Federer Wins Third Title; All-Star Cast at WTA Dubai
Posted on February 28, 2005
Federer Denies Ljubicic for Third Time at ATP DubaiCroatia's Ivan Ljubicic is playing the tennis of his career, but it still wasn't enough to get him over the hump against world No. 1 Roger Federer, losing his third final of the year against the Swiss 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3.
It was Federer's third title of the year, all against Ljubicic in finals after Doha and Rotterdam. The win extended Federer's Open Era record in finals to 16 straight.
"This week I felt I had a couple of second chances, match points down against (Juan Carlos) Ferrero, 7-6 in the third in the first round and now I sit here as the winner," Federer said.
Ljubicic fell to 0-3 in finals for 2005.
"If I play a final every week, I will be very happy," Ljubicic said. "Tonight's match makes me feel like I'm closer to beating him. The crowds were great, usually I don't have crowds on my side but here it's been fantastic. Here, the crowds like me."
In the doubles final the unseeded Czech team of Martin Damm/Radek Stepanek upset No. 4 seeds Jonas Bjorkman/Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 6-4 for their second title of the year.
Arthurs Clinches Career-First Title at ATP Scottsdale
33-year-old Aussie Wayne Arthurs won his first career ATP singles title Sunday at the Tennis Channel Open, upsetting No. 3 seed Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic 7-5, 6-3.
"I felt I couldn't miss my serve no matter how hard I hit it," said Arthurs, who held serve 62 consecutive times for the tournament. "I knew I had to do that because he's a great returner and I didn't let him get into any of my service games at all, except one when I made a couple of easy volleying errors. Apart from that, it's probably one of the best serving displays I've ever had."
For Ancic it was the third consecutive tournament reaching the semifinals or better.
"His serve is unbelievably difficult but he surprised me how well he returned today," Ancic said. "I knew he was serving big and I would have a tough time, but the way he returned was really impressive. I didn't expect that."
Arthurs will represent Australia in the Davis Cup competition versus Austria, trumping the out-of-sorts Mark Philippoussis for the No. 2 singles spot. Arthurs' only other appearance in a singles final was Nottingham on grass in 2002.
In the doubles final, the top-seeded Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, defeated No. 2-seeded Aussies Arthurs and Paul Hanley 7-5, 6-4 for their first title of the year.
"We had to play really well today and we got lucky to break Paul," Bob Bryan said. "We're feeling good about our game right now and we are coming into the Davis Cup with confidence. We know it's going to be a battle against Croatia."
Pennetta Wins 2nd Title in Two Weeks at WTA Acapulco
Italian top seed Flavia Pennetta kept her claycourt roll alive Sunday at the WTA stop in Acapulco, defeating unseeded Slovak Lumila Cervanova 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 for her second title after last week's in Bogota.
The 23-year-old Italian overcame humid conditions and a leg injury for her 10th straight match win and 15th consecutive victory on clay.
In the doubles final the No. 4-seeded Russian/Ukrainian pair of (4) Alina Jidkova/Tatiana Perebiynis defeated unseeded Spaniards Rosa Maria Andres Rodriguez/Conchita Martinez Granados 7-5, 6-3.
Davis Cup Previews: Spain at Slovaks, Dutch at Swiss
Tennis-X will this week preview two of the first-round Davis Cup World Group matches each day leading to the Friday kick-off of the opening singles. Today's previews: defending champ Spain visiting the hardcourts of the Slovak Republic, and the Dutch visiting the Roger Federer-less Swiss:
Spain at Slovak Republic
Site: National Tennis Centre, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Surface: Hard indoors
Ball: Dunlop Fort Duck
The Spanish squad received a shock in January when Carlos Moya announced he was retiring from Davis Cup play, following the leads of Roger Federer and Tim Henman, to concentrate on his results at the slams. But what might be a major blow for other countries (read: Switzerland, Britain) is not a big adjustment for the Davis Cup defending champions, with five other Spaniards in the Top 50 on the ATP Rankings.
The Slovak Republic squad will hope that likely Spanish starters Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal and Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez will have a difficult time making the transition from the South American claycourt swing to the hardcourts of the Bratislava National Tennis Center this weekend.
The left-handed net-charging F-Lo will likely get the No. 2 start behind Nadal over Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, and French Open winner Al Costa who round out the squad.
Slovak captain Miloslav Mecir will front Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty and Karol Beck in singles, with The Dominator holding a 3-0 career advantage over The Prodigy. Nadal and Beck have never faced each other, while Spain's F-Lo has beaten Hrbaty in both their career hardcourt meetings, and Beck in their lone meeting on hardcourts in 2003.
"It promises to be a difficult tie but I believe we can win it," Spanish coach Juan Bautista Avendano said.
Tip the defending champs Spain in this first-time meeting between the two countries. Hrbaty has been anything but dominating thus far in 2005 with a 5-6 win-loss record, while Nadal is finally without injury and beginning to feel his oats -- and the hardcourt-loving F-Lo will have his back.
Netherlands at Switzerland
Site: Expo Centre, Fribourg, Switzerland
Surface: Hard indoors
Ball: Wilson US Open Extra Duty
Roger Federer has represented Switzerland in the Davis Cup for six years, first complimenting team stalwart Marc Rosset, then functioning as a one-man-hope in singles and doubles as Rosset slid toward retirement and took up the captain's position. Now in 2005, Federer says he is taking a break from the Cup, leaving Rosset with a handful of barely-challenger-level also-rans.
Rosset has competed only twice this year in singles, losing both in the first round on the challenger circuit, but will think long and hard about inserting himself in the singles and/or doubles to give the Swiss a fighting chance. Outside of Rosset, Switzerland's best bet is Stanislas Wawrinka, who has twice qualified at ATP events this year, in Rotterdam defeating Sebastien Grosjean before losing 6-1, 6-4 to his countryman Federer.
Completing the Swiss team are Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger, and Marco "Chud" Chiudinelli, who in his first event this year qualified at Doha and defeated Andrei Pavel. Doubles specialist Yves Allegro rounds out the squad.
The experienced Dutch squad will be comprised of Sjeng Schalken, "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, Peter "Nuclear" Wessels, and Dennis Van Scheppingen.
"I hope for them they can win because it will be quite extraordinary to win a match without me because I've always been there," Federer said. "We've had some good success but usually it was always up to me if we were going to win the tie or not. It's going to be a very interesting week for Swiss tennis and for the future."
More like a painful week.
Tip the Dutch for this win, unless Rosset inserts himself in the line-up, which would -- probably not make much of a difference. This will be a sad lashing at the Expo Centre in Fribourg, so don't be surprised to see some anti-Federer sentiment and "Where's Roger?" signs. The Dutch will face the winner of the Spain vs. Slovak Republic tie, with choice of ground if Spain wins.
Davenport, Williams Sisters, Russians Headline WTA Dubai
You know the under-the-table guarantee money was flowing like the proverbial Texas tea when WTA Dubai organizers are able to get both Williams sisters to play in the same non-slam event.
This week's Dubai Duty Free Women's Open features six of the Top 10-ranked players on the WTA Rankings in Lindsay Davenport, Serena and Venus Williams, Russians Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Aussie break-out player Alicia Molik.
Also among the seeded are France's Nathalie Dechy, and Swiss Patty Schnyder.
Dubai is Davenport's first career appearance in the Middle East.
The top four seeds receive first-round byes in typical WTA early-round-mojo-killing style, but a few opening-round matches of interest abound in (8) Schnyder vs. Maggie Maleeva, (5) Venus vs. Top 25-ranked Italian Silvia Farina Elia, (4) Kuznetsova with a potential second-round meeting with wildcard Indian sweetheart Sania Mirza, and (6) Molik vs. Daniela Hantuchova.
Potential quarterfinal meetings of interest are (2) Serena vs. (6) Molik, and (5) Venus vs. (4) Kuznetsova.
In last year's final the top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne overcame a tough 7-6(3), 6-3 challenge from unseeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who also paired with countrywoman Elena Likhovtseva to lose in the doubles final 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 to No. 4 seeds Janette Husarova and Conchita Martinez.
There are no former champs in the field, with Henin-Hardenne winning in 2004-03, Amelie Mauresmo winning in 2002, and Martina Hingis winning the inaugural event in 2001.
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