Federer, Moya Tested in Windy Opener at Athens Olympics

Posted on August 17, 2004

World No. 1 Roger Federer overcame windy conditions and a tenacious effort by Russian Nikolay Davydenko to advance to the second round at the Athens Olympics Monday with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 win.

Federer improved his career record against Davydenko to 3-0, but all three meetings have gone three sets. Federer was cruising against Davydenko until serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, then the wheels came off.

"It was an up-and-down day, and in the third set, I was really unsure how it would go," Federer said. "After losing the second set, I told myself, 'I need to respond.' There's a bit of pressure. If you lose, it's like, 'See you in four years.'"

The win was Federer's 58th of the season against five losses.

"I'm the big favorite," Federer said, "and I want to take advantage of it."

Other seeds into the second round were (3)Carlos Moya (d. Enqvist 9-7 in the third after two breakers), (10)Nicolas Massu (d. Kuerten in three), and (15)Tommy "The R." Robredo (d. (Inv)Ouahab).

"You're not very confident when you're playing in such windy conditions," said Moya after saving three match points in beating Enqvist, employing more than usual backhand slice. "So I tried to survive and put in as many balls as I could."

Upsets on the day were caused by Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson (d. (12)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, continuing the Thai's horrible year), the giant "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. (13)Pavel in three), and Russian Igor Andreev (d. (7)Rainer "Shine" Schuettler in three).

"It was a catastrophe," Schuettler said. "With this wind all you could do was try to keep the ball in court. He managed to keep a few more in me than me."

Un-seeds into the second round were Americans Taylor Dent (d. (Alt)Nieminen in three) and Vince Spadea (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer), Czech Tomas Berdych (d. Mayer), Croat Ivan Ljubicic (d. Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian), Argentine (Alt)Agustin Calleri (d. Beck 8-6 in the third), Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. El Aynaoui), Belgian Olivier "The Roach" Rochus (d. Mark "Scud" Philippoussis 6-1 in the third, with the Aussie restricted by knee tendonitis), and Frenchmen Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro (d. Volandri) and Arnaud Clement (d. (WC)N.Lapentti).

Among the doubles highlights were (1)Bob/Mike Bryan stomping unseeded Russians Marat "Next!" Safin/Mikhail Youzhny, and Indians (5)Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes taming the big serving games of unseeded Americans Mardy Fish/Andy Roddick in straight sets.

On court Tuesday in Athens are (5)Ferrero vs. Fish, Haas vs. (2)Roddick, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Dent, (1)Federer vs. Berdych, Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. (9)Safin (watch for the tank by the Russian), (3)Moya vs. Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson vs. Ljubicic, (14)Kiefer vs. (INV)Baghdatis, (8)Sebastien "The Skateboard Kid" Grosjean vs. (WC)Arthurs, (10)Massu vs. Spadea, (16)Fernando "The Flayin' Chilean" Gonzalez vs. (WC)H.-T. Lee, Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro vs. (15)Robredo, Nieminen vs. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Youzhny vs. Novak, Clement vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, and Calleri vs. Andreev.

"My top rival right now is Tommy Haas," Roddick said. "The questions that Roger (Federer) and I get about each other are irrelevant until we get to the point where we have to deal with each other. I'm not one to look ahead, and I think it would be pretty arrogant to say that he is my main rival when I have to win four more matches for it to be a possibility."

Doubles highlights include Indians (5)Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes vs. the Swiss Yves Allegro/Roger Federer, Germans Nicolas Kiefer/Rainer Schuettler vs. Aussies (2)Wayne Arthurs/Todd Woodbridge, Chileans Fernando Gonzalez/Nicolas Massu vs. Argentines (6)Gaston Etlis/Martin Rodriguez, and Americans (1)Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan in a Davis Cup semifinal preview vs. Belarus' Max Mirnyi/Vladimir Voltchkov.

Hewitt Looks Sharp in Day One Win at ATP Washington
No. 2 seed Lleyton Hewitt says his preparation for the US Open is coming together, evident in his first-round mowing of Kenneth Carlsen 6-1, 6-2 at the ATP stop in Washington.

"I had a week off last week after Cincinnati and it gave me a lot of confidence coming in here," Hewitt said. "Coming here this year fits into my schedule, then having a week off before the US Open works out well."

Two other seeds joined Hewitt in the second round in (4)Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri (d. Corretja in three) and (8)Dmitry Tursunov (d. Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience in three), while there was one seeded upset in Gilles Muller taking out (3)Sjeng Schalken, who retired in the second set with injury.

Other unseeded winners were "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter (d. T. Martin in three breakers) and Colombia's Alejandro Falla (d. Gimelstob in three).

On court Tuesday in Washington are (WC)Baker vs. Pless, Gambill vs. Koubek, (1)Agassi vs. (WC)Goldstein in an all-American, (SE)Garcia vs. (5)Blake, (6)A.Martin vs. Ferreira, Salzenstein vs. (Q)Kratochvil, (WC)Yoo vs. Mathieu, (Q)Zimonjic vs. (Q)Levy, (7)Saulnier vs. Dupuis, (Q)Wang vs. Elseneer.

WTA: Myskina Wins Easily at Athens Olympics
No. 3 seed Anastasia Myskina, who last weekend pulled out of the Sopot semifinals with a shoulder or rib (depending on who you talked to) injury, looked miraculously fully recovered Monday in a 6-0, 6-1 first-round win over Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna at the Athens Olympics.

"No, it cannot be gone that fast (smiling)," said Myskina when asked if the injury was gone. "So I still have problem but it's not really -- I mean, it's affect a little bit my serve but not really in this condition. I have a good physio here, so and they treat me well. I hope for the next match I'm gonna be good, ready."

Other seeded winners were (2)Amelie Mauresmo (d. C.Martinez), (5)Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. (WC)Diaz-Oliva), (9)Nadia Petrova (d. Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha), (14)Silvia Farina Elia (d. Sandrine "Test Tube" Testud), and (15)Magdalena "Call Me Maggie" Maleeva (d. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova).

On the outs Monday in Athens were (4)Elena "The Diagnosis is" Dementieva (l. to Molik in three), and (13)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (l. to Garbin).

"I've been in great form and I think I am coming off great preparation," Molik said. "I played Elena just over twelve months ago and put myself in a winning position but lost a close match. But I'm a far better player now than twelve months ago and I created opportunities for myself."

Un-seeds into the second round were Mary Pierce (d. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues), American alternate Lisa Raymond (d. Kurhajcova in three), Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. Srebotnik in three), Greece's own Eleni Daniilidou (d. (Alt)Castano), Aussie Nicole Pratt (d. Casanova), Puerto Rico's Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi (d. Kostanic), Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. Benesova), and Italian Maria Elena Camerin (d. (WC)Jugic-Salkic).

In doubles, Venus' bid for a second successive Olympic gold ended on Monday when she and stand-in partner Chanda Rubin (after Serena pulled with the bad knee) lost 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to Chinese No. 8 seeds Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian.

On court Tuesday are (1)Henin-Hardenne vs. Vento-Kabchi, Matevzic vs. (6)Venus, Greece's Daniilidou vs. (15)Maleeva, (3)Myskina vs. Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi, Camerin vs. (2)Mauresmo, (5)Kuznetsova vs. Morigami, (9)Petrova vs. Pierce, (14)Farina Elia vs. (Alt)Raymond, Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. (7)Suarez, Hantuchova vs. (10)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder, (8)Sugiyama vs. (WC)Perebiynis, (WC)Widjaja vs. (12)Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (16)Rubin vs. (WC)Black, (11)Schiavone vs. Cho, Pratt vs. Garbin, and Srebotnik vs. Molik.

Seeds Go 2-0 on Day One at WTA Cincinnati
Both seeds in action Monday at the WTA stop in Cincinnati advanced in (4)Marion Bartoli (d. Kirilenko) and (8)Marlene Weingartner (d. Gagliardi in three), joined by un-seeds Rita "Ain't It" Grande (d. Razzano) and Mashona "Little Sis" Washington (d. Irvin).

Weingartner came from Florida where she survived Hurricane Charley.

"That was the worst time of my life," Weingartner said. "I was sick, throwing up. I was by myself. I learned that you have to enjoy every day."

On court Tuesday in Cincy are Fedak vs. Chladkova, Foretz vs. Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, Santangelo vs. Beltrame, Osterloh vs. Ad. Serra Zanetti, Craybas vs. Peng, and Sfar vs. Pin.

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