Hingis Aligns with Venus; Tursunov Finds Blog Muse
Posted on May 2, 2006
Hingis Wins, Venus Next at WarsawFormer No. 1 Martina Hingis lined up a blockbuster meeting with Venus Williams by narrowly winning her first-round match Monday at the WTA stop in Warsaw, defeating rising Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 7-6(1).
"We were just breaking each other, and most times pretty easily," said Hingis, who faced down her opponent serving for both the first and second set. "It was very difficult conditions. I think that today, whoever had the stronger head and stayed in the match won."
Hingis has reached the quarterfinals or better at six of her eight events coming into Warsaw in her 2006 comeback year.
Next Hingis will face the elder Williams sister Venus who she is 10-9 lifetime against, their first meeting since 2002 Hamburg.
Also advancing on the rainy day were Klara Koukalova, beating countrywoman Iveta Benesova 7-6(3), 6-4, and Russian Anna Chakvetadze, defeating Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-3.
The final round of qualifying was also completed, with Ukrainians Julia Vakulenko and Tatiana Perebiynis, Russia's Galina Voskoboeva and Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi through to the main draw.
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From the Houston Chronicle on WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott lambasting the French and Wimbledon for not anteing-up the same prize money for the women as the men: "Women got the vote in Britain in 1918 and the Sex Discrimination Act has been in force for more than 30 years, yet Wimbledon continues to take a Victorian-era view when it comes to pay." Added tennis' feminist pioneer, Billie Jean King: "Equal prize money is a no-brainer. Some traditions are good to keep, but Wimbledon needs to join the modern world on this." Stephane Simean, who's in charge of prize money for the federation defends the decision by saying: "On the women's side there has been a very positive change, with the arrival of many new stars...Now are 10 to 15 who can vie for a Grand Slam. "(But) we look objectively at the criteria, and there's still not the same density (of talent) on the women's side as there is on the men's. For now we are focusing just on the winners."...Dmitry Tursunov blogging on the ATP website: "First off I'd like to say that I'm forced to do this thing and they told me they won't let me play doubles if I refuse! Just kidding!!!...You try to arrive around Friday so that you have time to get used to the courts the time zone and find a few local bars. I'm sure some of you know that some bars are fairly expensive so you want to look around before the tournament starts so that if you lose in the first round your prize money will cover the drinks...This being the first time in Portugal I wasn't sure what to expect so I was excited to come here. Plus I like Portuguese better than Spanish so I was fired up to brush up on my swear words in this language...My first hit is with Vince Spadea! Arguably the best rapper on the circuit! Probably because he is the only one who tries it and everyone is too tired of asking him not to. So we just let him do it. We start off by throwing rhymes at each other and after I out-battle-rap him he asks for 2 out of 3. "Time to hit!" -- I said and we started. Nothing too hard! We are very fragile, finely tuned machines so killing ourselves in a warm-up is not our style! After we warm up we play some points and...the result is really not so important! The important thing is that we enjoyed it! So, I lost...I hate clay!!!...By the way I forgot to mention that this is a men's and women's tournament so if you lose early and you are lacking confidence there is a good chance to challenge one of the girls to a match...I went to the player's lounge and destroyed Elena Vesnina in pool! Well I won 1 out of 4 games but that's because of the stupid rule where you can't sink the 8-ball until you clear all the other ones...Whatever!"...From the ATP: "Broadcast coverage of ATP tournaments surpassed 1,200 hours and attracted more than 41 million TV viewers during the month of February. The European market showed the largest growth with broadcast hours increasing by 142 percent, while the global audience grew by 109 percent...Mardy Fish is the second seed behind Bobby Reynolds this week at the Atlanta Challenger...Andre Agassi has committed to play on grass at the Stella Artois Championships (Queens Club) before Wimbledon...Andy Murray pulled from Estoril with a bad back...From Tom Perrotta of the New York Sun: "Roger Federer has lost two matches this year, both to Rafael Nadal in tournament finals, yet few tennis fans in America have seen either one...The (Tennis) Channel remains less widely available. In New York City, for example, customers who do not have Time Warner Cable are out of luck (Dish Network became the first national provider of the channel in February; viewers must purchase a package of 180 channels -- rather than 60 or 120 -- to receive it). The larger point is that tennis remains without a comprehensive, full year television schedule, though there have been marked improvements since 2002...If a la carte cable television, by which viewers can purchase whatever channels or events they like, takes off, it could present more options (and perhaps more reach for The Tennis Channel). The men's tour recently launched Masters Series TV on the Internet (for $9 a tournament or a discounted $50 for a year) for access to footage from Masters Series events like Monte Carlo. But so far it does not allow viewers to watch entire matches, just extensive highlights, player interviews, and other features. It's too steep a price for too little product."...From Bonnie DeSimone writing for ESPN: "Will the now seemingly perpetual U.S. drought on European clay continue? (Andy) Roddick is the only one of the trio with a respectable career record on the surface, and much of his winning bulge comes from his performance in Houston, where he's won three titles and reached two other finals. Here's the breakdown on clay: (Andy) Roddick: 55-23 (turned pro in 2000) (James) Blake: 19-22 (2000) (Robby) Ginepri: 2-12 (2001) Andre Agassi, the last U.S. player to win the French Open (1999), won nearly three-quarters of his matches on clay over a 20-year span (152-57), but had announced he would sit out the clay-court season even before his back problems made that moot. You could argue that the current crop of Americans would be well advised to concentrate on what they're already good at, but then you'd be arguing with Jim Courier, and he's still quick on his feet. "There's always hope of getting better if a player is willing to make minor adjustments," the '91 and '92 French Open champion said."