Spaniards Conquer Chennai, Hrbaty Wins ATP Adelaide
Posted on January 12, 2004
Spain made it a double Sunday at the ATP stop in Chennai when top-seeded Carlos Moya edged No. 2 seed and defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the singles final, and unseeded countrymen Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal and Tommy Robredo outlasted No. 1 seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 in the doubles final. "It was a good match and both of us played well, I am not disappointed," said the Thai. "I am happy to have played the final after saving six match points yesterday. The last time I played Moya I lost in straight sets. I broke him twice in the second set and I was leading 5-3 in the tiebreaker and had a chance but one can never tell in a tiebreaker." It was the career-first doubles title for Tommy the R., and the second for The Prodigy.Frenchman Michael Llodra went 0-2 in finals at Adelaide Sunday, dropping the singles final 6-4, 6-0 after a powerful display by Slovak Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, and the doubles final (with countryman Arnaud Clement) to the top-seeded Bryan brothers. The French qualifier in singles saw his big serve diminished by the windy conditions and the pinpoint returns of Hrbaty, who collected his fourth career title in nine final appearances. "Dominik played very good tennis and it was hard to play against him when he made so few mistakes," said Llodra after appearing in his career-first ATP singles final. "I struggled with my serve a little in the wind and the strong sun made it tough to play and he had much more experience in finals than I did." The Bryans have now won nine consecutive matches after winning all five at the Masters Cup doubles in Houston in November, and four matches in Adelaide this week. They are 15-8 career in finals.
When the smoke cleared after the implosions of big-names Andy Roddick and Tim Henman this week in Doha, unseeded players began scrambling to see who would take home the wheelbarrel full of money at the Oil Open. Sunday it turned out to be wildcard entry Nicolas Escude of France, who beat back the big serve of Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 7-6(4). Not exactly what organizers envisioned at the beginning of the week, but nonetheless a great return to the tour for Escude, who has been off for almost half a year after a hip injury.
The ATP stop in Sydney this week is the money shot, with a strong Euro-heavy presence, including former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt making his first tournament appearance since last year's US Open. Among the seeds are four Top 10 players in Juan Carlos Ferrero, Rainer Schuettler, Carlos Moya and Mark Philippoussis, along with Paradorn Srichaphan, Nicolas Massu, Hewitt, and Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk. Unseeded floaters in the draw are Hopman Cup winner James Blake, hot-handed Aussie wildcard Todd Reid, Adelaide runner-up Michael Llodra, wildcard serving machine Wayne Arthurs, Greg "I Didn't Do It" Rusedski, and Mardy Fish. Intriguing first round match-ups abound in (1)Ferrero vs. Aussie wildcard Chris "Penthouse" Guccione, Blake vs. Wayne "Walking Wounded" Ferreira, (6)Massu vs. (WC)Reid, (5)Srichaphan vs. Roddick-conqueror Jonas Bjorkman, (8)Verkerk vs. (WC)Arthurs in a serving throw-down, Rusedski vs. Juan Ignacio Chela in an all pee-in-the-cup match-up, (7)Hewitt vs. the fast-starting Sargis Sargsian, Fish vs. Arnaud Clement, and (2)Schuettler vs. hard-hitting Swedish qualifier Joachim "The Other" Johansson. Former champions in the draw are Hewitt (2000-01) and Karol Kucera (1998).
Monday matches in Sydney are Rusedski vs. Chela, (7)Hewitt vs. Sargsian, (Q)J.Johansson vs. (2)Schuettler, and (WC)Reid vs. (6)Massu.
If you want good media coverage, get a brewery to sponsor your event. The Tennis-X staff will be out in force this week at the Heineken Open in Auckland, where the "B"-level field will go unnoticed after the Heineken keg gets tapped in the press room. Guillermo "The Wizard" Coria finds himself seeded No. 1 at a tournament for the first time in career, leading a rogue gallery of seeds including Jiri Novak, Gustavo Kuerten, Sjeng Schalken, Vincenzo Spadea, Gaston Gaudio, Fernando Gonzalez, and Jarkko Nieminen. The No. 2-seeded Novak says don't diss Auckland: "This tournament is my heart," Novak said. "I won my first ATP title here. I'm back because I like this place and I enjoy this tournament." And the beer. While the majority of the ATP talent is in Sydney this week, Auckland still offers up a number of intriguing opening-round clashes in (1)Coria vs. Nicolas "When Will My Comeback Start?" Kiefer, (3)Kuerten vs. wildcard Spaniard Alex Corretja in a veteran battle, (5)Spadea vs. Todd Martin in an all-American, (4)Schalken vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, (7)Gonzalez vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, and (2)Novak vs. Xavier "The X-Man" Malisse. In addition to Corretja, wildcards went to New Zealand whipping boys Mark Nielsen and Simon Rea. Former champions in the draw are
Matches Monday in Auckland are Sanchez vs. Gambill, Malisse vs. (2)Novak, Gonzalez vs. Sluiter, (1)Coria vs. Kiefer, Pavel vs. Hemmes Jr., Muller vs. Serra, Ancic vs. De Chaunac, Moodie vs. Kohlschreiber, and Carraz vs. Beck.
WTA REVIEWS/PREVIEWS
The WTA Sydney stop, which began Sunday, boasts a huge field with eight of the Top 10 players (missing only the injured Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati), making for the some nice tennis entering next week's Australian Open. The top four seeds in Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, and Lindsay Davenport received first round byes, while contesting first round matches are seeds (5)Anastacia Myskina (d. Lisa Raymond), (6)Elena Dementieva (vs. Ansley Cargill), (7)Chanda Rubin (vs. (WC)Cindy Watson), and (8)Ai Sugiyama (vs. Nathalie Dechy in a tester). Potential quarterfinal match-ups are (1)Henin-Hardenne vs. (7)Rubin, (4)Davenport vs. (8)Dementieva, (5)Myskina vs. (3)Mauresmo, and (8)Sugiyama vs. (2)Clijsters. Jelena Dokic pulled from the event after reuniting with her father after getting dumped by her race car boyfriend, and her father subsequently telling the press how the Australian events are conspiring against her.
The three singles results from Sunday in Sydney were (5)Myskina d. Raymond in three, Vera "Warren" Zvonareva d. (WC)Nicole Pratt, and Russian Elena Bovina easing past Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna. Qualifying into the main draw were Jelena Jankovic (SCG), Myriam Casanova (SUI), Asa Svensson (SWE), and Ansley Cargill (USA). On tap Monday in Sydney is the top-seeded Navratilova/Raymond vs. Dragomir-Ilie/Pratt in doubles, Watson vs. Rubin, Schiavone vs. Jankovic, and Shaughnessy vs. Svensson.
The WTA stop in Canberrra was hurting even before top seed Nadia Petrova pulled out with the "buttock injury" suffered over the weekend in the Gold Coast final. Now the event is an even tougher sell, dropping off the media radar with seeds Paola Suarez, Silvia Farina Elia, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Petra Mandula, Emilie loit, Marlene Weingartner, Saori Obata, and Maria Sanchez Lorenzo. Try and get that one on TV outside of Australia. First round results from Sunday at Canberra included winners Arantxa Parra (d. (WC)Adamczak), Zuzana Ondraskova (d. (8)Obata 6-3, 6-0), Flavia "Of The Week" Pennetta (d. Gussoni), and Julia Vakulenko (d. Schaul). On tap for Monday are Farina Elia vs. Kurhajcova, Loit vs. Fernandez, Tanasugarn vs. Mikaelian, Dominikovic vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Weingartner vs. Obziler, Sprem vs. Mandula, Cohen-Aloro vs. Gagliardi, Santangelo vs. Arvidsson, and Panova vs. Kleinova.
Tennis-X is holding a contest this week with a free t-shirt to anyone that can pronounce the entire WTA Hobart draw without flubbing a name. Ready? Go: Keothavong, Voskoboeva, Medina Garrigui, Likhovtseva, Kuznetsova. That's about as exciting as it's going to get at the Moorilla International, which suffers going up against the talent-sucking black hole that is Sydney this week. The top seeds in Hobart feature no players inside the Top 20 in Eleni Daniilidou, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Likhovtseva, Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, Maria Vento-Kabchi, Shinobu Asagoe, Anca Barna, and Laura Granville. Yikes.
First round matches Sunday in Hobart included an early exit by (8)Granville (l. to Morigami), while two seeds moved into the second round in (5)Vento-Kabchi (d. Barbara "Could My Season Start Worse?" Schett in three) and (6)Asagoe (d. Callens). Three other un-seeds advanced in Kristina Brandi (d. (WC)Wheeler), Maria Elena Camerin (d. Cervanova in three tiebreaks), and Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Voskoboeva). On tap Monday are Zuluaga vs. Zheng in a battle for the last entry in the WTA media guide, Sucha vs. Reeves, Daniilidou vs. Garbin, Amy "Down Goes" Frazier vs. Likhovtseva, Czink vs. Stosur, Benesova vs. Washington, Rita "Ain't It" Grande vs. Keothavong, Salerni vs. Kuznetsova, Barna vs. Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad, and Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. Yoshida.
In WTA finals played Saturday, No. 3 seed Eleni Daniilidou beat unseeded Ashley Harkleroad to collect her third career title 6-3, 6-2 at Auckland, and Ai Sugiyama held her top seeding in the Gold Coast final, coming from behind to defeat No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova of Russia 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Greg Rusedski says he has the support of the boys in the locker room: "I have been very encouraged by the reaction I have had from people, I have had nothing but support. Even in the locker room I have been particularly encouraged by the players' reaction. They have been very positive and sympathetic towards me."...Former Rusedski coach Pat Cash, writing in the Sunday Times, has another view: "There will be few tears shed in the world of tennis over the predicament of Greg Rusedski. When a man has so few friends among his peers that he is repeatedly forced to dine on his own on tour, and is so fickle in his feelings towards somebody who was best man at his wedding that he can sack him as coach a few months later, there's not going to be any compassion in these trying times. Few characters can be as complex. Self-absorbed, yet extreme in his desire to be liked. The six months during which Rusedski became a factor in my life did more than any other experience to make me doubt my faith in human nature...When something goes wrong in Greg's career, he has to find somebody else to blame. Loyalty has never been his strong point. Greg has no friends among his fellow players. I found it difficult to get others to practice with him." So we guess it was an acrimonious split?...Amelie Mauresmo is not happy with the No. 3 special seeding granted to the No. 11-ranked Venus Williams at the Aussie Open: "I feel like I am being penalized because she was injured. It is a strange feeling and one I don't really understand but something I have to deal with. This is just the way it is. But I would like the WTA to show some consistency."...John McEnroe has called for the ATP to bring the hammer down on Greg Rusedski if he is found guilty of doping, and says tennis' drug troubles are another indicator of a need for a tennis commissioner (a.k.a. him). McEnroe added he thought there was drug use during his playing days, but "If you don't have proof you have to back off."...Marat Safin, looking good collecting the exo money this month, is still holding off on his tournament debut this year until the Australian Open, with probably an 80% chance he won't somehow injure himself before then...The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is turning on the ATP, saying their findings that supplements provided to tennis players by tour trainers might be responsible for increased positive nandrolone tests lacks "rigor and scientific certainty." Doping director David Howman said Sunday that the WADA was concerned that the ATP had exonerated players whose drug tests revealed between two and four times the permissible level of the banned steroid. "Our concern is that the theory they developed and on the basis of which they have exonerated these players may be incorrect," Howman told the AP. Things are looking up for Grinning Greg...Mervana Jugic-Salkic had to pay a $175 WTA membership fee before she could pick up her check for winning the doubles in Auckland Saturday -- since her ranking was so low entering the event, she had never officially joined the WTA. She and Croatian partner Jelena Kostanic had pulled off a huge upset, beating world No 1s pairing Paola Suarez and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the final. "I tried to keep playing tennis during the war but it was not easy," said Jugic-Salkic. "For the past nine months I have lived in Zagreb. But, yes, I consider myself a Bosnian."...John McEnroe admitted he unwittingly took steroids for much his career. "For six years I was unaware I was being given a form of steroid of the legal kind they used to give horses until they decided it was too strong even for horses," McEnroe is quoted on Monday in The Daily Telegraph. So that explains the Ben Johnson lower body and Petr Korda upper body...Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi are already in Melbourne hitting. Agassi, who is in town with his wife and two kids, and Roddick are both schedule to play in the Kooyong exo which starts on Wednesday. Also expected to compete in the lucrative event are Sebastien Grosjean, Roger Federer and David Nalbandian.