Federer Wins Laureus World Sportsman Award; Venus Debuts at Istanbul

Spain and Sweden went into the doubles tied at 1-1 after Sweden's Thomas Johansson shocked Tommy Robredo in straights, then Dave Ferrer evened things with a bagel-in-the-second win over Jonas Bjorkman. In the decider Swedes Bjorkman/T.Johansson won the first set in a tiebreak before the Spaniards stormed back 6-3, 6-3 for the win.

On Tuesday in Dusseldorf France enters a must-win against the defending Chileans (Massu vs. Clement, Gonzalez vs. Grosjean), while the Czech Republic enters a similar situation against powerhouse Argentina (Novak vs. Coria, Berdych vs. Canas).

Top-seeded Davydenko Survives at ATP St. Poelten

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, not used to finding himself in the latter rounds of tournaments during the claycourt season, overcame fatigue and took advantage of a good draw defeating Slovak qualifier Michel Mertinak in straight sets to advance to the second round at the ATP stop in St. Poelten.

Davydenko was coming off a semifinal effort last week at the Masters Series-Hamburg.

"I am content with the result," Davydenko said. "I was a bit tired from last week in Hamburg, so going through was my main task."

Other seeded winners Monday were (4) Jurgen Melzer (d. (WC) Mirnegg), (5) Mariano Puerta (d. Calatrava), and (7) Potito Starace (d. Kohlschreiber).

Un-seeds into the second round were four Spaniards in (WC) Felix Mantilla (d. countryman (Q) Fogues), Nicolas Almagro (d. Karlovic in two tiebreaks), (Q) Dave Sanchez (d. Ginepri from a set down) and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (d. Lisnard), Luxembourg's Gilles Muller (d. Montanes who retired with a lower back injury), and Argentina's Jose Acasuso (d. (3) Andreev from a set down).

On court Tuesday in St. Poelten are Muller vs. (4) Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, Christophe "The Roach" Rochus vs. (2) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, (1) Davydenko vs. Schalken, (Q) Kohlmann vs. (8)T Zib, (WC) Mantilla vs. (5) Puerta, (7) "You Say" Potito Starace vs. (Q) D.Sanchez, Hernych vs. Hanescu, and Vanek vs. Sanguinetti.

Rain the Winner Monday at WTA Strasbourg

Rain cancelled almost all matches Monday at the WTA stop in Strasbourg, with No. 6 seed Karolina Sprem tied at one-set all with Slovak Martina Sucha when the day's matches were called.

Three qualifying matches were finished, with Argentine Natalia Gussoni, Czech Hana Sromova, and Slovak Katarina Kachlikova into the main draw, and American Sunitha Rao leading China's Zi Yan 6-3, 5-5 when the match was suspended.

Scheduled for the Tuesday full slate in Strasbourg are Schaul vs. Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, Zheng vs. Rubin, Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem vs. Martina "Nurse I Need a" Sucha (to finish), Sugiyama vs. qualifier, Randriantefy vs. Farina Elia, Razzano vs. Suarez, Asagoe vs. Douchevina, Benesova vs. qualifier, Domachowska vs. qualifier, Srebotnik vs. qualifier, Yan vs. Rao (to finish), Tanasugarn vs. Peng, Cohen-Aloro vs. qualifier, Weingartner vs. Loit, and Stosur vs. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues.

Raymond Routed at WTA Istanbul

No. 4 seed Lisa Raymond was the lone seeded casualty Monday at the WTA stop in Istanbul, routed 6-1, 6-2 on the dirt by Japan's Akiko Morigami.

Seeded winners on the day were (7) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Ant. Serra Zanetti) and (8) Mashona Washington (d. A.Bondarenko in three).

Un-seeds into the second round were American Jennifer Hopkins (d. Matevzic from a set down), Spain's Marta Marrero (d. Hisamatsu, bagel in the first), Russian Tatiana Panova (d. Craybas in three), and the Ukraine's Yuliana Fedak (d. Irvin from a set down).

The final round of qualifying was also completed, with the final four into the main draw in Lithuania's Lina Stanciute, Croat Ivana Abramovic, Bulgaria's Tszvetana Pironkova, and Russian Elena Vesnina.

On court Tuesday are Ozgen vs. Abramovic, Vesnina vs. Buyukakcay, Castano vs. Smashnova, Venus vs. Marrero, Groenefeld vs. Diaz-Oliva, Stanciute vs. Gagliardi, Pironkova vs. Shaughnessy, and K.Bondarenko vs. Peer.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
World No. 1 Roger Federer won the most prestigious award in world sport Monday when he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2004, the year in which he won three of the four grand slams...Both Americans were bounced in the first round at the ATP stop in St. Poelten, the second consecutive week where all the U.S. participants failed to advance out of their openers. Good luck at the French...American Lisa Raymond has not won consecutive matches this year since the Australian Open...Could be a shaky prospect putting your Roland Garros money on Roger Federer, who is already looking past the French to his beloved Wimbledon: "If I win in Paris it would mean I have won all of the grand slams, which would be great. But I guess Wimbledon will always remain No. 1 in my heart. It was where I won my first grand slam, and all my heroes have played there."...Best X-board-nut response to the Patrick McEnroe interview regarding the U.S. Davis Cup team's first round loss at Croatia: "Memo to Andre (Agassi): If you've been a professional for 15+ years and find it difficult to adjust to a slow hardcourt, then your ass needs to get out of the way."...Brit tennis fans are facing the possibility of blank screens during Wimbledon on the BBC as journalists prepare for a possible strike...Boris Becker on John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors doing commentary at Wimbledon for the BBC: "I can't wait to see them commentate on the same match together. I'm very curious who will be lead commentator and who will be the sidekick. I hope it will happen but I don't think it will. There will definitely be tension between them. I know because whenever I sit down with Jimmy or John and have a beer, we talk about the other guy. Of course, they're just jealous of each other. They have so much in common, that's why. Jimmy was the first in-your-face tennis player. Soon after came John, who was much the same. The two of them had the same personality and they don't go together very well, understandably. They both want to sit at the head of the table and there's only one chair."...21-year-old Bec Cartwright will leave her soap opera role next month in Australia to have Lleyton Hewitt's baby...Notables forced to play the qualifying this week for the French Open are Brazil's Flavio "Of the Day" Saretta, brothers Nicolas and Giovanni Lapentti, former Masters Series winner Al "The Dropshot Dragon" Portas, Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadzi, James Blake, and Chris "Penthouse" Guccione...15-year-old "The" Donald Young loses first round at an ITF junior tournament, ouch...Former French champ Thomas Muster has been practicing with Rafael Nadal: "Maybe he won't win the French this year, maybe not next year, but there is going to be a time when he is going to win the French Open. He's a young kid with lots of expectations. There will definitely come a time when he wins it. Maybe he'll win it this year, it wouldn't surprise me, but the main thing is that he's not waiting for it to come to him. He's coming out with the attitude that he's going to go for it and that's already a very big step."...The US Open will switch to blue courts to match the other events in the US Open Series...Tim Henman speaking to The Guardian: "I feel like I'm bitching and moaning too much. But there's this perception that I'm a failure. I usually don't give that crap a moment's thought but, seeing as we're talking about it, there are 128 guys in [next week's] French Open and only one of them will end up winning the tournament. What about the other 127 players? Are they all 'losers'? I've been rated this year as the fourth best player on the planet. If that's your idea of failure, then fine..."...Boris Becker says 18-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet is a lock to challenge the top dogs in the coming year, even with the crazy-dad factor: "I have been impressed by his behavior. He looks very relaxed on the court considering that he's playing a Masters Series," Becker told French daily Le Parisien. "He is very powerful. I don't think he knows yet how to control this power, but it is a good problem. I do not want to put too much pressure on him but he has shown he had everything to become a champion and we will see in the future he is a great player. I don't think we'll have to wait too long before seeing him at Rafael Nadal's level."