Roddick Retires at Miami; U.S. Tennis Fans Without TV Coverage

Other seeded winners Friday were Aussie (7) Alicia Molik (d. countrywoman Pratt), (11) Patty Schnyder (d. Peschke), (14) Francesca Schiavone (d. Shaughnessy 7-6 in the third), (15) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Chladkova), former No. 1 (19) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Spears), Japan's (21) Ai Sugiyama (d. Craybas) and (23) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Jidkova 7-6 in the third), (25) Fabiola Zuluaga (d. Medina Garrigues), and (29) Gisela Dulko (d. Brandi in three, bagel in the second).

"It feels very good, even if it's still hard at the beginning to find the rhythm and everything," said Henin-Hardenne after her first match of 2005, coming off a virus and knee injury. "But just the fact that I'm back on the courts, it's great. That's the only thing that's really important for myself today after seven months that I've been off the court."

Last year Henin-Hardenne won four of her first five events before being struck down with the energy-sapping virus at the beginning of the claycourt season at Amelia Island.

"I lost a lot of confidence last year when there were days I couldn't get up," Henin-Hardenne said. "That's been very hard. It's been ups and downs. Mentally, it was very, very difficult. Fortunately I got a lot of support from my family, my coach, my friends. That helped me a lot with this experience. But it's been really, really hard."

After Amelia Island the Belgian played only three more events, losing early at the French and US Opens, but miraculously winning gold at the Athens Olympics.

There were also four seeded upsets orchestrated by Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives (d. (9) Zvonareva 6-1 in the third), Colombia's (Q) Catalina Castano (d. (17) Suarez), Israel's (Q) Shahar Peer (d. (28) Bartoli in three), and American Marissa Irvin who benefited from (31) Dinara Safina showing some of the mental struggles associated with her family, winning 7-6(4), 0-6, 6-4.

On court Saturday in Miami are (1) Mauresmo vs. Kirilenko, (4) Dementieva vs. Linetskaya in an all-Russian, Clijsters vs. (24) Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, Vento-Kabchi vs. (5) Myskina, (Q) Voskoboeva vs. (6) Kuznetsova in an all-Russian, (22) Golovin vs. (WC) Haynes, (12) Dechy vs. Raymond, (20) Hantuchova vs. (LL) Cohen-Aloro, Ruano Pascual vs. (27) Maleeva, Morigami vs. (30) Smashnova, (26) Pennetta vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Vaidisova vs. (18) Jankovic, Parra Santonja vs. (16) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (10) Petrova vs. Ivanovic, Perebiynis vs. (13) Bovina, and (32) Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. Randriantefy.

Defending Champ Roddick Out in Opener at ATP Miami

Defending Miami champion Andy Roddick was sent out in a shocker in his opening match Friday at the ATP Masters Series-Miami, retiring trailing 6-7(9), 3-4 with a wrist injury.

Roddick said he injured the wrist at 5-5 in the first set, receiving treatment from the trainer twice in the second set before hanging it up with what was diagnosed as a mild sprain.

"I just caught something the wrong way and jammed it a little bit," Roddick said. "Right now they don't think there's anything long-term, but it's going to take some rest."

Roddick failed to convert three set points in the tiebreak, smashing his racquet after hitting a serve long to lose the set.

"I don't know if there's anything more frustrating than trying to do something, being expected to do something, and not really feeling like you can do it to the best of your abilities," Roddick said.

Joining Roddick on the sidelines in frustration was unseeded countryman James Blake, who blew three set points in a third-set tiebreak loss to No. 5 seed Carlos Moya. On match point Blake fell to the court with cramps after scrambling for a shot wide, shaking hands with Moya while laying on his back.

"Can't be too disheartened because I played a good match," Blake said. "He came up with an unbelievable backhand pass on one of the match points. I had a ton of chances in the second set for break points, but a lot of them he hit big first serves. Wish I had some of those back to maybe guess on, but he played really well. That's why he's five in the world."

Moya said the credit for the victory was all his.

"When the important moments came, I think I play my best and I think that's why I won today," Moya said. "I think he didn't lose, but I won. I fought for the victory. You know, I just been lucky and I played better than him in those moments. But, you know, I think he's been unlucky today. He had many chances to win, and I been lucky to get through this match."

Other seeded winners in the windy Friday conditions were (3) Marat Safin (d. Labadze 7-6 in the third), (8) David Nalbandian (d. countryman Acasuso), (12) Tommy Robredo (d. Bjorkman, bagel in the second), (13) Ivan Ljubicic (d. A.Martin), (21) Vince Spadea (d. countryman Ginepri), (24) Jiri Novak (d. K.Kim), (25) Thomas Johansson (d. Rusedski), (26) Dominik Hrbaty (d. Nieminen), and (29) Rafael Nadal (d. Schuettler).

Rusedski for one was not blaming the tournament for the windy conditions in his loss.

"If they could just talk to God somehow and ask him to have some -- we don't mind windy, but just some straightforward wind -- it would be great," said Grinning Greg. "That's fine, you know. Nobody can control that -- unless you've got a direct number to the Man Upstairs, but he's got more important things to deal with."

Five players orchestrated seeded upsets on the day in former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. (11) Canas in three), French wildcard teen Gael Monfils (d. (14) Davydenko from a set down), Korea's en fuego Hyung-Taik Lee (d. (17) Youzhny), Russian Igor Andreev (d. (20) Pavel, dropping only three games), and Spain's Dave Ferrer (d. (32) Malisse who was defaulted for cussing out an umpire).

Robredo, after his win over Bjorkman, withdrew from the tournament with a shoulder injury, handing Novak a walkover in the next round.

On tap for Saturday are (4) Guillermo "El Fragile" Coria vs. (Q) Sanguinetti, (1) Federer vs. Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, (9) Agassi vs. Mathieu, (10) Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. (Q) Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison, Zabaleta vs. (30) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, (WC) Philippoussis vs. (15) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, (LL) Minar vs. (6) Henman, Mardy "Silver" Fish vs. (16) Haas, (27) Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean vs. (Q) N.Lapentti, (Q) Phau vs. (7) Gaudio, Hanescu vs. (31) Dent, in doubles T.Johansson/Safin vs. Americans Dent/Ginepri, (Q) Clement vs. (19) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, (28) Juan Ignacio "The Spitting Snake" Chela vs. (Q) Lisnard, (18) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Ricardo Mello "Yello," Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau vs. (23) Stepanek, and (22) Kiefer vs. Florian "Oscar" Mayer in an all-German.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Let's take a moment of silence in the U.S. for the fact that Top 10 players Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Carlos Moya, David Nalbandian, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Alicia Molik, and Venus Williams played Friday in Miami, but U.S. tennis fans were left in the dark without television coverage. As former ATP flak Craig Gabriel wrote for the Miami website: "Fasten your seat belts because if you have tickets to the third day of the NASDAQ-100 Open you are in for quite a ride. This is the day when you start seeing wall-to-wall mega-stars. As a mere writer I can't see where to start." How about starting at 'Hey U.S. fans, as usual you're S.O.L.'...Carlos Moya on playing in Key Biscayne/Miami: "There are many Latin people here, so we get great support from the crowd. It's a place I love. I have great memories. I played final couple years ago; last year, quarters. Served for the match against (Andy) Roddick. I came here as the No. 1 in '99. I having great memories and hopefully I'm gonna play at a good level this year."...Venus on playing the Fed Cup versus Belgium: "Yeah, I've definitely been approached. I love Zina (Garrison, captin), I love Billie (Jean King). I love playing Fed Cup. I love the atmosphere, to be honest, the atmosphere of learning. I definitely would like to play but I'm still talking to Zina and everyone at the USTA. Obviously, I'd love to play, but I also need to make sure I'm healthy. I just came off an injury, and I'm entered in Amelia Island and Charleston. That will be the fourth week in a row for me. Obviously, I'm eager to play. I just need to see how I feel."...Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco on why Andy Roddick has so many problems playing him: "I think, like, I am left-handed. For him is more difficult to play, no, because when he play the backhand cross to my forehand, then I have all the time, you know. I can play another time to his backhand or hit one, one forehand, to him, you know, his forehand, with more power, and then he goes running and I have always the time to dominate the point. I think in the baseline, after the serve -- but if he serve good, it's not impossible but so, so difficult to return the serve. But when I play in the baseline, then I think like I have more chances to win the points like him."...Aussie Alicia Molik on breaking into the Top 10 since her success at the Australian Open in January: "Yeah, more self-belief. And now I'm, you know, I'm not always satisfied -- even tonight. I was constantly thinking about things, working on things that I felt I could have improved out there. My game is a lot more aggressive, but I think on the whole, and the reason why I am a better player now, is I'm aggressive more often. I play every match more so the same, whereas before I probably didn't sustain that as much. My game is a lot about -- mostly about execution. So, you know, at the end of the day, the more I go for shots, the more I go for winners, the more likely it is that I'll pull them off, that I'll execute. So, you know, my game is very much about, you know, putting balls away, hitting a lot of winners, serving big serves. So I just have to keep going out day after day and doing that, and I think more often than not I can win matches playing that way, I feel that way."...Serena Williams on her next opponent, Israel's Shahar Peer, if she's ever seen her play: "Maybe. I think I heard of her. I think I've seen her play. I think I've definitely seen her play. Yeah, I've seen her play." More on Serena with reporters concerning Peer: "Q: We've heard lots and lots about your upbringing. She comes from a West Bank settlement in Israel. She's pretty tough. Serena: You know what, I'm ignorant to the whole West Bank settlement of Israel. I'm American. Can you elaborate on that, please. Q: It's a dangerous place to live. Serena: Is it, hmm. I'll have to look more into that. I mean, unfortunately, like I said, I have no idea. I'm totally blind to that right now. I would have to look into that more. Q: Would you recognize her if she came walking past you in the players' lounge? Serena: There's a lot of people that I wouldn't recognize so I can't, you know -- there's just a lot of people. Especially now because there's so many new players coming and doing so well, so...But, yeah."...Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal surprisingly says the slam he wants to win most is Wimbledon: "Wimbledon is special. If I choose one to win, it is Wimbledon. I think the Spanish players have a good chance..."