Roddick, Sharapova Chat It Up at ESPYs; Coria Says Wants to Kill Hewitt

Ancic will open against Andrei Pavel Friday, then Ljubicic follows against Victor Hanescu.

"We have done everything to play our best," said Croatian captain Nikki Pilic. "If Ljubicic and Ancic play well, of which I have no doubt, we have every reason to repeat Carson City, where we beat the Americans."

Pavel knows a win by either him or Hanescu is a must on Friday, with Ancic and Ljubicic teaming as a formidable doubles tandem on Saturday.

"Mario has a very good serve, looks for the net most of the time, and is dangerous on faster surfaces," Pavel said. "Before coming to Split we practiced on faster courts than this one. Actually, this one is similar the one in Bercy where I have played the final two years ago. We are looking for a close tie and a win -- for us 1-1 after the first day would be a good result."

Ljubicic says the media have wrongly portrayed him as off his game, an accusation he will rectify come Friday.

"Journalists are trying to present me as out of form, but I will prove the contrary," Ljubicic said. "I believe we are the better team, although we will have to prove this from one point in the match to another."

Ancic and Pavel have never faced each other on tour, while Baby Goran easily beat Hanescu in their only meeting in 2003 on carpet. Pavel can be secure in his win over Ljubicic on carpet in 2001, while Ljubicic is 4-0 lifetime versus Hanescu, with three of the meetings going three sets.

Italian No. 2 Seed Pennetta Into Quarters at WTA Modena

No. 2 seed and homecountry favorite Flavia Penneta advanced into the quarterfinals Thursday at the WTA stop in Modena, Italy, defeating Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 7-6(3), 6-2.

No. 8 seed Mariana Diaz-Oliva was another seed into the quarters, coming from a set down to defeat Martina Sucha, while No. 6 seed Jelena Kostanic was steamrolled in straights by Tathiana Garbin.

In the only all-unseeded encounter, Croat Sanda Mamic beat Zi Yan of China in three.

On tap for the Friday quarterfinals in Modena are Mamic vs. Garbin, Diaz-Oliva vs. Pennetta, Loit vs. Smashnova, and Schiavone vs. Szavay.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
From ESPN's coverage of the ESPY Awards: "Worst-Dressed Woman: Serena Williams in an ill-fitting brown and gold halter dress." That she designed herself. Ouch. And: "Most Revealing Outfit: Serena Williams. For the second year in a row." And: "Biggest Entourage: Serena Williams, who had a slew of women trailing her." And: "Best-Dressed Woman: Maria Sharapova, the hottest woman on the WTA Tour, in a brown halter jumpsuit that was too sexy for the room." Serena loses another one to her rival. And on Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova doing an extraordinary amount of hanging out during the awards: "Vaulting on his tiptoes, Roddick made his way over to snap a few shots with the 18-year-old superstar. The two spent much of the evening together, chatting each other up and watching the bouts for ESPN2's "Tuesday Night Fights." Roddick displayed plenty of enthusiasm and grew very animated when big blows were landed. After the party, the two retired to the Tropicana Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and were still lounging together poolside into the wee hours of the morning. A blooming love match or just two champions from the same sport bonding? Don't ask us. This is Page 3, not The Star." The ESPYs will be broadcast Sunday at 9 p.m. EST...Lleyton Hewitt is playing Davis Cup this weekend in unbranded clothes, deciding to end his eight-year relationship with Nike. Hewitt's manager Rob Aivatoglou told the Sunday Times: "We have decided to move away from Nike. We have entered into discussions with a number of international manufacturers. I think it is a really important time for Lleyton, and the direction Nike were looking to take the relationship didn't sit comfortably with where we wanted to take Lleyton."...John McEnroe speaking to Tennis Week on some of the young players on tour and their roads to physical maturity: "When I had (Andy) Roddick on the Davis Cup team as a practice player, you could tell right away the guy was going to be a Top 10, Top 5 player. (Donald) Young has a chance to be a great player, but he hasn't finished growing yet. He's still young. Let's see how tall he gets, how physically strong he gets. (Rafael) Nadal's a freak of nature. He's physically so strong at such a young age -- (Boris) Becker was another guy so strong as a teenager -- and Nadal plays with such hunger and desire. You knew this guy would be Top 5 -- that's a given. He could very well be the No. 1 player in the world if he continues to improve, but he's got (Roger) Federer to deal with and Federer's not that old of a guy. So it doesn't make it a guarantee. Federer's another guy, you know people talked about him for years, but it didn't pan out initially. He took his lumps on the tour while learning to play. Andre (Agassi) is another guy who started out at 16. But these guys learn so fast now, they sort of soak up the information, they're fearless. Those are the guys who learn from their mistakes and come back strong the next time. Boris when he was 17, you know he had a baby face, but physically he was better than 95 percent of the players. And Nadal's that way, but Donald Young is not that way. He's a kid, so you've got to be careful. He's got a natural feel of how to play, but he's got to work on his serve, volleys, his toughness, but he's got plenty of time to work on that. He's still a kid."...From Reuters this morning: "A bitter war of words erupted between Lleyton Hewitt and Guillermo Coria at the Davis Cup on Friday with the pair trading insults and accusing each other of bad sportsmanship. Hewitt won an ill-tempered match 7-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 to give Australia a 1-0 lead over Argentina. Coria, who had been increasingly irritated by Hewitt's antics during the match, accused Hewitt of swearing at him and said he wanted to kill the Australian while Hewitt dismissed Coria as arrogant and a bad loser. "I admire his game but I don't like the way he is," Coria told a news conference. "He can be the best player in the world, he can win every tournament but he can not behave the way he does, abusing the captain, abusing the other players. Lleyton cheers for other people's mistakes and is very aggressive and it's very difficult not to get provoked. I'd rather not win a single tournament in my life than be like him." Coria said Hewitt's tempestuous on-court behavior had become a talking point among players on the tennis circuit and it was time the officials stood up to him. "Outside the game is one thing but inside the court I really feel like killing him. And it's not just the Argentinian team (that feel this way), every other international player on the circuit does as well."