Coria Embarrassed at Bacelona; McEnroe, Courier Win in Boston

"The incident was bad for me. I was 4-0, 0-30 when it happened and then I lost the game," Nadal told reporters. "I didn't like it at all. It's not good for the show on court."

Another unlikely un-seed into the quarters was Croatian serving giant "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, who out-dueled Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev in three tiebreaks.

No. 6 seed Tommy Robredo led Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 2-6, 2-1 when rain halted play for the remainder of the day.

Lining up for the Friday quarterfinals are (6) Robredo vs. (12) Verdasco (to finish), Wawrinka vs. Karlovic, (6) Robredo or (12) Verdasco vs. (4) Stepanek, (1) Nadal vs. (7) Nieminen, and a new-vs.-old Spanish match-up in Almagro vs. (10) Ferrero.

McEnroe, Courier Win at Seniors Boston

Crowd favorites John McEnroe and Jim Courier started their round robin play with wins Thursday at the Outback Champions Series stop in Boston, where both Americans are trying to put a title on the board to catch No. 1-ranked senior player Marcelo Rios.

McEnroe is still searching for his first title of the year, while Courier won last month in Naples. Rios won his first two events of the year at Doha and Hong Kong.

McEnroe was a 3-and-3 winner over Mikael Pernfors Thursday night, while Courier tagged former No. 1 Mats Wilander 6-2, 6-3.

Two other players posted wins in their 2006 senior tour debuts when Croatian sensation Goran Ivanisevic rolled over Pat Cash 6-2, 6-2, and Todd Martin won an all-American battle over Aaron Krickstein 6-4, 6-4.

"Goran's so much fun to play against, he has a good sense of humor," Cash told reporters after getting served off the court. "There are so many funny things that happen on the tennis court, and if you can make light of them, why not?"

Lining up Friday in Boston are Ivanisevic vs. Pernfors, Courier vs. Krickstein, McEnroe vs. Cash, and T.Martin vs. Wilander.

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

1. Marcelo Rios (800 pts.)
2. Sergi Bruguera (480)
3. Cedric Pioline (450)
4. Jim Courier (400)
5. 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 Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions in Europe, and the Outback Champions Series in the U.S.

Bracciali Not Good for Waske at ATP Casablanca

Four more seeds joined reigning Olympic champ and top seed Nicolas Massu in the quarterfinals in claycourt play in Thursday play at the Grand Prix Hassan II.

Advanced into the quarterfinals against un-seeds were (2) Luis Horna (d. (Q) Gicquel in three), (3) Christophe Rochus (d. Mayer), (7) Daniele Bracciali (d. Waske), and (8) Gilles Simon (d. (WC) Tahiri).

Friday's line-up in Casablanca will see Phau vs. Vanek, (7) Bracciali vs. (2) Horna, (1) Massu vs. Mahut, and (8) Simon vs. (3) C.Rochus.

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 the AP: "Indonesia has refused to play its Fed Cup playoff match in Israel and requested the International Tennis Federation to change the venue to a neutral country. If the request is denied, the women's team will have to forfeit, Indonesian Tennis Association deputy secretary-general August Ferry Raturandang said Thursday. "We cannot play in Israel," he said, noting that his country, home to some 190 million Muslims, has no diplomatic relations with the Middle Eastern Jewish state. Indonesia has long supported Palestinian independence."...Guillermo "El Mago" Coria, after failing to pull a rabbit out of a hat against Nicolas Almagro, on his supporters: "I'm very happy with the team I have around me. Working with Jose Higueras is going very well but we can't fix the problem in under a month. I've had this serving problem for the last six months so we have to be patient. But my results last week in Monte Carlo, where I was able to beat people like (Nicolas) Kiefer who are ranked very high even while serving badly, gave me a lot of encouragement."...CNN.com's Candy Reid says take it down a notch girls, the men deserve more: "This is probably not going to be a popular answer, but no, I don't think that the women should earn as much money as the men. However, I do think it's inevitable and that Wimbledon will join the other three Slams in the next few years. Don't get me wrong, I love watching women's tennis -- but for me it's simple. Playing five sets is much tougher than three, especially on slower courts where matches can last up to or beyond 4 hours. One of the main arguments for equal prize money is that women's tennis is as popular, if not more so and that's a valid point. But in my opinion, there are more competitive early round matches in men's tennis than women's and to win a Grand Slam, the guys (with the exception of (Roger) Federer) have to win 7 tough ones, not just 3 or 4."...The Tennis Channel will show the ATP Barcelona final at 9:30am EST Sunday in the U.S...Rafael Nadal has been named as the ATP European Player of the Year for 2005 as voted by the ATP's European tournament directors. Ouch. We were leaning toward that longshot named Roger Federer. Was that a second-place award? Is Switzerland in Europe?...Al Costa on ending his career in Barcelona: "For me it is very special to be here to play my final tournament here. It is very emotional for me and it was very difficult for me to take this decision to retire, but it is now time for me to say goodbye."