Schuettler, Sharapova, Dent Among Title Winners; Tournament Previews Including Packed Filderstadt

Posted on October 7, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Top-seeded Rainer Schuettler finally won a title this year in Tokyo, facing down the challenge of No. 2-seeded Sebastien Grosjean 7-6(5), 6-2 for his first win since 2001 Shanghai. Grosjean is now 0-2 in finals for 2003. "I felt comfortable the whole week and that's always the biggest reason behind if you play well or if you play bad," Schuettler said. "Nothing bothered me. I was healthy. I enjoyed everything, the atmosphere on court. To play in front of a big crowd is always special and that's what I've enjoyed." Grosjean was happy with his result after taking some time off. "It's been a good week. I haven't played since the US Open so six weeks," the Frenchman said. "I played pretty good player and I beat them. Rainer was seeded No. 1 and has had a great year so it was tough match today, but I still have a chance to go to the Masters Cup but I have play well in Madrid and Paris." The vanilla Schuettler will be going to the Masters Cup, the Houston organizers have to be happy about that. In the doubles final, Gimelstob/Kiefer outlasted Humphries/Merklein 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(4) for their first title as a team.

In Metz Sunday the French thrilled the home crowd by sweeping both the singles and doubles, with No. 4 seed Arnaud Clement outlasting No. 3 Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, and wildcards Benneteau/Mahut beating top seeds and Aussie Open champions Llodra/Santoro 7-6(2), 6-3. It was the first win for Clement since Lyon in 2000, and Gonzalez is now 0-2 in finals for 2003. "Unfortunately that's the way tennis goes," said a despondent Gonzo. "Just a couple of points decided the match, it was the two points I lost to go 15-40 down on my serve in the final set when he broke me, a let-cord and I missed a forehand. I know Arnaud well, he's a great player and he played well today. I was not surprised by his tactics today." The doubles win for Benneteau/Mahut was their first ATP title after coming off consecutive Challenger wins. The loss doesn't bode well for Llodra/Santoro, who have looked weak since beginning the year with the Aussie Open title.

Taylor Dent won his second title in two weeks at Moscow Sunday, defeating fellow un-seed Sargis Sargsian 7-6(5), 6-4 for his third title of the year. "I feel fresh enough to play another tournament right now but it would be the week after that would be tough," said Dent, who will take a week off before the TMS-Madrid. "Conditioning has been a big focus for me this year, so I'm happy to be getting my fitness level up there where it needs to be...It's great to be the first American (to win Moscow), but I have to say I had some Russian help. A young Russian player warmed me up for all my matches this week as my hitting partner so I had some local help. Maybe I should take him on the road with me." Sargsian was appearing in his first ATP final in six years. The players were given their trophies at the awards presentation by Russian Minister of Sport and former Detroit Red Wings star Vyacheslav Fetisov. In the doubles final, top-seeded Bhupathi/Mirnyi beat W.Black/Ullyett 6-3, 7-5 for their fourth title of the year.

Rainer Schuettler heads a fairly strong field in Lyon this week, continuing his relentless run to (officially) qualify for his first year-end Masters Cup. At Tennis-X we got out the calculators, and he is in. The vanilla German is joined by seeds Grosjean, Srichaphan, Mantilla, Fish, Ferreira, Safin, and Kafelnikov, not a bad field for the week before the TMS-Madrid. Opening round matches of interest include (1)Schuettler vs. the hot-handed defending champion Mathieu, (4)Mantilla vs. the erratically explosive Russian Youzhny, (5)Fish vs. the French comer Saulnier, (7)Safin, lacking confidence after coming back from injury, in for a torture session against his nemesis Santoro, and (2)Grosjean against another dangerous French comer in (WC)Mahut. The sad Spaniard Alex Corretja received a wildcard, and others to watch in the draw include Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, Robby Ginepri hot off of dating the older Minnie "Let Me Be The" Driver, and unseeded Arnaud Clement who has quickly found his form again after some time off with injury. Last year Mathieu beat former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten in the final. Other returning champions in the field are Ivan Ljubicic (2001), Clement (2000), Nicolas Lapentti (1999), Corretja (1998), Santoro (1997), Kafelnikov (1996), and Ferreira (1995). Lyon has a strong history, with former No. 1 winners Kafelnikov (1996), Pete Sampras (1991-93), and John McEnroe (1989). Matches in Lyon today include (4)Mantilla vs. Youzhny, Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, O.Rochus vs. (WC)Ascione, and N.Lapentti vs. Ljubicic.

A relatively weak field gears up in Vienna after the withdrawals of world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Argentines Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian, and Gaston Gaudio. Wimbledon champion and No. 1-in-waiting Roger Federer is left as the top seed, with a supporting cast of falling-off seeds including Carlos Moya, Jiri Novak, Sjeng Schalken, Agustin Calleri, Tommy Robredo, Nicolas Massu, and Al Costa. No, this is not a claycourt event. First round matches of interest include (5)Calleri vs. Zabaleta in an all-Argentine, (8)Costa vs. the hot-handed Sargis Sargsian, and (2)Moya vs. the thundering Fernando Gonzalez. You know Moya said "Bitch!" after seeing that draw. Other unseeded players to watch include James Blake, Max Mirnyi, and Tim Henman. Federer is the defending champion, outlasting Novak last year in four sets. Henman (2000) is the other returning champion in the field. On court in Vienna today are Nieminen vs. Kucera, (Q)Waske vs. (4)Schalken, Henman vs. (Q)Pescosolido in an all-veteran affair, (6)Robredo vs. (WC)Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, and Chela vs. (7)Massu.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Russian 16-year-old Maria Sharapova won her first career title Sunday in Tokyo, recovering from blown match points and a 2-5 deficit in the third set tiebreak to beat unseeded Hungarian Aniko Kapros. "I now have two titles (singles and doubles) under my belt and it feels great," said the grunter. "I think with these things it's a matter of time, if you put in the hard work and I have worked so hard. I think this week that really showed and it paid off. When I had the two match points, I just didn't play smart. I stopped doing the things that had got me to that point and that's why it got away from me. But I didn't give up and worked hard. It was so much of a mental game in the end...it was a bit of a cat an mouse game at the end. I think the fact that I'm only 16 and I've won a singles title after being down 2-5 in the final set tie-break shows how determined I am and how much I want this, want to be a champion." Already starting to refer to yourself in the second person, another true sign of a champion.

No. 4 seed Anastasia Myskina became the first Russian to win the Moscow title on Sunday, rolling past No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-4 for her fourth title of the year. "I really wanted to win here at home because the home crowd was so great," Myskina said. "Everyone was so supportive. This was such a great win for me. With every win like this, I'm getting closer to making it to the championships at the end of the year. I obviously want to get there. I know that Elena (Dementieva) and I have a very good chance, so we'll see. I'm going to just keeping working hard and hopefully make it into the top eight." In the doubles final, (4)Petrova/Shaughnessy beat (WC)Myskina/Zvonareva 6-3, 6-4 for their first title in their first pairing.

The ugly line-up of seeds this week at Tashkent includes Mandula, Gagliardi, Obata, Ruano Pascual, Pennetta, Craybas, Widjaja and Kostanic. Nice Tier XXII event. Players who can't even get in the main draw of a top-tier event are seeded in Tashkent, good luck selling this one. In last year's horrible Tashkent final, top-seeded Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian beat No. 2 seed Tatiana "Poke Check" Poutchek. Today's shaky schedule is Kulikovskaya vs. Craybas, Kostanic vs. Fislova, Pennetta vs. Garbin, Voracova vs. Foretz, Skavronskaia vs. Liggan, Tatarkova vs. Goloviznina, Chan vs. Ad. Barna, and Tongsalee vs. Okamoto.

All the money is in Filderstadt this week, with an all-star (for a Williams-less event) line-up featuring Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Davenport, Capriati, Mauresmo, Dementieva, Rubin, and Myskina. First round matches of interest are (7)Rubin vs. the Russian Zvonareva, (8)Myskina vs. Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson, and (6)Dementieva vs. Petrova in an all-Russian. Unseeded stand-outs include Daniela "Feed Me" Hantuchova, Mary "Stop Feeding Me" Pierce, Jelena "Feed My Head" Dokic, Patty "Where's My Psychiatrist?" Schnyder, and Amanda "Michael Chang of the WTA Tour" Coetzer. In last year's Filderstadt final, No. 6 seed Clijsters edged No. 8 Hantuchova in three sets. Only two main draw matches up today in Groenefeld vs. Martinez, and Farina-Elia vs. Coetzer.

2003 SINGLES TITLE LEADERS (through Oct. 5)
7--Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL)
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6--Kim Clijsters (BEL)
6--Andy Roddick (USA)
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5--Roger Federer (SUI)
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4--Andre Agassi (USA)
4--Guillermo Coria (ARG)
4--Anastacia Myskina (RUS)
4--Serena Williams (USA)

2003 DOUBLES TEAM TITLE LEADERS (through Oct. 5)
6--K.Clijsters/A.Sugiyama (BEL/JPN)
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5--M.Knowles/D.Nestor (BAH/CAN)
5--S.Kuznetsova/M.Navratilova (RUS/USA)
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4--M.Bhupathi/M.Mirnyi (IND/BLR)
4--B.Bryan/M.Bryan (USA)

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Hey WTA, how is that "Get in Touch With Your Feminine Side" marketing campaign going? That came out around the US Open, then promptly tanked. Was making t-shirts the extent of the marketing plan?...Down a set and looking defeated, John McEnroe took out a Holland-style orange shirt from his racquet bag, pumped up a packed crowd at the senior tour event in Eindhoven and turned his fortunes around against Petr Korda to win the title for a second year in a row. McEnroe won 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 (Champion's Tie-Break). "I saved that shirt the whole week for today," McEnroe said. "I had one shirt that was orange and I figured I'm down a set and it's time for a desperation move. It was unbelievable, it worked, I turned it around."...From the WTA Tokyo media notes: "Aniko Kapros is the second unseeded finaliest (sic) at the the (sic) Japan Open in two years" -- was somebody in a hurry to catch the plane to get the hell out of Tokyo?...The No. 1 ATP ranking has been decided during the Masters Cup each of the last three years (as opposed to the Pete Sampras years, when Pete usually had it wrapped up around March)...Since the US Open, Russian women are 5-0 in singles finals...The ATP stop in Lyon this week has the returning champions from the last eight years...The ATP has given The Tennis Channel rights to broadcast the Masters Cup doubles from Houston (since no one else wanted to broadcast it)...Alex Kim beat Jeff Morrison in the final of the Fresno Challenger last week, NCAA champ Amer Delic lost in the first round in three sets to Mexican lucky loser Santiago Gonzalez, maybe time to look back into returning to the University of Illinois, get that degree...According to a Newsweek article this week, Venus Williams was courted by hoop superstar Kobe Bryant. Bryant sent the elder Williams flowers after her first Wimbledon title, but Venus said nothing doing...Speaking of Magazines, Pete Sampras has become an investor in Tennis Magazine...Australian press is reporting that in preparation for their Davis Cup final Down Under, Spain is spending over $50,000 to build a grass court near Barcelona where Ferrero, Moya, et al, can practice.