Coria, Massu Win Titles, Fed Cup Snoozes Into Semifinals

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
No. 2-seeded Guillermo Coria played like he was late for a plane Sunday in Stuttgart, pounding No. 9-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, capping off a week of claycourt dominance. The Argentine didn't drop a set all week, and averaged just over three games lost per match in running to his second title of the year, and evening his record in finals to 2-2 in 2003. "I tried to hit harder and harder but I did a lot of unforced errors," said Robredo -- nice strategy. "He never missed one ball. He also knows where you will hit the ball. He makes you press too much and at the end you will make the mistake. I was tired, I wasn't 100 percent to play long rallies." In the doubles final, unseeded Czechs Cibulec/Vizner came back to beat (3)Kafelnikov/Ullyett in three sets for their second title of the year.
In Amersfoort, No. 7-seeded Nicolas Massu was impressive in quelling the home crowd backing No. 6 seed "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, subduing the Dutchman in straight sets in the best-of-five final. It was Massu's first title of the year, second career after 2002 Buenos Aires, and raised his career record in finals to 2-2. "When I won my first title in Buenos Aires, I felt I was playing the best tennis of my career," said the 23-year-old Massu. "Two weeks later, I was hit by injuries. After two operations on my knee, I couldn't play for months and when I came back, I am suffering from a lack of confidence. Now I feel my game is peaking again and I am looking forward to the rest of the season with great eagerness. My immediate aim now is to be in the Top 50, but I hope to end the year in the Top 20." Better play nothing but clay then. In the doubles final, Bowen/Fisher beat Haggard/Sa for their first title as a team.

No seeds are in action today in Kitzbuhel (all 16 receive first-round byes). Seeds in action at Umag today are A.Martin vs. (4)O.Rochus, and (5)Vicente vs. Hrbaty. Matches of interest in Indianapolis Monday are (WC)Ram (USA) vs. Golmard, Enqvist vs. Vacek, Taino (USA) vs. Chang, Mello vs. (WC)Delic (USA), and (Q)P.Amritraj (IND) vs. Roitman.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Belgium beat the Daniela "Stick Girl" Hantuchova-less Slovak team 5-0, and will now play the U.S. in the semis? "Hello?" says Billie Jean, "Are, umm, Serena and Venus there?" Kim Clijsters, with boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt watching from the sidelines, defeated Janette Husarova 6-0, 6-1 in less than an hour. "We're getting better so we're definitely looking forward to it," Clijsters said of the U.S. match-up. Russia advanced to the semis with a win over Slovenia, and will play France, which crushed Spain.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
In this his farewell tour year, Michael Chang is playing at Indianapolis this week for the first time in his career: "I've always heard what a great tournament they have and I've always wanted to play, but it just never worked out in my schedule." Chang would usually play the competing event in Washington during the same week before the tour switched the scheduling this year...This week's tour event in Indianapolis had sued the ATP over their date switch to August two weeks before the US Open to this week, but they settled out of court and Indy accepted the date switch (suckers), now they have a much weaker field and declining ticket sales...Three-time champion Al Costa is hoping to join Guillermo Vilas as a four-time winner in Kitzbühel this week...Pete Sampras won the Kitzbuhel title on clay in 1992, must have got lost coming back to the states from Wimbledon...After not allowing them to compete in USTA tournaments due to racist policies, the USTA will now honor sisters Margaret "Pete" Peters and Matilda Roumania "Repeat" Peters, who dominated the national tennis scene from the late 1930s into the early 1950s…Serena Williams withdrew from the Stanford event citing left knee pain. Serena has 10 days to submit a medical to the event. Jen-Cap will now assume the top seed spot…Guillermo Coria has won 16 of his last 17 clay matches…In the final round of Indy qualifying, Prakash Amritraj topped cousin Stephen Amritraj 61, 76 to earn a main draw berth. Prakash is Vijay's son, while Stephen is Anand's son. Both are 19.