Coria, Costa in Action at Stuttgart; Aramis signs up Agassi

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The German "C"-level players took center stage in Stuttgart Monday, with the 16 seeded players sitting on their first-round byes. German wildcard Max Abel saved two match points in ousting Anthony Dupuis, and will next face countryman and No. 3 seed Rainer "I'm Goin' to Houston Baby!" Schuettler. Tomas Behrend also gave fans their money's worth with a win over Julien Boutter after losing the first set, with his reward a meeting with top seed Carlos Moya. Qualifiers also had their day, with (Q)Etlis beating German wildcard Alexander "I'm Too Big to Play On Anything But Grass" Popp, (Q)Vanek beating German wildcard Greul in three, and (Q)M.Lopez beating (Q)Starace. "I didn't feel great out there," said the towering Popp. "Clay is obviously not my best surface but when you play that poorly you aren't going to beat anyone." Should have played the Bristol Challenger on grass, dumb-ass. Then a couple other players you don't care about advanced. In Amersfoort, which contrary to popular belief IS an ATP event and not a Challenger, (8)Portas was bumped by underrated dirtballer Luis Horna, while (9)Squillari (d. Krajan) and (7)Massu (d. Arazi 7-6 in the third) advanced. Then all of The Netherlands rejoiced when Dennis van Scheppingen beat Irakli Labadze 7-6 (3), 1-0, retired (wrist).

Seeds on court Tuesday in Stuttgart are Mathieu vs. (2)Coria, (Q)Vanek vs. (8)Costa, (Q)M.Lopez vs. (13)Mirnyi, (7)Mantilla vs. F.Lopez, Mutis vs. (14)Davydenko, and (Q)Etlis vs. (10)El Aynaoui. Matches of interest in Amersfoort are (3)Chela vs. Puerta, Waske vs. (6)"Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, (1)Verkerk vs. Galimberti, van Lottum vs. (5)Vicente, (Q)Hernandez vs. (WC)Hemmes Jr., Lisnard vs. (2)Gaudio, (WC)Clavet vs. Ramirez Hidalgo (Clavet 2-3 on the season but has a win over Hewitt), (Q)Armando vs. (Q)Wawrinka, and Andre "Tennis-X Bottom 10" Sa vs. (Q)Levinsky.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The Fed Cup quarterfinals begin Saturday, with the U.S. vs. Italy, Belgium vs. Slovak Republic, Slovenia vs. Russia, and Spain vs. France. There is also World Group Playoff action to see which countries get banished to the minor leagues for 2004, featuring Argentina vs. Hungary, Australia vs. Colombia, Austria vs. Canada, Croatia vs. Brazil, South Africa vs. Czech Republic, Indonesia vs. Germany, Japan vs. Sweden, and Switzerland vs. Israel.

ATP FIRST TIME WINNERS
Robby Ginepri became the eighth first-time winner on the ATP circuit this year:
Nikolay Davydenko -- Adelaide
Hyung-Taik Lee -- Sydney
Martin Verkerk -- Milan
David Sanchez -- Viña del Mar
Max Mirnyi -- Rotterdam
Agustin Calleri -- Acapulco
Julien Boutter -- Casablanca
Robby Ginepri -- Newport

2003 SINGLES TITLE LEADERS (through July 14)
5--Roger Federer (SUI)
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4--Andre Agassi (USA)
4--Kim Clijsters (BEL)
4--Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL)
4--Serena Williams (USA)
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3--Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)
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2--Guillermo Coria (ARG)
2--Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
2--Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
2--Carlos Moya (ESP)
2--Anastacia Myskina (RUS)
2--Andy Roddick (USA)
2--Chanda Rubin (USA)
2--Magui Serna (ESP)

2003 DOUBLES TEAM TITLE LEADERS (through July 14)
5--K.Clijsters/A.Sugiyama (BEL/JPN)
5--M.Knowles/D.Nestor (BAH/CAN)
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3--B.Bryan/M.Bryan (USA)
3--S.Kuznetsova/M.Navratilova (RUS/USA)

A-ROD ANNUAL CHARITY BASH
The Third Annual "Andy Roddick Charity Extravaganza" will be held on Nov. 22-23 in Boca Raton. This year’s festivities include a semi-formal dinner dance with both live and silent auctions on Saturday evening, Nov. 22 at the Boca Raton Executive Club hosted by Roddick and his family. In addition to the popular free kids day and prizes and a chance to return Andy’s 149 m.p.h. serve, this year’s program includes an added Kids Zone with music, raffles, sumo wrestling, rock climbing, a bounce house, ping-pong tournament and other popular activities for children with the support of Pure Energy Entertainment Group. Various celebrities that have participated with Roddick in his events have included singer/actress Mandy Moore and tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, Sebastian Grosjean, Chris Evert, Jim Courier, Brenda Schultz and Carling Bassett-Seguso. "We are looking forward to an exciting weekend in 2003 as our plans include additions for fun and growth that will enable us to aid our children’s charities and at the same time, allow us to offer a rain or shine guarantee throughout the weekend," said Roddick in a canned quote likely written by someone else. All proceeds will benefit children’s charities including the Kids in Distress Foundation, the Back to Basics Fund for Migrant Children, and the Margaux’s Miracle Foundation.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Jon Wertheim, writing for the Sports Illustrated website, says of Lleyton Hewitt compared to Jim Courier: "Hewitt is faster, returns better, lobs better, is equally consistent, and if he's less powerful, it's not by much." Huh? Pop in the videotape and review the punishing Courier forehand -- much bigger...Michael Chang, with a 2-6 record thus far on his 2003 Farewell Tour, is playing at the Aptos Challenger this week -- that's like Barry Bonds dropping down to play for the Toledo Mudhens during his final year...Chang reached the No. 2 ranking in 1996, and would have ascended to No. 1 had he not been beaten unmercifully in the US Open final by Pete Sampras..."What I'm going to remember about him was that he was a competitor, a great baller," said Brad Gilbert of Chang -- thanks for the input, and the "young person's slang"!...Last year Chang won the Calabasas Challenger, way to wind down a career...The WTA screwed up their rankings this week, and had to release a corrected version (stone)...Al Costa is playing in Stuttgart this week, returning from a knee injury that forced him to miss Wimbledon...The qualifiers in Amersfoort this week were Hernandez (ESP), Armando (USA), Levinsky (CZE), and Wawrinka (SUI)...Top-seeded Martin Verkerk is making his fifth appearance in Amersfoort, and has yet to make it past the second round...The Tennis Channel should be renamed "That 70's Show"...Aramis, the lead sponsor of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, will launch a new mystery fragrance Wednesday with the slogan "Life. It's a Great Game," but you'll have to wait until October to smell like Andre -- how about making it smell like Steffi, then you'd get some sales...Anna Kournikova has a chronic sprain of the lumbar spine, a condition which is inoperable, and while she will make her World Team Tennis debut this week to test the back, she has dropped out of all WTA Tour events leading to the US Open...Remember back in May when Anna pulled from the semis of the Sea Island (Georgia) Challenger with a back injury when she was about to face a little-known fellow Russian opponent? That opponent was Maria "Orgasmo" Sharapova, who months later had her breakout party at Wimbledon -- Anna knew to avoid that...Aussie Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald says Lleyton Hewitt will be back on form for the September semifinal versus Switzerland, and says hopefully Roger Federer will be off the boil: "Now that he's broken through for his first grand slam he'll be very hard to stop from here. It's a difficult task to beat him, but form's a funny thing. It comes and goes I hope by September our guys are peaking and Roger's not."...Can A-Rod please NOT hire Brad Gilbert full-time so we can get him back OUT of the game? and not commenting to the media about every damn thing?...The Brits were a sad 2-9 in the first round of last week's ATP Bristol Challenger on grass, the program seems to be coming along well...The oft-injured Andrew "Of the Ripped Shirt" Ilie reached the quarters of the Granby (Canada) Challenger last week; Canadian wildcard Frank Dancevik beat American Eric Taino in the final.