Hot Pants and Gilbert Out of WTA Strasbourg; WADA to Ban Caffeine?

In the deciding doubles Haas teamed with Alexander Waske to down Jonas Bjorkman and Joachim Johansson 6-4, 6-4 in front of the boisterous home crowd.

In the second match of the day Spain rolled to a 2-1 win over the U.S., but not before some resistance from one of America's best bets on clay, the 30-year-old Vince Spadea.

After dropping the first set 6-3 against Spaniard Tommy Robredo, Spadea sped to a 6-2 win in the second, but was subdued 6-3 in the third. In the second singles the hot-handed Dave Ferrer took care of all-courter Jeff Morrison 6-4, 7-6(7), fighting off three set points in the second.

In the doubles the Bryan brothers, twins Bob and Mike, again salvaged the only bit of pride for the U.S., rolling past the Spanish sacrifice doubles squad of Alex Lopez Moron and Santiago Ventura 6-2, 6-3. The U.S. is 0-4 in singles in Dusseldorf, and 2-0 in doubles through two matches.

On Thursday in Dusseldorf, Argentina and defending champ Chile square off with the winner earning a place in the Saturday final (Gaudio vs. Gonzalez, Canas vs. Massu), and in a dead rubber France takes on the Czech Republic (Grosjean vs. Novak, Llodra vs. Berdych).
 
Rain Washes Out All Play Wednesday at ATP St. Poelten

A washed-out schedule Wednesday at the ATP stop in St. Poelten means play will begin 2-1/2 hours early Thursday, with all eight quarterfinalists in action, and most performing double duty.

Scheduled for Thursday in St. Poelten are Acasuso vs. Almagro, (1) Davydenko vs. (WC) Mantilla, (Q) D.Sanchez vs. (4) Melzer, Hanescu vs. (Q) Kohlmann, (6) Horna vs. Garcia-Lopez, then either Horna or Garcia-Lopez vs. Sanguinetti or C.Rochus, and either Acasuso or Almagro vs. Hanescu or (Q) Kohlmann.

Five Seeds Through to Quarters Wednesday at WTA Istanbul

All five seeds in action moved through to the quarterfinals on the clay Wednesday at the WTA stop in Istanbul in (2) Nicole Vaidisova (d. (Q) Abramovic), (3) Anna Smashnova (d. Hopkins, baking a breadstick and bagel), (5) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Gagliardi), (7) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Panova from a set down), and (8) Mashona Washington (d. (Q) Vesnina).

"I wasn't too happy with the way I was playing today," said the 16-year-old No. 2 seed Vaidisova. "I had a good warm-up this morning, so I thought I was going to play better. I made some silly mistakes, especially serving for the first set, but I'm in the quarterfinals so I just hope I play better tomorrow, because I will need to if I'm going to win."

Two un-seeds also advanced into the quarterfinals in Israel's Shahar Peer (d. Morigami from a set down), and Bulgarian 17-year-old qualifier Tszvetana Pironkova (d. Fedak from a set down), playing in her first WTA event.

"I can't believe that I won again today," Pironkova said. "This is my first WTA event and to beat two players as good as Shaughnessy and Fedak is more than I thought I could do. But now I'm in the quarterfinals and I hope I can keep going."

Thursday's QF match-ups in Istanbul are (8) Washington vs. (3) Smashnova, (1) Venus vs. (7) Chakvetadze, (5) Groenefeld vs. (2) Vaidisova, and Peer vs. (Q) Pironkova.

Seeds, Coach Gilbert Scatter at WTA Strasbourg

Tatiana Golovin's test-partnership with coach Brad Gilbert hit a snag Wednesday at the WTA stop in Strasbourg when the No. 2-seeded Frenchwoman was ousted in three sets by China's Shuai Peng.

No. 1 on Gilbert's agenda will be improving the clunky footwork of Golovin, who has struggled on the red dirt.

"I really have a hard time moving around on the red clay," Golovin said. "My shots aren't as effective against my opponents on this surface. I'm obviously disappointed to lose my first match, but I feel I played better than I did in Rome and that's the positive feeling I'll take from today. Also, it felt great to be seeded No. 2 and to have a full stadium of fans cheering for me."

Gilbert is now off to Paris for his commentating duties with ESPN.

Joining the hot-pants-wearing French teen on the sidelines were fellow seeds (5) Ai Sugiyama (l. to Domachowska in three), (7) Amy Frazier (l. to Medina Garrigues after winning the first set), and (8) Paola Suarez, who withdrew from her match against French wildcard Stephanie Cohen-Aloro with an adductor strain.

Seeds moving unscathed into the quarters Wednesday were (1) Nathalie Dechy (d. Benesova) and (6) Karolina Sprem (d. Zheng), joined by two additional unseeded players in Madagascar's finest Dally Randriantefy (d. Vakulenko), and Russian Vera Douchevina (d. Loit).

For the struggling Spreminator it is her first quarterfinal of 2005 on the WTA Tour.

Thursday's QF match-ups are Douchevina vs. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, Domachowska vs. Peng, Dechy vs. Cohen-Aloro, and Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem vs. Randriantefy.

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