Henman Humbles Roddick at Paris; Pierce Ousted at WTA Quebec City



Posted on November 3, 2003

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
It will be an all-unseeded best-of-five final at the TMS-Paris, as Saturday Tim Henman continued his incredible late-season run with a win over new No. 1 Andy Roddick, and the resurgent Andrei Pavel outlasted No. 14 Jiri Novak in three sets. "He played great tennis today," said Roddick, who in one of his spastic fits hit himself in the head with his racquet during the match. "Look at the players he's beaten this week, it's pretty impressive. You know, I felt like I was in the match the whole way. I was this close to getting the upper hand. But he came up with the goods. So, you know, well done." Henman sees the win boding well for his 2004 campaign. "I look at it when I was at my highest ranking, I played some good tennis," said the Brit, who is seemingly fully recovered from his shoulder injury. "But I think if I play the tennis I'm capable of for longer periods, then I don't think No. 4 will be my highest ranking. That's what excites me, what motivates me." Henman beat Pavel in their only previous meeting at the 1997 Australian Open. In the doubles semi, Frenchmen Llodra/Santoro beat Bjorkman/Woodbridge in three, and will face Aussies Arthurs/Hanley in the final.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEWAnastasia getting evil in Philly (WTA)
Who can stop Venezuela's Milagros Sequera? Short answer, not top-seeded Mary Pierce, who was pounded by the un-seed 6-4, 6-0 Saturday at Quebec City. The Venezuelean will competed in her career-first WTA final against No. 2-seeded Maria "Grunt-o-meter" Sharapova, who came back from a set down to bear No. 4 Laura Granville. It will be the first meeting between the 16-year-old Sharapova and the 23-year-old Sequera. The doubles final will be (1)Callens/Tu vs. (4)Li/Tian.

In Philadelphia, No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo advanced to the final with a big comeback against No. 5 seed Ai Sugiyama. "I kept fighting, but it was tough to still believe in victory," said Mauresmo, who survived a 1-5 deficit in the second set, winning in three. "It's a big comeback. It was one of the best." In the final the Frenchwoman will face No. 3 seed Anastasia Myskina, who beat No. 7 Nadia Petrova in three sets, ending her hopes of qualifying for the year-end WTA Championships. Myskina has a 4-0 record in finals this year, but trails Mauresmo 1-2 in their career meetings. The doubles final will be Navratilova/Raymond vs. Black/Stubbs.

BECK CLINCHES YEAR-END NO. 1 ON TENNIS-X.COM ATP "BOTTOM 10" RANKINGS
(week of Oct. 27, 2003)
Slovak Karol Beck fought off long-time No. 1 Thomas Enqvist to clinch the top (bottom?) spot on the Tennis-X Bottom 10 Rankings for 2004. With a minimum of 30 matches, the Bottom 10 recognizes the 10 worst full-time players on the ATP circuit. Congrats!

Player/W-L/Pct.
1. Beck, Karol (SVK) 10-24 .294
2. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 13-27 .325
3. Portas, Albert (ESP) 10-20 .333
4. Vahaly, Brian (USA) 12-23 .343
5. Rochus, Christophe (BEL) 12-21 .364
6. Acasuso, Jose (ARG) 11-19 .367
7. Arthurs, Wayne (AUS) 14-24 .368
8. Kratochvil, Michel (SUI) 13-22 .371
9. Corretja, Alex (ESP) 14-23 .378
10. Burgsmuller, Lars (GER) 17-25 .405

NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Andy Roddick was repeatedly booed by Parisians during his TMS-Paris semifinal for his racquet-throwing antics...Tim Henman is 0-2 career in TMS finals...Jonas Bjorkman's defeat at the TMS-Paris brought an end to the Swedish men's streak of at least one singles title each year since 1973.