Squirrel Teaches Dent Dirt Lesson at ATP Houston

Posted on April 14, 2004

Argentine veteran Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari gave No. 3-seeded American Taylor Dent a claycourt lesson Monday at Houston, trailing 0-6, 1-4 before going into backboard-mode to storm to a 0-6, 7-5, 7-6 win.

"He just started playing better. In the first set, he was hitting double faults," Dent said. "All I had to do was pretty much just put balls in the court and he'd miss. The first break he got really turned his day around. He started passing me a lot more and started serving a lot better."

Other seeded winners on the day were (4)James Blake (d. countryman (WC)Odesnik), and (7)Luis "Me So" Horna (d. (WC)Vahaly), a bad day for wildcard Americans. Other un-seeds into the second round were wildcard Todd Martin (d. Vassallo Arguello), and Germany's Tomas Behrend (d. countryman Alexander "My Serve Had No" Popp).

On today's shaky slate are Kendrick vs. (LL)De Chaunac, (1)Roddick vs. Carlsen (first meeting), Bogomolov Jr. vs. (2)Fish in an all-American, Burgsmuller vs. Acasuso, Tursunov vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, Enqvist vs. Goldstein, (Q)Faurel vs. (Q)Robert in an all-French, (Q)Veronelli vs. (7)Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, and (Q)Peya vs. Sanguinetti.

Alex Corretja showed he is not yet ready to lay down before the up-and-coming Spaniards, with the unseeded veteran ousting (5)David Sanchez in three sets Monday at Valencia. Other winners on the day were (3)Ivan Ljubicic (d. Garcia-Lopez), Fernando Verdasco winning an all-Spanish match-up (d. Albert "The Drop-Off-the-Rankings Dragon" Portas), and Czech Jan Vacek (d. (WC)Guillem Burniol). On court today are (6)A.Martin vs. (Q)Almagro in an all-Spanish meeting, Andreev vs. (2)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, Blanco vs. (4)Costa in another all-Spanish, (1)Ferrero vs. (WC)Matos-Gil in another all-Spanish, Hernandez vs. Vicente in another all-Spanish, Koubek vs. (Q)M.Lopez, van Scheppingen vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter in an all-Dutch, (Q)Calatrava vs. (8)Ramirez Hidalgo in another all-ESP, Montanes vs. van Lottum, (Q)Eschauer vs. C.Rochus, and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Levy.

No seeds in action on day one at Estoril, but plenty of all-French match-ups with Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience outlasting Julien Boutter in three sets, and Thierry Ascione ending Anthony Dupuis' event. Those three French fans in Portugal got their money's worth on Monday. There was one other result on the day, with Czech Radek Stepanek beating defending champ Nikolay Davydenko in straights. The final round of qualifying was also completed, with Mayer (GER), Savolt (HUN), Mazarakis (GRE), and Vanek (CZE) into the main draw. On court Tuesday are (8)Safin vs. Saulnier, (1)Schuettler vs. Hanescu, Ivanisevic vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, Malisse vs. (4)Robredo, (6)Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Ulihrach, (Q)Mazarakis vs. Zabaleta, (3)Calleri vs. (Q)Vanek, (Q)Mayer vs. (7)Gaudio, (WC)Canas vs. (5)Chela in an all-Argentine, (Q)Savolt vs. Labadze, and O.Rochus vs. Carraz.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Two low-rent seeds were bumped at the WTA stop in Charleston on opening day, with Swiss Miss Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian surprising No. 14 Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, and Croat teen Karolina Sprem defeating No. 15 Nathalie Dechy, both in straight sets.

Two seeds were victorious on the day, with No. 11 Patty Schnyder (d. Weingartner) and No. 16 Conchita Martinez (d. (Q)Sun 6-1, 6-0) into the second round. Other unseeded winners were qualifiers Dally Randriantefy (d. Raymond in three), Severine Beltrame (d. Zheng in three), and Teryn Ashley (d. Tanasugarn in three), Spaniards Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Black) and Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. Sanchez Lorenzo in an all-Spanish match-up), Americans Samantha Reeves (d. countrywoman Granville in three) and wildcard Kelly McCain (d. Parra 6-1 in the third), and Croatian Jelena Kostanic (d. (Q)Perebiynis).

The big names come out Tuesday, with matches including Dokic vs. Panova, Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad vs. Mandula, Frazier vs. Navratilova, Venus vs. Reeves, McCain vs. Serena, Beltrame vs. Zvonareva, Pratt vs. Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson, Morigami vs. Pierce, Shaughnessy vs. Asagoe, Krasnoroutskaya vs. Barna, Craybas vs. Jankovic, Kremer vs. Suarez, Ruano Pascual vs. Mikaelian, Brandi vs. Schaul, Daniilidou vs. Castano, and Smashnova-Pistolesi vs. Yoshida.

No seeds in action at Estoril Monday, though you likely couldn't tell if there were, with four winners in Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. Kleinova 6-0 in the third), Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta (d. Svensson), Martina Sucha (d. Ondraskova), and Klara "Kouky" Koukalova (d. Garbin in three). The final round of qualifying was also completed, with Conchita "Not That Conchita" Martinez Granados (ESP), Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER), Natalie Gussoni (ARG), and Julia Schruff (GER) into the dance. On court Tuesday are (1)Bovina vs. (WC)Majoli, (WC)Silva vs. (Q)Schruff, (3)Loit vs. Callens, (WC)Rocha vs. (WC)Tavares, (6)Benesova vs. (Q)Gussoni, (Q)Ani vs. (5)Schett, Grande vs. (7)Srebotnik, Beygelzimer vs. (4)Chladkova, (Q)Groenefeld vs. Kurhajcova, Cervanova vs. Gagliardi, Marrero vs. Nemeth, and (8)Bartoli vs. Camerin.


ATP ESTORIL MULTIPLE TITLE WINNERS
No doubles team has won multiple Estoril titles, though American Don Johnson won three consecutive titles with three different partners from 1998-2000:

2-Carlos Costa, ESP (1994,'92)
2-Thomas Muster, AUT (1996-95)


DAVIS CUP ZONE I RESULTS
Winners into the September World Group Qualifying round:

Germany d. Israel 5-0
Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer, and Tommy Haas in doubles, get the job done in Germany's quest to get back in the World Group.

Great Britain d. Luxembourg 4-1
Our Tim and Grinning Greg Rusedski get the job done, despite the efforts of enemy-of-the-throne Arvind Parmar.

Belgium d. Zimbabwe 4-1
Xavier Malisse leads Belgium in singles, with Olivier Rochus/Kristof Vliegen getting the crucial doubles win over Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett.

Slovak Republic d. South Africa 3-2
The South Africans laid down the soft grasscourt, but the Slovaks were non-plussed, sweeping to a 3-0 win by Saturday.

Paraguay d. Brazil 3-2
Brazil's "B"-players fold with Gustavo Kuerten and the rest of the top dogs sitting out in protest against the Brazilian Tennis Federation.

Chile d. Ecuador 5-0
The Lapentti brothers get schooled on clay by Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu.

Thailand d. Uzbekistan 4-1
Paradorn Srichaphan leads Thailand over the weak Uzbek squad, clinching 3-0 on Saturday.

Japan d. India 3-2
Leander Paes' D-Cup magic runs dry, losing the fifth-match decider in straights to Gouichi Motomura (ouch).

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Until today, Goran Ivanisevic hadn't played a tour claycourt event in nearly three years...Swiss Davis Cup captain Marc Rosset was not happy with the effort after inserting Ivo "I Used to Date Hingis" Heuberger into the first singles, and not happy with having only one good player in his line-up after the loss to France: "I will not accept another performance like the one from Heuberger on Friday. But I thought Yves Allegro played very well alongside (Roger) Federer in the doubles. He is a bright hope. Michel (Kratochvil) showed a lot of passion in his defeat and there is more in him. It cannot always be up to Federer."...Charlie "Brick" Bricker writing for the Florida Sun-Sentinel: "This country right now is on the edge of a major tennis rebirth with Andy Roddick competing for No. 1 in the world and a broad new multi-network television package soon to be announced that will tie several summer U.S. tournaments into the US Open. Let L.A. have the (Davis Cup) final, if the U.S. reaches it and plays France, the only country it could host. But this semi needs to be in The Big Apple. Put this thing in the biggest city in the United States at a time when the country is closing in on its first Davis Cup championship since 1995...For years the USTA has made some real bonehead decisions on sites for Davis Cup. In 1993, Delray Beach was ready to announce it would host a tie against the Bahamas before, out of nowhere, the matches were handed to Charlotte, N.C., where the stands were 80 percent empty...Put this thing in New York, where it belongs right after the US Open, when, I predict, the game will reach a new high and where it demands to be placed on the biggest stage."...Will Serena pull from Charleston this week with the bad knee? Way to schedule back-to-back dirt events coming off an injury, smart...Former champions in the WTA Charleston draw this week are Justine Henin-Hardenne (2003), Jennifer Capriati (2001), Mary Pierce (2000), Conchita Martinez (1994-95), and Martina Navratilova (1982, 1983, 1988), with runners-up Serena Williams (2003) and Patty Schnyder (2002)...Argentina has filed an official protest after their Davis Cup loss to Belarus, saying the Taraflex indoor carpet surface was too fast - boo hoo, time to take your own medicine after putting countries on your watered-down red clay courts at home...Kim Clijsters says she is concerned about her return from injury, and may not be ready for Roland Garros: "This injury is profoundly disturbing the planning of my tennis year (and) I'm already fearing that I won't (enter) Roland Garros with the confidence that I will be part of it into the final phase," she was quoted as saying in Belgian daily Het Belang van Limburg. "I will have to adjust my ambitions and aim more at Wimbledon than at Roland Garros."...Marat Safin has canned another coach, buddy Denis Golovanov, according to SI.com...The draw for the September Davis Cup World Group Qualifying round have been made, with match-ups Britain at Austria (likely on clay, another potential embarrassment for Tim and Greg), Morocco at Australia, Germany at Slovakia (likely on clay), Thailand at Russia, Japan at Chile (definitely on clay, nice lay-up), Belgium at Croatia, Czech Republic at Paraguay (ready the coin-throwing on the red dirt), and Canada at Romania (most definitely on clay)...Andre Agassi has apparently signed up to play in St. Poelten the week before the French Open. Go figure... During Monday night's Miss USA Pageant, Miss New Jersey, Janaye Ingram, wore a dress designed by Serena Williams. That makes sense, wearing a dress made by someone who wears Wonderwoman outfits and diapers on a tennis court. Ingram did not win...What has been up with the radar gun at Davis Cup this year? Andy Roddick hits the two fastest serves ever, 150mph and 152mph, and both came at US Davis Cup ties. Coincidence? Someone best check that Getronics gun they use, which is not the same one used on the regular tour and at the slams. 160mph against Belarus here we come.