No. 1 Roddick Rolls, 2003 Runner-up Schuettler Out at Aussie Open
Posted on January 20, 2004
In the minds of many, nondescript baseliner Rainer Schuettler was going to have a problem following up his stunning Aussie Open runner-up effort and Top 8 finish from 2003. Monday in Melbourne was an early confirmation when the German was upended in five sets by 19-year-old Swede Robin Soderling, who came back from two sets back to put Schuettler's ATP ranking in a downward spiral. "I had a pretty tough three weeks now," said Schuettler, 0-3 on the year thus far. "I started in Doha, Sydney and now here. I didn't win a match. I always had chances but I didn't win a match. So it's a pretty tough month for me. But today as well I had, yeah, I was two sets up and I had break point, like it was five-all. I had breakpoint...It's just one or two points, yeah, that I didn't make it. So I lost the set, fourth set as well, I was a break up. Then I was down 4-2. It's, yeah, I don't know the reason, but it's very disappointed, of course." The German was one of seven seeds bombing out on Day One, including (12)Nicolas Massu (l. to Nieminen), (18)Younes El Aynaoui (l. to Blanco, retiring in the first set with a foot injury), (20)Tommy Robredo (l. to Gaudio in straights), (21)Mardy Fish (l. to "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in three tiebreaks without losing his serve), (29)Vince Spadea (l. to 1999 Aussie Open runner-up Thomas Enqvist), and (30)Arnaud Clement (l. to Davydenko, blowing a 2-0 set lead). Carlos Moya pulled from the event with a twisted ankle suffered over the weekend against Lleyton Hewitt in the Sydney final.
A foursome of strong American seeds advanced in world No. 1 Andy Roddick (d. Gonzalez), (4)Andre Agassi (d. (WC)Larkham), (27)Taylor Dent (d. Verdasco), and (32)Robby Ginepri (d. Luis "Me So" Horna), joined by fellow seeds (9)Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean (d. Youzhny), (13)Paradorn Srichaphan (d. Acasuso), (16)Sjeng Schalken (d. Carlsen), and (19)Gustavo Kuerten (d. van Lottum 8-6 in the fifth).
Other unseeded players moving into the second round were former No. 1 Marat Safin (d. Vahaly), Hopman Cup champ James Blake (d. Miranda), Frenchmen Nicolas Escude (d. H.-T. Lee), Jerome Golmard (d. Portas), and Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience (d. Andreev, coming back from two sets down), Americans Todd Martin (d. Dupuis in a patented comeback from two sets down) and Jan-Mike Gambill (d. Carraz who retired in the third set with injury), Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti (d. O.Hernandez), Aussie wildcard Chris "Penthouse" Guccione (d. (WC)A.Jones), Spaniard David Ferrer (d. Muller), Tomas Berdych (d. Mahut), Juan Ignacio "Just Say No" Chela (d. Labadze), Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. Flavio "Of Yesterday" Saretta), Croatian bruiser Ivan Ljubicic (d. Tursunov), Bohdan "Told You I Didn't Do It" Ulihrach (d. Burgsmuller), Slovak Karol Beck (d. Koubek), and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. Behrend).
TUESDAY AUSSIE OPEN MEN'S MATCHES
Tuesday's schedule of play for the men consists of (2)Federer vs. Bogomolov, (15)Hewitt vs. Mamiit in a mirror-image match, (5)Coria vs. Saulnier in an upset special, (3)Ferrero vs. Montanes in an all-Spanish, (26)Costa vs. Rusedski in an upset special, Arthurs vs. Karanusic, van Sheppingen vs. Morrison, Gasquet vs. Mayer, Tabara vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, (10)Philippoussis vs. former champ Thomas Johansson in the match of the day, (WC)Reid vs. (WC)Kutsenko, (8)Nalbandian vs. Ricardo "Call Me" Mello, (11)Henman vs. Lisnard, Kiefer vs. Volandri, (17)Verkerk vs. Corretja in a Spanish spanking, Weiner vs. Salzenstein in an all-American "D"-squad match-up, (14)Novak vs. O.Rochus, and the Aussie Luczak vs. Fabrice "I'll Cut Ya" Santoro.
Two Top 10 seeds were among six seeded players making exits on the women's side Monday at the Australian Open. Serbia's Jelena Jankovic ousted (7)Elena Dementieva with disconcerting ease, while Hungary's Anika Kapros ended the tournament for (10)Nadia Petrova, who is still recovering from a "buttock injury" suffered last week. Other seeds booking flights home were (16)Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna (l. to Santangelo in three), (17)Meghann Shaughnessy (l. to Pratt in three), (26)Tina Pisnik (l. to Fedak 6-0 in the second), and (31)Tamarine Tanasugarn (l. to Granville, winning only four games).
The top seeds showed the chasm between themselves and the lower echelon of players on tour, with (1)Justine Henin-Hardenne crushing Olivia Lukaszewicz 6-0, 6-0, (4)Amelie Mauresmo dismissing Chia-Jung Chuang 6-1, 6-0, and (5)Lindsay Davenport easing past Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie 6-2, 6-3. "I thought I went out there and composed myself well, fought hard, and she was just too good on the day," said Lukaszewicz after getting double bageled. "It's good to see where I'm at at the moment. And I'll go home and train my heart out to get there. I think I definitely learned that being No. 1 is a huge, huge, huge thing for Justine. For her to come out, she knew she was playing a wildcard, and she didn't know what to expect. She played it very well and she stayed with me and she didn't let me get into the match at all, which was good for her part."
Other seeds into the second round were (11)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Ondraskova), (15)Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova with a rare win (d. Adriana Serre Zanetti), (19)Eleni Daniilidou (d. Hopkins), (21)Elena Bovina (d. Kleinova in three), (24)Magdalena "Call Me Maggie" Maleeva (d. Reeves 6-0, 6-1), (30)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Perry), and (32)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (d. Asagoe).
Other unseeded players into the second round were Petra Mandula (d. Leon Garcia in three), Aussie Samantha Stosur (d. Talaja), Aussie Alicia Molik (d. Bachmann), Melinda Czink (d. Vento-Kabchi), Camille Pin (d. Garbin in three), Antonelli Serra Zanetti (d. Flavia "Of Monday" Pennetta), Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. Pelletier in three), Evie Dominikovic (d. Musgrave in three), Ludmila Cervanova (d. Dellacqua), Claudine Schaul (d. Perebiynis 6-0, 6-0), Mariana Diaz-Oliva (d. Jidkova), Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Cargill), Jill Craybas (d. Rita "That Wasn't" Grande), Cara Black (d. Callens in three), the down-and-out Barbara Schett (d. C.Fernandez), and Frenchwoman Emilie Loit (d. Marrero).
TUESDAY AUSSIE OPEN WOMEN'S MATCHES
(3)V.Williams vs. Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad in an all-American tussle, (6)Myskina vs. Arvidsson, (9)Rubin vs. Svensson, (28)Maria "Orgasmo Grunt" Sharapova vs. Martinez Granados, Ferguson vs. Ashley, Kurhajkova vs. Dinara "Marat's Little Sis" Safina, Sequera vs. Camerin, Barna vs. Drake, Douchevina vs. Zheng, Cassanova vs. Obata, (2)Clijsters vs. Weingartner, (8)Sugiyama vs. the vertically challenged Panova, (12)Suarez vs. Dulko in an all-Argentine, (13)C.Martinez vs. Brandi, Stevensson vs. Bartoli, (22)Patty "Nutty" Schnyder vs. Widjaja, (27)Amanda "What Have I Done Lately to be Seeded?" Coetzer vs. Snyder, and (20)Farina Elia vs. Nagyova. "I can't make it worse," Clijsters said about playing on her injured ankle. "I'm still a little bit scared moving around, but every practice I'm more relaxed and not thinking about it as much."
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Taylor Dent says the people like the serve and volley: "People come up to me all the time, and say: `God, it's so refreshing to watch you play. We see everybody playing the same.' And it's nice to hear because sometimes I feel like these people must be getting bored watching me just hitting serves and a volley and chipping and charging, and the points aren't very long."...Robby Ginepri is no longer dating actress Minnie Driver, and has a new Georgia girlfriend...Todd Martin said that Greg Rusedski's test did not show "performance-enhancing levels" of the banned steroid nandrolone, but has not exactly voiced support for the Brit: "I don't think the players have heard it as clear as they need to. Unfortunately the message has to come in dramatic ways."...Andre Agassi says family life will dictate his 2004 schedule: "I'm going to have to be pretty selective. I played 13 tournaments last year, kept myself in position to give myself a look at the big ones. And this year I'll have to do the same. I feel like I'm constantly making decisions. And with two kids, it throws in another variable."...41-year-old ESPN commentator and former player Pam Shriver is pregnant...Though he has still not announced his retirement, Yevgeny Kafelnikov has not played an event in 2004, and Russian countryman Marat Safin says he is fat and happy being retired: "Guys, he quit. Finished. You will not see him anymore. He is 105 kilos now. It's a lot of kilos, huh?"...Carlos Moya accused Australian Open chief executive Paul McNamee of unfair and treatment after the denial of his request for an extra day to recover from an ankle injury that eventually led to his withdrawal from the tournament. "It's unfair," Moya said. "If I was (Mark) Philippoussis, (Lleyton) Hewitt or (Andre) Agassi, McNamee would change his mind, for sure."...After his first round win at the Aussie Open, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty is 11-0 on the year...The heat is on, as temps are expected to get into the 30s (Celsius) Tuesday in Melbourne...Four of the five five-setters on the men's side Monday were of the 0-2 comeback variety, anchored of course by vet Todd Martin who orchestrated his ninth career 0-2 set comeback, and third on the Melbourne Park grounds. TM also saved a match point in that match...In 2002, there were eight 0-2 comebacks in the first round on the men's side...If Andy Roddick does not reach the fourth round he will lose his No. 1 Ranking...Martina Hingis is in town with a new squeeze, a non-tennis player at that...Claudine Schaul and Justine Henin-Hardenne both registered double bagels Monday. Schaul only needed 39 minutes in her win...A flock of scavenger seagulls seeking a bit to eat hovered over Melbourne Park in the late evening hours. The fruit bats have yet to make an appearance...At the TabSportsbet, Agassi, Hewitt, Roddick and Federer are the favorites in that order. One can get a Coria at 30-1. That's a good pick...The late afternoon folks who gather in the Garden Square in Melbourne resemble more a concert festival crowd than a tennis crowd. Party on...Mardy Fish never lost serve and won more points in his match, but still lost to "Dr." Ivo Karlovic...Marat Safin's win over Brian Vahaly was his first Slam win since the Australian Open second round last year. He also had 19 aces and no harem to speak of...Nice fly turn out in Melbourne, bring the swatter.