Federer, Hewitt Close on Titles; Agassi Makes WTA Gold Coast Appearance

Friday's quarterfinal match-ups are (1) Hewitt vs. (5) Dent (Hewitt leads career meetings 3-0, including the last five sets), (4) Chela vs. (8) Tuna Melzer (Melzer leads 1-0), (3) Kiefer vs. Olivier "The Roach" Rochus (Roach leads 1-0), and (2) Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson vs. Enqvist in an all-Swedish first-time meeting.

Federer Notches Consecutive Win 19 at ATP Doha

The ATP sets them up, and Roger keeps knocking them down.

World No. 1 Roger Federer recorded his 19th consecutive singles win Thursday at the ATP stop in Doha, destroying the otherwise-potent left-handed game of fast-court-efficient Spaniard Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez 6-1, 6-2.

"I was able to put pressure on Lopez from the very beginning," Federer said. "He tried to change tactics after I broke him in the first set, but I kept on serving well to keep him on the back foot. I am delighted with the way I am playing right now. Everything I try is coming off. I guess when you keep playing well, anything you try comes off. For me personally, it was a very entertaining match though the fans might think differently."

Also into the semis were (6) Ivan Ljubicic who stopped Spaniard Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal in three sets, (8) Nikolay Davydenko who came from a set down to oust (3) Sebastien Grosjean, and unseeded former French Open winner Al Costa who outlasted Fabrice Santoro, leading 6-2, 3-0 when the veteran Frenchman retired with heat-related fatigue.

Friday's semifinal match-ups are (6) Ljubicic vs. Costa (Costa leads series 1-0, in 2003 on clay), and (1) Federer vs. (8) Davydenko (Federer leads 3-0).

Srichaphan On Target for Third Consecutive Chennai Final

No. 2 seed Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan moved comfortably into the quarterfinals at the ATP stop in Chennai Thursday, dominating French qualifier Nicolas Devilder 6-3, 6-2.

"I am happy about the way I played, I went for more shots than usual," Srichaphan said. "I like the conditions here in Chennai, I reached the final twice. I am taking a match at a time and we will see what happens tomorrow."

Providing the upsets on the day were un-seeds Paul-Henri Mathieu of France (d. (5) Carlsen) and Belgian Kristof Vliegen (d. (6) Lu 7-6 in the third after trailing 1-6, 2-5).

"I hurt myself prior to my first match here in Chennai (last year) and was out for seven months after that," Mathieu said. "It feels great to be back here and healthy...Now I play Carlos Moya. It will be extremely difficult. He plays very well on hard, he won the tournament last year and he is very motivated."

Mathieu beat Moya in their lone meeting last year in the Davis Cup semifinals on red clay in Spain.

Matched-up for the Friday quarterfinals at the Chennai Open are (1) Moya vs. Mathieu, Tabara vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, Gimelstob vs. Zib, and (2) The Thai Fighter vs. Vliegen.

WTA Auckland Rained Out Thursday

No matches were completed Thursday at the WTA stop in Auckland, where officials will try and make up for lost time by playing both the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday.

Friday's rain-delayed QF match-ups are Katarina "Robotnik" Srebotnik vs. Peer, Asagoe vs. Husarova, the injury-riddled Bartoli vs. the flu-ridden Jankovic, and Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova.

Petrova Injures Butt, Agassi Saves the Day at WTA Gold Coast

Top-seeded Nadia Petrova was forced to withdraw from her quarterfinal match at Gold Coast Thursday, giving No. 5-seeded Italian Silvia Farina Elia a free ride into the semifinals.

"I'm not disappointed," said Petrova, who strained a butt muscle. "I have two matches under my belt and it's not too bad for just starting the season. The Australian Open is coming up so it's more important for me to stay healthy for the big one."

Left with a block of time to fill, tournament organizers wrangled some exhibition practice between Andre Agassi and Aussie homeboy Scott Draper. Agassi and coach Darren Cahill are in Gold Coast practicing for the Australian Open, utilizing the areas hot and humid practice conditions to prepare the former No. 1 for the brutal Melbourne temperatures.

No. 2 seed Patty "Handshake" Schnyder reached the semis with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 drubbing of precocious Bulgarian teen Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva.

Two unseeded prospects also gained the semis in homegrown talent Sam Stosur (d. (8) Maleeva, coming from a set down) and Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin (d. Flavia "Of Yesterday" Pennetta, coming from a set down).

Friday's semifinals line up as Farina Elia vs. Stosur, and Hot Pants vs. Handshake.

X-NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Andre Agassi, who on Thursday had a practice session with coach Darren Cahill on the site of the women's WTA Gold Coast event: "Darren suggested we come here to acclimatize to the time change, the conditions and the court and it was a good decision. The only way you can still be out here having a chance is when you have the hunger, and I have every intention of bringing my best stuff out here and winning this tournament (Australian Open)."...Patty "Handshake" Schnyder on rising Aussie Sam "Guns" Stosur: "She has a lot of power in her arms, like a men's game, and spin from her groundstrokes. It's not a women's game she is playing. She's feeling really good in Australia than the rest of the world. She needs to be consistent, but she really has some good weapons."...The Herald Sun on Lleyton Hewitt's win yesterday at Adelaide, cheered on by girlfriend Rebecca Cartwright: "Arriving in Adelaide just in time for Hewitt's match yesterday, Cartwright cut a striking figure in a white singlet-top and black pants. After the match, Hewitt said he was happy to have played well for Cartwright. "She hasn't seen too many tennis matches so it was nice to get out there and not get off to a slow start," Hewitt said. "I don't know how much she knows about tennis but it was good to come through with flying colours.""...The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Charlie "Brick" Bricker commenting on the new WTA deal: This is an enormous deal, believed to be the biggest in the history of women's sports. It's nearly twice the size as the WTA's last global sponsorship contract -- $8 million a year for four years with Sanax (sic), the European-based health and bath products manufacturer who got out of tennis three years ago. But it's more than just money. Sony Ericsson has plans to bring a new level of interactivity between fans and the game, and one of the first innovations you might see is chair umpires using one of the company's sophisticated cell phones to simultaneously record the score and send that score out over the internet -- point by point."...Nicole Vaidisova withdrew from the star-studded Hong Kong exo with illness Thursday...Thomas Enqvist has a new part-time coach in former player and countryman Magnus Larsson: "This is the first trip Magnus and I have done. Magnus is a very smart player, one of the smartest players I have played against."...Reports are that Jennifer Capriati's shoulder is not healing and she will pull from Sydney next week. In the what-else-can-go-wrong? category, Jenny Cap was also dumped by her sponsor Fila last week. "Our agreement (with Capriati) is up at the end of (December 2004) and we have mutually agreed to move on," Mark Westerman, Fila vice president of global marketing told The SportsBusiness Journal. "We wish her the best of luck. We will always consider her part of the Fila family." Yeah, the sister you kicked out of the house?...Tommy Haas pulled out of the Hopman Cup exo with a groin strain Thursday, not as serious as a groin tear, but more serious than a tennis ball to the groin...Marat Safin capped his third straight singles loss at the Hopman Cup exhibition with a 6-0 third-set loss to Davide Sanguinetti -- way to bring down those Aussie Open odds Marat, we'll still be putting down some cash. It's the Hopman Cup, who cares? Not Marat...This month Andre Agassi will be looking to add to his Aussie Open titles from 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003...If you're the persnickety type who like to play "Count the Errors" in news stories, go to town while checking out the "Aussie Open Warm Up Notes" on tennisreporters.net by Matt Cronin, who got up on the wrong side of the bed: "It was darkly humorous to see one (sic) the boys over at "X-treme Press Release and Wire Copy Rewrite" rip Reuters for covering the Hopman Cup like it's a real tournament, rather than an exo, and in the same piece, steal a quote from a Reuters exclusive on the Brad Gilbert-Andy Roddick split without attribution. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, guys. Yes, the Hopman Cup is a exo, but it's a successful and attractive one. It's the only nation v. nation mixed tournament in the world and should count for something. The field is good, although not great, and gives mixed doubles a proper venue." Yeah, it certainly counted to Marat, who tanked the event in both singles and doubles. It's the Reuters and tr.net coverage that confuses fans who can't tell the difference between exhibitions and the real thing. Sorry about the Reuters quote-lift mix-up, at least we know how to spell Qatar. Get coal in your stocking in December or something?...Miles Flint, president of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, on throwing nearly $100 million at the WTA Tour: "We believe we are making a really solid investment. We like the fact that the women's game is so much more of a challenge. The main attraction of tennis, and women's tennis in particular, is that it works anywhere in the world and very few sports can offer that...this association will feel very much like the old partnership between women's tennis and Virginia Slims." Nice one Miles, you definitely want to tie your product to cigarettes as a positive. Maybe you could have alluded to cell phone studies and brain cancer compared to lung cancer too. Time to spend some of those millions on media training.