Agassi, Nalbandian Pull From MS-Paris, Coria, Safin, Henman Clinch Last Three Masters Cup Berths
Posted on November 1, 2004
Johansson Beats Agassi for First Time in Seven Tries for ATP Stockholm TitleSwede Thomas Johansson, who entered the ATP Stockholm final Sunday with an 0-6 record against Andre Agassi, finally got over the hump with a tight 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) win over the top-seeded American.
It was the first title of the year for Johansson, who earlier in the season lost to Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan in the Nottingham final on grass.
"To win against Andre at home, it's an unbelievable feeling," Johansson said. "A year ago I was on the bike watching the other guys play the Stockholm Open and one year later I'm holding the trophy."
Agassi was broken in his first service game of the third set, but broke back to even things at 4-4 before getting edged in the breaker.
In the doubles final, unseeded Spaniards Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez and Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco upset defending champs (1) Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley 6-4, 6-4 for their first title of the year as a team.
Youzhny Wins First 2004 Title at ATP St. Petersburg
No. 4-seeded Mikhail Youzhny rolled unseeded Karol Beck of Slovakia 6-2, 6-2 for his first title of the year in front of the Russian homecountry fans Sunday at the ATP stop in St. Petersburg.
"It wasn't that easy a match," Youzhny said. "In the beginning of the second set, I was 0-30 down on my serve and it could have gone the opposite way. I was lucky to make early breaks."
Youzhny will move into the Top 30 after his win over Beck, who was appearing in his career-first ATP final and spent too much time trying to amp-up his play instead of sticking to his patient ground game.
"I was trying to play aggressively but it didn't work," Beck said. "I was making lots of mistakes and Mikhail was also quicker."
Youzhny was playing in his second final this year after losing to Marat Safin at Beijing.
The No. 2-seeded French duo of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra won the doubles, beating unseeded Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty and Jaroslav Levinsky 6-3, 6-2.
"We are very happy about this title," said Llodra, who has qualified for the Masters Cup Doubles with countryman Fabrice Santoro. "We played together once this year, in Adelaide and reached the final. We told each other that we needed to win a tournament together and now it is done."
Novak Outlasts Nalbandian in Five in ATP Basel Final
Unseeded Jiri Novak won his second title of the year Sunday at the ATP stop in Basel, outlasting No. 4 seed David Nalbandian 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
Novak captured his first title of the year earlier in October at the Tokyo Outdoor in Japan.
"I'm one of the happiest men in the world right now," Novak said. "It was hard work during the whole week. Finally I won 6-2 in the fifth set. It's very nice when the final goes five sets."
Nalbandian, cementing his reputation as a big-match choker, also complained of physical problems during the final.
"I think it was very tough in the middle and in the end of the second set," Nalbandian said. "I started to have problems again and it was really difficult to run, serve, move. I feel like my left leg is blocked so I couldn't move at all."
In the doubles final, Bob and Mike Bryan won their sixth title of the year, defeating Lucas Arnold and Mariano Hood 7-6(9), 6-2.
"It feels good to come back here," Bob said. "We're starting to have a good indoor season. The crowd was great today, we played at 11:30 in the morning and the place was 90 percent full. That's good for doubles. We'd love to do well in Paris, we are on the heels of (Mark) Knowles and (Daniel) Nestor, actually we?re pretty far back. We want to
finish No. 1, I know it's a long shot but we hope to do well in Paris."
Mauresmo Spanks Bovina for WTA Linz Title, Closes on No. 1 Davenport
France's Amelie Mauresmo crushed Russian Elena Bovina 6-2 6-0 to win her fourth title of the year Sunday at the WTA stop in Linz.
"Everything I had planned to do worked out, which made things very easy for me," Mauresmo said.
Bovina appeared spent after her three-set semifinal win over countrywoman Nadia Petrova.
The wins moves the No. 2-ranked Frenchwoman closer to her stated goal of passing American Lindsay Davenport for the coveted year-end No. 1 ranking.
"I leave for Philadelphia tomorrow, after spending one night at home and hope to play well there like last year," Mauresmo said. "I would love to finish the season No. 1 but my main goal is to play the best that I can between now and Los Angeles."
Linz also marked the first time in her career that Mauresmo successfully defended a tournament title.
"Amelie played out of her mind against me today; there was very little I could do," Bovina said. "I was tired a bit from yesterday's match against Nadia, it was very intense and was tough to come back and play at such a high level again."
In the doubles final the No. 1-seeded Slovak/Russian duo of Janette Husarova/Elena Likhovtseva eased past Nathalie Dechy/Patty "Handshake" Schnyder 6-2, 7-5 for their first title in their second teaming this year.
Molik Wins Second Consecutive Title at WTA Luxembourg
Aussie Alicia Molik won back-to-back titles Sunday at the WTA stop in Luxembourg, with the No. 2 seed defeating unseeded Russian Dinara "Little Sis" Safina in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
It was the third title of the year for Molik, who also won last week in Zurich, defeating Maria "Cell Phone Mannequin" Sharapova in the final.
In the doubles final, (1) Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez overcame a second-set hiccup to beat (4) Jill Craybas/Marlene Weingartner 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-3 for their sixth title of the year.
Safin, Nalbandian Top Euro Series Heading Into Final Week
Though both failed to win titles last week at St. Petersburg and Basel respectively, their late-round efforts have put Marat Safin and David Nalbandian in a tie for first place in the inaugural Tennis-X Euro Series Standings with one week of regular-season play remaining.
With no one player dominating during the European indoor season and 100 points to the winner at this week's Masters Series-Paris, roughly 20 players have outside shots at unseeded Safin and Nalbandian to take home the Euro Series prize-money bonanza.
"This is just how we pictured the exciting finish to the Euro Series -- complete anarchy," said Tennis-X CEO Luke Johnson. "We'll be watching Paris closely to see who grabs their throat during the last week of play, which is normally a choke-fest between Masters Cup qualification and now the even-more-important Euro Series finish."
Within closest striking distance to Safin and Nalbandian are last week's St. Petersburg winner Mikhail Youzhny, 33 points behind, and Stockholm runner-up Andre Agassi, 44 points behind in fourth place.
Among the Top 10 on the Euro Series Standings but eliminated from a top-three finish are No. 7 Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson, who withdrew from the MS-Paris with illness, and No. 8 "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, whose ranking was not high enough for direct entry into the MS-Paris draw.
The Euro Series will be completed and the lucrative checks distributed after the MS-Paris, with the top finisher receiving $25.00 (USD), and a share of the fan-supported Euro Series Prize Fund, which as of Sunday stood at an impressive $28.00 (USD).
The 2004 Tennis-X Euro Series is a historic achievement in men's tennis that links the nine men's European indoor tournaments after the US Open leading to the year-ending Masters Cup, creating a cohesive, five-week European indoor season.
NEWS FLASH: Marat Safin and David Nalbandian have withdrawn from the MS-Paris as of Monday morning with injury.
"With the Monday withdrawal of Nalbandian from the MS-Paris, now the Euro Series title looks to be the cranky Russian Safin's for the taking," said Johnson in a live Monday morning press conference from his office hot tub at the Tennis-X headquarters. "He's a good kid. Now he can keep the Safinettes living the lifestyle they're accustomed to. He was dead in the water a couple months back, now he's on top of the world...This press conference is over, get out."
For more info or to see the current Euro Series standings, point your browser toward to: www.tennis-x.com.
ATP Masters Series-Paris Monday Schedule
On court Monday are Soderling vs. Dent, Zabaleta vs. The Thai Fighter, Luis "Me So" Horna vs. (WC) Saulnier, (LL) Enqvist vs. (Q) Monfils, (LL) X-Man vs. (WC) Mathieu, (Q) Tsonga vs. Baby Goran, Mardy "Silver" Fish vs. Ferrer, Volandri vs. (Q) Christophe "The Roach" Rochus, Arazi vs. (Q) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, and "Tuna" Melzer vs. Chela.
Mauresmo Heads Philly Field in Attempted Year-end No. 1 Grab
Amelie Mauresmo heads the field this week at the WTA stop in Philadelphia, looking to surpass No. 1 Lindsay Davenport for the year-end No. 1 ranking, with Serena Williams and Davenport choosing to sit out the final week of regular-season play on the WTA Tour.
Joining Mauresmo among the seeds are Russians Anastasia Myskina and Maria "Cell Phone Mannequin" Sharapova, Americans Jennifer Capriati and Venus Williams, Russian Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva and Nadia Petrova, and Aussie Alicia Molik, seeking her third consecutive WTA title.
The top four seeds receive byes in early-round-killing fashion, but a couple early-round match-ups of interest exist in (5) Venus vs. countrywoman Lisa Raymond, and (7) Petrova vs. countrywoman Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova.
Mauresmo (2003) is the lone former champ in the field.
On court Monday are Tu vs. Neffa-de Los Rios, Ashley vs. Fedak, Benesova vs. Brandi, Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. the teen sensation Vaidisova, and Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva vs. Sybille "The Whammer" Bammer.
Pierce Leads WTA Quebec City Field
Mary Pierce is the top seed at this week's WTA Tier III stop in Quebec City, Canada, joined by seeds Daniela Hantuchova, Mashona "Little Sis" Washington, Jill Craybas, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Claudine Schaul, Laura Granville, and Sam Stosur.
There are no former champions in the field.
On court Monday are Kleinova vs. Tanasugarn, Granville vs. Pin, Salerni vs. Hopkins, and Kurhajcova vs. Kapros.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
ATP CEO Mark Miles has sided with ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe in saying Olympic tennis would be a more attractive prospect as a team sport: "As an Olympic sport, tennis has become more important since (the 1988 Games in) Seoul, but we would like to see tennis more of a team sport...it would make tennis even more important for the players and the spectators...The ATP can only encourage players to take part (in the Games), but they (players) are the ones who decide where and when to play."...Tim Henman railing on the British media: "Our media is possibly the worst in the world. When you speak to them you notice how little they understand. I started asking technical and tactical questions and it was embarrassing. I was embarrassed for them. They knew nothing, they knew nothing about the game. I've never been influenced by their opinions anyway but now we are talking tennis and they didn't know anything."...While the ATP spelled out the jostling for the Masters Cup by Sunday, the WTA had released nothing (not even as of Monday) regarding who needs to do what to qualify for the final WTA Championships positions this week in Philadelphia, not on their website nor in their tournament notes for the media. Nice effort...Carlos Moya has withdrawn from the MS-Paris with his shoulder injury, and Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson has withdrawn with illness over the weekend...MS-Paris organizers announced Monday morning that Andre Agassi (hip injury) and David Nalbandian (no official reason yet) have pulled from the event with injury. This clinches the final three spots in the Masters Cup field for Guillermo Coria, Marat Safin and Tim Henman.