Henman Upends Grosjean, Guga Ends Philippoussis' Masters Cup Hopes; Harkleroad Pounded in Philly

Posted on October 31, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten led the unseeded charge Wednesday at the TMS-Paris where four seeds were sent home early. Guga saved five match points in upending (9)Philippoussis (who served 31 aces) in a crowd-pleasing 6-7(5), 7-6(11), 7-6(1) display that ended the Aussie's chances of qualifying for the Masters Cup. Seeds whose seasons were also ended included (7)Grosjean (l. to Henman in three), (11)Schalken (l. to (Q)Carraz in three, a French crowd pleaser), and (15)Mantilla (l. to Pavel). "To beat Grosjean on his home patch, there's an element of revenge," Henman said. "I would have much rather won one of those matches at Queen's or Wimbledon. But I feel like, as I said, my game is moving in the right direction. It was a great atmosphere out there." Seeds advancing were (3)Federer (d. (Q)Ascione), (4)Coria (d. Lopez in three), (5)Schuettler (d. Blake in three), (13)Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk (d. (LL)Hrbaty), and (14)Novak (d. (WC)Santoro 6-0 in the third). With Grosjean and Philippoussis out of the Masters Cup race, Paradorn Srichaphan must win the TMS-Paris title to knock out David Nalbandian (who pulled from the tournament yesterday with injury) in the No. 8 spot and qualify for Houston.

Today the seeds begin to meet at the TMS-Paris, with match-ups including (10)Massu vs. (5)Schuettler (Chilean leads 1-0), (1)Ferrero vs. (14)Novak (Spaniard leads 3-1), Bjorkman vs. (Q)Carraz, (16)Robredo vs. (2)Roddick (A-Rod leads 5-0), (13)Verkerk vs. (3)Federer (Fed leads 1-0), Henman vs. Kuerten (Brit leads 3-2), and Arazi vs. (8)Srichaphan (first meeting, must-win for the Thai). (4)Coria defaulted his match to Pavel today, citing illness and a high fever.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
No. 9 seed Meghann Shaughnessy showed Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad she has a long way to go in her development Wednesday at Philadelphia, pounding the blonde pin-up girl in straight sets. Other seeds advancing were (4)Rubin (d. Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson in another all-American), and (7)Petrova (d. Amy "Down Goes" Frazier, bagel in the second). "I definitely wanted to be the steadier player," said Rubin, who capitalized on Dr. A's spray-gun capabilities from the baseline. "If I can really make the points last, that gives me more opportunity." Two un-seeds also advanced in Weingartner (d. (LL)Haynes) and Raymond (d. (Q)Jankovic 7-6 in the third). Seeds advancing in doubles were (4)Pratt/Shaughnessy (d. Mattek/Osterloh), and (1)Navratilova/Raymond (d. Krastevich/Krivencheva).

Two of the three seeds in action at Quebec City moved on Wednesday in (4)Granville (d. (Q)Dulko) and (6)Bartoli (d. (WC)Pelletier), while (9)Grande was upset by the unfortunately-named Lubomira Kurhajcova of Slovakia in straight sets. Other un-seeds advancing were China's Zheng (d. Serra Zanetti), and (Q)Arvidsson winning the battle of the qualifiers against (Q)Mashona "Little Sis" Washington in three sets. Today's math lesson: WTA + Quebec City = killing the quality of tour-level tennis.

Today's shaky Euro-heavy line-up in Philly features Sucha vs. Petrova, Weingartner vs. Pisnik, Garbin vs. Sugiyama, Myskina vs. Pratt, and Cohen-Aloro vs. Mauresmo. Can I trade in my grounds pass for Friday? On court in Canada are Barna vs. Jidkova, Pierce vs. Benesova, Sequera vs. the homegirl Drake, Bartoli vs. Arvidsson, and Callens vs. Sharapova. Can I trade in my grounds pass for a real tour event?

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Meghan Shaughnessy's win yesterday at Philly snapped a five-match losing streak...U.S. Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King is pumped for the upcoming semifinal against Belgian, even with the U.S. fielding their "C"-team: "Probably (Lisa) Raymond will get the chance to play singles for the first time in her life, in her Fed Cup history. I know through e-mails and talking to her on the phone she is absolutely raring to go. And Martina Navratilova, only a young 47-year-old player, is back with us because of how well she is playing doubles right now on the WTA Tour."...Chanda Rubin turned down the invitation to play for the U.S. in the Fed Cup semifinals...Like the ATP with the ATP University, Billie Jean King would like to see the WTA Tour give their players some schooling: "I would like the WTA Tour to have a rookie school, a real proper rookie school that would really help the player get started off correctly. Even an older player can come back and brush up on how to do interviews, etc., understanding budgets and tournaments, and what a sponsor expects...I would like to see a very, very strict rookie school. I think you should have to earn a card just like the LPGA." You can send Anna to it, she can brush up on her award presentation skills...BJK also has some love for A-Rod: "Like (Andy) Roddick winning the U.S. Open, it's keeping us alive, which is fantastic. He's a great guy. He's a great team player in life, that's why I love him so much. He really is wonderful."...No singles player has ever successfully defended the TMS-Paris title in the history of the event...Doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi is not playing at the TMS-Paris this week, instead choosing to compete for India at the Afro Asian Games...Word is the oft-fighting Indian doubles pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (or "Lee-Hesh" as the Indians like to call them) will reunite for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and have not ruled out competing at a number of other events together...Roger Federer, who injured his back in a loss last week at Basel, looks real shaky in competing for the year-end No. 1 ranking, but says his physical condition is looking up: "I didn't practice for four days and I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I couldn't force it too much today...I kept the points short and didn't use up too much energy. Everything went better in the second set and I can play full out for the rest of the tournament."...Guillermo Coria is suffering from a fever at the TMS-Paris, and today pulled from his match with Andrei Pavel...After losing to Tim Henman at the TMS-Paris yesterday, Sebastien Grosjean threw his racquets in the locker room wastebasket, end of season...Speaking of racquet trashing, Austria's Stefan Koubek announced on his website that he will donate 1,000 euros to charity for each racquet he smashes on court in 2004. The oft-angry Koubek smashed three during his qualifying at the TMS-Paris this week, notably after squandering a 5-2 lead in the third set of his final match, then in the tiebreak being defaulted after smashing a third racquet. The beneficiary of the smashed racquets in 2004 will be an Austrian children's home. "At least then trashing racquets will make some kind of sense," Koubek said on his website.