Flipper Picks Up New Coach, Martina OKs Gay Travel

Posted on March 25, 2005

Clijsters Keeps Ball Rolling at WTA Miami

Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters won her opening match in convincing fashion Thursday at the WTA stop in Miami, bludgeoning German qualifier Sandra Kloesel 6-0, 6-1.

"It wasn't easy out there because conditions were very different to last week, so I'm very happy to have a short match," said Clijsters, who says she is still not at the top of her game. "I tried to stay positive when I was injured and kept my body fit. Today the score was easy but I still feel that there is work to do."

It was a good day for unseeded Russians, with three moving into the second round in Evgenia Linetskaya (d. Sucha), Maria Kirilenko (d. countrywoman Chakvetadze), and qualifier Galina Voskoboeva (d. (WC) Uberoi).

Three unseeded Spaniards also made inroads into the second round by punishing wildcards all in doubles specialist Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. (WC) Kutuzova), Arantxa Parra Santonja (d. 15-year-old (WC) Tatishvili in three), and Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. (WC) Mirza).

So much for India's version of Maria Sharapova making an impact in the U.S.

Others into the second round on the all-unseeded day were Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (WC) Kirkland), Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. Schaul), the Ukraine's Tatiana Perebiynis (d. Marrero in three), Americans Lisa Raymond (d. countrywoman Washington) and wildcard Angela Haynes (d. (Q) Diaz-Oliva), Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova (d. Srebotnik), Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy (d. (Q) Peterson), Serb Ana Ivanovic (d. (Q) Granville), and French lucky loser Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. Strycova in three).

Friday the seeds come out in Miami with scheduled matches (8) Venus vs. Groenefeld, Daniilidou vs. (2) Sharapova, Douchevina vs. (3) Serena, (14) Schiavone vs. Shaughnessy, (19) Henin-Hardenne vs. Spears, (7) Molik vs. Pratt in an all-Aussie, Llagostera Vives vs. (9) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, (31) Dinara "Little Sis" Safina vs.  Irvin, (15) Likhovtseva vs. Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova, Craybas vs. (21) Sugiyama, Jidkova vs. (23) Asagoe, Peschke vs. (11) Schnyder, Brandi vs. (29) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. (25) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, (17) Suarez vs. (Q) Castano, and (28) Bartoli vs. (Q) Peer.

Young Spanked, Qualifiers Have Their Day Thursday at ATP Miami

Six of the nine qualifiers in action Thursday at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami advanced into the second round, led by comeback veterans Arnaud Clement (d. Berdych who retired with injury) and Nicolas Lapentti (d. Beck).

Other qualifier winners were American Jeff Morrison (d. Koubek), Italy's David Sanguinetti (d. Hernych), German Bjorn Phau (d. Calatrava, bagel in the second), and Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard (d. (WC) Young).

For Young, who was up a break in the second set, it was another lesson from the school of hard knocks.

"In the juniors, when I was up like 5-3, they were probably giving me that game," said Young of the difference between playing in the pros and the juniors. "Instead, he kept playing and came back and won the match. So, I mean, they just don't stop, I guess."

Wildcard Mark Philippoussis recorded a much-needed win over Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus, while American Mardy Fish also advanced with a three-set win over Czech qualifier Tomas Zib.

Other winners on the all-unseeded day were Germany's Florian Mayer (d. (Q) Burgsmuller in an all-German), Czech Ivo Minar (d. Monaco in three), Brazil's Ricardo Mello (d. Ventura who retired with injury), Belgian Olivier Rochus (d. Karlovic 7-6 in the third), Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta (d. Muller), Romanian Victor Hanescu (d. Dupuis), and Frenchmen Julien Benneteau (d. Sargsian, bagel in the first) and Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Tabara in three).

The seeds come out Friday with scheduled matches (5) Moya vs. (WC) Blake, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. (2) Roddick, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze vs. (3) Safin, Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri vs. (21) Spadea in an all-American, (8) Nalbandian vs. Acasuso, (24) Novak vs. K.Kim, Ferrero vs. (11) Canas, (29) Rafael "The Prodigy"  Nadal vs. Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, Bjorkman vs. (12) Robredo, Ferrer vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, H.-T. Lee vs.  (17) Youzhny, (14) Davydenko vs. (WC) Gael "Force" Monfils, (26) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Nieminen, "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. (25) T.Johansson, (13) Ljubicic vs. A.Martin, and (20) Pavel vs. Andreev.

"Maybe he win. Maybe I win. But I know now I can win," said Verdasco, who lost to Roddick in three sets at Indian Wells. "I know it will be close. But for me, it's possible to win."

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
The ATP's DEUCE Magazine now is available through leading bookstores and subscriptions via ATPtennis.com. The Spring 2005 issue features author Mark Mathabane's personal essay on world No. 1 Roger Federer and his rise as a global tennis ambassador for underprivileged children. It also features a behind-the-scenes match day photo essay with James Blake, a profile on former Wimbledon champion and now-Rotterdam tournament director Richard Krajicek, and shows how Andy Roddick earned more than 100,000 frequent flyer miles in 2004. "Shark Bites," a column featuring statistical tidbits from ATP stats guru Greg "The Remorseless Eating Machine" Sharko, debuts in the new issue. Former Roland Garros champion Al Costa guides readers through a visit of his home city Barcelona while Murphy Jensen catches up with rock star Gavin Rossdale, who is equally adept with racquet as guitar. DEUCE also sits down with three-time Roland Garros champion Gustavo Kuerten on the eve of his comeback to the ATP circuit next month...The first of three games of the 2005 ATP Fantasy Tennis season gets underway with ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo serving as the first event. Sign-up for the fantasy season that will cover the European claycourt swing begins on ATPtennis.com today. The prizes include a trip for two to the 2006 ATP Masters Series-Monte Carlo and a one-week vacation for two at a Club Med resort...NASDAQ will bring Miami to New York with the live broadcast of the NASDAQ-100 Open men's and women's finals on the seven-story NASDAQ MarketSite(R) screen in Times Square on April 2nd and 3rd...Check out the nice piece from the Miami Herald's Greg Cote at: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/greg_cote/11215377.htm...Anna Kournikova will appear on the U.S. women's show The View on Monday...From TR.net: "A few times during the past two years, TR.net and some other reporters have requested interview time with Roger Federer's girlfriend and publicist, Mirka Vavrinec. Most publicists realize that they are supposed to speak publicly, but not Mirka, who has said no, no and no. That's great publicity for Rog. It might be time for his mother, Lynette, to rethink her management structure and get someone for that position who actually understands her job title."...Former player Andrew Florent will coach Mark Philippoussis on a trial basis...Andre Agassi says his injured toe is not great, but better: "It's doing better. It's probably only 30 percent bigger than my other toe now, which is a big step forward. I had an MRI. Structurally, everything was sound. It just showed a tremendous amount of fluid in it. The pain is considerably better, and knowing that structurally nothing is going wrong with the bone or tendon gives me the freedom to push through anything I might feel. Hopefully I'll be in a position to play well."...Martina Navratilova will endorse a travel company for lesbians, hoping the deal will encourage acceptance of gays: "Anytime you raise awareness, you're helping the issue. People are uncomfortable with what they don't know. Once you put a face on it and make it personal, it changes things."