Roddick Rocks Dent, Agassi Advances at Oz Open
Posted on January 24, 2004
Roddick Andre Agassi faced toughest tasks date Friday at Australian Open, and end only strengthened their resolve to meet three matches ahead in the semifinals.Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi faced their toughest tasks to date Friday at the Australian Open, and in the end only strengthened their resolve to meet three matches ahead in the semifinals.
The world No. 1 Roddick, who would have fell out of the top spot on the ATP Rankings with a loss, make quick work of serve-and-volleying countryman Taylor Dent 6-2, 6-0, 6-2 in just 71 minutes. Dent began the match by breaking the US Open champ in his opening service game, but the burly American held his much-vaunted serve only three times during the match.
"I was just seeing the ball very clearly tonight," Roddick said. "When he would serve 205 (km/h), I was reacting well and I was on it. Even the last couple of matches when they have been serving 180 (km/h), I've been kind of lunging. I think I was just feeling it tonight."
Roddick, on a 10-match slam winning streak, has only been broken twice in the tournament and now plays Dutchman Sjeng Schalken. The oft-injured Dent, who previously survived a five-set scare at the hands of Juan Ignacio "Just Say No" Chela, has been troubled by hip problems this week.
Agassi's streak consists of 24 straight Australian Open wins after thumping nemesis Thomas Enqvist 6-0, 6-3, 6-3. Enqvist had a 5-4 career record against Agassi entering the contest but was no match for the four-time Melbourne winner.
Other seeds advancing into the fourth round Friday were (9)Sebastien Grosjean (d. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty), (13)Paradorn Srichaphan (d. (19)Kuerten), (16)Sjeng Schalken (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer), and (32)Robby Ginepri (d. Escude). In unseeded action, Todd Martin's patented five-set effort came up short against former No. 1 Marat Safin with a 7-5, 1-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 loss, and James Blake rolled French qualifier Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience, giving up six games. "He has a lot of experience, he knows how to play, he knows how to play big matches and he knows how to play big players," the racquet-slamming Russian said of TM. "He's been on the tour for many years. He also has a really difficult game, because he's serving, he is going to the net, like chip and charge. All the time he is trying to move to the net. He's also a big guy, so it's difficult to make him a passing shot. He has really good hands. Sometimes from the baseline he's putting you pressure. You never know, if you leave any balls easy, he'll go to the net."
The top half of the draw will have some fourth round testers over the weekend with (1)Roddick vs. (16)Schalken, Blake vs. Safin, (4)Agassi vs. (13)Srichaphan, and (9)Grosjean vs. (32)Ginepri.
Saturday's entertaining slate of matches on the men's side includes (2)Federer vs. Aussie wonderchild Todd Reid (first meeting), (10)Philippoussis vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (Flipper leads head-to-head 1-0), (8)Nalbandian vs. (31)Ferreira (South African leads 1-0, at 2002 Aussie Open), (3)Ferrero vs. Joachim "Lleyton's Sister's Boyfriend" Johansson (first meeting), (26)Costa vs. Arazi (Al leads 5-1), (15)Hewitt vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (first meeting), (11)Henman vs. Canas (Argentine has won last three meetings), and (14)Novak vs. Pavel (Pavel leads 3-2).
On the women's side, (1)Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. (30)Kuznetsova), (4)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues), and (5)Lindsay Davenport (d. Granville) all looked strong in advancing into the fourth round Friday without dropping a set. "I'm pretty happy because she's a tough opponent," said H-H in a typical vanilla post-match conference. "I won in two sets. Like I said, it's great to have this kind of match in the third round because I knew that, before going on court, I had to be 100 percent if I wanted to win. So I was feeling much better on the court. That was good match." Had to be 100%, fought hard, tough opponent, blah blah, thanks for coming.
Other seeds advancing were (11)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Pratt 6-1 in the third) and (32)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (d. Craybas 6-2 in the third), while three un-seeds moved on in Italian qualifier Mara Santangelo (d. (19)Daniilidou 6-3 in the third), Aussie hope Alicia Molik (d. Schaul 6-2 in the third), and Aniko Kapros winning the all-I'm-Hungary match-up with Petra Mandula 12-10 in the third.
Fourth round matches in the top half of the women's draw over the weekend will be (1)Henin-Hardenne vs. (Q)Santangelo, (5)Davenport vs. (11)Zvonareva, (4)Mauresmo vs. Molik, and (32)Zuluaga vs. Kapros.
Saturday's line-up on the women's side consists of (3)Venus vs. Raymond in an all-American, (2)Clijsters vs. Russian Dinara "Marat's Sister" Safina, (29)Dechy vs. Obata, the Russian (23)Krasnoroutskaya vs. the 15-year-old Russian-born Frenchwoman Golovin, (20)Farina Elia vs. Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, (6)Myskina vs. (28)Maria "Orgasmo-Grunt" Sharapova in an all-Russian, (9)Rubin vs. the Russian Likhovtseva, and (12)Suarez vs. (22)Schnyder.
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
According to ESPN The Magazine, Kim Clijsters weighs more than fiance Lleyton Hewitt...Venus Williams says she does her best to stay well-rounded: "I try new languages. I like to try to learn computer programs, like PhotoShop. What else? You know, fashion design programs, as far as technical drawing. I like a lot of music. I want to learn to mix. I play the guitar and the bass, but I want to learn keyboards. What else is on my list? I have things on my list that are like life goals, goals for 2004. So there's a lot of things I'd like to do. You know, I write. I write poetry in my spare time. Just different things that I try."...There's a rumor that Venus and Serena have started proceedings to get custody of their sister's child, but Venus would not comment: "Oh my God, wrong place, wrong time to talk about that."...Lleyton Hewitt says he's not aware of Kim's wedding plans: "I don't know any of that stuff, mate. I'll just rock up. She can organize it." Well said...According to BBC Sport: "(Greg) Rusedski's case will be given huge weight by three issues: the incredible similarities between his own failed test and those of the seven players cleared last summer; the unanswered questions that still hang over the first scandal; and a catalogue of earlier errors made by the ATP over supplements. The ATP has admitted that its trainers continued to give players nutritional supplements until May 2003, despite warnings as long ago as September 2001 that these supplements could cause a positive drugs test."...Karol Kucera accused Australian line judges of bias in his four-set loss to Lleyton Hewitt: "Even the linespeople helped him. I think it was a little bit on purpose."...Following John McEnroe's lead, now Boris Becker will host a talk show in Germany on the heels of his tell-all book...Brad Gilbert says world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne could not beat the No. 1,000-ranked male player on tour: "Justine Henin is a good little player, but she's about 5 foot 5 inches and about 125 pounds. She couldn't come close to beating one guy in the draw." But can you beat her Brad? Doubt it...Since the Andy Roddick-Taylor Dent match lasted all but 1:11 minutes Friday, several fans who came late, like an hour late, are probably still sitting in Rod Laver wondering when that match is going to start...Andre Agassi is an impressive 39-1 in third-round Grand Slam play...Lindsay Davenport has advanced to the fourth round or better in her last nine Grand Slams...Robby Ginepri, who has reached his first career Slam fourth round, has yet to drop a set and only dropped serve twice. Watch out...The Melbourne Herald Sun speculated Friday that Andy Roddick and Mandy Moore may have broken up...Amelie Mauresmo has lost just six games this event. Yikes...What happened to Laura Granville? She was up like 4-1 and game point on Davenport only to lose 6-4, 6-0, nice collapse...Paradorn Srichaphan has reached the fourth round in his last three Grand Slams...Melbourne was like 100 degrees on Tuesday, and Friday evening it was like 50...Andy Roddick hasn't won a title since the US Open. But each of the three times he has beaten his next opponent, Sjeng Schalken, he has gone on to win the title...Paradorn Srichaphan is one of nine active players with a winning record against Andre Agassi...Walk-up tickets could have been purchased for Friday's Roddick-Dent clash...Nice to see Leander Paes back on the court working the magic in a mixed doubles win with Martina Navartilova. Who has got quicker hands then him?...Andy Roddick has lost just 17 first-serve points the whole tournament...Prior to his match with Andy Roddick, Taylor Dent was a 60-1 shot to win the title in the Tab sportsbook on-site. That was below Blake (38-1) and just about everyone else. Don't bet against the bookies...Fabrice Santoro, ambassador of France, was fined $1,500 Friday by the International Tennis Federation after spitting in the direction of an on-court official during his second-round loss to Mark Philippousis. Way to represent.