At Olympics, Henin, Chile Stay Hot, Moya NotPosted on August 19, 2004
The top-seeded Henin-Hardenne bested Venus-conqueror Mary Pierce of France 6-4, 6-4. No. 2 seed Mauresmo endured three sets to get past fifth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 while the third-seeded Myskina had little trouble in pasting Italian Francesca Schiavione 6-1, 6-2. The results set up a pretty solid semifinal lineup for Friday pitting Henin-Hardenne against Myskina and Mauresmo against surprising Australian Alica Molik, who scored an upset over No. 8 seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-4. World No. 1 Henin-Hardenne, who has been plagued by a mono-like virus for much of the last five months, is playing in her first event since the French Open. Meanwhile, on the men’s side the seeds continue to fall as Thursday marked the end of Spaniard Carlos Moya’s gold medal dreams. Following the upsets of top seed Roger Federer and No. 2 Andy Roddick, Moya was the highest seeded remaining until today when the former No. 1 was sent packing by Chile’s Nicolas Massu 6-2, 7-5. Chile earned another semifinal spot which guarantees them of at least a bronze medal when the ferocious Fernando Gonzalez followed up his upset win over Roddick with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over France’s Sebastien Grosjean. Two matches remain on the ticket Thursday as American Mardy Fish tackles Russian Mikhail Youzhny for the right to play Gonzalez, while the 10th-seeded Massu, who is the highest seeded player remaining, meets either Taylor Dent of the U.S. or Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. |
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While the men’s side in the Olympics tennis competition has been ravaged by upsets, the women’s field remains more on track. Thursday afternoon continued that trend as the remaining top seeds Justin Henin-Hardenne of Belgium,