Roddick Posts Shaky Win in Canada, Defending Champion Rubin Pulls from Carson

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The Canuck love-fest continued at the TMS-Canada Tuesday when wildcard Daniel Nestor beat Robby Ginepri, providing the second consecutive day with a Labatts-guzzler in the winners circle after wildcard Simon Larose knocked off Gustavo Kuerten on Monday. What's next, a Canadian into the third round of a tour event? Isn't that the second sign of the apocalypse? After Anna winning a tour event? Another Canuck almost caused an upset when 19-year-old wildcard Frank Dancevic lost in three sets to two-time 2003 title-winner Nikolay Davydenko. What is this world coming to. Other upsets were performed by Tim Henman (d. (14)Gonzalez when Gonzo retired after the first set with a bum knee), Feliciano Lopez (d. (7)Coria who retired after the first set with a bum hammy, didn't see that coming after three consecutive clay titles), Mariano Zabaleta (d. (12)Schalken), and qualifier Wayne Black taking out Wayne Ferreira, who is a mess after winning the LA title, retiring in the second set with a hip injury. Seeds advancing were (2)Ferrero (d. (Q)Saulnier), (3)Federer (d. Gaudio in three, struggling on the slow hardcourts), (5)Hewitt (d. (Q)B.Bryan), (6)Roddick (d. Malisse after dropping the first set, upping his record against the Belgian to 7-0), (9)Grosjean (d. Vicente), (15)Verkerk (d. Sargsian in three), (10)Novak (d. Ancic in three), and (16)Robredo (d. H.T.Lee). "It took one set to get used to the different conditions," Roddick said. "It's a little heavier here than at the other tournaments this summer. He played well and he played solid and did what he had to do. I was missing a little bit and tried to tighten it up in the second set. He's got a lot of talent and makes it look easy." Among the un-seeds, former No. 1 Yevgeny "Am I Retired Yet?" Kafelnikov advanced (d. (Q)Carraz in three), and Jan-Mike Gambill's horrid season continued with a two-tiebreak loss to Karol Kucera.

Seeds in action Wednesday at the TMS-Canada are (1)Agassi vs. Davydenko (first meeting), (6)Roddick vs. Chela (tied 1-1), Rusedski vs. (3)Federer (tied 1-1), El Aynaoui vs. (2)Ferrero (Younes from Tunis leads 6-0), Kafelnikov vs. (8)Schuettler (Y-Man leads 3-2), (5)Hewitt vs. Mirnyi (tied 1-1 among the sometimes doubles partners), (WC)Nestor vs. (11)Srichaphan, (10)Novak vs. Blake (Novak leads 2-1), (Q)Delgado vs. (9)Grosjean, (16)Robredo vs. (Q)W.Black, and (15)Verkerk vs. Kucera.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Four seeds took to the court Tuesday in LA, with (4)Sugiyama (d. (WC)Obata in three), (6)Maleeva (d. Likhovtseva), and (11)Farina Elia (d. Asagoe in three) advancing, and (14)Petrova going out to Russian teen queen Maria "Orgasmo Grunt" Sharapova. Among the un-seeds, 14-year-old Ukrainian Viktoriya Kutuzova made her WTA Tour debut a memorable one with a win over Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya. "It was my first time, my first tournament, my first match. She's a very good player. I was really nervous," said Kutuzova. "I wasn't scared, just nervous, but that's normal. I can play with this." Defending champion Chanda Rubin became the 12th player to withdraw from LA when she pulled because of tendinitis in her right shoulder. "I was advised not to play to prevent further injury and avoid surgery," Rubin said. "I was ready to play, but unfortunately, I have to take some time to recover." Other players withdrawing were Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Monica Seles, Lisa Raymond, Vera Zvonareva, Ashley Harkleroad, Natalie Dechy, Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian, Daja Bedanova, Corina Morariu and Emmanuelle Gagliardi.

On Tuesday, Helsinki went from having one Top 20 player to having none (good luck with those ticket sales) when (1)Schnyder was ousted by Croatia's Silvija Talaja. In a stunning development, (7)Clarisa "Knows It All" Fernadez (l. to Czink) was also knocked out, with (4)Mandula (d. Serra Zanetti) the only seed to advance Tuesday. Wartusch withdrew from singles and doubles due to a left ankle sprain sustained in Monday's first round doubles match.

On court Wednesday in Helsinki are Kostanic vs. Pennetta, Hlavackova vs. Pistolesi, Sprem vs. Rittner, Kuti Kis vs. Casanova, Koulikovskaya vs. Marrero, Chladkova vs. Douchevina, and Perebiynis vs. Mandula. Now that's a full day of players you've never heard of. On Court in LA are Stevenson vs. Kutuzova, Rubin vs. Grande, Clijsters vs. Loit, Kuznetsova vs. Dokic, Schett vs. Davenport, Daniilidou vs. Pratt, Zuluaga vs. Shaughnessy, Ruano Pascual vs. Dementieva, Bovina vs. Suarez, Tanasugarn vs. Schiavone, and Coetzer vs. Parra.

TENNIS-X MEN'S BOTTOM 10 RANKINGS
Andre Sa maintains the top spot as the worst player on the ATP, followed
closely by three-time TMS winner Thomas Enqvist. Former No. 2 Magnus Norman
holds strong at No. 4, while American Justin Gimelstob debuts at No. 8. The
Bottom 8 players at the end of the year qualify for the Tennis-X Sucksters Cup
(minimum three matches a month, through Aug. 3, 2003):

1. Sa, Andre (BRA) 4-18 .182
2. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 6-20 .231
3. Voinea, Adrian (ROM) 8-20 .286
4. Norman, Magnus (SWE) 8-16 .333
5. Kratochvil, Michel (SUI) 10-19 .345
6. Portas, Albert (ESP) 9-17 .346
7. Arthurs, Wayne (AUS) 11-20 .355
8. Gimelstob, Justin (USA) 8-14 .364
9. Santoro, Fabrice (FRA) 9-15 .375
10. Montanes, Albert (ESP) 8-13 .381

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
No Lleyton Hewitt, but two claycourters and Rainer Schuettler in the top eight approaching the Masters Cup: "Houston, you have a problem"...Good to hear that Roger Federer has retained his low motivation despite the Wimbledon win: "I don't care about finishing No. 1, I just want to be No. 1, the sooner the better," Fed said after sleepwalking through a three-set, first-round win over Gaston Gaudio in Montreal...Former Aussie Open winner and Wimbledon runner-up Roscoe Tanner is on the wrong side of the law again, this time extradited from Germany on charges of writing a bad check worth $35,000 and failing to pay child support. He is also wanted in New Jersey, where he is accused of failing to pay more than $70,000 in child support...The last time two Canadians got out of the first round at an ATP event was at the 2000 TMS-Canada (Simon Larose, Sebastien Lareau).