Federer Joins ATP Madrid Pull List, Venus Upset at WTA Moscow
Posted on October 16, 2004
Venus Fails to Rise Against Russians at WTA MoscowVenus Williams' hopes of qualifying for the year-end WTA Championships took a hit Friday when the No. 7 seed was easily beaten in Moscow by unseeded Russian Elena "Lena" Bovina 6-3, 6-2.
Venus has lost in the quarterfinals or earlier in nine out of 13 events this year, winning two minor titles in Charleston and Warsaw.
"No loss is a lot of fun," said Venus, who kicked in 10 double faults over the two sets. "My serve wasn't there the way I wanted it to be today."
The loss leaves fellow American and newly-minted No. 1 Lindsay Davenport (d. Schiavone in the quarters) to fend for herself in the semifinals against three Russians in Bovina, No. 3 seed Anastasia Myskina (d. (6) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva in three), and No. 5 Elena Dementieva (d. (4) Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 in a turn-around of the US Open final).
Saturday's semifinal match-ups are (3) Myskina vs. (2) Davenport (American leads meetings 4-0, 8-0 in sets), and Bovina vs. (5) Dementieva in an all-Russian (Dementieva leads 4-2).
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. Nothing personal against the Tashkent competitors. We apologize for any inconvenience. Results from Tashkent can be found at www.wtatour.com.
Rusedski Only Un-seed Into ATP Moscow Semifinals
Brit Greg Rusedski continued to pick up momentum in his comeback from being falsely accused of drug doping earlier this year by the ATP, Friday upsetting No. 2 seed Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-6(7), saving a match point en route to reach the ATP Moscow semifinals.
"Down 5-1 in the final set tiebreaker I played some great points and managed to win 9-7 so I am very, very pleased," Rusedski said.
Pim-Pim stayed upbeat after the loss.
"I've not been playing at my best level here in Moscow but it is disappointing to lose such a close match," Johansson said. "I still think I have chances to qualify for the Masters Cup, everything will come down in Madrid and Paris."
The other three players into the semifinals were all seeded in (3) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. (WC) Kunitsyn), and two Russians in (5) Mikhail Youzhny (d. Carlsen), and (8) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Stepanek in three).
"It feels very good to have the crowd on my side, it helps a lot, that's one of the reasons why I won today," Youzhny said. "I have broken the habit of losing in the first round in Moscow so I am very happy."
On tap for the semifinals Saturday are (8) Davydenko vs. (5) Youzhny in an all-Russian (Davydenko leads career meetings 1-0), and (3) The Dominator vs. Rusedski (Brit leads meetings 2-0).
Top-Seeded Ljubicic, Wildcard Monfils Crash Out at ATP Metz
The charge of the "B"-team Frenchmen has made for an all-unseeded semifinals at the ATP stop in Metz, with Paul-Henri Mathieu upsetting No. 1 seed Ivan Ljubicic Friday.
"This was a great match, I stayed focused until the end," Mathieu said. "Ivan served so well in the first set, it was impossible for me to do anything. Against a player like him you have very few opportunity to break him, and you need to be ready at any time."
Also into the semis were French wildcard Richard Gasquet (d. countryman (WC) Monfils in a battle of 18-year-olds), French qualifier Jerome Haehnel (d. countryman Clement in three), and surprise American Jeff "Baby Krajicek" Morrison (d. Corretja).
"He was better than me today," said Monfils, too young to realize you're supposed to whine "I played so badly!" when you lose on the pro tour. "I don't regret anything apart from the passing shot I barely missed on a break point in the first set. Other than that, Richard was better than me today...This was a good tournament for me."
Saturday's semifinal match-ups are Mathieu vs. (Q) Haehnel in an all-French, and the No. 101-ranked Baby Krajicek vs. (WC) Gasquet, both first-time meetings.
Top Three Seeds Tumble Out in ATP Vienna Quarterfinals
The top three seeds were upset Friday in the quarterfinals at the ATP stop in Vienna, opening the door for the low-ranked legion remaining.
Doing the damage were (6) Guillermo Canas (d. (1) Nalbandian in three), unseeded Italian Davide Sanguinetti (d. (2) Massu), (8) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. (3) Schuettler), and unseeded German Tommy Haas (d. Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri in three).
"I was playing very good (earlier), I don't know what happened today," said a flustered Massu. "At this moment I am very angry."
Saturday's match-ups are (6) Canas vs. Haas (Canas leads meetings 2-1), and (8) F-Lo vs. Sanguinetti (first meeting).
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