Henin-Hardenne Looking for First WTA Indian Wells Title

Posted on March 15, 2004

Top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne has never found success in Indian Wells, but with an easy 6-2, 6-2 win over American Samantha Reeves Saturday and the No. 1 ranking behind her, things could change for 2004.

"It's a first round, so it's never easy," said Henin-Hardenne, who did not play at Indian Wells last year. "I think I probably didn't play my best tennis, but there were positive things. I stayed very calm. I served well when I had to and I've been more aggressive at the end of the match."

Henin-Hardenne says her main challenge is getting used to the dry California heat.

"I needed a little time to get used to the heat, to the conditions," Henin-Hardenne said. "But when you go on the court, it's always the same goal -- try to win the match no matter what happens."

Henin-Hardenne's road to the title became a lot less cluttered with the withdrawal of countrywoman Kim Clijsters Saturday. Clijsters injured her wrist during her opening round win. "It's very frustrating because I feel like I was playing well," Clijsters said. "Then having to go through this year, one of the favorite tournaments throughout the year. It's definitely very, very disappointing."

Six more minor seeds bit it Saturday at Indian Wells in (13)Maggie Maleeva (l. to Benesova), (17)Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna (l. to (WC)14-year-old Sesil "The Mouth" Karatancheva in three), (23)Eleni Daniilidou (l. to (Q)Strycova), (29)Elena Likhovtseva (l. to Barbara "Now I Give a" Schett), (30)Emilie Loit (l. to Sucha in three), and (32)Cara Black (l. to (Q)Marrero).

Other seeds moving into the third round were (4)Anastasia Myskina (d. Camerin), (8)Paola Suarez (d. (WC)Golovin in three), (11)Conchita Martinez (d. Craybas), (12)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (Q)Jidkova 6-1 in the third), (16)Maria "Grunt-o-licious" Sharapova (d. Pennetta in three), (18)Lisa Raymond (d. Kurhajcova in three), (22)Alicia Molik (d. (WC)Majoli), (31)Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. Diaz-Oliva in the all-hyphen battle), and (33)Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier (d. (Q)Ant. Serre Zanetti).

Sunday's schedule is light on the ladies' side (since ESPN is hitting the air for the first day) with (Q)Stosur vs. (3)Davenport, (7)Petrova vs. (Q)Dulko, Brandi vs. (20)Shaughnessy, (Q)Irvin vs. Leon Garcia, (19)Dechy vs. (10)Smashnova-Pistolesi, (15)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. (Q)Talaja, and (6)Zvonareva vs. Schaul. Don't look for a lot of those to make the tube, or SportsCenter.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two-time defending champion Lleyton Hewitt led a slew of former No. 1s in action Saturday in Indian Wells, defeating former slam champion Thomas Johansson 6-2, 6-3 while displaying some fine form.

"I felt like I moved really well," said Hewitt, who has only lost one match this year. "I was pretty consistent. It was heavy conditions out there. I didn't make a lot of cheap errors. I felt like I hit my groundstrokes pretty well from side to side. I had him moving a lot. I mixed up the pace very well out there tonight. These kind of tournaments, you can't really get off to slow starts." Hewitt will next meet No. 32 seed Juan Ignacio Chela.

Also into the third round Saturday among the seeds was former No. 1 and No. 5 seed Andre Agassi (d. Sanchez), (9)Tim Henman (d. (Q)Larose), (28)Jonas Bjorkman (d. (Q)Levy), and (32)Juan Ignacio Chela (d. A.Martin 6-0 in the third).

Eight seeds were bumped on the day. Unseeded winners were wildcard Tommy Haas continuing to find his form (d. (10)Srichaphan 6-1, 6-2), Russian Mikhail Youzhny (d. (12)Philippoussis), former Anna flame Nicolas Lapentti (d. (17)Verkerk), Spanish wildcard Alex Corretja (d. countryman (19)Robredo), Aussie serving machine Wayne Arthurs (d. (6)Schuettler, hastening the German's drain spiral), American James Blake (d. (26)Ginepri, sparking some Davis Cup controversy), Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna (d. (20)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez), Taylor Dent (d. former No. 1 and (15)Kuerten), Armenia's Sargis Sargsian (d. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic), American wildcard Alex Bogomolov, Jr. (d. countryman Salzenstein), "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter (d. Zabaleta), Italy's David Sanguinetti (d. Santoro in three), Frenchman Nicolas Escude (d. (Q)Verdasco 7-6 in the third), Brazil's Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta (d. Kiefer), Georgia's Iraki "Freak Show" Labadze (d. (Q)Ascione), and Morocco's Hicham Arazi (d. O.Rochus).

On court Sunday at Indian Wells are (3)Roddick vs. Gambill (Jan-Mike leads meetings 2-1), (1)Federer vs. Pavel, (30)Safin vs. (Q)Hernych, (7)Moya vs. Labadze, (4)Coria vs. Sargsian, Saretta vs. (21)Spadea (Saretta leads 3-0), Hanescu vs. (25)Gonzalez, (18)Fish vs. (Q)Weiner in an all-American, (24)Clement vs. Sluiter, (14)Schalken vs. Escude, Dupuis vs. (16)Novak, Sanguinetti vs. (13)Grosjean, Nadal vs. (11)Massu, (22)Calleri vs. Soderling, Arazi vs. (29)Nieminen, and (WC)Bogomolov Jr. vs. (27)Max "The Beast" Mirnyi.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Defending champion Kim Clijsters has withdrawn from Indian Wells with a left wrist injury that occurred during her opening match pounding of Germany's Angelika Roesch...Of the world's Top 150 male tennis players, at least 63 tested since August 2002 have had higher than normal levels of nandrolone in their systems, according to the Brit Sunday Herald...Also from the Sunday Herald: "This is the same organization (ATP) that has the breathtaking arrogance to say that its anti-doping policy is the best in the world and talk with oily sincerity about how transparent it is. So transparent, in fact, that the reason it won't join everyone from the International Federation of Domino Players to Fifa in signing the WADA code is that it would be forced to name players who test positive before their cases go to tribunal...The so-called "secret six" other players, who could be some of the sport's biggest names, have not been revealed and, if the ATP have their way, they never will be...Cock-up or conspiracy? Take your pick. In fact, take what you like if you're a male tennis player, because your governing body will, it seems, move heaven and earth to make sure you get away with it. WADA are not so forgiving, though, and with their own report into the ATP's handling of the situation due in the next few weeks, this most incompetent and irresponsible of organizations may finally be brought to book." Ouch, that's some good Brit rage...Rainer Schuettler has lost in the opening round in five of the six events he has played in 2004. Houston, you no longer have a problem...Lleyton Hewitt has won his last 13 matches at the MS-Indian Wells dating to 2001...14-year-old Sesil "The Mouth" Karatancheva next plays Maria "Orgasmo Grunt" Sharapova at Indian Wells, and had some choice words for the Russian, who she accused of ducking an earlier practice match against her: "I'm saying I can kick her ass off," Karatancheva said. "If she's too scared to come out on the court it's her problem. I was like, 'Whatever. I'm going to get you.' Even then I said, 'I'm going to meet you soon.' She can't call it off this time, that's for sure." When asked if she had seen Sharapova yet at Indian Wells, she replied: "Yes, I did. Not really charming. Not really charming. Not really charming. That's what I can say, not really charming." What, if you say it three times you curse her or something? And that was in the post-match conference in front of a room full of reporters. Nice stuff, the WTA needs more 14-year-old smack-talking adolescents now that almost the entire Top 10 is out with injury...Richard Williams says both his daughters will definitely play at Miami in just over a week...Vince Spadea and Roger Federer have one thing in common, they're both still looking for coaches...ESPN2 hits the air with Indian Wells coverage (Andy Roddick vs. Jan-Mike Gambill) at 2 p.m. (EST) in the States.