Clijsters, Dementieva Choke; French Fans Halt Play at Roland Garros
Posted on May 30, 2005
Federer Rolls Before Rains Halt Play at Roland GarrosContenders Rafael Nadal and Gaston Gaudio had matches suspended Sunday due to rain at the French Open, but not before world No. 1 Roger Federer punched through to the quarterfinals, albeit against an injured Carlos Moya.
"With the problem in the shoulder, he has let me play on my service," said Federer who cruised 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. "I think he is very disappointed to have to play like this. But it went fine. There were good moments and bad moments. Obviously, and, you know, the rhythm isn't there...I was even surprised that he finished the match, which proves that he's a real champion. He could have stopped before."
Moya, the No. 14 seed, was incapable of dictating play off his vaunted forehand, and from serving at full strength with the injured wing.
"I have to see how it's going to react the next days," Moya said. "What I know is that I'm going to need to rest a little bit, to recover the shoulder, and if it's not hundred percent, I won't play."
Unseeded Romanian Victor Hanescu pulled off the biggest upset of the day, coming from 1-2 sets down to steamroll No. 10 seed David Nalbandian in the late-goings 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
"I think when I was trying to hit harder and to play more aggressive, it was better for him," Hanescu said. "When I played soft and with short balls, long balls, when I start to mix the game, it was better for me."
Nalbandian said he was not tired while only winning three games over the final two sets.
"He was playing incredibly well," Nalbandian said. "He was hitting winners. He was hitting balls into the corners. It's very difficult to play against that sort of opponent."
Other winners in matches completed from Saturday starts were (28) Nicolas Kiefer, who tripped Russian claycourter Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-4, and (9) Guillermo Canas who defeated the oft-choking Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-7(5), 8-6.
"I think is very difficult to play the talent(ed) guy like Mathieu today," Canas said. "I think he play very well. I don't think I play, maybe, my best tennis, how I want to play. But I think Mathieu play very well. He have chances to win, close to win, but the tennis times is like this. I'm very happy to be in the second week of Roland Garros."
Matches suspended due to rain were (4) Nadal leading (23) Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 3-6, 3-0, and (5) Gaston Gaudio vs. (20) David Ferrer which never got underway.
The Nadal-Grosjean match featured a 10-minute booing delay by the boisterous-to-rude French crowd that took offense over the chair umpire refusing to acknowledge Grosjean questioning a mark on the court.
On Monday's schedule is (4) Nadal vs. (23) Grosjean (to finish), (3) Safin vs. (15) Robredo, (8) Coria vs. (12) Davydenko, (9) Canas vs. (28) Kiefer, (5) Gaudio vs. (20) Ferrer, Puerta vs. Acasuso in an all-Argentine, and in doubles highlights Austrians Knowle/Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. Chilean Olympic gold medalists Gonzalez/Massu.
Clijsters Sips Choke Classic Against Davenport at French Open
Kim Clijsters, who in her days as the No. 1-ranked player usually saved her grand slam chokes until the final, brought the party out early Sunday at the French Open, losing to world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 after blowing a 6-1, 3-1 advantage.
After losing a break lead in the second the Belgian totally collapsed in the third, losing the range on her forehand and double-faulting early-on to go down 0-2. Besides being hindered late in the match by her wrapped right knee, Clijsters threw in 11 crucial double faults. Clijsters looked to be marking a comeback when breaking for 3-4 to go back on serve in the third before double-faulting to go down 3-5 and eventually giving up the match.
"Tennis can change so quickly," said Clijsters, who neglected to add 'when you're choking.' "The frustrating part is that I was controlling the rallies in the first and beginning of the second set. Then all of a sudden, you just lose all the feeling of your strokes. The most frustrating part of it is that I was trying to work, work into my rallies. I have to try to stay positive and work my way through these tougher times."
Before facing Davenport, Clijsters had only lost 10 games in her first three matches without dropping a set.
"Just I think the inconsistency of playing, you know, big matches, playing three-set matches as well," Clijsters said. "I think that's all. You know, it's sort of what I've been saying in these -- in my previous press conferences. You know, I was winning my matches easily, but I didn't have that good feeling out there."
Davenport admitted she was shocked as anyone about the result, having lost her last six matches against the Belgian.
"There's obviously a lot of things stacked against me going into this match -- being on clay, playing against somebody that you don't have a great record against, struggling the previous matches here," Davenport said. "And being down 6-1, 3-1. All of those are not easy obstacles to overcome. Despite all of it, I was able to kind of push through and still come out on top."
Other shockers Sunday were delivered by No. 16-seeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva defeating countrywoman, No. 4 seed and last year's runner-up Elena Dementieva 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-5, and No. 21 Mary Pierce giving the homecountry crowd someone to pull for with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 upset over No. 8 Patty Schnyder.
"I've noticed that she made those double faults when she was kind of nervous," said Likhovtseva on the choking Dementieva. "I just knew I had an opportunity to break her again and again in the third set, which gave me hope that I can still win this match."
Pierce closed out her contest on her 11th match point.
"Felt like I had more than that, actually, more than 11," said Pierce, who will now face Davenport. "But strange, you know. I just went for it, you know, like every other point...Definitely it would have been a tough match to lose after having so many match points."
Other winners were No. 7-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova, defeating countrywoman and No. 12 seed Elena Bovina in three, and Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva, winning an all-unseeded over Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi 7-5, 6-3.
The 15-year-old Karatantcheva won the junior French title last year, and was coming off the upset win over Venus Williams.
"I was basically scared to win," Karatantcheva said. "The thought of me being at the quarterfinals in Paris, it was just too scary. I don't think I'm playing as well because I guess the pressure really is getting me. But I really hope that for my quarters I'll be more relaxed."
The rains left three matches unfinished with No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova leading Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 3-3, and two matches never reaching the court in No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. No. 10 Justine Henin-Hardenne, and No. 22 Francesca Schiavone vs. No. 29 Ana Ivanovic.
Scheduled for Monday are (6) Kuznetsova vs. (10) Henin-Hardenne, (2) Sharapova vs. Llagostera Vives (to finish), and (22) Schiavone vs. (29) Ivanovic.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
In the big controversy of the day Sunday, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean was down set point in the first set when he felt a Rafael Nadal shot had sailed long. Grosjean continued to play, ultimately losing the point, then the set. Grosjean then argued that the shot in question was long, however the chair ump never got out of the chair to check the mark. A delay of nearly 10 minutes ensued amid whistles and jeers from the crowd. But at the end of the day, Grosjean was wrong in that he should have stopped play immediately to properly contest the call...Sesil Karatantcheva has never lost at Roland Garros in 10 matches (winning the juniors last year), and she'll be favored to beat Elena Likhovsetva in the quarterfinals. The 15-year-old Karatancheva is half the age of Mary Pierce...With the rain on Sunday muddying the courts, Roger Federer should be sleeping a whole lot better. Federer by the way has won 25 straight sets on his current 10-match win streak...Why was the Maria Sharapova match halted some 30 minutes before the Nadal-Grosjean was suspended due to rain? Was Maria concerned her hair would get messed up? What Maria wants, Maria gets. Speaking of suspended, a few matches in the junior competition continued nearly 20 minutes after Nadal-Grosjean got called. Sucks to be in juniors, eh?...Weather: The rainy skies are supposed to clear early on Monday...The French rejected the EU constitution Sunday. The polls closed at 8pm and the results came out at 10pm. The police were all over the city bracing for demonstrations. Were they preparing for a mass of people booing?...Mary Pierce on her current clothing sponsor, or lack of: "No, no brand. I'm not working for any brand. I'm doing a test with materials because I'm thinking of having my own design line."...No. 90th-ranked Victor Hanescu is the lowest-ranked player to reach the quarterfinal at Roland Garros since Andrei Medvedev (No. 100) and Marcelo Filippini (140) in 1999...On Sunday Argentina achieved a record six players through to the last 16 at Roland Garros. Argentina is on target to equal its record of four players through to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, established last year at Roland Garros (what, you thought they did it at Wimbledon?)...Yesterday French choker Paul-Henri Mathieu lost for the fifth time in his last 11 majors in five sets, the second time after holding match points, and is now 1-5 in five-setters...When playing Spaniards consecutively in the same tournament, Marat Safin has won the second match three times while losing five times, including the past four times (props to the ITF staff for that stat)...Tommy Robredo is 4-7 career against Russians, and 1-4 on clay...How hot is Nikolay Davydenko, looking to reach his second slam quarterfinal of the year? In the second slam?...Nicolas Kiefer is somehow still alive into the second week at the French Open: "I had that feeling that I wasn't good on clay, but this year it so happens that I'm good. I shouldn't doubt. I have to fight in my head. My coach (Thomas Hogstedt) also told me that I could play very well on clay. Now I'm reaching the second week. I know it's not over. I want to keep on playing that way and see what happens."...Jim Courier is sitting idle during the French Open as none of the worldwide networks covering the event asked him to work: "Maybe they think I don't know anything about claycourt tennis," Courier told French sports daily L'Equipe....The South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Charlie "Brick" Bricker: "Based on conversations I've had at the French Open with knowledgeable people, here's my (ATP tour) prediction: (John) Newcombe will be named chairman of the six-man board with responsibilities to map the future for the men's tennis tour. He'll have the deciding board vote in case of ties. Horst Klosterkemper, the 56-year-old German businessman, will be given a two-year contract to replace (Mark) Miles as CEO. Brad Drewett, the former Aussie player and mover and shaker who was instrumental in putting together the multi-million dollar ATP deal to move the tour's end-of-the-year championships to Shanghai, will be named head of European operations. He'll then be groomed to replace Klosterkemper after two years." Brick, in the thick of things, the thorn in the ATP's side, get 'em Brick. Notice the ATP has given up the two-headed CEO-monster idea after getting hammered by the tennis media...18-year-old Brit Andrew Murray has parted from coach Pato Alvarez and has taken up with Mark Petchey. "I just wasn't enjoying things on or off the court," Murray, who is based at the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy in Barcelona, told The Independent. "Pato was trying to get me to play in a way I didn't like and it just wasn't working. He wanted me to be less aggressive and play like the Spanish players. That's not the way I play. I like to play hard."