Verkerk, Srichaphan Upended at ATP Rotterdam

Posted on February 19, 2004

Two seeds were sent out in Rotterdam Tuesday, with Fin Jarkko Nieminen ousting No. 8 seed and homecountry favorite Martin "Berzerker" Verkerk in three sets, and Russian fastcourt specialist Nikolay Davydenko taming No. 4 Paradorn "Thai Fighter" Srichaphan.

"It's always difficult to play Martin Verkerk, he is one of the biggest servers in the world," said Nieminen, one of the most underrated returners on tour. "You have to break him and you feel big pressure in your own service games. I was serving pretty well and I'm pretty satisfied with the way I played. I was expecting to finish the match in the second set but then he started to serve even better in the tiebreak." Nieminen extended his domination over Verkerk to 3-1 career, while the Thai Srichaphan continues to struggle in general in the early goings of 2004, and will be hard-pressed to follow-up on his Top 10 2003 effort.

"I didn't start the match well, I was two breaks down," Srichaphan said. "I feel like I'm moving very slow but Davydenko played well. I lost my serve in the beginning of the second set and that made it very difficult to come back. It was very difficult to play the first match in Europe. I tried my best but he controlled the match and was supposed to win." Nice attitude Thai Fighter.

No. 5 Tim Henman (d. Robredo) was the only seeded player through on the day, joined by un-seeds Andrei Pavel of Romania (d. Youzhny in three), former slam winner "Brother Al" Costa (d. (Q)Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger), and Dutch homeboy "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter (d. (WC)Corretja). On Wednesday's schedule is Sargsian vs. defending champ Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, (3)Schuettler vs. Stepanek (Stepanek leads 3-1), Gonzalez vs. (6)Hewitt (tied 1-1), Van Scheppingen vs. (2)Ferrero, (1)Federer vs. Clement (Frenchman leads 3-2), Bjorkman vs. (Q)Cakl, and (Q)Ascione vs. T.Johansson.

Taylor Dent's early-year troubles continued at Memphis Tuesday when the defending champion and No. 3 seed was booted in the opening round by former tour force Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6(6), 6-3. "On the way up here (to the post-match interview room) I was trying to recount why I lost my serve three times," said Dent, who also broke Gambill twice in a row in the first set. "In the first one, I think he basically hit three winner returns, or returns I was unable to control and then I hit a double fault. I don't know what's going on with me not being able to hold serve, is the bottom line. You look at Andy (Roddick), he lost his serve once during the whole week in San Jose, and I think that was the third game of the tournament. So it's something I'm working on."

Dent was up a mini-break 4-2 in the tiebreak, and had two set points on Gambill at 6-4 in the tiebreak before dropping the first set. Gambill had lost to Dent in the second round in Memphis last year and at Wimbledon in 2002. Two seeds advanced into the second round at the expense of Americans in (7)Wayne Ferreira (d. (WC)B.Bryan) and (8)Nicolas Kiefer (d. (Q)Taino in three), while other unseeded winners were Austria's Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. Vahaly 7-6 in the third), Russian comer Dmitry Tursunov (d. C.Rochus), and Canadian qualifier Frederik Niemeyer (d. Burgsmuller). Some journalists showed concern at the advancement of Nieminen, saying that a Canadian in the second round of singles at a tour event is the first sign of the coming apocalypse.

On tap Wednesday in Memphis are (6)Blake vs. Moodie, Mutis vs. (2)Fish, (1)Roddick vs. veteran T.Martin in an all-American (A-Rod leads the series 2-1, but Martin won their last meeting last year at the TMS-Miami), and surprise Milan winner Anthony Dupuis of France vs. (WC)B.Baker. In doubles, the top-seeded Bryan brothers take on compatriots Ginepri/MacPhie.

Argentineans went 7-1 on Tuesday in Buenos Aires with the rain-backed-up schedule, including (5)Augustine Calleri (d. Blanco), (6)Mariano Zabaleta (d. Lisnard), (8)Juan Ignacio "I Didn't Do It" Chela (d. (Q)G.Lapentti), wildcard Juan Monaco (d. N.Lapentti), wildcard Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari (d. (Q)M.Lopez), qualifier Diego Moyano (d. O.Hernandez in three), and Juan Acasuso (d. countryman (7)Gaudio, saving two match points). That's a lot of ARG for the ticket price. "Winning the tournament is hard because the level is high and everybody is capable of winning," Zabaleta said. Yeah, if there's an ARG after your name in the draw. "But I am very pleased with the way I played today and look forward to my next round."

Other winners were (2)Carlos Moya (d. Levy), French qualifier Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience (d. Portas), Brazil's Flavio "Of the Week" Saretta (d. Behrend), and "B"-level Spaniards Dave Sanchez (d. countryman Ramirez Hidalgo 6-1 in the third) and Dave Ferrer (d. (4)Kuerten). "I arrived very late at the tournament so it was difficult to prepare," Guga said after the loss. "Sanchez played a great match from the beginning and I couldn't respond. I knew I wasn't going to play my best tennis in this match because I am feeling sick. I hurt all over my body and I feel very tired. I wanted to play however because I didn't want to disappoint the people coming to watch me. I am taking medicines now and the most important is to get better." Today is back to low-key in B.A. with four matches in (WC)Monaco vs. (8)Chela in an all-ARG (first meeting), (3)Massu vs. Volandri (Italian leads 2-0), Gasquet vs. (5)Calleri (first meeting), and in the night headliner, (1)Guillermo "The Wizard" Coria vs. (WC)Squillari in another all-ARG (the Wizard leads 2-0).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two of the three seeds in action were doused in Antwerp Tuesday in (7)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (l. to Sprem), and (10)Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna (l. to (Q)Klara "Kouky" Koukalova), both in straight sets.

No. 8 seed Silvia Farina Elia (d. Sanchez Lorenzo) went through to the second round, as did un-seeds Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (d. Gagliardi 6-0, 6-0), Spain's Arantxa "Not That Arantxa" Parra (d. (WC)Elke Clijsters in straights), and Zimbabwe's Cara Black (d. (Q)Ondraskova in three). On today's agenda in the 'twerp are Koukalova vs. Safina, Parra vs. K.Clijsters, Callens vs. Farina Elia, Maleeva vs. Pierce, Stevenson vs. Vakulenko, Benesova vs. Daniilidou, and Black vs. Sprem.

No trouble for the four seeds in action at Memphis Tuesday, with No. 1 Vera "Warren" Zvonareva over Tathiana Garbin, No. 3 Maria "Grunt-o-meter" Sharapova easing by Conchita "Not That Conchita" Martinez Granados, No. 6 Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier pounding Alina Jidkova, and No. 7 Kristina Brandi feeding American Carly Gullickson the old double bagel. Double ouch. Other winners were Russian qualifier Galina Voskoboeva (d. Arvidsson 6-1 in the third), Argentina's Gisela Dulko (d. (Q)Gajdosova), Sweden's Asa Svensson (d. Perry), and another Argentine in Maria Emilia Salerni (d. Snyder). That's 0-3 for Americans on the day if you are counting, but you're probably wisely taking a nap until the semifinals, unlike us. On court Wednesday in Memphis are Sharapova vs. Panova, Voskoboeva vs. Raymond, Dulko vs. Harkleroad, Brandi vs. Svensson, Lee-Waters vs. Sucha, and Salerni vs. Granville.

A crapload of crappy results from the Tier XIX event in Hyderabad Tuesday, with all four seeds in action posting "W"s in (2)Marion Bartoli (d. (Q)Bhambri), (3)Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Kulikovskaya), (4)Nicole Pratt (d. (WC)Mirza in three), and (7)Maria Elena Camerin (d. Rodionova in three). Six unseeded players moved into the second round in Israeli qualifier Shahar "You're not My" Peer (d. Tian Tian "Here Comes the" Sun), Mervana Jugic-Salkic (d. Yan in three), Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja (d. (Q)Barbara "Use the" Schwartz), Russian Vera Douchevina (d. Groenefeld), Belarus' Tatiana "Poke Check" Poutchek (d. Dragomir Ilie), and Russian Maria Kirilenko (d. (Q)Uberoi). On tap for Wednesday in Hyper-bad: Widjaja vs. Camerin, Fokina vs. Bartoli, Tanasugarn vs. Peer, Kurhajcova vs. Jugic-Salkic, Ad.Serra Zanetti vs. Pratt, Kostanic vs. Douchevina, Yoshida vs. Kirilenko, and Poutchek vs. Zheng. ESPN will be clamoring to show that line-up. Soon to come: our petition to demote Hyper-bad to a minor league event for 2005.

ATP MULTIPLE ROTTERDAM WINNERS
Nine individuals or teams have won the Rotterdam title twice, but no team or individual has won it three times since the first year in 1974:

2--David Adams/John Laffnie de Jager (2000-99)
2--Arthur Ashe (1976-75)
2--Jimmy Connors (1981,'78)
2--Stefan Edberg (1988-87)
2--Jacco Eltingh/Paul Haarhuis (1998-97)
2--Nicolas Escude (2002-01)
2--Bob Hewitt/Frew McMillan (1975-74)
2--Richard Krajicek (1997,'95)
2--Miloslav Mecir (1985,'82)

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
WTA Antwerp organizers have given Justine Henin-Hardenne an amazingly-late Thursday start since she is recovering from a throat infection: "I am not going to tell you how long I have been on antibiotics, but it is over now and I resumed practice for the first time on Sunday after several days of forced rest. I needed time to recover and that is why I asked to start playing here on Thursday. The tournament granted me that possibility and that is fine with me, even if I'll have to play four matches in four days now, if I reach the final...Let's be frank -- this tournament is played in Belgium and that is why I am here. It's important for me to be here, of course, for the public and so on, but sports-wise it is not the best thing for me." Oh the martyrdom. Think Silvia Farine Elia would have got the Thursday start?...Roger Federer puts his 14-match winning streak on the line today in Rotterdam...Alex Corretja is on the anti-ATP warpath again, saying that most players support Greg Rusedski, and that if the Brit loses his court case, the Spaniard would participate in a boycott: "I'd sign a petition for him. This could happen to any player and I would like to have my fellow player doing that for me...This is tennis, everyone does what he wants, you have a lot of different interests and cultures working against each other."...Austria's Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer Tuesday in Memphis: "It was really important for me to win today. After losing to (Robby) Ginepri in the Davis Cup after two sets to love up and losing last week in three sets, it's always tough hanging in there. But at least, if you win one, hopefully it will go the other way round. Maybe I went through the point where you win the close matches...I love playing in the States, I don't know why. I always feel comfortable here, I played semis last year in Houston, did well at the US Open, so I enjoy it here. It's always a little bit crowded, the crowd get into it, so I'm coming back for Indian Wells and Miami." After dumping the Davis Cup match after leading Ginepri 2-0 sets, I'm sure the U.S. could wrangle you a visa...In an effort to keep tennis journalists on their toes, the crack WTA Tour Communications Dept. on Tuesday sent out the results for Antwerp labeled as Memphis...Elena Dementieva pulled from Antwerp with a shoulder injury...Kim Clijsters and little sis Elke are playing doubles together this week in Antwerp...Delray Beee-otch, Florida, is bidding for the April 9-11 quarterfinal Davis Cup tie against Sweden...Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe and Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison will coach the U.S. Olympic tennis players at the Athens Games.