Haas Handles Roddick in Houston; Venus Wins in Charleston

Posted on April 20, 2004

Unseeded Tommy Haas continued his mastery over Andy Roddick in the Sunday final at the U.S. Claycourts in Houston, improving his career record to 4-0 over the top-seeded American with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

"To play in front of a crowd like that, that's what you play for. They are a great crowd, they love their tennis and it's a great feeling to play here," said Haas, who captured his long sought-after first claycourt title. "I was pretty close in Stuttgart a few years ago, just two points away, so it means a lot to have my first claycourt title but even more because of what I've been through...Overall the shoulder feels good."

For Roddick the loss snapped a streak of wins in eight straight finals. Haas sat out the entire 2003 season after shoulder surgery. Roddick says he'll be back after reaching four consecutive Houston finals.

"I definitely plan to be back," A-Rod said. "Mack's (Tournament Director Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale) been great to me over the years and this is a staple on my schedule. It's ended up working out great and it's a place I look forward to coming back to...That was probably the worst I served this tournament. I didn't have a good feel for the off-speed stuff."

In the doubles final, the American tandem of James Blake and Mardy Fish beat fellow Americans Rick Leach and Brian MacPhie 6-3, 6-4 for their second title of the year. "We seem to have pretty good chemistry all the time," Blake said on playing with The Fish. "I think it's because we are such good friends that if one of us is down the other one is going to cheer him up."

In the all-Spanish Valencia final, Fernando Verdasco beat Albert Montanes 7-6(5), 6-3 Sunday for his career-first ATP Tour title.

"It was a difficult match due to the weather conditions," said Verdasco, who didn't drop a set in five wins, including one over top-seeded countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero. "There was a lot of wind on the court. He started playing very well as well, but the wind was definitely a difficult factor. I was able to take advantage of the first set point I had in the tiebreak and it gave me a lot of confidence to win the second and win the match...I played two finals in two months, so I'm very happy. The first one in Acapulco gave me experience and helped me win today."

The Spanish left-hander lost in the Acapulco final to countryman Carlos Moya. For Montanes it was his first ATP final in three years. In the doubles final, top seeds Gaston Etlis and Martin Rodriguez claimed their first doubles title of 2004 by defeating Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 7-5, 7-6(5).

Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela won his first tournament in almost two years Sunday at Estoril, coming back from a set down to beat No. 8 seed Marat Safin 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3.

The No. 5-seeded Chela was 0-3 against Safin entering the match.

"It was a really tough match," Chela said. "I was a little bit nervous at the end and I'm really happy that I had beaten Marat. I won singles and doubles, so it's like a dream. He's one of the best players in the world, so it's very important for me. I started the season very well so I hope to keep playing well ahead of Roland Garros, which is my favorite tournament. There were very though conditions because of the wind. It looked like Marat had more trouble with that, especially in the second set, and then I took my chances. I kept my plan for the match, hitting his forehand."

Safin is now 0-2 in finals on the year after losing to Roger Federer in the Australian Open championship match.

In the Saturday doubles final, Chela and Argentine countryman Gaston Gaudio worked over top seeds Frantisek Cermak and Leos Friedl of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 in just 59 minutes.

Kicking off play Monday at the MS-Monte Carlo are Ivanisevic vs. (Q)Devilder, (6)Henman vs. Spadea (Henman leads meetings 2-1), Kuerten vs. (4)Schuettler (Guga leads 3-1), (3)Coria vs. (Q)Enqvist, Kiefer vs. Arazi, (Q)Andreev vs. (WC)Santoro, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. (13)Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez (Gonzo leads 1-0), Costa vs. Mantilla in an all-Spanish (Costa leads 7-4), (12)Novak vs. Dent (Jiri 1-0), (11)Schalken vs. Calleri, (Q)Berdych vs. (Q)Lisnard, Ljubicic vs. Robredo (first meeting), Sanchez vs. (Q)Ulihrach, Nieminen vs. (Q)Vico, Davydenko vs. Zabaleta.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Venus Williams won her first title in 14 months Sunday at Charleston, coming back from a set down against claycourt veteran Conchita Martinez for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win.

"I'm really so excited," Venus said. "I want to start this year from here...The first set was a little bit shaky for me. I had to adjust to her game. I had to slow it down and get really aggressive."

It was the first title for the No. 4-seeded Venus since a six-month injury lay-off for an abdominal pull after Wimbledon last year. Venus jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third before Martinez finally got on the board.

In the doubles final, top-seeded Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez continued the sub-par year of No. 2-seeded Martina Navratilova/Lisa Raymond, spanking the Americans 6-4, 6-1. It was the third title of the year for the Argentine/Spanish pair, and their third Charleston title after 2003 and 2000.

France's Emilie Loit won her second tournament in two weeks Sunday at Estoril, outlasting No. 6 seed Iveta Benesova 7-5, 7-6(1) in almost two hours. The No. 3 seed also won last week in Casablanca, and is 2-0 in finals for 2004 with a 10-match winning streak.

"It has been two spectacular weeks," Loit said. "It's been my grand slam. I didn't think I could win, but I really tried to. I'm very happy with what I have achieved, it's the result of all the work I've been doing the past few weeks."

Benesova won her first career title earlier this year in Acapulco, and drops to 1-2 in career finals. In the doubles final, Gagliardi/Husarova beat blank Czechs Blahotova/G.Navratilova (who are now 0-2 in finals this year) for their first title in their first teaming.

FED CUP WEEKEND
There are no WTA events this week, with the first round of the Fed Cup competition this weekend. First round match-ups are U.S. at Slovenia, Slovak Republic at Austria, Australia at Russia, Japan at Argentina, Czech Republic at Italy, Germany at France, Switzerland at Spain, and Croatia at Belgium.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Lindsay Davenport says the spate of injuries to the top women is the fault of the WTA Tour, specifically the design of the WTA Rankings: "Before, we used to play an average system of 12 tournaments. Now, we have a best of 17 that encourages a player to play upwards in the 20s. That's just way too many tournaments in my mind. I think right now I have about 14 tournaments on the calendar, but you see a lot of girls that do overplay, and I think the competition is definitely tougher from the first round on. It definitely takes its toll, I feel." Until 1999, the WTA used a system that added up points accumulated over a 52-week period and divided them by 12 instead of 17. WTA spokesman Jim Fuhse, like WTA CEO Larry Scott in the past, says don't blame us: "It's not something that we take lightly. But I think if you look at the injuries that have happened this year, you'll see there's not a pattern. It's an ankle here, a shoulder there, something else there. Plus, a bunch of them happened right at the beginning of the year, which really doesn't have a lot to do with the amount of tournaments a player is playing. So I think this is one of those rare aberrations where a bunch of stuff happened at once." Yeah, just a bunch of stuff, not our fault!...Marat Safin says he'll be able to shake off the loss in the Estoril final and go on with life: "These kind of losses, they can upset you. But I have to look at it in a positive way. I went for two and a half weeks without playing, and then I've beat (Tommy) Robredo in a really tough match. So I'm playing well and I think at a good level of tennis, so I'm looking forward and I'm satisfied with the way I'm playing. I have to take it step by step."...Only Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Rios among active players have won all three ATP claycourt Masters Series titles (Monte Carlo, Rome, Hamburg)...From listening to Tim Henman talk up his chances this week at the MS-Monte Carlo, time to put some bank on first-round opponent Vince Spadea: "The transition to clay is tough for me. If I play smart I can still hurt my opponents, I just have to try and not get frustrated. With Davis Cup being played on hardcourts last week, after a couple of days rest, it doesn't give me much time to get ready for the clay. But it's something that I've just got to try and deal with the best I can."...The Florida Sun-Sentinel's Charlie "Brick" Bricker says something is wrong with the serve-record speeds on the ATP Tour: "But is (Andy Roddick's) 152 mph a record? Or was there something amiss all along with the radar system at this quarterfinal tie? There are two major speed tracking companies measuring serves at men's events -- IDS of Jacksonville, which does about 25 ATP tournaments a year, plus the Grand Slams, and Wige Data of Germany, which uses the technology of a South African company to fulfill a contract for the Davis Cup. I don't know that anyone can say with absolute certainty that one company is more accurate than the other. But one thing is clear: They don't measure in the same way, and Wige is recording speeds significantly higher than IDS would record for the same players. Roddick's highest recorded serve with an IDS gun is 147, clocked at Indian Wells in 2003. Wige has recorded him at 150 at the United States-Austria tie in February and 152 vs. Sweden. Jonas Bjorkman had at least a half-dozen clockings in the Roddick match at 130 mph or higher -- one at 137. I can't remember ever seeing Bjorkman with a 130."...U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe doesn't seem too high on Mardy Fish after his Davis Cup loss against Sweden: "I'd put his fitness level at 'needs some work.' Bottom line, he's got to get stronger, and he's got to work harder off the court. If he does that, there's no telling how far he can go."...Also according to Brick, Serena's diaper-and-bra outfit won't fly at Wimbledon: "Even though it's an all-white outfit, the short top and short shorts that Serena Williams wore at Nasdaq will not be approved at Wimbledon."...The ATP has announced an alliance with America Online to provide access to an array of multimedia tennis content specially developed for AOL for Broadband members. Under the agreement, the ATP will provide specially produced video, audio and editorial content...According to the ATP in a press release, "The ATP and ATP Properties have experienced unprecedented momentum in 2004..." Nothing like unprecedented momentum -- aka, signing a lot of little sponsors that still doesn't make up for the big sponsor we lost. At Tennis-X we've experienced unprecedented momentum in sending spam to your in-box.