A-Rod Escapes in Indy, Corretja Slide Continues in Kitzbuhel, WTA Stars Come Out Today in Stanford

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Alex Corretja's nightmare season continued Tuesday in Kitzbuhel when he was ousted by Austrian local Werner Eschauer. "It's a bad loss," said Corretja, who is 10-16 on the year. "Sometimes it's not easy. It has been a difficult season professionally. I'm on my way back but I have to be patient and suffer a bit. He was hitting the ball well and serving well. He didn't do any mistakes and he had nothing to lose. I was working hard on court, I have nothing to regret. I didn't have a clear mind." Eschauer for his part wasn't that impressed. "Maybe it wasn't my best match but it was a solid performance," said the Austrian, in the third round of an ATP event for the first time. No. 3 seed Rainer Schuettler was the other seeded victim on the dirt, outlasted in three sets by French comer Paul-Henri "Tennis-X Bottom 10" Mathieu (see Bottom 10 rankings below). Advancing were (5)El Aynaoui (d. Kratochvil in three), (9)Zabaleta (d. Hanescu), and (13)F.Lopez (d. Wimbledon junior champion Mergea). Albert Portas defeated wildcard Bohdan Ulihrach in his first main draw back after being banned by the ATP, who likely accidently slipped him the dope via their trainers. Can you say "lawsuit"?In Umag the top seeds in action all cruised into the second round without resistance in (1)Moya (d. Vanek), (2)Gonzalez (d. (Q)Zovko), (6)Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (d. Voinea), (7)Volandri (d. Savolt), and (8)Ferrer (d. Arazi). Former No. 2-ranked Magnus Norman, trying desperately to exit the Tennis-X Bottom 10 rankings, outlasted Spaniard Ramirez Hidalgo in three sets, ending a 10-match losing streak. Good show.At Indianapolis, No. 12 rookie seed Brian Vahaly learned one of the most valuable lessons about being seeded at an event -- win when you have a match point. The American blew a match point in the tiebreak in a third-set breaker loss to unheralded South African Weslie Moodie, and was the only seed ousted Tuesday. Advancing were (1)Roddick (d. Saulnier 7-6 in the third), (3)Schalken (d. Miranda), (5)Gambill (d. Enqvist easily), (6)Fish (d. Guccione in three), and (14)Kiefer (d. (Q)P.Amritraj easily). "He's a little bit different," said Roddick of escaping 7-6 in the third against the Frenchman Saulnier, who he beat in two tiebreaks in March at Miami. "He'll play one point, put the ball in the court and the next three points he'll just go for it. So I never really felt like I had a great rhythm today. And I don't know if that's something he just does against me or if that's the way he plays all opponents." Way to figure that out Andy, it's called Giving Your Forehand No Rhythm. Roddick was down a set and a break in the match.

Seeds on court in Kitzbuhel Wednesday are (4)Costa vs. Massu, (11)Davydenko vs. (WC)Peya, (1)Ferrero vs. Verdasco in an all-Spanish match-up, Vinciguerra vs. (2)Coria, (7)Gaudio vs. Behrend to finish, Lapentti vs. (6)Youzhny, (Q)Etlis vs. (15)Saretta, (16)Sanchez vs. Mutis, (8)Chela vs. (Q)Cermak, and the hot-handed Horna vs. (10)Mirnyi. The only seeded match in Umag today is a battle of old dirt versus new in Puerta vs. (6)Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal. In Indy the seeds on court today are (4)Kafelnikov vs. the Serb Tipsarevic, (7)Ginepri vs. Luczak, (10)Rusedski vs. Draper in an old school net-rushing battle (Rusedski leads head-to-head 8-0), (2)Srichaphan vs. the NCAA champion Delic, (11)Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Ivo "Former Hingis Boyfriend" Heuberger, (9)Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. R.Ram, (13)Lars "How the Hell am I Seeded?" Burgsmuller vs. Taino, and (8)H.-T. Lee vs. Thomann.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
On the hardcourts at Stanford, qualifier Maria Vento-Kabchi made a (longer?) name for herself Tuesday, ousting No. 8 seed and French Open semifinalist Nadia Petrova in the only seeded action. "She played well," said Petrova, who has been bothered by a sore back. "Today was definitely not my best. I was feeling slow and wasn't as aggressive as I usually am. It wasn't a bad injury. My body is still getting used to playing a lot." In U.S. "D"-squad action, Alexandra Stevenson beat qualifier Teryn Ashley in three sets, and NCAA champion and wildcard Amber Liu, a sophomore at Stanford, outlasted qualifier Tara Synder in three. On court today is a solid line-up for ticket holders in Daniilidou vs. Pisnik, Capriati vs. Bartoli, Shaughnessy vs. Jankovic, Dokic vs. Stevenson (head-to-head tied 2-2), Amy "Down Goes" Frazier vs. Hantuchova, Grande vs. Haynes, and Cho vs. Raymond.

TENNIS-X MEN'S BOTTOM 10 RANKINGS
A deadlock at the top for the worst on tour, with Krajan and Waske staying neck-and-neck with losses, while former Top 10 Thomas Enqvist is tied with Andre Sa.
Moving out: Scott Draper, Albert Montanes.Moving in: Former No. 2 Magnus Norman, Romania's Adrian Voinea.(Minimum 13 matches, through Sunday, July 20, 2003):
1T. Krajan, Zeljko (CRO) 2-13 .108
1T. Waske, Alexander (GER) 2-13 .108
3T. Sa, Andre (BRA) 4-18 .182
3T. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 4-18 .182
5. Mathieu, Paul-Henri (FRA) 3-12 .200
6. Mamiit, Cecil (USA) 3-11 .214
7. Labadze, Irakli (GEO) 5-15 .250
8. Beck, Karol (SVK) 5-14 .263
9. Norman, Magnus (SWE) 6-14 .300
10. Voinea, Adrian (ROM) 8-18 .308

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Tommy Muster is the only consecutive-year winner at Umag (1992-93)...Marat Safin, who has played only eight tournaments this year and hasn't made an appearance since April, will test the waters next week in LA...The WTA Tour released their 2004 schedule Tuesday, with Indian Wells and Miami scheduled a week later, Scottsdale a combined event with the ATP, and three new tournament locations in 2004 (Bol moved to Cincinnati, Helsinki to Stockholm, Bratislava returns from hiatus), in addition to the Olympic Games in Athens (week of Aug. 9)....Jan-Mike Gambill is now 17-15 on the year: "Coming into this tournament (Indy), I hadn't had a lot of time practicing. Being in Europe that long is tough on me and especially when you don't win a lot of matches, you don't have any good tournaments. I was a little burnt out. So getting home and taking some time off and going to our lake place and just enjoying myself for 2-1/2 weeks, seeing some concerts. I saw Fleetwood Mac three times, my favorite band, can't get enough of them." Nerd…With a title in Kitzbuhel, Juan Carlos Ferrero will earn the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings. Ferrero will hold a mere 25 point lead over Andre Agassi, who would likely regain the top spot following next weeks LA event.