Federer Sloughs Past Moya, Roddick Clinches Semifinal Berth at Masters Cup; Spadea Added to U.S. Davis Cup Team for Final
Posted on November 19, 2004
Federer Struggles, Roddick Joins Semifinal Party at ATP Masters CupWorld No. 1 Roger Federer struggled in his motivation Thursday against Carlos Moya, sloughing through against the former No. 1 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a match that meant the world to the Spaniard, who saw his chances of qualifying for the semifinals dim, but was almost meaningless to the Swiss.
"Today, I thought it was tough mentally, you know, obviously, to go into such a match knowing I'm qualified," said Federer, who eventually found the will to record his record-breaking 21st win in a row against a Top 10 player. "He needed it so much, and I didn't quite need it that much. I think that was felt during the play."
Moya, who came into the Masters Cup attempting to shrug off a shoulder injury, rued his chances lost during the encounter.
"I made one out of nine break points, so when you do that against Federer, you lose," Moya said. "So there's not much I can say. But all together, I think it has been a good match."
Moya's chances of qualifying for the semifinals are now in the hands of Lleyton Hewitt, with the Spaniard able to sneak in with a Hewitt loss.
Andy Roddick became the first player from the Blue Group to qualify for the semifinals on Thursday, edging Marat Safin 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in an ace-fest.
"I actually felt I was lucky to get out of the first set after having served for it and played a pretty sloppy game there," said Roddick, who threw down 15 aces during the match, one less than the Russian. "But, you know, the rest of the match I couldn't have asked for more. I thought I played pretty well. I thought it was a pretty high level of tennis."
Safin, who in the most telling stat converted only one of seven break points on the Roddick Babolat-powered delivery, was upbeat on still having his chance at reaching the semifinals.
"I'm not sad. I'm not sad. I'm still alive," said the Russian quote machine, who had to put up with Masters Cup promoter Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale in his stars-and-stripes shirt cheering for Roddick courtside. "I still have a chance tomorrow against Tim, and hopefully, the way I'm playing -- I'm really glad that I'm playing well."
The famed Safin temper emerged in the second set when the Russian failed to convert three break points on Roddick's serve, shattering his racquet on the court. Safin then picked up the racquet for a closer look, didn't like what he saw and snapped it in half.
"I didn't actually see it, but I looked up and saw two pieces of racket," Roddick said. "I'm sorry I missed it. He's up there with the best of them at breaking rackets."
30-year-old Brit Tim Henman kept his semifinal chances alive Thursday with a 6-2, 6-2 rolling of Guillermo Coria, eliminating the Argentine from the semifinals, and setting up the do-or-die encounter with Safin.
"He's obviously struggling with his serve," Henman said of the Coria delivery, with the Argentine coming off shoulder surgery. "If you just let him dictate in the rallies, he can still be very, very dangerous."
On Friday Hewitt takes on Gaston Gaudio (Argentine leads meetings 3-2) in a must-win for the Aussie, Roddick faces Coria in a match he must win to avoid potentially facing Federer in the semifinals (Roddick leads meetings 3-0), and Henman takes on Safin (2-2 career) with the winner into the semis.
"I am looking forward to it," Henman said. "Marat is a form player right now, but I am happy with the way that I have been playing."
Bryans to Face No. 1 Knowles-Nestor in Blockbuster ATP Masters Cup Doubles Semifinals
World No. 1s Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor defeated Czechs Martin Damm and Cyril Suk 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday to cap a perfect 3-0 record in round robin play, setting up a semifinal meeting with the Bryan brothers.
"We had lost a few to them so it's great to get another shot," said Nestor, who with Knowles is 6-7 career against the Bryans. "It's always a bonus to be able to beat another top team."
The defending champion Bryans advanced Thursday with a 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-4 win against Mahesh Bhupathi and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, snapping a three-match losing streak against the Indian/Belarussian pair.
Also into the semifinals Thursday were Zimbabwe's Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett, who eliminated Belgians Xavier "X-Man" Malisse and Olivier "The Roach" Rochus 6-4, 6-2.
Today's semifinal match-ups in Houston are Bjorkman/Woodbridge vs. Black/Ullyett, and Knowles/Nestor vs. Bryan/Bryan.
"We've played them in a couple of big matches this year and they're very hot at the moment, so we're really looking forward to it," Mike Bryan said on the prospect of facing the year-end No. 1 team. "You've got the No. 1 and No. 2 teams going at it so it should be a good match."
X-CORRECTIONS
The quote attributed to Lleyton Hewitt Thursday about the No. 2 ranking-race yesterday was made BEFORE he lost to Roger Federer, not after as we inferred. The offending quote was immediately removed from stories upon realization, and we apologize for the error.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Leighton Ginn writing for The Desert Sun: "The biggest disappointment out of the WTA Championships last week was the attitude of Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo over the chase for the No. 1 ranking. Davenport said the top ranking wasn't important since she had held the ranking several times over her career. If she kept it after last week's WTA Championships or not was no big deal. Mauresmo said since she earned the No. 1 ranking in September, reclaiming it wasn't as important. I can't understand why being recognized as the top in your profession for a single year would not be that important." Dude, get with the times, when you realize you could possibly lose the top spot (as Davenport could have when she lost in the WTA Championships round robin) or you know you're going to choke the big match before you get to No. 1 (as Mauresmo did), you cover your bases by saying it's not important. For example, Mauresmo could say: "Sheeeeeet, I didn't want to finish the year No. 1 anyway, dog. Who wants to go into the record books as one of the few elite year-ending No. 1s when I'm already established as one of the radar blips who, through injuries to other players, managed to sneak into the top spot for a couple weeks? That's more than enough to be proud of, so step off."...U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe likes what he sees this week of Andy Roddick's net play, and says he will encourage his charge to -- brace yourselves -- try and come to the net more against the Spaniards on the red clay in the Davis Cup final: "I think he can do that on clay," Pat Mac said. "That will make it tough for the guys to return his serve. I would like to see him mix it up a little more on clay. That's something we will work on." Can't wait to see that in application. Has the final been moved to a grasscourt and no one told us? Lleyton Hewitt, asked about the American chances, brought it back down to Earth: "I think (Mardy) Fish is going to find it extremely hard playing against those guys on clay over there. I don't think he has the experience on clay to do it. I don't think there's probably anyone apart from (Andre) Agassi that the Americans could put in. (Andy) Roddick holds the key. Obviously the doubles I think is a must-win for America -- absolute must. Still it's hard to see."...Once again former President George H. W. Bush has been a regular at the Masters Cup, and earlier this week had lunch with Roger Federer...Guillermo Coria, Carlos Moya and Marat Safin took in a Metallica concert earlier this week...Gustavo Kuerten is off crutches after his hip surgery, but has no date yet for a return in 2005...Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, and Guillermo Coria were the only players to reach finals on clay, grass and hardcourt during the season...Guillermo Vilas and Jimmy Connors were on hand in Houston yesterday...Venus Williams beat sister Serena 6-4, 7-5 in their McDonald's Williams Sisters Tour exhibition match Thursday night at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan, with Serena still serving gingerly with the ab injury: "It's strange, because when the serves are that slow, it throws off your pace and makes it difficult," Venus said. "She was throwing all kind of tricky serves at me because she couldn't hit it hard."...Opting to play the big-money Kooyong Classic exhibition, beginning Jan. 12, over ATP events during the January warm-up run to the Australian Open will be Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Tim Henman, Andre Agassi, David Nalbandian, Nicolas Massu, Gaston Gaudio and Paradorn Srichaphan...Rumor mill: Todd Martin to coach fellow Florida resident Mardy Fish? That would mean the dumper for current coach Kelly Jones, who has failed to inspire The Fish to get in top shape over the last couple years...U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe and Vince Spadea have mended fences, with Spadea added to the team that will face Spain on the red dirt in the final: "As I spoke with you last week, I spoke to Vince a couple of times and spoke to (Robby) Ginepri to see where he was and at the end of the day I decided that having Vince there was the option to go with," said McEnroe in a conference call from Houston. So, in other words, Ginepri just said no? "I had a good couple of long conversations with (Spadea) and got him on the page that I feel he needs to be on to come over there and play well." Spadea told Tennis Week he is happy to be on the team, but sounds like he will be holding himself back from doing a Tonya Harding on Fish: "He assured me that I would be going as a fifth player, a member of the team and not a practice partner. He said that he still plans on starting Mardy, but that if something should occur before the first match, I need to be ready to play. The prospect of having any chance to play Davis Cup and be part of the U.S. team is exciting for me." P-Mac also added that The Fish is "not a lock."...Cliff Drysdale is predicting the US Open will be employing instant replay for players on line calls at the 2005 tournament...Alix Ramsey writing for Tennis Life on the player antics while waiting for the rains to stop in Houston: "With no let-up in sight, the players were getting restless. Lleyton Hewitt, a bundle of nervous energy at the best of times, decided to let off a little steam by playing cricket with the press. Using a makeshift bat and a tennis ball, Hewitt had a great time trying to bowl out the inky-fingered scribes. His relationship with the media has had its ups and downs over the years and the chance to gain a little revenge over those in the press room had great appeal. A bit of a demon with the spin, he got one poor unfortunate out three times on the trot. As the American media stood around aghast (not only could they not understand the rules of cricket, they could not believe that Hewitt was joining in), Australia's finest had a go with the bat. He was pretty impressive there, too, knocking sixes all around the vast media center."...France's Marion Bartoli on Maria Sharapova as reported by the BBC: "She doesn't really speak to anyone. When you pass on front of her it's as if you don't exist, you're invisible, especially now. It's crazy because I remember really well having played her last year in doubles in Quebec. She was quite nice. She chatted. We ate together a few times. The following year she has gone onto another planet."