Haas, Blake Reach Final Eight at ATP Houston

Posted on April 17, 2004

Unseeded Tommy Haas continued his comeback bid Thursday on the red clay at Houston, easily disposing of American Paul Goldstein to reach the quarterfinals.

"Match by match you feel better," Haas said. "The more and more you play the more you are going to get comfortable. I felt pretty good in that second set, stepping it up. I felt pretty good on my strokes."

Haas was joined in the quarters by (4)James Blake (d. Sanguinetti), (5)Andrei Pavel (d. Acasuso in three), and unseeded Russian-American Dmitry Tursunov (d. Bogomolov, Jr. in three).

Today's four quarterfinal match-ups will be Haas vs. Tursunov, (5)Pavel vs. (4)Blake, (WC)T.Martin vs. (7)Luis "Me So" Horna, and (1)Roddick vs. (8)Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer.

Unseeded Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic and Spain's Fernando Verdasco bullied their way into the Valencia quarterfinals Thursday, with Ancic ousting No. 8 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, and Verdasco upsetting No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic, both in straight sets. Two seeded players also moved into the quarters in No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Vacek), and No. 7 David Ferrer (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter).

"From the beginning none of us were feeling great on the court due to the weather," Ferrero said. "The wind was difficult, the ball was moving a lot and it was tough to play out there. It happens a lot here in Valencia and I think I was more used to play in these conditions than him." On court today in the quarterfinals are (Q)M.Lopez vs. Montanes in an all-ESP, Verdasco vs. (7)Ferrer in an all-ESP, (1)Ferrero vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (Ferrero leads series 2-0), and (6)A.Martin vs. C.Rochus, setting up a potential all-ESP semifinals (hasn't happened since July 1997 at Umag).

Two unseeded players moved into the quarterfinals at Estoril Thursday when Irakli "Freak Show" Labadzi surprised No. 6 seed Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, and Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal turned back another 17-year-old in Frenchkid Richard Gasquet in three sets. Two seeds also advanced in No. 4 Tommy Robredo (d. Zabaleta) and No. 8 Marat Safin, who overcame dizzy spells to beat France's Thierry Ascione in straights.

"I wasn't feeling very well at the beginning of the match, I was a bit dizzy, but after that went, I was a lot better. It was actually a much better match for me than my first round. I'm feeling a lot more confident on the court and I'm a lot happier with my game today," said Safin, who will now face Tommy "The R." Robredo. "I don't think I will have to change my strategy too much (against Robredo). I know I have to stay with him from the baseline and I have to do something extra against him as it’s going to be very difficult on clay. He’s used to the clay after playing in Davis Cup last week." The quarters will feature (8)Safin vs. (4)Robredo (Safin leads 3-2), Labadze vs. Nadal, Patience vs. (5)Chela, and Hanescu vs. (Q)Mayer.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
(4)Venus Williams (d. (WC)Mikaelian) led the seeded charge at Charleston Thursday, joined by (5)Lindsay Davenport (d. Pratt), (8)Nadia Petrova (d. (LL)Jidkova), (9)Vera Zvonareva (d. (13)Smashnova-Pistolesi), (11)Patty Schnyder (d. (6)Dementieva), and (16)Conchita Martinez (d. (2)Serena by walkover, with the bum knee).

Unseeded winners were Hungary's Petra Mandula (d. (7)Capriati in three), and Croatia's Jelena Kostanic (d. (Q)Randriantefy).

"I felt fine physically. I wasn't getting fatigued at all," Capriati said. "She played really well and was teeing off. I had a good rhythm (but) just didn't step up and win those, you know, key points." Today's quarters line up as Petrova vs. Martinez, Venus vs. Zvonareva, Kostanic vs. Mandula, and Schnyder vs. Davenport.

Two unseeded players moved into the quarters at Estoril yesterday in Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. Nagyova) and Martina "Nurse, Hand Me a" Sucha (d. Camerin), joining seeds (4)Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (d. (WC)Silva) and (6)Iveta Benesova (d. Pennetta in three). In today's quarters are Marrero vs. (5)Schett, (6)Benesova vs. (4)Chladkova, (3)Loit vs. Klata "Kouky" Koukalova, and Sucha vs. Cohen-Aloro.

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