Fish, Spadea Fall at Memphis

Thursday was a difficult day at the ATP stop in Memphis if you were an American seed, with (3) Vince Spadea (lost to Dupuis, retiring with a shoulder injury) and (6) Mardy Fish (l. to American countryman Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri) sent home before the quarterfinals.

"Until it was 7-5, 2-0, he served big, then he served one 18 mph and said 'My shoulder hurts me,'" Dupuis said of Spadea.

Spadea said he has been dealing with the shoulder injury for about a month.

"I knew coming into the tournament I was running on empty," Spadea said. "I was just trying to see if it would get better and I could get a couple of quick wins and get into the tournament, but it was too tough to go out there and play powerfully with that shoulder."

No. 2 Tommy Haas (d. K.Kim) led the seeds into the quarters, joined by (5) Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (d. (Q) Frank "You Can" Dancevic), and (8) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d. Saulnier).

"Kevin Kim has made a huge jump in the last four or five months," Haas said. "He's been playing some really good tennis and he didn't make any mistakes from the baseline. He really pushed me to play some of my best tennis."

Other unseeded players into the quarterfinals Thursday were American Jan-Mike Gambill (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze in two tiebreaks) continuing his one-handed experiment, and Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen (d. Arthurs).

Friday's quarterfinal line-up in Memphis is Gambill vs. Carlsen, (8) The Beast vs. Dupuis, (5) X-Man vs. (2) Haas, and (1) Roddick vs. Ginepri in an all-American night finale.