Federer Run for No. 1 Hits a Snag at Basel; Sharapova Advances at Luxembourg

Posted on October 25, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Roger Federer's chances of ending the year No. 1 hit a bump Thursday at Basel when the No. 2 seed struggled to find his game in a three-set loss to the big-serving (27 aces) Croat Ivan Ljubicic. "I had some physical problems," said Fed, who would not elaborate, though his on-court movement was obviously hampered. "I didn't think it was going to affect me that much. I don't know what kind of injury it is but it hurts. I was handicapped, I couldn't serve and return fully. I tried my best but it wasn't to be, it's a shame it happened at home. It's not fun when you realize you can't play better. I tried everything. It's important to recover, I hope I'll be fit for Paris." Two other seeds were bumped in (5)Novak (l. to Lopez in three) and (8)Robredo (l. to O.Rochus), while three others rolled into the quarters in (1)Roddick (d. (Q)Elseneer), (3)Coria (d. (Q)Llodra 7-6 in the third), and (4)Nalbandian (d. Clement who retired in the first with injury). "I played a little bit better than yesterday," said Roddick, who has looked far from dominant this week, but now has a huge chance to close the gap between himself and No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. "I'm still not where I want to be, I need to step it up. It will just take one solid performance to get back on track. I hope to improve in the next couple of matches." Other un-seeds into the quarterfinals were the resurgent Henman (d. (LL)Zib) and Lapentti (d. Behrend).

The top three seeds (five seeds total) moved into the quarterfinals at St. Petersburg Thursday, including (1)Schuettler (d. Voltchkov), (2)Grosjean (d. Dupuis, keeping his Masters Cup hopes alive), (3)Kuerten (d. Hanescu), and (5)Youzhny (d. Kafelnikov in what was likely the former No. 1's final career match -- we hope). "I'm very pleased with tonight's result," said Youzhny in his best impression of a robot, looking forward to his QF match-up with the top-seeded Schuettler. "If you take a look at his matches, you will find out that he's a man who doesn't know what a mistake is." Un-seeds into the quarters were Sargsian (d. (WC)Andreev), and the hapless Burgsmuller (d. the hapless Vicente).

The wildcards kept rolling at Stockholm Thursday, with Swedes (WC)Enqvist (d. Carlsen in three) and the 19-year-old (WC)Sodering (d. Chela) into the quarterfinals. "I've seen that kid play, he sucks," said one Tennis-X staffer of the youngster Soderling -- sorry Sweden. "That kid needs to buy some game." Additional un-seeds into the quarters were Bjorkman (d. van Lottum), Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter 7-6 in the third), Sangui-nutty (d. Carraz in three), and Ginepri (d. Dent in three, saving two match points). Seven of the eight quarterfinalists are unseeded, save for (5)Fish. "He's tough, he closes the net so well, only a few other guys do that, like (Max) Mirnyi," said Minnie Driver's boyfriend of his countryman Taylor "Pudge" Dent. "He's probably got one of the top five or 10 serves in the game. It's a really satisfying win -- probably among my top five wins on the year -- and I was really happy with the way I competed out there and kept fighting, I think that's the most important."

Today's Quarterfinals:
St. Petersburg -- (WC)Corretja vs. (2)Grosjean (Spaniard leads 1-0, 2001 Roland Garros), (6)Spadea vs. (3)Kuerten (Guga leads 4-1, haven't played since 2000), Sargsian vs. Burgsmuller (first meeting), and (1)Schuettler vs. (5)Youzhny (German leads 2-0).

Stockholm -- (5)Fish vs. Ancic (first meeting), Bjorkman vs. (WC)Soderling in a all-Swedish (first meeting), three-time Stockholm champion (WC)Enqvist vs. Ginepri (first meeting), and (WC)J.Johansson vs. Sanguinetti (JJ leads 1-0).

Basel -- Lapentti vs. Ljubicic (series tied 2-2), Lopez vs. (3)Coria (Wizard leads 5-1), (4)Nalbandian vs. Henman (Argentine leads 3-1, including last two on hard and carpet), and (1)Roddick vs. O.Rochus in a first-time meeting (Two qualifiers and a Roach brother? Could A-Rod get a better draw?)

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Both seeds cruised in the only two matches Thursday in Luxembourg, with (5)Maria "Orgasmo" Sharapova grunting out a win over (Q)Arvidsson, and (7)Molik easily over the Spaniard Medina Garrigues. The "parity" of the WTA Tour was in effect Thursday at Linz, where the five seeds in action (all Top 20 ranked) moved into the quarterfinals without dropping a set. Among the seeded onslaught were (2)Sugiyama (d. Pisnik), (3)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Bartoli), (6)Pistlesi (d. (Q)Matevzic), (7)Suarez (d. Serna), and (8)Schnyder (d. Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova). Jelena Dokic also continued on her roll of confidence, outlasting Hungary's Mandula in three sets.

Today's quarters in Luxembourg match up as Weingartner vs. (3)Daniilidou (tied 1-1), Barna vs. (5)Sharapova (first meeting), (7)Molik vs. (2)Rubin (Molik leads 1-0), and (1)Clijsters vs. Loit (Lleyton's girlfriend leads 3-0, never losing a set).
The Linz quarters feature three Russians in Pistolesi vs. (3)Zvonareva, (1)Myskina vs. (8)Schnyder, (4)Petrova vs. (7)Suarez, and Dokic vs. (2)Sugiyama.

TOP 10 2003 LATE-SEASON PLUNGES
10. Jiri Novak -- Qualified for the Masters Cup last year, but couldn't get over the hump in his follow-up year, with a ranking consistently in the No. 10-20 range. Not bad, but not the stuff of champions.
9. Yevgeny Kafelnikov -- Y-Man again says he will retire by the end of the year, though this time it looks for real since he has stopped training, and trying.
8. Daniela Hantuchova -- Regularly hammered by the top players, The Walking Stick needs to use the off-season to see a counselor, stop crying after losses, hit the gym and eat some burgers.
7. Paradorn Srichaphan -- Crying after the Bangkok loss began the slide for the Thai, who couldn't come up with the goods in October to qualify for the Masters Cup.
6. Marat Safin -- Out most of the year with injury, back now but can't beat Vicente (see below), enough said.
5. Andre Agassi -- Firmly in the race for the year-end No. 1 until he chucks the indoor season after producing another kid with Steffi -- good-on the family man. Who wouldn't want to wake up next to Steffi at home rather than next to Gil in a hotel room?
4. Lleyton Hewitt -- Chucks indoor season to "concentrate on Davis Cup," doesn't qualify for Masters Cup which he has won two years running, nice effort Lleyton.
3. Fernando Vicente -- Breaks into Tennis-X Bottom 10 Rankings this week (see tomorrow); only gets press when accused of gambling on matches.
2. Ashley Harkleroad -- What happened to Anna 2.0? Injuries and high expectations.
1. James Blake -- Passed over for U.S. Davis Cup duty, then results and confidence took a dive. The No. 1 man behind Andy Roddick now finds himself behind Taylor Dent and Robby Ginepri -- put JB on a suicide watch after Justin Gimelstob passes him in the rankings.

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
How long is it going to take the ATP to wise up and re-introduce bonus points into the ranking system? Since when is beating Danai Udomchoke the same at beating Andre Agassi? Let's reward quality, put the targets back on the top players...The USTA is offering members 50% off of WTA Championship tickets in a last-minute bid to fill seats for the hurting event in LA. You can order by phone by calling 1-866-THIS-EVENT-BLOWS...From the ATP: "After falling to the elder Russian (Yevgeny Kafelnikov) in two previous encounters, (Mikhail) Youzhny's victory was regarded as a symbolic passing of the torch from the old guard to the new guard." Huh? Regarded by who? Y-Man practically said he was going to tank the match before it began...Alex Corretja is in only his second QF of the year this week at St. Pete...Roger Federer announced he will be launching the "RF Cosmetics" line -- which includes an Eau De Toilette, After Shave Balm, Body Wash and Deodorant Stick -- during the Allianz Swiss Open in Gstaad in July 2004. Take Roger to the toilet with you...CNN chose Pete Sampras among their Top 10 Athletes of All Time...Stefan Edberg beat Mats Wilander in three sets in an exhibition at Stockholm earlier in the week...Jiri Novak and Tommy Robredo have been eliminated this week for contention at the Masters Cup, with things now looking good for Carlos Moya and David Nalbandian to wrap up the final two spots (though Sebastien Grosjean is still in the race, Moya is for all purposes already in)...Andy Roddick can take over the top spot on the ATP Champions Race this week, but not on the real Entry Rankings...Brit tennis honcho David Felgate says that while Jeremy "Master" Bates is the new Brit Davis Cup coach, they will be handling decisions with a "team approach" much like the Spaniards: "We're going to have a selection panel for Davis Cup so it doesn't just sit with Jeremy. We're all going to sit down and discuss the merits of each player and who should actually be on the team. The panel will consist of four people -- myself, Jeremy Bates, Mark Petchey and another senior official slightly removed from national training, just to give us a different perspective. Ultimately the decision would rest with Jeremy, if it came to it. But I think the process of sitting down and discussing it will be a good one." What's to sit down and discuss? 'Uhhh, so Tim and Greg will play? OK, we all agree.'...Jelena Dokic wants to play the Olympics next year for Australia, but it looks like she will get shot down since she didn't play the obligatory Fed Cup matches, which are a prerequisite to Olympic participation. Sorry mate!