Coria, Moya Beaten at Barcelona; ATP Calendar Spot Up for Grabs
Posted on April 22, 2005
Agassi, Grosjean Win in Three for Quarterfinal Berths at ATP HoustonAndre Agassi fought through concentration lapses and bouts of doubles faults to come back from a set down Thursday against unseeded Spaniard Alex Calatrava 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals at the ATP stop in Houston.
"I threw up a couple of double faults at a bad time, leading 4-2 (in the third set)," Agassi said. "I got too aggressive. You don't finish off matches by trying to blast through somebody on clay. You've got to finish off by how you got there which is by discipline, shot selection and work ethic. I just lost concentration there."
Agassi will next face No. 6 seed Sebastien Grosjean, who also fought to a three-set win over a Spaniard in Oscar Hernandez.
Unseeded wildcard James Blake fell behind 2-4 in the first set before rolling out 10 of the next 11 games against France's Anthony Dupuis 6-4, 6-1.
"It's amazing what happens when you stop making errors," Blake said. "I didn't feel I was out of it at 4-2. I think he got down on himself a little at the start of the second set and that helped me."
Ecuadorian qualifier Nicolas Lapentti also advanced into the quarters with a straight-set win over American Kevin Kim.
Lining up Friday in quarterfinal action on the red clay are (3) Haas vs. (7) Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (Tuna Melt leads career meetings 1-0), (1) Roddick vs. (8) Luis "Me So" Horna (A-Rod leads 1-0 in tour play), (6) Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean vs. (2) Agassi (Agassi leads 4-2, including the last three meetings), and (Q) N.Lapentti vs. (WC) Blake (American leads 1-0).
Coria, Moya Exit at ATP Barcelona
An all-countryman meeting can be a tricky prospect, no matter what the ranking discrepancy, facing a comrade you practice with and giving up the ins and outs of your game.
Two such meetings occurred Thursday with drastically different results at the ATP stop in Barcelona, where the unseeded but ever-hotter-handed Juan Carlos Ferrero thrashed Spanish countryman Al Martin 6-1, 6-2, and No. 4 seed Guillermo Coria was outlasted 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) by practice court foe and unseeded Argentine countryman Agustin Calleri.
"I knew this would be tough," Coria said of the almost-three-hour encounter. "It could have gone either way, but he made the most of the chances and played very well in the final tiebreak."
With the loss Coria avoided a second consecutive tournament meeting with Rafael Nadal, who he lost to last week in the Masters Series-Monte Carlo final.
Other seeded upsets were orchestrated by the serve-and-volleying Max Mirnyi, who ousted No. 3 seed Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-4; No. 11 Radek Stepanek, who fought off match points to edge No. 5 Guillermo Canas 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 7-6(5); and Swiss qualifier Stanislas Wawrinka, who straight-setted the Safin-killing Jose Acasuso.
Moya broke back with Mirnyi serving at 6-4, 5-3, but stoned a number of nervous-looking shots at 4-5 to eventually fall after fighting off four match points.
The No. 8-seeded Nadal sent another message to the field, putting a 6-1, 6-2 beating on No. 10 seed Dominik Hrbaty.
"It wasn't as easy as the score-line suggests," Nadal said. "It was a tough game. I seem to be making few mistakes which is good, but I certainly don't feel unbeatable at the moment."
Others advancing into the final eight were No. 2 seed Gaston Gaudio (d. (13) Ferrer), and No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko (d. (9) T.Johansson 7-6 in the third).
On tap for the Friday quarterfinals in Barcelona are (2) Gaudio vs. Ferrero (career series tied 5-5, with Ferrero winning the last four on the dirt), (8) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. Calleri (Nadal leads 2-1), (7) Davydenko vs. Max "The Clay-footed Beast" Mirnyi (tied 2-2), and (11) Stepanek vs. (Q) Wawrinka (first meeting).
Fed Cup Preview: France at Austria
This year the Fed Cup kicks off its new format, with only eight teams competing in the elite "World Group I" to lift the Fed Cup for 2005. The Fed Cup final also moves from December to the week after the US Open.
"The changes that the ITF has made to Fed Cup come in response to the views of the players and our member National Associations," said ITF President Francesco Ricci "Itti" Bitti. "We believe that the new format can only enhance the competition and bring it closer to the very successful Davis Cup model. Fed Cup is, if not the most important, surely one of the most important team competitions for women in sport and the ITF is convinced that these changes will allow Fed Cup to maintain this position for the future."
Tennis-X will preview one of the World Group I ties each day leading to the Saturday start of the first round of the 2005 Fed Cup:
France at Austria
Site: Werzer Arena, Portschach, AUT
Surface: Red clay outdoors
Ball: Wilson Double Core
After France absolutely hammers Austria on their home clay, they will face the winner of Spain-Argentina in the semifinals.
Former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo and two-time slam winner Mary Pierce lead the French Dream Team, against a who's-who (as in, "Who the hell?") list of Austrians including Yvonne Meusberger, Sybille Bammer, Sandra Klemenschits and Tamira Paszek. With the retirement last year of Barabara Schett, Austria is without a Top 100-ranked player on their roster.
Keep the jet warmed up on the runway, this will be a short one.
DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Perhaps the Barcelona crowd getting on Marat Safin during his loss Wednesday had something to do with a previous performance by Safin at the ATP claycourt stop. Here's a flashback to the 2003 Tennis-X Year-End Awards story from senior writer Richard Vach: "Biggest Tank Award: Marat Safin, Barcelona Final -- While Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov never hesitated to put on the flippers during a match at the slightest provocation, countryman Marat Safin seemed to reverse the trend back in March when, at the TMS-Indian Wells event, he competed against Robby Ginepri (winning only one game) while suffering from the flu: "I didn't feel good, I didn't have any energy, I couldn't concentrate. Two days ago, I was throwing up and had fever. But you have to play until the end, no matter what." One month later in the best-of-five set Barcelona final, Safin retired against Carlos Moya, trailing 7-5, 2-6, 2-6, 0-3 because he was "tired." "I could not finish the match since I was extremely tired," said Safin, who cited no injury, but ATP staff later referred to a "stomach problem." Thanks for trying Marat." Two years later -- payback time...CNN.com was getting real sloppy with their Barcelona coverage Thursday, misspelling Max Mirnyi's name, and ending their report with the sentence: "Czech Radek Stepanek, seeded 11th, also advanced with a battling 6-7 7-6 7-6 win over fifth-seeded Argentine." That writer must have been late for the media happy hour...Attention deep-pocketed X-Fans: We are currently lining up funding to buy the open ATP calendar date, formerly the Long Island event, the week before the US Open. We already have $47K committed (a staffer put up their house equity), we figure approximately $200K to buy it from the ATP, and an additional $250K to run it (which will be defrayed by sponsors, etc.). It has to be East Coast right before the US Open, so we're thinking about slapping down a hardcourt on the beach in either Florida or New Jersey. Shirts will be optional. Get ready folks, we're going to save tennis in the U.S. To contribute click the "contact us" link at the bottom of the site, deep-pocketed serious inquiries only (or rambling incoherent letters of support)...Andy Roddick, dumped by Reebok, putting the best face on getting a clothing contract from...Lacoste? "I've always thought Lacoste was an excellent company with a great tennis history and awesome clothing. I am absolutely thrilled to be associated with such an amazing brand."...The Tennis Channel is airing two programs from special events the ATP held in March. The first is a program from the ATP All-Star Rally for Relief that was held in Indian Wells to benefit UNICEF. The show will air 15 more times before the end of May, including April 23 at 7:30 a.m., April 28 at midnight, 11 p.m. on April 29 and 6 p.m. on April 30. The second program is from "Stars for Stars, A Celebration of Tennis Excellence," and will air seven times between now and June 1. The next showing will be on April 27, 6 p.m...From the Cox News Service on U.S. Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison: "Players listened when captain Zina Garrison said it will take the best the U.S. has got to reclaim the Fed Cup tennis title for the first time since 2000. They respect the strength it took to overcome struggles in her own life that included the eating disorder bulimia and a suicide attempt in 1999. "I more like to call it a suicide cry," Garrison said. "There's a difference as I look back on it. An attempt is like you really, really try. I was just kind of yelling." After a spiral that included a divorce from her husband of eight years, the Houstonian took a combination of Sudafed and Tylenol. "I realize now medically, that's two of the worst things you can put together," Garrison said. "Luckily I didn't have any more Sudafed. I didn't realize that can kind of slowly stop your heart."..."Grinning" Greg Rusedski talking to the BBC: "Realistically you'd get better odds of seeing a UFO land in Britain than me winning the French Open."