Moya Wins Chennai, Donates Prize Money for Tsunami Relief; Johansson Wins Adelaide

"Men's tennis is all about holding serve," said Dent, "and if he's playing like that on his own serve, I don't see how guys are going to break him, so, absolutely."

In doubles the No. 3-seeded team of Belgians Xavier "X-Man" Malisse and Olivier "The Roach" Rochus claimed their second career title with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry. It was just the sixth teaming for X-Man/Roach, who last year played the four slams and the Athens Olympics and still finished at No. 15 on the ATP Team Rankings.

Moya Edges Srichaphan to Defend ATP Chennai Title

Top-seeded Carlos Moya came from a set down Sunday to defeat No. 2 seed Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, a mirror of last year's result in the final of the ATP Chennai Open.

Moya rebounded for a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) win, with Srichaphan fighting off a match point in the 12th game of the third set but succumbing in the tiebreak. Moya trailed 2-5 in the third set before breaking the Thai's serve to stay alive.

"I was really close to losing," Moya said. "I feel that when I was down in the score it is when I played my best tennis. It gives me a lot of confidence to start the year like this. I started and ended 2004 winning, so it is great to start 2005 like this."

For Srichaphan it was his fourth consecutive trip to the Chennai final, winning once in 2003.

"To be four times in a row in the final after being one point away from losing in the first round is a great result for me," said the always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life Thai. "I almost lost in the first round and I was really close to winning at 5-2 in the third, I had my chances but Carlos came back really strong."

Moya donated his winner's check of $52,000 to the Asian tsunami relief efforts.

In doubles, the unseeded pair of Germany's Rainer "Shine" Schuettler and Taipei's Yen-Hsun Yu shocked top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi-Jonas Bjorkman 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4) for their first title as a team.

Former No. 1s Hewitt, Moya Head ATP Sydney Field

Last year's finalists and former No. 1s Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya head the field this week at the Medibank International in Sydney, joined by Adelaide champ Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson, veteran Andrei Pavel, Spaniard Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 2002 Aussie Open winner Thomas Johansson, and Adelaide runner-up Taylor Dent among the seeded.

Unseeded threats in the field include the Aussie wildcard threesome of Mark Philippoussis (who is expected to pull from the event after suffering a muscle tear at the Hopman Cup exhibition), comer Todd Reid, and veteran serving machine Wayne Arthurs. Others un-seeds to watch are Brit "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Robin Soderling, Mardy "Silver" Fish, and Xavier "X-Man" Malisse.

Last year Hewitt was gifted the title in the final when Moya rolled his ankle on the sticky Rebound Ace surface, which also ended his hopes for competing at the Australian Open.

Opening-round match-ups of interest include (7) T.Johansson vs. German riser Florian "Oscar" Mayer, (3) The Jackhammer vs. Rusedski in a serve-off, the Silver Fish vs. Soderling in a tough all-unseeded opener (and a rematch of the 2003 Stockholm final), (4) Pavel vs. (WC) Philippoussis (likely to be redrawn after Flipper pulls), and (5) F-Lo vs. (WC) Reid.

The Sydney event boasts a star-studded roster of former winners including Hewitt (three times), Roger Federer, and Pete Sampras (twice) among others. Hewitt (2004,'01-00) is the lone returning champ in the field.

On tap Monday are (WC) Arthurs vs. Volandri, (5) F-Lo vs. (WC) Reid, Mayer vs. (7) T.Johansson, Soderling vs. Fish, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Berdych, The Beast vs. Ferrer, and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. (LL) Nieminen.

Coria, Ferrero Make 2005 Debuts Heading ATP Auckland Field

Argentina's Guillermo "El Fragile" Coria will attempt to put the memory of his injury-ridden 2004 season, which included two titles and near-misses in finals at the French Open (l. to Gaudio), Masters Series-Miami (l. to Roddick), MS-Hamburg (l. to Federer), and on grass at 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Llodra) behind him this week at the ATP stop in Auckland.

Coria competed in only two events after Wimbledon last year, coming back for the year-ending Masters Cup where he was blanked 0-3 in round robin play.

"I realize that it is very tough to get over such a complicated injury," Coria told The New Zealand Herald of his shoulder surgery. "I am really keen to go back and try to be 100 percent physically first. At the beginning of Roland Garros I really felt I was up there. If you are talking No. 1, of course we all felt Federer was unbeatable last year, but I was playing well and my plans were to try and play as good as I could and maybe overtake Federer or Roddick or whoever was No. 1 in 2005."

Coria will try and end his four-match losing streak from 2004 at this year's Heineken Open, but it will not be an easy task in the opening round, drawn against smooth tour veteran and former Auckland champ Sjeng Schalken.

Joining Coria among the seeds in Auckland are Spaniard Tommy Robredo, defending champ Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, resurgent American Vince "Vincenzo" Spadea, Chile's Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna.

"It's good to come back here, last time I was here I made the quarters and I played really good and after the last year I want to start very strong," said Ferrero, currently ranked outside the Top 30.

In addition to Coria's tough opener, look to first-round matches (8) Horna vs. the hot-handed Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, (3) Hrbaty vs. Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal, (5) Gonzo vs. (WC) Blake, and (6) Chela vs. Spain's Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, who stretched Carlos Moya to 7-6 in the third last week.

Other upset-minded competitors in the field are Frenchmen Cyril Saulnier and Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, Argentine comer Juan "The Principality" Monaco, Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri, Brazil's 2004 break-out player Ricardo Mello "Yello," and underrated Italian "You Say" Potito Starace.

Last year The Dominator edged The Prodigy 7-5 in the third for the title, one of three the fast-starting Slovak collected by February of 2004.

Former champions in the field are Hrbaty (2004,'01), Schalken (1999), and Jonas Bjorkman (1997).

Scheduled for Monday are Acasuso vs. Benneteau, Starace vs. (WC) Nielsen, (5) Gonzalez vs. (WC) Blake, (4) Spadea vs. D.Sanchez, Zabaleta vs. (WC) G.D. Jones, and Saulnier vs. Muller.

Davenport Versus Russian Onslaught This Week at WTA Sydney

Lindsay Davenport makes her 2005 debut this week in Sydney, leading a field including Russian seeds Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, Aussie Alicia Molik, last week's Gold Coast winner Patty Schnyder, and Japan's Ai Sugiyama.

Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne's comeback was held off when the former No. 1 withdrew after injuring her knee during practice. Davenport's physical condition is also suspect, with the world No. 1 pulling from the Hopman Cup exhibition last week with knee problems.

Opening-round matches to watch for include (8) Sugiyama vs. Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin, (7) Schnyder vs. Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, and (6) Molik vs. Top 20-ranked Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

Davenport won Sydney in 1999, and finished runner-up five times in 1995-96, 2000-01, and 2003. Former champions at the event include Martina Navratilova, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert, Pam Shriver, Gabriela Sabatini, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters.

In opening-day play Sunday the lone main draw match featured Nathalie Dechy defeating Lisa Raymond 7-5, 6-3, while the final round of qualifying was completed with four players rounding out the main draw in Silvija Talaja (CRO), Mashona Washington (USA), Shuai Peng (CHN), and Ludmila Cervanova (SVK).

On court Monday in Sydney are Ferguson vs. Maleeva, Davenport/Morariu vs. Dementieva/Sugiyama, Daniilidou vs. Martinez, Jankovic vs. Likhovtseva, Huber/McShea vs. Hantuchova/Navratilova, Washington vs. Peng, and Chladkova vs. Zuluaga.

Frazier Top Seed Down Under at WTA Hobart

American Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier leads the anemic Tier V WTA stop in Hobart this week, joined by seeds Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, Iveta "Not Lose" Benesova, Shinobu Asagoe, Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, Maria Elena Camerin, Dinara "Little Sis" Safina, and Klara "Kouky" Koukalova.

In last year's final the unseeded Frazier beat the No. 6-seeded Asagoe 6-3, 6-3.

First-round winners Sunday in Hobart were Marta Domachowska (d. Morigami), Marta Marrero (d. (WC) Dominikovic), (3) Iveta "Not Lose First Round" Benesova (d. Kurhajcova 6-1 in the third), (5) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Brandi in three), Kveta Peschke (d. Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha), and American Abigail "Britney" Spears (d. countrywoman Craybas).

The final round of qualifying was also completed with four more into the main draw in Nan-nan Liu (CHN), Martina Muller (GER), Jennifer Hopkins (USA), and Cara Black (ZIM).

On court Monday are Hopkins vs. Strycova, Safina vs. Granville, N.Liu vs. Dulko, Asagoe vs. Santangelo, Dellacqua vs. Jidkova, Frazier vs. Na, Muller vs. Camerin, Black vs. Koukalova, Perebiynis vs. Vaidisova, and Zheng vs. Diaz Oliva.

Farina Elia Tops at Tier V WTA Canberra

No. 20-ranked Italian Silvia Farina Elia leads a watered-down Tier V field this week at the WTA stop in Canberra, Australia, joined by seeds Anna Smashnova, Meghann Shaughnessy, Marion Bartoli, Emilie Loit, Nicole Pratt, Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, and Tatiana Garbin.

First-round winners Sunday in Canberra were Claudine Schaul (d. (5) Loit), (8) Tathiana Garbin (d. Anne "Kosmo" Kremer), Lindsay Lee-Waters (d. Llagostera Vives, baking a bagel in the second set), and Marlene Weingartner (d. Pastikova in three).

Four more were elevated to the main draw after the final round of qualifying in Ana Ivanovic (SCG), Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS), Evie Dominikovic (AUS), and Lenka Nemeckova (CZE), all soon to be household names.

On court Monday are Tanasugarn vs. Adamczak, Douchevina vs. Groenefeld, Breadmore vs. Krajicek, Farina Elia vs. Panova, Barna vs. Bychkova, Randriantefy vs. Czink, and Nemeckova vs. Ivanovic.

X-NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty got a chuckle out of being fined $200 by New Zealand customs when he arrived in Auckland "smuggling" two oranges in his pocket, picked up at the Perth airport before his flight. "It was the most expensive mandarins I've ever had. I could have bought 50 kilograms of them in the shop," The Dominator told SMH. Part of Hrbaty's carry-on luggage was the 174-diamond $30,000 Hopman Cup trophy, with the Slovak capturing the exo in partnership with countrywoman Daniela Hantuchova last week...There were five ATP and WTA tour events last week, and ESPN.com's lead tennis story is about Elena Dementieva winning the Hong Kong exhibition? Huh? Oh yeah, that's the same network showing the Australian Open final on tape this year, should we expect more? Note to ESPN: exhibitions don't count for the rankings, and the players as a whole don't give 100 percent...Tim Henman says he survived the flight to Australia: "I was a little worried that my back might stiffen up coming out here but it seems to be fine. My focus now is to try and get used to the conditions. I worked pretty hard on my physical conditioning in December but it will still take a while to get used to the heat. I'm not getting any younger but I enjoy testing myself and getting the best out of my body at the beginning of the year here in Australia is a real challenge -- but that's why I play the game. It's never easy travelling from Europe to Australia. It's a long flight and it definitely takes a lot out of you. It always takes a few days for my body clock to regulate itself but I should be fine by the time I start the Kooyong (exhibition) event."...Guillermo "El Fragile" Coria says he is over the back injury that forced him to pull from a Hopman Cup doubles match last week...Anastasia Myskina says the top players are smart not to play any WTA Tour events before the Australian Open, though she doesn't mention the plethora of exhibition play in January: "It's a really smart decision to not play and get injured again. They are thinking about the Australian Open and it shows how they want to win. Let's put it this way -- next year I don't think I'm going to play something before the Australian Open. It's really tough to go spending New Years not at home and be here for more than a month."...From The Age on players already practicing in Melbourne: "(Marat) Safin and (Tim) Henman yesterday practiced for more than an hour on Margaret Court Arena in an exchange that included several bouts of light-hearted banter. Safin berated himself several times for building the confidence of an "old man" when Henman won easy points. The 30-year-old Briton fired back when he blasted a forehand winner off a Safin first serve that his sister could have won the point just as easily."
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