Kuerten Into Brazilian Quarters, Bali Into the Unknown-ables, Rain Backs Up Bucharest

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two seeds were ousted in Brazil Thursday in (6)Chela (l. to Ricardo "They Call Me" Mello in three) and (7)Flavio "Of the Week" Saretta (l. to Delgado in three). Advancing into the quarterfinals were (1)Schuettler (d. Goldstein), (2)Schalken (d. Carraz), (3)Kuerten (d. Eschauer), (5)Spadea (d. Gamonal, who retired in the third with a twisted ankle), and (8)Carlsen (d. Moodie in three). "It is too bad I am playing a Brazilian tomorrow on the one hand, but on the other at least one Brazilian player will be at least in the semifinals on Saturday," Guga said. "It is very important to have a tournament in Brazil. To have also Mello out there winning difficult matches and other Brazilians losing makes people see how difficult it is on the Tour. This is the tournament's third consecutive year and we always had a Brazilian in the final. It's great for our tennis and our country."

There were no matches played in Bucharest Thursday due to rain.

Players will be forced to double up today in Bucharest due to the rain, with scheduled matches including C.Rochus vs. Hanescu, Sanchez vs. (5)Mathieu, (WC)Sabau vs. (3)Sargsian, (2)Massu vs. (Q)Cermak, (Q)Andreev vs. Acasuso, Blanco vs. van Lottum, C.Rochus or Hanescu vs. (Q)Cermak or (2)Massu, and (Q)Andreev or Acasuso vs. van Lottum or Blanco. Today in the Brazil the quarterfinals are (1)Schuettler vs. Delgado (Delgado leads 2-0), (5)Spadea vs. (2)Schalken (Vincenzo leads 3-2), (3)Kuerten vs. Mello in an all-Brazilian match-up, and (Q)Etlis vs. (8)Carlsen.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Unseeded players piled into the quarterfinals in Bali Thursday, including Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. (3)Martinez, who was suffering from a stomach illness), Emmanuelle Gagliardi (d. (Q)Abramovic), Indonesia's own 18-year-old Angelique Widjaja (d. Garbin), along with the No. 5 seed Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. (Q)Zheng). Widjaja (15-19 win-loss this year) won the French Open and Wimbledon titles as a junior, so watch for the future emergence of skills. This is an event only a mother could love, if your daughter was in the quarters.

Today on court in quarterfinal action at Bali are (5)Tanasugarn vs. (2)Dementieva (first meeting), Widjaja vs. Obata (first meeting), (1)Rubin vs. Barna (American leads head-to-head 1-0), and Gagliardi vs. Vento-Kabchi (V-K leads 2-1). If Chanda Rubin can't win this tournament, put out a suicide watch.

TENNIS-X.COM MEN'S BOTTOM 10 RANKINGS
(week of Sept. 8, 2003)
Slovak Davis Cup player Karol Beck and former No. 2 Magnus Norman climb into the Top 5 this week after losses in Bucharest and Brazil, while former Top 10-ranked Thomas Enqvist hangs on at No. 1 on the Tennis-X Bottom 10 Rankings. The Bottom 8 players at the end of the year qualify for the Tennis-X Masters-of-Disaster Cup at a public park to be determined (minimum 25 matches):

1. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 8-22 .267
2. Voinea, Adrian (ROM) 8-20 .286
3. Beck, Karol (SVK) 8-19 .296
4. Norman, Magnus (SWE) 8-18 .308
5T. Acasuso, Jose (ARG) 8-17 .320
5T. Gimelstob, Justin (USA) 8-17 .320
7. Arthurs, Wayne (AUS) 11-22 .333
8T. Corretja, Alex (ESP) 10-19 .345
8T. Kratochvil, Michel (SUI) 10-19 .345
8T. Portas, Albert (ESP) 10-19 .345
10. Mathieu, Paul-Henri (FRA) 9-17 .346

RODDICK ROAD TO US OPEN TITLE TOO SMOOTH?
How difficult was Andy Roddick's victory this year at the US Open? Tougher than sneaking a ham sandwich past the security guards? Tougher than "Christine" Henin-Hardenne getting through a match without calling a trainer? The Tennis-X.com staff breaks it down, you be the judge:

RD1 - Tim Henman
A-Rod receives the toughest draw of any seeded player in the Top 35-ranked Brit who beat him just weeks earlier on hardcourt at Washington. What looked to be a battle turned anti-climactic with Henman choking the big points, and still fighting some minor shoulder problems, evidenced by his Manuela Maleeva-speed serving.
RD2 - Ivan Ljubicic
How the Croatian, whose serve is as big as A-Rod's, didn't win the fourth-set tiebreak when up 5-2 is still a mystery, especially the key net cord for Roddick that would have made it 6-4 to the bald guy. Ljubicic falls prey to the "Roddick Curse," playing below-average tennis, as most players seem to do, against the American.
RD3 - Flavio Saretta
Hapless claycourt-only player, nice draw so far.
R16 - Xavier Malisse
A perennial "B"-level player who A-Rod was 6-0 career against, nice draw still.
QF - Sjeng Schalken
This should not have been Schalken, but rather Rainer Schuettler, who A-Rod has a losing record against because he gives the American a backhand clinic every time the play. But Schalken took out Schuettler in the fourth round, and subsequently played like a stiff against Roddick.
SF - David Nalbandian
This should have been Roger Federer, who has a whole toolbox of shots compared to A-Rod's two, but again the draw opens up like Tara Reid after a night of table dancing. Nalbandian leads 2-0 sets and 4-2 in the third set breaker when he lets the crowd rattle him, and it's all downhill from there.
Final - Juan Carlos Ferrero
This is the Spaniard's third match in three days due to the rain and the USTA's jingo-friendly creative scheduling, and it shows as Ferrero has less to give as the match wears on. With the Spaniard shuffling wearily on the return and Roddick firing the Babolat serves, soon enough it's game, set, and $1,000,000 for Pay-Rod, and the slim possibility of tennis rising above women's softball in U.S. sports popularity.

(Editor's Note: Sounds like someone on the Tennis-X staff is "anti-Roddick." Nice usage of "toolbox" however.)

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
The Argentine D-Cup team is hurting big-time for their semifinal at Spain, with Guillermo Coria (leg injury) and David Nalbandian (wrist) out, leaving the task to Mariano Zabaleta, Agustin Calleri and Gaston Gaudio, ouch...Venezuelan Maria Vento-Kabchi has recorded three Top 20 wins (Dokic, Rubin, Martinez) in her last four events, too bad she is 29-years-old and you're just hearing about her...Sportswriter Dan Wetzel: "But Roddick rubs many international players, journalists and fans the wrong way. He is considered brash and loud, even if by American standards, he is neither."...The All England Club says it won't be until 2006 that they'd consider a calendar change in adding another week between the French Open and Wimbledon...Leander Paes is out for the rest of the season...Italian Francesco Ricci Bitti has been re-elected for a second four-year term as president of the International Tennis Federation...Roger Federer has lost just one set in his last nine Davis Cup matches...Lleyton Hewitt recently put the cash down on a $2 million dollar home in Adelaide. The property features five bedrooms, a theatre room, bar and sauna, but no tennis court.