Federer Beats Agassi, Roddick Shocker Leaves No American Men at US Open

Posted on September 10, 2004

Andy Roddick, not No. 1.

Who serves bigger than Andy Roddick? Joachim Johansson does.

Roddick was caught looking in the mirror Thursday night at the US Open, frozen by a player who is bigger (by four inches), has an equally big if not bigger forehand, and a bigger serve (more aces during the Open than Roddick).

Johansson's 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 win over the defending champ came after Andre Agassi's five-set exit to Roger Federer, leaving the US Open semifinals without an American.

For Roddick against Johansson it wasn't quite the Agassi patented "deer in the headlights" look, but Roddick looked visibly flustered as early as the first set, uneasily pacing the baseline, staring down individuals in the crowd and staring ahead in a daze during change-overs.

Perhaps attempting to show who had the bigger...ummm, racquet, Roddick stuck to his losing baseline-bashing strategy early on, coming to the net only three times through roughly the first 1-1/2 sets, futilely attempting to Babolat a player who on this night was bigger and stronger.

Roddick quickly found himself down two sets, and the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was eerily silent.

Down 0-2 Roddick finally reached for the playbook, attacking the net to finish points and gaining an early 2-0 lead in the third set. Holding to make it 3-0, Roddick had won 15 straight points when leading at 4-1, closing the set out at then winning the fourth as Johansson started to lose his nerve.

But in the fifth set Johansson served himself out of trouble a couple times and it was Roddick who collapsed on serve, double faulting at love-30, then ending the match with a routine backhand error.

Roddick was so beside himself after the loss he ran laps around the tunnels beneath Arthur Ashe Stadium before settling into his post-match press conference.

"You don't need to analyze anything other than break points missed and break points converted," said Roddick, who threw down 34 aces in the losing effort. "I had a lot, he had a couple, but he made his. Let's give some of the credit to him. He serves out of a tree. He served better on break points than I did."

Johansson lost in the first round of the Open last year to Mardy Fish, and now finds himself in the semifinals for a first-time meeting with Lleyton Hewitt whose sister, Jaslyn, he dates.

"You can't pick your brother but you can pick your boyfriend, so I hope she'll support me," Johansson said. "Lleyton and I are good friends. I hope we'll be good friends after Saturday."

The 22-year-old Johansson didn't have New York penciled in on the second Saturday of the Open in his day planner.

"I was supposed to be playing golf with my dad in Scotland this weekend but I'll have to change my plans now."

It is the first time since 1986 that no American man reached the Open semifinals.

The world No. 1 Federer showed Thursday he's not limiting his American domination to just Roddick.

In a continuation of their rain-delayed Wednesday night quarterfinal match, Federer held off a late charge from the No. 6-seeded Agassi for a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win, advancing to the semifinals to face No. 5 seed Tim Henman.

"Hitting the ball in the dead center of the court was a great shot," Agassi said of dealing with the windy conditions. "Literally, if the ball left my racquet and was in play, it was my advantage. If the ball left his racquet and was in play, he had the advantage in the point."

When the match continued Thursday from the Wednesday rain-out, Agassi trailed 1-2 sets but came back to force the decider. Agassi's walk seemed even more duck-like during the match, perhaps an indication of his hip injury flaring up, and he appeared decidedly indecisive in the windy conditions.

"I came in here expecting to make somebody play a great match to beat me," Agassi said. "With the standard I was playing in Cincinnati and here, it was going to take the highest quality player playing great tennis. There's only so much you can do out there. You've got to just hope it sort of falls your way."

Henman, who resumed his match with No. 22 Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty with a 2-0 set lead, turned back a rally to win in four sets 6-1, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.

"Its awesome, it's a big weekend of tennis," said Henman, who entered the event with a shaky back but has seemingly gotten better with each match. "I got off to strong start in the fourth and tried to keep the points as short as possible. I thought I'd come in on everything and see if he can pass me -- that's tough to do."

It is the first US Open semifinal for Federer, Henman and Johansson, with Lleyton Hewitt playing the veteran role.

The former champ Hewitt beat Tommy Haas 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, extending his winning streak to 15 and reaching the semis for the fourth time in five years.

"That was some of the toughest conditions I've ever played in," said Hewitt, who made few unforced errors and took apart Haas with clinical precision. "But it was the same for both players, I just tried to remain positive and I thought I did that really well. It doesn't get any easier though, but I haven't put a foot wrong yet."

"He's like a wall and played terrific tennis today," Haas said. "It's unfortunate with the conditions -- it's hard enough to beat Lleyton Hewitt in normal conditions and it was very difficult today but it was the same for both of us."

Winners in the doubles semifinals were No. 3 seeds Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor (d. unseeded Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau/Nicolas Mahut) and No. 13 Leander Paes/David Rikl (d. unseeded Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal/Tommy "The R." Robredo).

On court today is the men's doubles final in No. 3 Knowles/Nestor vs. No. 13 Paes/Rikl.

Potential All-American or All-Russian Final Determined Today at US Open

The US Open will either get its dream all-American final, a nightmare all-Russian final, or something in between today when No. 5 Lindsay Davenport faces No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and No. 8 Jennifer Capriati takes on No. 6 Elena Dementieva.

Kuznetsova is trying to become the third different Russian to reach a slam singles final this year, and Dementieva prefers not to see another Russian on the other side of the net in the final.

"If I'm going to be in the final, I don't want to meet a Russian again," Dementieva said with a chuckle. "I like this American-Russian fight. Here's it's more interesting to play against American players."

The 19-year-old Kuznetsova is debuting in her first slam semi, and has not lost a set.

Capriati will try and shake off her choke from last year in the semis against Justine Henin-Hardenne.

"(Winning) is a pretty high priority right now," Capriati said. "It would be a dream come true."

Martina Navratilova's US Open run ended Thursday night with a mixed doubles semifinal loss to Alicia Molik and Todd Woodbridge in a third-set super-tiebreak, unique in the mixed draw.
"This might be my last US Open or it might not," Navratilova said. "I'm not definite, one way or another." Navratilova lost in the women's doubles with Lisa Raymond in the quarterfinals.

Doubles winners were No. 1 seeds Paola Suarez/Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. No. 6 Janette Husarova/Conchita Martinez in a quarterfinal match), and No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva (d. No. 12 Barbara Schett/Patty Schnyder in the semis).

TENNIS DISCUSSIONS
See what all the chatter is about, the talk, the walk, don't balk on the latest issues in pro tennis at http://www.tennis-x.com/discussions.php

FREE DAILY TENNIS-X NEWSLETTER
Our free gift to you. Make it a gift to yourself. Go to www.Tennis-X.com. Sign up today and we'll attach the Anna Kournikova virus, free of charge.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Roger Federer has lost just one match in grand slam play this year, and has lost just one set in six semifinals or final grand slam matches...With the high wind and steady stream of planes flying overhead, Thursday marked one of the toughest days to play in recent tournament history at the US Open...Poor ATP Delray Beach, after digging out of the Hurricane Frances, they must now deal with Hurricane Ivan which may hit early Monday just when play starts...For those in the lower bowl of Arthur Ashe Thursday afternoon, how crazy was that heckler who was sitting just above the player entrance tunnel incessantly yelling "Tommy (Haas) you are a super hero!"? Haas even gave him a good look and pointed after he hit the between-the-legs shot late in the third...The WTA announced their "Roadmap 2010" plan yesterday, a long-range structure designed to "significantly increase the global popularity of women's tennis through the development of a tennis season that is packaged in a way that is more appealing to fans, players, tournaments, sponsors and the media, and that will better highlight the game's most engaging rivalries." Key elements include an off-season extended from 5 to 7 weeks, more easily identified top events (does that mean not running crap events the same week as Tier I's?), a "mandatory" tournament commitment from players (as opposed to the "rest and recovery" pull card players currently use?), an easier-to-understand ranking system (about time), a tighter TV package, coordinating with other tennis bodies, an "enhanced WTA Tour Championships" (could it currently be more un-enhanced?), and getting rid of the horrendous Tier V events. Nice effort, but they all sound pretty common sense to us. How about taming or getting rid of your WTA media individuals with attitude problems? That should have been a bullet point in the press release. "Since joining the tour 16 months ago, my extensive discussions with players, tournaments, sponsors, media and other governing bodies have all revolved around a collective desire to develop the power, exposure and appeal of the sport," WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott said. "Our ultimate goal is to increase the popularity of the sport by building exciting rivalries and better packaging the sport." So in other words, Larry Scott, who came to the WTA from the ATP, is going to make the WTA more like the ATP. That process has already been underway, starting with the WTA having the ATP redo their formerly-horrendous website. Instead of "Roadmap 2010" they should have called it "Operation: Copy the ATP." The most positive move the WTA is making: "Under the four-year extension of tour and ITF agreement signed this week, the Fed Cup final will take place the week of September 12-18 following the US Open, two months earlier than its current date. As a result, the prestigious WTA Tour Championships, which will remain at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles in 2005, becomes the definitive season-ending tennis event, followed by a seven-week off-season, two weeks longer than in 2004." Prestigious, hyuk yuk...How about Jim Courier on USA Network, trying to get Tracy Austin to say "She gagged. Say it with me, she gagged," and slamming Amelie Mauresmo potentially ascending to No. 1 on the WTA Rankings, stepping into the Johnny Mac shoes, bringing the truth, good stuff...Like everyone else, Tim Henman is not a fan of the Saturday-Sunday play for the men at the US Open: "I am not sure the schedule's quite right playing Saturday and Sunday for the semi and final but I have had a great event and I want to carry on." Soldier on Brave Tim!...French-kid Gael Monfils' bid for a junior Grand Slam ended Thursday in a third-round loss to Viktor Troicki of Serbia-Montenegro...After Andy Roddick's loss, coach Brad Gilbert hung his head, and super-agent Ken Myerson began stomping his feet in some crazy display of rage, nice show of support. Roddick left the court so upset that he proceeded to run laps inside the stadium hallways trying to burn the bad energy off...Elena Dementieva on the car-crash known as her serve: "I'm serving very good in practice. I need to bring it to the court, to the match. I'm not telling you that I have a great serve and it didn't affect my game. I'm trying to do better, but it takes some time."...The draw for the Fed Cup World Group semifinals was made on Thursday, with Russia vs. Austria and France vs. Spain, to be played in Moscow on November 24-25...SI.com's Jon Wertheim pumping himself with a self-Q&A Wednesday on their website: "SI.com: One more chance to change your picks of (Roger) Federer and Lindsay Davenport. Want to stick with them? Wertheim: I've got to stick with them." Wertheim on the Serena debacle: "The other thing no one is talking about is there was another player on the court who knew what the score was. No one has even considered the fact that (Jennifer) Capriati might have conceded the point or helped with the confusion. I asked Serena about it last night, and she was very charitable. She said it was not Capriati's job to get the score right."...On USA Network Wednesday, Jimmy Connors again voiced his wish to set up a doubles match between he and John McEnroe versus Pete Sampras and another player from Sampras' era, with the match hopefully set for the spring. No commitment yet from Sampras. McEnroe, of course, is loving it, but sitting back waiting to see who else commits.