Nadal, Blake Win at Aussie Open; Sampras in Hall

Posted on January 18, 2007

Sharapova, Seeds Bake Bagels Thursday at Aussie Open

The sun wasn't the only thing baking Down Under Thursday at the Australian Open where the seeded players baked a handful of "bagel" sets en route to the third round.

Feeding opponents bagels in quick-time were No. 1 seed Maria Sharapova rolling past Anastassia Rodionova 6-0, 6-3, No. 4 Kim Clijsters stomping Akiko Morigami, 6-3, 6-0, and China's No. 19 seed Na Li dispatching of Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-0, 6-2.

"It was good -- I was glad I got off to a good start," Sharapova said. "I wanted to make sure I finished it in two this time. I thought I played a little better today, but I still think I can play a lot better. I'm nowhere near my top level. I think I can definitely get better as I play more matches here."

The two seeded upsets on the day were orchestrated by American comeback queen and newly-divorced Ashley Harkleroad who had little problem with No. 17 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 6-2, and Croatian Jelena Kostanic Tosic who outlasted Aussie No. 24 seed Sam Stosur 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.


Other seeded winners into the third round were (6) Martina Hingis (d. Kudryavtseva), (8) Patty Schnyder (d. Peng), (9) Dinara Safina (d. Fedossova), (12) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Granville 6-1 in the third), (13) Ana Ivanovic (d. Radwanska in three), (15) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Loit from a set down), (22) Vera Zvonareva (d. Paszek), (29) Alona Bondarenko (d. Razzano), and (30) Tathiana Garbin (d. Voracova).

Clijsters says she and Hingis are in an unofficial race this year at the Australian Open to see who can get off the court first, with a potential quarterfinal meeting looming.

"It happened on our first matches," Clijsters said. "We won at around the same time, and then came into the locker room and started laughing, and she's like, 'Damn, you beat me, you were there first.' Then today as well, we were waiting at the office and she's like, 'I hope I'm going to get here before you get here. We're friends off court, and you can laugh and say those kinds of things. And, once you get on the court, if we get to play each other, it's all business. But from the moment that it's done, then those things should be possible, I think."

The hopes of one nation fell Thursday as India's Sania Mirza made an unceremonious 6-3, 6-2 exit against Aiko Nakamura, while another took heart as unseeded Alicia Molik continued her lone-remaining-Aussie campaign with a comeback 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Kaia Kanepi.

"I let her run away with that first set," Molik said. "I knew things could really only get better. I didn't feel too bad after the first set. I knew what I needed to get going -- my serve, get my forehand working. Then she didn't see any holes, she pressed, and eventually committed a lot more errors in the end than myself...The crowd definitely helped today. They were putting in hard work out there. I think there's no doubt that that helps you along when you're down a little bit."

Seeded players and other matches of interest Friday in Melbourne are (5) Petrova vs. Serena Williams, (3) Kuznetsova vs. (26) Kirilenko in an all-Russian, (2) Mauresmo vs. Birnerova, (7) Dementieva vs. Camerin, (11) Jankovic vs. Azarenka, (10) Vaidisova vs. (21) Srebotnik, and (16) Peer vs. (20) Golovin.

Nadal, Blake Advance at Australian Open

Few problems for the seeds Thursday at the Australian Open where Top 10 seeds Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, James Blake and David Nalbandian moved into the third round.

Nadal dispatched of German Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets, while the Russian Davydenko baked a second-set bagel against Gilles Muller, Blake eased past American countryman Alex Kuznetsov losing only seven games, and Nalbandian, searching for his first Slam title, subdued Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti.

"I know how dangerous he can be," Blake said of Kuznetsov, a hitting partner he had never faced in a match, with Blake finding himself down a break in the first set. "I think maybe at that point he started realizing what he was doing, what court he was on and kind of the arena that he was in. That's something I hopefully have going for me now is a little bit of experience, and to ride that storm that Alex was kind of bringing to me."

Other seeded winners Thursday were (10) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Del Potro who retired trailing 0-4 in the fifth), (12) Tommy Haas (d. Bozoljac), (13) Tomas Berdych (d. Smeets), (15) Andy Murray (d. Verdasco), (19) Lleyton Hewitt (d. Dancevic in four), (21) Dmitry Tursunov (d. Mirnyi), (28) Sebastien Grosjean (d. O.Rochus in five), and (31) Stan Wawrinka (d. Capdeville).

Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela accounted for the only seeded loss on the day, outlasting No. 17 Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Among the notable in unseeded play, American Robby Ginepri beat Mischa Zverev, and Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro topped Arnaud Clement in an all-French conflict, both in straight sets.

In action Friday in Melbourne are (1) Federer vs. (25) Youzhny, (6) Roddick vs. (26) Safin, (14) Djokovic vs. Udomchoke, (18) Richard "Baby Fed" Gasquet vs. Gael "Force" Monfils in an all-French battle, the American Fish vs. the Aussie Arthurs in an unseeded serving contest, (7) Robredo vs. Querrey, (9) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, and (16) Ferrer vs. (20) Stepanek.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Serena Williams says she is targeting 12 tournaments to participate in for 2007...Roger Federer with his opinions on Hawkeye and round robin play: "I'm not a big fan of (Hawkeye). I think it's nonsense anyway in the first place. Now they (match officials) can hide even more behind these calls, that's for sure. But that's really our problem. It makes it really hard for us. Of course, we would like to be able to rely a little bit on umpires as well. They tend to now just let us do the work, the tough stuff. They let us get embarrassed basically with the two challenges there to be used...From my end, I'm not a round-robin guy. I'm not playing one of these events. I'm happy about that this year. I hope they're not going to be around in 2008. But look, I'm not the only guy playing on tour. There's other players, as well, who have to agree with those things. I think it's going to be interesting to see where the game goes from here."...James Blake on his growing beard in Melbourne: "Once I start winning, I don't shave, it's superstition. Once something starts working you've got to stick with it."...Pete Sampras was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame this week, joined in the 2007 class by Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Sven Davidson and photographer Russ Adams...ESPN's Chris Fowler, wandering too far away from the desk to insult American Alex Kuznetsov during an interview in a humor attempt, nice tact...Paradorn Srichaphan is reportedly dating an ex-Miss Universe.