Agassi Says Yes to Davis Cup; 15-Year-Old Young Spanked in Pro Debut; Hewitt-Cartwright Talk About 6-Week Engagement
Posted on February 8, 2005
Safina Deactivates Spreminator at WTA ParisUnseeded Dinara Safina, apparently taking brother Marat Safin's criticism during the Australian Open to heart, ousted No. 6 seed Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem 6-4, 6-2 Monday at the WTA stop in Paris.
The oft-doughy-appearing Safina came under fire from her brother for being undisciplined in her work ethic and running out of gas in three-set matches.
"She has to grow up, be a little bit responsible for the things that she is doing and the decisions that she is taking," Safin said of Safina while in Melbourne last month. "For some reason she cannot make any decisions; she needs somebody to explain her everything. It's a little bit sad to watch because I can see that she has great potential. She has a game, but she doesn't have this character like (Maria) Sharapova has and (Svetlana) Kuznetsova, (Elena) Dementieva, (Anastasia) Myskina, all the Russian girls. They're great players. What they are good at is that they have a character of fighters, of wanting to achieve something."
At the Australian Open, Safina was up a set on Amelie Mauresmo before crashing out and losing the last 10 games of the match. Next up in Paris for Marat's little sis is a meeting with top seed Serena Williams.
Winners among the un-seeds Monday in Paris were Silvia Farina Elia (d. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova 0-and-0), defending runner-up Mary Pierce (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues), and Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. Camerin).
"I think for my first match this week, it was a great start," said Pierce, who last year was pounded mightily in the final by Kim Clijsters. "I love playing here, especially after such a good result last year."
On court Tuesday in Paris are Douchevina vs. Benesova, Pennetta vs. Sfar, Maleeva vs. Schaul, Loit vs. Jankovic, Golovin vs. Beltrame, and Razzano vs. Smashnova.
Panova Vera-Bad at WTA Hyderabad
Russian No. 3 seed Tatiana Panova was a seeded upset victim on day one at the WTA stop in Hyderabad, India, dismissed in straight sets by Israel's Shahar Peer.
"The break point in the fifth game of the first set gave me the confidence that I can win," Peer said. "I knew that to win I would have to make her run around."
Two other two seeds moved comfortably into the second round in straight sets in (4) Jie Zheng (d. Voskoboeva) and (9) Alyona Bondarenko (d. Bhambri).
Hyderabad, a tour-level event, had no players within the Top 50 as of the entry deadline.
Other unseeded winners into the second round Monday were Roberta Vinci (d. Salerni), Marie-Eve Pelletier (d. Bychkova in three), Tian Tian Sun (d. Nemeckova), and Tzipora Obziler (d. (7) Kurhajcova).
On tap for Tuesday in India are Santangelo vs. Dokic, Uberoi vs. Czink, Sescioreanu vs. Mirza, Gajdosova vs. Li Ting, Dominikovic vs. Hisamatsu, Li vs. Mikaelian, Tanasugarn vs. Amanmuradova, Minella vs. Groenefeld, and Mouthassine vs. Kirilenko.
Defending Champ Hrbaty Outed at ATP Marseille
No. 5 seed Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty was far from dominating Monday at the ATP stop in Marseille, up against a tough draw with a straight-set loss to Croatian Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic.
Only two other main draw matches were played Monday, with No. 6 Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez winning the all-Spanish battle with Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, and Dutch veteran Sjeng Schalken upsetting No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko 6-1 in the third.
"Every match helps and it's just nice to finally be focusing on tennis," said Schalken, who missed much of last year with mono. "I'm still not at a 100 percent yet but every win helps. I need matches and I'm very happy to play in the second round and to continue my preparations for Rotterdam and the Davis Cup."
Scheduled for Tuesday in France are (Q) Lisnard vs. (WC) Haehnel in an all-baguette, (Q) Simon vs. Thomas "Tommy the J." Johansson, Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. Tomas "I Beat Federer Last Year" Berdych, (7) Kiefer vs. Beck, the former No. 1 Ferrero vs. (3) Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson, and a race to the net in Llodra vs. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski.
Corretja Clay Spiral Continues at ATP Buenos Aires
Alex Corretja skipped the January Australian Open swing to practice-up for the South American claycourt swing. After two weeks at Vina del Mar and Buenos Aires, the two-time French Open runner-up is now 0-2 on the year.
Last year Corretja recorded a 5-8 win-loss record on the crushed red brick, a mark he may have trouble meeting in 2005. If retirement loomed any bigger behind the former No. 2-ranked Spaniard he'd be accused of having a doubles partner on the singles court.
The unseeded Corretja's misery at Buenos Aires Monday was courtesy No. 3-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas, who punished the former threat 6-3, 6-1.
The only other seed in action Monday, No. 8 Mariano Zabaleta, punished Alex Calatrava in straight sets, with Spaniards recording a 1-5 record on the day in main draw play.
Other un-seeds into the second round were Argentine Army members Juan "The Principality" Monaco (d. Costa) and Juan Acasuso (d. Mathieu), Spain's Felix Mantilla (d. O.Hernandez), and Brazilian Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta (d. Montanes in three).
The final round of qualifying was also completed, with the final four added to the main draw in M.Lopez (ESP), Luczak (AUS), Guzman (ARG), and Luzzi (ITA).
On court Tuesday are (Q) Guzman vs. (WC) Puerta in an all-Argentine, (5) Chela vs. (Q) Marc "M-Lo" Lopez, (1) Moya vs. (Q) Luczak, (7) Nadal vs. Calleri, (Q) Luzzi vs. (2) Gaudio, Ventura vs. Almagro in an all-ESP, (WC) Massa vs. "You Say" Potito Starace, Ferrer vs. A.Martin in an all-ESP, Burgsmuller vs. (6) Volandri, and (LL) Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez vs. Sanchez in an all-Spanish.
15-Year-Old Young Doesn't Meet Curfew in Tour Debut at ATP San Jose
It was difficult to tell who was more nervous Monday night at the ATP stop in San Jose, 15-year-old wildcard Donald Young making his pro debut, or Robby Ginepri pondering a loss to a 15-year-old.
In the end it was Ginepri overcoming his nerves and serving the under-cooked Young off his first big stage 6-2, 6-2
"Any time someone's seven years younger than you and just getting into the teenage stage, it's tough," Ginepri said. "It's a match you should win. But you still have to go out and get the job done. Of course you don't want to lose these matches."
Young admitted that his weak delivery on the serve did not help his chances against the powerful Ginepri.
"It was a lot of fun actually," Young said. "I was really excited. I had a couple chances...When he needed a first serve, he had one. When I needed one, I missed it. I guess when I get older and bigger I'll be able to hit my serve better."
Other winners on the all-unseeded Monday were Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze in three), hot-handed American Kevin Kim (d. Hernych), Canadian qualifier Frank "You Can" Dancevic (d. Jeff "Baby Krajicek" Morrison, bagel in the third), and Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee handing struggling American Jan-Mike Gambill another straight-set "L."
Tuesday's schedule in San Jose is Kohlschreiber vs. (Q) Zib, (7) Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. (Q) Glenn "I.C." Weiner, Moodie vs. (WC) J.Blake, Dupuis vs. (4) Spadea, (WC) Bobby Reynolds "Wrap" vs. (2) Agassi in an all-American, and the former No. 2-ranked German (3) Haas vs. Carraz.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Justine Henin-Hardenne has entered the claycourt Family Circle Cup at Charleston on April 9...Andy Roddick on his loss to Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open: "It's a good thing that I've come to a point in my career where I can make the last four of one of the biggest four tennis events in the world and have people grill me and have it be a disappointment. I have to look at that as, I guess, the standard that I've set for myself. I'm just as disappointed as everyone else." That's loser talk, Andy! Time to suck it up and play ball. Here's Andre Agassi weighing in on Roddick changing coaches: "We saw him go from maybe seven or 10 in the world to No. 1. We saw him win tournament after tournament, win the US Open. If it wasn't for Roger (Federer) having the incredible year, we would have seen him have the same sort of year again. Seemed to me like a lot of good decisions were going on there." Ouch...As reported last week by Tennis-X, on Monday the USTA finally announced that Andre Agassi will play in the first-round D-Cup match against Croatia on March 4-6 at Carson, Calif. "I have decided to play Davis Cup in 2005," Agassi said in a statement released by the USTA. "The captain and players know that my life will not allow me to play every tie at this stage of my career. Still, they all expressed encouragement, which is very much appreciated." It will be the first D-Cup appearance for the former No. 1 since 2000, the year Andy Roddick posted a 4-5 win-loss record in tour-level play, with two of the losses coming to Agassi...Maria Sharapova, with her new 2005 status as a "Gold Exempt Player," will be prevented from cleaning up at the lower-rung Tier IV Seoul and Tier III Tokyo events late in the year...Lleyton Hewitt on getting engaged to Bec Cartwright after dating for six weeks: "I've probably put up with more criticism than a lot of people out there. At the end of the day, you block out everything, especially with your personal life. What feels right to you, you don't second guess yourself. For us, it just felt so awesome right from the start." Hewitt on buying the big $200K rock for his girl: "I took a couple of my mates in, during the Australian Open actually, and Jo Altman, who's my coach's fiance. I had to have one chick in there to help me out a little bit. So I took her in there for a bit of female's advice. I was still pretty nervous going in there. It took my mind off going out there and having to win some big tennis matches, anyway...I'd spoken to the people before and ordered a few different kinds in. I had probably 10 to 20 just sitting there in front of me, and I couldn't tell the difference between any of them. So I had to just sit back there and look at all these unbelievable rings and then try and choose one of them."...Alicia Molik missed Paris this week with the flu, but is still scheduled for Antwerp.