Malisse Upsets Hrbaty at Lyon, Euro Series Begins

Posted on October 5, 2004

Unseeded Belgian Xavier "X-Man" Malisse took out the only seed in play Monday at the ATP stop in Lyon, defeating No. 6 Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty in straight sets to advance to the second round.

"It's been a long time since I played well, but I always play well here," X-Man said. "Today we played many long points with lots of rallies however -- I am very pleased with my serve, I served well in the important point and I think that is what got me through the match."

Other un-seeds into the second round Monday were Spain's Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. Davydenko in three), Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman (d. A.Costa in three, saving two match points), Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic (d. (WC) Clement).

"I'm still not over a rib injury I suffered in the US Open but no matter how I feel physically, I always play great on this court," Ljubicic said after putting on a serving display. "I thought he played well once we got into the rallies but my serve made the difference today."

Four qualifiers also won out into he main draw in Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (BLR), Radek Stepanek (CZE), Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau (FRA), and "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter (NED).

On court Tuesday are (5) Tommy "The R." Robredo vs. Soderling, (Q) The Beast vs. (8) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, (1) Massu vs. Calleri, (Q) Stepanek vs. (WC) Mathieu, (3) Ferrero vs. Sargsian, Ferrer vs. (Q) Sluiter, Luis "Me So" Horna vs. Youzhny, and (7) Spadea vs. Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri in an all-American.

Philippoussis Sunk, Wildcard Suzuki a Winner at ATP Tokyo

Takao Suzuki thrilled the home crowd Monday at the ATP stop in Tokyo, ousting Chile's Adrian Garcia in two tiebreaks to advance to the second round.

The Japanese wildcard is currently ranked outside the Top 150 on the ATP Rankings.

Not so fortunate was the wildly-slumping Australian Mark Philippoussis, who lost in straight sets to unheralded Czech Tomas Zib, making for six consecutive first-round losses.

"I thought that Mark was a little bit slow in movement against me so my key was to make him run around as much as I could," said Zib on moving Philippoussis around the court and out of the event. "I think today my return of serve was pretty good and I was surprised how I kept all my break points on my serve."

Other winners on the day were Israel's Harel Levy (d. Lu in two tiebreaks) and American Alex Bogomolov Jr. (d. Tipsarevic 7-6 in the third).

The qualifying was also completed Monday, with six onto the main draw in Chiudinelli (SUI), Phau (GER), Pless (DEN), Kohlmann (GER), Iwabuchi (JPN), and Wang (TPE).

On Tuesday's schedule is Arthurs vs. Lisnard, (Q) Wang vs. Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison, (Q) Pless vs. Thomann, Weiner vs. (WC) Motomura, Christophe "The Roach" Rochus vs. Gimelstob, Carlsen vs. (Q) Kohlmann, Peya vs. (Q) Chiudinelli, (Q) Iwabuchi vs. (WC) Terachi in an all-Japanese, (Q) Phau vs. (WC) Iwami, Bohdan "I Didn't Do It" Ulihrach vs. Okun, Vacek vs. Saretta, and Garcia-Lopez vs. Burgsmuller.

Fujiwara Wins, Everyone Else Rained Out at WTA Tokyo

Only one main draw match was completed Monday at the WTA stop in Tokyo, with Japanese wildcard Rika Fujiwara defeating countrywoman Saori Obata 6-4, 6-4.

The final round of qualifying was completed, with Sam Stosur (AUS), Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva (BUL), Youlia Fedossova (FRA), and Shahar Peer (ISR) into the main draw.

On court Tuesday are Srebotnik vs. Morigami, Asagoe vs. Tanasugarn, Pratt vs. Linetskaya, Koukalova vs. Sequera, Fedossova vs. Shaughnessy, Nakamura vs. Stosur, Strycova vs. Craybas, Kleinova vs. Brandi, Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Washington, Peer vs. Kapros, Cho vs. Vaidisova, Kurhajcova vs. Jidkova, and Karatantcheva vs. Parra Santonja.

Sugiyama Upset in Opener at WTA Filderstadt

No. 8 seed Ai Sugiyama had a short week's work at the WTA stop in Filderstadt Monday, upset on opening day 6-3, 7-6(3) by Israel's Anna Smashnova, who was returning to play after an extended injury lay-off.

There were only two other main draw matches on the day, with winners Alicia Molik of Australia (d. Schiavone) and Italian Silvia Farina Elia (d. Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem 6-3 in the third) into the second round.

The singles qualifying was also completed, with four onto the big dance in Jelena Jankovic (SCG), Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (COL), Lilia Osterloh (USA), and Jelena Kostanic (CRO).

On tap for Tuesday are Zvonareva vs. Likhovtseva in an all-Russian, Osterloh vs. Hantuchova, Pierce vs. Suarez, Zuluaga vs. Weingartner, and Maleeva vs. Dechy.

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