Davenport, Nadal Win; Clijsters Back at Hasselt

Posted on October 24, 2005

Nadal Tops Ljubicic with Incredible Comeback at ATP Madrid

From two sets down in the Masters Series-Madrid final, homecountry hero Rafael Nadal rode the enthusiasm generated by the 10,000-plus fans to post a 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Ivan Ljubicic to claim his 11th overall title and fourth Masters Series win on the year.

Both Roger Federer and Nadal have claimed 11 titles in 2005, and split the eight Masters Series events between them, a never-before-done feat.

"The only reason why I can explain that I managed to turn the game around was the support of the fans here in Madrid," Nadal said. "They have 80 percent of the responsibility for the victory...I'd rank this as my most important victory of the year after Roland Garros."

Ljubicic dropped 32 aces on the scrambling Spaniard, who ended the Croat's 16-match winning streak and hopes for a third consecutive title after Metz and Vienna.

"It was a beautiful feeling to play here and I'm really happy for Rafa because he's young and will have a lot of victories ahead of him still to come," Ljubicic said after the almost-four-hour final.

The telling stats were Ljubicic converting on only five of 13 break point opportunities, and Nadal winning 95 percent of his second-serve points.

No. 3 seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor won the Madrid doubles crown with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback win over the unseeded duo of Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic, their fourth title on the year and second consecutive after Vienna.

Davenport Crowns Return to No. 1 with WTA Zurich Title

Lindsay Davenport completed her No. 1-return week in style Sunday at the WTA stop in Zurich, defeating homecountry favorite Patty Schnyder 7-6(5), 6-3 for her sixth title on the year.

"The first set was very up and down," said Davenport after recording her eighth win in 10 career meetings with Schnyder. "She really fought hard. I served for it and got broken, she had three set points in a row up 6-5 but I just told myself to go for it, step inside the court and be more aggressive. In the second set we had a couple of breaks but from 3-1 down I felt I got a better rhythm going and played quite well by the end of the match."

For Davenport the win helped erase the memory of the loss in the 2002 Zurich final when Schnyder was victorious in three sets.

"She's never easy to play," Davenport said. "She gives you high ones, low ones, mixes up the spins really well and there's no doubt she's a different player when she plays at home."

Davenport is now 22-2 career in Zurich with four titles, previously winning in 1997-98 and in 2001. The American also lost in the 2000 final to another homecountry favorite in Martina Hingis.

"It's great to be sitting here, having won six titles this year and again having a chance to finish the year ranked No. 1," Davenport said. "You never get sick of winning. I mean I've won my last three tournaments in a row but I'm still really motivated to do well. As long as I keep enjoying it and having fun, I can't see myself stopping any time soon."

Schnyder was attempting to add to titles this year at Gold Coast in January and at Cincinnati in July.

"I faced an opponent today who was ready for everything," Schnyder said. "I gave it everything I had and it wasn't good enough. When she starts hitting really deep and hard its tough to stay with her...I played at a really high level and that's what I have to take with me for the next few weeks to qualify for Los Angeles."

Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs won the doubles title, their second on the year with a 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-3 grinder over Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama.

Roddick Looks for Mojo at ATP Lyon

Andy Roddick looks to revive his flagging late-season effort this week at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, joined by an equally-flagging series of Argentine seeds in Mariano Puerta and Gaston Gaudio, Croats Ivan Ljubicic and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Dave Ferrer, and American Robby Ginepri.

Roddick will try and snap his three-ATP-match losing streak in the first round against French wildcard Thierry Ascione.

First-round match-ups to watch are (7) Baby Goran vs. James Blake, (4) Ljubicic vs. Vince "Rappin'" Spadea, Taylor "Acci-" Dent vs. Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro in an all-unseeded, (8) Ginepri vs. Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, (3) Gaudio vs. French veteran Arnaud Clement, and (2) Puerta vs. hot-handed Belgian Olivier Rochus.

In last year's all-unseeded singles final, Swede Robin Soderling claimed the title with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win over Xavier "X-Man" Malisse.

On court Monday in Lyon are Clement vs. (3) Gaudio, Blake vs. (7) Ancic, and Djokovic vs. Mello.

No Safin; Davydenko Leads at ATP St. Petersburg

Officials were hoping for Australian Open winner Marat Safin to head the field this week at the St. Petersburg Open in Russia, but with the former No. 1 still sidelined by a knee injury, the task now falls to top seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Davydenko hopes St. Pete will provide a late-season push for him to qualify for one of the remaining spots for the year-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Joining Davydenko among the seeds are Swede Thomas Johansson, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Russian Mikhail Youzhny, Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, Finn Jarkko Nieminen, Brit "Grinning" Greg Rusedski and Spaniard Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco.

Top seeds Davydenko (vs. Lukas Dlouhy) and Johansson (vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber) should have relatively easy openers, but other testers remain in (8) Verdasco vs. (WC) Mark Philippoussis, and (7) Rusedski vs. Russia-fornian Dmitry Tursunov.

In last year's final Youzhny defeated Karol Beck 6-2, 6-2.

Returning champs in the field are Youzhny (2004) and T.Johansson (1997).

On court Monday are Vik vs. (6) Nieminen, (WC) Davletshin vs. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, Carlsen vs. (3) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, (WC) Kunitsyn vs. Saulnier, Serra vs. (Q) Bjorkman, and (Q) Vanek vs. Pavel.

Novak Defends Title at ATP Basel

Jiri Novak defends his 2004 title this week at the Basel Davidoff Swiss Indoors, where last year the Czech defeated David Nalbandian in the five-set final. The Bryan brothers captured the doubles crown.

The draw will be made Monday in Basel, with play beginning on Tuesday.

Mauresmo Takes Losing Streak Into WTA Linz

France's Amelie Mauresmo, who last week announced she was burnt out and may sit out the rest of the year, nonetheless takes her three-match losing streak into this week's Generali Ladies Linz in Austria.

"There's no fun for me, for the crowd," said Mauresmo after losing in the first round in Zurich. "There's no point for me considering what happened last week and today to keep going and pushing for no result."

But here she is -- who says appearance money doesn't talk?

Mauresmo is followed by three seeds vying for the final spots at the WTA Championships in Russians Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova, and Swiss Patty Schnyder who is coming off her runner-up effort to Lindsay Davenport at Zurich.

Other seeds are Russian Elena Likhovtseva, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, and Serbs Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.

Early-round match-ups of note are France's Tatiana Golovin vs. Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva in an all-unseeded all-teen affair, two unseeded Japanese threats in (8) Ivanovic vs. Shinobu Asagoe and (5) Likhovtseva vs. Ai Sugiyama, and a potential all-Russian second-rounder in (2) Dementieva vs. Vera Zvonareva.

In last year's final the top-seeded Mauresmo rolled Russian Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-0.

Scheduled for Monday are Jankovic vs. Dushevina, Bartoli vs. Martinez, and Golovin vs. Karatantcheva.

Clijsters Resurfaces at WTA Hasselt

Belgian Kim Clijsters resurfaces in her quest to challenge Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova for the year-end No. 1 ranking, heading the field at the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, Belgium.

Joining the former No. 1 among the seeds are France's Nathalie Dechy, hot-handed Italian Francesca Schiavone, Russians Dinara Safina and Anna Chakvetadze, Spaniard Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, Italy's Silvia Farina Elia, and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik.

First-round matches to watch are few, with the No. 7 seed Chakvetadze facing Dutch hope Michaella Krajicek. Potential semifinal meetings are (1) Clijsters vs. (4) Safina, and (3) Schiavone vs. (2) Dechy.

Both of last year's finalists fail to show this week, with last year's top seed Elena Dementieva (playing in Linz this week) beating No. 3 seed Elena Bovina in the all-Russian final 0-6, 6-0, 6-4.

On court Monday at Hasselt are Schruff vs. Medina Garrigues, Farina Elia vs. Flipkens, Daniilidou vs. Callens, and Skavronskaia vs. Camerin.

DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Russia's Elena Bovina has not played since the French Open with a shoulder injury...Canadian doubles specialist Daniel Nestor on the players fighting the ATP to do away with experimental scoring: "We're hoping we can play regular scoring. Obviously, we played different scoring last week, and other players played it the last few weeks. There wasn't much positive feedback from it. There's too much luck involved when the match is so short and when you're tinkering with the scoring like this."...Until this year no player had ever won four ATP Masters Series titles in one season -- now Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have done it in the same season. They have also won three of the four slams between them...On Monday at 7:30 p.m. (EST), catch the witty repartee between Tennis-X Senior Writer Richard Vach, Tennis Channel CEO Steve Bellamy, Tennis Week magazine founder Gene Scott, and moderator Bud Collins for the debut of "Tennis Insiders: Super Insiders #1" on The Tennis Channel...Tommy Haas has reportedly separated with coach "Red" Ayme...The Times Online on the marketability of Nicole Vaidisova and Maria Sharapova: "But [Sharapova] and Vaidisova remain the financial envy of many players who have met with more competitive success and as Peter Lawler, a veteran of tennis management with Octagon, the company that represented [Anna] Kournikova towards the end of her career, observed: "When it comes down to it, the whole thing is based upon one thing: pure and simple sex appeal. Anna was, Sharapova is and Vaidisova could well become one of sport's most lucrative and successful marketing machines. They are gorgeous, young, attractive females and companies are queuing up to have their names connected with them. Lawler insists Kournikova turned down at least six potential deals for every one to which she agreed. Other familiar names never had the opportunity to be so selective. "No matter what their management companies might say, nobody could find a deal for the likes of [Lindsay] Davenport or [Jennifer] Capriati. I'm not going to come out and say what the reason is but I think everyone knows. Suffice to say, it is unlikely to be a problem with which Vaidisova needs to be too concerned."