Williams Wallops Waters at WTA Stanford

Venus Williams shook off a stunning second round defeat at Wimbledon last month by blasting fellow American Lindsay Lee-Waters 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals in Stanford.

"All in all, it was a good night,” said Williams after the 51-minute drubbing. “I felt really good today and didn't feel winded. Compared to the heat in Florida, I think that it's much easier in these conditions. The problem is that I'm such a perfectionist, and I think, 'Venus, you could have done that better.' But sometimes, I think I just need to give it up and admit that I played well."

The top-seeded Williams won the Stanford title in 2000 and 2002.

"Venus is such a great player and was hitting it really deep and was taking it to me,” Said Waters, a 10-year tour veteran and a monther to boot. “I think the whole situation overwhelmed me. It was a learning experience because I've never played someone at that caliber. Now, I know what to expect." Yeah, expect more beatings.

In the quarterfinals, Venus will meet No.5 seed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi, who was a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, winner over Arantxa Parra Santonja.

Lucky Loser Mashona "Mal's Sister" Washington continued her solid form topping Marissa Irvin 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, and now earns a date with Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals. Maria Vento-Kabchi made quick work of Germany's "Drop The" Anca Barna 6-2, 6-2, to set up her second consecutive quarterfinal in Stanford. Other winners in Stanford on Wednesday include Nicole Pratt over Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-3. France's Marion Bartoli impressively handled Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-4, and Jelena Kostanic defeated slumping Ashley Harkleroad 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

On tap today, Kostanic vs. Schiavone, Bartoli vs. Frazier and Schnyder vs. Pratt. Not exactly high drama.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEWS
“Grinning” Greg Rusedski edged his way to into the quarterfinals by defeating Karol Beck in Los Angeles. Rusedski, who captured his 14th career title in Newport last week, came back from a break down in the final set before recording a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2) victory and extend his winning streak to seven matches – his longest on the ATP circuit since winning eight in August 2002 following his victory in Indianapolis.

“I knew I was going to have a tough match. He’s a good player and I knew it was going to be dangerous,” said Goofy Greg after the win. “I’m really pleased to get through the match. I’m glad I’ll have a day off tomorrow and come back on Friday ready for the quarterfinals.”

Rusedski hit 16 aces during the 1-hour, 47-minute match, including one in the final set tie-break. Beck, who defeated Rusedski’s countryman Tim Henman in the second round of the Stella Artois Championships at Queen’s last month, led 4-2 in the final set after Rusedski hit consecutive double faults to lose his serve in the sixth game. But the 30-year-old Briton broke back immediately and eventually forced the tie-break, where Beck produced two double faults of his own.

“I got a bit lucky today,” added Rusedski. “He got up a break in the third set and I knew I had to break straight back. I managed to save a few break points near the end and then I was pretty confident going into the tie-break.”

Rusedski will now face Nicolas Kiefer, who was a 6-4, 7-5, winner over Glenn Weiner.
“It’s good to win these matches and get myself back to where I want to be,” said Rusedski. “It’s not always pretty but to win is great. It’s going to be a tough match in the quarterfinals against Kiefer. We’ve always had close matches. He’s a good counterpuncher and plays with a little more margin for error than Beck.”

Also advancing were No. 3 seed Mardy “The” Fish, a three-set winner over Belgian Gilles Elseneer and Cyril Saulnier also needed three sets to defeat Jan Hernych.

On a better schedule today, Andre Agassi is back to tack on big-hitting Julien Benneteau. Sjeng Schalken takes on Wesley Moodie, Jeff “Battleship” Morrison faces Paradorn Srichaphan and Kenneth Carlsen meets Tommy Haas.

In Stuttgart, Rainer "No Houston this Year" Schuettler continues to struggle as he was eliminated by our pal Radek Stepanek 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2. For Stepanek, it was his fourth victory in six meetings with the German. After a tight first set, which went to the German in a tie-break, Stepanek bounced back and secured victory by breaking Schuettler twice in the third set. Next up for Stepanek is "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, who put an end to 2000 MercedesCup winner Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari’s hopes for another Stuttgart title. The 6-foot-10 Croatian closed out the match by playing a flawless tie-break, winning the encounter 6-3, 7-6(0). Teenager Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal advanced to the third round after a difficult opening match against Martin Vassalo Arguello from Italy, posting a 7-6(4), 6-4, win. No. 12 seed Albert Costa defeated countryman Felix Mantilla in their thirteenth career meeting, winning in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.

Good stuff on the ticket today for clay lovers as Canas faces Koubek, Nadal takes on Chela and Gaudio battles with Armando.

And in Amersfoort, rains hit the Dutch town late, but a couple matches still got in the books. Second seed Fernando Gonzalez set up a quarterfinal showdown with fast-rising Russian Igor Andreev after defeating Oscar Hernandez 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday. “Gonzo” claimed his 30th match win of the season and is now hoping close on his second title of the year after winning Vina del Mar earlier in the season. Gonzalez reached the Bastad semifinals last week. Andreev celebrated his 21st birthday with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Belgian Christophe "Cock" Rochus. Andreev was presented with a cake by tournament director Wendy Van Eijsden and ball boys sang 'happy birthday' to him. Then it was “Rain Time”. German Tomas Behrend led Spaniard Albert Portas 6-2, 3-3 when rain ended the day’s play, while top seed Nicolas Massu did not start his match against Dutchman "Everybody loves" Raemon Sluiter.

Today, Dutchman Martin Verkerk faces Chilean Adrian Garcia as he attempts to reach his sixth quarterfinal of the year. Garcia is playing his first ATP-level tournament since Vina del Mar in February. Garcia has reached four Challenger finals this year, winning the Zagreb title in May. Top seed and defending champion Massu takes a commanding 3-1 career record against Sluiter into their second-round meeting. Dutchman Dennis Van Scheppingen takes on Colombian Alejandro Falla.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
In their only prior meeting, Jeff Morrison beat Pardorn Srichaphan in Memphis in 2002…Andy Roddick is off bread, is he also off Lauren Bedford? Tennis-X readers want to know…Andre Agassi will have his hands full tonight as he guns for win 801 against Julien Benneteau. If you haven’t seen Benneteau, he likes to really hit the ball hard. Real hard…In his win last night, Rusedski was heckled by a Beck supporter after a double fault at 3-4 in the third set. Rusedski then smashed an overhead winner and turned to the fan and had a few choice words. The fan was then escorted out of the stadium. Said Rusedski: "The last time I did that, as we all know, it was a bigger stadium and it didn't work so well (Andy Roddick at Wimbledon).”…Andre Agassi has won 20 of his last 21 matches in Los Angeles. His only loss was to Pete Sampras in the 1999 final…Serena Williams wore a bright orange dress as she collected her trophy for best female tennis player at ESPN’s ESPY Awards Wednesday night. Host Jamie Foxx then brought the house down with a reprise performance of his musical tribute to tennis star Serena Williams, "Can I Be Your Tennis Ball?" Why did Serena win the award and not Henin-Hardenne? Um, you figure that out. Andy Roddick won for best male tennis player…Pam Shriver and husband George Lazenby, age 63, announced the birth of their son, George Samuel Lazenby. The baby was born at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, and weighed in at eight pounds, two ounces, or about the same as the complete James Bond DVD Collection. Congrats to the parents…Lindsay Davenport says her foot is fine, but her knee is not…Maria Sharapova has a younger cousin named Dasha, and apparently she can play as she double bageled some girl at a Black Sea youth event recently. Coach Yuri Yudkin, who also coached Sharapova, said to Reuters: “Yes, there are many similarities between the two. [Maria] was a very smart girl…I never had to repeat instructions twice to her. Dasha, too, is very smart, although she took up tennis when she was seven. That's a bit too late, I think. In my view, you have to start at four or five.”…And another wedding to mention from this weekend, Paul Goldstein married fellow Stanford grad Abigail McBride. The couple reside in San Francisco.