WTA Injury Hits Keep Coming; Murray Passed Over for US Open Wildcard
Posted on August 19, 2005
Four No. 1s Into ATP Cincinnati QuarterfinalsFour current or former No. 1s advanced into the quarterfinals Thursday at the Masters Series-Cincinnati, promising some fireworks over the weekend with just over a week until play kicks off at the US Open.
Advancing in straights sets Thursday were (1) Roger Federer (d. O.Rochus), (3) Lleyton Hewitt (d. Ancic), (4) Marat Safin (d. Hrbaty, bagel in the first), and (5) Andy Roddick (d. Chela).
"A lot of the guys these days are pretty one-dimensional," said Hewitt after besting the all-courter Ancic, trying himself to add a little more aggression to his game. "There's not a whole heap of guys like Greg Rusedski or Tim Henman, these guys that are capable of chip-charging, serve-volleying. So, you know, if I can throw in a little bit different tactic now and then, you know, you never know -- that element of surprise can sometimes help."
Rochus, who won the 1998 Wimbledon junior doubles title with Federer, says the Swiss has developed nicely.
"I remember him when we were 13 years old. He was always losing 6-0, 6-1 against everybody in the under-14 tournament," Rochus said. "We were almost laughing at him, and now he's laughing at us. He's No. 1, easy. And really, when he was young, at the beginning, he was really bad."
Safin evened his career meetings with Hrbaty at 7-7 by getting on top early.
"I tried to be as aggressive as I can and try to get into the match very quickly," Safin said. "Because with him, with the style of game that he has, it's really difficult to get used to. He's the kind of player that you need to be really careful and really focus from the beginning of the match."
Other winners into the quarterfinals were (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Gonzalez), Argentine Jose Acasuso (d. Horna), Russian Mikhail Youzhny (d. Monfils from a set down), and American wildcard Robby Ginepri (d. Moya).
In second-round doubles upsets, unseeded Wimbledon champs Huss/Moodie ousted the top-seeded Bryan brothers in three sets, and Spaniards Ferrer/Robredo likewise surprised No. 8-seeded Aussies Arthurs/Hanley.
Lining up for the Friday quarterfinals are (1) Federer vs. Acasuso (Fed won their lone meeting in four sets at the 2003 US Open), (4) Safin vs. Ginepri (the American won their lone meeting 0-and-1 at the 2003 MS-Indian Wells), (3) Hewitt vs. (6) Davydenko (Hewitt leads 2-0, both on clay), and (5) Roddick vs. Youzhny (the Russian leads 2-1, with Roddick winning their last meeting in five sets at the 2003 Aussie Open).
"He's tough," Roddick said of Youzhny. "He always tries to be the aggressor. He's pretty flashy as a shot-maker, so I'll definitely have my hands full."
Four More Players Injured Thursday at WTA Toronto
Another marquee WTA player was added to the list of the walking wounded Thursday at the Rogers Cup in Toronto when defending US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova injured her back en route to a 7-6(3), 7-6(8) loss to unseeded Gisela Dulko.
Suffering the injury in the first set and calling the trainer, the Russian with the tank-like frame nonetheless played through the pain in an ill-fated attempt to reach the quarterfinals.
"I just felt like I couldn't turn my body," said Kuznetsova who led 5-4 in the first when struck by the injury. "Sometimes it just hurt. You wait for a couple minutes and it goes away. And I still kept trying. I played two more points and I said, 'It's hurting too much. I cannot turn my body to the side. I cannot push myself for the serve.' I said, 'I got to call for a trainer.'"
Kuznetsova, whose stocky build has left her injury-free most of her career, made the decision to then play through another set.
"I just couldn't take this decision to pull out," Kuznetsova said. "I never did it in my life. So this was hard to me. And I think I should have done it because, I didn't go that far. Third set, I mean anyway, I couldn't play. It was too much of pain."
For Dulko it was her second career Tier I quarterfinal after Indian Wells last year.
"She was injured, but she fought till the last point," Dulko said. "It was a really tight match. And I think it's a really big win for me because I get the opportunity to be in the quarterfinals of this big tournament."
No. 9-seeded Russian Anastasia Myskina, next up for Dulko, also suffered injury in the form of a sprained ankle during her straight-set win over Shinobu Asagoe.
"Sometimes when you feel the pain, you try to be tougher, really become stronger," said Myskina who left the court crying before coming back with the taped ankle. "So I was kind of thinking to finish the match because I was up. I really felt that if I just can put everything to that set, I'm going to be able to win the match...Maybe just today I have a pain and tomorrow it might go away, because I'm going to do a lot of treatment today and hopefully tomorrow I'm going to be good."
Two other players succumbed to injury Thursday, with China's Li Na retiring against No. 6 seed Nadia Petrova after suffering an ankle sprain, and No. 12 seed Ana Ivanovic withdrawing from the tournament earlier on Thursday after sustaining a pectoral muscle strain, the same injury that has waylaid world No. 2 Maria Sharapova. Ivanovic's withdrawal gave No. 7 seed Kim Clijsters a free walk into the quarters.
Other players into the quarters Thursday were (2) Amelie Mauresmo (d. Martinez, bagel in the first), (4) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Zheng), and unseeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova (d. (LL) Sromova).
"Not spending too much time on the court is an advantage when you play these kind of tournaments, when you have to go out every day," Mauresmo said after giving the formerly No. 2-ranked Martinez only two games. "But because I haven't played for a month in competition, I like to be maybe tested a little bit more so that I can really know where I am in terms of physical training and everything."
Lining up for the Friday quarterfinals are (2) Mauresmo vs. (6) Petrova (career meetings tied 1-1), (4) Henin-Hardenne vs. Vaidisova (H-H won their only meeting in straights at the 2004 US Open), (7) Clijsters vs. (14) Pennetta (first meeting), and (9) Myskina vs. Dulko (Russian won their lone meeting last year on clay in Fed Cup play).
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