Venus Cashes Check at Sprem Bank, Dokic Back With Crazy Dad

Posted on October 20, 2004

Venus Avenges Wimbledon Loss to Sprem at WTA Zurich

No. 7 seed Venus Williams, the highest seed in action Tuesday at the WTA stop in Zurich, turned around her previous Wimbledon loss to Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem by pounding the Croatian 6-2, 6-2.

"You can't compare this match to Wimbledon," Williams said. "That was such a long time ago. I don't think she played as well today, and I played much, much better. I wanted to show her that she shouldn't get used to expecting that kind of result from me."

The win was a big one for the eldest Williams sister, who has lost much of her top-player aura this year after being sidelined by injuries, dropping out of the Top 10 and seemingly losing her intensity. Williams has not won a title in her last eight events.

In total all four seeds advanced Tuesday in (7) Venus, (8) Nadia Petrova (d. (WC) Raymond), (9) Ai Sugiyama (d. Japanese countrywoman (Q) Asagoe), and (10) Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Maleeva in three).

"I've played in Zurich many times, but I've never done well," Sugiyama said. "I hope this time will be different."

Two un-seeds also worked their way into the second round in Argentina's Paola Suarez (d. (LL) Kostanic in three) and Italian lucky loser Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta (d. (Q) Mikaelian).

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo pulled from the event Tuesday with an ongoing thigh injury, leaving only three of the Top 10 players competing at the WTA's Tier I event.

On tap for Wednesday are Bovina vs. Schiavone, Ivanovic vs. Golovin, (6) Zvonareva vs. Molik, Hantuchova vs. (4) Sharapova, and (9) Sugiyama vs. Pennetta.

Agassi, Nalbandian Survive Tests at ATP Madrid

Three seeds advanced Tuesday at the ATP Masters Series-Madrid, but not without some effort.

No. 2 seed Andre Agassi (d. (Q) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi) and No. 4 David Nalbandian (d. Soderling) both survived first set tiebreaks before advancing in straight sets, and (9) Andrei Pavel (d. Fish) navigated a third-set breaker.

"It was definitely a difficult match," said Agassi, who set up a third round meeting with either countryman Vince "Vincenzo" Spadea or Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal. "It was tough to get a rhythm. I got fortunate on some points."

The event's first upset victim was No. 12 seed Juan Ignacio Chela, outed in straight sets by unseeded Frenchman Anthony Dupuis.

Other unseeded players into the second round were Spaniards Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco (d. Bjorkman) and The Prodigy (d. Sanguinetti), German Tommy Haas (d. practice partner Xavier "X-Man" Malisse), American Taylor Dent (d. Youzhny), Croat Ivan Ljubicic (d. Berdych), Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic 7-6 in the third), and the hot-handed Argentine Guillermo Canas (d. Vliegen 6-1 in the third).

Doubles winners were (1)Knowles/Nestor (d. Knowle/Zimonjic in three), (2)Bryan/Bryan (d. (WC)Ram/Safin), and unseeded Hrbaty/Schuettler (d. (WC)Nadal/Robredo 6-4, 4-1, ret., with Nadal suffering a shoulder injury).

Scheduled for Wednesday in Madrid are (WC) Corretja vs. (16) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (Corretja leads career meetings 3-0), (1) Henman vs. Costa (Henman leads 6-3), F-Lo vs. (3) Safin, (6) Ferrero vs. Luis "Me So" Horna, (14) Spadea vs. The Prodigy (will Nadal pull with the bad shoulder?), Dent vs. (5) Massu, Ljubicic vs. (13) Schuettler (German leads 5-2), (11) Novak vs. Haas (tied 2-2), Canas vs. (7) Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson (first meeting), Hot Sauce vs. (10) The Dominator (first meeting), (8) Tommy "The R." Robredo vs. Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri (first meeting), and (15) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez vs. (Q) Stefan "Poor Man's Tommy Muster" Koubek.

In doubles highlights it's gold medal (and unseeded) Chileans Gonzalez/Massu vs. Argentines Etlis/Rodriguez, (3)Bhupathi/Mirnyi vs. Paes/Rikl in an Indian grudge match, and Aussies Arthurs/Hanley vs. Canas/Haas.

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