Moya Leads Top Four Seeds Into ATP Chennai Semis

Posted on January 10, 2004

Carlos Moya strengthened his standing as a hardcourt threat going into the Australian Open 10 days hence, advancing into the Chennai semifinals Friday along with the other top three seeds. Winners included (1)Moya (d. Ascione), (2)Paradorn Srichaphan (d. Andreev), (3)Sjeng Schalken (d. (5)Mantilla 7-6 in the third), and (4)Tommy Robredo (d. Lisnard). "Tomorrow's match will be very difficult but it's very good to be in the semifinals of the first tournament of the year," Moya said. "Every match at the start of the year is a difficult match." Srichaphan is within one win of a third straight Chennai final, while Moya and Robredo can make it an all-Spanish affair.
Match-ups for the Saturday semifinals are (4)Robredo vs. (2)Srichaphan (Thai leads head-to-head 1-0), and (1)Moya vs. (3)Schalken (Moya leads 5-3).

Tim Henman dropped the ball Friday at Doha when the No. 7 seed and highest-ranked remaining player fell to Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 in the third set. "It's a tough match to lose," said Henman, doing his best to add some insight into the post-match conference. "We both played a lot of good tennis and I had some good chances. When you play someone who is serving that well you have to take all your chances. It's a disappointing loss, but there is a lot of positive to take away from
this to the practice court." Joining Ljubicic in the all-unseeded final was French wildcard Nicolas Escude, who ousted No. 8 seed Agustin Calleri in straight sets. Escude leads the career series with Ljubicic 2-0. In the doubles final, (3)Damm/Suk eased past wildcards Koubek/Roddick 6-2, 6-4 for their second consecutive Doha title.

The underdogs were finally stopped in the Adelaide quarterfinals Friday, when No. 6 seed Jarkko Nieminen halted crowd favorite and Aussie wildcard Todd Reid in straight sets, and No. 6 seed Taylor Dent did likewise to resurgent former Aussie Open winner Thomas Johansson. The QF effort was the best yet from the teenage Reid, while Johansson looked strong during the week after returning from knee surgery that kept him off the tour all of last year. "He (Reid) is moving very well and not hitting so hard, so I tried to move him and just be patient and wait for good chances to hit winners," said Nieminen, who did not sound overly-impressed by the Aussie teen. "I was very aggressive in the beginning and then I got too passive and let him play a little bit." The semifinals were rounded out by two more unseeded players in Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. Saulnier), and French qualifier Michael Llodra (d. (2)Spadea). Also into the doubles semis were the U.S. teams of the Bryan brothers (d. Nieminen/Oliver) and Merklein/Spadea (d. Aspelin/Bertolini).
Saturday's semifinal match-ups in Adelaide are (6)Nieminen vs. Hrbaty (Nieminen leads 1-0), and (5)Dent vs. (Q)Llodra (Frenchman leads 1-0), with the doubles featuring Bryan/Bryan vs. Merklein/Spadea in an all-American match-up, and Koenig/Pala vs. Frenchmen Clement/Llodra. "The semifinal against Llodra is going to be tough," Dent said. "He's a very talented player with a big left-handed serve and he's probably going to serve and volley as well."


WTA REVIEWS/PREVIEWS
Unseeded American Ashley Harkleroad capped a marathon two-day effort in Auckland Friday, winning her second three-setter and total third match in two days to gain her first career WTA final. After winning two matches during the rain-delayed schedule on Thursday, in the semifinals H-Road outlasted Marion Bartoli 6-1 in the third set, successfully navigating a rain delay. "I think the rain helped today," Harkleroad said. "She was hitting winners left and right before the delay and my legs were tired. It definitely helped me today." In the final the American will face defending champion and No. 3 seed Eleni Daniilidou, who also won two matches on Thursday, and on Friday bested top seed Paola Suarez in straight sets. Suarez committed 44 unforced errors with 10 doubles faults, including three in the marathon first set tiebreak (15-13). The doubles final will be (1)Ruano Pascual/Suarez vs. the unseeded team of Jugic-Salkic/Kostanic.

It will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the Gold Coast final Saturday, though organizers were left wishing for more. No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova beat Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy in her Friday semi, while top-seeded Ai Sugiyama ended the dream run of Gold Coast homegirl and wildcard Samantha Stosur, whose inexperience shown through in the three-set contest. Stosur led 5-3 in the first set before losing 5-7, then in the third set was up a break 3-1 before dropping the set 6-3. The doubles final will also be 1 vs. 2, with Russian tongue twisters (1)Kuznetsova/Likhovtseva vs. (2)Huber/Maleeva.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The U.S. will face Slovakia in the Hopman Cup exhibition final. Slovakia made the final when Aussie Alicia Molik has to pull out of the event with a bad foot. Molik will be forced to decline her Sydney wildcard next week due to the injury...Venus Williams gave the old f-you to people talking about her hanging it up after injuries and being overshadowed by her little sis: "Sometimes life throws you punches and you have to get up, because if you don't get up, people will walk on you. Everyone wants to retire me, but I want to keep playing. I've spoken to Serena, and she's going to be in Melbourne (note: Serena later in the day pulled from the Aussie Open)."...Pat Rafter thought retirement would answer all his problems, but now finds himself directionless: "I haven't moved on (from tennis). It (a new career) is something I thought would just come and now I find I've really got to go looking. Otherwise, I'll just keep doing the same thing that I've been doing and I'll get more bored, if that's possible."...Kim Clijsters will be forced to pull from Sydney next week, missing the defense of her title due to a twisted ankle that may also force her to miss the Australian Open. Nah, she'll be there..Despite the drug cloud over his head, Greg Rusedski says he will still play Sydney next week and the Australian Open -- why not 'roid up before both events and try to break the service hardcourt threat going into the Australian Open 10 days hence, advancing into the Chennai semifinals Friday along with the other top three seeds. Winners included (1)Moya (d. Ascione), (2)Paradorn Srichaphan (d. Andreev), (3)Sjeng Schalken (d. (5)Mantilla 7-6 in the third), and (4)Tommy Robredo (d. Lisnard). "Tomorrow's match will be very difficult but it's very good to be in the semifinals of the first tournament of the year," Moya said. "Every match at the start of the year is a difficult match." Srichaphan is within one win of a third straight Chennai final, while Moya and speed gun record, what's to lose? Seriously though, look for Greg to come down with a back/neck injury just in time to pull from the Australian Open and not have to face the scorn from his fellow players.