Venus Guts Out Hingis Win, Serena Parties with Playboy
Posted on May 5, 2006
Hingis Melts Under Venus Glare at WarsawMartina Hingis blew a set and 3-0 lead during gusty conditions Thursday at the WTA claycourt stop in Warsaw, tightening up to allow a cramping Venus Williams to limp to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 quarterfinal berth against former US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.
"Being up a set, 5-4, 30-0 she's almost like giving it to me," Hingis told reporters after Williams served two double faults to begin her game at 4-5 in the second set. "But then she came out fighting and that's what brought her the victory."
Cramping badly in the third, Williams lobbed in serves then went for the kill at her first opportunity during rallies, forcing mistakes from the tense Hingis, who waited for errors rather than pressing the issue.
"You just want to make her run and don't miss, but you should be more aggressive and make more out of it," Hingis told reporters. "Sometimes I was just hoping for her to miss."
For Williams, toughing out the win was a good start after a three-month absence from the game.
"I guess I said that prayer just in time," Williams told reporters. "It was just crazy, it was intense. Even I wouldn't expect that of myself. Definitely just living in the moment. Each and every win is nice. This is obviously an amazing moment. It's definitely a wonderful sign, this early in my return."
The No. 4-seeded Kuznetsova (d. (LL) Pironkova) was the only other player to escape an upset on the day after Serb Ana Ivanovic ousted No. 2 Patty Schnyder, and Russian Anna Chakvetadze bested No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova, both in straight sets.
Scheduled for the Friday quarterfinals are Clijsters vs. Schiavone, Chakvetadze vs. Ivanovic, Dementieva vs. A.Radwanska, and Venus vs. Kuznetsova.
Dr Ivo Saves Match Point at ATP Munich
Unseeded 6-foot-10 Croatian giant "Dr." Ivo Karlovic continued his unlikely serving assault on the claycourts Thursday at the ATP stop in Munich, saving a match point in defeating German Bjorn Phau 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(8) to advance into the quarterfinals.
No. 5 Olivier Rochus (d. Ramirez Hidalgo) was the only seeded player into the quarters Thursday, joined by German qualifier Denis Gremelmayr (d. (Q) Peya) and Austrian Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. (WC) Greul in three).
Lining up for the Friday quarterfinals are Vik vs. (3) Nieminen, Vliegen vs. Kohlschreiber, (Q) Gremelmayr vs. (5) O.Rochus, and Karlovic vs. Melzer.
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Serena Williams is in Louisville, Ky., tonight for a Playboy magazine party on her see-and-be-seen tour, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal: "Kara Monaco is Playboy's 2006 Playmate of the Year -- and she's jetting to Louisville for her first public appearance. Monaco, 25, will host the Crown Royal Playboy Club at 11 p.m. Friday at Felt inside Fourth Street Live. She'll be joined by a bevy of celebs at the exclusive affair, including Chris "Ludacris" Bridges ("Crash," "Hustle & Flow"), rocker Tommy Lee, Gabrielle Union ("The Honeymooners"), James Lesure (NBC's "Las Vegas"), Jaime Pressly (NBC's "My Name is Earl") and tennis superstar Serena Williams."...The best of Dmitry Tursunov blogging on the ATP website: "I was going to talk about a certain female player named Katerina, who has been chasing Marat (Safin) for the third day now. "Coincidentally" bumping into him, eating when he is eating, lounging in a chair in front of the locker room right after his match and changing practice court from #8 to the one next to his. All of this has been extremely hilarious to watch but what has really been bothering me for two days now is that our physio, Michael Novotny, thinks that my $300 headphones are junk! How can he say that?! He talks about his noise-canceling headphones that require a backpack-size battery to operate for one flight and all they do is just put more noise in your ear so you can't hear the noise that's outside. Wow! Yeah, those are great! They make you look like you are that guy at the airport who waves with carrots at the airplanes."...James Martin has been named Editor-in-Chief of Tennis Magazine...From Zimbabwe's IOL on more Bjorn Borg boners: "The Swedish tax office is looking for 14-million kronor (about R11-million) in unpaid taxes from former tennis star Bjorn Borg and his parents, a Swedish newspaper reported on Thursday. According to the report in Dagens Nyheter, Borg allegedly placed royalties from a Swedish company in the Dutch Antilles, a tax haven...He is regularly reported to be in financial trouble, and the tax authorities in high-tax Sweden keep a close eye on his business interests abroad."...John McEnroe speaking with the Daily Times (Tenn.) after getting straight-setted in a an exhibition by James Blake: "Sports is important, even if you don't end up being a professional athlete as far as I'm concerned. You've got to get out there -- we all are getting so fat in America -- and work out. So that's a key element of it. (Education and exercise) are both key elements of it." Blake jetted out for Rome yesterday...Apparently Dmitry Tursunov exchanged some unkind words during his singles loss to Portuguese Frederico Gil over slowing down the play...From Tennisnews.com: "The Tennis Channel has secured long-term agreements with 8 of the top 10 cable distributors and currently serves 19 of the top 20 U.S. markets. It also has a long-term carriage agreement with Echostar's DISH Network satellite service, affording the channel a national footprint covering virtually all U.S. television households."...Great Britain's July zonal Davis Cup tie against Israel will take place on the grasscourts of Eastbourne's Devonshire Park...The clay-unsteady American contingent will get their first big European claycourt test next week at the Masters Series-Rome where Andy Roddick, James Blake, Robby Ginepri, and Taylor Dent are in the main draw....Martina Hingis after blowing her match against a cramping and ill Venus Williams: "All I can do is practice now. I have three days to recover for Berlin and I definitely have to hit a lot of balls, because on clay it feels like it's twice as much work as on hardcourts. You've just got to dig in deep." Venus is also suffering from a throat infection in Warsaw.