Safin Loses Again in Lyon, Dokic Melts Down in Filderstadt, Federer Rolls in ViennaView Discussions
Posted on October 9, 2003
ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Roger Federer began a successful title defense at Vienna Tuesday, easing past Spaniard David Ferrer in straight sets. "I believe that I still have a chance to be No. 1," Federer said. "I want to try to win a title the next couple of weeks. I'm so close to No. 1 in the world so I don't want to relax. I'm very motivated." The other seeded winner was No. 5 Agustin Calleri (d. countryman Zabaleta), while No. 3 Jiri Novak was ousted (l. to Lopez, who ended an 0-3 streak). Other unseeded winners were (Q)Beck (d. Blake 7-6 in the third), and Spadea (d. (Q)Sanguinetti). Blake failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third set -- Pat Mac no likey. Today in Vienna features Gambill vs. Miryni (Jan-Mike leads series 1-0), Kiefer vs. (WC)Peya, Gonzalez vs. (2)Moya (tied 1-1), Koubek vs. Davydenko, Henman vs. (4)Schalken (Henman leads 3-1), (8)Costa vs. Sargsian, and Nieminen vs. Chela.
No. 7 seed Marat Safin continued his painful (to watch) comeback in Lyon Tuesday, ousted easily by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, who upped his head-to-head with the big Russian to 7-1. "My wrist is getting better and better," said Safin, who wishes he could say the same for his head. "It comes down to confidence. Basically, it is only my second tournament. It is difficult to get any kind of level back. I have three tournaments left this season. To win one match in the rest of the year would be a good. I need to start from somewhere. I just haven't had time to find my confidence." Overall the seeds were 0-3 on the day, with the fallen including (7)Safin, (6)Ferreira (l. to (Q)Enqvist 7-6 in the third), and (8)Kafelnikov (l. to Vicente in straights, ouch). Other unseeded winners were Ginepri (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter) fresh from a weekend with Minnie Driver, (Q)Arazi (d. Stepanek 7-6 in the third), and (Q)Rosset (d. (WC)Corretja). On court in Lyon are Youzhny vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, Sanchez vs. (3)Srichaphan (Sanchez leads 2-0), (1)Schuettler vs. Mathieu (Frenchman leads 2-1), (WC)Mahut vs. (2)Grosjean in an all-France (first meeting), Clement vs. Saretta, Saulnier vs. (5)Fish (first meeting), and (Q)Malisse vs. Pavel (Pavel leads 2-0).
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
All eight seeds were in action Tuesday in Tashkent, with all eight into the second round in (1)Mandula (d (WC)Amanmuradova), (2)Gagliardi (d. Rodionova), (3)Obata (d. Tatiana "Poke-Check" Poutchek), (4)Ruano Pascual (d. (Q)Barna), (5)Pennetta (d. Italian countrywoman Garbin in three sets), (6)Craybas (d. Kulikovskaya), (7)Widjaja (d. Schaul 7-6 in the third), and (8)Kostanic (d. Fislova). The WTA needs to retain the quality level and re-label this one a Challenger. The excitement continues today with matches including Parra vs. Sucha, Wartusch vs. Gagliardi, Zheng vs. Isroilova, Ad. Serra Zanetti vs. Okamoto, Skavronskaia vs. Widjaja, Kostanic vs. Kirilenko, Ruano Pascual vs. Foretz, and Beygelzimer vs. Craybas. We've found a fun party game in downing a 24-pack while trying to say Isroilova-Skavronskaia-Beygelzimer three times fast.
 In the only seeded match at Filderstadt Tuesday, No. 1-in-waiting Justine Henin-Hardenne blew out Spain's Conchita Martinez in straight sets, including a bagel in the first. "I was playing unbelievable in the first set, nearly perfect, and then at the end of the second set she started playing better," said H-H, who can take over No. 1 this week depending on Kim Clijsters' results. "Conchita has a lot of experience and she knows how to turn a match. I helped her a lot and wasn't aggressive enough but I finally came through in the tiebreak." Among the unseeded winners were Daniela "Walking Stick" Hantuchova (d. Raymond), wildcard Mary Pierce (d. (Q)Black), Maggie "Don't Call Me Magui" Maleeva (d. Dokic 7-5, 6-0, nice meltdown by the Yugo), and Elena Bovina (d. (Q)Zuluaga). On court today in Filderstadt are Dementieva vs. Petrova, Myskina vs. Stevenson, Zvonareva vs. Rubin, Shaughnessy vs. Mauresmo, Schynder vs. Casanova, and Pistolesi vs. Sugiyama. Top-seeded Kim Clijsters get the Thursday start -- nice.
NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Andre Agassi has brought the '80s group Tears for Fears back together: After Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith reunited last Saturday at Agassi's "Grand Slam for Children" benefit in Las Vegas, they this week signed a deal with Arista Records, and will release an album next year. Gift or curse? You decide...A Tennis-X poll showed that an overwhelming 87% of readers (how many women spammed that poll?) care about the Fed Cup, while 10% would rather stab their eyes out with a hot poker, and 3% didn't know what it was...Anastasia Myskina is crushing in the "favorite Russian" poll, with Maria "Grunt-o-licious" Sharapova in second, and Anna barely beating out the "don't care" vote...With both Kim Clijsters (doesn't care) and Justine Henin-Hardenne (not injured now, but says she will be by then) pulling from their Fed Cup semifinal against the U.S., the task will be left up to 84th-ranked Els Callens, and No. 243 Caroline Maes, good luck...Robby Ginepri was visited in Lyon over the weekend by actress girlfriend Minnie Driver: "I've only been to Europe five or six times and it's already one of my favorite cities. I was here this weekend with my girlfriend, and we took a tour of the city and saw the Notre Dame de Fourviere church and went around the old town. I've been out to dinner the past few nights with Mardy (Fish), so we've seen quite a bit."...We wish we could have played Marat Safin in Lyon: "It doesn't matter who I would have played tonight, it could have been the worst player in the world and I would have still encountered the same problems. I didn't know what shot to play, when to come into the net, how to anticipate the next shot. I was always half a second late. I couldn't read the game."...Greg Rusedski's agent says the grinning Brit may miss next week's TMS-Madrid, on the heels of pulling from Metz and Lyon with a back injury. The Brit has a protected ranking due to injury until Feb. 2004, but after that he'll likely have to rely on wildcards or qualifying to get into events. Is this the end for Grinning Greg? "I don't know how much tennis I have left in me," said Rusedski after the debilitating Davis Cup loss at Morocco. "If I step on court I want to make sure I play good tennis. If you are not going to give 100% then don't bother showing up. That's going to be my attitude from now on."...From BBC Sport: "So the delectable Anna's future career in tennis seems finished. Her agent has announced that her lumbar spine injury means she can play the odd game but not a few in a row. Since when has she had to do that anyway?"...Last year the WTA Berlin event lost roughly half a million dollars and sponsor Mastercard bailed, but organizers say the event will stay in Berlin...Lleyton Hewitt has had a wart removed from his heel, and will likely pull from next week's TMS-Madrid. Hewitt said after beating Roger Federer in a five-set Davis Cup comeback almost three weeks ago that he would "train pretty hard for the next couple of months; don't know whether I'll play any tournaments or not, yet". Nice 2003 effort Lleyton...Anybody else think that Florida Marlin catcher Ivan Rodriguez is a dead ringer for Taylor Dent. We think so...Canadian Jana Nejedly announced on Tuesday she has retired from the sport after 12 years...Leander Paes returned home to India on Tuesday and announced that he would be back on the tennis courts in 2-3 weeks. Paes added that he and countryman Mahesh Bhupathi would partner for Davis Cup doubles and the Olympics. The 30-year-old Calcutta native has been recovering from a parasitic tapeworm which was found this summer near his brain.
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