Henman, Coria Dumped at ATP Queen's

Posted on June 10, 2004

As expected, any fill-in-the-blank player, in this case Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu, had the skills to take out No. 2 seed Guillermo Coria on the grass at Queen's, but unexpected was the exit of favored son Tim Henman.

Henman was ousted prior to the quarterfinals by Slovak Karol Beck, who edged the Briton in a third-set breaker.

"I'm disappointed right now but in the context of Wimbledon preparation I don't think it will have any bearing," said Henman, citing the difficulty in moving from clay to grass. "I am happy with the way I played and am playing."

Two other seeds were uprooted on the day in Americans (12)Robby Ginepri (l. to H.-T. Lee), and (16)Todd Martin (l. to Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic in three).

Seeded winners on the day were (5)Sebastien Grosjean (d. Reid), (6)Lleyton Hewitt (d. M.Lopez), (7)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (d. Moodie), (14)"Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Enqvist), and (15)Radek Stepanek (d. Sanguinetti in three). Un-seeds advancing were British qualifier Ian Flanagan (d. Hanescu), Brit qualifier Jonathan Murray (d. Delgado), and Frenchman Antony Dupuis (d. countryman Mahut).

On court today in Queen's are (5)Grosjean vs. (Q)Flanagan, (1)Roddick vs. Ancic, (WC)Marray vs. (6)Hewitt, Dupuis vs. (7)Srichaphan, (14)"Dr." Ivo vs. Beck, (8)Schalken vs. (Q)Lee, (15)Stepanek vs. the Coria-killer Lu, and Andreev vs. Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience.

No big surprises at Halle Wednesday, with four into the quarterfinals in (1)Roger Federer (d. Youzhny), (3)Jiri Novak (d. (LL)Chiudinelli), Frenchman Arnaud Clement (d. Alexander "My Serve Had No" Popp), and wildcard Tommy Haas (d. Carlsen from a set down).

Today four more try to round out the quarterfinals in J.Johansson vs. Schuettler, Seppi vs. Verdasco, Bjorkman vs. Kiefer, and Fish vs. Sargsian.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Four of the Top 8 seeds were purged on Wicked Wednesday at Birmingham, with the fallen including (1)Nadia Petrova (l. to Asagoe in three), the racquet-smashing former champ (5)Jelena Dokic (l. to Perry), (6)Nathalie Dechy (l. to (Q)Vicni 7-6 in the third),and (7)Eleni Daniilidou (l. to Morigami). The Japanese went 3-0 on the day, with Saori Obata also scoring a win over American Kelly McCain.

Winners into the third round were (4)Maggie Maleeva (d. Barna in three), (9)Emilie Loit (d. Black in three), (16)Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. (WC)Keothavong in three), Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Craybas), Jelena Jankovic (d. Ruano Pascual 6-1, 6-0), Aussie Sam Stosur (d. Sequera 7-6 in the third after getting bageled in the first), and Frenchgirl Tatiana Golovin (d. Daniela "The Injury Stick" Hantuchova who retired at 6-0, 3-1).

On the Thursday schedule at Birmingham are Maleeva vs. Tanasugarn, Stosur vs. Sharapova, Asagoe vs. Golovin, Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Schnynder, Loit vs. Morigami, Perry vs. Obata, Molik vs. Jankovic, and Kremer vs. Vinci.

FREE TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to the FREE Tennis-X daily e-newsletter, click on the logo on the top right of the page at www.tennis-x.com. Daily results, daily previews, daily notes and quotes, daily smack on the dysfunctional world of pro tennis.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Gustavo Kuerten has pulled from Wimbledon with his hip injury...Andre Agassi is looking at a fat fine for failing to show at his post-match press conference after the embarrassing grasscourt loss to lawn-rookie Igor Andreev at Queen's...Britain's Ian Flanagan is still waiting on a Wimbledon wildcard, but you've got to think he's a lock after his performance this week at Queen's, beating (9)Mark Philippoussis and Victor Hanescu. But then again the Brit LTA have made stupider moves...Hey on-line betting fans, don't take "Tiger" Tim Henman off your to-do list for Wimbledon after his early-round loss at Queen's -- Timbledon was just coming off the dirt, and had the misfortune of drawing the grass-stained Karol Beck, who had just won on the lawns at the Surbiton Challenger the previous week...On the other hand scratch Mark Philippoussis, who has trouble closing the deal on his good days, and has not seen the second round at a tournament in five months: "It's not the first time it's happened, where I've unfortunately had a bad Queen's and I've gone on to do well at Wimbledon. I would love to take them both, I would love to do good in both, but if there's one tournament where I wouldn't mind having an off day it's this tournament. But then again, of course, no one likes to have an off day like this and it's going to be a setback, but I've got to stay positive about it and just get some match play on the grass, get the rhythm, get the timing, that's what it's all about."...Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt are on a semifinal collision course at Queen's.