Stars Hit the Court Today in Filderstadt, Henman Begging for Wins in Vienna

Posted on October 8, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two of the three seeds in action bit it in Vienna Monday, with (6)Robredo falling to homeboy (WC)Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer after blowing a match point, and (7)Massu losing to Chela. The only surviving seed was (7)Schalken, who survived a scare from (Q)Waske in three sets. Other un-seeds advancing were Henman (d. (Q)Pescosolido), Nieminen (d. Kucera), and Bjorkman (d. Volandri). "I didn't do too many mistakes," said Henman, surprised he is playing well in his win over the washed-up Italian qualifier Pescosolido. "He is still a good player having qualified for this event. It feels good to be back indoors and to be healthy. The conditions here suit me. Not having played that many matches the last couple of weeks this is a good win to have under my belt." Always talk up the players you beat, even when they're over-the-hill qualifiers, nice one Tim.

Only one seed in action Monday at Lyon, with (4)Mantilla losing first round for the second straight week, this time against Russian Mikhail Youzhny. Un-seeds into the second round were Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal), Ollie Rochus (d. (WC)Ascione), and Nico Lapentti (d. Ljubicic). "I hadn't been playing for three weeks due to an injury," said The Prodigy. "I started hitting again only five days ago. I don't feel tired, I'm just going through a low point. It tends to happen to most players at one time or another. I want to be back playing great tennis again." Don't worry kid, you are going to dominate in 2004.

In action Tuesday in Vienna are Zabaleta vs. (5)Calleri in an all-Argentine (Calleri leads 3-1), (3)Novak vs. Lopez, (1)Federer vs. Ferrer (first meeting), and Blake vs. (Q)Beck in a rematch of what-if-Blake-was-chosen-for-the-last-Davis-Cup-match (first meeting). Today in Lyon features "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter vs. Ginepri (first meeting), (Q)Enqvist vs. (6)Ferreira in a delicious veteran match-up (Ferreira leads series 6-0), (Q)Arazi vs. Stepanek, (8)Kafelnikov vs. Vicente, (7)Safin vs. his nemesis Santoro (Frenchman leads series 6-1), and (WC)Corretja vs. (Q)Rosset in another old-school match-up (both former Lyon winners, the Spaniard leads the head-to-head 8-3).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
God smiled down on the Tashkent event Monday, then a booming voice was heard to say "This should not be a tour event!", and then 12 hours of rain washed out the day. With the rain back-up, today virtually the entire draw takes to the court in Schaul vs. Widjaja, Kulikovskaya vs. Craybas, Ruano Pascual vs. Ad. Barna, Pennetta vs. Garbin, Mandula vs. Amanmuradova, Rodionova vs. Gagliardi, Voracova vs. Foretz, Obziler vs. Kirilenko, Kostanic vs. Fislova, Ant. Serra Zanetti vs. Skavronskaia, Barabanschikova vs. Wartusch, Goloviznina vs. Beygelzimer, and Poutchek vs. Obata. Try and pick a marketable name out of that line-up, or even one you can pronounce.

Only two main draw matches were played in Filderstadt Monday, with Silvia Farina-Elia seeing off veteran Amanda Coetzer in two tiebreaks, and Conchita Martinez taming German wildcard Anna-Lena Groenefeld. The last round of qualifying was also completed, with four into the man draw in American Lisa Raymond (d. Kuznetsova), Swiss Myriam Casanova (d. Daniilidou), Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga (d. Pisnik), and Zimbabwe's Cara Black (d. Cohen-Aloro). Today some of the seeds take to the court for the first round, with matches including Hantuchova vs. Raymond (Stick leads 1-0), Pierce vs. Black, Dokic vs. Maleeva (Dokic leads 1-0), Martinez vs. Henin-Hardenne (H-H leads 3-0), and Zuluaga vs. Bovina.

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
The WTA Filderstadt draw this week is so strong that for only the second time in WTA Tour history, a Top 20 player (No. 17 Paola Suarez) had to play the qualifying...A current or former No. 1 has won Filderstadt for the last four years...Martina Navratilova won six Filderstadt singles titles, and Tracy Austin won four in a row, beating Navratilova twice in finals...Justine Henin-Hardenne can take over the No. 1 ranking for the first time this week in Filderstadt if she reaches the final with Clijsters losing before the final, or beating Clijsters in the final...Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf had their second child, a girl they named "Jaz," which could be a misprint... The 2004 Hopman Cup exhibition, played prior to the Australian Open, has announced the competing countries: Serena Williams and James Blake for the U.S., Lleyton Hewitt and Alicia Molik for Australia, Kim Clijsters and Xavier Malisse for Belgium, Anastasia Myskina and Marat Safin for Russia, and four other countries in France, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, and the winner of a playoff between Canada and Hungary...While Kim Clijsters is No. 1, she concedes that Serena Willaims is still the best: "She gets that extra and that makes her I think still the best player in the world, no problem. If she was injury-free she's the toughest to beat out there. If Serena played the number of tournaments that I play I definitely think that she would be number one."...Lindsay Davenport will try to play a few events before having surgery at the end of the year: "I'm going to go until I feel I can't go any further, because at this stage of my career it's hard to sit out months and months at a time. I would like to try and play once or twice more this year. It's hard to keep having time off, and I think indoors is my best surface and matches are typically a little bit shorter, so I'm optimistic."...To all the people on SI.com arguing that Rod Laver had it tougher than Pete Sampras: you are idiots. Laver had to "face tougher competition"? Where the hell do you get that from? Puh-leeze...Will Mark Philippoussis' neck injury heal in time for the TMS-Madrid next week?...Both Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl lead all players with five year-end Masters Cup titles (see Masters Cup stat page)...There are nine Russians in the Top 50 this week on the WTA Rankings...Looks like next week's WTA Zurich will boast six out of the Top 10...Why is the WTA only taking four teams for their year-end doubles championship? If they took eight, the Williams sisters would likely qualify (and win, and put people in seats)...Daniela Hantuchova needs to start hanging out with Maria Sharapova, who never hesitates to discuss her favorite foods: "Strawberry ice cream, caramel frappucinos and chocolate. I love to eat, and if I could, I'd eat every second of my life." You eat all that crap and stay rail-thin, women must love (to hate) you.