Mauresmo Struggles On Court, Clijsters Off to Explain Skipping Fed Cup

There were four upsets on the day provided by American qualifier Jeff Morrison (d. (10) J.Johansson, dropping 15 aces on the Swede), Argentina's Zabaleta (d. (30) Srichaphan), French qualifier Arnaud Clement (d. (19) Lopez), and German Florian Mayer (d. countryman (22) Kiefer).

"One of my biggest wins, I would say," said Morrison after defeating Johansson, who is on the mend from a shoulder injury. "You know, I've struggled this year up to this point. I don't think I'd won a match coming into this tournament, but had served for the match a few times and been up in some matches that I lost coming into this event against good players. Just couldn't quite get over the hump."

No. 15 seed Fernando Gonzalez received a walkover when hard-luck Aussie Mark Philippoussis withdrew with a left ankle sprain suffered in his first-round win Thursday against Christophe Rochus.

Other seeded winners Saturday were (4) Guillermo Coria (d. (Q) Sanguinetti), (6) Tim Henman (d. (LL) Minar), (7) Gason Gaudio (d. (Q) Phau), (16) Tommy Haas (d. Fish), (18) Mario Ancic (d. Mello), (23) Radek Stepanek (d. Benneteau, bagel in the second), (27) Sebastien Grosjean (d. (Q) N.Lapentti), (28) Juan Ignacio Chela (d. (Q) Lisnard from a set down), and (31) Taylor Dent (d. Hanescu, who retired in the third set with injury).

Dent, usually the one bowing out of events with injury/illness rather than his opponents, is attempting to work his way back into Miami after coming off a viral infection.

"I just started practicing a couple of days ago," Dent said. "Then it wasn't much. I was just out there trying to get my eye back in, hitting up and down the court. I played a practice set two days ago against (Mario) Ancic, and I was dying. I was so tired out there, just walking around. Practice has definitely suffered from my sickness a couple weeks ago."

On court Sunday in Miami are (13) Ljubicic vs. (21) Spadea, (26) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. (3) Safin (career head-to-head tied 6-6), (5) Moya vs. (25) T.Johansson, Andreev vs. the unseeded former No. 1 Ferrero, (8) Nalbandian vs. Ferrer, in doubles Clement/Llodra vs. (4) Bryan/Bryan, (WC) Gael "Force" Monfils vs. H.-T. Lee, (29) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco in an all-Spanish, and in doubles Justin "Time" Gimelstob/"Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. Aussies (6) Arthurs/Hanley.

Mauresmo Escapes, Clijsters Rolls at WTA Miami

Pulling a casual tennis fan off the street Saturday in Miami and forcing them to watch two matches, it would have been difficult to tell you who was the top seed at the Nasdaq-100 Open, unseeded Kim Clijsters or No. 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo.

Clijsters, coming off the title in Indian Wells, steamrolled No. 24 seed Amy Frazier 6-2, 6-3, while Mauresmo needed over two hours to stage a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 comeback against Russian teen Maria Kirilenko.

"I'm playing well," Clijsters said. "But like I said in my previous press conference, it can go -- it can turn the other way very quickly as well, the situation that I'm in. But I'm working hard. I've worked very hard in the off-season. I had a lot of time to work on a lot of other things and I feel very fit out there."

Mauresmo didn't make things easy on herself in the steamy Miami conditions, struggling to find some rhythm in the opening set.

"I thought I was giving her too many free points," Mauresmo said. "I finally got my game together and put the ball back in the second set...Maybe at the end of the match I was physically stronger, and capable of coming back on after the (10-minute WTA heat rule) break and giving 100 percent."

Other upset-minded unseeded players scoring wins Saturday were Serb teen Ana Ivanovic (d. (10) Petrova), Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova (d. (18) Jankovic), French lucky loser Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. (20) Hantuchova), and Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy (d. (32) Koukalova, dropping only three games).

Other seeded winners were the Russian threesome of (4) Elena Dementieva (d. countrywoman Linetskaya in three), (5) Anastasia Myskina (d. Vento-Kabchi) and (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. countrywoman (Q) Voskoboeva), Frenchwoman (12) Nathalie Dechy (d. Raymond), (13) Elena Bovina (d. Perebiynis), (16) Karolina Sprem (d. Parra Santonja in three), (22) Tatiana Golovin (d. (WC) Haynes in three after a bagel in the first), (26) Flavia Pennetta (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), (27) Maggie Maleeva (d. Ruano Pascual in three), and (30) Anna Smashnova (d. Morigami).

Myskina is looking to turn her game around in 2005 and become the first Russian to win at Miami.

"The beginning of the year wasn't good for me," Myskina said. "But it's, you know, I gave a lot of energy last year and I did a lot of things last year. So kind of excuse, but I still need to work hard to, you know, to find my game again."
 
On court Sunday in Miami are Irvin vs. (2) Maria "Grunt-o-meter" Sharapova, (Q) Peer vs. (3) Serena, (8) Venus vs. (25) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, (19) Henin-Hardenne vs. Llagostera Vives, (1) Mauresmo vs. (30) Smashnova, (7) Molik vs. (29) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, (26) Flavia "Of the Day" Pennetta vs. (5) Myskina, (LL) Cohen-Aloro vs. (16) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (Q) Castano vs. (11) Schnyder, Randriantefy vs. (6) Kuznetsova, (12) Dechy vs. Clijsters, (15) Likhovtseva vs. (21) Sugiyama, Ivanovic vs. Vaidisova in an all-teen, (4) Dementieva vs. (27) Maleeva, (22) Golovin vs. (13) Bovina, and (14) Schiavone vs. (23) Asagoe.

"I hadn't looked at my draw, but after my first match, somebody told me I could play Serena next, so that gave me more push to win," said the 17-year-old Israeli qualifier Peer. "I'm sure it will be different from what I'm used to, but hopefully I will find a way to play my best."

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
ESPN Watch: Top 10 players in action Saturday at Miami = Roger Federer, Guillermo Coria, Tim Henman, Gaston Gaudio, Andre Agassi, Amelie Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Hours of coverage show by host U.S. broadcaster ESPN = 0. So why is tennis faring so poorly as a spectator sport in the U.S.? Do the math. ESPN will stop holding Miami hostage today in the U.S. with a generous dose of coverage, possibly live, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. (EST)...An MRI has confirmed that Andy Roddick suffered only a mild wrist sprain, and he will be out of action until the Houston claycourt event on April 18, with his wrist in a cast for approximately a week...While Kim Clijsters continues to mow down the competition in her comeback, she won't budge from the ever-weakening stand that she is skipping the upcoming Fed Cup match with the U.S. because she is not fit: "I don't know if you know, but I was injured for a year so, you know, I think I have to, you know, set my, you know -- I'm not going to be able to play as many tournaments as I did, you know, in 2003 where I did play my Fed Cup matches. And even last year, when I got injured, I still tried to, you know, to keep the Belgian -- the country in the World Group. But, you know, I just have to put my, you know, myself first at the moment. And, you know, my wrist, there's still, you know, it's not the strongest part of my body and I have to look after that. I know that playing, especially the traveling, is not easy for my body now." Pretty weak considering you won Indian Wells and are mowing down the competition in Miami -- you know? Funniest press moment: Kim explaining that Fed Cup is just too much on her plate, but then having to answer why she recently added the Warsaw claycourt event to her schedule...Vince Spadea on his advantage of playing near home in Miami, and breaking down the sociology of humans: "I have an underlying strength that I don't even realize I have when I'm hitting passing shots and I'm playing aggressive (here). I think it's sort of like mental padding I have here that you realize you don't have when you're playing in other events. But when you come back here you're like, 'Wow!' There's something advantageous about people screaming my name out. Humans, we just love and thrive on support, on encouragement, on the positive. And I think it's very obvious when you see home crowds in sports, Davis Cup matches or even supporters among your small group."...Xavier "X-Man" Malisse on being defaulted for using foul language against an umpire in Miami: "When you didn't do it, it's like putting somebody on Death Row for not doing anything. It's the exact same thing. In the past, I've done things wrong. I'm not going to say anything, but definitely because of my behavior in the past, I'm getting a little disadvantage. You know, I've had this in Wimbledon four years ago, and there I did say something wrong, so I immediately stood up for it and I admitted it. But I'm not going to go down for something I didn't do. And I think that's the whole point of this thing: It's that I'm not going to back off, because I didn't do anything."...The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum will next year debut a three-dimensional "ghost" image of John McEnroe wandering through the museum...While deciding on a new CEO, the ATP is debating a shared-power concept with a CEO and a chairman of the board, which would strip the CEO of final-authority decisions and guarantee that nothing gets done. Sounds like a vote of no-confidence in their current handful of CEO candidates.