Serena Williams suffered perhaps the worst loss of her career on Wednesday in Rome falling to the unheralded Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6(1), 6-1.
"Today is one of the happiest days of my tennis life," the 26th-ranked Schiavone said much to the delight of all the Italian fans. "To do this against such a champion as Serena and in front of the Italian public means a lot to me.”
Serena was playing in her first match since spraining her left ankle last month in Amelia Island, and the loss marked the fifth straight event since her Australian Open title that she has failed to reach the finals. That’s not a good sign, and one Serena doesn’t want to acknowledge.
"I just guess I had a really bad day today," the third-seeded Williams said. "Just one of those days that just wasn't going to work. I made too many errors maybe, and I just didn't feel anything today. I mean, nothing came from my legs, or from my arms."
Also shown the exit door today was No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva, who fell to Gisela “Sgt.” Dulko 7-5, 6-4.
On the plus side, No. 2 seed Amelie Mauresmo had little trouble with Aussie Sam Stosur with a 6-2, 6-0, whitewash. The Frenchwoman will now face No. 13 seed Silvia Farina “Cat Chow” Elia who was a 6-3, 6-3 victor against Stephanie Cohen-Aloro. Also winning were No.8 seed “Chicken” Patty Schnyder, No.15 Ai Sugiyama, four-time Rome winner Conchita Martinez, 1997 champ Mary Pierce and qualifier Catalina Castano.
Rising star Ana Ivanovic also advanced with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over Anna Chakvetadze, and a quartet of Russians in No.6 Vera “Warren: Zvonareva, No.7 Nadia Petrova, No.9 Elena Bovina and unseeded Evgenia Linetskaya all made their way into the next round.
For those lucky to have a Thursday ticket some of the matches include Ivanovic vs. Schnyder; Farina Elia vs. Mauresmo; Sugiyama vs. Schiavone; and, Sharapova vs. Pierce
Federer Gets Revenge, Ferrero Sends Warning in Hamburg
World No. 1 Roger Federer has showed no ill effects of being sidelined for the last few weeks with two swollen feet after registering his second beat-down in Hamburg, this time defeating Czech star Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-1.
Berdych of course defeated Federer on a windy day in Athens last fall that didn’t suit Federer’s game. Today in Hamburg was a different story as Fed was out for blood.
“I wanted to get rematch from the Olympics,” said Federer. “That always plays a role in such matches. You don’t just forget what happened in the previous matches against any player. And with him I have kind of a tough past: He ruined my Olympic dreams in Athens (laughs), so it’s nice.
“The conditions are totally different. It’s much slower,” Roger added. “The ball flew like crazy in Athens. I could never control it. Even though I had my chances, I didn’t take them. Today, I thought from the start that I was the better player from the baseline. I didn’t have that feeling in Athens. That’s a lot to do with the way I approached the match today. That was the difference.”
(Note to players: play Roger when the balls are flying. Good luck!)
Also advancing was former French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, who ended Marat Safin’s prodigious two-match win streak with a contentious 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory. More on that later.
“I’m playing good, I’m really good physically,” said Ferrero, who actually had to qualify for this event as his ranking was too low for direct entry. “I go to the balls really well. Today against Marat I hit the ball really good and I arrived to the balls really good. He didn’t do a lot of winners, which means that I am fast in the court right now. I feel I can win against anybody.”
Among other winners on the day included (5) Tim Henman (d. Rusedski), (10) Guillermo Coria (d. Coria), Gaston Gaudio (d. Costa), Christophe Rochus (d. (13) Ivan Ljubicic), Dominik Hrbaty (d. (16) Stepanek), and Richard Gasquet (d. Nicolas Massu).
For Thursday, some of the more interesting matches include (5)Henman vs Chela; (10) G Coria vs Ancic; Hrbaty vs Gasquet.; and, (1) Federer vs. (14) Robredo.
Czech Charge Underway in Prague
Second-seeded Klara "Kooky" Koukalova and countrywoman Zuzana Ondraskova led a Czech Republic charge into the quarterfinals on Thursday at the Prague Open 2005.
Koukalova, the No.2 seed, made it into the final eight when her second round opponent, Maja Matevzic, was forced to retire midway through the second set due to a left elbow sprain. Koukalova took the first set, 6-3, and held a 3-0 advantage when Matevzic was unable to continue playing.
The Prague native will next take on American Jill Craybas, who reached the quarterfinals for the second time in three weeks with a 75 64 victory against Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho.
Ondraskova reached the quarterfinals after upsetting No.3 seed Jelena Kostanic, 75 75. The victory marks Ondraskova's second victory against a Top 50 player in the last several weeks. She also defeated then-No.46 Vera Douchevina in the first round at Warsaw two weeks ago.
Ondraskova will look to continue her good fortunes and attempt to reach her first career Tour semifinal in the next round when she faces Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva, a 62 61 winner against Nicole Pratt.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Here's an example of how the German tennis media has no hesitation in bringing the hammer down on Tommy Haas, especially after an opening-round loss in Hamburg, firing right from the first question in the post-match conference: "Q: How come you no longer can decide close matches in your favor? A: Since when? Q: I guess a year or so. A: That's a difficult question...Q: Is there a bigger problem this year? The bigger tournaments didn't really go well this year. A: Yes, right, of course I'm not happy with that...There are so many small things and also things no one of you know. I could sit here for an hour and go back five months, but that's of no use. Q: Could you give us some insight into these things? A: I don't know whether you noticed, but beginning of the year I played with a blue racquet. Now I'm back to my old one, the red one. These are things which did not work out 100 percent like I hoped...Q: Why did you experiment? A: Because it was time for a change. Q: Is it your fault that things are not proceeding? A: Good question. Probably yes...Q: How would you explain to somebody in Hamburg who hears the same words every year 'I give my best' that you lost again? A: Of course, it's a silly sentence, but what shall I say." Now that's bulldog media, impressive. Also nice of Tommy to break down the racquet situation in the color-coded format...Andre Agassi on if he will stay in Hamburg to practice after his first-round loss, and if he will be back next year: "(Pause) The easy answer is 'I don't know and I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to be anywhere next year really. Every week I feel like I'm not sure for the next year."...The USTA has bought the rights for the event during the week before the US Open and will run the event in New Haven: "We wanted to create combined events for the US Open Series," USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said. "We believe it drives attendance and television viewership and thereby increases the popularity of the sport." The Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Michelob ULTRA will be the only combined men's and women's event of the US Open Series, with New Haven last hosting an ATP event from 1990-98...Student demonstrations in Hamburg had players, media and tournament officials taking extra time and arriving late to the tournament site Wednesday, with students screaming into megaphones doing their best Adolph Hitler impressions. Maybe a bad joke, but it sounded quite scary. The students with multi-colored hair then dispersed in the early afternoon...Marat Safin had his foot heavily taped before his match Wednesday with Juan Carlos Ferrero, who sported the strangely-huge samurai-like Sergio Tacchini headband which propelled him to a three-set win...No happy Tennis-X interview with Fernando Gonzalez Wednesday in Hamburg, with the pissed-off Chilean looking to get off site quickly as possible after a loss to non-claycourt specialist Mario Ancic...Former French Open winner Mary Pierce is next up to stand between Maria Sharapova reaching No. 1 this week in Rome...Roger Federer in Hamburg: "The balls are heavy, so you feel it more from the serving. The shoulder is a little sore. But I had the same problem last year and I played through the pain."...Tim Henman, not a fan of the outer courts in Hamburg: "Given the clay and surface and the nature of the court, I think something has to be improved. It's been that way for a while. When it's raining, it's difficult. I think there should be covers, because when the court is sodden like that it's difficult to play the level of tennis one is able to. You have a fantastic stadium court with the benefit of the roof, but besides that the other court is not really good enough. At this level (Masters Series) with the type of field they have it's not acceptable."...Greg Rusedski after losing to countryman Tim Henman in Hamburg on the rain and loudspeaker interruptions on the outer court: "That doesn't bother me. I think (Henman) was just moaning about it to buy some time. That's just the way it goes. It's the same for both of us. It doesn't matter if it rains, it doesn't matter if they got the loudspeaker going on. It's the same for all of us out there. So, no complaints. You've just got to deal with it." "Grinning" Greg also added that if he loses early at Roland Garros he might be open to playing a grasscourt challenger during the second week of the French... After a contentious match Wednesday in Hamburg, Marat Safin and Juan Carlos Ferrero unloaded on each other in their post-match conferences. Safin: "Once when I am discussing the point, which is normal because it is break point and really important to me, he come to the chair umpire -- he didn't even come to me -- but the chair umpire has to (then) tell me that I have to play. I mean what kind of person is that. I grew up with the guy basically. We know each other for 11 years, and the guy is doing this to me...He just came to the chair umpire. He didn't even say excuse me. He was just hitting the tower, the umpire looked down. He just said 'Make him shut up and play.'...I was quiet when he was getting the coaching (from his coach in the audience)...But no, the coach told Ferrero to tell the umpire that I need to shut up and play." Ferrero: "My version is that sometimes Marat gets a little bit nervous and then he does something like this...Anyway, it's not that important to talk to the umpire for three minutes...Three minutes is too much. But anyway, Marat is like this sometimes. I know him and I'm very friendly with him. (On being coached from the audience) I don't think so and I don't want to talk a lot about this. My coach talked to me one or two times in the whole match, exactly the same as his coach."…Trivia answer time, the last guy to defeat Roger Federer in consecutive matches is Dominik Hrbaty, who beat the Swiss last year in Cincinnati and in their prior meeting at 2000 Paris Indoor. Look for Hrbaty to finally get pummeled by Club Fed in their next meeting. You heard it here first.
Serena Shocked by Schiavone in WTA Rome