Federer Foils Nemesis Nalbandian, Clijsters-Henin Looming
Posted on January 29, 2004
After losing his first five encounters on the pro tour against David Nalbandian, Roger Federer has apparently conquered his Argentine demon, posting his second straight victory over the No. 8 seed 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 Wednesday to advance to the Australian Open semifinals."It's really nice to beat him in a slam, you know," Fed said. "It always hurts double if you lose in a slam. To get him back at least once, because he also beat me at the US Open, it's nice. I'm happy to have beaten, you know, (Lleyton) Hewitt and Nalbandian on the way to the semis. It's only my second semifinals in my career. It's a very big satisfaction I have right now."
In the other Wednesday quarterfinal, No. 3 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero stymied the athletic game of unseeded Moroccan Hicham Arazi with a 6-1, 7-6(6), 7-6(5) win. The men's semis are now set with Federer vs. Ferrero, and Andre Agassi vs. Marat Safin.
In men's doubles quarterfinal action, the (1)Bryan brothers advanced easily over Brazilians Sa/Saretta, as did (3)Bjorkman/Woodbridge over (8)Black/Ullyett.
On tap for Thursday is the (4)Agassi vs. Safin semi, and the doubles semis in defending French champs (5)Llodra-Santoro vs. Argentines (9)Etlis/Rodriguez, and the (1)Bryan brothers vs. (3)Bjorkman/Woodbridge.
ANDRE AGASSI vs. MARAT SAFIN
2000 Tennis Masters Cup, Hard, Agassi 6-3, 6-3
1999 Paris Indoor, Carpet, Agassi 7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
1998 Roland Garros, Clay, Safin 7-5, 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
1998 RUS V USA Davis Cup, Hard, Agassi 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
On the women's side, (22)Patty Schnyder advanced to her career-first slam semifinal after (25)Lisa Raymond choked away the first set after serving at 5-4, then played a poor tiebreak, giving up a 7-6(2), 6-3 gift. Schnyder attributed some of her success to a grounding in her personal life.
"I'm very happy with my husband," said the 24-year-old, currently ranked No. 26. "We married a month ago. Everything is just fine. I'm really enjoying tennis. I love the sport, coming out playing, especially the Grand Slams in front of the crowd. It's very nice to have such a life."
Schnyder tours without a personal coach, relying on male hitting partners, and says her husband is a strong supporter. "We talk about everything, but he's not really coaching me," she explained. "If I have a problem -- if it's on tennis or personal -- we talk all day."
Raymond for her part put in an erratic, oftentimes defensive display. "I don't think that I've been this disappointed, you know, losing a match," said the 30-year-old. "I really, really thought that I had a good shot of really having a breakthrough here...She's in the same position, it was a huge opportunity for her. You know, she maybe handled it a little better than I did."
In the other women's quarterfinal match, (2)Kim Clijsters dispatched of (6)Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 7-6(9), but may have re-aggravated her ankle injury. "I'm going to come out here, get taped and see how it's feeling and test it," Clijsters said. "I'm going to have a week off anyway after this. I might as well go for it and give myself a shot."
Belgium will have a representative in each semifinal for the second successive year.
In doubles, the No. 1 pairing of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez have reached an amazing eighth straight slam final, beating (3)Huber/Sugiyama in the semis. In the Friday final they will meet the Russian pairing of No. 4 seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Likhovtseva.
Scheduled for Thursday are both women's semifinals in (1)Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. (32)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (H-H leads career meetings 1-0), and (2)Kim Clijsters vs. (22)Patty Schnyder (Clijsters leads 3-1, winning the last three).
AUSSIE OPEN MEN'S TITLES BY COUNTRY (OPEN ERA)
13 -- United States
6 -- Australia
6 -- Sweden
AUSSIE OPEN MEN'S MATCH WIN LEADERS (OPEN ERA)
Stefan Edberg 56-10
Ivan Lendl 48-10
Pete Sampras 45-9
Andre Agassi 44-3
MARAT SAFIN vs. ANDY RODDICK -- STAT REDUX
1st serve percentage -- Roddick 63%, Safin 54%
Aces -- Safin 19, Roddick 18
Double faults -- Safin 6, Roddick 2
Winning % on 1st serve -- Roddick 75%, Safin 74%
Winning % on 2nd serve -- Roddick 56%, Safin 56%
Winners (including service) -- Safin 60, Roddick 50
Unforced errors -- Roddick 55, Safin 52
Break point conversions -- Roddick 36%, Safin 36%
Net approaches -- Safin 34 of 49 (69%), Roddick 23 of 34 (68%)
Match duration -- 3 hours 23 minutes
DAVIS CUP WORLD GROUP NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED
The ITF has announced team nominations for the first round of the 2004 Davis Cup, to be played from Feb. 6-8:
Australia vs. Sweden
Venue: Memorial Drive, Adelaide, AUS
Surface: Hard - outdoors
Australia -- Mark Philippoussis, Lleyton Hewitt, Wayne Arthurs, Todd Woodbridge, Captain: John Fitzgerald
Sweden -- Jonas Bjorkman, Thomas Enqvist, Robin Soderling, Joachim Johansson, Captain: Mats Wilander
USA vs. Austria
Venue: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT, USA
Surface: Hard - indoors
USA -- Andy Roddick, Robby Ginepri, Mardy Fish, Bob and Mike Bryan, Captain: Patrick McEnroe
Austria -- Jurgen Melzer, Stefan Koubek, Julian Knowle, Alexander Peya, Captain: Gunter Bresnik
Belarus vs. Russia
Venue: Football Manege, Minsk, BLR
Surface: Carpet - indoors
Belarus -- Max Mirnyi, Vladimir Voltchkov, Alexander Shvec, Andrei Karatchenia, Captain: Sergei Teterin
Russia -- Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, Captain: Shamil Tarpischev
Morocco vs. Argentina
Venue: Salle Inbiaat, Agadir, MAR
Surface: Hard - indoors
Morocco -- Younes El Aynaoui, Hicham Arazi, Mounir El Aarej, Mehdi Tahiri, Captain: Karim Alami
Argentina -- Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian, Agustin Calleri, Lucas Arnold, Captain: Gustavo Luza
Romania vs. Switzerland
Venue: Sala Polivalenta, Bucharest, ROM
Surface: Clay - indoors
Romania -- Andrei Pavel, Victor Hanescu, Florin Mergea, Horia Tecau, Captain: Florin Segarceanu
Switzerland -- Roger Federer, Michel Kratochvil, Stanislas Wawrinka, Yves Allegro, Captain: Marc Rosset
France vs. Croatia
Venue: Les Arenes, Metz, France
Surface: Clay - indoors
France -- Sebastien Grosjean, Arnaud Clement, Nicolas Escude, Michael Llodra, Captain: Guy Forget
Croatia -- Ivan Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic, Mario Ancic, Roko Karanusic, Captain: Nikola Pilic
Netherlands vs. Canada
Venue: MECC Maastricht, NED
Surface: Clay - indoors
Netherlands -- Paul Haarhuis, Sjeng Schalken, Raemon Sluiter, Marin Verkerk, Captain: Tjerk Bogtstra
Canada -- Frank Dancevic, Simon Larose, Daniel Nestor, Frederic Niemeyer, Captain: Grant Connell
Czech Republic vs. Spain
Venue: Brno Exhibition Center, Hall B, Brno, CZE
Surface: Carpet - indoors
Czech Republic -- Jiri Novak, Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Martin Damm, Captain: Cyril Suk
Spain -- Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo, Captain: Jordi Arese
NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Apart from the second set tiebreak of Myskina-Clijsters, watching the two ladies quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon was no different than, say, taking out the garbage. The smell was not too good...Roger Federer had little trouble with David Nalbandian, and now has his eyes set on Juan Carlos Ferrero, who like the Argentine and earlier victim Lleyton Hewitt has a good record (3-3) against the Swiss...The Federer-Ferrero match will not be for No. 1 as the Spaniard must now win the title to reclaim the top position. With rain coming and Metallica hitting the high notes in a nearby concert, the roof on Laver began to close just after the start of the fourth set...Marat Safin in 50-1 in Grand Slam play when he wins the first set...Patty Schnyder's husband, Rainer Hoffmann, is apparently a former bodyguard and private investigator...Ever seen the Lleyton Hewitt toilet paper commercial here in Oz? It's pretty funny...Marat Safin has beaten four Americans already this event...Match times: Andre Agassi 7:23, Marat Safin 15:08, could be run-out-of-gas time for the Russian...The last time Andre Agassi lost to a Russian player was in 1999 (Yevgeny Kafelnikov, SF at the TMS-Canada)...Marat Safin beat Pete Sampras in his last match at the Australian Open, can he do it again to Andre Agassi?...Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga is trying to become the first Colombian to reach a Grand Slam final...Rain is in the forecast for Thursday...From the "r u kidding me" dept., that 14-year-old Aussie wildcard that got double-bageled by Justine Henin-Hardenne in the first round of the main draw, also got double-bageled in the first round of the junior girls singles event. That's 28-0 games lost. Nice pro start...Marat Safin is undefeated as a 24-year-old. Check it...Roger Federer has reached his second career Slam semifinal. Andy Roddick, a year younger, has already reached three...Canada's Davis Cup team that upset Brazil last year to lift the Canadians into the World Group will be reunited for its Feb. 6-8 first-round tie against the Dutch. The Canucks haven't competed in the World Group since 1992, and have never recorded a World Group win (and likely never will in your lifetime)...Marat Safin on having a cast on his wrist for the latter part of 2003: "What I had to do was just wait, wait, wait. I had nothing to do. I was a little bit depressed, so I went camping. I took a car and drove to the gas station to buy a map. I was going to Oregon, but it was too far away. And I had really good time...to think a little bit, no people. You need these kind of things...I went fishing eight hours a day, just sitting on the boat with our beers. Whatever we caught, we cooked and ate. It was really good for me. It made me relax and chill out."...Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga will earn more money at the 2004 Aussie Open than she did all of last year...Before Marat Safin walked off the court after his win over Andy Roddick, at the urging of television commentator John McEnroe, the Aussie crowd sang him "Happy Birthday." "I can't ask for anything else. It's probably the best birthday I ever had, especially when 15,000 people are singing. And especially after the win, beating No. 1 in the world, it's really nice."...Andy Roddick on losing the No. 1 ranking: "Obviously, it's a nice number to have. But, you know, I have...11 or 12 months to try to get it back before the year ends. No one can take away from me the fact that I was there and that I did have it."...CNN/SI's Jon Wertheim: "ESPN's coverage: When it comes to tennis, the "worldwide leader" has a curious concept of "world." Airing Lisa Raymond-Venus Williams for the second time at the expense of Lleyton Hewitt-Rafael Nadal -- the most egregious unforced error in a week full of them -- was as insulting as it was short-sighted."...Lisa Raymond's coach, another special friend in Andy Brandi, is the uncle of WTA tour player Kristina Brandi...Pat Cash and Todd Woodbridge have publicly questioned the focus of Mark Philippoussis in the wake of his surprising exit against Hicham Arazi, with Cash questioning whether Flipper was getting enough sleep while running around with celebrity friend Delta Goodrem: "It looked like he was up all night doing whatever...getting busy," Cash said. Woodbridge, always happy to chime in as the critic, said "I can't answer that for him, but if it was me, Pat Rafter or Roger Federer for that matter, then I don't think you'd see them doing that. There are times for fun, there are times for partying and there are times for other stuff, but there are also the times of focus and complete dedication...If it was me or any other player, I don't think you'd be focusing on those sorts of things Mark does sometimes." It's not you Todd, because you can't get out of the singles qualifying. You sound like my dad...What is the answer to the mystery of Lleyton Hewitt, who has won Wimbledon and the US Open, reached the QF at the French on clay, his worst surface, but cannot even reach the QF round at his homecountry's Australian Open?...Can more of his fellow current and former players publicly hammer Mark Philippoussis every time he loses? What has happened to that Aussie team comraderie?...Apparently Myrian Casanova, who some journalists have zeroed in on as an example of out-of-shape WTA players, has a thyroid gland problem...Over 3m (British) was bet on the Australian Open match between Marat Safin and Andy Roddick on Tuesday morning at Betfair, with odds generally running between 1.04 and 1.06, but some lucky "punters" managed to get as long as 21.0 on the Russian after he lost the first set, according to readaBet.com...If Roger Federer takes over No. 1 on the ATP Entry Rankings, he will become the 23rd player in the history of the rankings (since 1973) to hold the No. 1 position. Juan Carlos Ferrero, who also has a shot at No. 1 at the Aussie Open, was No. 1 for eight weeks after last year's US Open before handing the top spot to Andy Roddick...U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe dropped a shocker by picking Robby Ginepri over James Blake and Mardy Fish for the No. 2 singles spot versus Austria in February.