Safin Out Longer Than Expected; Roddick Reps Mass Firing

Posted on October 4, 2005

Attack of "C"-Squad Americans at ATP Tokyo

It was the attack of the "C"-squad Americans Monday on the first day of unseeded play at the Japan Open in Tokyo, with qualifier Eric Taino (d. (Q) Iwami), the embattled Jan-Michael Gambill (d. Wessels in three) and Kevin Kim (d. Gremelmayr) advancing into the second round.

"I feel lucky to get through because I got off to a slow start and then he had all those set points," Taino said. "He was competing hard, but had a little let-down in the second."

Other un-seeds successfully into the second round were Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti (d. (WC) Ittogi 0-and-1), Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis (d. Tipsarevic), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Garcia-Lopez from a set down), German Bjorn Phau (d. Koubek 7-6 in the third), and Croat Roko Karanusic (d. Udomchoke).

"It was a strange match," Phau said. "It was a roller coaster, up and down. I was up in all sets, but he always kept it close. I just had to hang in there because there were many opportunities for me to go totally nuts. I stayed focused and tried to fight."

Scheduled for Tuesday in Tokyo are (Q) Go "Diet" Soeda vs. Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs vs. (WC) Suzuki, Moodie vs. Wang, Kohlschreiber vs. (WC) Terachi, Phau vs. (8) Spadea, (WC) Motomura vs. Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp, (Q) "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter vs. Burgsmuller, Waske vs. Gimelstob, Vanek vs. Dlouhy, Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis vs. (14) Minar, and (15) Vik vs. K.Kim.

Massu a Seeded Casualty at ATP Metz

No. 1 Nikolay Davydenko (d. Mello) led the seeded advance on the opening day Monday at the ATP stop in Metz, joined by fellow seeds (3) Ivan Ljubicic (d. Acasuso), (4) Dominik Hrbaty (d. (WC) Ascione), and (5) Robin Soderling (d. Zib), all in straight sets.

"The fact that he's not a big server was something good for me, especially on this surface," said Davydenko of the Brazilian Mello. "The court is not that fast but against a good server things can turn out to be really difficult."

Argentine Agustin Calleri orchestrated the lone upset on the day, taking out No. 8 seed Nicolas Massu 7-5, 7-5.

The final round of qualifying was also completed with the final four completing the draw in Peter Luczak (AUS), Gilles Simon (FRA), Tobias Summerer (GER), and Yuri Schukin (RUS).

Scheduled for Tuesday in Metz are Pavel vs. (7) Sanguinetti, El Aynaoui vs. Mayer, Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro vs. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, Llodra vs. (Q) Simon in an all-French, (WC) Mark "The Dud Scud" Philippoussis vs. Behrend, (6) Gael "Force" Monfils vs. Juan Ignacio "The Spitting Snake" Chela, and Sabau vs. Seppi.

Myskina, Dementieva on Tuesday at WTA Filderstadt

Only three main draw matches, all unseeded, on the opening day Monday at the WTA stop in Filderstadt with winners Flavia Pennetta (d. Schruff) of Italy, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova (d. (WC) Shaughnessy, bagel in the second), and Russian Dinara Safina (d. (WC) Kloesel).

"I've been playing really well the whole summer and it's very satisfying to start a tournament like this," Hantuchova said. "I missed a few opportunities early in the first set but I just kept going for my shots and tried to stay calm and believe in what I was doing. She serves hard but I felt I was in control and it was just a matter of time."

The final round of the qualifying draw was also completed with four more elevated onto the main dance floor in Eleni Daniilidou (GRE), Karolina Sprem (CRO), Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE), and Stephanie Gehrlein (GER).

On tap for Tuesday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix are Dementieva vs. Ondraskova, Dechy vs. Molik, Ivanovic vs. Schnyder, Gehrlein vs. Myskina, Schiavone vs. Chakvetadze, and Likhovtseva vs. Farina Elia.

Three Japanese Advance at WTA Tokyo

Japanese players posted a 3-0 record Monday on opening day at the WTA Japan Open, with winners (7) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Vento-Kabchi), (WC) Saori Obata (d. Sucha 1-and-0), and another unseeded player in Rika Fujiwara (d. Bammer who retired at a set-all with an arm injury).

Also into the second round was unseeded Slovak Henrieta Nagyova (d. Garbin from a set down).

The final round of singles qualifying was completed Monday, with four more onto the main draw in Severine Bremond (FRA), Vilmarie Castellvi (PUR), Sofia Arvidsson (SWE), and Shiho Hisamatsu (JPN).

Scheduled for Tuesday in Tokyo are Morita vs. Kirilenko, Zvonareva vs. Castano, Jidkova vs. Sugiyama, Peer vs. Bartoli, Castellvi vs. Mirza, Nakamura vs. Washington, Pin vs. Granville, Bremond vs. Arvidsson, Dulko vs. Hsieh, and Craybas vs. Jackson.

Uzbeks Run Riot at WTA Tashkent

Uzbekistan was the big winner Monday in opening-day play at the WTA stop in Tashkent, with wildcard Akgul Amanmuradova upending No. 2 seed Alona Bondarenko, and qualifier Iroda Tulyaganova defeating Olga Savchuk, both in straight sets to advance into round two.

"I knew that if I serve well I have a chance to beat her," Amanmuradova said.

Other unseeded advancers were Russia's Galina Voskoboeva (d. Salerni) and Czech Barbora Strycova (d. (Q) Prakusya from a set down).

On tap for Tuesday in Tashkent are Parra Santonja vs. Poutchek, Antypina vs. K.Bondarenko, Koryttseva vs. An.Serra Zanetti, Sromova vs. Krajicek, and Panova vs. Rodina.

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