Nalbandian Posts Win to Tie Aussies 1-1 in Davis Cup
Posted on July 16, 2005
Hewitt Beats Coria in War of Words Davis Cup MeetingWhile rain shortened the Davis Cup meeting between Australia and Argentina to one match Friday, the first day's encounter between Lleyton Hewitt and Guillermo Coria lived up to explosive expectations.
Hewitt put the Aussies out front with a screaming, fist-pumping, glaring, obscenity-spewing 7-6(5), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 exhibition that had Coria afterwards saying that on court he "feel(s) like killing him."
The tension between the two players fully erupted in the fourth set when Hewitt broke in the fifth game and jumped wildly in the air while at the same time directing his "fanatics" cheering section and the rest of the crowd to bring the noise.
Coria for his part lost his patience on the following changeover, yelling at the chair umpire and gesturing wildly, restrained by his coach.
Hewitt then turned up his own volume, shouting his trademark "C'mon!" and bringing out the Swedish "vicht" hand gesture which Coria started to mock. With the crowd and momentum behind him, Hewitt ran out the final two games of the match.
"He can be the best player in the world, he can win every tournament, but he cannot behave the way he does, abusing the captain, abusing the other players," Coria said. "I won't repeat what I heard out there. Outside of the court he is one thing, but inside the court you really feel like killing him."
Hewitt for his part claimed he played his regular game, though he said he directed words at his opponent after he saw the Argentine gesturing in his direction, asking Coria "if he had an issue."
"I say "C'mon!" on the court and I don't think that is so bad," Hewitt said. "The guy spat on the court and he spat in the referee's direction when he wasn't happy with the court surface. He tried hip-and-shouldering me in the first, and he complained the whole day. I'm not sure what his issue is but I'm pretty sure (it's) because he lost the match...To be perfectly honest, he is arrogant and he lost the match today and he's looking for every excuse in the book. Not once did I have words with him and to tell you the truth I think he's a sore loser."
Hewitt yelled "F*** off!" across the net on at least one occasion, but afterwards said it was not directed at Coria.
The second singles was suspended Friday due to moisture on the court, but on Saturday morning David Nalbandian finished off Wayne Arthurs 6-3, 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-2 to even the tie at 1-1.
The scheduled doubles for Saturday is Hewitt-Arthurs versus Nalbandian and Mariano Puerta, but don't be surprised if the Argentines pull a last-minute switch.
Slovaks, Dutch Level at 1-1 in Davis Cup Quarters
The visiting Dutch came out of day one in their Davis Cup tie at the Slovak Republic with a 1-1 tie thanks to the heroics of emerging fast-court specialist Peter "Nuclear" Wessels, who came from 1-2 sets down to defeat Slovak Karol Beck 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 on Friday.
"It is fair to say that Karol is very tired right now and we have to evaluate his condition with the rest of the team and see tomorrow what the doubles pairing will be," Slovak captain Miloslav Mecir said.
In the first match, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty put the Slovaks out front with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Dutchman "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, who suffered during the match with a wrist problem.
"It (cramp) started at 3-1 when I hit a forehand slice with one hand and I felt a little click in my wrist," Sluiter said. "It wasn't too bad but it was followed by cramps in my hand and then a couple of games later cramps in my legs."
In the lowest-wattage tie of the four World Group quarterfinals, the Dutch are happy with their place in the elite group without a top player after the retirement of Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek.
To keep competitive the Dutch dragged 39-year-old Paul Haarhuis out of retirement, partnering with Wessels to likely face Beck and Michal Mertinak on Saturday.
Ljubicic Saves Davis Cup Tie at 1-1 Versus Romania
Ivan Ljubicic picked up for the faltering Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic Friday in Croatia's Davis Cup home tie versus Romania, rolling past Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(3) to even things at 1-1 after day one.
In the opening singles, Romanian stalwart Andrei Pavel outlasted Ancic in a 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 thriller lasting 3 hours and 40 minutes. Ancic delivered 31 aces to Pavel's six, but the Romanian was steadier from the baseline and proved his passing shots were a match for the Croatian's net-crushing game.
"I'm sorry is Mario. He played a great match, but few points here and there made the difference," Ljubicic said. "Maybe he wanted it too much."
Ancic led 6-1, 4-1 before again cementing his reputation as a player that cannot win the big matches.
Romanian captain Adrian Marcu said he would not unveil his doubles line-up until Saturday, but whoever the captain picks will be underdogs against the explosive team of Ancic-Ljubicic, who in their last Davis Cup outing beat the American Bryan brothers.
Davydenko Evens Russia-France Davis Cup at 1-1
Russia's Nikolay Davydenko made good on his word Friday in Moscow, returning from a wrist injury to even the Davis Cup tie between Russia and France at 1-1 after day one of play.
Without former No. 1 Marat Safin who is recovering from knee surgery, Russia was at a disadvantage entering the tie until Sebastien Grosjean pulled out on the opposition's side citing exhaustion.
Davydenko beat historic French choker Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 after France's 19-year-old phenom Richard Gasquet gave the visitors the lead with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(1) win over Russian Igor Andreev.
"I wanted to play solidly from the baseline and make him make the mistakes," Davydenko said, needing six match points to complete the job. "The only time I didn't do that was in the third set, but I re-found my game plan in time to win in three sets."
It was difficult to tell whether stress or injury caused Gasquet to suffer wrist problems during the match, with Gasquet himself pointing to the former, trying to shrug off nerves.
"I had stress cramps in my right wrist," Gasquet said. "I've been thinking of this match for the past 10 days, I've been so keen to play, and I think this can happen. But I'm so pleased to have won, I played nearly a perfect match."
Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra are scheduled to face Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny Saturday in the doubles.
16-Year-Old Ousts Top-Seeded Schiavone at WTA Modena
Top-seeded Francesca Schiavone's quest for a first career title was again dashed Friday at the WTA stop in Modena when the Italian homecountry hope was upset by 16-year-old Hungarian qualifier Agnes Szavay 6-1, 6-4.
Picking up the Italian flag with wins to advance into the semifinals were No. 2 seed Flavia Pennetta (d. (8) Diaz-Olivia, bagel in the first set) and unseeded Tathiana Garbin (d. Mamic from a set down), with No. 5-seeded Israeli Anna Smashnova (d. Loit) rounding out the semis.
Szavay is competing in only her third WTA event.
Saturday's match-ups in Modena are (5) Smashnova vs. (2) Pennetta (Smashnova leads career meetings 3-0), and the No. 301-ranked (Q) Szavay vs. Garbin (first meeting).
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Lleyton Hewitt on the Argentine squad at their Davis Cup meeting: "They came out with the attitude to try and get in my face today and I don't think it was the smartest thing on their behalf because that just gets me fired up even more and makes me want to go out and beat them even harder...I think he was a bit of a sore loser today and he wanted to complain and make excuses about just about everything...that's a bit disappointing."...If David Nalbandian and Mariano Puerta play as scheduled against Lleyton Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs in the Aussie-Gaucho Davis Cup tie, it will be a match pitting two teams with players who have never competed together before in a tour match...After ending his relationship with Nike, will Lleyton Hewitt go with Yonex wear, the manufacturer who produces his racquets?...Guillermo Coria on Lleyton Hewitt: "Rafael Nadal jumps and does a lot of gestures on the court, but he doesn't celebrate your own mistakes. Whereas Lleyton cheers for other peoples' mistakes and he's very aggressive. It's very difficult not to feel provoked and not to get into his game, but as a person I would rather not to win a single tournament in my life and be like him."...TR.net has reported that Andre Agassi will pull out of next week's ATP event at Indianapolis...CBS will show the Cincy final live this year in the U.S...Lleyton Hewitt in his contentious match with Guillermo Coria Friday at one point reportedly swore in his direction and said "Who is this poof?", which roughly translates to "faggot" in the U.S. Add homosexuals to Lleyton's list of undesirables, joining blacks (if you've forgotten the run-in with James Blake and the black line umpire a few years back at the US Open)...Leo Schlink writing for Fox Sports Australia: "Australia's Davis Cup support group, The Fanatics, yesterday became embroiled in the vicious psychological warfare between Lleyton Hewitt and Argentine Guillermo Coria. Clad in T-shirts bearing illustrations of a needle exchange, drug store and a pharmacy prescription outlet under the words "Where's Willie?", the group clearly irked the visitors. The T-shirt slogan was interpreted as a direct reference to Guillermo "Willie" Canas, Argentina's top-ranked player who is absent from the tie because of an ATP doping investigation. The world No. 8 returned an irregularity -- believed to be a diuretic -- when tested in Acapulco in February and withdrew from the tie because of the on-going investigation. Coria was last night accused by Hewitt of spitting at Fanatics organiser Warren Livingstone. The Argentine denied doing so. Livingstone last night confirmed Coria had walked towards the support group's bloc seating in the southern stand midway through the fourth set before spitting. Coria was also accused of spitting at German referee Norbet Peick." Can you drug-test spit? And then a stone from Leo: "Max Mirnyi, of Belarus, last year scathingly questioned the (Argentine's) stunning success, suggesting something sinister might be afoot. Dutchman John van Lottum and former world No. 1 Jim Courier are among a group of former players to raise questions." Actually it was Belarus' Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov rather than Mirnyi who accused the Argentines...Matt Cronin of TR.net reports that Venus Williams and Anastasia Myskina will skip San Diego and L.A. to accept a monster under-the-table payment to play at the low-level event in Stockholm...How great is Davis Cup, eh?...From Tennis Week on World Team Tennis: "The 24-year-old (Martina) Hingis and fellow former No. 1 John McEnroe joined forces for the first time and scored singles, doubles and mixed doubles victories to lead the New York Sportimes to a 25-11 triumph over Mark Philippoussis and the Hartford FoxForce. Though she was not scheduled to play last night's match, the possibility of playing mixed doubles with McEnroe and the allure of continuing a successful season that has seen the Sportimes post a league-best 7-1 record drew Hingis. Stuck in traffic on Interstate 287, Hingis arrived on site about a half hour before the scheduled 7:30 start time of the match, but made up for lost time in speeding past Sequera, 5-0 in singles. "I was committed to play six matches, but I've had such a good time playing I guess I just wanted to do the best I can," said Hingis, who has won 28 of the 35 singles games she's played this season, which is second to Lisa Raymond's 5-0 mark among women's singles players. "At the end of the day, I'd rather play myself than sit on the bench. Claude (Okin) is a great owner and we talked about it (playing more). I just didn't want to disappoint (the fans). It will be a lot of fun playing with John." Seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe, who showed his skills to about seven spectators in attendance during his pre-match practice session in which he directed the ball around the court with the precision of a speed chess player moving pieces into place, was in fine form. From his slick sleight of hand volleys, fist-pumping after delivering dazzling shots and his willingness to sign autographs for young fans, McEnroe produced a crowd-pleasing performance. Philippoussis stepped in for an injured Boris Becker and McEnroe, who briefly coached Philippoussis at the end of last year, stepped up to the challenge. Sliding his lefty serve out of Philippoussis' reach on occasion, McEnroe covered the court quickly, struck more aces than the powerful Aussie and posted a 5-4 (5-1) victory in a tiebreak. "I worked with Mark; I know what he's capable of," McEnroe said before the match. "Obviously, he's a great talent. He's at a critical time of his career. I'm hoping to make him feel bad about himself for another day. He asked me to work with him and coach him, but it didn't pan out because...it's a long story. Let's just say it didn't work out. He's been struggling to get healthy. He's a huge guy and we're playing five games so he can blow anyone on the court playing to five games."...Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson, speaking to the AP on starting over after shoulder surgery: "It's been the hardest thing I think I've ever gone through. Kind of like Martha Stewart said: When you're in prison, no one cares about you, and when you get out, you have to reinvent yourself. I kind of agree with her there -- not that I was in prison," Stevenson said, pausing to laugh at her own words. "But it's a new person. A new arm," the Californian added during a telephone interview. "It's been a year off. So it's the Madonna Reinvention Tour."...The count on Guillermo Coria grabbing his privates as Lleyton Hewitt was preparing to serve in their match yesterday was three: "I had some irritation (in my leg) and Lleyton thought I was insulting him," Coria said through an interpreter, with the Aussies saying the interpreter "softened" his comments. "But I wasn't and Lleyton started insulting me and I just wanted to clarify that. We all know how Lleyton is. As a person outside the game, he's one thing. But inside the court you really feel like killing him." Or if you're an ATP of ITF media employee, out of the court too.