No New No. 1 as Ferrero and Federer Bumped, Roddick vs. Blake Today in Cincy

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The race for ESP No. 1 at the TMS-Cincinnati ended within a span of a few hours Wednesday when (2) Juan Carlos Ferrero was ousted in three sets by Gaston Gaudio, and (3) Roger Federer was beaten in two tiebreaks by nemesis David Nalbandian. Both Ferrero and Federer had a shot this week at ascending to the No. 1 spot for the first time on the ATP Entry Rankings, but it is the inactive Andre Agassi who will remain on top of the hill when the rankings are released on Monday and will now earn the No. 1 seed at the US Open. "You know, with the matches, his passing, you just start to feel tired and tired because out there is so hot, so humid, you know, and it's not easy to play," Ferrero said. "But I think I was playing very good first and second serve, second set. With 5­4 in the second tiebreak, I had the chance to do a passing shot with my backhand, and I didn't. So I think if I hit this ball in, you know, with 6­4 and two match points, the match was mine."

However, (7) Andy Roddick can grab the No. 1 spot in the Champions Race on Monday with a title this week. Other upsets on the day were James Blake waking up from his long summers nap to handily beat (11)Schalken (and set up a confrontation today with Andy Roddick), and softballer Juan Ignacio Chela outfoxing (13)Gonzalez in straight sets. Of the few seeds escaping the upset bug were (6)Coria (d. Kafelnikov who retired (not for good, you wish) in the second with an ankle injury), and (8)Schuettler (d. Nieminen 7-6 in the third). Nalbandian, Chela, Coria, Gaudio, and Zabaleta (who d. El Aynaoui 7-5 in the third) made five Argentines advancing into the last 16 for the first time in the tournament's 105-year history. Unseeded Americans also had their day, with those moving into the third round including Ginepri (d. (Q)Okun), (WC)T.Martin (d. F.Lopez), and Fish (d. Malisse 6-1 in the third) in addition to Blake.

In action on Thursday at the TMS-Cincinnati are Youzhny vs. (6)Coria (Argentine leads 2-1), Ginepri vs. Gaudio (first meeting), (8)Schuettler vs. (WC)T.Martin (German leads 2-0), Blake vs. (7)Roddick (A-Rod leads 6-0), Mirnyi vs. (Q)Arazi (Moroccan leads 3-2), Fish vs. Clement, Chela vs. Nalbandian in an all-Argentinean showdown (Chela leads 2-0), and Saretta vs. Zabaleta. "Andy's probably playing the best out of all the guys right now, but he's still beatable, still human," Blake said. "You know, his serve can go off -- I hope -- because it's almost impossible to return when he's serving well. But I've got to take my chances on that. When I get second chances, try to go after him, make him play, and then really concentrate hard."

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Nine seeds were in action Wednesday at Toronto, and nine seeds advanced into the third round. Three seeds struggled, with (5)Myskina coming back from a set down against Pratt, (14)Petrova winning 7-6 in the third over Ruano Pascual, and (3)Mauresmo coming back from a set down against Likhovtseva. Rather dull we must say. Wake us when we get to the semis. For a tournament touted as one of the "best fields ever," this event blows. Bring on the Labatts.

On court in today's Toronto snoozers are a slate of first-time meetings and historic blow-outs in Zvonareva vs. Dokic (first meeting), Clijsters vs. Krasnoroutskaya (first meeting), Zuluaga vs. Mauresmo (Mauresmo leads 4-2), Petrova vs. Henin-Hardenne (H-H leads 3-0), Srebotnik vs. Serna, Myskina vs. Dementieva, Coetzer vs. Bovina, and Hantuchova vs. Suarez (Stick leads 1-0).

TENNIS-X MEN'S BOTTOM 10 RANKINGS
(Week of Aug. 11)
Andre Sa maintains the top spot as the worst player on the ATP, followed closely by three-time TMS winner Thomas Enqvist. Another Swede in former No. 2 Magnus Norman holds strong at No. 5, while young struggling Americans Justin Gimelstob and Brian Vahaly debut at No. 9 and 10.
The Bottom 8 players at the end of the year qualify for the Tennis-X Sucksters Cup at a public park to be determined (minimum 22 matches, through Aug. 14, 2003):

1. Sa, Andre (BRA) 4-18 .182
2. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 7-21 .250
3. Voinea, Adrian (ROM) 8-20 .286
4. Beck, Karol (SVK) 7-16 .304
5. Norman, Magnus (SWE) 8-16 .333
6. Arthurs, Wayne (AUS) 11-21 .344
7. Kratochvil, Michel (SUI) 10-19 .345
8. Portas, Albert (ESP) 9-17 .346
9. Gimelstob, Justin (USA) 8-14 .364
10. Vahaly, Brian (USA) 11-18 .379

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Xavier Malisse says Lleyton Hewitt is now ripe for a beating when he steps on the court: "He made a lot more mistakes than he usually does. If you lose a couple of matches, your confidence goes down a little bit. Everybody does that."...Fisherman and former player Murphy Jensen is still on medication for the virus-related heart problem he contracted early this year...Another boo to ESPN for the 12:30 a.m. tape jobs this week from Cincinnati instead of showing the night matches...Andy Roddick is trying to become the first player to win back-to-back TMS titles since Andre Agassi in 2001 (Indian Wells and Miami)...Also, with a win in Cincinnati this week, Roddick will move into the (gulp!) No. 1 spot in the ATP Champions Race. Just looking over the draw, ask yourself this: "Who's going to beat him?"…The US Open announced yesterday that the women's wildcards will go to 16-year-old Carly "No Relation to the Twins" Gullickson, doubles specialist and Leukemia survivor Corina Morariu, Bea Bielik, Angela "Trash Talker" Haynes, Amber Liu, Theresa Logar, Bethanie Mattek, and Shenay Perry. Liu won the NCAA singles title for Stanford this year, while Bielik was the 2002 champion for Wake Forest...As for the Men: Michael Chang, Brian Baker, Alex Bogomolov, Jr., Amer Delic, Robert Kendrick, Alex Kim, Jeff Morrison and Robert Yim all earned cards...American Robby Ginepri has advanced to the last 16 at the TMS-Cincy after last year losing 6-0, 6-0 to Lleyton Hewitt, talk about a role reversal...Todd Martin doesn't want to talk about hanging it up just yet: "I've had a couple of terrible weeks this summer, and it forced me really to regroup mentally and refocus. I've had some great conversations with some very important people in my life to help readdress my career, because it's still my career."…Not surprisingly, first round losers Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis bailed out of their Wednesday night doubles match. Hewitt probably wanted to go celebrate No. 1 with Kim, while Flip was looking to spend some more "QT" with Tara Reid…Only thee seeds remain in Cincinnati: (6) Coria, (7) Roddick, and (8) Schuettler. Wasn't it just a few years ago that Cincy featured an all-Top Ten quarterfinal? Parity sucks...American Express has signed up Andre Agassi, James Blake, Daniela Hantuchova and Monica Seles for their 2003 US Open tennis ad campaign. Radek Stepanek snubbed...yet again!