Monfils Thrills, Zvonareva Hangs On, Masters Cup Organizers Unhappy with ATP
Posted on November 2, 2004
Monfils Thrills at ATP Masters Series-ParisGael Monfils is the junior version of Roger Federer, this year in the junior ranks winning three of the four slams, then a couple weeks back at the ATP stop in Metz, proceeding to the quarterfinals in his tour-level debut.
Monday at the Masters Series-Paris in his second pro appearance the French teen qualifier continued to live up to expectations, after a slow start with a bout of nerves, outlasting Swedish veteran (LL) Thomas Enqvist 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance into the second round.
"I was tense at the beginning but afterwards I managed to calm down and to finish well," the 18-year-old Monfils said. "He's a former winner here so it's a great win but I managed to be a little stronger than him."
The Frenchman's win lifted some of the gloom Monday at the MS-Paris after the injury withdrawals of Andre Agassi and David Nalbandian, eliminating both from qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup.
Monfil's reward for his victory is a Tuesday-night meeting with former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who afterwards will face the media for the first time since getting phone-dumped by former fiance Kim Clijsters.
Also into the second round in an all-unseeded day of play were Swede Robin Soderling (d. Dent), American Mardy "Silver" Fish (d. Ferrer), Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichiphan (d. Zabaleta), French homeboy (WC) Cyril Saulnier (d. Luis "Me So" Horna in two breakers), Belgians (Q) Christophe "The Roach" Rochus (d. Volandri who retired in the third with an ab strain) and (LL) Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (d. (WC) Mathieu), (Q) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (d. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic in three), (Q) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. Arazi with a bagel in the second), and Austria's Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. Chela).
On court Tuesday are Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, (Q) Stepanek vs. Llodra, Ljubicic vs. (WC) Clement, (LL) X-Man vs. (18) Haas, (Q) Monfils vs. (2) Hewitt, (3) Henman vs. The Thai Fighter, Davydenko vs. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, Soderling vs. (LL) Sanguinetti, Fish vs. (11) Pavel, Bjorkman vs. Youzhny, and T.Johansson vs. Sargsian.
WTA Philadelphia Knows All There Is To Know About The Crying Game
Only one seed in action Monday at the WTA stop in Philadelphia, with Russian (6) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva edging qualifier Sybille "Whammer" Bammer of Austria 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5).
The win keeps The Crying Game's hopes alive of sneaking in to one of the final qualifying spots this week at the year-end WTA Championships.
Unseeded winners into the second round were Paraguay qualifier Rossana Neffa-de los Rios (d. (Q) Tu), the Ukraine's Yuliana Fedak (d. (Q) Ashley after getting bageled the first set), Czech Iveta "Not Lose" Benesova (d. Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi in three), and American Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier (d. (WC) Vaidisova).
Tuesday's schedule at Philly is Anne "Kosmo" Kremer vs. Kostanic, Shaughnessy vs. McCain in an all-American, Jankovic vs. Vento-Kabchi, Petrova vs. Panova in an all-Russian, and Raymond vs. Venus in an all-American.
Two Seeds Advance at WTA Quebec City
Both seeds in action advanced into the second round Monday at the WTA stop in Quebec City in (5) Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Kleinova) and (7) Laura Granville (d. Pin 1-and-1).
Un-seeds into the second round were Lubomira Kurhajcova (d. Kapros in three) and Maria-Emilia Salerni (d. Hopkins).
The final round of qualifying was also completed, with four into the main draw in Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva (BUL), Abigail Spears (USA), Melanie Gloria (CAN), and Elena Vesnina (RUS).
Tuesday's schedule is Schaul vs. Barna, Foretz vs. Gloria, Karatantcheva vs. Washington, Jidkova vs. Stosur, Marois vs. Sucha, Pelletier vs. Perry, Diaz-Oliva vs. Vesnina, and Lee-Waters vs. Spears.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Amelie Mauresmo, a winner last weekend at Linz, said she almost skipped the event due to her thigh injury. Chances of the Frenchwoman pulling from either Philly this week or the WTA Championships after getting re-injured? We'll put it at 50 percent...The European ATP Masters Series event organizers are meeting today in Paris to discuss how to solve the problem of the top players blowing off their events. Fellas, not a hard question, the answer to the question is cash. Start saving your Euros to reestablish the ATP's year-end Bonus Pool. "Regardless of the reasons for these no-shows, these withdrawals from the top-tier tournaments of the ATP strongly discredit the ATP tour as a whole," said a quote attributed by Reuters to the Masters Series organizers. Why post at a Masters Series event, which offers no guarantees and has no effect on the now-defunct Bonus Pool (the ATP ran out of money, so no monetary penalization), when showing at a small event like Bangkok can net Roger Federer in excess of a $400,000 guarantee?...Andre Agassi (or even David Nalbandian could still qualify for the Masters Cup if players among the Top 8 pull: especially keep an eye on Roger Federer (thigh muscle tear), Carlos Moya (shoulder) and Guillermo Coria (returning from shoulder surgery)...Upon winning the WTA Luxembourg title, Aussie Alicia Molik was presented with a SEAT Altea, which resembles something along the lines of a Ford Focus...Gregory Carraz has split with his coach Jerome Prigent...Former player Cedric Pioline is the co-tournament director this week at the MS-Paris...Guillermo "El Fragile" Coria has had six coaches in four years...The Masters Series organizers are getting riled: "How many players should play the Masters Series? Eight? Nine? Ten out of 10 is difficult. You can have a real injury, I respect that," said Patrice Dominguez, deputy director of the MS-Monte Carlo. "But let's say seven. If the agreement was eight or nine, then we pay 100,000 dollars less. We always commit ourselves to put the prize money on the table; the players don`t commit themselves." Sounds like a revolution, ATP CEO Mark Miles needs to put out that fire quick, especially if the ITF steps in with a couple events added to their slams and a wad of bonus pool cash of their own, telling the players "Hey, come play on our tour. Here's some cash."...From AdWeek on the new commercial spots Andy Roddick filmed for ESPN: "Roddick is featured in two spots. In "Nickname," he tries to find out why SportsCenter anchors no longer call him "A-Rod" (Hint: that's also the nickname of New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez). In "Idle Hands," Roddick passes time outside an office at the SportsCenter campus with a few friends, among them ESPN's Scott Van Pelt and the University of Massachusetts' Minuteman mascot."...Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Vera Zvonareva are in contention this week for the remaining two qualifying positions at the WTA Championships. Unfortunately, the WTA can't figure out exactly who needs to do what to qualify: "There are many scenarios that can determine which players qualify, but essentially Zvonareva must win the Advanta Championships title in order to have a shot at clinching a spot in L.A.," said a Monday WTA release. "Venus and Capriati likely will have to at least reach the final to ensure a place in the prestigious field. Meanwhile, Serena could easily qualify despite not playing this week because she leads Capriati by nearly 300 points." Time to get a new ranking system, one you can figure out a couple days in advance, "quality points" or not...Barbara Schett announced she will retire after the 2005 Australian Open...Pull-outs from Philly this week were Svetlana Kuznetsova (rest/recovery), Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (viral infection), Elena Likhovtseva (rest/recovery), Ai Sugiyama (left foot injury), Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta (flu), Nicole Pratt (right knee), and Serena Williams (illness)...More from Gael Monfils after beating Thomas Enqvist at the MS-Paris: "The first set I didn't get into the match. I think it was my mind that wasn't right. I was panicking a little bit because of me, because of the crowd, my performance. I mean, it was not so good. I discovered things today, but I'll discover many things in the next match. There were many long rallies. Most of the time I was able to play one rally after the other without problems."...Anna Kournikova, speaking to ESPN about her guest shot on The Apprentice: "The Apprentice was the only thing I did this year and I did it because it was about tennis and John McEnroe, which I thought would be great and easier for me. I felt his support there and that was great. But no, I need to go on to Japan and do a couple of charity projects that I'm working on. I'll be devoting a lot of my time to that." And on playing tennis: "Well, this year I haven't obviously been able to play. I'm taking a lot of time in developing and strategizing and figuring out what it is that I want to do -- if I can play or if I can't play. I didn't make many appearances or do a lot of public things over the summer. I've just been trying to work with my team and put everything together. Of course, I can't really talk a lot about it now. I just want to make sure that everything's in position and everything is ready."...Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan on facing Tim Henman at the MS-Paris: "It's great for him to qualify for the Masters Cup. I'm sure it will take a lot of pressure off him when we play. Maybe he won't be trying too hard."...Matt Cronin on Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva: "But how many times will Zvonareva lose close three-setters to the elite players before she wakes up and realizes that the same shots that get her out to early leads can also reappear at crunch time if she believes they are really there? A tremendous force from inside the baseline and a nifty mover, the Russian is an emotional basket case and needs to book a dozen or so sessions with a sports psychologist if she is play up to her top-five potential in '05. She needs a late season rally to pass (Jennifer) Capriati and Venus (Williams) to qualify (at the WTA Championships)."...Jon Wertheim responding to a question on SI.com about the tours having a "strength of schedule" component in their rankings: "Both tours would do well to consider a 'strength of schedule.' Take a look, for instance, at whom (Mikhail) Youzhny had to beat to win the St. Pete title. Suffice it to say plenty of players have won comparably tiered events, beating much stronger opponents. Shouldn't that be reflected in the rankings?" Hey yo, the WTA Rankings does have a "strength of schedule" component in its calculations, it's called "quality points" for beating higher-ranked players, look it up. The ATP used to have "bonus points" for beating players of certain rankings but ditched it to make the rankings less complicated, hence why this week the ATP could lay out who needed to do what to qualify for the Masters Cup, while the WTA staff were left guessing...Rumor has it that a positive drug test came out of Basel last week, stay tuned...You've got wonder if Guillermo Coria's wallet will take a hit (year-end sponsor bonus for playing Masters Cup, etc.) if he doesn't play the Masters Cup, with the Argentine risking coming back too soon after shoulder surgery. Reportedly he has been hitting without pain in only the last couple weeks, and the last thing you want to do is show up at the Masters Cup, straining yourself against the Top 7 players in the world and serving muffballs with a bad wing. No wonder your coach ditched you, that's asking for an aggravated injury going into 2005. Time to listen to your team and sit this one out in stead of showing up in Houston, and at best going 0-3 without getting injured. Or maybe like the other Euros/South Americans, he just misses seeing Mattress Mac.