Ivanisevic a Surprise (to Him) Winner on Day One at Miami

Posted on March 26, 2004

Former Wimbledon champ Goran Ivanisevic posted a hard-earned win over Frenchman Nicolas Escude 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 on the opening day at the Masters Series-Miami Wednesday, with the victory masking his uncertainty in competing after shoulder surgery.

"I needed this," said Ivanisevic, who saved a match point. "I didn't expect to win to be honest. I thought I could have a good match." The oft-injured Ivanisevic pulled out of Indian Wells last week with a back injury.

Ivanisevic also dropped some retirement hints, perhaps calling it quits after running across the grounds of Wimbledon naked.

"This last two years, I have a lot of time to think how I want to stop," Ivanisevic said. "I have a lot of good and crazy thoughts. I finally decided. I'm not going to tell you yet but I know the way I want to stop."

Other winners on the all-unseeded day were Americans Todd Martin (d. (Q)Heuberger in three) and Robby Ginepri (d. Ramirez Hidalgo), Frenchmen Thierry Ascione (d. Arazi), (Q)Julien Benneteau (d. (Q)Morrison in three) and Cyril Saulnier (d. (WC)B.Baker), veterans Wayne Ferreira (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter), Andrei Pavel (d. (Q)Tursunov) and Nicolas Kiefer (d. Andreev), Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic), Karol "Little Cat" Kucera (d. Bogomolov after losing the first set 0-6), Swedish comer Robin Soderling (d. Ferrer), Russian Nikolay Davydenko (d. T.Johansson in three), Croat Ivan "Andy Roddick Fan Club President" Ljubicic (d. Sanguinetti), and Austria's (Q)Stefan Koubek (d. A.Martin 6-0 in the third). The Nicolas Lapentti/Thomas Enqvist match was suspended with the Ecuadorian leading 7-5, 1-3.

On court today is more unseeded action with a smattering of good matches in Dent vs. Youzhny, Blake vs. Spadea in an all-American, (WC)Canas vs. (WC)Haas in an all-wildcard, Gambill vs. Burgsmuller, Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta vs. (WC)Reid, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, Mello vs. Salzenstein, Carraz vs. Zabaleta, Monaco vs. J.Johansson in an all-future-of-tennis, Santoro vs. Hernych, Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari vs. H.-T. Lee, Sargsian vs. Stepanek, Sanchez vs. Luis "Me So" Horna in an all dirtball-style-on-hardcourt match-up, Muller vs. Bohdan "I Didn't Do It" Ulihrach, Hanescu vs. Beck, and (Q)Carlsen vs. O.Rochus.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Teenage wildcards took center stage during the first day of women's play at Miami, with 16-year-old Frenchwoman-girl Tatiana Golovin (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues) and 17-year-old American Jamea Jackson (d. Casanova) among the winners Wednesday.

Golovin has already reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and the semifinals at Paris in her breakout year, while for Jackson it was her first win of the year.

A wildcard on the continued downswing is Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson, who lost 6-0 in the third to Klara "Kouky" Koukalova. Still only 23 years of age, Stevenson has accumulated the losses of a 30-year-old, and is 0-5 for 2004. Another American down on her luck was Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad, who retired down 2-6, 0-3 against Jill Craybas, suffering from blisters on her hand.

Other winners on the day were Aniko Kapros (d. (Q)Sun 6-1 in the third), Jelena Jankovic (d. Schaul in three), Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (d. Cervanova in three), Japan's Shinobu Asagoe (d. Srebotnik) and Akiko Morigami (d. (Q)Snyder), American (Q)Lindsay Lee-Waters (d. Vakulenko), Anne Kremer (d. Cho), Tathiana Garbin (d. Melinda "Our Favorite Element" Czink), Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. (Q)Pin 6-0 in the third), and qualifiers Marta Marrero (d. (WC)Haynes in two tiebreaks) and Rita "Ain't It" Grande (d. (WC)"Deliver Us From" Iva Majoli in three).

On court Thursday are a whole slew of bad unseeded matches in Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. Black, Vaidisova vs. Kurhajcova, Perry vs. Weingartner, Perebiynis vs. Granville, Schett vs. Panova, Irvin vs. Kutuzova, Kostanic vs. Brandi, Ruano Pascual vs. Tanasugarn, Kleinova vs. Zheng, Pratt vs. Parra, Douchevina vs. Gagliardi, Santangelo vs. Sucha, Callens vs. Kirilenko, Strycova vs. Reeves, Jidkova vs. Obata, Barna vs. Diaz-Oliva, and Dragomir Ilie vs. Ondraskova.

ATP MS-MIAMI ACTIVE WIN LEADERS
1. Agassi, Andre (USA) 53-8
2. Rios, Marcelo (CHI) 20-7
3. Bjorkman, Jonas (SWE) 18-10
4. Ivanisevic, Goran (CRO) 18-11
5. Spadea, Vincent (USA) 16-9
6. Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 15-9
7. Ferreira, Wayne (RSA) 15-13
8. Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) 13-6
9. Corretja, Alex (ESP) 13-9
10. Federer, Roger (SUI) 12-5

MIAMI USA BROADCAST SCHEDULE (EST)
Sun., March 28, Tennis Channel, 11am-11pm (live)
Sun., March 28, ESPN, 2-4pm (tape)
Mon., March 29, Tennis Channel, 12am-10am (tape)
Mon., March 29, ESPN, 1-5pm (live), 9:30-11:30pm (tape)
Tues., March 30, ESPN, 1-5pm (live)
Wed., March 31, ESPN, 1-5pm (live), ESPN2, 12:30-2:30am (tape)
Thurs., April 1, ESPN, 1-5pm (live), ESPN2, 11pm-1a, (tape), 12:30-2:30am (tape)
Fri., April 2, ESPN 3-5pm (live), ESPN2 7-9pm (live)
Sat., April 3, CBS, noon-2pm (live)
Sun., April 4, CBS, noon-3pm (live)

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Goran Ivanisevic after his 7-6-in-the-third win over Nicolas Escude: "Sometimes I feel a little bit lost. Sometimes I feel, 'What am I doing here? You have a daughter at home. Stay home.' But in the end I hit some good shots and I'm happy, like a little kid. I didn't expect to win, to be honest."...Gustavo Kuerten was recognized for his humanitarian efforts (Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year) while Paradorn Srichaphan earned his second consecutive Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award when the ATP announced the winners of the 2003 ATP Awards. Rainer Schuettler was voted 2003 Most Improved Player by his peers (enjoy that while it lasts); Spaniard Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, who turned 17 last June, was voted 2003 Newcomer of the Year; Mark Philippoussis was voted 2003 Comeback Player of the Year; and Roger Federer was voted Fan Favorite...Gustavo Kuerten says drugs are scary, m'kay?: "It's very scary at this stage in the locker room. Right now everyone is a little worried and scared. Normal guys like me, you build your career since you were 10 or 12 years old. You don't want to get involved with drugs in any shape."...Serena says she had no choice in taking eight months off with injury: "I'm desperate to be on the court. It was a very difficult decision to make to stay out so long, and I spent a lot of time fighting with doctors. The rehabilitation took longer than I expected. It's very discouraging, for a person in my position, to see all the other players out there playing and know that I can't be at my best. I had to make a grown-up decision, not an immature decision. I'm in better shape now, definitely look better physically, and I have a great hunger, an amazing hunger."...Wireless entertainment provider Mforma Group Inc. has teamed with Venus Williams to bring the "Williams World Tennis" game to mobile devices. Now if they'd only team to bring Williams tennis to the tennis court...Goran Ivanisevic appears to be the doting dad to 11-month-old daughter Amber: "It's great. I don't sleep at night but it's fun. Now she is the boss, she is dictating the schedule around the house. You cannot plan anything but she's great. Every day I don't see her I miss her a lot. But, still, that is my priority now, to try and finish my career in the good way, and then I'm going to have time for my daughter."...Eleven of the Top 15 WTA players are scheduled to hit the clay the week after Miami at Amelia Island...Andre Agassi is both the youngest male in 1990 at 19 years, 330 days old, and oldest male in 2003 at 32 years, 335 days old to win the MS-Miami title...The Brazilian Tennis Federation will bypass boycotting players Gustavo Kuerten, Andre Sa, Flavio Saretta and Ricardo Mello, going with third-stringers Marcos Daniel, Alexandre Simoni and Julio Silva for the April 9-11 Davis Cup tie against Paraguay. Carlos Chabalgoity was appointed captain, replacing Jaime Oncins. Where is the boycott support from the third-stringers? You're off Guga's Christmas list...Alex Bogomolov, Jr. was up 6-0, 5-3 and at double match point with Karol Kucera serving at 15-40 before losing yesterday in Miami. Too much Anna 2.0 on the brain. Time to stop planning on getting married when you're still a teenager and concentrate on hitting the fuzzy ball.