Moya Bounced at Sopot, Roddick-Rusedski Face Off in Wimbledon Rematch

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
No. 2-seeded Carlos Moya, coming off a title at Umag, was ousted in the first round Wednesday at Sopot where he failed to adjust to the wet clay and windy conditions, as well as to countryman Albert "the Dropshot Dragon" Portas. "I think it was a tough match," said Portas of the up-and-down contest. "I failed to convert three match points in the second set and another two in the final set before I managed to win the match. He was playing too well at the end of the second set and took a 4-1 lead in the third set. I started playing a lot better to pull off the win finally. It's a good feeling to beat a player of Moya's caliber. He's a very good player and he has been in great form recently." Three other seeds were ousted in the tough conditions in (4)Nalbandian (l. to Ferrer in three), (5)Volandri (l. to Puerta 6-0 in the second), and (6)Sanchez (l. to Vinciguerra). Top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced with a win over the polish wildcard Dabrowski, as did (8)Mutis (d. Voinea).

All nine seeds in action at Washington Wednesday advanced, with (5)Kafelnikov, (16)Vahaly, (3)Srichaphan, and (10)Henman winning in three-setters. "It's a lot tougher for me right now and I'm getting older and I'm not at my best and the players are getting better," said the pretty-much-on-vacation Kafelnikov. "But I'm having fun right now and not putting pressure on myself. There's not one goal left for me in my career. I'm just trying to enjoy myself the best I can. My best days are behind me. I did it all and I have nothing to prove." So retire already. Andy Roddick beat wildcard Bob Bryan to set up a Wimbledon rematch with Greg Rusedski, while twin brother and wildcard Mike Bryan edged the unseeded Okun in three, saving a match point. Today things finally get interesting in the Washington heat with the seeds going head-to-head. In doubles, the Blake brothers joined the Bryan brothers in a first-round exit, not a good event for brothers.

Only four matches were played on a dull Wednesday in LA, with (1)Hewitt pounding American wildcard Michael Joyce 6-3, 6-0 (Hewitt began the match by serving four aces), (8)Spadea edging the Czech Vacek in three, unseeded Nicolas Kiefer finding his summer form in ousting (3)Schalken (the German is now 3-0 career vs. the Dutchman), and unseeded Kenneth Carlsen dismissing Indian wildcard Prakash "Son Of" Amritraj. "Yeah, it's nice, you know," said Hewitt of having a day off Thursday. "I've got doubles late afternoon with Flip (Philippoussis) again. The way the schedule has turned out for me has been good. You know, to win the tournament you're going to have to win three in a row, Friday-Saturday-Sunday, and I feel I've put myself in a good position to do that."

The matches heat up in Washington today, where seeds in action include (16)Vahaly vs. (3)Srichaphan, (1)Agassi vs. his practice buddy (13)Sargsian (The Boss leads the head-to-head 5-0), (14)Rusedski vs. (2)Roddick in the Wimbledon rematch (A-Rod leads 2-1), Burgsmuller vs. (6)Blake, (5)Kafelnikov vs. (11)Fish (first meeting), (8)Davydenko vs. (10)Henman (first meeting), (WC)M.Bryan vs. (7)Mirnyi, and (4)Gonzalez vs. (15)Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (first meeting). Seeds in action Thursday at the ugly Smoke-pot are (1)Ferrero vs. (Q)Cermak, (3)Coria vs. C.Rochus, Horna vs. (7)Hrbaty, and (Q)Goellner vs. (8)Mutis. Four matches on the docket in LA today, with (4)Kuerten vs. Taino, (5)Philippoussis giving a Farewell Tour pounding to Chang (series tied 4-4 career), (7)Ferreira vs. Bogomolov Jr., and (2)Grosjean vs. Ginepri (first meeting).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Five seeds were sent tumbling Wednesday in San Diego on the hardcourts in (15)Farina Elia (l. to Krasnroutskaya), (12)Coetzer (l. to Petrova), (11)Martinez (l. to (WC)Pierce), (8)Sugiyama (l. to Raymond), and (5)Capriati, who suffered a strain in a chest muscle and had to retire in the first set against the Russian Likhovtseva. "I tried, the last two days I didn't practice at all," Capriati said. "It still hurt, but you never know what happens when you get out there. It hurts mostly on contact." Other seeds advancing were (2)Clijsters (d. Ruano Pascual), (7)Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova (d. Srebotnik 7-6 in the third), (10)Maleeva (d. Molik), (13)Dementieva (d. Schiavone), and (16)Bovina (d. (LL)Pratt in three).

Seeded players went six for six in the weak Sopot event Wednesday, with the winners including (1)Myskina (d. (Q)Gehrlein), (2)Schnyder (d. Talaja in a third set breaker), (3)Pistolesi (d. Benesova), (6)Matevzic (d. Barna), (7)Safina (d. Pennetta), and (8) Mandula (d. Median Garrigues). Yawn. In first-round doubles, few of the seeded teams wanted to hang around rainy Sopot for the week, with upsets abounding in C.Fernandez/Koulikovskaya ousting (1)Mandula/Wartusch, qualifiers Ani/Prusova upsetting (4)Myskina/Tulyaganova, and Perebiynis/Talaja outlasting (2)Matevzic/Nagyova. Vacation starts early.

The money matches are today in San Diego in Rubin vs. Dokic (Rubin leads head-to-head 2-1), Henin-Hardenne vs. Dementieva, Bartoli vs. Clijsters (first meeting), Petrova vs. Hantuchova, Krasnoroutskaya vs. Davenport (first meeting), Raymond vs. Pierce, Maleeva vs. Likhovtseva, and Kuznetsova vs. Bovina. On court Thursday in Crap-pot are Matevzic vs. Schnyder, Myskina vs. Mandula, Safina vs. Pistolesi, and Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. Kostanic.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Andy Roddick faces Greg Rusedski today in a rematch of their expletive-filled Wimbledon meeting: "I had a lot of support from the public," Rusedski said. "Most people have 'lost it' once in a while. People came up to me and said, 'You were robbed.' Most people were very supportive over what happened. It brought some flavor to the tournament for a week but I would have preferred to have still been in the tournament." The Grinning One also got a pre-match shot in at Roddick, who has been trying to work on his net game: "We both know what to expect when we play. Fair enough, we're both big servers. But I'm an attacking player and he's more of a baseline player."...Here's a big stone from the Associated Press yesterday reporting on Carlos Moya's loss at Sopot: "Moya said he had problems with a claycourt that had been hit by rain. His victory in Croatia was on hardcourt." No it wasn't, dumb-ass! Go back to covering golf...In Washington, 14 seeds reached the last 16...Nicolas Kiefer is feeling it this week in LA: "Maybe since I didn't play the first three months of this year I'm a little more fresh. I moved well on court, served much better and step-by-step I think my game is coming back."...Monica Seles has withdrawn from Toronto with a foot injury, and Serena pulled due to an "acting conflict"…Andrew Kennedy? Who's that? Well the Australian was the last player accepted into the LA field at a ranking of No. 396. That's right, No. 396 got you directly into main draw L.A.! Time to quit writing and pick up the racquets…Is it us or is everyone on the WTA injured. Serena, Venus, Seles, Davenport, Capriati, Mauresmo, Anna K and the list goes on. Only the Belgians are healthy…Kim Clijsters cannot overtake Serena for No. 1 this week. With all the upsets/pull-outs in San Diego there are not enough remaining bonus points for the Belgian to accomplish the feat...Andy Roddick has said he is committed to playing in the August Greece Olympics next year.