Hantuchova Still Circling the Drain in WTA Indian Wells Exit

Posted on March 14, 2004

Daniela Hantuchova's 2004 effort continued to circle the drain Friday when the former champ was ousted in her opening round at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells.

The tournament winner in 2002, Hantuchova was a victim of No. 142-ranked American Marissa Irvin 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3). The over-slender No. 26 seed made an awe-inspiring 75 unforced errors in the match, a stark contrast to the 6-3, 6-4 punishing "The Walking Stick" put on Martina Hingis in the 2002 final.

"There are more important things in life than tennis," said Hantuchova, already wondering what's on TV  this week. "But I still love to play tennis, and I'm really glad I'm playing."

Eight seeds in all went down Friday, including (9)Jelena Dokic (l. to Leon Garcia in three), (14)Francesca Schiavone (l. to Brandi), (21)Tina Pisnik (l. to (Q)Talaja), (25)Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (l. to (Q)Dulko in three after winning the first set 6-0), (26)Karolina Sprem (l. to (Q)Stosur), (27)Petra Mandula (l. to Granville), and (28)Saori Obata (l. to Schaul). Seeded winners were (2)Kim Clijsters (d. (Q)Roesch), (3)Lindsay Davenport (d. Santangelo 6-0, 6-0), (6)Vera Zvonareva (d. Mikaelian), (7)Nadia Petrova, (10)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. (WC)Kleybanova), (15)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (d. Kapros), (19)Nathalie Dechy (d. (Q)Perry), and (20)Meghann Shaughnessy (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues).

Saturday's line-up in Indian Wells features Pennetta vs. Sharapova, Henin-Hardenne vs. Reeves, Kuznetsova vs. Jidkova, Kurhajcova vs. Raymond, Myskina vs. Camerin, An.Serra Zanetti vs. Frazier, Likhovtseva vs. Schett, Majoli vs. Molik, Martinez vs. Craybas, Benesova vs. Maleeva, Serna vs. Karatancheva, Golovin vs. Suarez, Marrero vs. Black, Daniilidou vs. Strycova, Loit vs. Sucha, and Diaz-Oliva vs. Vento-Kabchi.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Five qualifiers moved into the second round on the opening day of men's play at Indian Wells after acclimating themselves during the qualifying draw, with winners Glenn Weiner of the U.S. (d. Ulihrach in three), Aussie serving machine Wayne Arthurs (d. (Q)Browne), Israel's Harel Levy (d. Vahaly in three), Canadian Simon Larose (d. Mantilla in three), and Czech Jan Hernych (d. Davydenko in three).

Other winners on the all-unseeded day were Americans James Blake (d. Stepanek), Taylor Dent (d. (Q)G.Lapentti in three), and Jan-Mike Gambill (d. (Q)van Lottum in three), Romanians Andrei Pavel (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in three tiebreaks) and Victor Hanescu (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer in three), Spaniards Al Martin (d. (Q)Niemeyer), David Sanchez (d. Saulnier in three), wildcard Alex Corretja (d. Ferrer in three) and Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (d. Burgsmuller), Swedes Thomas Johansson (d. (Q)Tursunov in three) and Robin Soderling (d. Ljubicic), Frenchman Anthony Dupuis (d. T.Martin), wildcard Tommy Haas (d. (WC)Enqvist in three), Argentine Guillermo Canas (d. Volandri), Russia's Mikhail Youzhny (d. H.-T. Lee 6-1 in the third), Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna (d. Moodie), Belgian waffle Xavier Malisse (d. Beck), Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti (d. Ramirez Hidalgo), and South African veteran Wayne Ferreira (d. Andreev).

"It means a lot, to be quite honest," said Haas after getting his first win of 2004 after an injury comeback. "You know, it's nice to kind of get the monkey off my back, trying to get my first match in. I'm happy that's kind of taken care of and now I look ahead to the future, worry about my next match. It's been a long struggle. I'm still trying to get the shoulder back or even better than it's ever been. It felt really good today actually to play three tough sets. Serving for the first time again like over 120 miles an hour, it's a very exciting thing for me."

On today's schedule are a slate of tough match-ups in Sanchez vs. (5)Agassi, (15)Kuerten vs. Dent, T.Johansson vs. (8)Hewitt, (10)Srichaphan vs. (WC)Haas, Kiefer vs. Saretta, (26)Ginepri vs. Blake in an all-American with possible Davis Cup consequences, Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Sargsian, (Q)Larose vs (9)Henman, (12)Philippoussis vs. Youzhny, Zabaleta vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, (Q)Levy vs. (28)Bjorkman, (6)Schuettler vs. (Q)Arthurs, Arazi vs. O.Rochus, Horna vs. (20)F.Lopez, Canas vs. (23)Costa, (31)Hrbaty vs. Malisse, Sanguinetti vs. Santoro, (32)Chela vs. A.Martin, Ferreira vs. Gaudio, N.Lapentti vs. (17)Verkerk, Labadze vs. (Q)Ascione, (Q)Verdasco vs. Escude, (WC)Bogomolov Jr. vs. (LL)Salzenstein, and (19)Robredo vs. (WC)Corretja in an all-Spanish.

ATP 2003 MASTERS SERIES FINALS
Indian Wells -- Lleyton Hewitt d. Gustavo Kuerten
Miami -- Andre Agassi d. Carlos Moya
Monte Carlo -- Juan Carlos Ferrero d. Guillermo Coria
Rome -- Felix Mantilla d. Roger Federer
Hamburg -- Guillermo Coria d. Agustin Calleri        
Canada -- Andy Roddick d. David Nalbandian
Cincinnati -- Andy Roddick d. Mardy Fish
Madrid -- Juan Carlos Ferrero d. Nicolas Massu
Paris -- Tim Henman d. Andrei Pavel   

ATP MASTERS SERIES THREE-DINGER
No player has won four Masters Series titles in the same year, though five players have won three in a year, with Andre Agassi accomplishing the feat twice:
 
2002 Andre Agassi -- Miami, Rome, Madrid
1998 Marcelo Rios -- Indian Wells, Miami, Rome
1995 Andre Agassi -- Miami, Canada, Cincinnati
1995 Thomas Muster -- Monte Carlo, Rome, Essen*
1994 Pete Sampras -- Indian Wells, Miami, Rome
1990 Stefan Edberg -- Indian Wells, Cincinnati, Paris
* Held in Essen for one year before moving to Stuttgart in 1996

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The ATP Tour began handing out leaflets on Friday at the Pacific Life Open warning players not to take any supplement that was handed out by the men's tour in the past. "It's a way to insure that we are going to start with a clean slate," said ATP CEO Mark Miles. Taylor Dent was handed his leaflet while on court by an overzealous leaflet-hander-outer: "That was a bit strange. Right before the match, 'Geez, did they test me positive or something? Why are you giving me this now?' I just put it in my bag. I'm like, 'I'm not going to look at this now.'"...Vince Spadea is still revelling in his first career tour win: "People were stressing more to me than I was stressing to myself. I had a guy say, 'I can't believe you haven't won an ATP event. That's mind-boggling. You must be doing something significantly wrong.'"...Luxembourg is not happy with the Greg Rusedski verdict, since now they will have to face a full-strength Brit team in their minor league Davis Cup match next month.