Safin Falls in Moscow Return; Capriati Also Bounced First Round in Russia; Roddick Gets an A

Only one seeded casualty in Metz Wednesday, with Frenchman (7)Dupuis failing the home crowd with a loss to the German qualifier Petzschner. Seeds advancing were (3)Gonzalez (d. C.Rochus), and (4)Clement (d. (WC)Llodra), while Pavel (d. Hanescu) won the all-Romanian match-up, and Mutis (d. (WC)Gasquet) won the all-Perrier. "It felt pretty good for my first match indoors, which is where I have the least experience," said the Chilean Gonzalez. "I served and hit my forehand the way I like it. After the US Open and the tournament in Brazil I practiced on hardcourts in Buenos Aires to prepare the end of the season. I am well prepared and my goal is to feel good on court playing
good tennis, hopefully improving my year-end ranking."

Five out of seven seeds in action advanced Wednesday in Tokyo, with low-rent seeds (13)Vahaly (l. to Kendrick in three) and (15)Burgsmuller (l. to Saulnier) sent packing. Winners included (2)Grosjean (d. Karlovic in first match in six weeks), (3)Srichaphan (d. D.Norman 7-6 in the third), (4)Novak (d. (Q)Phau), (5)Philippoussis (d. Browne), and defending champion (9)Carlsen (d. (WC)Motomura). "Physically and mentally I feel great," Philippoussis said. "Obviously after a tournament win, you're on a roll, you're on a high. Your confidence level is up. It's easy to be positive when things start rolling your way. I'm very happy. I'm definitely more relaxed now. I look at tennis in a different way after getting a second chance with my tennis career. I don't take things for granted like I did when I was younger." Yup, you've got titles and Tara Reid, life is good, quit reminding us.

Today's Matches:

Tokyo: (WC)Suzuki vs. (3)Srichaphan in an all-Asian thriller, (1)Schuettler vs. Kendrick, (10)Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. (5)Philippoussis (first meeting), Van Scheppingen vs. (2)Grosjean, (8)Gambill vs. (Q)Kratochvil, Draper vs. (6)Kiefer in a veterans battle, (4)Novak vs. Saulnier (The Frenchman leads 1-0), and (7)Lee vs. (9)Carlsen.

Moscow: (8)Kafelnikov vs. Sargsian (Y-Man leads 3-1), Andreev vs. Ljubicic, Dent vs. O.Rochus (first meeting), Labadze vs. (2)Calleri, (5)Mirnyi vs. Koubek (first meeting), Rosset vs. Kucera (Kucera leads 2-1), Spadea vs.
(Q)W.Black (American leads 1-0), and (Q)Ketola vs. Mathieu.

Metz: Ferrer vs. (8)Arazi, (1)Robredo vs. Lisnard, Sanguinetti vs.
(4)Clement, (Q)Petzschner vs. (Q)Ascione, (5)Santoro vs. Mutis in an
all-French, and (3)Gonzalez vs. Behrend.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
You knew it was coming: Jennifer Capriati takes a last-minute wildcard for Moscow, complains about the trip, complains about her draw...then gets dumped first round by Russian Elena Bovina. "My previous match with Jennifer was the best of my life and I was really upset after I lost it," Bovina said. "I was eager to gain revenge for that defeat as soon as possible, and there's no better place for the revenge than Moscow." Nicely said. The chunky-style American was edged 7-6 in the third before a raucous Russian crowd. In the other upset on Wednesday, Israel's Anna Pistolesi outplayed (6)Petrova in straight sets. Others advancing were (2)Mauresmo (d. Stevenson 6-3 in the third), Kuznetsova (d. (Q)Weingartner), and qualifiers Pisnik (d. Likhovtseva) and Kostanic (d. (Q)Perebiynis).

In Tokyo Wednesday the seeds went a-tumbling in (3)Srebotnik (l. to Schaul 7-6 in the third), Japan's (4)Asagoe (l. to Parra in three), and (8)Galiardi (l. to Kapros 6-0, 6-2). Top-seeded Ai Sugiyama avoided the carnage with a 7-6 in the third win over countrywoman Yuka Yoshida (way to throw her a bone), and unseeded American Jill Craybas advanced with a three-set win over Japanese wildcard Rika Fujiwara. Lots of good draws in Tokyo.

On court today in Moscow are Zvonareva vs. Douchevina, Myskina vs. Serna, Kostanic vs. Dementieva, Safina vs. Schiavone, Pisnik vs. Daniilidou, and Kuznetsova vs. Pistolesi. Today's yawners in Tokyo are Sharapova vs. Morigami, Sugiyama vs. Kapros, Harkleroad vs. Yan (nice draw), Zheng vs. Tanasugarn, and Parra vs. Craybas.

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Andy Roddick's tour of the Northwest California with coach Brad Gilbert continued yesterday as the US Open champion was among those in attendance at the thrilling A's-Red Sox baseball game Wednesday night. Roddick along with Gilbert and agent Ken Meyersohn got a big cheer from the crowd after appearing on the big screen at Network Associates stadium during the 6th inning. Apparently, Gilbert also dragged (and maybe drugged) Roddick to the Raiders-Chargers NFL game on Sunday. Hope that hamstring is feeling better, Andy...Rainer Schuettler is 0-2 in finals this year...Apparently doubles pals Jan-Michael Gambill and Graydon Oliver have parted ways, playing with different partners this week in Tokyo...From an ATP press release: "ATPtennis.com, the official Web site for men's professional tennis, continues to dominate men's tennis coverage on the Internet with record-setting numbers in recent months." Umm, you guys RUN THE PRO TOUR, I hope you'd do well on the Internet, you need to put out a press release about that? And by the way, the ITF had just sent a release out on Tuesday detailing their huge traffic increase at daviscup.org. Who got the better pub? You decide...Marat Safin made the most of his months off with injury, as told after his loss in Moscow Wednesday: "I went traveling in the mountains in South America. Went to Yosemite National Park...I went fishing also. The biggest fish I caught was a trout about this big [hands 10 inches apart]. I was just resting, thinking about life."...Andrei Pavel's comeback this week in Metz follows six months off with back and wrist injuries.