U.S. Women Cruise in Philly, Bomb in Quebec City; Ferrero, Roddick Win at TMS-Paris

Posted on October 30, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Only one upset Tuesday at the TMS-Paris, with No. 12 seed Younes El Aynaoui's season coming to end when he was forced to retire in the third set against qualifier and countryman Hicham Arazi with a heel injury. "From the beginning of the first point, I already felt it was not going right. I did some taping, but it did not work. I could have gone to the end of my energy and struggled, but this would have damaged my health," said El Aynaoui, who then lapsed into some very strange third-person-speak. "I thought I would risk making my injury even worse, and I would have stopped the progress of a player I like very much." Hopefully that was a bad translation. Seeds into the third round were (1)Ferrero (d. (Q)Mahut to the disappointment of French fans), (2)Roddick (d. Hanescu in two tiebreaks), (8)Srichaphan (d. (Q)Beck, keeping his slim Masters Cup hopes alive), (10)Massu (d. Costa in three), and (16)Robredo (d. Gaudio). Un-seeds winning in first round matches were Kuerten (d. Fish in a battle of last week's title winners), Hrbaty (d. Spadea), Lopez (d. Youzhny), and Bjorkman (d. Calleri). Today David Nalbandian pulled with a wrist injury, opening the door for either Sebastien Grosjean, Mark Philippoussis or Paradorn Srichaphan to pass him for the last remaining spot at the Masters Cup.

Today on court at the TMS-Paris are (4)Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. Lopez (Coria leads career meetings 5-1), Blake vs. (5)Schuettler (German leads 1-0), (Q)Ascione vs. (3)Federer (first meeting), (WC)Fabrice "El Mago Senior" Santoro vs. (14)Novak (Novak leads 3-1), (7)Grosjean vs. Henman in a Wimbledon rematch (tied 3-3), Kuerten vs. (9)Philippoussis (a must-win for Flipper's Masters Cup hopes, Aussie leads 2-1)), Pavel vs. (15)Mantilla (Spaniard leads 4-0), (LL)Lapentti vs. Bjorkman, the Frenchman (Q)Carraz vs. (11)Schalken, and (13)Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk vs. (LL)Hrbaty.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
No. 9 seed Meghann Shaughnessy led the U.S charge at Philadelphia Tuesday, easily moving past Germany's Anna-Lena Groenfeld to gain the second round, joined by unseeded countrywomen Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson (d. Talaja in three) and Lisa Raymond (d. (6)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva in three). "It made me feel good I was able to get through it. I had to use every ounce of my body," said Stevenson, toughing out the match while also fighting bronchial pneumonia, measuring her body weight in ounces. "It was good that I know I can do that when I'm not feeling well." American qualifier Teryn Ashley was not so lucky, losing a third-set breaker to Aussie Nicole Pratt.

Nice effort by the American "D"-squad visiting their neighbors to the north in Quebec City, posting a 1-6 record on Tuesday. No. 4 seed Laura Granville (d. Brandi) was the only American winner on the day, with losers including Brandi, (Q)Tu (l. to Seguera), Craybas (l. to Benesova in three), Cargill (l. to Jidkova), Taylor (l. to (Q)Dulko in three), and (10)Reeves (l. to Drake in three). Hey Samantha, you were the No. 10 seed and you lost to a Canadian, ouch. Who says the U.S. has no up-and-comers? Were the Williams sisters to retire, and Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles to retire with their chronic injuries, and Jennifer Capriati to retire to the buffet, the U.S. wouldn't qualify for the Fed Cup World Group. Others advancing were (7)Barna (d. Fislova) and Jheng (d. (WC)Marois).

On court today in Quebec City are Dulko vs. Granville, Serra Zanetti vs. Zheng, Kurhajcova vs. Grande, Bartoli vs. Pelletier, and Arvidsson vs. Washington. This is not tour-level tennis people, this is not good for the game, re-label this a Futures event. In Philly the match-ups are Weingartner vs. Haynes, Amy "Down Goes" Frazier vs. Petrova, Shaughnessy vs. Harkleroad in an all-American (H-Road leads 1-0), Raymond vs. Jankovic, Rubin vs. Stevenson in an all-American (Rubin leads 2-0), and in doubles Navratilova/Raymond vs. tongue-twisters Krastevitch/Krivencheva.

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Canada's Vanessa Webb has retired after four years on tour, choosing to pursue an MBA. "I'd really just had enough," said the 27-year old, who reached career highs of 107 in singles and 95 in doubles. "I'd always thought I would play four or five years and then go back to school and last fall, I just decided it was time. I was itching to use my brain again, and I didn't feel I was getting that much out of the sport anymore -- the costs of playing had started outweighing the benefits."...Lisa Raymond feels bad that Philly is struggling without any big names with injuries to Serena, Venus, Lindsay and Monica: "I definitely feel badly for the tournament, but for the players as well. Fortunately, we have Martina (Navratoliva)." That's a tough one when you bank the tournament marketing on a 47-year-old playing doubles...As expected, David Nalbandian withdrew from Paris on Wednesday citing pain in his wrist. Nalbandian is currently 8th in the Race and despite the withdrawal looks good to qualify for Houston. Jonas Bjorkman was to be the Argentine's second round opponent...Taylor Dent's recent coach Brad Stine has accepted a job as director of junior tennis at Copper River Country Club in Northern California. Stine also coached Jim Courier and Mardy Fish among others...According The Age in Australia, Davis Cupper Scott Draper has entered to play in the Queensland PGA event which is set to begin on November 9 on the Gold Coast. The 28-year-old who is currently ranked No. 97 on the ATP ESP, is one of the game's best golfers and reportedly just shot a 68 on the same course where the PGA event will be held. Draper plans to play golf professionally once his ATP days are over.