Blake Blows Huge Davis Cup Lead; WTA Player Caught Shoplifting

Croatia tied with Argentina 1-1

The illin' Croatians come out of Friday with a 1-1 tie, probably better than they expected with Ivan Ljubicic suffering from stomach problems, and Mario Ancic pulling from the singles with a bad back.

In the opening singles Ljubicic staged a gutty comeback against Agustin Calleri from two sets down, shocking the Argentine 6-7(7), 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-1, 6-2 in a four-hour tussle. Argentina then quickly evened it at 1-1, with 17-year-old Croat stand-in Marin Cilic trounced by David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Scheduled for the Saturday doubles are Ljubicic/Ancic vs. Calleri/Nalbandian.

"It's difficult, almost impossible to talk numbers," Ljubicic told reporters of Ancic's chances of playing the doubles. "Really it's up to Ancic, he must decide and say how he feels. We will wait as late as we can on Saturday, and that means one hour before the match, but at this moment Mario's chances are slim."

Russia leads France 2-0

Marat Safin crushes the spirit of French upstart Richard Gasquet 6-1 in the fifth, and Nikolay Davydenko comes back from a set down to beat Arnaud Clement in four to give Russia the 2-0 lead.

"I've never had a cramping problem like that," said Davydenko, who at the beginning of the fourth-set tiebreak took a medical timeout. "I knew my last chance to win the match was in that tiebreak. If he had won the fourth set, I would have had to retire in the fifth."

Russia's Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny will try and cap it in the Saturday doubles against Clement and Michael Llodra.

U.S. tied with Chile 1-1

Leading two sets to love after a bagel set, then up 4-1 in the fifth, American James Blake's five-set match record caught up with him Friday as he found a way to lose in the U.S.'s Davis Cup opener 6-7(5), 0-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 10-8 to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.

"The key of the match was to keep fighting," Gonzalez said. "This is Davis Cup and you give anything you have to fight. You have to try to give your best until the end of the match."

The loss dropped Blake to 0-7 career in five-set matches.

In the second match Andy Roddick promptly evened the tie with a 6-3, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) win over Nicolas Massu.

The Saturday doubles will determine who enters Sunday with the advantage when the Bryan brothers face Gonzalez/Massu.

Russians Petrova, Kuznetsova Into WTA Amelia Semis

No. 1 seed Nadia Petrova jacked up unseeded Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 6-0 Friday to advance into the semifinals at the WTA stop in Amelia Island, the kick-off to the 2006 claycourt season.

"I was prepared for a long match today," Petrova said. "The less time I had to spend on court, the better. I was trying to make the points shorter and save some energy."

No. 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, fresh off her Miami title, recorded the lone upset of the day with a 6-3, 6-1 stomping of No. 2 seed Patty Schnyder.

"She played great today and from the start I was not there," Schnyder said. "I couldn't feel the ball as well as I would like to. I was not happy with the strings at all. I couldn't get the racket strung the way I wanted it."

Other winners into the semis Friday were No. 3 seed Francesca Schiavone (d. (7) Groenefeld) and No. 15 seed Lucie Safarova (d. Craybas).

Saturday's semifinal match-ups are (3) Schiavone vs. (5) Kuznetsova, and (1) Petrova vs. (15) Safarova.

Rios Tested by Pioline at Hong Kong Seniors

Marcelo Rios narrowly maintained his perfect senior tour record Friday at the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions stop in Hong Kong, coming from a set down to defeat Cedric Pioline 3-6, 6-0, 10-2 (Champions' tiebreak) to move within one match of qualifying for the final.

The meeting was a rematch of the Doha final where Rios claimed his first senior tour title.

"He played good first set, but I played unbelievably well in the second set and in the Champions' tiereak," Rios said. "It was nice to have that feeling where I'm in a tough match and I still win. When you lose those it doesn't feel so good, but I'm really happy with the way I played."

Other winners Friday were Henri Leconte (d. Mark Kratzmann 6-1, 1-6, 10-6), Mark Woodforde (d. Anders Jarryd 6-4, 1-6, 10-7), and Thomas Muster (d. Pat Cash 6-4, 7-5).

Muster joins Rios as the only undefeated player on the week, and the two will face each other in the final with wins Saturday.

Saturday's line-up in Hong Kong will be Rios vs. Woodforde, Pioline vs. Jarryd, Cash vs. Kratzmann, and Muster vs. Leconte.

WTA Player Bohmova Caught Shoplifting After Loss

After an early-round loss at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, 19-year-old Czech Katerina Bohmova and her mother tried to get a little extra out of their time in Florida, caught in nearly Jacksonville at a mall allegedly shoplifting clothing and jewelry.

The No. 128-ranked wildcard entrant and her mother were released Thursday on bail of $5,000.

A security guard stopped the pair after they left a department store with clothing and jewelry hidden in bags and purses, with the Czech claiming they thought they didn't have to pay for the items until they left the mall. Security cameras also recorded the pair stashing items away.

A security guard told police he saw the mother and daughter team take items off display racks, go into a dressing room and leave with the items hidden in a plastic bag and a purse shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Sheriff's Office report. It also said a surveillance camera captured the incident on tape.

David Shoemaker, WTA Tour COO and General Counsel, refused to comment on the incident, or speculate on what would could be the first WTA player to be convicted of a felony.

Police said Bohmova and her mother admitted taking the items, saying they had left the store to look for a bathroom. Bohmova was scheduled for a court appearance on April 27.

X-CORRECT
The River Oaks exhibition webcast featuring Pete Sampras was the first live U.S. webcast of a pro tennis match according to the USTA.

DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Who cares if you need it or not, show your love for Tennis-X, contribute to the fund, only eight bucks for one year of daily tennis news! Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get their heads around the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. A year's subscription costs less than a meal and a pint. 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
From Leo Schlink writing for the Herald Sun: "Eagle-eyed Neale Fraser has averted a major Davis Cup embarrassment. The former Australian captain yesterday noticed something was amiss with the grasscourt to be used for the US-Chile quarterfinal tie in California. Wimbledon winner Fraser sensed the chalked court lines were not in the correct positions, prompting officials to measure the court. Fraser's suspicions were proven correct at the Mission Hills club, despite players such as Andy Roddick, James Blake, Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu practicing on the court all week."...Venus (elbow) and Serena (knee) Williams have pulled from the WTA Charleston event...Greg Rusedski tells reporters in Scotland to look for Andy Murray to recover for the Saturday doubles in the British Davis Cup tie: "Andy looks fine. He's smiling, he's happy, he's the same as he always is. He's been playing a little bit of football in the locker room, he's eating his junk food like normal so he's very happy. I think you'll be happy to see him on Saturday."...From the Florida Times-Union: "About 250 fans stayed late Wednesday night and saw tennis history at the Bausch & Lomb Championships. Australia's Nicole Pratt and Bryanne Stewart won the longest tiebreaker in WTA Tour Open Era history -- a 42-point, second-set marathon that lasted 32 minutes. The Australian pair beat Rennae Stubbs and Corina Morariu 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (22-20)."...The Houston Chronicle's Dale Robertson on a Pete Sampras practice session before his exhibition Thursday night: "Those who paid attention to Sampras' gentle practice strokes, though, probably noticed something startling. The 14-time Grand Slam champion couldn't put a backhand in play. Topspin or slice, they sailed long. Some way long. "I'm using the bigger racket now -- more power but less control," Sampras said later, after he lost to Robby Ginepri 6-3, 7-6 (10) in an entertaining exhibition Thursday night that lasted nearly two hours and marked his return to the competitive arena after a 3 1/2-year hiatus."