More ATP Doping Cases Emerge; Sampras Says Federer A Bit Like Me

On tap for Tuesday in Delray Beach are (3) Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. (WC) Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian, H.-T. Lee vs. (2) Ginepri, Kunitsyn vs. (4) Haas, Bobby Reynolds "Wrap" vs. Delgado, (Q) Salzenstein vs. Sabau, (Q) Kendrick vs. K.Kim in an all-American, (7) Muller vs. (Q) Rehnquist, and Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience vs. Pavel.

Henman Wins Opener, Cilic Thrills at ATP Zagreb

An unseeded Brit and a wildcard Croatian advancing into the second round headlined the action on day one at the ATP stop in Zagreb, Croatia on Monday.

Britain's Tim Henman won an all-unseeded battle of veterans, defeating France's Arnaud Clement in straight sets, while homecountry wildcard Marin Cilic, who last year competed almost exclusively on the futures circuit, rode the crowd support to a three-set shocker over No. 7 seed Igor Andreev.

"Before the match, I only thought about trying not to go down immediately," said Cilic, last year's French Open junior champ. "I managed to do that and then just waited for my chance. I do not think Andreev underestimated me and I know this victory will travel the world."

Other winners Monday were No. 6 seed Jarkko Nieminen (d. Starace from a set down), and Serb 18-year-old Novak Djokovic (d. Vik).

On tap for Tuesday in Zagreb are (4) Stepanek vs. (Q) Cakl in an all-Czech, Wawrinka vs. (2) Ferrer, Seppi vs. (Q) Okun, (Q) Koubek vs. Minar, (5) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Tursunov, Sanguinetti vs. (3) Gasquet, Bracciali vs. (Q) Bozoljac, and Hernych vs. Carlsen.

Gaudio Starts Hot at ATP Vina del Mar

Top-seeded Gaston Gaudio, who had the second-best claycourt record in 2005 behind French Open winner Rafael Nadal, picked up where he left off in his first round at the ATP dirt stop in Vina del Mar with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Chilean wildcard Felipe Parada.

Other seeded winners on the day were (5) Nicolas Massu (d. Daniel) and (6) Al Montanes (d. Monaco), both in straight sets.

Qualifiers were 2-0 on the day with winners Carlos Cuadrado of Spain (d. Behrend, bagel in the second) and Argentine Gustavo Marcaccio (d. Horna in three), joined in the second round by unseeded winners Juan Martin Del Potro (d. Portas), Spanish lucky loser Daniel Gimeno-Traver (d. (4) Calleri from a set down), and Chilean wildcard Jorge Aguilar (d. (WC) Hormazabal).

Scheduled for Tuesday on the dirt are Di Mauro vs. Garcia, Almagro vs. Ramirez Hidalgo in an all-Spanish, Armando vs. Marin, Capdeville vs. Ventura, Acasuso vs. Navarro Pastor, Berlocq vs. Friedl, Pashanski vs. Saretta, and Mazarakis vs. Gonzalez.

Sharapova Headlines WTA Tokyo Beginning Tuesday

Officially titled the Toray Pan Pacific Open, Maria Sharapova will be renaming this week's WTA stop in Tokyo the Russian Open as she leads fellow seeds Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina and Elena Likhovtseva toward a title effort.

Non-Russians among the seeds in Tokyo are France's Nathalie Dechy, Czech Nicole Vaidisova, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, and Serb bombshell Ana Ivanovic.

Lindsay Davenport was forced to withdraw from the event after turning her ankle at the Australian Open, and Serena Williams backed out of the event saying she was "not ready."

Opening-round matches of interest include (6) Hantuchova vs. Serb Jelena Jankovic, four-time Tokyo winner (WC) Martina Hingis vs. homegrown talent Akiko Morigami, (8) Ivanovic vs. Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama, and (7) Likhovtseva vs. homegirl Shinobu Asagoe.

In last year's final Sharapova beat the top-seeded Davenport 7-6 in the third.

Scheduled on the first day of play Tuesday in Tokyo are Vaidisova vs. Fujiwara, Jankovic vs. Hantuchova, Sugiyama vs. Ivanovic, Obata vs. Peschke, Craybas vs. Srebotnik, Kirilenko vs. Santangelo, and Bartoli vs. Golovin in an all-French match-up.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
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Deciding to try and play in the final, she immediately knew that she did not stand a chance and after a 33-stroke rally in the second set, she called for the doctor. The game was up."...From Tennis Week: "Holger Fischer got caught with cannabis in his cookies and is feeling a fine now. The 873rd-ranked German tested positive for cannabis during a Swiss Tennis Satellite Circuit event in Montreux on September 22nd after eating cannabis-laced cookies at a local club and voluntarily withdrew from competition for three months as part of his penalty, the International Tennis Federation announced today."...Jelena Dokic has rocketed up eight spots to No. 362 in the latest WTA Rankings...Lindsay Davenport, who this week gave up the No. 1 ranking, has not won a slam in six years...ATP Delray Beach Tournament Director Mark Baron on Andy Roddick saying he would play the qualifying then bailing: "For what reasons he made his decision not to play, I don't know. 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Henin-Hardenne just wasted one because her stomach was hurting a lot?...I think Henin-Hardenne's reputation is tarnished forever. The tennis beat writers will never let her forget this. And it's not a first. Remember there was the 2003 French Open serving incident against Serena Williams, when she held her hand up on a Williams serve to signal she wasn't ready, then pretended like she did nothing."...James Blake is getting the nod over Robby Ginepri for the No. 2 singles spot on the U.S. Davis Cup team versus Romania...Pete Sampras speaking to the Times Online on Roger Federer: "I don't like to be reminded of the time we played at Wimbledon -- he beat me fair and square and though it hurt, I knew he was a real talent. From what I see, he is able to play at a higher level with less effort than the rest -- a bit like me. You see Andy Roddick and it is work. Roddick's out there grinding, but it doesn't take a lot of effort for Federer to play great. 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