Philippoussis Slumps to Another Early Loss at ATP Shanghai

Posted on September 29, 2004

No. 4 seed Mark Philippoussis lost his fifth consecutive first-round match Tuesday at the ATP stop at Shanghai, this time in humiliating fashion to American journeyman Glenn "I.C." Weiner. Flipper won the first set but failed to close the deal, flaming out 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Weiner entered the event with a 4-6 win-loss record on the year.

"I wasn't feeling that good when I went into that match," Weiner said. "For sure it's one of my best wins. I played him in Hong Kong about 10 years ago and he kicked my butt."

Philippoussis said the Florida weather and other intangibles had him off-kilter.

"Physically I'm feeling good, the injury is fine," Philippoussis said. "It was pretty much a terrible day out there...I haven't had the time to think. I was stuck in the house with hurricanes then went to San Diego to get back in shape. I know how things started at the beginning of the year and things got worse and worse."

It was an all-"B"-American day in Shanghai, with No. 8 seed Jan-Mike Gambill also collecting a rare win, defeating German qualifier Ivo Klec in straight sets.

"It hasn't been a great year for me," said Gambill, offering up his history in Asia. "This is my second time in Shanghai. I've been to Hong Kong and Tokyo a few times and the last time I was in Shanghai I lost in the quarterfinals to (Michael) Chang. I like to play the Asian tour."

Other unseeded winners into the second round were qualifiers Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France (d. (LL) Healey in three) and Dutchman Melle Van Gemerden (d. Vacek), Germany's Lars Burgsmuller (d. (WC) Zeng), Denmark's Kristian Pless (d. C.Rochus 6-0 in the third), and Chinese wildcard Ben-Qiang Zhu bringing the local fans to their feet (d. Zib in three).

"I think it was not so much tactics but it was important with the mind," said Zhu of the win over Zib. "It was a psychological win. Like in Davis Cup in Nanjing, we played better and better. The strong mind helps me."

On Wednesday are (WC) Van Lottum vs. Tipsarevic, (Q) Phau vs. (6) Nieminen, Lu vs. (2) Novak, (7) Ricardo Mello "Yello" vs. Peya, and Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs vs. (5) H.-T. Lee.