Los Angeles will be celebrating Oktoberfest today as Germans Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer will battle for the Mercedes-Benz Cup title. The all-German final is the first on the ATP circuit since 1994 when Markus Zoecke defeated Hendrik Dreekmann in the championship at Sun City.
Haas, who knocked out top seed Andre Agassi in a thriller Friday night, had to put the work boots on again Saturday in his tough 7-5, 7-5, win over Frenchman Cyril Saulnier.
Haas broke the Saulnier in the 12th game of both sets to earn his second final of the year following a title run at Houston.
“I’m still kind of on high right now because I'm in the finals and that's always something very important mentally to keep you going,” said Haas. “Once the tournament is over, it will be a different story, but right now I feel pretty good. I have a little more time tonight to get a good meal, good rest and be ready to go tomorrow. It helps for me for my own confidence that I'm on the right track. This whole week so far has gone pretty well for me and hopefully I can keep this momentum going for the next few weeks.”
Haas, who has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world, has over a lot in the last year having missed all of 2003 with a bad right shoulder and having to endure a motorcycle accident that injured his parents.
“I've changed a little bit mentally in some ways,” Haas said. “When you're away from a game for 16 months that you love you to do and you were on your high, it's something you have to deal with. It's not very easy mentally. It's very tough to come back after something like this. My parents motorcycle accident was another thing that was big for me and my family.
“Maybe I just enjoy the moments a little bit more and realize the chances that I have of things that I have to take a jump on,” added Haas. “I'm 26 years old now. Hopefully I still have a good 5, 6, 7 years left if my shoulder holds up and my body holds up. I just want to take advantage of the opportunities that I have.”
Countryman Kiefer joined Haas in the finals after outlasting American wild card Jeff Morrison 3-6, 6-
2, 6-4.
“The first set wasn’t easy,” said Kiefer, who was having trouble with Morrison’s big serve early on. “I didn’t know what to expect. I had to look a little bit and look around at what he was doing, how he was moving. I adjusted my game a little bit to this, then I broke him two times and from this point I knew anything was possible. Third set I was up 3-2 with a break. It was a very long game. I didn’t pay attention and lost my focus, and he played a good game and broke me back.”
In the ninth game of the third set, Morrison served up three double faults before Kiefer finally took a 5-4 lead in the set by converting on his third break chance of the game and put a cap in the match and set up the showdown with Haas.
“It’s going to be a very interesting match tomorrow,” said Kiefer who has beaten Haas in two of three meetings. “Tommy won his title in the States, maybe I can do it this time.”
In the doubles final, the top-seeded twin combo of Bob and Mike Bryan battle the No. 2 seeds Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley.
Not to be outdone, Stuttgart also features an all-Countrymen final as Argentines Guillermo Canas and Gaston Gaudio square off. In the first semifinals, the unseeded Canas defeated No. 15 seed Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, in one hour and 58 minutes. Davydenko made an aggressive start to the match and took the first set after 46 minutes. However, Canas found his rhythm and dominated the second and third set, losing only three games in the process.
No. 2 seed Gaudio had his struggles overcoming No. 11 seed David Ferrer 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a two-hour, 23-minute battle to reach his third consecutive final on the ATP circuit. Gaudio looked to be in total control of the match leading 6-3, 5-2, but Ferrer’s fighting spirit brought him back into the match. Gaudio held two match points on his own serve at 5-3 in the second set, and another two on Ferrer’s serve at 5-4, but the Spaniard saved the situation twice and took the match into a third set. Again, Gaudio took control and built up a massive 5-1 lead. When serving for the match at 5-1 he had another match point but Ferrer fought back one more time, and broke the Argentine’s serve twice to be on level terms. At 5-4 Gaudio managed to break his opponent’s serve for the seventh time and eventually sealed victory on his seventh match point.
“It’s quite different,” said Gaudio of playing his countryman. “You put some emotions into the match and not always playing your best tennis. We have both played great and the one who win will have deserved it for sure.”
Gaudio is looking for his fourth career title, his second of the year, in his ninth final. Canas aims for his fourth crown in his tenth final.
In Amersfoort, an all-countrymen/women pro tennis sweep was nixed as Martin Verkerk will try to win one for his home fans against Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez. Verkerk advanced with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, win over top seed and defending champion Nicolas Massu. Verkerk whacked an impressive 18 aces during the 2-hour, 20-mintute affair.
The second-seeded Gonzalez ended local hopes of an all-Dutch final by defeating Dennis Van Scheppingen in straight sets. Van Scheppingen was unable to convert either of two set points when serving for the first set at 6-5, the Chilean breaking back and advancing with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win in 94 minutes.
WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams will meet for a 23rd and perhaps final time in their long and storied rivalry Sunday to determine the 2004 Bank of the West Classic champion at Stanford.
On Saturday, Williams crushed sixth-seeded Amy Frazier 6-3, 6-1, and Davenport beat Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-3, 6-2 to set up their fourth finals meeting in seven years at the Stanford tournament with Davenport winning in 1998, 1999, and Venus in 2000. Overall, Venus leads the head-to-head 12-10 having won 11 of the last 13 meetings including six straight over Davenport.
"I'm looking forward to playing Lindsay," said Williams. "We've played so many times and it's been a year that we haven't played (2003 Wimbledon quarterfinals, won by Williams in three sets).
"I always enjoyed playing her,” added Williams. “When I first started, I had a tough time against her. We would have tough matches but she would always end up winning. Then I took over and starting winning. I am determined to take it another step tomorrow."
But with talk increasing that Davenport will likely retire at the end of the year, this may be their final meeting.
"Venus and I played a lot of times, I believe she is the player I played the most times in my career,” said Davenport. “Our matches can be divided in two periods. I used to beat her early on, but I don't think I've beaten her in a while now. Basically when Venus was able to reverse the tide against me, she turned it against everybody else.
"I feel I have nothing to lose; I have to step up my game, play well the big points and go for my shots and my serve and not try and just get the balls in. It's going to be a good match especially that Venus gets tougher in the final rounds."
Both players had little trouble Saturday in reaching the finals, posting straight sets, easy wins.
"Her serve hurt her but she was going for the returns," said Williams after 62 minute win over Frazier. "The first games were intense, but that's what I need. I need someone to give me a hard time."
Frazier was aiming to reach her first final in Stanford, having played every edition of the event since its inception in 1997. She also played the tournament's predecessor in Oakland from 1990 to 1996.
"I knew she was going to serve very well, so I got pressured to come up with great shots," said Frazier. "At the beginning, I felt great, then she got momentum and cut down on her unforced errors.”
Davenport needed just 65 minutes to dispose of Vento-Kabchi.
"We had a lot of good points and the score is not indicative," said Davenport. "It was a tough match and I played well enough to win. Maria can be a deceptive player, so it was important that I came strong early on.
Davenport is looking to win her third title of 2004 and the 41st of her career when she meets Venus on Sunday.
"Tomorrow is going to be a totally different match, much faster and I'm happy that I was able to finish this match in two sets and conserve my energy," Davenport added.
Venus is seeking her third title of the year, and 31st overall in her career.
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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Much to the surprise of tournament officials, Andre Agassi pulled out of the Indianapolis event saying he needed more time to let his aging body rest. The 34-year-old played a couple matches last week in World Team Tennis, then played three matches in L.A. this week. Agassi was scheduled to play Indianapolis, then Toronto followed by Cincinnati. Toronto is now on the bubble…French Open champ Gaston Gaudio has won 15 of his last 16 matches…In addition to getting a pile of Deutsche Marks, the Stuttgart champ will also receive a Mercedes-Benz SLK 200…There have been three all-Argentine finals already this year, while in L.A. it’s the first all-German final since 1994…For just the second time in the Open Era, the LA champion will unseeded. The only other occasion that happened was in 1973 when unseeded Jimmy Connors defeated Tom Okker…German car maker, German final in L.A. Conspiracy? Nah…How about this from the Indianapolis qualifying. Emin Agaev retired due to cramps when serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set against Alex Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov, a 17-year-old prodigy from Richboro, Pa., had saved two match points in the final game in this his first career ATP qualifying event…Serena and Venus are the No. 1, No. 2 seeds at the L.A. event which starts on Monday. Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova and Jenny Capriati had withdrawn prior to the draw…Serena on watching tape of her Wimbledon final loss to Sharapova: “I think with that one, in particular, I thought to myself, ‘What was I thinking out there?’ It’s kind of funny, because I realized I didn’t do anything that I planned on doing, you know, or that I had done maybe in a few other matches before. It was really actually positive, because, I thought, ‘Wow, I was playing at five percent.’”…John McEnroe's new cable news show “McEnroe” on CNBC averaged a paltry 146,000 viewers its first five nights. How sad that that many people actually watched. That show needs to be put in “The Chair” and quick.
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