Russians Falling in Moscow, WTA-Promoted Hotties Advance in Tokyo, Rios Cleared in Bar Brawl

The Russians were hit hard in Moscow Tuesday, with only (8)Kafelnikov (d. (WC)Kunitsyn) advancing out of the five homeboys in action. The fallen included (WC)Kunitsyn, Youzhny (l. to Koubek), Davydenko (l. to (5)Mirnyi), and (WC)Golovanov (l. to (2)Calleri), who is the coach of Marat Safin. "Every player is good out there and needs to be taken seriously," said Kafelnikov, still deflecting retirement questions from journalists poised to throw a good-riddance party. "It's a very tough question. Really, I haven't decided yet. I am not necessarily waiting for a good moment. Maybe it won't come, but I hope that is not the case. I will make my decision beforehand and then do it." Also advancing were un-seeds (Q)Ketola of Finland (d. Chela in three), Ljubicic (d. (Q)Zib), former Moscow winner Rosset (d. (Q)Prinosil, snapping a five-match losing streak), and Sargsian (d. Volandri).

Business as usual in Metz (France) Tuesday, with three seeds moving on in (1)Robredo (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer), (5)Santoro (d. Veronelli), and (8)Arazi (d. Ramirez Hidalgo). This event is so boring that reading Arazi's name, we'll daydream about Morocco sending Great Britain back into Davis Cup zonal competition a couple weeks ago....ahhhhhh. "I obviously prefer to play on clay but even if it's fast here you can still play from the back of the court," said the top-seeded Robredo. "I'm very motivated to do well these last few weeks of the year. There's a lot at stake and I hope to do well here and at the Masters Series in Madrid and Paris."

Matches of interest today in Tokyo are "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. (2)Grosjean (first meeting), D.Norman vs. (3)Srichaphan, Browne vs. (5)Philippoussis, (LL)Taino vs. Draper (first meeting), (WC)Motomura vs. (9)Carlsen, (4)Novak vs. (Q)Phau, Kendrick vs. (13)Vahaly in an all-American (Kendrick leads 1-0), and Saulnier vs. (15)Burgsmuller. On the court at Moscow are a slew of interesting match-ups in the defending champion Mathieu vs. (7)Lopez (Lopez leads the series 3-0), (Q)W.Black vs. (4)Safin, (3)Mantilla vs. Dent (Dent leads 1-0), Niemenen vs. Labadze, and Kucera vs. (6)Massu. In Metz the excitement amounts to (7)Dupuis vs. (Q)Petzschner, Popp vs. Mahut, (WC)Llodra vs. (4)Clement in an all-French dressing, (3)Gonzalez vs. C.Rochus, Hanescu vs. Pavel in an all-Romanian (first meeting), and in the featured night match, the 17-year-old (WC)Gasquet vs. Mutis in an all-Perrier match-up (first meeting).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
The next generation of WTA-pimped-out hotties advanced Tuesday in Tokyo, with No. 6 seed Ashley "The New Anna" Harkleroad (d. (WC)Ozaki) and No. 5 Maria "Grunt-o-licious" Sharapova (d. (LL)Kim) moving on. Three of Japan's finest also thrilled the home crowd in (4)Asagoe (d. (Q)Li), Yoshida (d. Widjaja), and Morigami (d. Kirilenko), while Japan's No. 7 seed Obata (l. to Craybas) bit it. Other seeds advancing were (3)Srebotnik (d. Dominikov), and (8)Gagliardi (d. (Q)Spears).

Two out of three ain't bad at Moscow Tuesday, where Russians Elena Bovina (d. Schnyder) and wildcard Dinara "Little Sis" Safina (d. (5)Maleeva) gave the home crowd something to cheer about, moving into the second round. "I was close to winning the match and had several chances to do it but I was not so fresh as I was last year," said Maleeva, struggling with that not-so-fresh feeling. Also not so fresh was Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya, who in addition to being saddled with that name, folded like a lawn chair after winning the first set against Francesca Schiavone, losing 6-2, 0-6, 4-6. No. 8 Meghann Shaughnessy was the other seeded loser on the day, stopped by Greece's Eleni Daniilidou. And in the battle of had-my-15-minutes-already, American Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson easily defeated Jelena "May As Well Tank This Season" Dokic 6-3, 6-1.

On court today in Tokyo are Asagoe vs. Parra, Sugiyama vs. Yoshida, Kapros vs. Gagliardi, Fujiwara vs. Craybas, and Schaul vs. Srebotnik. In Moscow it's Pistolesi vs. Petrova, Capriati vs. Bovina, Stevenson vs. Mauresmo (first meeting), Pisnik vs. Likhovtseva, Kuznetsova vs. Weingartner, and Perebiynis vs. Kostanic.

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Nathalie Dechy pulled from Moscow this week with a left wrist injury...Cervanova and Rittner pulled from Tokyo this week with illness...Happy Birthday yesterday to 23-year-old Martina Hingis, have fun talking to your horses...Belgium is 13-8 in WTA finals this year, while the U.S. is 11-16, and Russia is 8-2 (no other countries with more than two wins)...The four doubles teams qualifying for the WTA doubles championship will likely be Ruano Pascual/Suarez, Clijsters/Sugiyama, Kuznetsova/Navratilova, and Black/Likhovtseva...Chanda Rubin needs to pump it with another one or two good results to move from No. 9 to 8 to qualify for the year-end championship in the coming weeks...No. 11 seed Magnus Norman pulled out of Tokyo this week with a hip injury, and was replaced by American lucky loser Eric Taino...Since defeating Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon, Ivo Karlovic has won two challenger titles back-to-back, Binghamton and Bronx, and last week he reached the quarterfinals at the ATP Shanghai stop...Jennifer Capriati will increase her career win-loss to 400-160 if she wins today in Moscow...Ouch, the WTA Championships press package says they haven't yet secured a domestic TV broadcaster -- someone at the WTA needs to tell the crack WTA communications crew that they've already secured ESPN2 in the states...French qualifier Thierry Ascione in Metz on playing Taylor Dent last week in Bangkok: "He is a tennis genius. I played well and he beat me 6-2, 6-1 in 40 minutes. If the match hadn't been televised it would have been over in 30 minutes." Taylor can probably count on one finger the number of times he has been called a genius...The Australian Open has committed to either move the event back one week, or all the way into March starting in 2007: "We'll either go back a week or go to March," Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard told The Age. "We're continuing to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the two options and inviting everyone with an interest to give input. We know March creates some issues domestically, but is the preferred one internationally, by players and by international television. Domestically prefers to stay where you are; internationally prefers you to move. Both have got merit."...The Australians say the transported grasscourt they'll use in the Davis Cup final will be better than the f-ed up court used against France in 2001, featuring bad patches and sectioned replacements: "The advantage now is that the court's two years older and more mature, and in much better condition," said Aussie grasskeeper Fenton Coull, who had just returned from an inspection. "Last time, we had to mix and match a few of the modules, especially ones that were worn even when we got them here, but this time, the court will just go straight down, exactly the same way it's sitting at Seymour."...Roughly one-third of the WTA Moscow field this week is made up of Russians...Both the U.S. and Russians have 11 women in the Top 60...Marcelo Rios was cleared of assaulting two policemen in a "bar brawl," with Justice Juan Andres Troncoso dismissing the charges due to lack of evidence. After the case was heard, Rios said he would leave his home country according to the BBC. "I'm leaving, I can't be a normal person here," he said. "I've thought about it a thousand times. I can't go to a restaurant or do anything young people do. I don't have a private life. Here if you can knock down idols, you do it."