Federer Frustrated by Nadal, Bruguera Raises Barcelona Title

"Rafael played a great match, it was tough to lose," Federer, who saw the four sets and two tiebreaks as progress, told reporters. "I played a smarter match today than last year's Paris semifinal. I have moved closer to him on clay and that's very important."

Both of Nadal's titles in 2006 have come over Federer in a final, while Federer's two lone losses in 2006 have come against Nadal.

In the doubles final, top seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi beat No. 2 seeds Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 7-6(2) for their third title of the year.

"We were in trouble in the second set quite often," Bjorkman told reporters. "We managed to come back after they served for the set and had a set point. We never got to the point where we were feeling we were going to lose. We were always keen to win and had a good fight back."

Nadal Rides Streak Into ATP Barcelona

Rafael Nadal heads a field of four current or former French Open champions this week at the Open Seat 2006 at Barcelona.

Nadal will hope to recover with a first-round bye from his title run at the Masters Series-Monte Carlo over the weekend where he beat world No. 1 Roger Federer in the four-set final, extending his claycourt win streak to 42 matches.

Nadal is joined among the Top 8 seeds by Russian Nikolay Davydenko, Argentine Guillermo Coria, Czech Radek Stepanek, Spaniards David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo, Finn Jarkko Nieminen and Slovak Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty.

Nadal will open against the winner of Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez and a qualifier, while the No. 2-seeded Davydenko will play either Max "The Beast" Mirnyi or "Dr." Ivo Karlovic.

Last year the No. 8-seeded Nadal beat the unseeded Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets in the final.

Highlights of Monday play in Barcelona are Andrei Pavel vs. Valencia winner Nicolas Almagro, Vince Spadea vs. (WC) Al Costa who is competing in his final ATP event, and former No. 1s and French Open winners (10) Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Kristof Vliegen, and (15) Carlos Moya vs. (Q) Evgeny Korolev.

Bruguera Wins Barcelona Title, Climbs to No 2

Despite his multiple French Open successes, Sergi Bruguera never won a Barcelona title during his ATP career, but on Sunday raised the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions senior title in his home country with a 6-1, 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Carlos Costa.

"I couldn't win the tournament when I was a pro, so I'm really happy to have won it on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions," Bruguera told reporters. "For all the Spaniards like (Carlos) Carlos, Javier Sanchez and me, it's wonderful to play here. It feels like we are professionals all over again."

With the claycourt win Bruguera leapt from 10th to No. 2 on the Tennis-X.com Combined Senior Rankings, with Costa debuting at No. 9 on the season.

In the third-place playoff, Richard Krajicek defeated John McEnroe in a third-set tiebreak.

Krajicek climbs to No. 5, and McEnroe falls from 7 to No. 8.

Jim Courier and McEnroe are among players taking to the court this week at the senior tour stop in Boston.

2006 TENNIS-X.COM TOP 10
COMBINED SENIOR RANKINGS
(through April 23)

1. Marcelo Rios (800 pts.)
2. Sergi Bruguera (480)
3. Cedric Pioline (450)
4T. Jim Courier (400)
4T. Richard Krajicek (400)
6. Pat Cash (390)
7. Thomas Muster (375)
8. John McEnroe (325)
9. Carlos Costa (250)
10. Henri Leconte (205)

The Tennis-X.com Combined Senior Rankings is a cumulative ranking for senior tour players combining results from the competing Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions in Europe, and the Outback Champions Series in the U.S.

Puerta No Mas, Massu Headlines at ATP Casablanca

While the big guns compete this week in Barcelona, Nicolas Massu will try and leverage the weak field as the top seed at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca.
 
Massu won the claycourt title earlier this year at Costa Do Sauipe, his lone title in 2006.

Also among the seeds are Peru's Luis Horna, Belgian Christophe Rochus, Italians Andreas Seppi and Danielle Bracciali, Frenchmen Aranud Clement and Gilles Simon, and Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

Casablanca is without a player ranked in the Top 30 on the ATP Rankings.

In last year's final, Argentine Mariano Puerta, currently serving a career death sentence for doping, beat countryman Juan Monaco for the title.

Russia, France Ousted in Fed Cup

Two-time defending champion Russia and last year's runner-up France were notable exits during the weekend's Fed Cup quarterfinals:

Belgium d. Russia 3-2

The duo of former No. 1s Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne proved too much for the Russians, with Henin-Hardenne blowing out Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 to clinch it for the Belgians.

"I really enjoyed it," Henin-Hardenne told reporters. "It's only in this situation, especially at home, that you feel this atmosphere, you get this feeling."

In the doubles dead rubber, Russian teens Maria Kirilenko and Dinara Safina beat Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne 7-6(4), 7-5.

Belgium will face the U.S. in the semifinals.

Italy d. France 4-1

Francesca Schiavone played hero on Sunday with a three-set win over world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, setting up Italian countrywoman Flavia Pennetta to clinch the tie with a straight-set win over Nathalie Dechy.

"I showed courage when I was match point down and then managed to win the tiebreak," Schiavone told reporters. "In the final set, Amelie dropped her standard a little and I seized my chance. Considering the player I was up against and the problems I had to overcome, I would say this is the most beautiful win of my career."

Spain d. Austria 5-0

Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Mar�Sanchez Lorenzo beat up on an equally-no-name Austrian squad to advance into the semifinals to host Italy.

"We have a very strong team and a strong new player in Dominguez Lino," said Spanish captain Miguel Margets. "Medina Garrigues also proved why she is the Spanish No. 1. There was a big gap between the top two teams and Spain in terms of points since Conchita [Martinezz] and Arantxa [Sanchez-Vicario] left, but now we are creeping closer step-by-step."

U.S. d. Germany 3-2

Jamea Jackson led the starless U.S. squad with two singles wins, including the clincher over Martina Muller 7-6(2), 6-2 on Sunday to put the Americans in the semifinals where they will travel to Belgium.

"I am extremely proud of my team," said American captain Zina Garrison. "We hit together, fight together and have dinner together. I couldn't wish for a better spirit. I've known [Jackson] since she was 11 years old. She improved a lot in the last months. I never saw her playing better."

The World Group semis will be held the weekend of July 15 and 16 after Wimbledon.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Roger Federer on his losing streak against Rafael Nadal: "I've had three losses in a row against him -- of course I wish I could have won them. But they don't break down my will or hope. I care more about not losing to him in grand slams and to be ahead more than 2000 points in the rankings -- that's what I care about."...Considering U.S. Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison isn't getting along with all the U.S. players, you've got to think her job is in jeopardy if she can't get two solid U.S. stars to make the difficult trip to Belgium for the Fed Cup semifinals... From the ATP: "More people attended the first Saturday of the Open Seat 2006 than at any time in the tournament's 54-year history to watch John McEnroe try to reach the final of the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions event."...From the Charleston Post and Courier: "The Family Circle Cup will receive more than $60,000 from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour to compensate last week's tournament for the absence of a minimum number of top players. 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While the first set passed off without major incident, by early in the second both Fish and Hernandez were trading insults from their chairs in between games while also giving the chair umpire as hard a time as possible...Then, after losing his serve, something Fish said to him as they crossed in between games clearly riled the Spaniard, who shouted "watch what you say to me" at Fish before lodging a vociferous complaint with the match official -- all of which his opponent seemed to find highly amusing...The atmosphere remained as poisonous as ever after that, with both players screaming across the net virtually every time the other made a mistake, with the umpire's pleas for them to "be professional" going totally unheeded...Afterwards, an angry Hernandez did not pull any punches, accusing Fish of arrogance and bad sportsmanship. "He always acts like he is better than everybody else but I think today proved that is not true," he said. "He is not the best, no matter what he thinks. I was just trying to concentrate and get on with playing my game and it was him who kept making trouble. As I was walking to my chair at the start of the second set he walked passed and told me to 'f*** myself' which made me very angry."...From one of the stalker bloggers as vamosrafael.com on Rafa checking out of his hotel in Monte Carlo: "I went up and stood right beside him as he checked out. There seemed to be quite a lot of extras on his bill. My eyesight wasn't good enough to see exactly what they were I'm afraid. He paid with a gold Amex card -- sorry couldn't get the number. I did spot that he has a picture of himself at around 12 in his wallet though. This time I remembered the hot subject of the moment and took as good a sniff as I could without appearing like the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. All I got was a slight whiff of expensive bath products. Not strong enough to be cologne and not distinctive enough to say that it was any smell in particular. 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