Mens Favorites Advance at Australian Open, WTA Says Doping Squall Past

Other seeded winners were (6) Guillermo Coria (d. Tomas "I'm Still the Last Player to Beat Federer" Berdych, bagel in the third), (7) Tim Henman (d. Saulnier in four), (9) David Nalbandian (d. Ferrer, coming back from 1-2 sets down), (12) Guillermo Canas (d. Aussie Chris "Penthouse" Guccione), (14) Sebastien Grosjean (d. countryman Llodra), (15) Mikhail Youzhny (d. Haehnel), (17) Andrei Pavel (d. Olivier "Mucus" Mutis, bagel in the third), (18) Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu (d. Dupuis in four), (23) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez (d. Acasuso, coming from 0-2 sets down), (25) Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Arthurs), (26) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Karanusic), (31) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Van Gemerden after dropping the first set), and (32) Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, who retired in the first set with injury).

"I knew that the match is the best of five sets, you know, so I can lose the first and the second and also I can have chances to win the match," said Ferrero, who dropped the first set to the unknown Van Gemerden, as was apparently ready to go five. "So of course I was a little bit disappointed to lose the first set, but later I was fighting all the time until I win the match."

No. 19 Vince Spadea was the only seeded upset on the day, blowing 2-1 set lead against Radek Stepanek.

Un-seeds into the second round Tuesday were Czech Jan Hernych (d. Mantilla, bagel in the fourth), Spaniards Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco (d. Muller), Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (d. Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, bagel in the first) and Santiago Ventura (d. countryman Calatrava in five), Americans James Blake (d. Florian "Oscar" Mayer, bagel in the third) and Bobby Reynolds "Wrap" (d. Almagro in four), German Philipp Kohlschreiber (d. Carlsen), Aussie hope Nathan Healey (d. Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta, who retired in the fourth with injury), Frenchmen Jean-Rene Lisnard (d. Marach, coming from 0-2 sets down) and Gregory Carraz (d. Mathieu in four), Belgian Christophe "The Roach" Rochus (d. Montanes), No. 2-Brit hope "Grinning" Greg Rusedski (d. Bjorkman in four, setting up a showdown with Roddick), Russian Igor Andreev (d. Burgsmuller), Argentine Mariano Zabaleta (d. Kimmich in four), Brazil's Ricardo Mello "Yello" (d. A.Martin), and Romanian Victor Hanescu (d. Volandri).

"I felt like I was striking the ball well even though I lost the first set," Rusedski said. "I just didn't feel like I was going after my second serve enough and he was really punishing me for not doing that. I felt I was making a lot of returns, and I just upped my level and played a really good second and third set."

Grinning Greg says bring on Roddick, who he has beaten only once in four encounters.

"I very much look forward to it," Rusedski says. "I think mentally I'm stronger now than I've been ever been. I think today's match kind of proved it with the tiebreaker and just coming back and just staying at one keel all the way through. I'll be looking forward to it."
Wednesday's schedule on the men's side is (16) Haas vs. Beck, Rainer "Shine" Schuettler vs. (8) Agassi in a re-match of the 2003 Aussie Open final (Agassi leads career series 3-1), (1) Federer vs. Suzuki (first meeting), Nieminen vs. (27) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, (4) Safin vs. Ulihrach, (10) Gaudio vs. Fish (American leads 1-0), (29) Dent vs. Tabara, (11) Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. Peter "Captain, the Wadar Shows Two Enemy" Wessels, Zib vs. (13) Robredo, Phau vs. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Olivier The Roach" Rochus vs. Gael "Force" Monfils, Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian vs. (24) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, K.Kim vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, Tipsarevic vs. (20) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, (30) Thomas "Tommy the J." Johansson vs. Calleri, and (22) Ljubicic vs. Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis.

Davenport Leads Seeded Blowouts on Day Two at Australian Open

If you're a fan of the "increased depth" on the WTA Tour, shield your eyes from Tuesday's results at the Australian Open, where the Top 20-seeded players all advanced without dropping a set, with plenty of bagels and breadsticks.

Recording wins that included a bagel (6-0) or breadstick (6-1) on the scorecard were (1) Lindsay Davenport (d. Martinez, a former slam winner), (3) Anastasia Myskina (d. Peschke), (8) Venus (d. Daniilidou), (10) Alicia Molik (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues), (12) Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Fedak 1-and-1), (23) Jelena Jankovic (d. Pratt), (25) Lisa Raymond (d. Yakimova 0-and-1), and (27) Smashnova (d. Sanchez Lorenzo 0-and-0 after dropping the first).

"I was really proud and honored to be a world champion," said Myskina after her win, missing the irony in the question of finishing No. 3 in the rankings but being named the best player of the year ("World Champion") by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which runs the slams and Fed Cup competition. "But I think right now I don't feel any pressure because I know how many good players here and how many favorites here. Really excited that nobody really know who's gonna win."

For you "lucky" ESPN America fans, the host broadcaster will show tape today at 2 p.m. (EST) of Davenport drubbing Martinez 1-and-0.

In other seeded play, (6) Elena Dementieva recovered from an earlier bout of heat illness (d. Bondarenko), with fellow winners (13) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. Adamczak), (14) Francesca Schiavone (d. Marrero), (18) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Mamic), (19) Nathalie Dechy (d. Gagliardi), (20) Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin (d. Cervanova), (26) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Morigami), and (31) Jelena Kostanic (d. the Aussie Dell'Acqua in three).

"You have no idea what, you know, I been through all these days," said Dementieva on being fingered concerning the Belgian doping allegations. "It's been too hard on me, you know. I was innocently involved in all this story that I have nothing to do with. And just ridiculous how I think press reacted and this cover on today newspaper and all this talking around me. And the WTA, the way they are trying to, you know, handle this problem by saying there is three victims like, but I see only two victim in this story -- me and Nathalie Dechy, who really have nothing, you know, have nothing to do with this. We just became a part of this by mistake, but huge mistake."

Un-seeds successfully into the second round were Americans Abigail Spears (d. countrywoman Shaughnessy in three) and Mashona "Little Sis" Washington (d. Castano), Japan's Aiko Nakamura (d. Haynes) and Shuai Peng (d. Camerin), Austrian Barbara "OK, Now I Give a" Schett (d. Welford in three), Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn (d. Strykova, bagel and two), Aussie Evie Dominikovic (d. Santangelo in three), Israel's Tzipora Obziler (d. Loit), Czechs Klara "Kouky" Koukalova (d. Tu), Nicole Vaidisova (d. Vento-Kabchi, coming from a set down) and Michaela Pastikova (d. Anne "Kosmo" Kremer), Russians Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova (d. Ant. Serra Zanetti 6-1 in the third) and Anna Chakvetadze (d. Parra Santonja), Dutch comer Michaella "Little Sis" Krajicek (d. Foretz), the Ukraine's Tatiana Perebiynis (d. Rousseau from a set down), and Italian Tathiana Garbin (d. Weingartner).

Wednesday's matches on the women's side feature Lee-Waters vs. (4) Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova, Ferguson vs. (11) Petrova, Dinara "Little Sis" Safina vs. (2) Mauresmo, (7) Serena vs. Randriantefy, (5) Kuznetsova vs. Bartoli, (17) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. Groenefeld, Japan's (28) Asagoe vs. China's Li, Mirza vs. Mandula, Baltacha vs. Cohen-Aloro, (15) Farina Elia vs. Domachowska, Ivanovic vs. Kirilenko, (22) Maleeva vs. Jidkova, Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova vs. (21) Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, Diaz-Oliva vs. (29) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko in an all-Argentine, and Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha vs. Linetskaya.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Until Tuesday, the number of time Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez had overcome a 2-0 set deficit in his career was zero...Lleyton Hewitt and Arnaud Clement have played each other in three straight weeks (Adelaide, Sydney, Aussie Open) in 2005...In a battle of Davids, Nalbandian finally got his first win in his fourth try over Ferrer...Andy Roddick could have to face three straight lefties in order to reach the fourth round...Speaking of Roddick, why wasn't Brad Gilbert on the set when Andy visited the ESPN studio to chat with Chris Fowler? Did he have to go to the bathroom suddenly?...The back-from-injury James Blake looked real good winning in 70 minutes over Florian "Oscar" Mayer...Anastasia "Marilyn Manson Stunt Double" Myskina and Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan walked throughout Rod Laver Arena collecting money from fans for the tsunami relief effort on Tuesday...Our crack weather forecaster intern predicts high heat for Wednesday with some nasty storms in the evening...If your go to the Oz Open, watch out for the horseflies in the day, and the possums and bats in the evening...WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott on the offensive in a statement released Tuesday on the doping allegations: "In all my years in sports, I have never seen a more disgraceful and irresponsible act by a sports official. This is an egregious breach of ethical standards of confidentiality and due process which govern anti-doping programmes, and has unnecessarily tainted our sport and three wonderful athletes. The Belgian authorities have not complied with credible anti-doping procedures, which require the presumption of innocence and the strictest confidentiality."...There never has been a doping offense for a performance-enhancing drug in WTA Tour history according to the AP. Two players were sanctioned for caffeine, one for cocaine, and none since 2002. Hmmm, coke is it for a small number of the fringe players on both sides, even in the wheelchair ranks...Greg Rusedski on the women's drug flap -- did you really think he would keep his mouth shut? "I don't even want to get involved. I've had enough of that. I'm not even going to go there." And then, of course, he does: "Well, what I think is it should never be made public, these sorts of things, until all the facts are out, until there's a tribunal, until everything goes through. I feel sorry for the three girls who have to put up with it. If the organizer for the event said, you know, we have an exhibition and said all the girls, you know, were in the same boat. But he excluded some and he included others. So I just wish he just would have kept his mouth shut and dealt with it properly. But, you know, that's sport and that's the way things go sometimes."...Hey Brad Gilbert, Greg Rusedski is looking for a new coach -- take the job and hire a camera crew to film it, that would be the reality show to end all shows..."Grinning" Greg on his new gear: "I think Donnay bought Dunlop/Slazenger, so they've changed me into the full Dunlop kit and racquets. Yeah, I enjoy the racquet and like the new line of clothing. So I'm quite excited about it...I seem to be returning better with (the racquet). So I don't know if it's the racquet or it's me (media laughter ensues). I like the racquet I'm playing with, it's very nice."..."Grinning" Greg, who is likely getting ready to follow Tim Henman in bailing from the Brit D-Cup team, on the future of British tennis: "There's three kids I look at that I think have a good chance. But the question mark will be is, do they have that hunger, that desire? I mean, you've got to look at someone like Lleyton Hewitt. I mean, there's a guy who has so much desire and wants every ball and every point. You know, you can teach that, but you can't teach that. It's the ones who are going to want it, the hunger of it. I mean Alex Bogdanovic has got a lot of talent, Andrew Banks has a big game, a lot of talent. (Andrew) Murray is a good player as well, but he has a stronger mind than the other two, I think. So those three guys have a good chance to do well. And they're going to have to step up and start making those breakthroughs, which they're trying to do at the moment, and hopefully they will."...Andy Roddick on the court speed of the Rebound Ace at the Aussie Open: "I'm fine with it. I'm never one to really notice too much. I guess that requires feel, and I don't really have that in surplus. You know, I like it. You know, Rebound Ace, it's supposed to be a little bit slower and bounce a little bit higher. Those are kind of the characteristics that you come to expect from it."...Juan Carlos Ferrero, who dropped a set in his opening-round match to a player not even on the tour radar, says he is a threat to do some damage: "Yeah. Physically, I'm very good. Form, you know, I have confidence in me that after this match I will play much better in the second round. Who knows if I win, if I lose. But I think I feel mentally very strong again, you know. So if I lose early this tournament, will be doesn't matter for me because a year is so long. I feel that I'm Juan Carlos again like in the past, you know, so I feel good." Funny how we didn't hear that babbling 'I was ready to go five sets, if I lose I lose' talk in 2003...Alicia Molik on her Aussie football preferences: "I'm a footy lover, I must admit. I love getting out and watching the game. But I have to admit I've been training over at Lexus Center. I'm about to go over there and have a massage now. Been fortunate enough to be invited over there. I'll probably, if any, watch mostly Collingwood games this season. I think I'd love to go and watch the boys play. I feel like I'm committing a crime now, changing teams. Growing up I followed the Eagles in the SNLF in South Australia. Obviously I was born there. I've been in Melbourne the last couple years. I'm never home, but I love getting out to any single supporting event." We're footy lovers too, but more on the fetish tip...According to the AP, "Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova will help Moscow try to land the 2012 Olympics, saying if the city gets the games, "my dream and the dream of millions of Russians will come true. I can't wait to explain to people why Moscow should host the games," said Sharapova, according to a statement posted on the bid committee's Web site."...Hey Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze, time to get that fat-ass in shape -- a big serve and forehand, and a two-handed backhand straight out of the girl's-14s are only going to get you so far. And you're slow...The slumping Jan-Mike Gambill talking to TR.net on his current career spiral: "I have been working very hard to try and get my game back on track. Obviously, I was not playing that well, but I played a couple of good matches coming in here and I've been practicing very well. I feel like I'm starting to play decent tennis. I feel 100% I can get back to playing the way I used to so I'm not going to let this be a negative for me."...You've got to love the Tim Henman critiques that come out of London, even when "Our Tim" wins -- this from This is London: "Tim Henman overcome a worrying and all-too-familiar lapse in concentration to book his place in the second round of the Australian Open today. Henman cruised through the opening two sets of his first-round clash with Cyril Saulnier in under an hour, losing just three games in the process in Melbourne. The large British contingent in the Margaret Court Arena sat back in anticipation of an easy victory, but seasoned Henman watchers knew better and it was with an air of inevitability that the Frenchman was allowed back into the match."...The usually-verbose Brad Gilbert refused to elaborate on his firing by Andy Roddick to USA Today: "I was surprised. I'm over it now."...Reuters reports that Belgian sports minister Claude "Look at Us Everyone!" Eerdekens refuses to apologize for announcing Svetlana Kuznetsova had tested positive for a banned substance at an exhibition event in Belgium: "I will never offer an apology. This product (ephedrine, found in cold medicine and not banned in out-of-tour-competition play) is banned and it is up to her to explain why it is there. It (the announcement about Kuznetsova) was necessary to protect the other three," said Eerdekens, referring to Justine Henin-Hardenne, Nathalie Dechy and Elena Dementieva, who also participated in the exhibition. Probably not a lot of players lining up for future exhibitions in Belgium, eh?