ATP
REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two of three Americans, and zero of three Argentineans
were among players advancing from the quarters
to the semis Friday at the TMS-Cincinnati,
a ragtag group featuring first-time TMS semifinalist
Mardy Fish (d. Nalbandian). Joining Fish on the
U.S. side was No. 7 Andy Roddick with a 6-1, 6-2
demolition of Mariano Zabaleta, putting on a serving
exhibition. Also into the semis were the quietly
consistent German (8)Schuettler (d. Ginepri, sorry
Minnie), and unseeded Max "The Beast"
Mirnyi (d. (6)Coria). It is the third career TMS
semi for both Mirnyi and Roddick.
Saturday's semifinal face-offs
in Cincy are Mirnyi vs. (7)Roddick (first meeting),
and in the night match (8)Schuettler vs. Fish
(Schuettler leads 1-0, a tight win in January
at Sydney on hardcourt). In the doubles semis
it's (2)Bryan-Bryan vs. (3)Knowles-Nestor, and
(1)Bhupathi-Mirnyi vs. (7)Arthurs-Hanley. The
Roddick-Mirnyi encounter will feature two of the
biggest servers on tour, and with Roddick's new
attacking-style game, will likely come down to
who stones the fewest volleys. "Max is a
big player," said Roddick, who has obviously
done some in-depth scouting for this first-time
meeting. Or maybe Brad told him that. "He's
going to serve big, volley well. He's going to
pressure me as much as he can, and it's going
to be tough. He's been playing pretty well. He's
quartered I think the last two weeks, and I'm
just going to have to look for my opportunities
to break and take care of him out there."
Schuettler also expects the net attack from the
American Fish, but sees some spray-gun potential.
"Mardy tries to go a lot to the net with
a big serve, to take the balls early, and he's
playing more aggressive," said Schuettler,
also a TMS semifinalist last week in Montreal,
and a virtual shoe-in to qualify for his first
season-ending Masters Cup. "He's making more
winners, but also more errors, so it's a completely
different kind of game." The German knows
how to play The Fish, set your phaser to "Keep
Balls in Play."
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Faced with the exit of No. 1 Kim Clijsters and
an excellent opportunity to reach the final and
defend her 2002 Toronto title, No. 3 seed
Amelie Mauresmo choked a bone Friday in a three-set
loss to No. 9-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva,
who she beat 6-0, 6-0 in their previous meeting.
The Frenchwoman received an injury time-out for
a back strain early in the match, but did not
appear to be effected in the third set when she
failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities.
Unseeded Lina Krasnoroutskaya made it two Russians
in the Toronto semis with a three-set win over
fellow un-seed Katarina Srebotnik. The final two
semi spots were filled by unseeded Paola Suarez
(d. (10)Zvonareva in three), and (2)Henin-Hardenne
(d. (12)Bovina), who has to REALLY be liking her
chances right about now. "The people who
were here, I just wanted to say 'thank you',"
said Henin-Hardenne, referring to fans who came
out amid the power outages in Toronto. In the
sweltering heat, H-H was forced to come back from
an 0-3 deficit in the second set, but closed it
out in straights. "It's bad for the tournament,
it's really disappointing for them. As for the
players, we just try to prepare for the match
as best we could and just try to stay concentrated
on the match." Double H, always on hand to
state the obvious.
Toronto's butt-ugly Saturday
semis line up as Krasnoroutskaya vs. Suarez (first
meeting) in an all-unseeded, and (9)Dementieva
vs. (2)Henin-Hardenne (H-H leads 4-1) in singles,
and in the doubles (4)Kuznetsova/Navratilova vs.
Petrova/Pierce, and Vento-Kabchi/Widjaja vs. (6)Huber/Maleeva.
"I think people like the players, not the
numbers," said the No. 32-ranked Suarez about
her unseeded appearance in the semis. "I
think they watch players because they like them,
they don't care about the numbers that follow
along with the players." Uh huh, I'm sure
that's EXACTLY what Toronto tournament officials
are thinking, "Thank God Suarez made the
semis! This is going to fill seats because she
is so damn likable! Who needs Clijsters or the
Williams sisters!"
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND
BARBS
Monica Seles' foot stress fracture, which
forced her to miss Wimbledon, will also force
her to miss the US Open...The WTA media team,
putting on another Comedy Central skit, announced
that Kim Clijsters would lose the No. 1 ranking
after her loss in Toronto, then issued a retraction;
someone buy them a calculator, it really isn't
that hard...Max "The Beast" Mirnyi
is 9-2 during the U.S. summer hardcourt season
with three Top 10 wins over No. 5 Lleyton "I
Used To Be Better Than Kim" Hewitt, No. 9
Paradorn "This Summer Sucks Compared to Last
Year" Srichaphan, and No. 5 Guillermo "Can
We Go Back To the Dirt Now?" Coria...Rainer
Schuettler is on track to improve his year-end
ranking for an ATP-record ninth consecutive year,
talk about a steady rise...Justine Henin-Hardenne's
quarterfinal win in Toronto yesterday attracted
an estimated crowd of 5,000 in the 10,000-seat
stadium at the National Tennis Centre after Canadian
government officials told people to stay at home
unless they had essential travel due to power
outages, sure tournament officials loved that...WTA
players had no power or water at their hotel
on Thursday in Toronto...It only took nine years
for Paola Suarez to reach a Tier I semifinal
on the WTA Tour, you go girl...Andy Roddick
is just two wins away from the No. 1 spot in the
Race...Cincinnati wasn't immune to losing
power. Late Friday afternoon, a fuse blew in the
west side of the stadium causing a 25-minute loss
of power to the press room, locker room and player
lounge. With the power out in the interview room,
Andy Roddick held his post match presser
in the player lounge.
