Federer Wins, Faces Henman Next in Rotterdam

Posted on February 21, 2004

Top-seeded Roger Federer stretched his unbeaten streak to 16 matches at Rotterdam Thursday, edging Romanian veteran Andrei Pavel 7-6(2), 7-5.

Federer will next face Britain's Tim Henman in the quarterfinals. "I've got a very bad record against him," Federer said. "I lost five and won once; the one time I won he gave up after a set so he's really the last guy who beat me in an official tournament in Paris-Bercy. I hope he didn't start the streak and is going to end it. We'll see what happens but I'm looking forward to this match because it's always interesting to play him." Gentleman Tim tanking a match Fed? Henman leads the head-to-head with the world No. 1 Federer 5-1.

Other seeds into the quarterfinals were (2)Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. (WC)van Lottum 7-6 in the third), (5)Henman (d. (Q)Cakl), and (6)Lleyton Hewitt (d. T.Johansson in two tiebreaks), while (7)Sjeng Schalken fell by the wayside, losing to countryman "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter. Un-seeds into the quarters Thursday were Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Costa) and defending champ Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. Davydenko in two tiebreaks).

The Friday quarters line up as Nieminen vs. Mirnyi (first meeting), (3)Schuettler vs. (6)Hewitt (German leads 1-0), (1)Federer vs. (5)Henman, and Sluiter vs. (2)Ferrero (Dutchman leads 2-0).

The quarterfinals are set at Memphis, and they won't include (6)James Blake (l. to Joachim Johansson) or (7)Wayne Ferreira (l. to Russian Dmitry Tursunov). "He makes it so that it's not fun for his opponent," said Blake on Johansson's giant serve. "I really didn't feel in control very often. I felt in control when I made my first serve, every other time it's up to him, he could hit a return winner three feet inside the baseline or hit it 20 feet either. You really have no idea, he gives you no rhythm. On his serve, you're just guessing all the time. He hits it so big and hits his spots so well, so it's just not fun, especially when he serves 100 percent first serves in the first set, there's just nothing you can do about that. I wish there was, I wish I took better care of my serves, but I didn't today. I'm disappointed that the two indoor tournaments ended the same way and I couldn't figure out how to get on his serve."

Moving into the quarters Thursday were (1)Andy Roddick (d. (Q)De Chaunac), (2)Mardy Fish (d. (Q)Niemeyer in three), (8)Nicolas Kiefer showing signs of life (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer in three), resurgent Swede Thomas Enqvist (d. Popp in three), waffle surprise Xavier Malisse (d. Saulnier), and Jan-Mike Gambill (d. (WC)B.Baker). Friday's quarterfinal line-up is J.Johansson vs. Malisse (first meeting), Gambill vs. (8)Kiefer (American leads 4-1), Tursunov vs. (2)Fish (The Fish leads 1-0), and (1)Roddick vs. Enqvist (tied 1-1).

No. 2 seed Carlos Moya escaped Thursday against countryman David Sanchez in Buenos Aires, edging the Spaniard 7-6 in the third set to eek into the quarters. Results of other second round matches included (6)Mariano Zabaleta (d. O.Hernandez), Spaniard Dave Ferrer (d. Flavio "Of Yesterday" Saretta in three), and Argentine Jose Acasuso (d. Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience). Friday's QF line up is (3)Massu vs. Gasquet, (1)Coria vs. (WC)Monaco in an all-Argentina, Ferrer vs. Acasuso, and (6)Zabaleta vs. (2)Moya (Moya leads 3-1).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Both seeds in action moved into the quarterfinals at Antwerp Thursday, without a world-beater in sight in (5)Patty Schnyder (d. Vakulenko in three) and (9)Maggie Maleeva (d. (Q)Benesova). This event has collapsed with no Williams sisters and the pull-out of Justine Henin-Hardenne with illness, and now the title is Kim Clijsters' for the taking. Two un-seeds also moved into the quarters in Swiss Myriam Casanova (d. Pisnik in three) and bouncing Czech Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova. Friday's QF match-ups are Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. Casanova, Schnyder vs. Farina Elia, Chladkova vs. Sprem, and Maleeva vs. K.Clijsters. Wake us for the Clijsters vs. pounding-victim final.

Everything went according to form in the low-powered quarterfinals at Memphis, with winners including (1)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Dulko), (2)Lisa Raymond (d. Lee-Waters in three after wining the first set 6-0), (3)Maria "Orgasmo-grunt" Sharapova (d. (6)Amy "Down Goes" Frazier), and (4)Laura Granville (d. (7)Brandi). Friday's semis are an all-Russian in (1)Zvonareva vs. (3)Sharapova (first meeting), and the all-American in (4)Granville vs. (2)Raymond (first meeting).

Things keep chugging along at Hyderabad, unfortunately, with four players moving into the semifinals in (2)Marion Bartoli (d. Jugic-Salkic), (3)Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. (6)Zheng), (4)Nicole Pratt (d. (5)Kostanic), and unseeded Russian Maria Kirilenko (d. Widjaja). The winner of this Tier III event gets $100 and buy-one-get-one-free coupon at Waffle House. But they can't use it because there is no Waffle House in India.

Friday in Hyper-bad features (4)Pratt vs. (2)Bartoli, and Kirilenko vs. (3)Tanasugarn. How great is this event? According to NDTV.com: "The Hyderabad WTA Open has not been a happy hunting ground for the Indian challenge. With all four Indian girls crashing out in the first round itself, the tournament is being played out before empty stands. The tennis stadium can accommodate over 3,000 spectators. However, there are hardly 100 people here to watch this international tournament." Nice.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Leighton Ginn writing in The Desert Sun: "Earlier this week, ATP Europe head Horst Klosterkemper suggested that tennis should play shorter sets as part of changes tennis needs to be more appealing to TV. 'We should not stick to tradition so much,' Klosterkemper said. 'We have to ask the fans and the media which rules have to be changed and how we can present ourselves better.' Well, since you asked the media for their suggestion, here's one guy's idea: Get a new head of ATP Europe."...Roger Federer wants a coach, but even though he has expressed an interest in Andre Agassi's coach Darren Cahill, he would not poach on another's coach: "It would be like approaching the girlfriend of another guy and asking her to go out with me...no, I wouldn't do that." Do it! The old man is near retirement anyway. Better yet, steal Brad Gilbert from Andy Roddick. That coaching relationship would last about an hour, "Beej" would drive Fed nuts...Whoever created this site is our immediate friend: http://tennisangels.com/home.html...French 16-year-old Tatiana Golovin broke into the Top 100 this week...Former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek has confirmed that he will compete in the Liverpool International grasscourt exhibition in June...Thomas Enqvist on countryman Joachim Johansson, who consistently pounds the serve in the 135-140 mph range: "At the Davis Cup he looked at the radar gun after every single serve he hit," laughed Enqvist. "When you're 30 (years old) you don't really do that anymore. Me and (Jonas) Bjorkman, we just try to win the point, we don't really care how fast we hit it. And he plays with a really small racquet, a very thin, tightly strung Head Prestige. Imagine if he played with Roddick's racquet, a wide one, you'd have to give him a special license." Give J.J. a Babolat and it would be lights out for the serve speed record.