Kafelnikov on Verge of Retirement at St. Petersburg; Srichaphan Bombs in Stockholm

Posted on October 24, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The Russians defended their turf Wednesday at St. Petersburg, with unseeded former No. 1 Yevgeny "Bet On It" Kafelnikov outlasting Nicolas Kiefer in three, and 20-year-old wildcard Igor Andreev finding his passing shot against No. 4 seed Max "The Beast" Mirnyi. "I'm not the Kafelnikov we all used to know," said the Russian, who wants everyone to know he's blatantly tanking, as compared to the past when he pretended to try. "I'm just having fun playing. For the last two years, I haven't practiced as hard as I used to. The prime of my career has passed." Way to rub it in to Kiefer, the I'm-not-even-trying card. Wildcard Alex Corretja continued his newfound form, crushing (7)Gaudio in straights, while other seeds advancing were (1)Schuettler (d. (Q)Lisnard) and (6)Spadea (d. Hrbaty in three, his first win over The Dominator in three meetings).

Business as usual in Basel Wednesday, with four of four seeds into the second round in (1)Roddick (d. (Q)Scherrer), (3)Coria (d. Santoro 6-0 in the third), (4)Nalbandian (d. Ramirez-Hildago), and (8)Robredo (d. (WC)Kratochvil). "I'm coming back from an abdominal and wrist injury, it's my first match after the US Open," Nalbandian said. "I think I will play better every day. I didn't play for one and a half months after the US Open. I started to practice last week...I know it's a big chance for me to be in Houston (Masters Cup). Grosjean and Philippoussis are close to me. If I play well this and next week I'm in for sure." Big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic remained alive as a dangerous un-seed with a three-set win over the Italian Volandri, while Ollie Rochus saved three match points in defeating Spanish veteran Felix Mantilla 7-6 in the third, and Feliciano Lopez won the battle of Spain over 17-year-old Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal 7-6 in the third (Nadal blew a 5-2 lead in the third). In doubles, the Bryan brothers fell in straight sets to the thrown-together team of Blake-Verkerk.

Top seed and defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan was shocked at Stockholm Wednesday by Dutch doubles specialist John van Lottum, putting a stamp on the Thai's poor indoor season and likely eliminating him from qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup. Other seeds bailing out included (3)Massu (l. to "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter in three), and (4)Gonzalez (l. to Swedish wildcard Joachim Johansson who reached his career-first ATP QF after hammering 28 aces). "I hadn't heard of him before, that's true," said Gonzalez of the wildcard Swede. "He played great and he played the important points really well. Even the big points, he played the same as he did the other points. I played about as well as I could on this night, but Johansson just played better. I hadn't seen him play before so I really didn't know anything about his game. He was pretty unpredictable and he served well." No. 5 seed Mardy Fish was the only one of four seeds in action to advance, with a workman-like effort over the French qualifier Benneteau. "One of the goals at the beginning of the year was to get into the Top 20 and another win would probably do that, so a semifinal here would be great," said The Fish. In all-unseeded action, veteran Jonas Bjorkman won the Swedish battle versus Andreas Vinciguerra in three, and David Sanguinetti won when Jan-Mike Gambill retired in the first set with a back injury.

Today's Matches:
St. Petersburg -- (1)Schuettler vs. Voltchkov, Hanescu vs. (3)Kuerten, Kafelnikov vs. (5)Youzhny in an all-Russian (Y-Man leads 2-0), (WC)Andreev vs. Sargsian, Burgsmuller vs. Vicente, and Dupuis vs. (2)Grosjean in an all-pastry.

Stockholm -- van Lottum vs. Bjorkman (first meeting), Ancic vs. Sluiter (first meeting), (WC)Soderling vs. Chela, Carlsen vs. (WC)Enqvist, Sanguinetti vs. Carraz, and an all-American in Ginepri vs. Dent (Pudge leads 2-0).

Basel -- (5)Novak vs. Lopez, (Q)Llodra vs. (3)Coria, (4)Nalbandian vs. Clement, (1)Roddick vs. (Q)Elseneer, Ljubicic vs. (2)Federer (Fed leads 3-2), (LL)Zib vs. Henman, O.Rochus vs. (8)Robredo (Tommy the R. leads 2-0), and Lapentti vs. Behrend.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Gerany's Anca Barna pulled the only upset at Luxembourg Wednesday, sending home (4)Tanasugarn in straight sets. The other three seeds in action all advanced in (1)Clijsters (d. Schaul, ending Luxembourg's lone hope), (2)Rubin (d. (Q)Foretz, coming back from a set and a break down), and (3)Daniilidou (d. Black). Other unseeded winners were Loit (d. Granville) and Weingartner (d. Seguera). Yawn, get to the semis.

The seeds rolled at Linz Wednesday, led by (1)Myskina (d. Bovina is three), and followed by (4)Petrova (d. Krasnoroutskaya in another all-Russian), and (8)Schnyder (d. countrywoman and nemesis Mikaelian). Un-seeds into the second round were Chladkova (d. (Q)Cervanova 6-0 in the third), Mandula (d. (WC)Schett), Bartoli (d. (Q)Jeyaseelan 7-6 in the third), Pisnik (d. Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson), and (Q)Matevzic (d. (Q)Klara "Kouky" Koukalova in three). Chances a Russian will win this event? 80% Hit the Internet betting sites. Yawn. See above.

On court Thursday at Linz are Bartoli vs. Zvonareva, Dokic vs. Mandula (Mandula leads 1-0), Chladkova vs. the defending champ Schnyder, Pisnik vs. Sugiyama (Pisnik leads 3-2), Serna vs. Suarez, and Pistolesi vs. Matevzic. Only two matches on the docket Thursday in Luxembourg, with Molik vs. Medina Garrigues, and Arvidsson vs. Maria "Grunt-o-licious" Sharapova.

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Wayne Ferreira, who bowed out of Stockholm in the first round, is still suffering from the groin injury that had him carried off the court on a stretcher at the French Open: "I'm sore and have been having problems with the groin and an elbow. But my plan is to fight through, recover and get ready for next season."...In tennis rock news, Anna's boyfriend Enrique Iglesias is facing a federal lawsuit for allegedly stealing another songwriter's song (of the same name). The lawsuit reads in part: "even an ordinary observer can hear the exact copy...The misappropriation is severe." Also, Andy Roddick's girlfriend Mandy Moore just released her new album, "Coverage," while features 12 cover songs by other artists...After top-seed Paradorn Srichaphan's early exit in Stockholm, he went to the I-didn't-want-it-anyway card: "Actually, it's not really a goal for me to reach the Masters this year." Uh huh...Swede Thomas Enqvist has yet to reach an ATP quarterfinal this year...In true Y-Man style, Yevgeny Kafelnikov says he couldn't give a rat about the match-rigging allegations over the last month: "As you know, the Russian media has been heaping dirt on me for a long time, but I couldn't care less about it. Now, the foreign press does the same thing and I could care even less what they think of me." Y-Man, going out in style...Roger Taylor was canned as head of Britain's Davis Cup team, replaced by former player Jeremy "Master" Bates...Venus and Serena Williams got some camera time last night on Fox, attending Game 4 of the World Series in Miami.