Murray Trashes Newport Grasscourts; Williams Sister in X-Men 3?
Posted on July 7, 2005
Dent Fails to Break Casino Curse, Murray Melts at ATP NewportEach year since the tournament's inception in 1976, the No. 1 seed has come up short at the ATP stop in Newport.
Wednesday was no exception as the "Curse of the Casino" took its toll on top-seeded Taylor Dent, with the American going down 6-4, 6-1 to freshly-minted Wimbledon doubles champion Wesley Moodie.
"I was trying desperately the whole match. Nothing was helping me out," said Dent, who helped Moodie's cause with 15 double faults, including two on his first two deliveries. "When I wasn't hitting doubles, I had nothing on it (my serve)."
In the third game of the second set Dent put on a double-fault clinic, throwing in a magnificent six doubles before finally giving up the service game.
Seeded winners Wednesday were (2) Vince Spadea (d. Kucera), (3) Greg Rusedski (d. Vik), and (7) Paul Goldstein (d. (Q) Mergea), all in straight sets.
Brit wildcard Andy Murray endeared himself to the locals by trashing the event after losing 6-4, 6-1 to unseeded Anthony Dupuis.
"They didn't put any cover on (the court) when it started raining," Murray said. "They used blowers, but the court was still damp, the ball bounced so low. I can't play when it's like that. Here the ball bounced high, skidded through, was dying. It's strange...That's the worst tennis court I've played on in my life, by far."
In the second set Murray lost 14 consecutive points, giving the match an "R" rating by screaming expletives that were easily heard by youngsters in the crowd. Dupuis said he took confidence from Murray "starting to cry a little" during the match, including a couple racquet-throwing tantrums.
For Dupuis, a Frenchman, the win was revenge for France losing out to Britain Wednesday for the 2012 Olympics, which Murray is setting his sights on.
"First of all, I'd have to make the British team by being the No. 1 or No. 2 in the country, and at this stage there's obviously no guarantee of that," Murray said. "But it's great that the Olympics will be in London in 2012, with the tennis matches going on at Wimbledon. The thought of playing Olympic tennis at Wimbledon, with the sort of backing you'd get there, is perfect."
Other unseeded winners on the day were Slovak Michal Mertinak (d. former champ (5) Ginepri), German Alexander Waske (d. Bracciali in two tiebreaks), and Serb qualifier Dusan Vemic (d. G.Lapentti who retired in the third set with leg cramps).
Thursday features only two singles matches in (Q) Vemic vs. (2) Spadea, and (7) Goldstein vs. Waske.
Moya Slides Out on Clay at ATP Bastad
Carlos Moya's seasonal slide continued Wednesday on clay at the ATP stop in Bastad, falling 7-6(3), 6-2 to unseeded Argentine Mariano Zabaleta.
"I broke my foot in Monte Carlo two months ago and this is my first tournament since then, so I'm really happy," Zabaleta said.
The former No. 1 Moya won his first event of the year on hardcourt at Chennai, but since has reached only one semifinal, on clay at Estoril in April.
Others into the quarterfinals Wednesday were (3) Tommy Robredo (d. Monfils, who retired in the second set with a hip injury), (6) Mikhail Youzhny (d. (WC) Vinciguerra from a set down), and unseeded Czech Tomas Berdych (d. Almagro from a set down).
On tap for Thursday in Bastad are Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez vs. (5) Ferrero in an all-Spanish, (1) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. A.Martin, (7) Soderling vs. O.Hernandez, and (Q) Serra vs. Vanek.
Gaudio Finds Form on Wet Clay at ATP Gstaad
No. 2 seed Gaston Gaudio dodged the rains and opponent David Sanguinetti Wednesday at the ATP claycourt stop in Gstaad, rolling past the Italian 6-2, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals.
"I played so good today and I'm really happy about that," said Gaudio on keeping his match under an hour, WTA-styling the Italian. "We were waiting the whole day (with the rain), which was pretty tough. I played great tennis and the waiting didn't affect me at all."
Andreas Seppi picked up the flag for Italy, ousting No. 5 seed Ivan Ljubicic to advance to his second quarterfinal of 2005.
"(Ljubicic is) Top 20, I think I only beat one Top 20 player in my life before," Seppi said. "I'm from the north of Italy so I'm used to cold conditions."
Also into the quarters was Romanian qualifier Razvan Sabau, defeating Sargis Sargsian in straight sets.
Scheduled for Thursday contesting the final quarterfinal spots are Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. "You Say" Potito Starace, (7) Massu vs. Hernych, (3) Stepanek vs. (Q) Cermak in an all-Czech transaction, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Wawrinka, and Luis "Me So" Horna vs. Di Mauro.
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