Agassi, Roddick, Federer Advance to Quarters at TMS-Canada; Clijsters, Davenport Survive Scares at Carson

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Juan Carlos Ferrero is an accomplished hardcourt player (2002 Masters Cup runner-up), but the No. 2-seeded Spaniard did little to get that across to fans with a straight-set loss to Karol Kucera Thursday at the TMS-Canada. The only other seeded upset was (11)Srichaphan, sent home by serve-and-volley Lleyton-killer Max "The Beast" Mirnyi. Seeds advancing were (1)Agassi (turned around a 1-4 first set deficit), (3)Federer (d. (16)Robredo), (6)Roddick (d. (9)Grosjean), and (8)Schuettler (d. (10)Novak). Other un-seeds advancing were Nalbandian (d. Spadea) and Lopez (d. (Q)Beck). "You always know Sebastien is going to give 100 percent," Roddick said. "He is a very tricky player; he has a huge forehand when he gets set up. It could have gone either way tonight, because I was down love-40 a couple of times on my serve and then, you know, I hit a couple little dinky passing shots to break him a couple of times, so it probably was a lot tougher than the score indicates."

On court Friday in the TMS-Canada quarterfinals are (3)Federer vs. Mirnyi (Max faces off against another sometimes doubles partner; Fed leads the career meetings 4-2, with Mirnyi winning their last hardcourt meeting), (6)Roddick vs. Kucera (A-Rod leads 1-0), (1)Agassi vs. (8)Schuettler (The Boss leads 2-0), and an all-unseeded in Nalbandian vs. F.Lopez (first meeting).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Kim Clisters and Lindsey Davenport received scares Thursday at Carson but moved into Friday's quarterfinals with three-set wins. In the last night match, Clijsters eventually subdued Russian upstart Maria "Orgasmo" Sharapova, while Davenport came back from set down against claycourter and doubles stand-out Paolo Suarez in windy conditions. "She hits the ball so hard and so deep," said Clijsters, who lost the second set 6-1 before prevailing in the third. "She's an incredible player. She can go all the way. It's just a matter of being consistent." There were two upsets on the day in (11)Farina Elia (l. to Kuznetsova) and (7)Martinez (l. to (Q)Pratt), while other seeds advancing were (16)Schiavone (d. Grande), (4)Sugiyama (d. (WC)Kutuzova), (8)Coetzer (d. (10)Shaughnessy), and (6)Maleeva (d. Ruano Pascual).

In Helsinki, the Croats are taking over, with two advancing Thursday for a total of three in the Friday quarterfinals. Croatian qualifier Jelena Kostanic advanced into the quarters with a win over lucky loser Marta Marrero, while unseeded Croat Silvija Talaja beat Zuzana "Say My Name" Ondraskova 6-1 in the third after losing the first set 6-0. Also advancing on Thursday were (2)Pistolesi (d. Casanova), Hungary's Melinda Czink (d. Medina Garrigues), and Slovakia's Ludmilla "Don't Say My Name" Cervanova (d. Nagyova in a walkover when her countrywoman retired with hip pain). You know these Tier IV events are bad news when the on-site communication managers don't even bother with daily notes, the just head to the pub after the last match.

On court today in the LA quarterfinals are Schiavone vs. (Q)Pratt (first meeting), Clijsters vs. Kuznetsova (Lleyton's girlfriend leads 1-0), Maleeva vs. Sugiyama (Sugiyama leads 4-3), and Coetzer vs. Davenport (Davenport leads 12-3). On court Friday in the Hell-this-event-is-stinky quarterfinals are Douchevina vs. Czink, the Croat Sprem vs. Mandula, Cervanova vs. Pistolesi, and Talaja vs. Kostanic in an all-Croat battle.

GUGA AND THE MERCEDES
Sounds like a new sit-com. The Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles has a long history of courtesy cars ending up in interesting circumstances, but this year's transportation staff had a pleasant surprise from an unlikely source. In 2002, Gustavo Kuerten got into hot water with the tournament for losing the keys to his Black E430 Mercedes-Benz. After reaching the quarterfinal at the 2002 tournament, Guga was playfully scolded by transportation when he requested a lift to the airport. The transportation manager joked: "I'll give you a ride, if you return the keys from last year." The easy-going Brazilian mystified the tournament staff when he reached into bag and produced the lost key. Jennifer Carper, who manages the ATP's relationship with Mercedes-Benz in North America, said: "In almost eight years of working with Mercedes-Benz and the ATP, I can say that I have seen it all when it comes to the Mercedes transportation cars. But I was honestly stunned when I found out Guga had been carrying around the key so he could return it this year. That is why we love him!"

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
According to ESPN's Patrick McEnroe, former No.1 Jim Courier was injured Thursday when the golf cart he was riding in flipped over while going down a hill. Courier suffered broken bones and was rushed into surgery. The accident happened in the San Francisco area...The WTA age eligibility rule was designated in 1994, limiting players under age 18 to 10 tournaments a year, and keeping hotties like Maria Sharapova away from the Lapentti brothers...Martina Navratilova is up to 170 career doubles titles, including 40 at Slams...The ATP senior tour has an event next week in Graz, Austria, with the "Group Roland Garros" (Andres Gomez, Henri Leconte, Thomas Muster, Mats Wilander) against the "Group Wimbledon" (Alex Antonitsch (I must have missed him at Wimbledon that year), Boris Becker, Pat Cash, Michael Stich)...Roger Federer (who turns 22 Friday -- Happy Birthday Fed) climbed to No. 1 in the ATP Champions Race following Juan Carlos Ferrero's loss to Karol Kucera Thursday.…Ukrainian Viktoriya Kutuzova turns 15 on August 19...The TMS-Cincinnati draw will be out Friday night, check the ATP site for the pairings...At the Pan Am Games, the U.S. is 13-1 in the tennis competition through Thursday...Early odds from the US Open have Andy Roddick the favorite at +300, followed by Federer (+400), Agassi (+475), Hewitt (+500) and Philippoussis (+1000). A nice pick would be Max Mirnyi at +12500 (that's put $100 down to win $12,500!). Go Beast!