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Sharapova Faces Venus for First Time, Hewitt and Clijsters Call It QuitsView Comments (10) | View Discussions
Posted on October 22, 2004
 Venus, Russians Struggle Into Quarterfinals at WTA Zurich
Russian No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva (d. countrywoman Bovina, bagel in the third) and No. 8 Nadia Petrova (d. Dechy in three) struggled into the quarterfinals at the WTA stop in Zurich Thursday, joined by No. 7 Venus Williams (d. teen (Q) Ana Ivanovic in two tiebreaks) and homecountry favorite No. 10 Patty Schnyder (d. Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga).
The match was the 16-year-old Serb Ivanovic's to lose against Venus, blowing five sets points in the first set over the American, then three in the second set.
"I was always in control, but there were a lot of times I let her come back so it was a lot closer than it should have been," said Venus, suspending reality. "She played very well. She's a very good player. But I also helped her."
Ivanovic was the Wimbledon junior runner-up earlier this year.
Argentine's Paola Suarez was the only unseeded player advancing into the quarterfinals on the day, getting a pass when Frenchwoman Emilie Loit retired with injury trailing 1-6, 2-2.
Friday's quarterfinal match-ups are (9) Sugiyama vs. (3) Dementieva (career meetings tied 2-2, with Russian winning last two), (7) Venus vs. (4) Sharapova (first meeting), (10) Schnyder vs. Suarez (Suarez leads 5-2, but has lost the last two), and (8) Petrova vs. Molik (Russian leads 1-0).
Top-Seeded Henman Ousted, Agassi Into Quarters at ATP Madrid
Tim Henman's run as the top seed at the ATP Masters Series-Madrid came to an end Thursday when he was out-served by Croat Ivan Ljubicic in three sets.
"I was so erratic and so inconsistent, every game was a struggle," said Henman, who said he hasn't been ill but was feeling weak, and had a blood test. "My movement, first and foremost, was poor."
It was the third straight win for Ljubicic over Henman.
Seeded winners into the quarters were (2) Andre Agassi (d. American countryman (14) Spadea WTA-style (under an hour)), (3) Marat Safin (d. Koubek), (4) David Nalbandian (d. (16) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan), (7) Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson (d. Dupuis), and (8) Tommy "The R." Robredo (d. Spanish countryman Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco in three).
"I think Vince was a little flat," said Agassi, who saved six of six break points against him. "He was missing more than he probably normally does."
Two more un-seeds into the quarters Thursday were American Taylor Dent (d. Haas) and Luis "Me So" Horna, who followed his upset of (6) Juan Carlos Ferrero with a win over (9) Andrei Pavel.
It is the first Masters Series quarterfinal for Dent.
Match-ups for Friday's quarters are Ljubicic vs. (7) Pim-Pim (Croat leads meetings 1-0), (4) Nalbandian vs. Dent (first meeting), (3) Safin vs. Horna (Russian leads 1-0), and (2) Agassi vs. (8) Robredo (Agassi leads 1-0).
Tommy the R. on beating Agassi: "One knows how to play against him. Once you're on the court, maybe you can or cannot, but you know how to do it. You need to try to change the rhythm, the pace, make him run, make him do what he does to you. That's the way to defeat him. It depends whether you're capable of doing it on court or not."
The doubles semifinals Friday will be Aussies Arthurs/Hanley vs. Czechs Damm/Suk in an all-unseeded, and world No. 1s Knowles/Nestor vs. (3) Bhupathi/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi.
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Not a huge shocker today with the announcement that the fiery-dispositioned Lleyton Hewitt and the sweet-natured Kim Clijsters have suddenly ended their relationship. The pair had planned to marry in February. "Kim Clijsters and Lleyton Hewitt have jointly decided to put an end to their relationship for private reasons," Clijsters said on her official website. "Both of us distance ourselves from the malicious gossip which inevitably surfaces in this kind of situation." It was rumored that Hewitt withdrew from this week's Masters Series-Madrid to take some vacation time with friends...From the Venus Williams fan newsletter: "Most people would probably think that I would be a big hip-hop, R&B and rap fan but that really is not the case. Truth be told, I am totally a rocker. I love bands like 311, (of course) Incubus, U2, Green Day, Aerosmith, The Doors . . . well you get it. So anyway lets get on with what is happening in my music room!"...Bad communications from the Superset Tennis exhibition people, who cancelled the exo in Dallas due to the conflict with the Davis Cup final, earlier this week alerting the media but not the fans, many of whom are telling us they booked plane tickets this week. As of yesterday, the Superset Tennis website was still publicizing the event as a go: "Andy (Roddick) is in a difficult position, but we understand he has to put his country first," said Edward Freedman, chairman of Superset Tennis LTD. "We don't want to bring anyone lesser than Roddick to this event, and all of our partners agreed it was the right decision to pull out and wait until he is able to play." Maybe next time tell your ticket-buying fans too, eh?...Andre Agassi doesn't blame the Top 3 of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt for skipping this week's Masters Series-Madrid: "Every top player's agenda is to keep themselves at their best for a sport that demands your best so many different times through the year. It's an ongoing balancing act to make the best decisions possible for yourself." And the best decision for the top players will always be go where there's the most cash...The ATP Stockholm event announced Thursday that Andy Roddick has pulled citing a knee injury...Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero on pulling from the remainder of his events to train for the Davis Cup final: "I need 15 or 20 days to rest and the same amount of time to train. Hopefully I'll be at 100 percent by then. I need to adapt to my new racket."...Andre Agassi says he will go full-out in 2005: "I'm going to play a full schedule next year and then we'll see. You hope you stay healthy and you hope this is possible. The difficulty if you always assess every month or every week is that you don't concentrate on what you have to do. If I allowed myself the luxury of assessing in the middle of this year, I would never have won Cincinnati or had a chance at the US Open because things were very down for me then."...Hey Pat Mac, how's that Davis Cup prep coming, with Andre (who the USTA basically told not to play) kicking ass, and Andy pulling out of tournaments with a bum knee? U.S. fans expect to see you at Andre's hotel in Madrid this week carrying flowers. Maybe suit-up former two-time French Open champ Jim Courier, or French runner-up John McEnroe. Stun the Spaniards, turn it into a senior event, think outside the box, just win baby...According to Mosnews.com, you could soon be seeing Yevgeny Kafelnikov on ESPN's World Series of Poker. The Y-Man recently won the Moscow Open poker tournament, collecting $10G, outlasting a field of 52...James Blake has moved to the top of the standings in ESPN.com's Celebrity NFL Pick'em after six weeks of the football season. Blake was 12-2 in Week 6, giving him 67 points for the season. That puts him a one point lead over Wilma McNabb, the mother of Philadelphia Eagle's quarterback Donovan McNabb. Andy Roddick had one of his better showings in Week 6, going 10-4, but it wasn't enough to get him out of last place...Andre Agassi was awarded the "Marca Legend" lifetime achievement award by Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca on Monday in Madrid. Agassi paid a visit to the local Marca headquarters in Madrid to receive the award. "My aim as a professional is achieve a lot of goals, but the most satisfaction comes when people recognize you for it, just like receiving this award," Agassi said. Twenty-seven sportsmen have received the Marca Legend award, Michael Jordan being the first recipient in 1997.
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