Men Fired Up for Davis Cup; Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad Posts Rare Win at Shanghai

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
This is a Davis Cup week, and Tennis-X.com will be previewing matches each day until the start of the World Group semifinals and the World Group qualifying rounds on Friday.

World Group Semifinal Previews:

Switzerland at Australia
Site: Melbourne Park, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, AUS
Surface: Rebound Ace (hard) outdoors
Ball: Slazenger Championship Hydroguard

This will be a daunting task for Wimbledon champ Roger Federer who, upon receiving little support from his lowly-ranked countryman (Kratochvil, Heuberger, Bastl) will likely have to win both his singles matches and the doubles with captain Marc Rosset for the Swiss to advance to the final. "I came here early to join the team and just get used to the conditions," said Club Fed, who has won 17 of his last 19 D-Cup singles matches. "That's why I'm playing for my country; that's why I'm coming here early to prepare, and I just enjoy playing in a team because it can get quite lonely sometimes on the tour. Here you are together...with a team, with players and coaches, and I really enjoy it. So I'm proud to play for Switzerland." The last meeting between the two countries came in 2000 when the Aussies edged Team Federer 3-2 in Zurich. In singles Fed will contend with Mark Philippoussis in a re-match of the Wimbledon final, and a jacked-up Lleyton Hewitt who wants nothing more than to take that winner's picture holding the Cup with his mates. While Fed and Hewitt's meetings have always been tightly contested, Hewitt leads the head-to-head 6-2, with their last meeting in 2002. Federer leads the head-to-head with Philippoussis 3-1, with the only loss coming on clay. The all-important Saturday doubles point will likely be Federer-Rosset vs. doubles legend-in-the-making Todd Woodbridge and the vicious lefty serve of Wayne Arthurs. Leading up to the tie, rumors abound in the Aussie camp as to the condition of Hewitt's hip after problems at the US Open, and Flipper's absence on the practice courts. The Aussies are shooting for their fourth final in the past five years, and the winner of this tie will have home court advantage in the final (unless the unlikely event they face Argentina).

Argentina at Spain
Site: Palacio de Deportes Jose Ma Martin Carpena, Malaga, ESP
Surface: red clay outdoors
Ball Type: Penn ATP

This tie had all the makings of a classic dirt war between four Top 10 players before the Argentine team was gutted with injuries to David Nalbandian (wrist, abdominal) and Guillermo Coria (groin). Now the anti-climax will feature No. 1 and reigning French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero and former No. 1 and former French Open champion Carlos Moya pounding the Argentine "B"-squad of Mariano Zabaleta, Gaston Gaudio, and Agustin Calleri on the red Spanish clay. "Of course the withdrawal of Coria and myself had an impact," said Nalbandian, who engages in some wishful thinking and still sees the possibility of a match. "But they are a great team and I told them I would join them (to watch) in the finals...My injuries are rather severe for playing even a few days now. If I compete now, I run the risk of having to stop more than a month." Spain would likely win this tie with their "B"-squad of French Open winner Albert Costa and French Open runner-up Alex Corretja, or their "C"-squad of Tommy Robredo and Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, or even their "D"-squad of Felix Mantilla and Feliciano Lopez. Book Spain in the D-Cup final.

Tomorrow: World Group qualifying previews in Belgium at Austria and Brazil at Canada.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Only three main draw matches Monday in Shanghai, featuring unseeded American Ashley "Tennis Barbie" Harkleroad getting her game back together with an upset win over No. 8 seed Cara Black. Also advancing were Dinara "Sister Of" Safina (d. Gagliardi), and No. 6 seed Alicia Molik (d. Pennetta). The final round of qualifying was also completed, with four moving into the main draw in Tathiana Garbin (ITA), Rossana Neffa-de los Rios (PAR), Jelena Jankovic (YUG), and Martina Sucha (SVK). American Jill Craybas entered the main draw as a lucky loser following the withdrawal of Husarova.

In action today at Shanghai are Pratt vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Garbin vs. Sun, Craybas vs. Zheng, Jankovic vs. Dokic, Morigami vs. Sucha, and Cho vs. Barna.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
We're going to clinch Guillermo Coria as the fifth player to qualify for the year-end Masters Cup, joining Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, and Andy Roddick -- Coria is just 16 points behind Agassi in the ATP Champions Race standings, you do the math...Could the Fed Cup be a lower priority for the Belgians? They've reached the semifinals against the U.S., but Kim Clijsters says she has no interest in playing, and now Justine Henin-Hardenne has pulled with a back infection, though she will honor her other tournament commitments...Apparently in the U.S., ESPN will show the U.S. vs. Slovakia Davis Cup qualifying round tie, while The Tennis Channel will show the World Group semifinals...Last week's horrible ATP Delta (Senior) Tour of Champions stop in Paris featured only Frenchmen in Henri Leconte, Yannick Noah, Guillaume Raoux, Thierry Champion, Guy Forget, and Cedric Pioline, with Forget beating Raoux in the final -- is this what the senior tour has come to? John McEnroe wasn't joking when he said it was on it's "last leg." The next event is the first week in October at Eindhoven, the Netherlands...Andy Roddick is the only player this year to win two tournament titles (TMS-Cincy, US Open) where he fought off match points...Sjeng Schalken's win at Brazil last week moved him to No. 10 on the ATP Champions Race, and an outside shot of qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup...James Blake on the claycourts in Slovakia for this weekend's D-Cup meeting: "It’s pretty soft right now, but I think they’ve done a great job getting it ready so quickly. It’s very impressive. They said there was nothing here six months ago. We’ll have the same amount of time as they (the Slovak team) will to get used to it and we’ll be ready. It’s going to be pretty slow, which is going to be pretty fair but we are going to do our best to get used to that. I don’t think anyone is used to playing on a clay court right now coming off the US Open, but we’ll have to adjust and I think we can do a super job at that."...Slovakia has only advanced past the first round of the World Group twice...Karol Kucera has lost six of his last seven Davis Cup matches, while Karol Beck is 0-3 in doubles for the Slovak team...Andy Roddick is 7-2, and James Blake 8-5 career in D-Cup singles...According to SI's Jon Wertheim, a tennis star (Andy Roddick?) will appear on Saturday Night Live on Nov. 8...Frenchman Tarik Benhabiles, the former coach of US Open champion Andy Roddick, will work with French hopeful Richard Gasquet until the Australian Open at least, the French Tennis Federation said on Monday...Swiss Davis Cup captain Marc Rosset is expressing surprise that the Aussie-Swiss semifinal is being played outdoors: "There's a good chance you can sprint or run to the ball and get injured just by the (cold) weather conditions. I was surprised that the ITF (International Tennis Federation) did agree (to the venue), but it's okay for us. We're just a little bit surprised by the weather conditions. It's been quite cold (in the past week), especially on the outside court. I don't have any preference. But I think it would have been easier for everybody, even for the Australian team, to play indoors."...Check out the St. Jean de Luz Challenger in France, where Richard Gasquet and Rafael Nadal may meet in the second round...Also from the Challenger circuit, In Seoul Guillermo Canas made his 2003 debut an unsuccessful one, falling to junior star Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-1 in the first round...Mark Philippoussis has been suffering from a cold and a bad neck, but according to Aussie officials (and Tara Reid), will be ready to go for Davis Cup this weekend.