Venus Shocked by The Spreminator at Wimbledon
Posted on June 25, 2004
Venus Williams suffered her earliest Wimbledon loss in seven years Thursday at the All England Club, shocked in the second round by Croatia's Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6). Venus held two set points in the second breaker but choked, double faulting on the first, and netted a simple forehand on her second.
"It's not a whole barrel of laughs," said Venus, who won the title in 2000-01, and was runner-up to sister Serena in 2002-03. "But I guess it's not possible to be a winner or a finalist every year."
The loss reinforces recent accusations by fellow players and the tennis media that Venus and Serena are no longer the dominant force they were before being sidelined by major injuries.
Other seeded casualties on the day were (19)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (l. to Anne "Cosmo" Kremer), former champ (22)Conchita Martinez (l. to Sequera), (29)Dinara Safina (l. to Parra, with the Russian retiring with injury after losing the first eight games), (32)Meghann Shaughnessy (l. to Llagostera Vives 7-6 in the third).
Wimbledon organizers took advantage of some rare sunshine Thursday, with more than 70 singles matches completed on the day.
Seeded winners among the Top 16 were (2)Anastasia Myskina (d. Kapros in three), (4)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Kostanic), (5)Lindsay Davenport (d. Brandi, who retired with injury after losing the first seven games), (7)Jennifer Capriati (d. Schaul), (9)Paola Suarez (d. Perry), (11)Ai Sugiyama (d. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova), (12)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Obata), (13)Maria "Grunt-o-meter" Sharapova (d. the Brit Keothavong), and (14)Silvia Farina Elia (d. Peng).
Winners among the dreg seeds were (18)Francesca Schiavone (d. Casanova in three), (21)Magdalena Maleeva (d. Craybas), (24)Mary Pierce (d. Ruano Pascual), (26)Lisa Raymond (d. Asagoe), (27)Alicia Molik (d. Ashley), and (31)Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier (d. Brit Webley-Smith 8-6 in the third).
Among the un-seeds, 47-year-old Martina Navratilova fell to Gisela "Sgt." Dulko for the second slam in a row, edged 6-3 in the third. Other unseeded winners were Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova (d. Washington), Thai stick Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Sandra "Calvin" Kleinova), Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (d. Srebotnik), Marion Bartoli (d. Camerin), Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. the Brit O'Brien), China's Tian Tian Sun (d. Garbin in three), Ludmila Cervanova (d. Schett in three), Rita "Ain't It" Grande (d. Santangelo), Henrieta Nagyova (d. Krasnoroutskaya in three), Els Callens (d. Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad in three), Silvija Talaja (d. Strycova), French prodigy Tatiana Golovin (d. Jidkova), American Jennifer Hopkins (d. Vakulenko), and Tatiana Perebiynis (d. Wheeler).
Patrons will get their money's worth on Friday at Wimbledon where the seeds start to meet, with the women's schedule reading Britain's Baltacha vs. (7)Capriati, (13)Sharapova vs. Hantuchova in an all-eyes-on-this match-up, (1)Serena vs. Foretz, (5)Davenport vs. Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova, (4)Mauresmo vs. Hopkins, (31)Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. (2)Myskina, (9)Suarez vs. Callens, Talaja vs. (14)Farina Elia, Tanasugarn vs. (27)Alicia Molik, Ruano Pascual vs. Nagyova, Likhovtseva vs. Razzano, (25)Dechy vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, (32)Shaughnessy vs. Llagostera Vives (to finish), Sun vs. Anne "Cosmo Kremer, Gagliardi vs. (15)Schnyder, Perebiynis vs. Sequera, the Brit O'Donoghue vs. Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna, Gisela "Sgt." Dulko vs. (12)Zvonareva, Parra Santonja vs. Rita "Ain't It" Grande, (10)Petrova vs. Vento-Kabchi, (8)Schiavone vs. Golovin, Bartoli vs. (11)Sugiyama, and Cervanova vs. (26)Raymond.
On the men's side Thursday, wildcard and former champ Goran Ivanisevic, competing in his final Wimbledon, thanked the wet weather and former Wimbledon champ Michael Stich for his five-set comeback win over Italy's Filippo Volandri.
"If the rain didn't come today, I probably would have lost," said the 2001 winner, who was twice down a set in his 4-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. "I went into the locker room and Michael Stich came to me and said 'Listen, I'm commentating on the match. Come on man, do something.' And I said, 'Okay man, I didn't know you were commentating on my match, now I'm going to do something.' After I came back, that was a different me on court. Sun was shining, I started to play much better and that's why I won."
Ivanisevic will now face another former Wimbledon winner in No. 7 seed Lleyton Hewitt, who has beaten the Croatian in both of their career meetings, both on grass.
Top-seeded Roger Federer showed fine form again in thumping Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-2, 6-0, but graciously talked up his opponent in the post-match.
"I had to play well today to beat him because he wasn't a player who was just going to give it to me," said Federer who won in under an hour. "Okay, the score is very easy, but he was playing well and I had to come up with some really good shots in the beginning to make the difference."
Other seeded winners on the day were (2)Andy Roddick (d. Wang), (3)Guillermo Coria (d. Moodie 6-3 in the fifth), (6)Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Koubek 8-6 in the fifth), (7)Lleyton Hewitt (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze), (8)Rainer "Shine" Schuettler (d. Soderling 6-2 in the fifth), (9)Carlos Moya (d. Stepanek in four), (10)Sebastien Grosjean (d. Carraz), (12)Sjeng Schalken (d. Childs), (17)Jonas Bjorkman (d. Lu), (18)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. Saulnier 8-6 in the fifth), (20)Tommy Robredo (d. "You Say" Potito Starace), (21)Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Burgsmuller in four), (22)Andrei Pavel (d. Ram in four), (24)Fernando Gonzalez (d. Vassallo Arguello), (25)Dominik Hrbaty (d. Sanchez), (26)Taylor Dent (d. Delgado), (27)Robby Ginepri (d. Verdasco in four), and (30)Vincent Spadea (d. Reid).
Three seeds hit the skids Thursday in (14)Mardy Fish (l. to J.Johansson in four), (15)Nicolas Massu (l. to Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp), and (33)Luis "Me So" Horna (l. to Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic in four).
Other unseeded winners were former Aussie Open champ Thomas Johansson (d. Santoro), Safin-killer Dmitry Tursunov (d. Sargsian 15-13 in the fifth), Yank Jan-Mike Gambill (d. Daniele "Eat Your" Bracciali in four), German hope Tommy Haas (d. Dupuis 8-6 in the fifth), Italian veteran Stefano Pescosolido (d. Van Scheppingen 10-8 in the fifth, coming from 0-2 sets down), Russian Igor Andreev (d. Van Lottum in four), Canadian-Turned-Brit hope Greg Rusedski (d. Sanguinetti in four), Brit Mark "Five Star" Hilton (d. Albert Costa like a stepchild), American Todd Martin (d. Canas 9-7 in the fifth in typical TM fashion), Slovak Karol Beck (d. Brit Marray 10-8 in the fifth), Spaniard Felix Mantilla (d. Pless in four), French comer Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau (d. Berdych), Dane Kenneth Carlsen (d. Gasquet in five), Swede Thomas Enqvist (d. "Julio &" Galo Blanco in four), and Spaniard David Ferrer (d. Hanescu in four).
In the only match postponed due to darkness, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic leads Gilles Elseneer 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-6.
On today's men's menu are (5)Henman vs. Heuberger, Ivanisevic vs. (7)Hewitt, (8)Schuettler vs. Rusedski, (27)Ginepri vs. (6)Ferrero, Peya vs. (2)Roddick, Malisse vs. Haas, (9)Moya vs. Tursunov, Kucera vs. W.Ferreira, (25)Hrbaty vs. the Brit Hilton, Mantilla vs. (30)Spadea, Benneteau vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, (26)Dent vs. Pescosolido, (24)Gonzalez vs. Andreev, Ferrer vs. (32)Arazi, Verkerk vs. (11)Philippoussis (wager alert!), T.Martin vs. (12)Schalken, Beck vs. (20)Robredo, Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp vs. Montanes, Carlsen vs. (22)Pavel, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. Elseneer (to finish), (3)Coria vs. Mayer (Court 18, nice one), (10)Grosjean vs. Gambill, and (21)Chela vs. Enqvist.
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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Schedule-wise, after a rain-out Wednesday, the schedule is just a half-a-round behind, and if all gets said and done Friday, Wimbledon will be in good shape for an on-time finish. This of course is assuming Wimbledon/London does not burn down after England's horrible penalty-kick loss to Portugal in the Euro Cup last night...So what happened at the end of the Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem-Venus Williams match? At 1-2, with The Spreminator serving in the second set tiebreak, chair ump Ted Watts announces 2-2 after a service fault. Sprem proceeded to hit a second serve which Venus pounded down the line for a winner. Watts then called 3-2 Venus. Both players looked a bit confused, but neither queried. Venus wins the next point for 4-2 (really 4-1) and then they cautiously switched sides. Once that happened, both players basically acknowledged it was too late to turn back. So -- worst case scenario happens and Sprem comes back to win the tiebreak 8-6 (really 7-6). For Venus it was her earliest exit at Wimbledon since 1997, and the first time in five years someone other than her sister beat her. For Sprem, she wins her first Top 10 match and reaches her first Slam 3rd rd...Martina Navratilova looked good for about a set and a half until Gisela "Sgt." Dulko said enough was enough...There were an incredible 11 five-setters Thursday, highlighted by Juan Carlos Ferrero saving two match points in his win over Stefan Koubek, and Dmitry Tursunov going to 15-13 to defeat Sargis Sargsian...Joachim Johansson hit 28 aces in his win over Mardy Fish. That gives him a tournament-high 63 in two matches. Looking good for a run to at least the semis...Roger Federer has won 19 straight on grass, dropping just three sets. That's good. He won his match Thursday in a Serena-like 54 minutes...How about Tommy Haas saving a match point in his win over Anthony Dupuis?...Guillermo Coria looked most excited to close out Wesley Moodie...Andy Roddick hit a 144 m.p.h. serve in his win over Jimmy Wang...How tired will Goran Ivanisevic and Todd Martin be tomorrow after playing five-setters on Thursday?...Forecast for Friday: Getting better...Journalists questioned Venus' drive after her loss Thursday: "I don't know. I think you should just write what you think. But I fought very hard. Even if I'm well or not well or injured or have had setbacks, I still did very, very well. Unfortunately, this won't be my event, but I'll be ready for the next one."...Statement from Alan Mills, Wimbledon referee concerning the Venus vs. Spreminator match: "Regrettably the chair umpire made a mistake which ended up with the score being called wrongly. Although both players seemed perplexed, neither queried the decision and play continued resulting in Miss Sprem winning the tiebreak and the match. As neither player queried the score with the chair umpire at the time, the result stands as the mistake should have been rectified immediately. I will be reviewing the matter with the Chair Umpire in the morning." In other words, you're fired...How ugly is it watching some of these long points now that they've converted Wimbledon to hardcourts? It's just not right...John McEnroe is to face Monica Seles on a floating tennis court that will be towed by a barge down the Thames on Monday morning. Can't make that up...Martina Navratilova: "I get really upset when I see one-slam wonder Michael Stich criticizing the depth in women's tennis. Look at how I hit the ball. Not at the result, not the fact that I'm 47, but how do I play. I think it's a sexist reaction. People keep saying it about women but they don't say it about men. When Michael Jordan comes back and kicks butt in the NBA, they're not questioning the level of NBA. It's the same thing in NHL. It happens over and over. How can it be bad for women's tennis if I get out here and play good tennis? The women's game has never been stronger."...Monica Seles will also play World Team Tennis next month: "I'm just thrilled to be stepping back on court because I've waited for that moment for such a long time. I'm very anxious to get back...I had to be realistic when I was in a cast, because I didn't know what to expect or what rehab would entail. Either way, I'm so happy with how my career has gone, but I still would like to try and play. I look at is as a win-win situation."