Lleyton Hewitt extended his match win streak to 14 Tuesday at the US Open, with the No. 4 seed taking apart unseeded Slovak Karol Beck 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to join Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick among players in the quarterfinals.
Hewitt, happy to be flying under the radar this year after a disappointing 2003 and the success of Federer and Roddick, has shown the same brutal baseline style this summer that brought him to the top rankings for the first time in November 2001.
"Yeah, at the moment, I'm playing pretty solid tennis day in, day out," Hewitt said. "Back then (2001), in the semis or final when I played here, I played pretty faultless tennis both those matches. If I can keep doing that in the next three matches, then I'll be close."
No. 2 seed Andy Roddick steamrolled No. 18 Tommy "The R." Robredo in the nightcap Tuesday in straight sets, advancing to face No. 28 Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson (d. Llodra in straights).
"I'm serving well, I'm breaking a lot," Roddick said. "I'm returning well and moving well. I think I'm up to 50 percent for breaking this tournament, which is extremely high for me."
Also a winner was unseeded former No. 2 Tommy Haas (d. Berdych in straights) of Germany.
"It's terrific, this is why we play tennis," Haas said. "I am playing some great tennis. I was lucky to come from 6-3 down in the tiebreak and then played well."
In doubles quarterfinal matches, unseeded Frenchmen Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau/Nicolas Mahut ousted No. 6-seeded Zimbabweans Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett in three sets, and No. 3 seeds Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor ended the run of unseeded gold medalist Chileans Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez/Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu in three sets.
On court Wednesday are (5) Henman vs. (22) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (Brit leads meetings 2-0), and in the featured night match, (1) Federer vs. (6)Agassi (tied 3-3, with the Swiss winning the last three).
"That's definitely something I'm looking forward to," said Federer, a first-time Open quarterfinalist, on facing Agassi. "I've never played the big matches at the Open. Not at night sessions. This is a big occasion for me to prove myself."
Dementieva Upsets Mauresmo, Capriati Benefits From Bad Calls Against Serena
In the first quarterfinal at the US Open Tuesday, Russian No. 6 seed Elena Dementieva came back from breaks down in both the second and third sets to upset No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo, temporarily ending the Frenchwoman's hopes of becoming No. 1 for the first time.
Had Mauresmo won she would have taken over the No. 1 ranking from Justine Henin-Hardenne. Now she will have to wait on Lindsay Davenport's result, or until the WTA Tour folks figure out their ranking system.
The Russian used a deft combination of baseline placement and timely net approaches to oust Mauresmo, who is usually controlling the tempo up front. At the end of the match, Dementieva was treated with IV fluids.
"I am feeling much better since receiving medical treatment," Dementieva said. "I'm very happy with this win as it was a difficult match. Amelie was playing very well and serving especially well so this gives me a lot of motivation moving forward in the draw. I'm just so happy to be in the semifinals."
For Mauresmo it was another big loss on another big stage, with the oft-choking non-slam winner still in the running to gain No. 1 for the first time.
"It is a big disappointment," said Mauresmo, who failed to step up and pound the weak Dementieva serve. "I am a little angry with myself. I had some good occasions but I didn't make it. I'm not happy with my net game. I should have done better with that."
For Dementieva it is her second US Open semifinal and she will play Jennifer Capriati, who benefited from perhaps the worst night of line calls in professional tennis Tuesday night.
The No. 8-seeded Capriati beat the No. 3-seeded Serena 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, with USA Network's "Hawkeye"'s after-the-fact line-calling technology showing four faulty calls, all in Capriati's favor, during the last game of the match.
"I'm never one to argue on the court, never, that's not who I am," said Serena, brushing back tears, mentioning a "conspiracy theory" against her and sister Venus from a similar situation at Wimbledon.
"I'm very angry and bitter right now," said Serena, at this point laughing in her post-match conference to hold back the tears. "I feel very cheated. I just feel robbed. I'm out of the tournament right now, I guess the lady (chair umpire) didn't want me to be in the tournament anymore."
Interviewed on court after the match, Capriati had no qualms with the outcome.
"She's had her fair share of line calls," Capriati said in an on-court interview to some boos, describing a ball down the line that was well-in but overruled by the chair umpire. "I didn't even, like, look at it. It was close. I was just going to what the umpire said."
In doubles results of interest, No. 2-seeded Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva beat No. 5 seeds Martina Navratilova/Lisa Raymond 6-1 in the third.
On the Wednesday line-up in quarterfinal action are (5) Davenport vs. the unseeded Asagoe (Davenport leads 1-0, at Wimbledon in 2003), and (9) Kuznetsova vs. (14) Petrova in an all-Russian first meeting (plug in the Russian playing-the-countrywoman Choke-o-meter).
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Roger Federer hasn't lost to a Top 10 player this year, and not since last year's Masters Cup...Andy Roddick is now 25-2 career vs. Spaniards...Tommy Robredo hadn't even practiced on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court before playing Andy Roddick on Tuesday night...With the loss by Amelie Mauresmo Tuesday, all eight Athens Olympic women's semifinalists are out of the US Open...Jimmy Connors is on the US Open grounds, with this year's US Open visited by 14 current or former men's No. 1s...Big storm approaching the US Open starting Wednesday with a projected washout Wednesday and Thursday...Venus Williams has now suffered through her third consecutive year without a slam title...Kim Clijsters is still set to return to play later this month at a lesser Tour event in Belgium: "I'll only return when I am fully fit. At first I was disappointed not to play (the US Open). Afterward it turned out to be the best decision."...How the hell is Nick Bollettieri getting the USA Network studio time all of a sudden, predicting matches? Are they keeping a tanning booth in there for him between takes? Nick, too many X's and O's in that gravelly voice, not overly entertaining...Hey WTA, how bad is your rankings system when you're not sure if Amelie Mauresmo will become No. 1 if she wins her next match at the US Open in the third round? Ouch. The rankings system is so complicated even you can't figure it out? That's about as embarrassing as the 2000 presidential election, Justine Henin-Hardenne better demand a recount. If the WTA doesn't even know how to predict the calculations, who's to say it is even right?...Notice what a pro straight-man Bill Macatee is for USA Network, always setting up John McEnroe or Jim Courier without feeling the need to too far out on a limb to display his tennis knowledge? Solid stuff...For those who checked out Flavor Flav on The Surreal Life on VH1 as an alternative to the Tommy Robredo beating, you got a treat...At the US Open the USTA staff handles the men for media requests, but leaves the women's duties to the WTA Tour. Props to the exceedingly professional USTA staff at the Open (even circulating internal-only pamphlets to media employees concerning how to interact with people/media), as compared to one rude head individual on the WTA staff, caught dressing down reporters during interviews with negative comments, and displaying some nasty attitude even to USTA media employees. "Yeah, we've had a lot of issues with her," commented one USTA employee. "She's not one of the favorites." For the WTA, which has improved it's media relations reputation over the past couple years, that's a bad apple in charge ruining an otherwise healthy bushel of underlings...The ATP announced Tuesday that Andy Roddick has joined Roger Federer in already qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup in Houston...Jim Courier, Yannick Noah, Jana Novotna, Butch Buchholz, Eiichi Kawatei, Owen Davidson, Christine Truman Janes, and Patricia Canning Todd were the eight nominated for possible 2005 induction to the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Tuesday. The inductees will be announced in January 2005...Tracy Austin, time to ditch the USA Network make-up person and go with a pro, the heavy pancake/make-up and bleach-damaged hair is fodder for the fashion magazine's "don't" column. You're a beautiful woman, forego the cake...US Open boy's junior No. 1 seed, Gael Monfils of France who is attempting to win the junior grand slam while nursing a couple injuries, won again Tuesday in three sets...Props to journalist Joel Drucker for help at the Open and the free copy of his book, Jimmy Connors Saved My Life, a personal biography -- that's what it's all about at the Open, free swag. Props to everyone who has sent us, and is sending us swag, and will send us swag...Lindsay Davenport is in her eighth consecutive US Open quarterfinal, and has won 22 straight matches since her semifinal loss at Wimbledon...Could there be more bad line calls at the Open? How about Serena getting screwed on that baseline call with Jennifer Capriati serving for the match Tuesday night? Or the second serve being out? Four bad calls in all in one game, that will be the match that brings the Hawkeye to the chair umpire's stand -- even if the technology is not 100 percent, isn't it better that the linespeople who seem to miss a handful of important calls per match?...The female staffer's perspective on the Andy Roddick Reebok subway wear: "Look at Andy Roddick with his matching shirt and hat, he looks so...bad." Male staff perspective is he looks more like a painter after a long day on the job, hope there aren't many kids slapping down $50 for that.
