Ginepri Slide Continues on Clay; Murray Fined for Potty Mouth

Posted on April 11, 2006

Ginepri Loses, Roddick, Blake On Tuesday at ATP Houston

American Robby Ginepri's miserable 2006 campaign rolled in and out of Houston Monday when the No. 3 seed was ousted in the opening round of the U.S. Men's Claycourt Championships 6-4, 6-4 by Spaniard Al Montanes.

Ginepri dropped his win-loss to 2-10 in 2006.

"If I could put my finger on it, I'd be winning some matches," Ginepri told reporters. "I thought I played a good match, but it (hurts) to go down again. But he was playing very well. He stung me on a lot on drop shots."

No. 5 Tommy Haas, the lone other seed in action, moved into the second round with an impressively-easy 6-1, 6-4 win over Spaniard Oscar Hernandez.

Other winners were Austrians Oliver Marach (d. Marin) and Jurgen Melzer (d. Minar, bagel in the second), and German Tomas Behrend (d. Sabau in three).

Tuesday highlights include (WC) Mardy Fish vs. (8) Juan Monaco, (1) Andy Roddick vs. Chile's Paul Capdeville, (Q) Anthony Dupuis vs. (2) James Blake who will try and put a halt to a three-match losing skid, and an all-qualifier in American Scoville Jenkins vs. Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

French Champ Costa Bounced at ATP Valencia

Unseeded former French Open champion Al Costa, bothered by a chronic knee injury, took another step toward retirement in 2006 with an opening-round loss to unheralded Serb Boris Pashanski 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 Monday at the ATP claycourt stop in Valencia.

Seeded players went two-for-two on the day with winners (2) Gaston Gaudio (d. Sluiter in two tiebreaks) and (7) Fernando Verdasco (d. A.Martin).

Other un-seeded into the second round were German Florian Mayer (d. (WC) Burniol, bagel in the first) and Spaniard Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez (d. Feliciano "G-Lo" Lopez).

Highlights of Tuesday play on the dirt in Valencia are (1) Davydenko vs. Hernych, and defending champ (5) Andreev vs. (WC) Safin in an all-Russian.

Qualifiers Win, Americans Exit at WTA Charleston

The wildcards lived up to their name Monday at the WTA stop in Chaleston, where American Neha Uberoi advanced with an opening-round win over American Lisa Raymond in three sets, and Georgian Anna Tatishvili came from a set down to defeat Spain's Laura Pous Tio.

In seeded play No. 14 Lucie Safarova came from a set down to outlast Aussie Sam Stosur, No. 16 Mara Santangelo stright-setted France's Stephanie Foretz, and No. 13 Sofia Arvidsson was ousted by Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi.

It was a tough day for the "B"-squad Americans as Laura Granville and Amy Frazier also lost their openers, and comeback kid Ashley Harkleroad was fed a bagel set en route to a loss against Colombia's Catalina Castano.

Highlights on Tuesday's schedule on the dirt at Charleston are Vaidisova vs. Castano, Schnyder vs. Tu, the top-seeded Henin-Hardenne vs. Bammer, and Zvonareva vs. Safina in an all-Russian.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
From South Africa's News24.com: "The partnership agreement between the ATP Tour and South African Airways is sure to benefit tennis in this country. That is the view of ATP Tour executive chairperson and president Etienne de Villiers who is in the country for the announcement of the arrangement. The three-year partnership with SAA sees the airline become the "Official Airline of the ATP." "We are looking to grow the tour in countries where the sport will take root," said De Villiers on Monday. "I would love to see tennis grow at grassroots level and not just be seen as a middle-class sport. Now that SAA have taken the ATP Tour on board, it would make sense to have an international tournament in South Africa."...From the Bangkok Post: "Thailand's top tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan will be taking on the services of Dutch tennis coach Sven Groeneveld to try and beef up his clay court game. The Thai star said he would skip the Masters Series in Monte Carlo next week because he would have had to take part in the qualifying tournament. "After that it is the clay court season and I would like to improve my performances on that surface," Paradorn said. "I will train in Thailand for another two weeks before going to Barcelona for the first clay court tournament." Paradorn said that one of his main sponsors, adidas, had arranged for the Dutch coach to work with him. "He has coached Monica Seles, Mary Pierce and Tommy Haas," Paradorn said. "It is important that I learn clay court technique and tactics."...From Leo Schlink writing for The Australian: "Tennis Australia will investigate security measures for the Davis Cup team ahead of September's rugged semi-final clash with Argentina. Australia was yesterday condemned to a September 22 to 24 tie in South America with its detested Cup antagonists after Argentina downed Croatia 3-2 in Zagreb. While TA is anxious to avoid inflaming relations between its players, in particular Lleyton Hewitt, and the Argentineans, it is determined to protect the team. Hewitt was last year vilified as one of the five most hated sporting figures in Argentina, along with England football captain David Beckham. He has clashed with most of Argentina's survivors of the sport's drug purge, including David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria and Juan Ignacio Chela, over the past two years."...Russia has confirmed they will put the U.S. on clay for the September Davis Cup semifinals...SI.com's Jon Wertheim on Nadia Petrova: "The top seed at the Amelia Island Bausch & Lomb event won her third Sony Ericsson WTA title. It's early in the clay season, but if you're in the market for a French Open pick, you could do worse than Petrova." -- Since that was her first-ever clay title amidst a weak field, we'll keep the Russian big-match choker as our last pick for the French...From tennis writer Matt Cronin: "The word off the court is that US (Fed Cup) Captain Zina Garrison will name four of the following five players -- Jill Craybas, Shenay Perry, Jamea Jackson, Mashona Washington and Vania King -- to the Fed Cup team that will face Germany away in two weeks. It's one of the most inexperienced teams in US history and they will be a substantial underdog. Veterans Lisa Raymond and Meghann Shaughnessy have said they no longer want to play for Garrison and the four US stars -- the Williams sisters, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati -- are all injured."...From The Scotsman: "Jeremy Bates, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain, yesterday blamed television schedulers for damaging his team's hopes of reaching the World Group play-offs. Faced with playing the veteran Greg Rusedski on each of the three days of competition because Andy Murray was short of match fitness, Bates acknowledged it would have been difficult in any case to overcome Serbia & Montenegro, but argued the schedule imposed on his team had made it doubly hard. "I'm very frustrated we're playing Davis Cup at 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning," said Bates after Rusedski's four-sets defeat by Novak Djokovic had ensured a victory for the visiting team. "I can't tell you how frustrated I am. I had no option...The ITF and the BBC call the shots. We had several meetings about it, and my desire was to get the most favourable start and circumstances for the team."...Sue Mott writing for The Telegraph: "Wimbledon are considering the value of allowing the women players to become more accessible, especially to television viewers. For players to be interviewed directly before they go on court. For the winner to be miked up afterwards. For active players to go into the BBC commentary box between their own matches and offer opinions on their rivals. For their coaches, even their families, to be wired for sound. This is quite a revolution for a conservative sport that insists on whites at Wimbledon and hush for the serve. It will stand or fall by how far it goes. If you miked up the Henmans in the players' box, for instance, you might just pick up the sound of breathing. That's it. Presumably the television companies will be looking for something slightly racier than that. On the other hand, if you wired up Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena, the lava flow of words, some attached to a sentence, some just dropped in for effect, would be overwhelming."...From The Guardian on Monday: "Great Britain were yesterday fined $2,500 by the International Tennis Federation, the world governing body, for Andy Murray's "unsportsmanlike behaviour" at the end of Saturday's doubles. The young Scot swore at the umpire, Adel Aref of Tunisia, when Murray, below, and Greg Rusedski were beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 by Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac."...Roger Federer has successfully defended three titles in 2006, and the rest of the ATP players none.