McEnroe in Final, Roddick Not; Sampras to Test Exo Waters
Posted on February 19, 2006
Roddick Rocked by Unseeded Murray at ATP San JoseUnseeded Brit-Scot Andy Murray sent namesake Andy Roddick spinning deeper into his 2006 downward spiral Saturday at the ATP stop in San Jose, defeating the American 7-5, 7-5 in their first tour encounter to gain the Sunday final against Lleyton Hewitt.
For the 18-year-old it is his second ATP final after losing to Roger Federer last October at Bangkok.
Murray broke Roddick's service in the 11th game of both sets, overcoming jitters in facing the former No. 1 and US Open champion.
"I was almost a little sick because of nerves but in the end I came though," said Murray who has yet to crack the Top 50 on the ATP Rankings. "Beating Roddick in his home country is like a dream come true."
Roddick came unraveled during the encounter, yelling at the chair umpire for "making stupid faces at me," and at one point telling him "You're the most arrogant umpire out here," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"It just seemed like I couldn't get the ball to go through the court like I would have liked," Roddick said. "It was difficult. I wasn't getting much bite on my service action. It was frustrating."
Murray also plainly took a lesson from players such as Roger Federer and Marcos Baghdatis who simply blocked Roddick's serve back in past wins over the American.
"He returned well," Roddick said. "I hit a bomb at my spot and he'd block it back and I'd be back to neutral again."
Murray's nerves were on display when he doubled faulted on his first match point at 6-5 and fought off a break point before closing out the match with 25 total winners to Roddick's 14.
"I was a little nervous, but I have a little more experience against the best players now," Murray said. "I know when they start to come back on me that the worst way to play is defensively. Today I played more aggressively and it paid off."
Murray will now face Lleyton Hewitt, who improved his career record over Vince Spadea to 5-0 with a 6-3, 6-4 win, and finds himself in his first final in nearly a year.
Spadea, who sees a sports psychologist to aid in cracking the barrier between himself and the upper echelon on the ATP tour, tipped his hand before the match when he said facing Hewitt was a "big nightmare."
"You need a weapon to beat him or you have to out-tough him," said Spadea, who had no answers for the Aussie's consistency and was 0-3 on break point opportunities. "That's his game, being tough."
It will be the first meeting between Hewitt and Murray, who both rely on their fiery competitiveness rather than big weapons to win matches.
"I was around him in Wimbledon last year," said Hewitt of Murray. "He's a good ball striker, and he has a strong head on him as well. I think he plays the game smart from the back of the court. He moves exceptionally well around the court for a big guy, and he's dangerous. He varies the pace very well."
The doubles final in San Jose will be the unseeded American team of Goldstein/Thomas, who ousted top seeds Aspelin/Perry in a match tiebreak, against wildcards Bjorkman/J.McEnroe who edged No. 4 seeds Levinsky/Lindstedt in another third-set match tiebreak.
"There's one more to go and it's two Stanford boys, so I hope they got the script," said McEnroe of the final, which will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Sunday on The Tennis Channel in the U.S. "Right now it's just one more so I hope we go all the way. Since were older and slightly better looking, I hope that will come in handy."
Nadal Stung by Clement at ATP Marseille
French wildcard Arnaud Clement had a vocal crowd and even Mother Nature on his side Saturday at the ATP stop in Marseille, where aggressive play and a bee sting to opponent Rafael Nadal led to a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 berth in the final.
"It's never nice to get stung by a bee of course, and it's even more strange for it to happen indoors in February," Nadal said. "But there are no excuses, he was the better player today and credit to him."
For Clement it is his first final since 2003 when he won one title in three finals.
"It's the best I've played in a long, long time. I really felt comfortable out there on the court and I had a game plan which I stuck to very well throughout the match," Clement said. "The crowd were amazing today and helped to lift me throughout the match."
Clement will face the hot-handed Mario Ancic in the final, with the Croat earlier beating countryman Ivan Ljubicic, and Saturday outlasting Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
"I didn't expect to do so well here this week," Ancic said. "I knew I had (Marcos) Baghdatis in the first round and was just prepared to fight, in the second round too. Now I've found a bit more rhythm on this surface and it's getting easier and my standard is getting higher."
Clement has won two of his three meetings with Ancic, but the Croat brutalized him 6-0, 6-2 in their most recent encounter January in Adelaide.
The doubles final will be (1) Knowles/Nestor vs. (4) Damm/Stepanek.
Moya Outlasts Ferrero at ATP Buenos Aires
Former No. 1 Carlos Moya, if he can physically recover, is the overwhelming favorite in the Sunday claycourt final at Buenos Aires after Saturday outlasting countryman and fellow French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.
Ferrero visibly tired in the third set, giving up on chasing down some of Moya's monstrous forehand drives, and unable to keep it to the weaker Moya backhand.
"It was uphill in the second set. Ferrero was solid and there was no way past him." Moya said. "But I was able to loosen up a bit and play closer to the lines and then my service improved a lot."
In the final Moya will face No. 6 seed Filippo Volandri who defeated unseeded Argentine Agustin Calleri 6-3, 6-4.
Moya has beaten Volandri in four of their five career meetings.
The doubles final will be (1) Cermak/Friedl vs Mazarakis/Pashanski.
World No. 1 Clijsters v No. 2 Mauresmo in WTA Antwerp Final
Amelie Mauresmo has been No. 1 in the world, and will take a giant step toward reclaiming the throne on Sunday when she takes on current No. 1 and fan favorite Kim Clijsters in the final at the WTA stop in Antwerp.
Mauresmo was the first into the final Saturday, beating No. 4 seed Nadia Petrova 6-4, 7-5.
Clijsters followed with a comeback victory, rebounding from a shaky first set to drop only three more games in summarily stomping No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
Sunday's final will be a rematch of the Australian Open semifinal where Clijsters retired after sustaining a foot injury.
"Kim in the final is of course great for the crowd, but will be extra hard for me," Mauresmo told Reuters. "I am expecting a very tough game. Kim is a very dangerous player."
The Belgian has won eight of her 12 meetings with the Frenchwoman, but Mauresmo has won the last two.
The Antwerp final is the third consecutive championship round reached for Mauresmo after titles in Melbourne and Paris, a 14-match streak.
The doubles final will feature the French/Dutch pair of Foretz/Krajicek (d. (1) Black/Stubbs 6-1 in the third in the semis) against Safina/Srebotnik.
Kostanic in 2nd Straight Final at WTA Bangalore
Croatia's Jelena Kostanic defeated unseeded Hungarian Melinda Czink 6-0, 7-6(2) Saturday to reach her second consecutive tour final at the WTA stop in Bangalore.
"In the first set, she wasn't playing like she could, then she settled down and started to play like I expected her to," Kostanic said. "Then I got tired and lost concentration and lost my serve. Other than that I served well in the match. She likes it when you play hard and flat, so I mixed it up and played a lot of slice, she didn't like that so much."
Last week at Pattaya, Kostanic lost in the final to Shahar Peer.
"It's my second in two weeks and that's fantastic, I never would have believed it," said the 24-year-old Kostanic. "I'm playing well, but I don't want to put pressure on myself for tomorrow. I need to play the final like any other match and focus point by point."
In the final Kostanic will face No. 3 Mara Santangelo, who led 17-year-old Vania King 5-0 when the American retired with stomach illness.
"I'm thrilled to be in the final," Santangelo said. "It's not a great way to win a match, but I'm so happy to be in my first final."
Santangelo is 0-2 career versus Kostanic.
"It's going to be very tough for me," Santangelo added. "I've never beaten her and she's full of confidence as this is her second final in two weeks. I'm going to have to play my best tennis for sure."
The doubles final will be No. 2 seeds Sania Mirza and Liezel Huber against No. 4-seeded Russians Anastassia Rodionova and Elena Vesnina.
"This is a great partnership," Mirza said. "We are enjoying playing together and I'm learning a lot from Liezel. She's my mentor and there is a reason she's No. 4 in the world (in doubles)."
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
From tennis writer Matt Cronin on John McEnroe playing doubles in San Jose: "Mac says he's matured, but he's much the same man, ripping into chair umpire Norm Chryst after a questionable call in the second set. Then, a game later after a changeover, going to the lineswoman who made the call and dropping F-bombs. "Do you always f**k up calls like that?" Mac yelled. "Are you going to f**k up this match too?" Nice blasts from the one-time dad of the year...BTW: What is Chryst doing in the chair if he can't protect his own lines people from verbal assaults? He should have at least warned Mac."...Colm McLoughlin, managing director of the WTA Dubai event: "Having Maria [Sharapova] compete in our tournament shows just how popular this event has become with the top players in the world." -- No, it shows how much oil cash you guys have with your gig-normous under-the-table guarantees to players...What were the 47-year-old John McEnroe's thoughts in watching the opposing doubles semifinal at San Jose Saturday, featuring four players he would be odds-on favorite to beat in singles?...From the Houston Chronicle: "All-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras will play his first competitive tennis match in 3-1/2 years in Houston during the River Oaks International the first week of April. Van Barry, director of tennis at River Oaks Country Club, said the contract hasn't yet been signed "but all parties are on board. We very excited to be bringing Pete back to Houston." In his last match before a paying crowd, Sampras defeated longtime rival Andre Agassi to win the 2002 US Open. It gave him a record 14 major titles. Sampras will be at River Oaks the night of April 5, facing an opponent to be selected from the exhibition tournament's field."...John McEnroe is in an ATP doubles final for the first time since 1992.