Russian Seeds, Venus Through at WTA Moscow

Posted on October 13, 2004

All four seeds in action eased through without dropping a set Tuesday at the WTA stop in Moscow, with Russian winners (5) Elena Dementieva (d. Patty "Handshake" Schnyder), (6) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva (d. Dechy) and (8) Nadia Petrova (d. Suarez) advancing, joined by American (7) Venus Williams (d. Jidkova).

"I had some real challenging moments, she played really well, but the biggest challenge was myself," said Venus after the 6-4, 6-4 win. "I was a bit rusty, it has been several weeks since the US Open."

Un-seeds into the second round were Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. Smashnova-Pistolesi), qualifiers taking out veterans in Michaela Pastikova (d. Sugiyama) and Sanda Mamic (d. Pierce), and Russians Elena "Lena" Bovina (d. Hantuchova) and Elena Likhovtseva (d. Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga).

On court Wednesday are (8) Petrova vs. Schiavone, (4) Kuznetsova vs. (Q) Pastikova, (6) The Crying Game vs. The Spreminator, (Q) Chakvetadze vs. (WC) Dinara "Little Sis" Safina in an all-Russian, and (LL) Schaul vs. Bovina.

WTA Tashkent Update: Due to the WTA Tour's misguided policy of running Tier IV and V events during the same week as their top-level Tier I events, thereby confusing fans and media, Tennis-X is boycotting the results this week from the Tier IV Tashkent event while the Tier I Moscow event is being contested. Like the ATP, who run their Masters Series events uncontested, we hope the WTA will eventually make a calendar change to highlight their top-level events. We apologize for any inconvenience. Results from Tashkent can be found at www.wtatour.com.

Massu Wins, Nalbandian Continues March Toward Masters Cup at ATP Vienna

David Nalbandian, currently at No. 11 on the ATP Race Standings, continued his effort toward a year-end Masters Cup berth Tuesday at the ATP stop in Vienna with a straight-set win over Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi.

Nalbadian, who famously shouted "You're a disgrace!" at Houston Masters Cup promoter Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale when the American vociferously supported the American players over the Europeans/South Americans at last year's year-end championship, is looking to again renew his rivalry with Mattress Mac at the 2005 Masters Cup by qualifying for a Top 8 berth.

"I know I have to keep working," Nalbandian said. "I know I have to try to play more matches to get the confidence back...I hope my confidence will come back."

No. 2 seed Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu was also a winner Tuesday (d. Kucera in three), as were un-seeds Luis "Me So" Horna (d. Ferrer), 2001 champ Tommy Haas (d. Moodie), Austrian Stefan Koubek (d. A.Martin), and Italian Davide Sanguinetti (d. Zabaleta).

"This is my first win here in four years," Massu said. "I had real difficult matches in the past."

On court Wednesday are Costa vs. (5) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, Dent vs. (WC) Gruber, Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. (3) Schuettler, (LL) Glenn "I.C." Weiner vs. (WC) Peya, and a veteran battle in Enqvist vs. Bohdan "I Didn't Do It" Ulihrach.

Ljubicic Avoids Seeded Exodus Tuesday at ATP Metz

Top-seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic escaped the upset bug that claimed four of the seeds Tuesday at the ATP stop in Metz, France.

Ljubicic eased past Romanian Victor Hanescu in straight sets while the seeded damage was perpetuated by Frenchmen (Q) Jerome Haehnel (d. (3) Acasuso), (Q) Florent Serra (d. (5) Juan "The Principality" Monaco 6-0 in the third) and Arnaud Clement (d. (8) Muller), and unseeded Spaniard Alex Corretja (d. (4) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus in three).

"I am happy I won easily because I have to play early tomorrow again," said Ljubicic, feeling the pressure of being in the hot seat. "Being the No. 1 seed at a tournament is not easy, people expect a lot from you. I am just taking a match at a time, the most dangerous opponent is always the next one."

Other winners into the second round were (6) Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau (d. Gambill), Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Vliegen), and French qualifier Marc Gicquel (d. (Q) Simon 7-6 in the third).

On court Wednesday are (Q) Haehnel vs. (Q) Gicquel in an all-qualifier-all-French, (1) Ljubicic vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, (WC) 18-year-old Gael Monfils making his ATP debut vs. (2) Malisse in the match of the day, Arthurs vs. Carraz, (WC) Gasquet vs. Dupuis in an all-French, and Olivier "Mucus" Mutis vs. defending champ Clement in an all-French.

Seeds Hrbaty, Youzhny Weather Three-Setters at ATP Moscow

No seeded upsets at the ATP stop in Moscow Tuesday, with winners No. 3 Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. T.Johansson, down a break in the third), and Russians No. 5 Mikhail Youzhny (d. former champ (Q) Rosset in three) and No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko (d. (Q) Stakhovsky).

"It's difficult to play Thomas (Johansson) because he has a really good serve," The Dominator said. "I turned it around because I became more aggressive."

Un-seeds into the second round were Belarus qualifier Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov (d. Elseneer), Slovak Karol Beck (d. (Q) Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger), Czech Radek Stepanek (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze), France's Cyril Saulnier (d. (WC) Stoliarov 7-6 in the third), and Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen (d. countryman Pless).

Scheduled for Wednesday in Moscow are (4) Spadea vs. Andreev, (1) Safin vs. Stepanek, (WC) Kunitsyn vs. Beck, (7) Volandri vs. Soderling, Sargsian vs. (8) Davydenko, Saulnier vs. (2) J.Johansson, and Sanchez vs. Bjorkman.

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