Safin to Pull from Wimbledon?
Posted on June 7, 2005
Brit Winners Rusedski, Murray Advance at ATP Queen'sMaligned Canadian-turned-Brit Greg Rusedski led the seeded charge Monday at ATP stop at the Queen's Club, the Stella Artois Championships, besting his first-round loss last year in defeating wildcarded countryman Joshua Goodall 6-3, 6-4 to advance into the second round.
"I won a match here this year, which is positive as I didn't do that last year," said Rusedski, who added he will be at his grinning best at Wimbledon. "I'm just going to go out there and enjoy myself."
Brit wildcard Andy Murray also gave the home crowd something to cheer about, rolling over Spain's Santiago Ventura 6-1, 6-2 for his first career ATP win.
"It was my first match on grass, and obviously I only had a day and a half practice after my French Open (junior) semi and I didn't play so well there," Murray said. "I managed to come out, I played a pretty good match today. The guy wasn't so good on grass, but still it was tough for me because I hadn't really got any practice in before."
Seeded winners joining Grinning Greg in the second round were (13) Igor Andreev (d. (Q) MacKin in three) and (16) Karol Beck (d. Arthurs).
No. 11 seed Paradorn Srichaphan's return to the grasscourts was unhappily halted when the Thai star was ousted in straight sets by American Kevin Kim.
Un-seeds into the second round Monday were Belgian Xavier Malisse (d. H.-T. Lee, bagel in the second), Romanian Victor Hanescu (d. Draper in three), Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (d. Lisnard), Italian David Sanguinetti (d. Phau), Aussie qualifier Chris Guccione (d. Vliegen in three), American Robby Ginepri (d. Burgsmuller), and French qualifier Gregory Carraz (d. Sargsian who retired in the first set with a hip injury).
In doubles highlights, Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis came back from a set down to defeat Americans Rick Leach and Travis Parrott 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
On court Tuesday where the Stella flows is Tipsarevic vs. (10) Gasquet, (1) Hewitt vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, (3) Henman vs. Ginepri, (7) Grosjean vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, (9) Dent vs. Behrend, "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter vs. (WC) Philippoussis (punter alert, Flipper with the bad back), (WC) Delgado vs. Gael "Force" Monfils, (Q) Carraz vs. (4) Stepanek, Haehnel vs. Zib, Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau vs. Muller, Hernych vs. Clement, (Q) Mertinak vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, Tursunov vs. Bjorkman, Berdych vs. (15) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis vs. Mathieu, and an all-American back-door entry in (WC) Blake vs. (LL) Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison.
Safin Wins on Grass at ATP Halle
No. 2 seed Marat Safin conquered his disdain for the grascourts Monday in his opening-round match at Halle, Germany, defeating towering wildcard Alexander Popp 6-3, 6-2 to advance into the second round.
Safin has yet to reach a grasscourt final in his nine years on tour, and said his knee is still ailing from the French Open.
"It hurt out there. If it feels the same before Wimbledon, I will withdraw," Safin said. "I will sit down with my trainer and the doctor and make a decision."
Other seeded winners Monday were (4) Guillermo Canas (d. Verdasco), (7) Tommy Haas (d. Novak), and (8) Feliciano Lopez (d. Carlsen in two tiebreaks).
Unseeded Florian Mayer brought the homecountry fans to their feet with a straight-set win over Russian Mikhail Youzhny, joined by fellow unseeded winners Jurgen Melzer of Austria (d. A.Martin 7-6 in the third) and Belgium's Olivier Rochus (d. Saulnier).
The final three qualifying matches were also completed with Vladimir Voltchkov (BLR), Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (TPE), and Dick Norman (BEL) the final main draw additions.
On Tuesday's schedule in Halle is former Wimbledon semifinalist (Q) Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov vs. former No. 1 (WC) Ferrero, (1) Federer vs. Soderling, Kohlschreiber vs. (6) Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson, Kiefer vs. (Q) Zimonjic, (5) Nalbandian vs. Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, Llodra vs. (Q) Wang, Pavel vs. Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro, and Christophe "The Roach" Rochus vs. (Q) D.Norman.
Federer, who takes a 24-match winning streak on grass into Halle, is targeted to meet Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, with the Swiss a career 1-2 against the Spaniard after losing in the Roland Garros semifinals.
"I hope (Nadal) stays in the tournament for a long time and a rematch is possible," said Federer, looking to get his revenge on the Spaniard. "Of course I would be the favorite because this surface is very special for me."
Mirza Displays Grass Skills at WTA Birmingham
Indian teen sensation Sania Mirza rebounded from a disheartening Roland Garros performance with an opening grasscourt win Monday at the WTA stop in Birmingham, rolling past Claudine Schaul 6-2, 6-0.
After winning her first WTA title in February, Mirza said the pressure to win from India's media and fans is overwhelming.
"I know that every sentence I speak will be analyzed, and everything that I do and every move that I make," Mirza said. "The expectations and pressure are immense. Everyone now expects me to win and if I don't it's 'How could you lose?'"
Seeds advancing into the second round were (11) Virginie Razzano (d. Gullickson), (12) Evgenia Linetskaya (d. Spears) and (16) Sam Stosur (d. Ant. Serra Zanetti from a set down), while (13) Anna-Lena Groenefeld was ousted in straight sets by France's Stephanie Foretz.
Un-seeds into the second round on the lawns were Luxembourg's Anne Kremer (d. Perebiynis), Russian Anna Chakvetadze (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), American Mashona Washington (d. Panova), Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja (d. Camerin), Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (WC) Janes from a set down), and Brit wildcard Elena Baltacha (d. A.Bondarenko).
Scheduled for Tuesday on Birmingham's full plate are Raymond vs. Sequera, Granville vs. Keothavong, Sharapova vs. Kremer, Mirza vs. Jankovic, Dominikovic vs. Shaughnessy, Fujiwara vs. Jidkova, Pratt vs. Castano, Vaidisova vs. Cohen-Aloro, Brandi vs. Jackson, Weingartner vs. Tu, Tanasugarn vs. Vinci, Daniilidou vs. Cho, Cervanova vs. Grandin, Obata vs. Vento-Kabchi, Kirilenko vs. Fedak, and Linetskaya vs. Chakvetadze.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Jarkko Nieminen is to marry his fiancee Anu Weckstrom at the end of this week...Mariano Puerta pulled from Queen's Monday with the groin strain that occurred during his French Open championship match against Rafael Nadal...The French Open ratings in the U.S. for NBC's coverage of the final was a 2.0 rating for the men and 1.9 for the women, compared to 3.6 for last year's Wimbledon final (featuring an American, Andy Roddick) and 2.5 for last year's US Open final. Last year's Roland Garros all-Argentine final had a 2.1 rating. Spain comparably had upwards of a 40 percent household share for the final this year...Brit Andy Murray, who collected his first ATP win Monday at Queen's: "The one thing you have to look at is that (Rafael) Nadal, for someone who's 19, is physically better than everybody else in the world. I've got two or three years of growing to do because my body's not developed like his. I've still got to fill out and I've got to get stronger. When he was 17, he'd stopped growing and obviously managed to do all his weights and he's huge now. He's physically very good on the court. It's going to be difficult to do what he's done. But I've got to aim for the top."...Will Mark Philippoussis pull from his singles today with his bad back?...Officers with the state Motor Transportation Division in New Mexico seized 1,600 pounds of marijuana in a load of tennis balls worth an estimate $2.4 million, headed for Georgia. "Grass"-court balls, we presume...Wimbledon announced some wildcard recipients Monday: Mark Philippoussis, Brit Andrew Murray, Cara Black, Jelena Dokic (into qualifying only -- stone), Richard Krajicek (wildcard into the mixed doubles with sister Michaela), and Brits Elena Baltacha, Amanda Janes, Anne Keothavong and Katie O'Brien. "I don't play badly on grass, it's just not my favorite surface," Murray told BBC Sport. "I play well on all of them. If I'm not playing against the best grasscourt players I can do well when I'm playing the baseliners...I think it's fair that there's a lot of expectation because after Tim (Henman) and Greg (Rusedski) there's not so many players coming through. I try to block out the pressure but it's always going to be there and hopefully one day I can get to do what Tim and Greg have done."