Henin-Hardenne Improves to 15-0 in 2004 at WTA Doha

Posted on March 5, 2004

Top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne improved her 2004 win-loss record to an impressive 15-0 Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Maria Vento-Kabchi in her opening match at Doha.

"I was a bit slow to start and my shots were very short," Henin-Hardenne said. "I was also playing far behind the baseline. It takes time to get used to the court. Dubai was slow and this is very fast. The first match is always difficult for me. I was in big trouble after two breaks down in the first set. But I knew I could break back." Henin-Hardenne will now meet France's Nathalie Dechy in the quarterfinals.

Two seeds fell by the wayside Wednesday when (4)Ai Sugiyama was beaten by red-hot American Meghann Shaughnessy, and the wayward (6)Jelena Dokic was upended by China's Jie Zheng. Other players advancing into the third round were (2)Jennifer Capriati (d. Li), (3)Anastasia Myskina (d. Likhovtseva in a three-set all-Russian showdown), (5)Silvia Farina Elia (d. Kostanic), unseeded rising Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Barna), and France's Nathalie Dechy (d. Testud in three). Thursday's quarterfinals will feature Shaughnessy vs. Kuznetsova, Farina Elia vs. Capriati, Henin-Hardenne vs. Dechy, and Zheng vs. Myskina.

Five seeds were ousted on the dirt in Acapulco Wednesday, including defending champ and top seed Amanda Coetzer (l. to Marrero). Other seeded victims were (2)Shinobu Asagoe (l. to teen Vaidisova), (5)Marion Bartoli (l. to (Q)Benesova), (6)Emmanuelle Gagliardi (l. to Schruff), and (7)Arantxa "Not That Arantxa" Parra (l. to Pennetta). Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo was the only seed to advance, with the No. 3 beating Klara "Kouky" Koukalova in straight sets. Today's completion of second round matches include Diaz-Oliva vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Loit vs. Washington, Stosur vs. Schruff, and Garbin vs. Vakulenko.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Andy Roddick led the seeds at Scottsdale Wednesday, finishing his rain-delayed match with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Dutchman John van Lottum, resuming at 6-3, 6-5, 30-30. "It was a very tricky situation," Roddick said. "I wasn't up 30-love, it was not a new game, literally, say you have a double fault and you are automatically down break point and you are fending for your life. It was definitely a different dynamic then I have ever been a part of in a tennis match. It was interesting."

The other four seeds in action also punched through in (3)Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri (d. Moodie in three, saved two match points), (4)Vincenzo Spadea (d. Arthurs), (6)James Blake (d. Andreev), and (7)Nicolas Kiefer (d. Tursunov), with one un-seed advancing in Swedish comer Robin Soderling (d. Malisse). On tap today in the completion of second round action are Hanescu vs. Soderling, (Q)Mamiit vs. (2)Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk, Gambill vs. Burgsmuller, and (1)Roddick vs. (WC)Bogomolov Jr. in an all-American nightcap.

No upsets in the dead-seed-strewn Dubai event after five seeds previously exited in the opening round, with two seeded winners Wednesday in (7)Paradorn Srichaphan (d. Hrbaty who retired with illness in the first set) and defending champ (8)Sjeng Schalken (d. Santoro in three). Un-seeded into the third round Wednesday were Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (d. O.Rochus), Russia's Mikhail Youzhny (d. Van Scheppingen), and Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Carraz). Today at the Oil Open features (7)Srichaphan vs. Ljubicic, F.Lopez vs. (Q)Kohlschreiber, (1)Federer vs. Robredo (Club Fed leads series 4-0), and Pavel vs. (Q)Zib.

Defending Acapulco champ and No. 3 seed Agustin Calleri was ousted on Wednesday by talented Peruvian Luis "Me So" Horna on the dirt at the Mexican Open. "I took advantage of the fact that Agustin did not play his best tennis today," Horna said. "He seemed pretty tired." Three other seeds made an exodus Wednesday in (4)Mariano Zabaleta (l. to Ramirez Hidalgo), (5)Felix Mantilla (l. to countryman Verdasco 6-0 in the third), and (6)Gaston Gaudio (l. to countryman Canas). No. 2 Nicolas Massu was the only seeded winner on the day, easing past American qualifier Jeff Salzenstein in straights.

WTA TEAM RANKINGS
The all-Russian team of Kuznetsova/Likhovtseva have come out of nowhere to challenge No. 1s Ruano Pascual/Suarez, while the heralded new team of Navratoliva/Raymond have yet to produce, and last year's dominant Clijsters/Sugiyama pairing are nowhere in sight (week of March 1):

1. VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL / PAOLA SUAREZ 861
2. SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA / ELENA LIKHOVTSEVA 775
3. CARA BLACK / RENNAE STUBBS 585
4. LIEZEL HUBER / AI SUGIYAMA 515
5. LINDSAY DAVENPORT / CORINA MORARIU 473
6. MARET ANI / LIBUSE PRUSOVA 343
7. MARIA VENTO-KABCHI / ANGELIQUE WIDJAJA 276
8. BARBARA SCHETT / PATTY SCHNYDER 273
9. ZI YAN / JIE ZHENG
10. MARTINA NAVRATILOVA / LISA RAYMOND 251

DOMINIK "THE DOMINATOR" HRBATY
CAREER JAN.-FEB. STARTS
1997 5-4 win-loss
1998 4-5
1999 10-7
2000 5-6
2001 14-4 (1 title)
2002 4-5
2003 8-6
2004 17-2 (3 titles)

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Must be nice to have the Tennis Channel and watch the ATP Scottsdale event this week. C'mon Comcast, get off your ass and SIGN THE CONTRACT...Both defending champions Agustin Calleri and Amanda Coetzer were ousted Wednesday at the Mexican Open in Acapulco...It is 25 days since Greg Rusedski had his day in court, with no decision yet...Dominik Hrbaty on the illness that forced him to retire from his match in Dubai: "I was sick last week and had a temperature before the final. I had a hard match there, was very tired and came here hoping I would feel better. But today, when I was running I was coughing too much and it took me a while to catch my breath. I didn't feel like I could finish the match and am very disappointed I had to retire. This is the first time I've retired because of a sickness."...Sjeng Schalken on the difficulties of facing Fabrice Santoro: "The problem is he doesn't give you a lot of pace and plays very soft, and then all of a sudden he is at the net. And the other thing is that he runs everything back so it is like playing against a wall. It was very tough. I am just happy that I came through."...Russian Anastasia Myskina on facing a Chinese opponent in the next round at Dubai: "I know the Chinese are good in table tennis but when it comes to tennis I don't know."