Federer Win Streak Ends at 23 at Masters Series-Cincinnati

Posted on August 4, 2004

World No. 1 Roger Federer looked to be in cruise control mode Tuesday at the Masters Series-Cincinnati before four titles and 23 match wins in a row finally caught up to him.

Federer won the first set off Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty before slowly losing his much-vaunted shot-making ability and timing in a 1-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 end to his run. season. It was the first time a No. 1 seed had lost a first round match in Cincinnati since Vijay Amritraj beat top seed John McEnroe in 1984.

"I thought I played really well for one set and a half," said Federer on the apparent pseudo-tank job. "The missed opportunities in the second set maybe paid because in the beginning he was, you know, giving me quite a few points. You know, he was missing his shots. And in the second, end of the second and the third, he wasn't. So that's the ones I was calculating with, and he didn't give it. So he played well. I'm not too disappointed. People shouldn't feel sorry for me, because I've had a great run. The streak's at its end now. So I can leave, I've got a few more days off. That's the positive side of it."

Apparently it was time to get some rest for the Olympics.

Seeds advancing into the second round were (2)Andy Roddick (d. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi in three, with the Beast again showing his inability to close the big matches), (5)Tim Henman (d. (WC)El Aynaoui 6-1, 6-0) and (7)Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Clement).

On the seeded loser side were (13)Nicolas Massu (l. to Russian Youzhny in three) and (12)Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean (l. to Soderling in three).

Unseeded winners on the day were Tommy Robredo (d. the hurting Dent), American (Q)Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer), Spaniard Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. (Q)Reid), rockin' Moroccan Hicham Arazi (d. Spadea who retired at 3-5 in the third with heat exhaustion), Swedes (SE)Thomas Johansson (d. (LL)Carraz in two breakers) and Jonas Bjorkman (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze 6-1 in the third), Mariano Zabaleta (d. Llodra), Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna (d. Verdasco in two breakers), Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro (d. Ginepri), and hot-handed German Nicolas Kiefer (d. Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson).

On tap today in Cincy are Ljubicic vs. (4)Moya, (10)Hewitt vs. Kuerten in a battle of former No. 1s (Hewitt leads meetings 2-1), Kiefer vs. (2)Roddick, (SE)T.Johansson vs. (11)Agassi in a battle of Aussie Open winners, (9)Gaudio vs. (Q)Rusedski in a nice draw for the Brit, (WC)Haas vs. Sargsian, (WC)The Lizard King vs. (14)Safin, Arazi vs. (5)Henman, (15)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. Schalken, The Dominator vs. Bjorkman, Robredo vs. (7)Ferrero in an all-Spanish, Luis "Me So" Horna vs. Soderling, Chela vs. Fernando "The Flayin' Chilean" Gonzalez, (LL)Arthurs vs. Zabaleta, Santoro vs. Youzhny, and F-Lo vs. (Q)"Dr." Ivo Karlovic.

WTA REVIEWS/PREVIEWS
All eight seeds in action Tuesday at Montreal advanced but not without some effort in (2)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Tanasugarn in three), (5)Jennifer Capriati (d. Jidkova), (7)Ai Sugiyama (d. Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova in three), (1)Vera "Wareen" Zvonareva (d. Morigami), (12)Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. Asagoe 6-1 in the third), (14)Elena "Lina" Bovina (d. Ruano Pascual), (15)Chanda Rubin (d. (Q)Matic) and (17)Mary Pierce (d. Pratt).

Winners among the un-seeds were American qualifiers (Q)Mashona "Little Sis" Washington (d. Strycova), (Q)Bethanie Mattek (d. (Q)Widjaja in three) and (Q)Lilia Osterloh (d. countrywoman Craybas 6-1 in the third), Jelena Jankovic (d. Obata), Gisela "Sgt. Dulko (d. (LL)Lee-Waters), Spain's Arantxa "Not That Arantxa" Parra Santonja (d. (Q)Anne "Kosmo" Kremer in three), Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi (d. Rita "It Ain't" Grande 6-0 in the third), Martina "Nurse Hand Me a" Sucha (d. (Q)Neffa-de Los Rios in three), Russian Elena Likhovtseva (d. Vento-Kabchi after losing the first set at love), and French veteran Nathalie Dechy (d. Granville).

On court Wednesday are Sgt. Dulko vs. (4)Dementieva, (6)Sharapova vs. Brandi, Likhovtseva vs. (8)Petrova in an all-Russian, (3)Myskina vs. Parra Santonja, (13)Maleeva vs. Sucha, (11)Schiavone vs. Dechy, (16)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. Golovin, (14)Elena "Lina" Bovina vs. (Q)Osterloh, (Q)Washington vs. (15)Rubin in an all-American, Jankovic vs. (9)Suarez, and in doubles the all-French (WC)Mauresmo/Pierce vs. the all-American Mattek/Perry, with Mauresmo/Pierce getting in a little Olympics practice.

Results Newsflash!
Due to the WTA Tour's inept scheduling, running the Tier IV Stockholm event during the same week as an "elite" Tier I Montreal event, Tennis-X is voluntarily aiding the WTA this week by not running results from Stockholm. We hope this will help to elevate the Montreal results in the eyes of casual fans and avoid confusion, while at the same time shielding fans from the heinous field in Stockholm. We apologize for having to do the WTA's job in elevating the status of their Tier I events, and apologize to you diehard Tier IV fans. Rock on Tier I week.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Tommy Haas and Rainer "Shine" Schuettler were roommates for the 2000 Olympics and will room together again in two weeks in Athens: "I really like him on and off the court," Haas said. "On the court you have to forget who you're playing and try to win. It's tough to show emotions and pump my fist when I know the person on the other side of the net."...Kim Clijsters is in Cincinnati this week rooting on fiance Lleyton Hewitt...The ATP senior tour stop in Portugal began yesterday, with Jim Courier and Richard Krajicek making their senior tour debuts. Other players in the eight-man round robin field are Mats Wilander, Henri Lecone, Emilio Sanchez, Michael Stich, Richard Krajicek, Mikael Pernfors, and local former pro Joao Cunha Silva. Results from Tuesday were Krajicek d. Cunha Silva, Stich d. Pernfors, Wilander d. Leconte, and Courier d. E.Sanchez 10-6 on a Champions' Tiebreak...The ATP announced Tuesday that Roger Federer has clinched a spot for the year-end Masters Cup, marking the earliest announced qualification since the inception of the ATP in 1990. "I'm very happy to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup for the third time in succession," Federer said. "I always play well at the Tennis Masters Cup and last year's title was one of the best tournament wins of my career." Federer then celebrated by promptly losing first round in Cincinnati...According to The Wall Street Journal, the Beverly Hills home of Pete Sampras, on the market a year ago for $3.75 million, recently went into contract after being reduced to $3.5 million -- but the contract has fallen through, agents familiar with the area say. The property is now for sale again at the same asking price. Sampras bought the house for $2.65 million from saxophonist Kenny G. Pete and family currently have a larger Beverly Hills residence that Sampras purchased for around $8 million in 2002...Justine Henin-Hardenne has recovered enough from a viral infection to play in the Athens Olympics: "Justine made good progress," her website announced Tuesday. "The last few days she has been able to work out as before the virus hit her."...Carlos "Gun Show" Moya on Cincy: "Usually I played really bad here. Only one year I played well, and I won the tournament. But I feel well here. They treat us very well. Maybe it's too hot, very hot, but there is nothing that they can do about that. But is a nice tournament. Very calm, you know. Very relaxing. You have the golf course, and hotel is near the club. So I think overall is a pretty good tournament."...Andre Agassi says he needs to get matches under his belt, get match-tough: "I'm feeling a lot more relaxed in practice than I am in the match, and that tells me there's some matches I need to get through before I can just go out there and treat each match with the approach of, 'I'm going to let my game fly and somebody's going to need to stop it.' That's from playing these matches -- that only comes from playing these matches."...Was that a tank job by Roger Federer in his loss yesterday to Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty? After easily winning the first set, then losing the second in a tiebreak, you could almost see the wheels turning in the third -- 'Man, I could be on a plane and in Switzerland tomorrow, get some rest before the Olympics...' Why not? Not like there were a lot of points dropping off his rankings from last year at Cincy (second round loss). Not like Andy Roddick was breathing down his neck at No. 2 in the rankings. Not like he needed the money. See ya!...172 athletes will compete in tennis at the Athens Olympics...The McEnroe brothers on Roger Federer: "I don't think it's too early for that (best ever) talk," ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe said. "The game is there to be one of the best ever." John says: "He might be the smoothest, most talented player I've ever laid eyes on."...How are the Olympics going? Athens organizers have sold less than half of the 5.2 million tickets available just 10 days before the start of this month's games, and according to Reuters, about 100 stray dogs are trapped inside the athletes' village causing pandemonium. Looking good Athens...We're going to ask the question that's on the lips of anyone who watched the Andy Roddick-Max "The Beast" Mirnyi match on ESPN2 last night: Hey Beast, could you have FEWER instincts at the net? Could you come in to the net and look like someone set up a camera tripod in the middle of the court? Could you stand flat-footed in the middle of the court time and time again, never even guessing on the pass? Could you fail to close out fewer matches in your career, this time being a set up and 4-1 in the second set tiebreak, then serving 5-4 in the tiebreak? We know that you're coached by your dad and pseudo-coach and former player Alex "Let's Go Get a Beer" Reichel, but gosh DAMMIT that's frustrating to watch. With your game, the fact you've never been Top 15 is a joke -- please, give us a call, we've got some coaches on staff. Roddick was trying to HAND YOU THAT MATCH, he was ready to cash it in for a Fed-like pre-Olympic break, you actually kept him in the tournament...The "Indian Express," Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes are at it again this week at the MS-Cincy after their title last week at the MS-Canada...Mikael Pernfors is expecting his first child by December...Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty is 4-2 lifetime against No. 1 players.