Roddick Survives in Memphis; Federer, Hewitt Roll in Rotterdam

Posted on February 20, 2004

Top-seeded Andy Roddick escaped a tough spot Wednesday night at Memphis, fending off a strong challenge from veteran countryman Todd Martin, securing a break at 5-5 in the third set for a 7-6(2), 1-6, 7-5 win.

"I felt physically strong at the end of it, I feel fine now, there won't be any ill effects for tomorrow," said Roddick, who tossed in 17 aces during the 2 hour, 20 minute contest. "It might be good to get my feet wet here in Memphis, and now I've totally forgotten about last week (winning in San Jose) and I'm just excited to be through. I was definitely trying to get used to the new conditions." Roddick won the Memphis title in 2002, with Martin a two-time Memphis winner. Roddick has won eight matches in a row since his loss to Marat Safin at the Aussie Open.

Other winners on the day in first round action were (2)Mardy Fish (d. Mutis in three), (6)James Blake (d. Moodie), and American wildcard Brian Baker (d. Dupuis). Today's packed Memphis line-up includes (6)Blake vs. J.Johansson, (Q)Niemeyer vs. (2)Fish, Gambill vs. (WC)B.Baker, (1)Roddick vs. (Q)De Chaunac (first meeting), Popp vs. Enqvist, (7)Ferreira vs. Tursunov, Malisse vs. Saulnier, and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. (8)Kiefer.

Top-seeded Roger Federer looked a little shaky in his Rotterdam debut Wednesday, disposing of Frenchman Arnaud Clement, who he held a 2-3 career mark against coming into the match. "It was a little bit up and down, we were both looking for our rhythm," said Federer, who stretched his winning streak to 15 matches dating to last year, tying his career-best. "There weren't a lot of good rallies really, the points always finished with an error which was a pity. I served pretty well and today it was enough to win."

Also advancing were the other three seeds in action in (2)Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Van Scheppingen), (3)Rainer Schuettler (d. Stepanek), and (6)Lleyton Hewitt (d. a jet-lagged Vina del Mar winner Fernando Gonzalez). Unseeded winners were defending champion Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. Sargsian in three), Swede Thomas Johansson (d. (Q)Ascione), and Czech qualifier Tomas Cakl (d. Bjorkman). "Going on court I felt very happy about being in Rotterdam where I won my first title a year ago," said The Beast. "I was looking forward to completing this first round match because it was a tough one. Now I am one step closer to repeating what I did here last year. It's exciting, I want to come out and play my best tennis."

On Thursday's schedule in the completion of second round play is (Q)Cakl vs. (5)Henman, T.Johansson vs. (6)Hewitt in a veteran battle (Aussie leads meetings 1-0), (1)Federer vs. Pavel (Fed leads 4-1), (7)Schalken vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter in an all-Dutch match-up for the home fans (Schalken leads 1-0), Van Lottum vs. (2)Ferrero, Nieminen vs. Costa, and The Beast vs. Davydenko (Davydenko leads 1-0).

Top-seeded Guillermo "The Wizard" Coria escaped the upset bug Wednesday night at Buenos Aires by gutting out a 6-1 in the third win over veteran countryman Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari. "I was a little tense at the beginning, it took me some time to find my rhythm," said The Wizard. "I think I won the first set because Squillari missed opportunities. It was a difficult match for me and I am happy I made it to the next round."

Not so happy were fellow Argentine seeds (5)Agustin Calleri (l. to French teen Gasquet) and (8)Juan Ignacio "Pee in the Cup" Chela (l. to (WC)Monaco). Also moving on was (3)Nicolas Massu (d. Volandri), who continues his fine early play in 2004. Finishing up second round matches today in B.A. are Saretta vs. Ferrer, (6)Zabaleta vs. O.Hernandez, Acasuso vs. (Q)Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience, and in an all-Spanish match-up, Sanchez vs. (2)Moya.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
All three seeds were through in a routine day at Antwerp Wednesday in (2)Kim Clijsters (d. Parra), (8)Silvia Farina Elia (d. (WC)Callens), and (9)Maggie Maleeva (d. Pierce). Yawn. Unseeded winners were Klara "Kouky" Koukalova (d. Safina), Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova (d. Daniilidou), the Ukrane's Julia Vakulenko (d. (Q)Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson), and Croat riser Karolina Sprem (d. Black). On tap for Thursday is Schnyder vs. Vakulenko, Maleeva vs. Benesova, E.Clijsters/K.Cljisters vs. Loit/Mandula, and Henin-Hardenne vs. Chladkova (which H-H pulled from this morning with a respiratory infection).

No. 2 seed Lisa Raymond (d. (Q)Voskoboeva) led the charge of four seeds into the quarterfinals at Memphis Wednesday, followed by (3)Maria "Orgasmo-grunt" Sharapova (d. (Q)Panova, who retired in the first set with illness), (4)Laura Granville (d. Salerni), and (7)Kristina Brandi (d. Svensson in three). The only seed left out of the "B"-player party was (5)Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad, edged 7-5, 7-6(3) by unheralded Argentine Gisela Dulko. Unseeded American Lindsay Lee-Waters also reached the quarters with a win over Martina "Nurse, We Need a" Sucha. Today's quarterfinals line up as Sharapova vs. Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, Lee-Waters vs. Raymond in an all-American, Brandi vs. Granville in an all-American, and Zvonareva vs. Dulko.

Five of the seven seeds in action were victorious in Hyderabad Wednesday, with derailments by (7)Maria Elena Camerin (l. to Widjaja), and (8)Lubomira Kurhajcova (l. to Jugc-Salkic in three). Advancing were (2)Marion Bartoli (d. Fokina), (3)Tararine Tanasugarn (d. (Q)Shahar "I'm Not Your" Peer) (4)Nicole Pratt (d. Serre Zanetti), (5)Jelena Kostanic (d. Douchevina), and (6)Jie Zheng (d. Tatiana "Poke Check" Poutchek). One other un-seed also moved on in the Russian Kirilenko, who beat top-seed-killer Yuka Yoshida. On court Thursday in Hyper-bad are Tanasugarn vs. Zheng, Kostanic vs. Pratt, Kirilenko vs. Widjaja, and Jugic-Salkic vs. Bartoli

ATP TOP 10 MOST TIEBREAK LOSSES
The Tennis-X best of the worst in tiebreaks out of the Top 100 players, as of Feb. 15, 2003:

1. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (CRO) 2-7
2. Radek Stepanek (CZE) 0-6
3. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (ESP) 5-6
4. Marat Safin (RUS) 4-5
5. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 5-5
6T. Mardy Fish (USA) 1-4
6T. Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 1-4
8T. Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) 0-3
8T. Victor Hanescu (ROM) 0-3
10. 3 tied at 1-3

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
More from former No. 2 Tommy Haas, who didn't fire an ace in his first-round loss this week in Memphis: "It looks like (the comeback) is going to be slow. I'm not happy or comfortable out there. There are too many things going through my mind out there." Time to hit the Challenger circuit, beat up on some scrubs...Five Americans have not been in the same Top 25 (as they were last week) since April of 1997...Taylor Dent on the American player camaraderie: "Nothing really bothers us, and we like to joke and mess around. It's good fun to hang out with the guys before a match. And if you happen to be playing one of them, you just give them a hard time and they'll dish it back to you. It's just fun."...Mardy Fish won the San Jose doubles title last week with best buddy James Blake: "James and I go to dinner almost every night. It's great to have a close friend out there." Now you both have someone to talk to while riding the bench for the U.S. D-Cup team...Talk about parity on the men's tour, more unseeded winners (3) have won more tournaments than any particular seed number (seeds 1-8) this year thus far, compared to the women where there has been one unseeded tournament winner, and the No. 1 seed has won a tournament four times...The Anschutz Entertainment Group submitted a bid to the USTA on Wednesday to play host to the Davis Cup quarterfinal match between the United States and Sweden from April 9-11 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, officials said...Lleyton Hewitt continues to rail against the ITF after Australia's surprising first-round D-Cup exit: "For the fans it is hard to imagine that within two months after you won that prestigious cup you've lost it already. But I don't have the idea that the ITF is listening to the players. For example they could consider giving the finalists a first-round bye."...Andy Roddick appeared Wednesday's night on ESPN Sportcenter's "The Hot Seat".. Roddick answered several hardball questions including if his pet rabbit's name was really "Stifler." Indeed, that's the name.