Tennis Barbie Debuts, and Were Not Talking Anna Kournikova
Posted on August 3, 2005
Roddick Cruises, Henman Loses at ATP WashingtonNo. 3 seed Tim Henman and wildcard entrant Mark Philippoussis continued their dismal 2005 campaigns Tuesday at the ATP stop in Washington, posting opening-round losses with the Brit falling to Wimbledon doubles winner Weslie Moodie in straight sets, and the moody Aussie going out in straights to Peru's Luis Horna.
"I didn't play badly tonight but that's the way things go sometimes. I ended up losing," Henman said. "Moodie is a guy that plays well. He's got a great serve and is aggressive."
The South African Moodie has been riding a wave of confidence since winning the Wimbledon doubles crown and hiring a full-time coach.
"The pressure was on him, I started to return very well at the end," Moodie said. "To beat a world-class player like Tim it gives me a lot of confidence. I know that I am able to win these types of matches."
Top-seeded Andy Roddick (d. G.Lapentti) cruised in straight sets, while No. 16 seed Tomas Zib recovered from a first-set bagel to defeat Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman in three sets.
"The momentum is definitely swinging my way," said Roddick, possibly suffering from heat-mania in describing his two biggest weaknesses as strengths. "Right now the biggest thing out there is I have options, if my serve is not there that night I can fall back on my backhand and concentrate on the volley."
No. 7 Max Mirnyi was another seeded victim, outlasted in three sets by Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic.
Other unseeded winners on the hardcourts were Americans Robby Ginepri (d. countryman K.Kim), (WC) Bobby Reynolds (d. (WC) Clayton) and (WC) Brian Baker (d. (Q) Heuberger), France's Arnaud Clement (d. N.Lapentti in three), Luxembourg's pride Gilles Muller (d. Sanguinetti), Aussie qualifier Nathan Healey (d. Carraz), and Czech Jan Hernych (d. (LL) De Chaunac).
"I hope that I can do something at the US Open," said the current US Open Series leader Ginepri. "That's what I'm preparing myself for with this summer sequence. And I've had a good run so far. I'm confident, I just need to keep the ball rolling from here."
On tap for Wednesday in Washington are Muller vs. (9) Massu, Blake vs. (4) Stepanek, Goldstein vs. (13) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, in doubles highlights (1) Bryan/Bryan vs. Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean/Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, (12) Beck vs. Ginepri, (8) Grosjean vs. Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp, (11) "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. (Q) Healey, (15) Ricardo Mello "Yello" vs. (WC) Bobby Reynolds "Wrap," (WC) Baker vs. (14) Juan Ignacio "The Spitting Snake" Chela, (LL) Bloomfield vs. Clement, Luis "Me So" Horna vs. (5) The Dominator, and Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs vs. (10) Berdych.
Moya Struggles, Coria Beats Guga at ATP Sopot
French Open runner-up Mariano Puerta was on a high after his heroics at Roland Garros and helping Argentina to a Davis Cup upset at Australia on grass, but since then the Argentine grinder has slid back to reality on the red dirt.
Puerta followed his third-round defeat last week at Kitzbuhel with a first-round loss Tuesday at the ATP claycourt stop in Sopot, where the top seed was stopped by Fin Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets.
Advancing into the second round were seeds (3) Guillermo Coria (d. (WC) Kuerten, who retired in the second set with a neck injury), (4) Carlos Moya (d (Q) Fyrstenberg in three), and (5) Filippo Volandri (d. (WC) Kubot).
"This was a very difficult match coming from last week in Umag where the conditions were completely different," Moya said after surviving in three sets. "I knew that Fyrstenberg was an excellent doubles player, but today I saw that he also plays very well in singles. It was a difficult match for me, playing against a lefty and still being a little bit tired after the final on Sunday."
For Guga Kuerten, Sopot was a pain in the neck.
"It was difficult for me today, it was very painful to play," Kuerten said. "I've had problems with my neck during the last days and I almost couldn't move two days ago."
Other unseeded winners Tuesday were German Florian Mayer (d. Zabaleta 6-1 in the third), Spaniards Felix Mantilla (d. (Q) Matkowski 6-1 in the third) and Nicolas Almagro (d. countryman Portas in three), French teen Gael Monfils (d. Marin, bagel in the first), and Argentine Juan Monaco (d. (LL) Mackin).
Scheduled for Wednesday on the dirt are Juan "The Principality" Monaco vs. Gael "Force" Monfils, (8) Hanescu vs. Costa, (3) Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. Mantilla, and Sabau vs. (7) Andreev.
Asians Peng, Morigami Post Upsets at WTA San Diego
The rise of Asian tennis was once again underlined Tuesday at the WTA stop in San Diego when China's Shuai Peng (d. (3) Dementieva), and Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (15) Pennetta) advanced into the third round with upsets on the California hardcourts.
"This was definitely a tough first match," Dementieva said, playing her first match since Wimbledon in a first-time encounter with Peng. "She's a very good player, one of the best young up and coming players this year. She has a very solid game, great from the baseline and moves very well."
Japan's Ai Sugiyama (d. Shaughnessy, who retired in the first with a back injury) also advanced.
Seeded players safely through Tuesday were (2) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Koukalova), (10) Nathalie Dechy (d. Brandi), (11) Jelena Jankovic (d. Frazier, bagel in the second), and (17) Francesca Schiavone (d. (WC) Spears).
"I played my defensive tennis against her and she played her best tennis," Kuznetsova said of the Czech Koukalova hanging with her in two tight sets. "I couldn't get the rhythm off the of the ball. First matches can be difficult so I'm happy to get through to the next round."
Mashona Washington (d. Sprem 6-1 in the third) provided the only win for the U.S. on a day Americans posted a 1-4 win-loss.
Other unseeded winners were Indian qualifier Sania Mirza (d. (Q) Garbin), Czech Kveta Peschke (d. (WC) Craybas 7-6 in the third), Russians Anna Chakvetadze (d. Benesova) and qualifier Anastassia Rodionova (d. Stosur), and German Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. (WC) Daniilidou).
Scheduled for Wednesday in San Diego are Schnyder vs. Peschke, Groenefeld vs. Pierce, Mirza vs. Petrova, Domachowska vs. Clijsters, Raymond vs. Karatantcheva, Hantuchova vs. Sugiyama, Zvonareva vs. Washington, Dechy vs. Dulko, Jankovic vs. Sromova, Likhovtseva vs. Peer, Jidkova vs. Safina, and Rodionova vs. Schiavone.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
HEAD/Penn Racquet Sports and Mattel, Inc. announced the debut Tuesday of the "HEAD Barbie Junior Series," a new line of dolls combining "HEAD's racquet design expertise with the fashion and appeal of the Barbie brand," designed for girls ages 4 to 9. Said delirious p.r. man Greg Mason, director of sales and marketing for HEAD/Penn Racquet Sports, who thinks he has found the answer to get more girls playing tennis: "By aligning HEAD products with a brand as established and prestigious as Barbie, we will gain instant recognition and credibility among young girls at retail and on the courts. With fun, colorful tennis equipment in their hands, young girls will be inclined to play longer and more often." Next up: the Joachim Johansson doll, aka Shoulder-Surgery Ken...From the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams must pay $100,000 penalties for failing to participate in the Acura Classic under a program detailed yesterday by Larry Scott, chairman and CEO of the WTA Tour. Lindsay Davenport, who like Sharapova and Williams withdrew from the event at the La Costa Resort and Spa citing an injury, is to pay a lesser penalty that Scott in a news conference did not specify. According to Scott, the fees come out of sums the tour contracts to pay players during the tennis season. Sharapova and Serena, together at the highest level of the tour's "gold exempt program," were contracted for $600,000. For each tournament to which they have committed that they miss, Sharapova and Serena are penalized $100,000."...Roger Federer on his top priority: "Possibly the Masters Cup. I don't play often in Asia and I'm looking forward to returning to Shanghai. The other tournaments are essential for my ranking and it's often those ones that people remember at the end of your career. The Davis Cup remains one of the great goals of my career. At the beginning of every year I analyze my objectives -- in 2005 my main goal was to keep my No. 1 ranking. One day my priority will be Roland Garros and one day it will be the Davis Cup...I went to see a doctor after Wimbledon and the scan confirmed my fears. I had to miss the Canadian tournament to avoid taking any risks. The nature of my injury has been exaggerated in the press. I consulted a doctor but there's nothing serious. I don't feel anything anymore."...Pete Sampras and wife Bridgette Wilson-Sampras have successfully engineered a second offspring in Ryan Nikolaoc Sampras...adidas says it will purchase Reebok for $3.8 billion cash, and Andre Agassi's next-born's naming rights...The Chinese players on the WTA, forced to miss Wimbledon for the Chinese national championships, will also miss all the WTA event in October due to the Chinese Olympics. Hey Chinese sports officials, get an international competition clue...Will Mark Philippoussis get dissed for a US Open wildcard? Survey says -- yes...Will the ATP pull their plans for the ridiculous doubles scoring change after the US Open due to a scathing response from players and the media? Survey says -- yes. At least the ATP/tournament directors can take consolation in their planned combined singles/doubles ranking system putting more than half of the current load of doubles specialists out of business over the next two years -- which goes contrary to the ATP's original mission as a union representative for the players...ATP players Jeff Morrison and James Blake will play in a December tennis exhibition at Marshall University to raise $100,000 for Hospice of Huntington, West Virginia...Pat Cash telling SMH that Lleyton Hewitt needs to step it up and play like a man to beat Roger Federer: "Lleyton has an aggressive personality on the court but he doesn't have an aggressive game. He's a counter-puncher and he's not going to beat Federer if all he's doing is counter-punching. He's got to overhaul his game against Federer. If he's going to go down, he's got to go down swinging. He's got to go for winners whenever he can, get to the net, hustle him. The only players who beat Federer are the ones who take risks and get aggressive, like Marat Safin did at the Australian Open and (Rafael) Nadal did at the French. They both hit a heavy ball and they both attack. Lleyton has gotten to where he is by counter-punching but he can play really aggressively if he wants to. He's got to look at the big picture and try something different. He's got good volleys and he can hit winners, so he can do it. He's just got to be brave enough to try it."...Low-key no-key Dean Goldfine, trying to talk-up some coaching to the Washington Post on pupil Andy Roddick: "Andy, for the most part, needs to be the one who is dictating the play. He needs to use his forehand to try and get his opponent out of position and then close off the points at the net. That's the hardest thing for everybody -- doing something that you're not totally comfortable doing and you don't have as much confidence in when you're at 4-all in the fifth set. That's what you're seeing out there: It's like growing pains." Hey Dean, Andy is describing his volley as an "option"-al strength and you're saying it's shaky, you guys need to get on the same page -- you need to both realize it's shaky...Daniel Nestor talking to Tennis Week on the funniest player on tour: "Well, I don't know, there's no personality in the game (smiling). I'm gonna have to get back to you on that one. (Then calls out to his doubles partner Mark Knowles)..."Knowles, who's a funny guy on Tour?" ("Mardy Fish," he replies.) Yeah, Mardy Fish, he's got a great personality."...WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott on trying to beg Venus Williams to play San Diego this week after pull-outs from Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, which has sponsors up in arms: "She listened to me but what it came down to was that she played last week in Stanford, has Stockholm coming up and she would be playing four weeks in a row," Scott told the L.A. Times. "It was really like trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat." Or a Williams sister out of accepting a massive under-the-table pay-out for showing up at the tiny Stockholm tournament next week, as opposed to the JP Morgan Chase Open in L.A. where tour officials want her?...Is the ATP thinking 'Wow, must be nice to have enough cash for a year-end player bonus pool (like the WTA) to be able to fine players when they skip tournaments..."?