Roddick v Dent in Paris; Henin Pull from WTA Champs Makes Waves
Posted on November 2, 2005
Coria Fails Masters Cup Q-Test at ParisGuillermo Coria, looking to return to the Masters Cup for a third straight year, failed to win the match that would have clinched him a spot in Shanghai on Tuesday at the Masters Series-Paris, losing 6-4, 6-2 to unseeded Czech Tomas Berdych.
Coria's fate is now up to a handful of players also vying for the final Masters Cup berths.
Argentine Mariano Puerta saw his chances to qualify evaporate after a straight-set loss to qualifier Novak Djokovic.
"It's very probable that I won't be able to go to Shanghai," Puerta said. "In the beginning of the match I was not feeling good. It's great to play the Masters, and I was very close. It's really a pity. I'm very disappointed. I'm very disappointed, that's what I feel. I believe that he will be a champion without any doubt. He's a young player. He plays very well. I believe very soon he will be Top 30 in the world."
No. 3 seed Nikolay Davydenko helped his Masters Cup chances with a 2-and-2 win over Greg Rusedski, and was joined in the winner's circle by fellow seeds (6) Ivan Ljubicic (d. Blake, keeping his Masters Cup chances alive) and (8) Radek Stepanek (d. F.Lopez).
"I really felt I couldn't get through him at all today and I didn't feel like I played as well as I could," said Rusedski, who will reportedly now play a Challenger in the Ukraine in his effort to finish ahead of compatriot Tim Henman for the British No. 1 spot on the year-end ATP Rankings.
No. 15 Mario Ancic was another seeded upset victim, topped by Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov.
Other unseeded winners were Frenchmen (WC) Arnaud Clement (d. Kiefer 7-6 in the third), (WC) Fabrice Santoro (d. Nieminen from a set down), and (LL) Jean-Rene Lisnard (d. countryman (Q) Mahut 7-6 in the third), American Taylor Dent (d. Grosjean), Belarus' Max Mirnyi (d. Massu), and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco (d. (Q) N.Lapentti from a set down).
"As far as my service games go, he was returning great," Dent said of Grosjean. "I had to play some great tennis to hold on to my serve most of the time. He played a great game to break me early in that second set. It's a tough match-up for me. It's a good win for me to get through."
Dent will now get a chance to resuscitate his late-season slide with a meeting against top seed and countryman Andy Roddick.
Scheduled for Wednesday are (16) Hrbaty vs. (LL) Lisnard, (WC) Clement vs. (14) Robredo, (7) Gaudio vs. (WC) Santoro, (1) Roddick vs. Dent, Mathieu vs. (11) Gonzalez, Haas vs. (5) Nalbandian, Verdasco vs. (12) Ginepri, (9) T.Johansson vs. (Q) Vliegen, (10) Ferrer vs. Mirnyi, (13) Ferrero vs. (LL) Wawrinka.
Davenport, Sharapova Pull from WTA Philadelphia
Bulgarian teen Sesil Karatantcheva ended the 2005 campaign of No. 9 seed Vera Zvonareva Tuesday at the WTA stop in Philadelphia, ousting the Russian 7-5, 6-3 to move into the second round.
One year ago at Philly the oft-weeping Zvonareva played her way into the WTA Championships field, but this week is left behind the field of elite eight women, with her countrywoman Elena Dementieva and American Venus Williams remaining in contention for the final open berth in L.A.
No. 7 seed Nicole Vaidisova (d. Henke), stretching her win streak to 16 and shooting for her fourth consecutive title, moved into the second round along with unseeded players Martina Sucha (d. (LL) Foretz 6-1 in the third), Lisa Raymond (d. Stosur 6-1 in the third), and Ai Sugiyama (d. Benesova).
"It's been a great year and I've had some really good results that I'm happy about," Vaidisova said. "This is my last tournament so I want to do as well as possible and then rest a little bit."
Tournament officials were downtrodden Tuesday when both top seeds withdrew -- Lindsay Davenport with the flu, and Maria Sharapova with a right thumb sprain.
"I am looking forward to getting healthy and defending my year-end No. 1 ranking at the WTA Championships in Los Angeles next week," Davenport said.
Scheduled for Wednesday in Philly are Craybas vs. Peschke, Poutchek vs. Petrova, Dementieva vs. Bachmann, Haynes vs. Sucha, Panova vs. Washington, and Vaidisova vs. Koukalova.
Seeds 4-for-4 Tuesday at WTA Quebec City
All four seeds in play cruised to straight-set wins Tuesday at the WTA stop in Quebec City in (3) Marion Bartoli (d. Kloesel), (4) Laura Granville (d. American countrywoman (Q) Cargill), (8) Sofia Arvidsson (d. (Q) Castellvi), and (9) Julia Schruff (d. Spears).
Unseeded players into the second round were American Shenay Perry (d. (LL) Kurhajcova in three), French qualifier Youlia Fedossova (d. Brandi), Argentine Maria Emilia Salerni (d. (LL) Ospina in three), Russian Anastassia Rodionova (d. Pelletier), and Finn Emma Laine (d. (Q) Borwell).
Scheduled for Wednesday are Granville d. Nagyova, Vesnina vs. An.Serra Zanetti, Arvidsson vs. Keothavong, Dechy vs. Harkleroad, and Frazier vs. Fedossova.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
WTA Philadelphia tournament officials were put on suicide watch Tuesday when both top seeds withdrew, Lindsay Davenport with the flu and Maria Sharapova with a right thumb sprain: "I am looking forward to getting healthy and defending my year-end No.1 ranking at the WTA Championships in Los Angeles next week," Davenport said. How much is that going to hurt attendance during the week?..Mercedes-Benz and the ATP announced a three-year extension of their partnership. The partnership was initiated in 1996 after research indicated to Mercedes-Benz that tennis was their customers' favorite sport globally...Neil Harman of The Times: "...[Greg] Rusedski is prepared to go down a notch to Ukraine for a Challenger Series event next week to make sure he accumulates enough points to overhaul [Tim] Henman. Who says it is not true that Rusedski grinds his teeth and sticks pins into an effigy of Henman every time the label of British No. 2 is attached to him? He tries not to make too much of the fact that Henman's innate Englishness and, now, the advent of Andy Murray's forthright Scottishness are in marked contrast to an accent that remains stubbornly transatlantic. When he played -- and won -- the Newport, Rhode Island, grasscourt event the week after Wimbledon in July, he noted that of the seven British writers who made the trip, six departed once Murray was knocked out."...Gael "Force" Monfils speaking to AFP after injury ended his season: "I will go on holiday, probably Martinique or Guadeloupe, and do every stupid thing I can like other 19-year-olds."...Estee Lauder-owned Aramis will launch "Always," a fragrance duo inspired by Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf...TennisWorld's Peter Bodo is fed up and not going to take it any more regarding Justine Henin-Hardenne pulling from the WTA Championships: "But it drives me nuts when people enter into a contract, even a verbal one, and then violate it without batting an eyelash. It drives me nuts when people feel free to lie or spin or evade with the sole intent of putting a nice?false?face on a given situation. Hello? WTA? Players? It's called lying. Why don't you all just spit in the face of your most devoted fans? You know what? The only difference between the tour and players today and a decade or so ago is that there is both less integrity, and far more effort put into pretending there is. I could be wrong about this, I know that. But I have a gut feeling that what Henin-Hardenne (and an increasing number of other top stars) most want is simply to do exactly as they please without paying the usual price -- people ceasing to care about them."...Justine Henin-Hardenne told Le Soir newspaper on Monday: "I won't play, it's certain. The reason is purely to do with the fact that I'm too far behind in my physical preparation due to the injury."...Mike Bryan on his vacation plans after the Masters Cup with brother Bob: "We'll take a few weeks off after Masters Cup and have a nice Thanksgiving. We'll then play a few exhibitions in Boise, Houston and Denver. We'll then start training for the new year with weights and gym work and then go to Hawaii right after Christmas and spend 10 days there. I'll take my girlfriend. We'll go snorkeling, hang out at the beach and pool and check out the volcanoes, maybe take a helicopter ride over one. A sunset cruise and watching the whales migrating will be on the agenda too."...Former ATP CEO Mark Miles, speaking to L'Equipe on restructuring the men's calendar: "Since the start, in my eyes, nine Masters [Series] events is too many. You cannot expect players to be at the peak of their fitness from the middle of January at the Australian Open until the Davis Cup final in December. If I had the power, I would protect the four Grand Slams and I would place four other tournaments, like the one in Miami. There would be one in March in the United States, one in Europe on clay, three weeks before the French Open, one in the United States in the summer and one in Asia after the US Open. I have often thought that if you could get two or three intelligent people to build the system from scratch, it would be possible. But it's not the reality. There are too many contradicting interests."...Roger Federer on his ankle and the upcoming Masters Cup from his website: "I would like to inform you that I feel a lot better. I am extremely glad to be walking again normally and even jogging gently after having been on crutches for two weeks. At first I was really concerned about being fit again for Shanghai. After making some promising progress these last days I am happy to say that I am a lot more positive about my participation at the Masters Cup. I will be hitting balls again these coming days -- which is great news since I haven't been able to play tennis for almost a month now! What I can say today is that I will definitely be travelling to Shanghai. I'll just enjoy the time there as a spectator in case my injury should still be bothering me then. But in the meantime I will most certainly do all I can to get back into shape to defend my title in Shanghai. The tournament is, after all, one of my most important goals this year and the perfect event to finish a great season." Federer is the two-time defending champ at the Masters Cup.