Venus Stays Alive, Hewitt Beats Monfils but Mum About Clijsters
Posted on November 3, 2004
Hewitt Humbles Monfils; Henman, Haas Advance at ATP Masters Series ParisNo surprises at the Masters Series-Paris Tuesday, with four seeds advancing in (2) Lleyton Hewitt (d. (Q) Monfils), (3) Tim Henman (d. Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan), (11) Andrei Pavel (d. Mardy "Silver" Fish), and (18) Tommy Haas (d. (LL) Xavier "X-Man" Malisse), all in straight sets.
In subduing the junior No. 1 Monfils, Hewitt said he started letting the match slip in the second set, which went to a tiebreak before he finally put the clamps on the French teen.
"I felt like I could have easily been 6-3, 6-2 out there, and in the end you get in a bit of a dogfight for the second set," Hewitt said. "But to his credit, he kept hanging in there. When I had breakpoint to go up 4-1 double break in the second set, he came up with a massive forehand up the line, when I felt like I had the point pretty much won. So he's got a lot of talent out there. He's a very flashy player, like a lot of the top French players are."
For Monfils, the match was a confirmation of his successful transition from No. 1 junior to tour-level player.
"What I'm pleased about is that there's not a major difference between him and me," Monfils said. "That's what I'm happy about. Yes, I thought it would be more difficult. I thought the score would be bad for me. But, in fact, I worked a lot. I have still a lot of work to do in the future but, in fact, the gap between him and me is not that large."
Un-seeds advancing were Armenia's own Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian (d. T.Johansson), Swede Robin Soderling (d. (LL) Sanguinetti, bagel in the third), Spaniard Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. Rainer "Shine" Schuettler), bouncing Czech (Q) Radek Stepanek (d. Llodra), Croat Ivan Ljubicic (d. (WC) Clement), and Russians Nikolay Davydenko (d. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco) and Mikhail Youzhny (d. Bjorkman).
Wednesday's schedule is (7) Gaudio vs. F-Lo, (12) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. (WC) Saulnier, (13) Canas vs. (Q) Tsonga, (6) Safin vs. Ljubicic (Croat leads meetings 2-1), (1) Roddick vs. Sarge, (Q) The Beast vs. (15) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, (Q) Stepanek vs. (LL) Hanescu, Youzhny vs. (16) Novak, Spadea vs. Davydenko (Spadea leads meetings 2-0), (14) Massu vs. (Q) C.Rochus, and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. (10) Tommy "The R." Robredo.
Doubles match-ups of note are Frenchmen (WC)Benneteau/Mahut vs. (2)Bryan/Bryan, Aussies Arthurs/Hanley vs. (3)Bjorkman/Woodbridge, and world No. 1s Knowles/Nestor vs. Zimbabwe's Black/Ullyett.
Venus Marches Toward WTA Championship Qualifications at Philadelphia
No. 5 seed Venus Williams took her first step toward qualifying for the year-end WTA Championships Tuesday, defeating American countrywoman and Fed Cup teammate Lisa Raymond in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals.
"This year reminds me kind of my first year on tour," Venus said. "I don't have enough matches under my belt to have my play where I want to be."
While the WTA is not completely sure what the elder Williams sister needs to do to qualify due to the potential "quality points" she can earn depending on the ranking of her opponents, the consensus is Venus must at least reach the final in Philadelphia. Jennifer Capriati, also in the running, has to reach the final while Russian Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva must win the Philly title to qualify for the year-end championships.
Other winners on the day were Russian No. 7 seed Nadia Petrova (d. countrywoman Panova 0-and-2), American Meghann Shaughnessy (d. countrywoman McCain in three), Jelena Kostanic (d. Anne "Kosmo" Kremer in three), and Jelena Jankovic (d. Vento-Kabchi 6-1 in the third).
On Wednesday's schedule are Dechy vs. Pisnik, Weingartner vs. Molik, Shaughnessy vs. Capriati in an all-American, and Sharapova vs. Kostanic.
15-Year-Old Karatantchva Stuns Washington at WTA Quebec City
Outspoken 15-year-old Bulgarian qualifier Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva made the biggest splash Tuesday at the WTA stop in Quebec City, blowing by No. 3-seeded American Mashona "Little Sis" Washington 6-0, 6-2.
The other seeded upset on the day was No. 8-seeded Aussie Sam Stosur, ousted by Russian Alina Jidkova.
Other winners on the day were No. 6 seed Claudine Schaul (d. Barna), Canadian qualifier Melanie Gloria (d. Foretz 7-6 in the third), Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha (d. (WC) Marois, bagel in the first), Mariana Diaz-Oliva (d. (Q) Vesnina), American qualifier Abigail "Britney" Spears (d. countrywoman Lee-Waters), and American Shenay Perry (d. (WC) Pelletier).
On court Wednesday are Kurhajcova vs. Tanasugarn, Granville vs. Salerni, Craybas vs. Irvin, Gloria vs. Hantuchova, and Obziler vs. Dubois.
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