Sharapova, Kuznetsova Set Up Saturday Show-Stopper at WTA Beijing

Posted on September 25, 2004

US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova and Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova won their quarterfinal matches Friday at the WTA stop in Beijing to set up a semifinal showdown on Saturday.

Sharapova led Jelena Jankovic 5-2 when the Serb retired with an ankle injury.

"I was happy to play a very good set. Though she was injured, we did have some good points," Sharapova said. "I liked the way I was playing and today too...I'm still enjoying myself, that's the most important thing."

Kuznetsova beat Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-4 6-2.

"I'm in good shape," said Kuznetsova, competing in her fourth straight week of play after winning the US Open and the WTA stop in Bali. "I've been tired here but I think I can handle it."

Not to be forgotten is the top-seeded Serena Williams, who advanced into the semis when Russian Nadia Petrova retired during their match with a sprained ankle trailing 2-6, 1-4. In the semifinals Serena will face No. 4 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia, who beat Spain's Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-3.

"I think I played solid today but definitely I can play better," said the ever-perfectionist Serena. "I'm really excited that I'm playing a little better, definitely better than in the (previous) round."

Saturday's semis match up as (2) Kuznetsova vs. (3) Sharapova (Kuznetsova leads career meetings 1-0 with a win at Wimbledon in 2003), and (1) Serena vs. (4) Zvonareva (Serena leads 2-0, with both meetings going three sets).

Davis Cup World Group Semifinal Results

Andy Roddick and Mardy "Silver" Fish put the U.S. up 2-0 Friday in their Davis Cup semifinal match-up against Belarus.

Roddick overwhelmed Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, followed by Fish defeating Max "The Beast" Mirnyi 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Roddick in the process broke his own fastest-serve record, delivering a 155 mph missile.

"It's great for the fans to see a record serve like that but to me it was another point, and that's the important thing," Roddick said. "I wanted to take the pressure off Mardy by winning my match and I think I did that."

American doubles specialists Bob and Mike Bryan can clinch the tie Saturday with a win over The Beast and either 18-year-old Alexander Skrypko or Voltchkov.

The U.S. has not reached a Davis Cup final since 1997 when they lost to Sweden.

In the second semifinal, Spain found itself in an unthinkable situation on its home claycourts after Day One, losing the first match with a second match left uncompleted.

France's Paul-Henri Mathieu stunned former French Open champ and former No. 1 Carlos Moya in five sets to silence the crowd in the opening match.

"I knew it would be tough," said Moya, who converted only five of 21 break chances. "He does everything well, but still I think today I was controlling the match and then in the fourth and fifth sets I had many chances. I think I lost it. I'm sorry for the spectators who were excellent in supporting me, but I gave everything and I can't really explain why I didn't win."

In the second singles Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero led Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 3-3 when the match was called due to darkness.

Saturday will see the completion of the second singles as well as the doubles with Spain's Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal and Tommy "The R." Robredo scheduled to face Michael Llodra and Santoro.

Davis Cup World Group Qualifying Results

Australia leads Morocco 2-0
Lleyton Hewitt became Australia's winningest Davis Cup singles player Friday after beating Morocco's Mehdi Tahiri to lead Australia to a 2-0 advantage. Hewitt's 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 win followed a shaky 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-3 victory by Australia's Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs over the unheralded Mounir El Aarej. "I haven't played a Davis Cup singles match for two years and I came out a little nervous," Arthurs said. "I was probably fortunate to win that first set...It's always very difficult to play someone you haven't seen. You never know what they're going to throw at you. It was pretty ugly. My tennis was not the purest I've every played." Top Moroccan players Younes El Aynaoui and Hicham Arazi bowed out with injuries, but in the case of Arazi it appeared he wanted more money to represent Morocco than his federation was willing to give. Look for Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge to clinch Australia's ticket back into the World Group in the Saturday doubles.

Romania Leads Canada 2-0
As expected on their home slow red clay, Romania took a 2-0 lead over Canada, but their Friday opener was not as easy as expected. Andrei Pavel, rebounding from a bad back that forced him to pull out of the US Open, rolled over Simon Larose 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in the opener. But in the second singles, Canadian 19-year-old Frank Dancevic took a one set lead over Victor Hanescu before the Romanian held out for an almost three-hour 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. "Our boys put up superior efforts. With a little luck we might have drawn even," said Davis Cup captain Martin Laurendeau. "We've got a big challenge ahead, but we have a group of warriors on this team. We'll take it one match at a time." In the Saturday doubles, Romania's Victor Ionita and Florin Mergea will be the underdogs against the experienced Canadian squad of Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer.

Russia Leads Thailand 2-0
Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan's claycourt Achilles' Heel was brought to the forefront Friday in Russia as the unheralded Igor Andreev rolled over the No. 20-ranked Thai 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. Marat Safin followed with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over Thai No. 2 Danai Udomchoke to put Russia up 2-0. On Saturday Russia will look to clinch the tie when Safin and Mikhail Youzhny team against Thailand's version of the Bryan brothers in Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana, who are 1-0 career in Davis Cup zonal play. Russia was forced to play the World Group qualifying round after they were knocked out of this year's World Group main draw in the first round by Max "The Beast" Mirnyi and Belarus.

Germany and Slovak Republic Tied 1-1
Germany and the Slovak Republic are tied at 1-1 after the first day of play during their Davis Cup qualifying tie on hardcourt in the Slovak Republic. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty rode the wave of crowd support in a neat 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 romp over German Cup neophyte Florian "Oscar" Mayer, but German No. 1 Tommy Haas followed with a win, rebounding from a first-set setback to triumph 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. Last year Germany was stunned by Belarus in the World Cup qualifier, plunging them into zonal play this year. The Slovaks are also looking to advance out of zonal play into the World group for 2005. The Saturday doubles schedule is The Dominator and Karol Beck for the Slovaks against Haas and Alexander Waske for Germany.

Czech Republic Leads Paraguay 2-0
Paraguay blew two chances Friday on their home claycourts. In the first match Paraguay's Paulo Carvallo, who has no ATP Ranking, led Jiri Novak one set to love before losing in four, then Ramon Delgado led Tomas Berdych 2-0 in sets before failing in five. Paraguay will try and get on the board Saturday when Delgado and Francisco Rodriguez face Czechs Novak and Radek Stepanek.

Chile Leads Japan 2-0
Chile pounded away to a 2-0 lead on their home red clay against the Japanese when Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu lost only three games against Gouichi Motomura, and Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez beat Takao Suziki in straight sets. The Chileans will clinch on Saturday when the gold medal Chileans Massu/Gonzo face sheep-led-to-the-slaughter Thomas Shimada/Takahiro Tarachi.

Croatia Leads Belgium 2-0
Without Xavier "X-Man" Malisse or Christophe "The Roach" Rochus, Belgium quickly fell behind 0-2 Friday when Ivan Ljubicic beat Giles Elseneer, and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic dismissed Olivier Rochus, both in straight sets. Ljubicic and Baby Goran will try and seal the deal Saturday against Dick Norman and Kristof Vliegen for Belgium.

Britain and Austria Tied 0-0
Lots of rain in Austria Friday, so both the singles and doubles will be contested on Saturday if the weather holds.

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
U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe says it is not hard getting his boys in the team spirit, compared to the disastrous U.S. Ryder Cup golf team meltdown: "It's not too hard when you have these guys here that love to play Davis Cup and love to play for their country and have a good time. So we try to have fun with it. We try to make the weeks as enjoyable as we can, and we've been successful doing that. And obviously I think that makes a difference in how you perform, how you play over the long haul. But obviously, you know, once the guys go out there, I just want them to play well and take care of the things that they have control over, and I think if we do that, we're playing at home on a surface that we like. If we play well, we feel really good about our chances, but with these guys, getting them to come together as a team is just a pleasure. There's no work that really has to be done there."...Roger Federer continued his extensive ATP-led media tour this week when he arrived in Asia in advance of the Thailand Open in Bangkok. After spending nearly a week in Los Angeles, Club Fed arrived in Hong Kong where he spent Thursday with the Asian press. He began the day by spending 15 minutes on the CNBC program Squawk Box in an interview that aired live in Asia and Europe. The show hosts asked Federer what qualities in becoming No. 1 may be helpful to businessmen and about branding of his name and his endorsements. The business theme continued as he later met with the Asian Wall Street Journal and was asked about his Swiss cosmetics line. Federer moved on to do two more television interviews that will air in the coming weeks, one with CNN's TalkAsia and another with ESPN's Star TV. He wrapped up his day with an interview for Yomiuri Shinbum, the world's largest circulating daily newspaper, that will be run as a five-part series...Carlos Moya appears in the September issue of GQ in the section "How I Get My Body.": "I know women are interested in this body. What can I say about that? I would prefer to be popular for my tennis. I hope, at least, that I am popular for both."...The Sports Business Journal rated Andy Roddick's hosting of Saturday Night Live in 2003 one of the 10 best performances by an athlete on TV or in a movie in the past 10 years...Mardy "Silver" Fish has been out in the second round in five of his last seven events...ESPN commentator Cliff Drysdale on Mardy "Silver" Fish: "He has got to make up his mind that he really wants it, and he's got to work as hard as he's ever worked," Drysdale told the Charleston Post & Courier. "He's a very nice man, maybe too nice. I'm not sure that he really wants to bear down. He enjoys life. He's a great guy. He's a joker. He's a madman in a certain way that I really love. But he's not in good enough shape. He'll go to Saddlebrook and work out with the best in the business for a while, and then he'll bag it. He just needs to get into the best shape of his life, and needs to compare himself to some of the great physical specimens on the tour, which he is not yet."...WTA Tour headquarters in Florida, getting ready to be hammered by yet another hurricane...Chance of Andy Roddick competing in the Davis Cup this weekend then posting days later for his commitment to the ATP Bangkok tournament? About 5 percent. Get ready for the phantom ankle injury...Andy Roddick did it again Friday breaking his own service speed record for a fourth time this year. Not surprisingly (or coincidently in fact) three of those efforts have come during Davis Cup play with that Getronics gun. First it was against Austria when he crushed a 150mph at a hapless Stefan Koubek. Then he bombed a 152mph blast against Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden in the quarterfinals in April. And now yesterday, eclipsing his best with a 155mph rocket. Common thread, along with being Davis Cup and in the U.S., the gun used by the USTA is made by Getronics, which is not the same gun as used on the regular tour and at the Slams which is developed by IDS (who you may have noticed slightly jacked up their gun during the US Open). By the way, Roddick's prior best of 153mph at Queen's was apparently clocked by a third different speed gun manufacturer. So who's right? Our guess is we will never know. But what's interesting is that in the last two years or so, Roddick is basically now 10mph faster then anyone else on the planet. Go figure.