Hingis in Monday Final, Roddick Back in Top 10
Posted on August 21, 2006
Roddick Back in Top 10 with Cincy TitleMASON -- August 20, 2006 -- Andy Roddick celebrated his first title of the year and his second Western and Southern Financial Group Masters championship in style. After firing a 131 mph ace on match point, Roddick kneeled to the ground, kissed the court and took a lap to start the victory party with his new 10,000 friends on center court.
Roddick, who was appearing in his third final in four years in Cincinnati, took down Ferrero 6-3, 6-4 in 70 minutes Sunday afternoon. In the battle of former World No.1s, Roddick, the No.9 seed, dominated the match from the onset, blasting 17 aces and breaking Ferrero four times in seven attempts. The 23-year-old Roddick looked to have the match in the bag when he lead 4-0 in the second set before Ferrero even got on the board.
The win marks Roddick's 21st career title and his first championship since Lyon in 2005. Roddick improves his 2006 record to 38-13 and has clinched the U.S. Open Series for the second consecutive year. He ties former coach Brad Gilbert for the No.9 spot with 24 wins in Cincinnati. Of Roddick's four ATP Masters Series titles, two have come in Cincinnati (2003 and 2006).
"I've gotten amazing crowd support here over the years, and this year I especially needed it," said Roddick after the match. "I don't know if I -- with the exception of my first round -- I don't know if I saw an open seat. It seems like the people really enjoy the tennis here. They're passionate about it. It's kind of a fun event. So, you know, for me personally, it's, like I said, up there with my favorite places."
Roddick, who has struggled in 2006, seems to have reclaimed some of the form that saw him finish 2003 as the World No.1. He's won 16 of his last 19 matches and appears to have shrugged off a left side injury he suffered in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago.
"Well, this week I'm pretty satisfied," said Roddick, who has now won at least one title in the last six years. "I'd like to maintain it. I still feel, you know, I'm nitpicking, but you can always cut down errors a little bit. But I was pretty happy with my form this week."
En route to the championship match, Roddick survived a first-round scare by Daniele Bracciali, but then went on to cruise past Kristof Vliegen, Juan Ignacio Chela, fast-rising Brit Andy Murray, and No.13 seed Fernando Gonzalez. Ferrero fended off three Top 10 players, including No.5 ranked James Blake in the second round, No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, and No.7 Tommy Robredo in the semifinals, to appear in only his second final on U.S. soil (2003 U.S. Open).
Ferrero was looking to become the first unseeded player to win in Cincinnati since 1960 when Miguel Olvera of Ecuador won the title. Ferrero, who said he "played good, but not good enough" during the final, will take many positives into the US Open.
"I take everything," said Ferrero, the 2003 U.S. Open finalist (l. to Roddick). "I take the matches that I play. I take the guys that I beat. I take the level that I leave from this tournament. I think I go with a lot of confidence to New York."
Roddick, who will jump back into the Top 10, receives 500 INDESIT ATP Ranking points and $400,000 for the win, while runner-up Ferrero captures 350 points and $200,000, and will be back in the Top 20.
-- ATP
Bjorkman-Mirnyi Stop Bryans in Cincy Final
Second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi successfully defended their Western and Southern Financial Group Masters title with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 (Match TB) victory over top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan on Sunday. Bjorkman and Mirnyi become the first team since 1937 to repeat at the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters.
Bjorkman and Mirnyi snapped the Bryans undefeated streak and improve to 3-0 against the American twins this year.
Bjorkman and Mirnyi pick up their third ATP Masters Series shield this season with the victory adding to titles from Miami and Monte-Carlo that they picked up earlier this season. Bjorkman earns his third event title after taking home titles in 1999 (w/ Black) and 2005 (w/ Mirnyi).
"I think Max was playing good in the beginning. I played decent," Bjorkman said. "I just screwed up in Max's service game. Bob and Mike are very good front runners, so you can't really do that against any team, but especially not against Bob and Mike. I totally screwed up, and that was unfortunate. But we showed strength in the team again that, you know, it's always best-of-three sets."
Bjorkman and Mirnyi improve to 39-8 this season with the victory and earn their third hard court title and fifth overall title this year.
The Bryans fall to 57-11 on the season with the loss and had their 21-match win streak, which dates back to Wimbledon, snapped. The Bryans, who have appeared in the final in each of their US Open series appearances this summer, have captured five hard court titles and six overall titles in 2006. They were looking for their second consecutive AMS shield after claiming the Toronto title last week.
-- ATP
Men, Women at New Haven Week Before US Open
Seven of the Top 10 women and three of the Top 10 men are looking for some last-minute preparation before next week's US Open, competing this week at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven.
Top 10ers on the women's side are Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Elena Dementieva, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Patty Schnyder and Lindsay Davenport. On the men's side are James Blake, Nikolay Davydenko, and Marcos Baghdatis.
Winners Sunday in unseeded play on the men's side were Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka (d. Almagro in three), France's Nicolas Mahut (d. Bracciali), Italian Andreas Seppi (d. Phau), and another Frenchman in Arnaud Clement (d. Serra).
Only two women's main draw matches were played with winners Na Li (d. Kirilenko) and Tatiana Golovin (d. Molik in three).
On court Wednesday in New Haven are Schiavone vs. Likhovtseva, Fish vs. Sanguinetti, (Q) T.Sun vs. (6) Schnyder, (5) Kuznetsova vs. (Q) Craybas, (WC) Gimelstob vs. Simon, Benneteau vs. Horna, (WC) Querrey vs. A.Martin, Dechy vs. Peer, Medina Garrigues vs. (Q) Daniilidou, Mirnyi vs. Mathieu, Vik vs. Santoro, Volandri vs. F.Lopez, Karlovic vs. Rusedski, (Q) Berrer vs. (Q) Sweeting, Ramirez Hidalgo vs. C.Rochus, Bartoli vs. Dulko, Muller vs. Pashanski, and (Q) Hajek vs. (Q) Gicquel.
Hingis v Ivanovic in Rain-Delayed Monday Montreal Final
MONTREAL, Canada -- Martina Hingis will have a chance to capture the second Tier I title of her comeback in Montreal Monday as she faces Ana Ivanovic in the final of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
Hingis, seeded No.7, advanced to the final on Saturday afternoon when Anna Chakvetadze retired trailing 63 31 with a right forearm strain. Playing in her first Tier I semifinal, Chakvetadze looked as though she was going to give Hingis a run early, hanging tough with the former No.1 through the first several games. But as the set went on it grew increasingly apparent that she was struggling, and shortly after calling for a medical timeout trailing 4-2 and dropping the first set, she decided to stop playing.
"I wanted to retire in the end of the set, but then I felt okay, so I tried to play; but if something's bothering you, you can't play," Chakvetadze said. "I felt it yesterday and had treatment, but it wasn't bad and in practice I felt okay. But in the start of the first set I felt something wrong with my hand. It was really stiff and hurting when I served and hit forehands."
Chakvetadze's fighting spirit, which has taken her to impressive wins this week against the likes of Nadia Petrova, Nathalie Dechy and Shahar Peer, came through Saturday as she continued to play despite apparent injury distress, an injury trainers told her afterwards would take less than a week to heal.
"I thought I could win; if I didn't, I'd never go to the court," Chakvetadze added. "And I told Martina that the next time I'll be ready, and it'll be a tougher match. I'm really sad, because I knew I could be in the finals."
"It's kind of disappointing to win a match like this," Hingis stated, "but she continued so you still have to keep the focus, because you don't know how much it's hurting and how much she still can play. I had never played her before. And those down-the-line backhands were really quite impressive."
With the victory, Hingis moved into her third final of the season, having finished runner-up at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] and capturing the title at Rome. Coincidentally, both are Tier I events, just like here in Montreal. This is her third final in six appearances at this event, her 21-3 record including two title runs (1999, 2000), and now a chance at a third title, six years after her last.
Hingis' championship challenger was determined on Sunday, as a No.13-seeded Ivanovic put the finishing touches on a quick 61 64 victory over No.9 seed Dinara Safina. The two heavy-hitters began their match Saturday night, but were forced to stop play with Safina leading 4-3 in the second set due to rainfall. On Sunday, Ivanovic needed only 12 minutes to reel off the last three games, reaching her career-first Tier I final, and just her second overall final, having won the Tier V title in Canberra last January.
"We had to be here the whole morning so I think it was a little bit hard, but it was the same for both of us," Ivanovic stated. "I'm really happy the way I played these three games because it was important and I'm just happy I took the opportunities I had and I could win this match. It feels much better."
Hingis and Ivanovic will be playing for the first time. The Swiss has a lot of praise for the emerging star's form; the Serb has expressed a lot of respect for the former world No.1's comeback success.
"I've never played Ana; she's a very good player, a very high potential," Hingis said of Ivanovic. "She has definitely been impressive this week. You can see that she's training hard, she has the fitness and a new coach and it must be working for her, so those are the results so far."
"I'm really excited about this match because obviously she's a great player and just to come back like she did I think it's amazing," Ivanovic added. "She's playing some good tennis at the moment and it's going to be a very tough match for me, but I'm just going to try and take the opportunities I have and try to play aggressive my game and she will need to work hard to beat me."
Both finalists will make ranking improvements this week. Hingis assured herself of a Top 10 return by virtue of reaching the semifinals, but by reaching the final, win or lose, she will rise from No.12 to No.9. Ivanovic has also solidified a move, from No.19 to No.17, regardless of her performance in this final. The Serbian teenager will be just one spot off of her career-high of No.16.
Additionally, both players have a shot at heading into the last leg of the US Open Series as the Lever 2000 Challenge Standings Leader; Monday's champion will be No.1 in the race while the runner-up will be No.4; San Diego champion Maria Sharapova will be No.2, while Stanford winner Kim Clijsters stays No.3.
Similar to the singles results, the first doubles semifinal was completed in a timely manner while the second one was forced into Sunday's schedule. Martina Navratilova and Nadia Petrova continued to roll in their first tournament together, beating fellow unseeded team Marion Bartoli and Shahar Peer, 63 63. The Saturday evening match between No.2 seeds Cara Black and Anna-Lena Groenefeld and No.4 seeds Safina and Katarina Srebotnik was pushed to Sunday, and as the rains kept falling, it was forced indoors, with Black and Groenefeld winning, 62 62. Both finalists are playing together for the first time this week.
-- WTA
Rios Solidifies No. 1 Rank, Muster to No. 3
With eight events remaining on the combined Europe-U.S. senior tour, Marcelo Rios has put himself almost two tournament wins (800 points) ahead of his nearest competitor, the No. 2-ranked John McEnroe.
On Saturday Rios won his fourth title in four events in 2006, edging Thomas Muster in two tiebreaks, and jesting that perhaps he'll have to wait until other players come of age on the senior tour to stop him.
"Maybe Federer?" Rios said. "No, I'm just joking. I'm trying to do my best. We're playing different tennis now, maybe a bit more relaxed but still taking it serious. I don't want to lose but the time will come when I have to lose. I'll try to just keep going."
Muster rose from 7 to No. 3 with his runner-up effort, while German Carl-Uwe Steeb moved in to the Top 10 after the Graz event.
WORLD SENIOR RANKINGS presented by Tennis-X.com
(through Aug. 19, 2006)
1. Marcelo Rios (1600 pts.)
2. John McEnroe (965)
3. Thomas Muster (750)
4. Sergi Bruguera (730)
5. Cedric Pioline (650)
6. Pat Cash (610)
7. Jim Courier (600)
8T. Renzo Furlan (400)
8T. Richard Krajicek (400)
8T. Todd Martin (400)
8T. Carl-Uwe Steeb (400)
The World Senior Rankings presented by Tennis-X.com 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.
Remaining 2006 senior tour events:
Sept. 14-17 Paris, France
Sept. 20-24 Charlotte, NC, USA
Oct. 4-8 Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Oct. 12-15 Eindhoven, Netherlands
Oct. 19-22 Dublin, Ireland
Nov. 8-12 Houston, Texas, USA (Outback year-end championship)
Nov. 16-19 Frankfurt, Germany
Dec. 5-10 London, England (Merrill Lynch year-end championship)
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Jonas Bjorkman and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi are the first team to repeat as title winners in Cincinnati since 1937...Wildcard Ryan Sweeting beat Vince Spadea in the last round of the New Haven qualifying...From Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez blogging for the ATP: "I had a nice surprise for the tournament director Anne Worcester. I spoke to her on the courts today and told her that Rafa was coming to get in some practice. It's too early for him to go to New York to practice as none of the players are there. You can imagine that Ann was very surprised, but because the draw had already been made she knew there was no point asking if Rafa wanted to play the event. Rafa wants to practice here today and tomorrow. Today he couldn't find anyone to hit with so he hit with my coach. The fans were very surprised to see him here and when word started to get around it became packed around his practice court. Tomorrow I think he's going to practice with Blake."...Andy Roddick is back in the Top 10 at No. 10...IMG has signed Gael Monfils...From Lisa Raymond blogging for the WTA website: Speaking of Sam [Stosur], she is coachless this week so I have been designated her coach for "on-court coaching". Pretty funny! Since we started playing doubles together a year ago, we have become good friends and I have seen her play a lot of tennis. In her first round of qualies she called me out during the set break. When I got out there, we both just laughed. She was playing well, winning 6-3 and her opponent had called for her coach first so she figured, 'Why not?' I basically just told her to stay focused, keep doing what she was doing, and then asked where we were going to dinner later! No, I'm kidding. I think the best part of being able to have someone come out on court with you is just to keep you centered, focused, and calm you down if need be. Bottom line, the player has to go out there and execute, not the coach. By the way, Sam won and I'm taking 5% :) (Just kidding Sam, in case you are reading this!)"...Andy Murray moves into the Top 20 for the first time at No. 19...Amelie Mauresmo on her groin injury last month and shoulder injury last week: "It was good to have a rest but it was also frustrating because my injury stopped me from doing the sports I normally like to do while on holidays like surfing. Still, it was nice to be able to spend time with my relatives and friends...The doctors have detected a slight inflammation (in the shoulder) and told me to be careful. I concentrated on physical training and I'm confident I'll be ready for the US Open."...Roger Federer is aiming to join John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl as the only players to win three consecutive US Open titles in the Open Era...From Dale Robertson writing for the Houston Chronicle: "Despite much widespread skepticism -- I've certainly expressed my share -- Jim Courier already was insisting on Friday that Andy Roddick's decision to partner up with Jimmy Connors had had a profoundly positive effect on Roddick's game. And lo, three days later, Roddick won his first title in 10 months, taking the Masters Series event in Cincinnati and, with it, the U.S. Open Series championship. Roddick had reached his first final of the year a few weeks ago in Indianapolis. Connors, 54 next month, may be out of touch with the modern tour and its players, but what Jimbo did best in his prime, accounting for his eight Grand Slam titles, apparently translates into any era, and Roddick seems to be soaking up his advice like a sponge. "I haven't been around them personally," Courier said, "but (watching on TV), I saw a clear, distinct change in Andy's game -- things I've never seen him do, but things he needed to do." Courier, the winner of four Slams himself in the 1990s, was so excited by what he was seeing early in the Cincinnati tournament that he dashed off a congratulatory e-mail to Roddick. "I told him, 'I'm really excited for you -- you're going where you need to be going,'" Courier said. What really caught his eye? Roddick's vastly improved shot anticipation and footwork, as well as his refound swagger. "Andy was walking and moving like a man who believed in his game again, and that was great to see," Courier said. "I think good things are on the horizon for him, whether or not it plays out this week or at the U.S. Open. He's got the weapons, and now he's looking like he'll be able to use them in the right way."...Juan Carlos Ferrero was looking to become the first unseeded player to win Cincinnati since Miguel Olvera of Ecuador in 1960.