Schuettler Fights Off 10 Match Points at ATP Kitzbuhel

Posted on July 22, 2004

Top-seeded Rainer "Shine" Schuettler was handed a second-round scare Wednesday at Kitzbuhel, but stormed back for a 6-3, 6-7(13), 6-0 win over Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi on the red dirt.

In the second set Schuettler saved an amazing 10 match points.

"I lost the first set and then in the second set there was a very, very, close tiebreak and he had some match points," Schuettler said with the Reader's Digest version. "But I was starting to risking more on the big points. He had some match points and I had some set points in a long, long, tiebreak. Finally I won the tiebreak and that was very important because he then went down mentally and physically."

Schuettler led a slew of seeds into the third round including French Open champ (2)Gaston Gaudio (d. (Q)Minar), (3)Nicolas Massu (d. (Q)Schukin), (4)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. Koubek in three), (5)Mariano Zabaleta (d. O.Hernandez), (8)Fernando Verdasco (d. Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari), (13)David Sanchez (d. (Q)Cermak in three), (14)Nikolay Davydenko (d. D.Norman), and (15)Tomas Berdych (d. "You Say" Potito Starace).

Un-seeds into the third round were giant-killers Radek Stepanek (d. (9)Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze), Martin Vassallo Arguello (d. (12)Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer), and Spaniard Santiago Ventura (d. (16)Montanes).

On the dirt today in Kitzbuhel are (7)Luis "Me So" Horna vs. (11)Costa, (14)Davydenko vs. (2)Gaudio, (1)Schuettler vs. (13)D.Sanchez, (3)Massu vs. (15)Berdych, Stepanek vs. (5)Zabaleta, Monaco vs. (6)Mayer, (8)Verdasco vs. Vassallo Arguello, and in an all-Spanish, Ventura vs. (4)F-Lo.

Four seeds were bounced on the hardcourts Wednesday at Indianapolis in (5)Mardy Fish (l. to Carraz in two tiebreaks), (7)Sjeng Schalken (l. to Hernych), (13)Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (l. to K.Beck), and (16)Robin Soderling (l. to Bogomolov, Jr.). Top-seeded Andy Roddick's match with qualifier Michael Kratochvil was suspended by rain with the American leading 6-4, 4-5.

Seeded winners on the day were (3)Sebastien Grosjean (d. Jeanpierre in three), (6)Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. Santoro), (11)Joachim Johansson (d. Rusedski in three), (12)Nicolas Kiefer (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic), (14)Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (d. Morrison), and (15)Robby Ginepri (d. (Q)De Chaunac in three).

Other unseeded winners were three qualifiers in Todd Reid (d. Kuznetsov), Noam Okun (d. Enqvist 7-6 in the third) and Rik De Voest (d. Chiudinelli in three).

Today's Indy schedule is (1)Roddick vs. (Q)Kratochvil (to finish), (Q)De Voest vs. (12)Kiefer, (LL)Bogomolov Jr. vs. (4)Srichaphan, (3)Grosjean vs. (14)X-Man, (1)Roddick or (Q)Kratochvil vs. (15)Ginepri, (10)Ljubicic vs. (LL)Hernych, (11)J.Johansson vs. (6)The Dominator, Carraz vs. (Q)Reid, and K.Beck vs. (Q)Okun.

Two out of three ain't bad at Umag where (2)Jiri Novak (d. C.Rochus 6-1 in the third) and (4)Filippo Volandri (d. Serra) advanced, but (7)Flavio "Of Yesterday" Saretta was tripped up (l. to Garcia-Lopez). Kristof Vliegen won the unseeded battle of the Belgians, beating Ollie Rochus in three.

"I am happy with my game, I am playing solid tennis," Novak said. "This year I am just missing a couple of wins in the bigger events to be in the Top 15. I have been really consistent; I played a lot of matches in the past month."

Today in Umag features Almagro vs. (5)A.Martin in an all-Spanish, (6)Canas vs. (WC)Vicente, (1)Moya vs. local (WC)Krajan, and Calatrava vs. Zib.

WTA REVIEWS/PREVIEWS
Top-seeded Serena Williams (d. Daniilidou) led the yawn-inducing second round play Wednesday at LA, where nine of the 10 seeds in action moved into the third round.

Serena, the No. 1 seed in LA even though she languishes outside the Top 10, was joined in the winner's circle by (3)Lindsay Davenport (d. Anne "Cosmo" Kremer), (5)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Vento-Kabchi), (6)Ai Sugiyama (d. Pratt), (8)Vera "Warren" Zvonareva (d. Pisnik by walkover), (10)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. Hantuchova), (11)Francesca Schiavone (d. Dechy), (14)Chanda Rubin (d. Benesova in three), and (15)Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier (d. Schett). Jelena Kostanic had the only upset on the day, taking out (9)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder.

Un-seeds into the third round were Russian Elena Likhovtseva (d. Jankovic in three), Marion Bartoli (d. Morigami), and Arantxa Parra Santnja (d. Barna).

On the hardcourts today in LA are Smashnova-Pistolesi vs. Kuznetsova, Dementieva vs. Rubin, Serena vs. Parra Santonja, Frazier vs. Davenport in an all-American, Likhovtseva vs. Venus, Petrova vs. Kostanic, Sugiyama vs. Schiavone, and Bartoli vs. Zvonareva.

All three seeds in action on the dirt at Palermo advanced into the third round Wednesday in (2)Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Vinci), (3)Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (def. Beygelzimer), and (4)Katarina Srebotnik (d. Sescioreanu in three), in addition to the unseeded Antonella Serra Zanetti (d. Conchita Martinez "Not That Conchita" Granados).

On tap for Thursday in Palermo are Fedak vs. Pennetta, Koukalova vs. Nagyova, Groenefeld vs. Gagliardi, and Domachowska vs. Cervanova.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Venus Williams, who along with sister Serena attended the "Catwoman" movie premier: "Halle (Berry) epitomizes what it means to be Catwoman: strong, sexy and smart," said Venus, wearing canary-yellow Dior. She also epitomizes stars choosing bad roles..WNBA star Diana Taurasi was a bit on edge with agreeing that Serena Williams would dress her for the ESPYs: "You get nervous real quick. You see what she wears and she's, uh, out there." Hey, be thankful she didn't model the ass-tastic "catsuit" for you...From reader Rose on the Andy Roddick story: "Wow, a relatively objective piece on Roddick from Tennis-X here...did something get in the water or something?" Easy there, don't be a hater. TD chimes in "Wow. I'm shocked. An actual decently-written, non-bashing article on Andy Roddick.....by tennis-x of all places! Will wonders never cease?" Do we detect some sarcasm?...Daniel "The Former Walking Stick" Hantuchova has put on 11 pounds of muscle since hiring professional hockey fitness trainer Marian Gejdos from her homeland in December: "I knew there was something I needed to change because I knew it was not possible to keep going like that. I needed to gain more power and strength and I knew I needed to do some changes. He always gives me exactly what I need to do in between tournaments and during the tournaments. "Now it was more aerobic stuff, because I knew I needed to be OK in these difficult conditions when it's hot like this. We also did some power training."