Federer, Roddick Advance; Davenport Fitness Showing Dividends at Wimbledon
Posted on June 28, 2005
Federer, Roddick Beat Slow Conditions at WimbledonWorld No. 1 and two-time defending Wimbledon champ Roger Federer and 2004 runner-up Andy Roddick advanced into the quarterfinals in straight sets Monday at the All-England Club, just two wins from renewing their grasscourt rivalry in a much-anticipated repeat of last year's final.
Federer stopped former No. 1 and No. 23 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(6), while the No. 2-seeded Roddick stopped another claycourter in No. 15 Guillermo Coria 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-4.
"Today I thought it was extremely slow somehow," Federer said. "That was my feeling. Maybe it's because of him. He was not missing. He was making me -- playing me left to right, as well. Never really had the -- it was very hard to overpower him, I thought, where normally this is really my strength."
Against Coria, Roddick was eventually able to work on his approaches and the burgeoning net game so important to further challenging Federer as he did in last year's final.
"The first set (Coria) was a little off. He was missing from the baseline, kind of was spraying balls," Roddick said. "I stayed back a little bit more. Then he kind of got grooved in a little bit more. That's when you have to kind of try to put the (net) pressure on a little bit more. I was able to do that today."
No. 3 seed and former champ Lleyton Hewitt kept himself in the mix with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3 victory over No. 24-seeded American net-rusher Taylor Dent.
"He started out a little tentative," Hewitt said of Dent. "First game, he hit two double faults for me to break serve. But you don't get that many opportunities to break his serve, so when you get those half chances, you really have to take them."
Dent concurred on giving away too many key opportunities in the match.
"There were times in each set where I was just helping him win," Dent said. "I was giving away points on my serve, missing volleys, hitting double-faults. And I was missing a lot of shots from the baseline at stages. I don't know whether that's just how I played today or me coming back and still being a little bit rusty. But in the beginning of the year, I wasn't doing that."
No. 26 seed Feliciano Lopez became the first Spaniard to reach the Wimbledon quarters since Manuel Orantes in 1972 with a surprisingly easy win over a nervous No. 10 seed Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
"I think I have a good game for grass, better than clay, better than any other surface," said Lopez, who was aided by the choking Ancic's 15 doubles faults. "That's what I think, my serve and volley is good for this surface."
Other winners on the day successfully held their seeding in advancing into the quarters in (9) Sebastien Grosjean, outlasting Califo-Russian Dmitry Tursunov in five sets 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; (12) Thomas Johansson winning his fifth straight over Max Mirnyi 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 with laser-like passing shots; (18) David Nalbandian having his way with teen (27) Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-0, with the Frenchman/boy completely running out of gas in the third-set bagel; and claycourter (21) Fernando Gonzalez out-pounding (31) Mikhail Youzhny from the baseline 7-6(3), 7-6(5), 6-3.
"Yeah, maybe the court is little bit slower than 20 years ago," said Gonzalez on his success this year. "But the tour makes you play everywhere because you have to play some tournaments in indoors, you have to play some tournaments on clay, on hardcourt. You have to play everywhere. For me, this was the first time that I did a good preparation, I mean a real preparation. I played Queen's, I played exhibition tournament last week. And every (other) time that I come to Wimbledon, I come (only) three days before."
Nalbandian was thankful for an easy match after his previous five-setter.
"I think I played pretty good all the time," said Nalbandian, experiencing an easier time than his 0-2 sets comeback against Andy Murray. "In the end of the second I played very good in the tiebreak, and then he falls down a little bit in the beginning of the third. So this makes me more confidence. I think he believe that he didn't have any chance left."
Tuesday is a day of doubles-only on the men's side at the All-England Club in (3) Knowles/Llodra vs. Huss/Moodie, Czechs (11) Suk/Vizner vs. unseeded Germans Schuettler/Waske, (2) Bryan/Bryan vs. unseeded Slovaks Hrbaty/Mertinek, (5)Paes/Zimonjic vs. Beck/Levinsky, and (1) Bjorkman/Mirnyi vs. (13) Knowle/Melzer.
Davenport Beats Choking Clijsters to Gain Quarters at Wimbledon
World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, who last year was contemplating retirement with what looked like a potential career-ending foot injury, continued her run of rejuvenation Monday at Wimbledon, closing out Kim Clijsters in three tough sets 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 to advance into the quarterfinals.
"She wants it more than anyone out there, and I knew that," Davenport said. "I thought, 'OK, I'm not going to give in'..Pretty good, huh? I very rarely pat myself on the back."
Clijsters again struggled to keep her hands away from her throat in the late-goings, failing to take care of her serve three times in the third set, then for good measure ending the contest with the choker's calling card, the double fault.
"I just felt like -- because she was returning so well in my service games before, I really had to put a little bit more -- you know, a little bit more into my serves, and especially on the second serves," said Clijsters on her key doubles faults in the third set. "But that was probably wrong. It was. She puts you under so much pressure. From the moment you hit a second serve, you have to start running."
The loss gives Clijsters only one more chance in 2005 to end her career Slam-less streak.
Defending champ and No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova rolled into the quarters with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 16 Nathalie Dechy.
"It's so hard to compare it to last year because last year I was in a totally different situation," Sharapova said. "I was happy to be in the second week of a Grand Slam. This year I'm expecting myself to be in the second week of a Grand Slam."
In what was supposed to be a show-stopping all-Williams-sisters meeting in the 4th round, instead Venus had to be content with pounding American journeywoman Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-2.
"I just made a couple errors at the wrong time. She did hit some good shots. But, of course, my plan was to just break and hold again," Venus said of her hiccup at the beginning of the second set. "And I felt very in control."
No. 3 seed Amelie Mauresmo, with all the grasscourt skills to win Wimbledon save the nerve, steamrolled Russian No. 13 seed Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-0 to earn a meeting with another Russian, No. 9 Anastasia Myskina, who came back to defeat No. 6-seeded countrywoman Elena Dementieva 1-6, 7-6(9), 7-5.
"I think the beginning of the match was a little bit tough for me," Mauresmo said. "I couldn't really find my rhythm. I was staying a little bit too far from the baseline for being able to really produce an aggressive game."
Myskina, after getting over some initial choking in the first set, got down to business for the three-set win.
"Today I was really nervous at the beginning because we have, you know, really lot of matches against each other and we know each other really well, so I was thinking a lot during the point," Myskina said. "You know, I didn't know what really to do with the ball because the serve was too slowly (sic). I didn't really expect that. Then I get used to it for the rhythm, for the game, and realize that it's really nothing really special...her serve, it's really weak. You know, everybody know that."
Others into the quarters Monday were (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Maleeva 6-4, 6-3), (8) Nadia Petrova (d. Peschke 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-3), and (12) Mary Pierce (d. Pennetta 6-3, 6-1).
"I'm working really hard. Finally I'm able to work hard," Pierce said. "I've always worked hard. Just when I had my injuries, I wasn't obviously able to. I had to take time off. Then coming back from that took quite a long time until I was able to train normally for me...It's just actually just a gift from God, because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to play again."
Lining up for Tuesday in quarterfinal play are (3) Mauresmo vs. (9) Myskina (Mauresmo leads the career head-to-head 5-1 in the all-choker match-up), (12) Pierce vs. (14) Venus (Venus leads 6-3 with Pierce winning their most recent meeting last year at the Olympics), (2) Sharapova vs. (8) Petrova (the Global Icon leads 1-0), and (1) Davenport vs. (5) Kuznetsova (tied 1-1).
Mauresmo says that like many of the top men, she knows the key is to attack on the slick lawns and employ that skill that many of the top women lack -- the transition game and volley.
"I adjust my game to that surface -- some don't," Mauresmo said. "I like to think that playing on grass is going forwards, is serve and volley, return and volley sometimes. It's a mix of all of these things. Actually I'm enjoying doing that."
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Roger Federer has won 33 straight matches on grass, and Maria Sharapova 21...Fernando Gonzalez, Federer's next opponent, is the lone player on the men's side who has yet to surrender a set...Richard Gasquet has never won a set off David Nalbandian in three matches...The last time Andy Roddick lost in the fourth round of a Grand Slam was -- never...Maria Sharapova has dropped serve just once...Mary Pierce has won 10 of her last 11 Grand Slam matches, is only in her second Wimbledon QF in 10 appearances, never reaching a semi on the lawns...Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez is the first Spaniard to reach the final eight at Wimbledon since Manuel Orantes in 1972. Lopez has won 11 straight sets, by the way...Half of the women in the quarterfinals are Russian...Andy Roddick has won 30 of his last 32 grasscourt matches, losing only to Roger Federer twice at Wimbledon...Dmitry Turusnov has never lost a five-set match until today (5-1)...Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova are on 9-match streaks...Maria Sharapova on the grass being slower at Wimbledon: "You know, I haven't really paid too much attention to it. Now as I think about it, maybe it has a little bit. I don't know what that has to do with the height of the grass or whatever. I have no idea. You know, if it's slower for me, it's slower for my opponent. There's not too much you can do about it. I'm not going to go and cut the grass during the night."...Taylor "Acci-" Dent says it doesn't matter how slow the surface is as long as your serve has juice: "I remember watching (Pete) Sampras play a match against (Jim) Courier on the clay, and I was sitting there watching Sampras beat Courier in the quarters. I was sitting there watching, Courier for four sets did not get one clean sniff at Sampras' serve. That doesn't necessarily mean he's hitting aces, but that means that he's putting them on the spot and Courier is barely getting the ball back. Sampras comes in, thanks very much." Dent on Lleyton Hewitt intimidating linespeople, and perhaps getting his in the end: "...his personality is indicative to doing that (intimidation). You know, he's fired up, he's yelling. I don't know what he said to one of the linesmen out there today, but I heard the crowd was kind of, 'Ooh.' You know, that's intimidating. Whether that works for him or against him. If I was a linesman, I'd definitely make the calls a little bit rougher on Mr. Hewitt."...Could Venus Williams give less, or show more disdain for the media in her post-match press conferences?...Kim Clijsters on Lindsay Davenport being motivated: "I think also she's fitter than she's ever been. I've seen her work, especially here. I've seen her work in the gym lifting weights, stuff that I've never seen her do -- which I think is so great to see, someone who is still so motivated to do these kind of things. Who knows? Maybe she's so motivated because she knows it's her last year and she wants to put everything she has into it. You never know. But she seems very motivated. You know, I've been practicing to her next to her quite a lot of days here at Aorangi, and she seems very hungry to play, more than I've ever seen her play."...Andy Murray's mom Judy: "Against David Nalbandian, while the win would have been amazing, it wasn't everything. The important thing is that, when he was fresh, he proved he could match a guy like that for tennis, which is encouraging. All he needs now is to improve his fitness."...From medialifemagazine.com: "NBC (in the U.S.) began its Wimbledon coverage on Saturday with little of the buzz of when Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert were battling on the grasscourt. 'In years past it always seemed as though people had it circled on their calendar,' says David Carter, a principal with the Sports Business Group in Los Angeles. 'Now there's so much sports going on that even Wimbledon is having hard time getting the attention of casual viewers because of how crowded shelf space is for sports stories.' That proves out in the ratings. As recently as 2000, NBC could expect a 3.2 rating in households. For the past three years its Wimbledon coverage has been flat at 2.0."...With Heineken bailing as the US Open sponsor after this year, why is the USTA insisting on replacing them with another beer sponsor? Not that there's anything wrong with that. Journalists sneaking a plastic-cup pint from the keg in the player's locker room has always been a solid move by stealth media members over the years...Brit Andy Murray has taken a wildcard into the ATP stop at Newport next week on grass...It's official: after the US Open, doubles matches on the ATP tour will be sets played to five instead of six, with a tiebreaker played at 4-all, and no-ad scoring (at deuce the next point is sudden death and decides the game). Why not just let a fan from the audience step in and play every third point, and have the players wear multi-colored afro-wigs and clown noses, just totally ruin the game?...James Corrigan writing for The Independent: "Of all the dangerous floaters left in the men's draw none bears fins as sharp or as noticeable as those of Juan Carlos Ferrero." Huh? Was that a mistakenly-leftover story from your French Open coverage? The grass is not that slow, geez...Look for the bankable Andy Murray to soon be adding to his four current endorsements: a long-term clothing contract with Fred Perry, a racquet deal with Head, and deals with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Robinson's, the Brit soft drink manufacturer...Andy Murray's coaches are saying it will take him two years to get him in top shape? And it takes six years to put a roof on Centre Court at Wimbledon? What's going on over there? Put a damn tarp over the stadium (see: Hamburg) and get Murray a damn gym membership, it's not that damn difficult, Geez Louise...Congrats to the BBC for cutting away from the Roger Federer-Juan Carlos Ferrero match at 6-6 to go to a quiz show, that's old school ESPN-type coverage (before they stepped it up the last couple years)...Nick Bollettieri writing for The Independent: "I've been working as part of Mary's (Pierce) team again for the past few months and we keep the same routine for my pre-match advice. We go over it on the phone, at 11pm. That time works for Mary because she goes to bed and she can sleep on it. We keep it simple. For her third-round match against Ana Ivanovic, it was: 'Beat the crap out of the ball. Don't let Ivanovic get a grip.' That worked fine." That's pretty damn insightful Nick, just the game plan of every teenager on the WTA Tour...SI.com's Jon Wertheim on ESPN at Wimbledon: "The caliber of (studio) 'talent' is all over the map, but the coverage choice has been close to unassailable."...Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez is the first Chilean to reach a Wimbledon quarterfinal since Ricardo Acuna lost in 1985 to Jimmy Connors...From The Guardian: "Fleet Street rivalries can go too far, meanwhile, and never has there been better evidence of that than when pictures of the man who masterminded Andrew Murray's impressive displays were printed in the Daily Mail yesterday. The 18-year-old's temporary coach Mark Petchey had signed a four-figure deal with the Sun newspaper that entailed him wearing a branded cap during the Scot's matches. Petchey dutifully donned the cheap-looking titfer, only for the Mail's picture desk to airbrush their rival's masthead from it with orange ink...All England Club officials have taken revenue protection to extremes by confiscating packets of crisps from those entering the grounds. A snack company had used the queues as an opportunity to raise brand awareness by handing out freebies, but the club objects to what it terms 'ambush marketing.' Minions are told to throw the seized crisps in the bin." For you fat Americans (66% of the population), THEY'RE THROWING AWAY POTATO CHIPS!...Maggie Maleeva says she has played her last Wimbledon: "It is a very new feeling that I have had, only during the last few weeks. I just didn't feel the energy to fight during matches. That was the main thing. I know that I am ready to start a new life. That's a good thing. Tennis is not everything. I have given everything for over 15 years." In July 1993 she was ranked No. 11 in the world, with her sisters Manuela and Katerina ranked No. 12 and 13 respectively.