Capriati, Mauresmo, Davenport in New Haven Quarters Today; Blake Scores Upset at Long Island

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two seeds were ousted in Long Island Wednesday, with fan-favorite James Blake steamrolling (3)Robredo in straights, and Fin Jarkko Nieminen giving (6)Calleri a hardcourt lesson, dropping only five games. Two seeds also advanced in (2)Kuerten (d. (Q)Beck), and (7)El Aynaoui (d. (Q)De Voest, who retired in the second set with a groin injury, ouch), setting up a quarterfinal clash with each other. Guga says his game and mental state are starting to come around: "Last year I had to deal with a lot of different things, injuries more than anything, and that was a new experience for me, but now I feel that my competitive spirit is more alive and I have started to win more matches. Because I am playing a full schedule again, competing against the best players in the world and I am healthy, my game has started to come around and I believe that I will be able to reestablish myself on tour." Blake is also looking to kick-start a lackluster year this week at L.I. "I felt that I got in a great rhythm tonight and my game felt good to me. Tommy (Robredo) is an excellent player but I took away some of his strengths and that made me more effective," said the American who hasn't won a title in over a year, and next faces Nieminen. "I haven't ever played him so it should be an interesting match. I know he has a really big serve and he gets to a lot of balls so I will need to play well in order to win." Yup, that's usually how it works, nice generi-quote.

On court today at Strong Island, a day which should include a letter of apology to ticket holders, are Chela vs. O.Rochus, (WC)Kiefer vs. Saretta, (Q)Morrison vs. Youzhny, and tipping off at night, (1)Srichaphan vs. Sargsian.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Things went pretty much as planned Wednesday at New Haven, with (2)Mauresmo (d. (Q)Casanova), (3)Capriati (d. Bovina in three), and (8)Sugiyama (d. (LL)Perebiynis) advancing, with no one surprised by the exits of the calorie-challenged No. 4 Daniela "Could I Play Worse This Year?" Hantuchova (l. to (Q)Black easily), and No. 7 Conchita "I've Had my 15 Minutes" Martinez (l. to Dementieva 6-0 in the third). Also in the continuation of "Maggie Battle 2003," unseeded Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna sent a message to No. 6 seed Magdalena "Call Me Maggie" Maleeva with a straight-set win. "Technically or physically I'm fine," said Hantuchova, still frightening reporters, who are on the verge of bringing bags of Wendy's drive-thru to post-match conferences, with her gaunt appearance. "It's just the mental side I'm really struggling with. I just have to keep working hard and believing in myself. And when you start winning matches, you start getting confidence back." Tennis-X unsolicited advice: Write this year off, go on a fast-food tour of America ala a young Andre Agassi, and come back in January with some muscle on them bones. Stop by our New York office and we'll introduce you to the two magic words you've probably never heard in Slovakia: Taco Bell.

On court Thursday in the New Haven quarterfinals are Pistolesi vs. Capriati (first meeting, Pistolesi on 12-match win streak), Sugiyama vs. Mauresmo (Frenchwoman leads head-to-head 4-0), Black vs. Dementieva (Russian leads 2-1), and Davenport vs. Serna (Davenport leads 5-0).

TENNIS-X.COM MEN'S BOTTOM 10 RANKINGS
(Aug. 21, 2003)
Thomas Enqvist posted a win but stays at No. 1 on the Tennis-X Bottom 10 rankings, highlighting the 10 worst players on the ATP. Frenchman Fabrice Santoro makes his 2003 debut at No. 8, while Spaniard Al Martin moves back in among the leaders at No. 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 23 matches):

1. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 7-21 .250
2. Voinea, Adrian (ROM) 8-20 .286
3T. Beck, Karol (SVK) 8-16 .333
3T. Norman, Magnus (SWE) 8-16 .333
5. Arthurs, Wayne (AUS) 11-21 .344
6. Kratochvil, Michel (SUI) 10-19 .345
7. Portas, Albert (ESP) 9-17 .346
8. Santoro, Fabrice (FRA) 10-17 .370
9. Vahaly, Brian (USA) 11-18 .379
10. Martin, Albert (ESP) 13-21 .383

CAREFUL, RODDICK-HENMAN MAY NOT HAPPEN
When the draw came out Wednesday, the big buzz was the first round mouth-watering match-up between Andy Roddick and Tim Henman. Surely a center court night match, the contest has already taken on epic stature and importance. However, it may not happen. That's right. Upon closer inspection, here's the deal: Henman is ranked No. 34, which means he is just two spots away from being the No. 32 seed. Now, if two of the current seeds pull out before the release of the schedule on Sunday, then "Our Tim" would get the bump (after Chela) to a seeded spot and move out of that match against Roddick. Of course, which two seeds would pull? Well, Marat Safin is in the field for some reason, and word is that he will likely not play. And the second player, how about Albert Costa who is troubled by a bad back. And who knows who else is a bit banged up. So stay tuned and don't get your Union Jack hopes up too high for seeing a Roddick-Henman clash. Though it would be great to see so let's hope it does happen!

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Is it true that Brad GIlbert hurled after a skydiving adventure Tuesday with star pupil Andy Roddick...James Blake and Andy Roddick have been seen hanging around the various stock exchanges...Early qualifying seeded losers on the men's side at the US Open include (4)Thomann (l. to Baccanello), (6)D.Norman (l. to Parmar), (8)Ascione (l. to Dancevic), (22)Varlet (l. to M.Lee), and (18)Taino (l. to Serra)...If you're at the Open qualifying this week and you see a geek running around with a Tennis-X T-shirt, give our intern a kick in the ass and tell him to get back to work trying to sneak into locker rooms, culling inside info...Culling, now that's a vocabulary, look it up...US Open just a few days away, if you're in the U.S. you're looking forward during the fortnight to getting off work, grabbing a beer from the 'fridge and hunkering down with USA Network and Johnny Mac for some screamingly-drunk NY fans and tennis under the lights...Russian Anastasia Myskina moved to a career-high No. 8 last week...Chanda Rubin is the only Top 10 player scheduled to play Bali the week after the US Open, have a nice trip...Kim Clijsters also rose to No. 1 on the WTA Doubles Rankings last week, which seemed to slip by the WTA communications staff (like so many things do)...There are nine Russian women aged 22 or under in the Top 100 (and Anna isn't one of them)...Is Pete Sampras going to be at the 2003 US Open? He hasn't ruled it out.