Mauresmo Cold, Murray Hot; Wimbledon Plans Video Replay in 2007

Mauresmo struggled with Dechy's wide array of first serves (74 percent) and only capitalized on two of seven break opportunities. Dechy, on the other hand, used two of three break chances in the final set to ice the victory. Dechy has now won two of her four career meetings against Mauresmo, but this time it was while her countrywoman was the world's top player.

"It's always very difficult to beat one of your best friends. We've been playing against each other since we were seven years old. I think I handled the windy conditions better than Amelie today. It was her first match on grass this year, so I was expecting she would take a bit of time to get used to the surface. She actually started stronger than me, and I was struggling with my movement, but then there was a change in momentum and I made sure I maintained that."

Eastbourne has been a successful Tour stop for Dechy. In 1999, she collected her first Top 10 win here, defeating Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Three years ago, Dechy made the semifinals here and last year lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova after leading 5-2 in the second set. Her next opponent is No.5-seeded Anastasia Myskina, a 64 64 winner over Jill Craybas.

Defending Eastbourne champion Kim Clijsters received an easy break in her 2006 grass court opener, as newly-crowned Birmingham champion Vera Zvonareva retired due to a right Achilles strain. No.2 seed Clijsters will next face No.6 seed Francesca Schiavone, who dropped only two games against qualifier Akiko Morigami. The two have clashed 10 times over the past five years and Schiavone has never managed to pull off a victory. However, none of their encounters has taken place on grass. Clijsters has lots of points to defend here. Last year, she won her second career grass court title at this Tier II event.

No.3 seed Justine Henin-Hardenne also had an easy time in her grass court debut. The three-time Roland Garros champion defeated Kveta Peschke 62 61 and is now up against Elena Likhovtseva in the quarterfinals. The last time the two played was four years ago in Berlin and Henin-Hardenne prevailed in three sets. The Belgian withdrew from Eastbourne last year with a right hamstring strain and became the first reigning Roland Garros winner to lose in the first round of Wimbledon.

No.7 seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld eliminated Vera Dushevina 64 61 to set up a meeting with Svetlana Kuznetsova. The German is aiming for her career-first semifinal on grass. She should be confident enough because she defeated Kuznetsova earlier this year and is coming off her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros.
-- WTA

Quarterfinal Line-Up Set To Go at Ordina Open

'S-HERTOGENBOSCH, The Netherlands -- Top seed Elena Dementieva prevailed in her grass court season debut Wednesday against Elena Vesnina, 61 46 64. She will play Ana Ivanovic on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Tier III Wimbledon tune-up.

Dementieva, who was contesting second round action after having an opening round bye, made the finals here in 2002 and won the doubles title. Even though she had to retire here last year in the first round due to a right shoulder strain, she managed to still put in a solid showing at Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round.

Dementieva has to be ready for a fierce battle on Thursday, as Ivanovic took the Russian to three sets in their only prior encounter, a quarterfinal meeting at Indian Wells earlier this year. The Serbian teen has been in good form so far this week too, beating former Top 10 player Alicia Molik in the first round and Iveta Benesova in straight sets, 63 75, in the second round on Wednesday.

Another teenager, Michaella Krajicek, also fought her way through to the quarters with a 67(3) 64 63 triumph over defending champion Klara Koukalova. Last year, Krajicek also made it to the last eight here but suffered a right knee injury and had to retire trailing Meghann Shaughnessy 4-3.

Krajicek's quarterfinal opponent, No.8 seed Jelena Jankovic, toughed out a 64 16 76(5) battle with Ukrainian qualifier Alona Bondarenko on Wednesday. The Serb is playing in her second quarterfinal here. In 2004, she upset top seed Nadia Petrova in the second round en route to the last eight.

In Thursday's other two quarterfinal match-ups, Eleni Daniilidou will play Paola Suarez and No.2 seed Dinara Safina will play wild card Brenda Schultz-McCarthy.
-- WTA

Murray Tames the Beast; Hrbaty Upset at Nottingham
 
Scot Andy Murray overcame Max Mirnyi 7-6(2), 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Red Letter Days Open in Nottingham on Wednesday. The 19-year-old, who entered the event as a wild card, holds a 7-4 grass-court record in his career.

In today's match, Murray won 79 percent of the points in his first serve and broke Mirnyi in two of four opportunities. For a spot in the semifinals he will battle Andreas Sepppi.

Seppi notched his 40th career win as the 22-year-old Italian defeated No.2 seed Dominik Hrbaty 7-5, 7-5 in one hour, 38 minutes. Seppi, now 16-16 in the season, fired seven aces and broke the Slovak in five of 12 opportunities. The Italian holds a 4-3 grass court record in his career.

Frenchman Gilles Simon won 12 of the last 17 games of his second round match against lucky loser Jan Vacek to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat over the Czech. The 21-year-old Simon trailed Vacek 4-6, 0-4 before making an incredible comeback to post his second win on grass in his career.

Robin Soderling breezed past Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals of an ATP event for the fourth time this season. The Swede, a quarterfinalist in Halle last week, also reached the final in Memphis and quarters in San Jose.

Spaniard Feliciano Lopez won back-to-back matches for the first time since the Australian Open in January as he defeated Paul Goldstein 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour, 45 minutes. He will next battle Swede veteran Jonas Bjorkman, who dismissed Jiri Vanek 6-3, 6-3.
--ATP

Ferrero, Santoro March into Quarterfinals at Ordina Open

Juan Carlos Ferrero reached his second career grass court quarterfinal by defeating Austrian Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 's-Hertogenbosch Wednesday. Although the former World No. 1 is noted more as a clay court and hard court player, Ferrero has enjoyed success on grass in the past.

He has reached the Wimbledon fourth round in two of the past three years and last year reached the Halle quarterfinals. He has a 15-9 career record on grass. Ferrero improved to 17-12 on the season but has reached just three quarterfinals, including 's-Hertogenbosch.

Ferrero next meets Frenchman Florent Serra, who upset second-seed Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

Fabrice Santoro advanced to his second consecutive grass court quarterfinal with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Belgian Kristof Vliegen. The French veteran, who fell to eventual finalist Tomas Berdych in the Halle quarters, advanced to his fourth quarterfinal of the season and improved his 2006 record to 15-13.
-- ATP
 
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
After beating Jelena Dokic in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying, then voicing her aim to not only qualify but go on to win the tournament, American Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson lost yesterday in the second round of qualifying to Tatiana "Poke-Check" Poutchek...From the Sydney Morning Herald: "It has come a little late for John McEnroe, the former American star whose tirades towards umpires over disputed line calls became a feature of the Wimbledon Championships in the late 1970s and 1980s. But the All England Club is poised to introduce technology that will decide definitively whether a ball is in or out. High-speed cameras mounted around the Centre Court and Court One will capture 3D images of any disputed line call, showing exactly where the ball lands. The images will then be shown on a screen and, according to Wimbledon officials, "will leave no room for doubt." The Hawkeye system, developed by IBM, will have a trial run at this year's championships -- which begin next week -- and is expected to make its debut next year."...Pete Sampras will be featured in upcoming commercials for World TeamTennis, which will be covered in the U.S. on The Tennis Channel and the Outdoor Life Network (OLN)...Lleyton Hewitt and the ATP have come to terms out of court over their 2002 dust-up when Hewitt refused to do an interview in Cincinnati -- the ATP subsequently fined him, and Hewitt subsequently sued for $2.5 million. The terms of the settlement were not made public. Hewitt said: "I am very happy that my differences with the ATP are a thing of the past. This dispute involved matters from many years ago, and I'm pleased with the new leadership and direction of the ATP."...Ivan Ljubicic is 2-6 career at Wimbledon...Could Amelie Mauresmo look less match-tough?...The Wimbledon seeding are out and -- uh, does anyone care about the lone Slam doing their own arbitrary seeding because grasscourts are "special"? Even though these days they play more like hardcourts and are no longer difficult to adapt to? Dropshots even bounce up high enough to be chased down. Stick to the ATP and WTA rankings for the seedings, and turn the grass back into grass...From the WTA on this week's Eastbourne event: "This is also the first women's-only tournament to feature the Top 3 in the last four-and-a-half years, and just the ninth since 1990." -- Do you really want to be promoting the fact you can so rarely get the Top 3-ranked women to play in the same event on your tour? Yikes, enroll your web staff in PR 101...Matches to watch for Thursday: Elena Dementieva vs. Ana Ivanovic, Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro, Dinara Safina vs. 35-year-old wildcard and former Top 10er Brenda Schultz-McCarthy...The Bryan brothers are shooting for their first Wimbledon title, which would complete their career Grand Slam, joining Aussies "The Woodies" Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, Dutchmen Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, and Aussies John Newcombe and Tony Roche, and Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall...Smoke a joint and have a hit, from The Telegraph: "Warders at Kingston Prison in Portsmouth initially took prisoners' enthusiasm for collecting tennis balls accidentally knocked into the yard as a sign that Wimbledon fortnight was imminent. It was not until random testing revealed that 35 percent of inmates were using drugs that it was discovered that the tennis balls contained cannabis and had been hit over the wall by friends of inmates. The scam was revealed yesterday in a report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons that highlights measures the prison has taken to stamp out drug misuse in the past year. At the beginning of April 2006 the number of inmates testing positive for drugs was down to 12.9 per cent -- just above the national prison average of 10.3 per cent."...China's Na Li quit tennis from 2002-2004 to go to university, then decided to give the game another go...From the Andy Roddick blog: "I am currently hooked on the first season of the show Lost. I love that iTunes now has tv shows that you can buy and download. It saves me from having to carry around dvd's. Last week felt really good on the court. I started to serve well again...this is great, because I haven't served well for most of this year...being healthy is a plus also...I cannot wait for Wimbledon!!! And a shout out to the pink ladies for their support last week...and thanks for the t-shirts, even though they were quite "cheeky." Butthead of the Week -- the Italian cheap shot artist who elbowed Brian Mcbride's face in the USA-Italy game...his name does not deserve mention here, but it was ridiculous. Self-Chuck of the Week -- people who wear sunglasses at night and inside during dinner...was not aware that UV protection was needed at these times...walls for all the guilty parties!!! Fine of the Week -- ME!!! I walked down to the court to play my quarterfinal match against Fernando Gonzalez last week and realized I had carried my brother's bag to the court...I had to run back up to the locker room to switch the bags while everyone was waiting...not my proudest moment haha."...From SI.com's Jon Wertheim on the numerous French Open retirements: "I'm astonished -- stunned, you could even say -- by how casually everyone seems to perceive this. There were SIX former French Open champs who were sufficiently healthy to play in the tournament. (Andy) Roddick didn't last a round. (Lindsay) Davenport didn't play. (Nadia) Petrova pulled up lame. The prevailing thinking seems to be: "It's a pity, but the sport is getting more and more physical. What time is lunch?"...German newspapers are reporting that Nicolas Kiefer may withdraw from Wimbledon with injury...For the first time in a decade, no British men have been seeded at Wimbledon.