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Nadal Beats Federer, Back on Court in BarcelonaView Comments (28) | View Discussions
Posted on April 23, 2007
Nadal Headlines at ATP Barcelona
No rest for world No. 2 Rafael Nadal this week as the Spaniard comes off the title at the Masters Series-Monte Carlo to defend his homecountry title from last year at the Open Seat 2007 in Barcelona.
Nadal will likely first be tested in the third round against either former French Open champ Gaston Gaudio or No. 13 seed Robin Soderling.
Other Top 8 seeds are Russian Nikolay Davydenko, Spaniard Tommy Robredo, Argentine David Nalbandian, Spaniard David Ferrer, Finn Jarkko Nieminen, Spanish former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.
Also among the Top 16 seeds are former No. 1s Marat Safin and Carlos Moya, and the hot-handed Guillermo Canas.
While the American contingent as a whole skipped the Masters Series-Monte Carlo last week, this week Barcelona sees U.S. representation from second-tier players Sam Querrey, Vince Spadea and Paul Goldstein.
Wildcards went to Spaniards Felix Mantilla, Marcel Granollers-Pujol, Fernando Vicente, Marc Lopez and Bartolome Salva-Vidal.
Last year Nadal defeated Robredo in the final.
The Dominator Top Seed at ATP Casablanca
Slovak Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty is the top seed this week at the Grand Prix Hassan II, the ATP stop on clay at Casablanca.
Joining Hrbaty among the seeds are Jose Acasuso, Julien Benneteau, Gilles Simon, Marc Giquel, Arnaud Clement, Nicolas Massu and Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Other notables in the draw are wildcard Younes El Aynaoui, Sebastien Grosjean, and American grinder Michael Russell.
In last year's final No. 7 seed Danielle Bracciali of Italy beat the top-seeded Massu in straight sets.
Garbin Top Seed at WTA Budapest
No Top 20 players in action this week on the WTA Tour as Tathiana Garbin is the top seed at the lone WTA event in Budapest, the Gaz de France Budapest Grand Prix.
Joining Garbin among the seeds are Martina Muller, Maria Kirilenko, Emilie Loit, Eleni Daniilidou, Gisela Dulko, Elena Likhovtseva, and Romina Oprandi.
Wildcards went to Hungarians Agnes Szavay, Zsofia Gubacsi, and Lucia Batta.
In last year's final Anna Smashnova beat Lourdes Dom�uez Lino 6-1, 6-3.
US, Russia Set Fed Cup Date
The women's international Fed Cup tennis competition has a chance to become relevant, at least for a weekend in July, if the stars come out when Russia will travel to face the U.S. in the semifinals.
The U.S. behind the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, swept past the star-less Belgium team 5-0, while Russia behind Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova blanked Spain 5-0.
Sunday turned into a worrisome situation for the Australian Open champion Serena Williams when the American pulled from the clinching singles match citing her chronic knee problem, putting American Vania King into the spotlight. Williams, who entered the Australian Open overweight and an underdog, appeared even heavier during the Davis Cup weekend, putting extra stress on her surgically-repaired knee.
"The whole atmosphere, clinching the tie was just a dream come true," said King, who came from a set down to defeat Kirsten Flipkens. "Before the match, I was really nervous. It's a different feeling when you?re not playing for yourself and playing for your country. It's not just about me anymore."
The other July semifinal will be France, who swept Japan 5-0, against Italy, who swept China 5-0. Italy will have the choice of ground against France.
The U.S. vs. France conflict is expected to feature the Williams sisters against Maria Sharapova and Petrova.
Nadal Masters Federer Again for 3rd Straight Monte Carlo Title
World No. 1 Roger Federer hasn't won a claycourt title since 2005, and if Rafael Nadal has his say, the Swiss will go winless again in 2007.
Nadal was his bullish self and Federer appeared mentally shaken Sunday in the final of the Masters Series Monte Carlo, where in a repeat of last year's championship, the relentless muscle-bound Spaniard ground his way to a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Federer began the contest aggressively but his net-rushing tactic waned as the match went on. The Swiss squandered break opportunities with Nadal serving at 3-4 in the first, and the missed chances proved mentally taxing as on his next service game Federer double faulted at 0-15 and dropped serve amidst a flurry of unforced errors. In the second set Nadal secured an early break as the Federer errors continued, and the Spaniard served out the match at 5-4 for his second title of the year, and second Masters Series title after Indian Wells.
Nadal did not drop a set during the event, and extended his all-time record match winning streak on clay to 67. Nadal is 5-0 career versus Federer on clay, and leads their meetings 7-3 overall.
The usually-confident Federer seemed to lose his nerve as the match progressed, ending with 38 unforced errors to only 19 for Nadal, and failing to convert on any of his three break point chances.
Nadal became the first player to win three consecutive titles in Monte Carlo since Ilie Nastase in 1971-73. The only other players to win three Monte Carlo titles in the Open Era are Bjorn Borg (1977, 1979-80) and Thomas Muster (1992, 1995-95).
Both players have been taking on ATP President Etienne de Villiers during the week in the media and in private meetings as the ATP attempts to demote Monte Carlo from Masters Series status and Nadal and Federer have led the charge to keep the event's elite status.
The next potential meeting between Federer and Nadal will be the week of May 7 in Rome, where in last years final Nadal saved two match points in a 6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5) win over the Swiss.
In the doubles final the American Bryan brother won their first Monte Carlo title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet in only 49 minutes.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Kim Clijsters, who skipped the French Open, will also be skipping the US Open in her final year of play on tour, likely denying American fans a last chance to see the Belgian former No. 1. Clijsters was sidelined by a bad back and skipped participating in the Belgium vs. U.S. Fed Cup tie. The 23 year old did announce that her last Slam appearance will be at Wimbledon where she will play singles and doubles, according to her website. "That way, I will be able to stay a bit longer at my last Grand Slam," Clijsters said. She will marry American basketball player Brian Lynch on July 14 in her hometown of Bree, and according to her current schedule, will make her last tournament appearance in Stuttgart in October...From tennis writer Matt Cronin on the men's players in the power struggle vs. the ATP/tournament directors: "Why are the clay-courters taking huge cuts at ATP CEO Etienne de Villiers when it's really the tournament directors who are pushing him to get rid of two Masters Series and move another? For some odd reason, there's a misconception out there it's the players who have the most say on major tour issues. They don't and haven't had a significant impact in quite some time. When, for example, they are opposing ITF scheduling on Davis Cup, which is in concert with ATP tournament directors' wishes, the ATP brass gets solidly beyond them and broadcasts their comments. But, when the ATP CEO gets together with the major tournaments chiefs and starts reworking the calendar, they are barely consulted, or their opinions hold little weight...But let's be really serious here about who hired de Villiers in the first place: the tournament directors, who received, in my not so humble opinion, a rubber stamp for the players. You didn't think that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic had time to conduct extensive job interviews, did you? That doesn't mean that de Villiers is completely beholden to the TDs, but when he takes a look at the other six members of the ATP Board of Directors, he knows who is cutting his paychecks and where the power lies. Currently, it lies with the TDs and the major sports agencies."...Sergi Bruguera won the ATP Barcelona senior tour title, defeating Spanish countryman Jordi Arrese 4-6, 6-1, 10-2. In the third-place playoff Cedric Pioline beat John McEnroe 6-2, 7-5...Former ATP Houston and former ATP Masters Cup organizer Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale speaking to the Houston Chronicle on exiting the men's tennis business after the last year of the U.S. Clay Courts at his Westside Tennis and Fitness club: "(The Masters Cup) made people think there's supposed to be the top eight players in the world here every time we opened the gates, and that definitely hurt attendance (at the Clay Courts). People would call and ask if (Roger) Federer and (Rafael) Nadal are coming. We'd say no, and they'd hang up. Also, I was stupid enough to think we could get some major sponsors who would pay $10 million for tennis matches, and we didn't do that."...Roger Federer striking out at the ATP (and ITF) over changes to the 2009 calendar, including a plan to oust Monte Carlo from the Masters Series level: "The ATP is moving really fast at the moment. Many of the players, we've had a letter signed several times about the ATP and the ITF about certain issues. They seem to respond that they know better than we do. They're not in the tennis shorts playing on the court and knowing how demanding Davis Cup and the ATP circuit is...They don't seem to understand what we have a say, so we would just like to address this issue through the media for a change...The players' meeting in Miami was a big disappointment for all of us...It's been difficult, we've had a change at the top of ATP, we've been trying to talk to (ATP President Etienne de Villiers). I've had many meetings with E.T. He listens, but then goes and does things his way -- I wish he would listen more. We've gone from (former ATP CEO) Mark Miles doing nothing to ET doing too much."...The Tennis Channel will be carried by satellite provider DirecTV beginning this summer under a multi-year distribution agreement. The deal will nearly double the number of households that get The Tennis Channel, which went on the air in 2003 and is currently in about 10 million U.S. homes...Communications between men's players and the ATP have grown so cold that Tim Henman has brought up the possibility of the players forming their own separate union from the tour, such as when the ATP was strictly a player's union pre-1990 before the formation of the ATP Tour: "Are we as players not better off being represented on our own? I don't know the answer, maybe there's a logical one why. I think there are quite a few players that feel perhaps we would be better off being a separate organization."...From The Australian on the betting-happy British: "Bookies in the UK were taking bets on who Prince William will marry following his reported split from girlfriend Kate Middleton...[Bookies] were offering odds of 6-1 that the 24-year-old prince would tie the knot with a female fellow army officer...offered 14-1 on Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue and also on US party girl Paris Hilton. Britney Spears -- whom he was reported to have been exchanging emails with in 2002 -- was priced at 20-1, British topless model Keeley Hazell was 22-1 and Russian tennis beauty Maria Sharapova was 33-1...A same-sex civil ceremony was also a 100-1 shot."...Serena Williams on acting, speaking to USA Today: "I love acting in any form, that's my favorite thing outside of tennis. I like the whole (Hollywood) scene. It's really me. I want to be an action hero. I've turned down so many roles because of tennis. Because of that, (movie) people say, 'Well, she's not focused.' But I don't care because I don't know of any actress who can win Wimbledon. So I do have things that they don't have." and "The [Williams] sisters were drawn back into controversy last week when Don Imus was fired from his CBS radio job and MSNBC for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." In discussions of other racially charged comments made by Imus or his associates, an incident involving the Williams sisters resurfaced. An Imus associate once said that the sisters should not be featured in Playboy but instead in National Geographic. "I didn't see it, but I heard it was really negative," Serena says. "I understand the guy was fired for making such a ludicrous, racist and inane remark.""...From the ATP: "Novak Djokovic and Thomas Johansson won the highest acclaim at Wednesday night's Player Revue in Monte-Carlo after entertaining imitations of Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal respectively. Yves Allegro also won praise for his send up of countryman and sometimes doubles partner Roger Federer. Johansson gave audience members -- including dozens of players -- an up close and hilarious look at Nadal's pre-match routine in the locker room. Allegro played the part of Federer, who was interrupted by mobile phone calls three times during an interview, first by girlfriend Mirka, then Tiger Woods and finally by Allegro. Federer didn't answer the third call as he suspected Allegro would ask him to play doubles again. Kristof Vliegen impersonated Maria Sharapova and The Times' tennis writer Neil Harman impersonated Serena Williams, who was carrying a dog and checking herself regularly in the mirror before she went out to play. Federer was seen deep in laughter in the audience during Allegro's performance and later, along with Nadal, joined the performing cast on stage for a curtain call."...What is up with Venus' 'fro? Serena putting on another 30? Zina going into Sumo territory? Time for the USTA to step in, or Slimfast...From Tennis.com's Steve Tignor: "I hate to agree with the Tennis Channel's ever-grating Doug Adler, but [Roger Federer's] best shot at beating Nadal or Canas or going all the way at the French is to develop the points so he ends up at the net. It's his one indisputable advantage over all clay-courters."...From AFP: "Thailand's tennis hero Paradorn Srichaphan is engaged to a former Miss Universe and the couple are expected to tie the knot in Bangkok later this year, reports said Saturday. Paradorn, 28, and Natalie Glebova, a 25-year-old Canadian beauty, have "developed a special relationship" and they will announce their engagement at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday, the English-daily Nation said. The couple will tie the knot by the end of this year in "one of the most celebrated weddings of 2007," the paper said, while the Thai-language Daily News said the wedding would likely take place in November."...From the NY Post: "The Post's Marc Berman reports that rising Czech tennis star Nicole Vaidisova will celebrate her 18th birthday when Reebok throws her a Manhattan bash at Stereo Thursday night. Vaidisova, ranked eighth in the world, has become tennis' new "It" girl, and will be joined by Dave Matthews' Band singer Boyd Tinsley, former Miss USA/MTV VJ Susie Castillo, John McEnroe and Jim Courier. And word has it Andy Roddick, who apparently has a taste for the European tennis starlets, and Ashlee Simpson may pop in."
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