. 22 seed Vera "Warren" Zvonareva in three sets. She is the first Russian woman to reach the semis at Roland Garros since Olga Morozova in 1975, and did so with the same attacking style that earlier defeated Jennifer "Fatback" Capriati. The top-seeded matches were yawners, with (1) Sister Serena humiliating Frenchwoman and No. 5 seed Amelie Mauresmo who melted down under the pressure of having her picture plastered all over Paris, (2)Clijsters pounding (24) Conchita Martinez, and (4) Justine Henin-Hardenne routinely dismissing (8) Chanda Rubin. Petrova will face Clijsters in the semis, with HH against Serena.
Today it's doubles-only on the women's side, with (1)Ruano Pascual/Suarez vs. (11)Husarova/Schett, (2)Clijsters/Sugiyama vs. Matevzic/Nagyova, (9)Hantuchova/Rubin vs. Bovina/Molik, and (4)Black/Likhovtseva vs. (12)Dechy/Loit.

FRENCH OPEN TOP 10 ACTIVE WINNING PERCENTAGE
Juan Carlos Ferrero has surpassed Gustavo Kuerten with his R16 win for the best winning percentage at Roland Garros among active players. Tommy Robredo explodes onto the chart at No. 3, while Alex Corretja drops to No. 8, Carlos Moya to No. 9, Al Costa rises two spots, and Guillermo Coria debuts at No. 10, pushing Michael Chang out of the Top 10. (minimum 10 matches, through June 3, 2003):

1. Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP), 20-3 .870
2. Kuerten, Gustavo (BRA), 32-5 .865
3. Robredo, Tommy (ESP), 9-2 .818
4. Agassi, Andre (USA), 51-14 .785
5. Safin, Marat (RUS), 17-5 .773
6. Costa, Albert (ESP), 27-8 .771
7. Kafelnikov, Yevgeny (RUS), 31-10 .756
8. Corretja, Alex (ESP), 34-12 .739
9. Moya, Carlos (ESP), 19-7 .731
10. Coria, Guillermo (ARG), 8-3 .727

TOUR NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Still news: after calling coach Tarik Benhabiles "(still) the perfect fit" last week after losing in the first round at Roland Garros, Andy Roddick days later canned him, saying he needs a "fresh voice" (wonder how many voices he heard saying "Can him!" in those days after the loss?). "I don't think the decision has been made to move forward with a new, permanent coach," Roddick's agent Ken Meyerson told the International Herald Tribune. "I'm glad Brad has agreed to work with Andy the next three weeks." Now that Gilbert has a job again he can kill his crappy website. ESPN had Gilbert on the phone frome England during the Agassi-Coria match, predicting an Agassi comeback. Oops...Fernando Gonzalez will be appearing in his second career slam quarterfinal today, having reached the round of eight at last year's US Open; he faces Juan Carlos Ferrero in a re-match of the 1998 Roland Garros boy's singles final (Gonzalez defeated Ferrero for the title)...Ferrero's career record on clay now stands at a mind-boggling 118-27...Tommy Robredo was named after The Who musical "Tommy"...A transport strike in France is set to paralyze Paris in the coming days...The last American to win the boy's singles at the French was John McEnroe in 1977...How well does Guillermo Coria slide?...The United States leads all nations with nine players ranked in the Top 50 of this week's ITF World Junior boys' singles rankings, the most Americans ever listed in the Top 50 at one time...The ever-social Jennifer Capriati when asked if her Russian conqueror Nadia Petrova could go on to dominate women's tennis: "I have no idea. I don't really care."...After talking smack about beating Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in mixed doubles at Roland Garros, Martina Navratilova went out first round in the mixed with partner Leander Paes, and third round in women's doubles with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, coming up short in her bid for a 58th slam trophy...Arnaud Clement made a salute to the color wheel in his exit from Roland Garros, changing his shirt at the beginning of each set against Al Costa, beginning in a dark blue shirt and pink-and-red bandanna, with later color choices included orange, green, yellow and red. Costa wore white and gray, and beat his ass in straight sets...Steffi Graf reach the quarterfinals or better at Roland Garros 12 years in a row...Will anyone ever beat Serena and hear "she beat me" instead of "I just didn't play well"?…STAT DU JOUR: Martin Verkerk is the fifth player to reach the Roland Garros semifinals in a first appearance …WEATHER: Rain early, clearing late …TV TIME: ESPN comes on a 8am live with tape men's quarterfinal action.