Safin Likely Out for Rest of Year, Clijsters Can Take No. 1 This Week

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
In second round singles action at Washington, (9)Clement was the only seeded casualty, falling to a resurgent Lars Burgsmuller. Seeds into the third round were (1)Agassi (d. Heuberger), defending champion (6)Blake (d. Carraz), (7)Mirnyi (d. A.Kim in three), (11)Fish (d. Draper, avenging a loss last week in Indy), and (14)Rusedski (d. Miranda). "The whole first set was hairy and he was serving really well," said Blake, who has had problems advancing to the latter rounds of late. "I just hung in there and stayed pretty focused. I feel great on these courts and they suit my game perfectly." In an embarrassing doubles loss, the top-seeded Bryan brothers fell to fellow Americans Andy Roddick and Brian Vahaly, after the brothers had previously talked up their advantage in the all-American match. "I feel good and the last two months I've stepped it up another level and I played very good going into London," said the suddenly-net-aggressive Roddick. "My main goal is to qualify for the Masters at the end of the season and I've had that goal since the beginning of the year."

While all eight seeds were in action Tuesday at Sopot, the rain wreaked havoc again with the field, with postponed matches including (1)Ferrero, (2)Moya, (5)Volandri, and (8)Mutis. The four seeds that beat the rain also beat on their opponents in straight sets in (3)Coria (d. Hanescu), (4)Nalbandian (d. Rosset), (6)Sanchez (d. Norman), and (7)Hrbaty (d. (WC)Fyrstenberg). "I am playing with a lot of confidence now, especially having won two tournaments back-to-back," Coria said. "I am just a few points away from Federer and Ferrero in the ATP Champions Race and that really motivates me. There are still a lot of important tournaments left in the season and a lot of points to be won, but it is my dream to qualify and play at the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston."

All eight seeds were in action Tuesday in LA, and only one was sent home in No. 6 Marat Safin, who retired against wildcard Prakash "Son Of" Amritraj, playing after a long injury layoff. Now the big Russian may be done for the year after injuring his wrist, the same wrist that has kept him out of action for three months. "I got injured, and I felt a lot of pain. I could not hit a backhand, and I decided to stop," said Safin, adding that he didn't know when he would return to the tour. Seeds advancing were (1)Hewitt (d. Mamiit), (2)Grosjean (d. Malisse in three), (3)Schalken (d. (Q)Denis "Marat's coach" Golovanov), (4)Kuerten (d. Niemeyer in three, not a good sign when you're struggling against Canadians), (5)Philippoussis (d. Kennedy), (7)Ferreira (d. (Q)Yim), and (8)Vince "Rollin' in the Benzo" Spadea (d. Gimelstob). In unseeded action, Michael Chang recorded a rare Farewell Tour win by beating qualifier and fellow American Zach Fleishman, Robby Ginepri pasted the injury-ridden Andrew Ilie, and wildcard Michael Joyce, who at one time dropped out of the game and has posted an 0-3 record at Challengers this year, embarrassed Jan-Mike Gambill with a three-set win. Jan-Mike, time to re-think your direction.

Seeds at it today in Washington are (5)Kafelnikov vs. Enqvist (Y-Man leads head-to-head 7-5), the crafty Frenchman Saulnier vs. (3)Srichaphan, B.Bryan vs. (2)Roddick in an all-young-American clash (first meeting), Goldstein vs. (10)Henman, (16)Vahaly vs. Roitman, (4)Gonzalez vs. (Q)Benneteau, (8)Davydenko vs. (Q)Larose, Vanek vs. (13)Sargsian, and Morrison vs. (15)Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic. Seeds on court in No-pot Wednesday are Portas vs. (2)Moya in an all-Spanish clash, (1)Ferrero vs. (WC)Dabrowski, Ferrer vs. (4)Nalbandian, (6)Sanchez vs. Vinciguerra, and (5)Volandri vs. the veteran Puerta. Highlights today in LA are (WC)P.Amritraj vs. Carlsen, (3)Schalken vs. Kiefer, (1)Hewitt vs. (WC)Joyce (this will be ugly), and (8)Spadea vs. Vacek.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Five seeds took to the court Tuesday in San Diego, and four came back to the locker room happy, with only No. 14 Meghann "Stick II" Shaughnessy coming out on the losing end against France's Marion Bartoli. Advancing were (3)Henin-Hardenne (d. Daniilidou), (4)Davenport (d. Amy "Down Goes" Frazier), (6)Rubin (d. Pisnik), and a rare win for (9)Jelena "Australia's Favorite Daughter" Dokic (d. Serna in three). "I didn't get going," Dokic said. "I was just not there. Maybe because it was too early. My confidence has gone low. I haven't had a good year. It's important to get some matches in and start playing well."

Between the rains at Sopot, a pair of seeds were shown the door in the first round in (4)Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (l. to Cohen-Aloro in three), and (5)Tulyaganova (l. to (Q)Kostanic in straights). Advancing were (3)Pistolesi (d. Nagyova in three), (6)Maja "I'm Seeded?" Matevzic (d. Wartusch in three), defending champion (7)Dinara "Little Sis" Safina (d. (WC)Sakowicz in three), and (8)Mandula (d. (Q)Beygelzimer).

If you're holding Wednesday tickets for San Diego you can see Srebotnik vs. Hantuchova, Likhovtseva vs. Capriati, Pierce vs. Martinez (Pierce leads head-to-head 11-6), Ruano Pascual vs. Clijsters, Coetzer vs. Petrova, Kuznetsova vs. Tu, Sugiyama vs. Raymond, Schiavone vs. Dementieva, Farina Elia vs. Krasnoroutskaya, Maleeva vs. Molik, and Pratt vs. Bovina. On court Wednesday in Sopot are Myskina vs. Gehrlein, Benesova vs. Sprem, Talaja vs. Schnyder, Benesova or Sprem vs. Pistolesi (rain make-up), Safina vs. Pennetta, Fauth vs. Casanova, Fauth or Casanova vs. Kostanic (rain make-up), Cohen-Aloro vs. Koukalova, Matevzic vs. Barna, and Medina Garrigues vs. Mandula.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
29-year-old Aussie Scott Draper is on the verge of cracking the ATP top 100 for the first time since July 19, 1999, the same day his wife Kellie died of cystic fibrosis. "It's a part of my life that affected my tennis. I couldn't be competitive on the tennis court. But it has been four years. That's time. Time heals all wounds."...While at home in San Diego, Mark Philippoussis begins each day with three hours of surfing. Philippoussis will turn his old pad back in Delray into a tennis training center...Robby Ginepri, Nicolas Kiefer and Wayne Ferreira visited the Playboy Mansion earlier this week in LA. Kiefer lobbied for an invitation to next week's exclusive Midsummer Night's Party: "I can't believe this is somebody's house. He has 100 employees and eight girlfriends. Unbelievable!"...The ATP released their 2004 calendar Tuesday, highlighted by the expansion of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells to a 96-draw, 10-day tournament (just like Miami), incorporating men and women, two four-tournament swings in Latin America and Asia, and the Olympics in Athens, Greece from August 15-22, when players will be awarded ATP Champions Race and ATP Entry Ranking points...RadioTennis.com continues its live web cast coverage of the WTA Acura Classic from La Costa, CA this week -- what's better than women's tennis on the radio? Err...No longer a top player on tour, no longer dating Martina Hingis, and no longer getting out of the first round at tournaments like Sopot, former No. 2 Magnus Norman remains upbeat: "Today wasn't a good day for me. It was a bad day in the office. You have bad days in every job, but I am still very motivated. If I wasn't I would be lying on a beach in Monte Carlo having a drink."...The rainy ATP field at Sopot goes into Wednesday with eight first-round matches yet to be completed...Kim Clijsters can take over No. 1 from Serena for the first time this week if she wins San Diego, but only if she gets enough bonus points from beating high-ranked opponents...Aussie Mark Philippoussis likes to think of himself as a big man: "No doubt my game is coming together. I like to think I am intimidating out there." Not to Roger Federer...Lindsay Davenport seems to have shaken off the foot injury and retirement talk: "First of all, I was happy with the way my foot felt, and second of all, I was happy to play pretty well and beat a good player out there."...Top-ranked Serena Williams withdrew from next week's JP Morgan Chase Open due to a strained left quadriceps, the third straight tournament she will miss due to injury, and she will be reportedly out until the US Open (too many acting commitments?).