ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
American journeyman giant-killer Eric Taino has
struck again, in Shanghai Tuesday ousting
No. 6 seed Hyung-Taik Lee in straight sets. Top-seeded
Jiri Novak advanced with a win over Dennis van Scheppingen,
while overall the "D"-squad Americans
went 4-2 on the day in winners Taino, Salzenstein
(d. Ivo "Former Hingis Boyfriend" Heuberger),
Gimelstob (d. Waske), Kendrick (d. (Q)Phau 7-6 in
the third), with two U.S. losers in (Q)A.Kim (l.
to (WC)Canas who is returning from a wrist injury)
and (Q)Mamiit (l. to Ivo "Lleyton, Remember?"
Karlovic 7-6 in the third). "I won the first
set pretty easy. I was leading all the time,"
said Novak, who was rolling until he got distracted
by some hotties waving a Czech flag in the crowd.
"I had so many break points in the second set
but I didn't take them. I saw the Czech national
flag and four or five girls flying it. I'd just
met them in the restaurant and spoken to them for
a few minutes, so it was nice to see them holding
my flag in the crowd." Hey girls, how about
some dinner after the match? In my room?
In the only seeded match
in Bangkok Tuesday, No. 5 Jarkko Nieminen
pasted wildcard and Thai No. 2 Davis Cupper Danai
Udomchoke 6-4, 6-1. "Well it wasn't so easy
to start with his home crowd and I haven't played
a tournament after the US Open," Nieminen
said. "We didn't have Davis Cup as we are
done for this year. I have been practicing well
for about three weeks and kind of waiting for
the match since I came here on Thursday."
Andy Roddick update: still pulled out.
Argentine qualifier Diego
Veronelli posted his career-first win at the ATP
level Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4 ousting of No. 2
seed Nikolay Davydenko on the dirt at Palermo.
The three other seeds in action avoided the upset
bug in (1)Massu (d. C.Rochus), (5)Mathieu (d.
Portas 7-6 in the third), and (6)A.Martin (d.
Ferrer). Former No. 2-ranked Alex Corretja's misery
continued Tuesday when the former threat retired
in the first round against the 17-year-old Spanish
qualifier Almagro, citing a stiff neck. Speculation
is that the veteran may be looking forward to
contributing to Spain's potential upset over Australia
in the Davis Cup final, then hanging it up. Corretja's
ranking is currently too low to get into a tour
event without a wildcard. "It is very disappointing
for me. I was really feeling great after the Davis
Cup tie and really ready to make a good comeback
here in Palermo," Corretja said. "I
need it. I was playing great during last week
with (Juan Carlos) Ferrero. I thought I was ready.
It was on Sunday when practicing with Ferrero
that after I hit a backhand I felt something in
my neck...I hope I can find my rhythm again and
play good tennis. I think I can do it and it does
not worry me that I am ranked so low. I know I
will come back." Argentina was 3-0 on the
day Tuesday between (Q)Veronelli, Acasuso (d.
(Q)Giner), and Puerta (d. Jurgen "Tuna"
Melzer 6-4 in the third) advancing. Italian (Q)Tenconi
gave the locals something to cheer about (Italian
tennis hasn't had something to cheer about in
quite a while) with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Georgia's
Labadze. Yeah, the Italian Volandri is the No.
4 seed, but what has he done for us lately? 17-15
win-loss this year? That doesn't excite us.
Matches of interest today
in Shanghai are the all-unseeded Enqvist vs. Kiefer
(career series tied 5-5), (WC)Zeng vs. (2)Verkerk,
Vinciguerra vs. (3)Philippoussis (first meeting),
and (1)Novak vs. Kendrick. Seeds in action in
Bangkok today are (8)Dent vs. Moodie (first meeting),
(1)Ferrero vs. D.Norman (first meeting), (4)Srichaphan
vs. Votchkov (first meeting), (Q)Luxa vs. (3)Moya,
and Carraz vs. (7)Santoro in an all-Freedom Fries
match-up. Seeds in action on the dirt in Palermo
are (3)Sanchez vs. Hernandez, (WC)Aldi vs. (4)Volandri
in an all-Italian meeting, and (1)Massu vs. Acasuso.
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Qualifiers had their day in Leipzig Tuesday,
with three advancing into the second round in
(Q)Kleinova (d. Schiavone), (Q)Callens (d. (7)Shaughnessy),
and (Q)Vento-Kabchi (pounded (WC)Elke "Little
Sis" Clijsters 6-3, 6-1). Also advancing
were (6)Petrova (d. Srebotnik), and unseeded Jelena
Dokic, who edged by (Q)Kostanic to gain a match
with the top-seeded elder Clijsters. "It
doesn't come back just like that," said Dokic
on falling out of the Top 20 after dealing with
a plethora of personal problems. "I think
it will take a few months but I am getting there.
Every match I will just try to play well and not
worry about winning. Sometimes you get down and
you need people to pick you up and rely on. I
have that, and this is one thing that is getting
me better. I talk to my coach (Borna Bikic) and
he tries to get me mentally better." Good
luck to him, and the race car boyfriend. American
Alexandra Stevenson was also handed a rare win
when Switzerland's Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian retired
during the match due to a back sprain.
In action today in Germany
are Kuznetsova/Navratilova vs. Kapros/Steinbach,
Schnyder vs. Hantuchova, Farina Elia vs. Vento-Kabchi,
Myskina vs. Krasnoroutskaya, and Kleinova vs.
Maleeva.
U.S. DAVIS CUP DOUBLES
TOP 5 ALL-TIME TEAMS
Bob and Mike Bryan made a successful debut for
the U.S. Davis Cup team last weekend versus Slovakia,
but the brothers have a long road to hoe if they're
going to establish themselves among the great
U.S. Davis Cup doubles teams during the Open Era.
Here are the win leaders among U.S. Davis Cup
doubles teams since 1968:
Pos./Team/W-L/(Years)(Davis
Cup titles)
1. Peter Fleming-John McEnroe, 14-1 (1979-1984)
(3)
2. Bob Lutz-Stan Smith, 13-1 (1968-1981) (6)
3. Ken Flach-Robert Seguso 10-2 (1985-1991) (0)
4. Stan Smith-Eric Van Dillen, 7-2 (1971-1973)
(2)
5. Rick Leach-Jim Pugh 6-0 (1990-91) (1)
Titles:
(3) Fleming-McEnroe on title-winning teams in
1979,'81-82
(6) Lutz-Smith on title-winning teams in 1968-70,
'78-79, '81
(2) Smith-Van Dillen on title-winning teams in
1971-72
(1) Leach-Pugh on title-winning team in 1990
NOTES,
QUOTES, AND BARBS
Russian Maria "Orgasmo-Grunt" Sharapova
broke into the Top 50 for this first time
this week on the WTA Rankings...Monica Seles,
Mary Joe Fernandez, and Chris Evert
are appearing together in a new “Got
Milk?” print ad...None of the WTA
top five are scheduled to play Moscow or Tokyo
next week, with only Ai Sugiyama of the Top 15
in Tokyo...Friday is Serena Williams' birthday...French
Open runner-up Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk
has a 23-21 win-loss record thus far on the
year...Mark Philippoussis has not won a
title since Memphis in 2001, which is a concern
for Tara Reid...Australian Open champions Michael
Llodra and Fabrice Santoro of France
are the fifth team to qualify for the season-ending
Tennis Masters Cup doubles in Houston...Brit Greg
Rusedski's loss in the fifth and deciding
Davis Cup match against Morocco, relegating Britain
out of the World Group and into zonal competition,
brought out some retirement mumbling from the
lefty...Justine Henin-Hardenne is trying
to heal the Belgian rift with Kim Clijsters
through speaking with the media this week at the
WTA stop in Leipzig: "I was a little disappointed
with some of the things which she said and I think
everyone can understand that. But I think she
was probably disappointed after losing to me and
I understand that. Everyone has to understand
that there is a lot of pressure on both of us
and it's not always easy to deal with the situation.
I have no problems with what has happened in the
past. I said everything I wanted to say and Kim
deserves to be number one. We are mature enough
to go on court or on tour together and say it's
in the past and we will do that. We will have
to travel a lot together and it's better to have
a good relationship. I want to concentrate on
what I want to do." The "feud"
has been exacerbated by the Belgian press, and
by Clijster's father Leo who recently insinuated
that H-H's increased musculature this year was
not natural...When Spain travels to Australia
for the Davis Cup final on grass, you'd think
the Spaniards would have to consider Alex Corretja
for the start -- while his season has been in
the toilet, his Davis Cup record includes a grasscourt
win over legend Pete Sampras...Canadian Davis
Cup captain Grant Connell, whose players'
singles rankings are not high enough to get them
into a tour event, is looking forward to the Davis
Cup World Group draw for 2004 on Thursday: "Quite
frankly I want to play a big-time team. I want
to play USA or Australia or France in Canada because
I couldn't imagine any better exposure for the
game than putting Canadian tennis players up against
the best in the world. There's this feeling out
there that Canada can't play tennis or we don't
produce tennis players and we'd love to prove
them wrong." We respect that Canada produces
doubles players...The city of Richmond, Virginia,
continued its proud redneck heritage of racial
discrimination this week, with the Richmond City
Council voting down a proposal to rename a street
known simply as "Boulevard" for tennis
legend Arthur Ashe. Seven years ago the city,
where Ashe grew up playing on the segregated courts,
was split along racial lines over a statue of
Ashe erected among those of racist Confederate
heroes along the city's Monument Avenue. Nice
PR effort Richmond, you can't buy PR like that...As
expected, Andy Roddick withdrew from next
week's Tokyo Japan Open. No fine for that one,
Andy, just send in your doctor's note and return
the appearance fee...Guess it is indeed "good
to be the king." In Thailand, according to
local press Paradorn Srichaphan has been
seen gallivanting about with a few of the local
ladies including Thai model Odet Henriot Jackomin
and then a few nights later pop cutie Amita Tata
Young...Remember Marat Safin? He may be
back. The Russian is looking to return from a
wrist injury next week in Moscow.
