Mirza-Mania On Court Today; Federer Signs With IMG Management

Scheduled for Tuesday are Nakamura vs. Pennetta, Panova vs. T.Sun, Kirilenko vs. Jackson, Laine vs. Peng, Llagostera Vives vs. Jidkova, and N.Li vs. Craybas.

Uberoi Thrills Indian Fans, Mirza On Today at WTA Kolkata

Florida-trained Indian Shika Uberoi gave the homecountry fans at the WTA stop in Kolkata something to cheer about Monday, defeating Japan's Ryoko Fuda 6-1, 6-3 to advance into the second round.

It was the first WTA win for Uberoi, who also has sister Neha in the main draw at Kolkata.

In the only two other main draw matches Monday, Indian qualifier Ankita Bhambri came up short against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, and Puerto Rican Villmarie Castellvi defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi, both in straight sets.

"I played an aggressive game not worrying about the fact that my opponent was ranked 73 places above me," Castellvi said. "But I need to lift my game further to regularly produce good results."

On tap for Tuesday in Kolkata are Camerin vs. Chakravarthi, An.Serra Zanetti vs. Chuang, N.Uberoi vs. Rao, Arvidsson vs. Tanasugarn, Namigata vs. Mirza, Salerni vs. Czink, Parra Santonja vs. Fujiwara, and Ruano Pascual vs. Pous Tio.

Seeds 3-for-3 Monday at WTA Portoroz

All three seeds in play advanced Monday at the WTA stop in Portoroz, Slovenia in (4) Klara Koukalova (d. Sanchez Lorenzo, bagel in the second), (6) Katarina Srebotnik (d. Nagyova from a set down), and (8) Roberta Vinci (d. Mamic).

Scheduled for Tuesday in Portoroz are M.Zec Peskiric vs. Prusova, Pironkova vs. Medina Garrigues, Farina Elia vs. Henke, Klepac vs. Ondraskova, Vrljic vs. Benesova, Daniilidou vs. Pin, Bartoli vs. Ani, Szavay vs. Bachmann, Sucha vs. Peschke, Bychkova vs. Schaul, Kloesel vs. Kurhajcova, Bremond vs. Kostanic, and Sfar vs. Tu.

Davis Cup World Group Semifinal Previews

The Davis Cup World Group semifinals begin Friday, with Argentina at the Slovak Republic, and Russia at Croatia. Here is a look at the four teams vying for the final, with Russia the only team of the four to raise the Cup (only once) in the Open Era:

Argentina at Slovak Republic
Site: Sibamac Arena National Tennis Centre, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Surface: Hard (Premier) indoors
Ball: Dunlop Fort Duck

The Slovaks take the Argentines off their favored clay, but the quick indoor hardcourts won't faze former Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian, who will likely be backed up in singles by the equally-comfortable Guillermo Coria, with their other fastcourt weapon Guillermo Canas serving a two-year drug ban.

Slovak captain Miloslav Mecir will go with Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, and probably Karol Beck who has been getting more quality court time than either Karol Kucera or Michal Mertinak. Hrbaty has not been defeated this year in Davis Cup singles in wins over the defending champion Spaniards and the Netherlands as the Slovaks make their first World Group semifinal appearance.

Nalbandian beat Hrbaty resoundingly in their only meeting on clay in 2004, but The Dominator has a 2-2 career mark vs. Coria. Beck beat Nalbandian in their only previous meeting this year at the Masters Series-Canada, and lost in his only meeting with Coria on grass in 2004.

If both Nalbandian and Coria prove fit throughout the weekend, not all the cheering in Bratislava can keep the Argentines from moving through to the final in what on paper will be a tightly-contested tie.

Russia at Croatia
Site: Dvorana SC Gripe, Split, Croatia
Surface: Carpet (Greenset) indoors
Ball: Pro Penn ATP

Ever since upsetting the U.S. "Dream Team" of Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi in the opening round, the Croats have had their eyes on the prize, something that couldn't be accomplished even during the heady days of Goran Ivanisevic -- a Davis Cup title for Croatia.

Without Marat Safin, sidelined with a bum knee, the Dvorana will be rockin' as the Croatian fans attempt to cheer the twosome of Ivan Ljubicic and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic into the final.

Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev will likely draw on Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny in the singles, though Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov are capable substitutes, with Tursunov looking to make his Davis Cup debut.

The final will hinge on the play of Ljubicic, who was unstoppable during the first two months of the year, reaching four finals before almost single-handedly knocking the U.S. out in the first round of Cup play. But since then the dome-topped Croat has failed to reach a single quarterfinal in almost seven months, and will be putting his streak of nine singles and doubles Davis Cup wins dating to February 2004 on the line.

Ljubicic has lost both his career meetings with Davydenko, and beat Youzhny in their only career meeting last year on clay in three sets. Ancic on the other hand, the shakier of the two in singles, is 2-1 career vs. Davydenko and has never faced Youzhny.

Ljubicic will have to find the special sauce that brought him to four tournament finals in January-February to again do the heavy lifting for the streaky Ancic if Croatia is to reach its first Davis Cup final.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Lindsay Davenport pulled from the WTA stop in Beijing Monday citing a back injury...Bangalore, India will get a new event on the WTA calendar in 2006 along with Tel Aviv, Israel...Justin Gimelstob writing for SI.com on taking a set off of Rafael Nadal last week in Beijing: "I found that my best opportunities to frustrate him were to try to take away his timing and attack the net as much as possible. He does tend to hit a lot of balls short, which allowed me to move up in the court and attack. Unfortunately for me, his passing shots and defensive skills are awesome. He hit a few shots on the dead run that made me shake my head in amazement."...Native Indian Rushmi Chakravarthi on India's Fed Cup team possibly being made up of U.S.-based Indians only in the near future: "Being an Indian and staying in India obviously doesn't help. We don't have sponsors and have to finance our trips abroad. So, we can't play many tournaments and that doesn't help our rankings. On the other hand, the girls who are based in the U.S. are better off financially and play lots of tournaments, which helps their rankings. But it doesn't help them enough to represent the U.S. So, what better place than India, although they would think twice about going through the grind here? When [India's tennis federation] have ready-made players, why bother to nurture indigenous talent?"...On Monday Sania Mirza visited Kolkata schools to award participating students in the Sunfeast Trophy Design Contest: "It's great to come back home after a long time," Mirza was quoted by Asian Age speaking to students. "I do not live in Kolkata but it's equally home to me. Hope you all will come tomorrow to cheer me and all through the week. I am not old. I am not a grandma. I am just one of you. If I can do this anyone of you can do this. As long as you put in effort, do your best and have fun in what you are doing, you can achieve it. Whatever field you choose, age does not matter. Hope many more Sanias come up in future." Uh oh, the third-person references have begun -- Stop! Diva-time!...From adnki.com on threats to Sania Mirza this week at the WTA event in Kolkata: "As well as private security staff, the Muslim tennis star has also been assured of 24-hour police protection, according to a local police executive. "Anywhere she goes she will also be followed by a commando," ready to shield her against any possible actions by militant organisation, Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind or other Islamic groups that have threatened Mirza for her on-court apparel. Certain Islamic leaders have said that if she shows up in her usual tennis skirts that leave her legs uncovered together with her tight-fitting t-shirts, "she will be prevented from playing." A women should wear a veil, without showing her hands or feet, according Maulana Siddidullah Chowdhry, the secretary of the Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind group, and "in Islam, there is not specific indication as to what should be worn to the market or when playing." "It is up to her to decide what to do," the Islamic spokesperson told local television and radio stations, clarifying however that no one had issued a fatwa, as some newspapers had reported, and that there is no fear of any incidents. Even so, he said that Mirza would do well to wear "appropriate attire." Police in the state say that they are not taking any chances this time after the incident some months ago in which the Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasreen, was stopped by such groups as she was addressing a seminar on fundamentalism."...Matt Cronin writing for TennisReporters.net: "In a absolute height of absurdity moment for [Inside Tennis' Bill] Simons during the [World TeamTennis] final, while he was asking [Martina] Hingis about whether a return [to the tour] was in the offing, he was cut off by New York coach Joe Guiliano with a "WorldTeam Tennis questions only" interruption. It's a good thing that Guiliano is running media operations there. He and the crew are doing a fine job -- there were two reporters at the final, Simons and a business reporter for the Sacramento Bee. So Joey G., if you are running the press pup tent and want some publicity, you allow the reporters to ask anything about anything hoping that some of the answers actually make into print."...Brit Davis Cup captain Jeremy "Master" Bates on Switzerland choosing clay for their Davis Cup meeting: "I'm not sure where they're coming from with that choice of surface." Hmmm, that is a tough one, let's see -- could it be because Greg Rusedski or Andy Murray have never won a tour clay title, and Federer is one of the Top 5 dirt players on the planet with three Masters Series-Hamburg titles in addition to other smaller clay titles? Huh? Hmmmm? Federer gets it -- you put big servers like Rusedski and Murray on grass and anything can happen, even with the two-time defending Wimbledon champ...The 2006 French Open men's and women's singles winners will receive equal prize money, the French Tennis Federation announced...From the Roger Federer website: "Roger has expanded his business team by adding IMG, the world's largest sports marketing and management agency, to capitalize on his global business opportunities. "It is definitely an ideal situation," Roger emphasizes: "I continue to work with my team and can use the advantages of both the existing lean structure and a worldwide network at the same time. I met with IMG's new owner and chairman, Ted Forstmann, and learned about his vision for IMG going forward and the team he proposed for me at IMG. I liked what he had to say in terms of business ideas and also have found a common ground with Ted in terms of our charitable efforts in addressing children's issues, especially in Africa. We hope this partnership can take us to the next level."...Mahesh Bhupathi speaking to Rediff on Sania Mirza: "Her forehand is a big weapon. She has got very solid ground strokes. She has got a big heart and she is not scared of playing the big names. Off court, she carries herself great. You know, there are a lot of celebrities who don't have personality, but she has a great personality and she deals with the media really well. She deals with her sponsors very well, and I think that's why they are lining up to sign her...She's got a few parts of her game which she can work on. She's young and she's got a long way to go, so, hopefully, she will identify them after her season's over this year and work on them in the off season."...Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova, both receiving byes this week in Beijing, played an exhibition match in Seoul yesterday with Venus winning 6-4, 6-4...Mats Wilander says Wimbledon is slow and the English are dumb: "I'm personally very disappointed the way they are making Wimbledon these days. We're slowly losing the style of playing tennis which is the serve and volley. But we are slowly losing that because the grasscourts in Wimbledon are getting slower and slower. I'm not sure what they are thinking in England because you have (British) players like Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. England might be the only country in the world who don't actually try and (prepare courts to) suit them. It seems they are doing everything they can for them not to win."...Venus Williams, out of the No. 1 race this year, says wait until 2006: "Winning Wimbledon was a great moment, but I want to have a lot more moments like that. I really think I can get even better. Maybe not this year, but next year I'm planning on bringing some awesome things to the court."...From ESPN.com freelancer Bonnie DeSimone on the upcoming U.S. vs. Belgium Davis Cup Qualifying Round tie: "No. 34-rated James Blake, a strong claycourt player, bowed out of the Open in a memorable and draining five-set, late-night quarterfinal loss to Andre Agassi..." Ouch, an 18-20 career record on the dirt with no clay titles is "strong"? -- the bar has been lowered.