Roddick Loses, Hewitt vs Safin and Venus vs Mauresmo On Tap Today

Posted on November 5, 2004

Roddick Mauled by Beast at ATP Masters Series Paris

Qualifier Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, entering his match with the top-seeded Andy Roddick Thursday at the Masters Series-Paris with an 0-3 record against the American, ended two years of frustration by defeating the world No. 2 in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals.

The two had most recently faced each other during this past U.S. summer at the Masters Series-Cincinnati, where the big Belarussian choked away numerous opportunities in a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 loss. This time the net-rushing Beast was determined not to let the opportunity pass.

"Today, I was able to be maybe more focused and play a cleaner tiebreaker than I have in the past," Mirnyi said. "By securing that first-set victory, certainly that gave me an upper hand, and I was able to relax more and convert those few break points I had in the second set."

Four seeds total were shown the door Thursday before the quarterfinals in Roddick, defending champ (3) Tim Henman (l. to Youzhny), (11) Andrei Pavel (l. to Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez in three), and (14) Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu (l. to (2) Hewitt, retiring at 3-4 with a hip injury).

After losing the first set, Henman put the flippers on, dropping his last five service games to get an early start to Houston for the Masters Cup in Houston where he has already qualified.

Other seeded winners on the day were (6) Marat Safin (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer) and (13) Guillermo Canas (d. Haas).

Winners in all-unseeded matches were Swede Robin Soderling (d. (WC) Saulnier), and Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek (d. Spadea).

Winners in doubles quarterfinal play were (3) Bjorkman/Woodbridge (d. Damm/Suk, with Damm retiring with a stomach ailment), (4) Bhupathi/The Beast (d. Gonzalez/Massu by walkover with Massu's hip injury), and Frenchmen (WC) Benneteau/Mahut (d. Hrbaty/Novak).

Friday's ugly QF match-ups are Youzhny vs. (Q) Stepanek (Russian leads meetings 2-1), F-Lo vs. (13) Canas (Canas leads 2-0, both in five sets), a bright spot in (6) Safin vs. (2) Hewitt (Aussie leads 5-4), and (Q) The Beast vs. Soderling (first meeting).

Zvonareva Dodges Bullet to Stay Alive for Year-end Berth at WTA Philadelphia

No. 6 seeded Russian Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva will not be put off in her quest to win the title at the WTA stop in Philadelphia, her last hope of qualifying for the year-end WTA Championships.

On Thursday in Philly The Crying Game came back from a set down to defeat Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, setting up a quarterfinal meeting with Jennifer Capriati.

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo (d. Benesova) also advanced, as did the rest of the total six seeds in action, including (2) Anastasia Myskina (d. Neffa-De los Rios), (5) Venus Williams (d. Fedak 7-6 in the third), (7) Nadia Petrova (d. Amy "Down Goes" Frazier), and hot-handed Aussie (8) Alicia Molik (d. Jankovic).

Friday's QF match-ups are Petrova vs. Myskina in an all-Russian (Myskina leads meetings 3-1, including the last three), Zvonareva vs. Capriati (Jenny Cap leads 1-0), Sharapova vs. Molik (tied 1-1), and Mauresmo vs. Venus (American leads 5-1, though Mauresmo won their last meeting).

Pierce Looking for Old Form at WTA Quebec City

Top seed and former slam champ Mary Pierce was the only seed to escape the upset bug Thursday at the WTA stop in Quebec City, defeating Mariana Diaz-Oliva in straight sets.

Not so fortunate were No. 4 seed Jill Craybas (l. to American countrywoman (Q) Abigail Spears), and No. 6 Claudine Schaul (l. to Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha).

Un-seeds into the quarterfinals were teens Alina Jidkova of Russia (d. the Canuck Dubois 7-6 in the third), and Bulgarian (Q) Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva (d. Perry).

Friday's match-ups in the quarterfinals are Spears vs. Kurhajcova, Pierce or Diaz-Oliva vs. Jidkova, Sucha vs. Karatantcheva, and Salerni vs. Gloria.

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