Agassi Pulls From Wimbledon, Dementieva Now in Doubt
Posted on June 15, 2005
Philippoussis Finds Roach Spray at ATP 's-HertogenboschMaligned Aussie Mark Philippoussis put behind him doubts about his training regimen, motivation, and a host of injuries to serve his way to an opening-round win Tuesday at the ATP stop in 's-Hertogenbosch, with the wildcard entrant upsetting No. 7-seeded Belgian Christophe "The Roach" Rochus 6-3, 7-6(8) to advance into the second round.
"The first match is always the toughest with new surroundings," Philippoussis said. "I haven't played here for close to 10 years. I had a good rhythm on my serve but I didn't feel comfortable with my movement. I was just happy to get through."
No. 6 seed Andrei Pavel was another upset victim Tuesday, ousted by grasscourt veteran Jonas Bjorkman, while No. 3 Mario Ancic became the lone seeded winner on the day with a likewise straight-set win over Dutch qualifier Paul Logtens.
Other un-seeds into the second round were homecountry favorite Sjeng Schalken (d. Phau), Italian David Sanguinetti (d. Kucera), Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (d.(Q) Klein, bagel in the first), and Frenchman Julien Benneteau (d. (Q) Petzschner).
Scheduled for Wednesday in the land of wooden shoes are (1) Robredo vs. Burgsmuller, Hernych vs. (2) Guillermo "El Mago" Coria, (5) Soderling vs. Kohlschreiber, and Llodra vs. (8) Mathieu in an all-French.
Top Seed Ljubicic Survives Match Point at ATP Nottingham
Top-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic survived a scare in his opener at the ATP grasscourt event in Nottingham Tuesday, edging Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(8), saving a match point in advancing into the second round.
Not a seed was uprooted on the day, with other winners into the second round including (2) Thomas Johansson (d. (LL) Tursunov), (4) Richard Gasquet (d. Zib), (6) Paradorn Srichaphan (d. (Q) Hilton), (7) Olivier Rochus (d. K.Kim 7-6 in the third, saving a match point), and (8) Max Mirnyi (d. Sargsian, bagel in the second).
"It is great to play on your birthday and win and I am really happy to be back here," said the defending champ Srichaphan. "I have great memories of winning the tournament last year and the first thing I did when I came back was go on center court and get that memory back."
In the only all-unseeded match-up, Croat giant Ivo Karlovic continued his fine standard with a straight-set win over Russian Igor Andreev.
On the lawns Wednesday are (WC) Marray vs. (4) Gasquet, (6) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. (Q) Vacek, Berdych vs. (2) T.Johansson, (1) Ljubicic vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in an all-Croat, (3) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Carlsen, Beck vs. (7) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, (5) Taylor "Acci-" Dent vs. (Q) Rettenmaier in an all-American, and H.-T. Lee vs. (8) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi.
Dementieva Injured, Safina, Wildcard Krajicek Advance at WTA 's-Hertogenbosch
Top seed Elena Dementieva retired from her match versus Denisa Chladkova Tuesday at the WTA stop in 's-Hertogenbosch, at 5-5 in the first telling the umpire she could go on no further with a right shoulder injury.
"I was hitting a forehand and I just felt something in my shoulder," Dementieva said. "It's nothing that has happened before so I didn't know what it was. I think it was a strange bounce on the grass courts and I hit it awkwardly...For the moment it's difficult to say if I'm going to be able to play at Wimbledon but I'm trying to be optimistic."
Spain's No. 3-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Benesova) led the seeded winners, joined by Russian No. 4 seed Dinara Safina (d. Peer) and No. 6 Argentine Gisela Dulko (d. Randriantefy).
Un-seeded winners on the lawns into the second round were Czech Lucie Safarova (d. (5) Llagostera Vives from a set down), Dutch wildcard Michaella Krajicek (d. Cervanova), Russian Maria Kirilenko (d. Peschke), Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva (d. Kostanic from a set down) and Italy's Maria Elena Camerin (d. Stosur).
"I wasn't too nervous about playing in front of my home crowd," the teen Krajicek said. "I was nervous the past two years but I think I got it all out of my system. Today I just wanted to go out and play a good match."
On tap for Wednesday are Diaz-Oliva vs. (2) Petrova, (3) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. (WC) Michaella "Little Sis" Krajicek, (6) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko vs. Camerin, Shaughnessy vs. (7) Groenefeld, Kirilenko vs. (4) Dinara "Little Sis" Safina in an all-Russian, Schaul vs. (8) Klara "Kouky" Koukalova, and Safarova vs. Ruano Pascual.
Clijsters Lone Seed Through Tuesday at WTA Eastbourne
No. 7 seed Kim Clijsters was the lone seeded winner Tuesday at the WTA stop in Eastbourne, struggling to finish off Serb Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 7-6(2) to advance into the second round.
"I started the match very strongly, but she improved her game in the second, and I needed to step it up towards the end of the set so it wouldn't go to three sets," said Clijsters, making her first appearance on grass since Wimbledon of 2003. "I know she had a good week in Birmingham last week, so I needed to be in good form to win the match."
France's Marion Bartoli ousted the other lone seed in play, straight-setting No. 6 Elena Likhovtseva.
Three qualifiers were among the unseeded winners in Russians Vera Douchevina (d. (Q) Srebotnik from a set down) and Anna Chakvetadze (d. Maleeva from a set down), and Italy's Roberta Vinci (d. Sprem in three), joined by other unseeded winners Amy Frazier of the U.S. (d. Sugiyama from a set down), France's Virginie Razzano (d. Farina Elia in three), wildcard Conchita Martinez (d. WC) Baltacha in three), and lucky losers Lisa Raymond of the U.S. (d. Asagoe) and Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. Hantuchova in three).
Frazier saved five match points to notch her fourth consecutive win over Sugiyama.
Scheduled for Wednesday in Eastbourne are Chakvetadze vs. Kuznetsova in an all-Russian, Mauresmo vs. Douchevina, Myskina vs. Vento-Kabchi, Clijsters vs. Martinez, Raymond vs. Bartoli, Dechy vs. Frazier, Razzano vs. Molik, and Vinci vs. Zvonareva.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Yevgeny Kafelnikov reportedly finished 9th at the World Series of Poker's Seven Card Stud event, just one spot out of making the final table, winning $10,745. Cardplayer.com has a blog on the event and describes the hand he lost out on, for those fascinated by watching people play cards on TV...Taylor "Acci-" Dent on the grasscourt season: "I've kind of been trying to talk myself into grass being my favorite surface for the last couple years. But the fact of the matter is that at Wimbledon these days, the grass is very slow, it's very tough to move on, it's a little slippery, and the balls are heavy. So it's not the best surface for me." Dent, currently looking on the pudgy side, on trying to get in shape with an ankle injury: "I've been trying to go for long jogs to get ready for (best-of-five set matches). But, like I said, sitting down for two months, not knowing what to do with my ankle, hasn't really given me a lot of opportunity to train and work out. The body hasn't been responding well to long jogs or anything...The bottom line is I'm doing everything I can to be the best player I can. I can't control what happened to my ankle in Miami. I can't control getting food poisoning in Indian Wells. You know, those things are out of my control."...34-year-old Richard Krajicek, who retired with shoulder and arm injuries, is playing mixed doubles at Wimbledon with his sister Michaella this year as a favor to his father Petr, and like LL Cool J says don't call it a comeback: "This is not a comeback. I can still serve of course, but after a couple of sets you feel the arm."...16-year-old Michaella Krajicek on working with her brother Richard: "He still sees things I have to fix, like the way I toss the ball and how hard I hit it. He says I need to hit harder."...BBC tennis commentator and former player Andrew Castle on the stuttering "Dr." Ivo Karlovic: "At first I found it a little uncomfortable to speak to him. He was trying so hard to speak but his teeth were chattering. But after a while when you realize that he's not embarrassed by it and he has to cope with this obstacle in every conversation, you warm to him. Then his real character emerges and he comes across as a very charming, really gentle and very intelligent bloke. But he should smile more. He obviously finds the whole media thing a bit of an ordeal but as soon as he smiles, he has one of those expressions that would make the whole world smile with him."...Andre Agassi pulled from Wimbledon Tuesday with the sciatic nerve issue that plagued him in his loss at the French Open...Russian Elena Bovina pulled from Wimbledon with a shoulder injury.