Roddick, Agassi Into Quarters at ATP San Jose

Posted on February 14, 2004

While the "B"-level Americans struggled on Thursday at San Jose, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi showed why they are head and shoulder above the crowd.

Agassi held off the 6-foot-5 hard-serving attack of South African Weslie Moodie 7-6(6), 6-4, while Roddick had an easier time with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Belgium's Kristof Vliegen.

"I wasn't as concerned about how I can't return his big (first) serve that hits the line," Agassi said. "It was about what I was doing with the second serve. The question is, when you do get a look at the second serve, or when the ball's on your strings and you have a clean swing at it, do you put a good cut on the ball? Those are the things you look for, and tonight I felt good about them."

Agassi weathered 21 aces from the South African, and moves closer to a possible showdown with Roddick in the final. In their post-match conferences, both Agassi and Roddick slammed the ATP on the matter of helping players find safe supplements.

While Roddick and Agassi soldiered on, the three other American seeds in action all came up short in (5)Robby Ginepri (l. to Saulnier, who has a cold, after winning the first set), (6)Vince Spadea (l. to H.-T. Lee after winning the first set), and (7)James Blake (l. to Joachim "Lleyton's Sister's Boyfriend" Johansson, powered down by the big Swede in under an hour).

Quarterfinal action Friday at San Jose includes (WC)Kendrick vs. Saulnier (first meeting), (1)Roddick vs. J.Johansson (first pro meeting), (2)Agassi vs. Gambill (Agassi leads 10-2, winning the last seven meetings), and (3)Fish vs. H.-T. Lee (The Fish leads 2-0). "We were buddies in juniors and we played a couple times and there were a lot of tiebreakers in those matches," said Roddick on facing Johansson. "I knew it was just a matter of time before he would kind of come through and start getting some wins and he had too many weapons not to win matches out here. He's going to be a lot to deal with, he's going to serve huge and I just kind of have to try to play solid on his return game and kind of get him in when I can and take control from the baselines. I'm not going to get a whole lot of rhythm because he takes big cuts from the baseline as well so I'm going to have to pick my spots to aggressive because I know it's not going to be possible at all times."

Three seeds tumbled out in Milan Thursday in (6)Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (l. to Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic), (7)Sargis Sargsian (l. to Kucera), and (8)Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (l. to Youzhny). "We played in Auckland, just before Auckland and I lost 7-6, 7-6, but I also had my chances in that match, so I knew it was going to be tough today," said Baby Goran after beating The Prodigy. "I knew I had to be aggressive and attack his second serve, not give him any rhythm from the back of the court. He has a huge forehand, so I wanted to play to his backhand."

Two seeds moved into the quarterfinals in defending champion (2)Martin "Berzerker" Verkerk (d. Escude) and (3)Tommy Robredo (d. (WC)Ivanisevic 7-6 in the third), while other un-seeds into the quarters were Swede Thomas Johansson (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter), and Frenchmen Anthony Dupuis (d. (Q)Heuberger) and Gregory Carraz (d. Beck 7-6 in the third).

Friday's quarterfinals feature an unseeded bonanza in T.Johansson vs. Kucera (Kucera leads the series 3-0), Youzhny vs. Dupuis (tied 2-2), Carraz vs. (2)Verkerk (first meeting), and (3)Robredo vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (first meeting).

Not a whole hell of a lot of excitement in Vina del Mar Thursday, with all four seeds in action through to the quarters on the dirt in (1)Nicolas Massu (d. Levy), (3)Mariano Zabaleta (d. Ramirez Hidalgo in three), (5)Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez (d. countryman (WC)Garcia), and (8)Flavio "Of the Week" Saretta (d. Luis "Me So" Horna, who retired in the second set with the flu).

Today's quarterfinals line up as the defending champ Sanchez vs. (4)Gaudio (Gaudio leads series 4-0), (7)Volandri vs. (2)Kuerten (first meeting), (3)Zabaleta vs. Saretta (tied 1-1), and (1)Massu vs. (5)Gonzalez in an all-Chilean smash-fest (Gonzo leads 1-0). "Against Nicolas, it is going to be a great match, the one everyone is waiting for," Gonzo said. "We haven't played against each other in a long time so facing him here, in Vina, should be a great match."

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Thursday at the Paris-indoor featured the continued tear of 16-year-old Tatiana Golovin, the resurgent return of Mary Pierce, the emergence of Dinara "Sister Of" Safina, the freefall of Jelena Dokic, and the continued violent pounding of adversaries by No. 2-ranked Kim Clijsters.

The top-seeded Clijsters thumped Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-0, 6-1, while Pierce upset (8)Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna, and the qualifier Safina ousted (3)Patty Schnyder 6-1 in the third. Golovin received a walkover against Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova who was suffering from an upper respiratory infection, while (4)Dokic bombed out 6-0 in the third against Russian Elena Bovina. No. 5 seed Francesca Schiavone also moved on with a straight-set win over Croat riser Karolina Sprem.

"Today I played really well. I was really looking forward to going out there," said the 20-year-old Clijsters, putting her ankle injury behind her. "I felt that this week is the first three or four days that I could practice as much as I liked and with the intensity I want."

Today's quaterfinals at the Paris-indoor feature Safina vs. Schiavone, Clijsters vs. Farina Elia, Pierce vs. Bovina, and Golovin vs. Dementieva.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
American Robert Kendrick with the book on beating Taylor Dent (no, it's not 'Wait for him to get injured'): "I felt going out there that I've played Taylor a few times so I wasn't nervous. And I had a game plan and I served really well into his body and kind of took the net away from him and I guess I had more aces than Taylor and that's a really great stat for me because he's serves so well and he's such a great player."...Swede Joachim Johansson is known to his relations as "Pim Pim," unfortunately...Guillermo "The Wizard" Coria and coach Alberto Mancini parted ways this week, with Mancini apparently tiring of the travel...Monica Seles, who has had her foot in a cast for two months and has another two months to go, took heart from Marat Safin's comeback at the Aussie Open: "The way he was able to play so many matches was amazing."...The Argentines have declared open season on Vladimir Voltchkov for his comments (see quote box) on Argentines testing positive for drugs...Andre Agassi uncharacteristically slammed the ATP Thursday for not addressing the question of what players can consume during matches in hot weather: "The ATP needs to do something. They've removed themselves from the problem and left the players alone. We've had to speak about the issue, most of the time uninformed. To leave it all on the players' shoulders, only drink water...that's not an answer. That's not leadership."...Props to Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal for playing with the big boys this week in Milan instead of opting for the low-computer-point clayfest in Vina del Mar, where he would have cleaned up.