ATP
REVIEW/PREVIEW
A Canadian advanced to the third round of the
TMS-Canada Wednesday, causing molten lava
to erupt from fissures across the country and
SARS victims to run screaming into North America
to proclaim their dominance. The apocalypse is
truly upon us. Canadian wildcard Simon Larose
saved a match point in beating Argentina's Jose
Acasuso, with his reward a meeting with the top-seeded
Andre Agassi Friday. There were two seeded upsets
on the day, with Lleyton Hewitt's stuttering summer
continuing with a loss to sometimes-doubles-partner
Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, and French Open
runner-up Martin Verkerk beaten in two tiebreaks
by the resurgent Slovak Karol Kucera. "I
knew it was always going to be a tough match,"
said Hewitt after losing to Mirnyi. "I've
played tough matches in the past against Max.
I felt like I played a pretty good match for the
most part. He played good games to break me. I
didn't feel like I played a bad match tonight.
I felt like I served well for the most part."
Now you can head to LA and sit in the player's
box and watch Kim beat players 1 and 1. Slovak
qualifier Karol Beck also advanced with a win
over Mariano Zabaleta, sending a warning to the
U.S. that it won't be a warm welcome when the
two countries face off in Davis Cup play in September.
Seeds advancing were (1)Agassi (d. Davydenko,
fighting off a set point in the first), (2)Ferrero
(d. El Aynaoui, reversing an 0-6 mark vs. the
Moroccan), (3)Federer (d. Rusedski), (6)Roddick
(d. Chela, struggling again off the ground), (8)Schuettler
(d. Kafelnikov), (9)Grosjean (d. (Q)Delgado),
(10)Novak (d. Blake), (11)Srichaphan (d. (WC)Nestor
in a tight one), and (16)Robredo (d. (Q)W.Black
6-0, 6-2). In action among the un-seeds, Vince
Spadea outlasted Arnaud Clement 7-5 in the third,
with Vincenzo showing some old-school form off
the ground, and David Nalbandian put out Tim Henman's
brief shine with a 4-4 beating.
On court today in Montreal are
(1)Agassi vs. (WC)Larose (first meeting), (16)Robredo
vs. (3)Federer (Club Fed leads 3-0), (6)Roddick
vs. (9)Grosjean (A-Rod leads the career series
2-1 in a rematch of this year's Queen's final),
(Q)Beck vs. F.Lopez (first meeting), (10)Novak
vs. (8)Schuettler (German leads 2-1), Mirnyi vs.
(11)Srichaphan (tied 2-2), Spadea vs. Nalbandian
(first meeting), and Kucera vs. (2)Ferrero (first
meeting). "This is something I dreamed about
when I was 12 or 13, and I watched him play when
he had long hair," said the No. 314-ranked
Larose in anticipation of a brutal beating at
the hands of Agassi. "I remember saying:
'One day, I'll play against him.' Now, that day
is here."
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Jelena Dokic choked, Alexandra Stevenson lost
to a 14-year-old, and Kim Clijsters served up
more breadsticks. Those were the highlights from
LA on Wednesday, where five seeds were
escorted out, with (5)Dokic the highest in a loss
to Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. "My head
just went off. I got a bit nervous," said
the struggling Dokic, who led 4-1 in the second
set tiebreak before unraveling with a bevy of
unforced errors. "I should have won the match.
It was just mental. After she won the tiebreaker,
she had an easy time in the third set." Now
that will strike fear in opponents -- time to
huddle with the race car boyfriend and nut-ball
dad and figure out how to win matches again. Also
ousted were (15)Stevenson (l. to (WC) Viktoriya
Kutuzova, retiring in the second with a shoulder
strain), (12)Daniilidou (l. to (Q)Pratt in three),
(9)Dementieva (l. to Ruano Pascual in three),
and (13)Bovina (l. to Suarez in three). Advancing
were (1)Clijsters (d. Loit 1 and 1), (2)Davenport
(d. Schett easily), (8)Coetzer (d. (Q)Parra 1
and 1), (10)Meghann "Stick II" Shaugnessy
(d. Zuluaga 7-6 in the third), and (16)Schiavone
(d. Tanasugarn 6-0 in the third). Nice blowouts
among the big girls.
Two more seeds were relieved
of duty at the horrible Helsinki event
Wednesday, with Croatian qualifier Jelena Kostanic
beating (5)Pennetta, and Russian Vera Douchevina
easing by (3)Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova.
Between Kostanic and the rising Karolina Sprem,
the Croat women are looking good for future Fed
Cup competition. Seeds advancing were (2)Pistolesi
(d. (Q)Hlavackova), (4)Mandula (d. Pereibiynis),
and (8)Sprem (d. Rittner in three).
On court Thursday in LA are
Grande vs. Schiavone, (WC)Kutuzova vs. Sugiyama
(first meeting), Bovina vs. Davenport (Davenport
leads the head-to-head 4-0), Coetzer vs. Shaughnessy
(Coetzer leads 3-2), Clijsters vs. Sharapova (first
meeting), Farina Elia vs. Kuznetsova, Pratt vs.
Martinez, and Maleeva vs. Ruano Pascual. On court
today in Hell-sinki are Medina Garrigues vs. Czink,
Talaja vs. Ondraskova, Marrero vs. Kostanic, Casanova
vs. Pistolesi, and Cervanova vs. Nagyova.
KNOWLES/NESTOR RECEIVE
THEIR '2002 DOUBLES TEAM OF THE YEAR' TROPHY AT
MONTREAL
Following Andy Roddick's win on Tuesday against
Xavier Malisse at the Tennis Masters Montreal,
Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor were presented
the 2002 ATP Doubles Team Award. The two players
received Waterford Crystal trophies from Tennis
Masters Montreal Tournament Director, Eugene Lapierre,
and ATP Vice President of Corporate Communications,
David Higdon, in front of the center court crowd
at Jarry Park's du Maurier Stadium. Last year,
Knowles and Nestor won six titles and reached
13 finals. This year Knowles and Nestor have won
the Australian Open as well as Tennis Masters
Series titles in Indian Wells and Miami, and reached
Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
PAST 'DOUBLES TEAM OF THE
YEAR' WINNERS
Todd Woodbridge has been on the year-end No. 1
team in five out of the last eight years:
1990 - Pieter Aldrich/Danie Visser
1991 - John Fitzgerald/Anders Jarryd
1992 - Tood Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde
1993 - Grant Connell/Patrick Galbraith
1994 - Jacco Eltingh/Paul Haarhuis
1995 - Tood Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde
1996 - Tood Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde
1997 - Tood Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde
1998 - Jacco Eltingh/Paul Haarhuis
1999 - Mahesh Bhuptathi/Leander Paes
2000 - Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde
2001 - Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge
2002 - Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND
BARBS
About 150-200 spectators were on hand Monday in
the stadium court that seats 8,000 at the WTA
event in LA/Carson -- should have just
held that event at the local public park: "It's
really a great place out here, a big stadium,"
said Maria "Orgasmo" Sharapova of the
Williams-less event, "just hope more people
come out in future days."...Mark Philippoussis
pulled from the TMS-Canada this week citing the
flu...Lleyton Hewitt is 5-4 in his last
nine matches...All four of Karol Kucera's
sets played thus far this week have been won by
the Slovak in tiebreaks...No Canadian has
ever advanced to the quarterfinals at the TMS-Canada
(since the inception of the TMS series in 1990)...Andre
Agassi has a 13-1 lifetime mark against Canadian
players, with his only loss coming to Daniel Nestor
in the second round of Indianapolis in 1996 when
he was defaulted (so in other words, he has never
lost to a Canuck). Agassi faces Canadian wildcard
Simon Larose today at the TMS-Canada...Simon
Larose had never beaten a Top 100 player until
this week…If Andre Agassi wins today, he
will have reached the quarters nine times in 12
trips to Canada...Last week 14-year-old Viktoriya
Kutuzova, who has won two matches in LA this
week, was unranked...How can ESPN commentator
Patrick McEnroe breathe with his head stuck
so far up Andy Roddick's ass? The U.S. Davis Cup
captain has fallen all over Roddick while commentating
two of his matches this week while A-Rod has struggled
on court, perhaps trying to get on the good side
of the American (after bashing him earlier in
the year) for the September Davis Cup meeting
with the Slovak Republic. Pat Mac will definitely
need A-Rod in the No. 1 spot, with James Blake
and Mardy Fish fighting it out for the shaky No.
2 spot, and the Bryan brothers making their doubles
debut…Did anyone happen to catch ESPN
Classic Wednesday night? They were showing
a replay of the 1995 Australian Open final between
Agassi and Sampras. The quality of tennis was
so much higher than anything you can see today...From
the Pan Am Games, Alex Bogomolov Jr. arrived
for his match Wednesday morning only to realize
he had left his shoes in the hotel. With the match
called to the court, an embarrassed Bogomolov
scrambled for a pair of size 11s. He finally settled
on USTA press man Randy Walker's size 10.5 Pan
Am issued adidas, and off to the match he went.
Bogomolov, who had suffered from severe exhaustion
a day earlier, made good use of the shoes and
prevailed in straight sets...Kim Clijsters
can reach No. 1 this week provided she wins the
title with enough bonus points.
