Venus Wins Sister Battle; WTA Tour Proposes 2006 Changes
Posted on September 5, 2005
Hewitt Left Un-Dented, Federer Wins at US OpenNo. 25 seed Taylor Dent came up just short in his bid Sunday to follow-up on weekend upsets by fellow Americans James Blake and Robby Ginepri at the US Open, edged 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-5 by No. 3 seed and defending runner-up Lleyton Hewitt in third round play.
"It's disappointing, but it's actually more frustrating than anything else because I feel like I lost that match for the same reason that I've lost 99 percent of my matches over the past year and a half or so," Dent said. "My serve just really let me down today."
Hewitt said he gave Dent his chances with patches of dodgy play, and was fortunate to close it out in the fifth.
"Got the first break late in the fifth set, then just didn't close it out at 40-15," Hewitt said. "Just a matter of trying to hang in there. I felt like I was returning pretty well the whole match. That sort of kept me in it...I still felt like there was a lot of areas of my game that weren't quite clicking today."
Hewitt had a +32 winner/error differential for the match, while Dent was +11.
World No. 1 Roger Federer advanced with a 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-2 win over No. 27 seed Olivier Rochus that was none-too pedestrian, with the Swiss forced to come back from a 1-4 deficit in the second-set tiebreak.
"I grew up and got stronger and here I am now," said Federer on his junior days when he was regularly beaten by Rochus, adding with a smile regarding the Belgians short stature, "And he didn't grow that much."
No. 11 David Nalbandian defeated No. 21 Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets, bagel in the third, and No. 15 seed Dominik Hrbaty made the fashion statement of the tournament Sunday in a four-set win over No. 17 Dave Ferrer.
Hrbaty sported a shirt from Lotto's 2006 line, a sheer, almost see-through pink and black piece of lingerie featuring two giant holes on the back around the shoulder blades. Hrbaty brought titters from the audience when he had a ballperson apply lotion to his holes.
"Actually I like it pretty much, it's different," Hrbaty said. "They (in the locker room) are telling me I will have more gay fans. Andre (Agassi) said 'You should give it to the women's locker room.'"
Not choosy, Hrbaty says "I wear whatever they give me."
Against Lleyton Hewitt in the next round, Hrbaty said "I will go for it, my game is very fast. I might make a lot of unforced errors but I can't wait for his mistakes."
Hrbaty's willingness to pull the trigger was demonstrated against Ferrer with 61 winners (to 19 for Ferrer) to a whopping 75 unforced errors.
Hrbaty said it's not like Hewitt has gotten any worse since his reign at No. 1, but that the players have evolved and are passing him by.
"I don't think he improved that much in the last couple years," Hrbaty said. "The game is improving every year, and you have to make adjustments."
Serb 18-year-old Novak Djokovic's run came to an end Sunday at the hands of Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who came back from 1-2 sets down to win 6-4 in the fifth.
Fin Jarkko Nieminen provided the only upset of the day, ousting (30) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi in four sets.
Other winners in all-unseeded matches were German Nicolas Kiefer defeating Arnaud Clement in four, and Italian David Sanguinetti outlasting Paradorn Srichaphan 7-6 in the fifth in almost 4-1/2 hours.
During one point of the good-natured match the sliding Srichaphan took a nasty spill, causing the chair umpire to exit her seat and investigate, but the Thai eventually banged is racquet against his thigh, turned on his stomach to do a set of sit-ups, then proceeded to play with a dodgy thigh muscle, drawing a smile and shrug from Sanguinetti.
With Sanguinetti pushing the ball back for much of the match to solicit errors, Srichaphan finished with a -13 winner/error differential.
Scheduled for Monday are (7) Agassi vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, (8) Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. Massu, (19) Robredo vs. Blake, and (13) Gasquet vs. Ginepri.
Doubles highlights Monday are (1) Bjorkman/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Spaniards Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez/Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, and the (2) Bryan Brothers vs. Chileans (15) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez/Massu.
Venus Wins Sister Battle, Sharapova Advances at US Open
Venus Williams, fitter and filled with confidence after her Wimbledon win, won the latest installment of the Williams vs. Williams saga Sunday at the US Open, defeating Serena Williams 7-5, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals.
Venus moved her chunky younger sister around the court, with Serena running out of gas in the second set, struggling with her footwork and eventually giving up entirely on some of Venus' groundstrokes.
"It's no fun watching her play at this level, is it?" said CBS commentator Mary Carillo between doubles faults by Serena.
Serena on the other hand after the encounter said the level of the match approached that of men's tennis.
"I think the level of play out there -- because we play so hard, we hit so many winners, we go for a lot -- it's like a men's game more or less when we play against each other," Serena said.
The much-anticipated meeting between top-seeded Maria Sharapova and Indian superstar Sania Mirza also turned out to be a bust, with the Russian cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win.
"I had fun out there," Mirza said. "Had a great Open. First US Open, I don't think I can ask for more. Very happy."
Mirza said she will ignore her detractors and continue with her spray-gun approach to hitting groundstrokes.
"I guess people just have to accept it," Mirza said. "That's how I play. I'm going to maybe have 50 unforced errors one day, but I'm going to also have 50 winners that day."
Mirza was rarely given a crack at the Sharapova serve, with the Russian putting in 69 percent of her first deliveries, counting six aces to Mirza's one. Sharapova also committed only 14 unforced errors to Mirza's 23.
"She's very young, has a great future ahead of her," said the 18-year-old Sharapova of the 18-year-old Mirza. "Very big game. But of course with time, I think she needs experience, you know, she'll learn."
No. 4 seed Kim Clisters was an easy winner over the weaponless and overweight Maria Vento-Kabchi of Argentina, advancing with a 6-1, 6-0 win.
No. 9 seed Nadia Petrova edged No. 26-seeded Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova 7-6(4), 7-5 to move into the quarters, matching her career-best US Open quarterfinal result from last year.
After the loss Vaidisova slammed her racquet then rocketed a ball into the stands in anger, not quite what US Open officials had in mind this year with their after-match ritual of players hitting signed balls to fans in the stands.
The WTA subsequently denied one-on-one interviews with the angry 16-year-old after the match.
On the schedule for Monday are (2) Davenport vs. (15) Dechy, (3) Mauresmo vs. (19) Likhovtseva, (6) Dementieva vs. (11) Schnyder, and (7) Henin-Hardenne vs. (12) Pierce.
DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
How about that crack on-court interviewing CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson, asking winner Lleyton Hewitt how he managed to win with Taylor Dent "exposing the weaknesses" in his game? "It was a strange one," said Hewitt, who handled the affront in an admiringly professional manner. "I think when you put people out there that don't have too much idea about tennis..."...Sunday's record 35,484 crowd for a day session at the US Open beat Saturday's record...Serena Williams after losing to sister Venus Sunday at the US Open: "Honestly, I don't think there's anyone besides Venus that could have beaten me at this championships."...Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian announced his retirement at the US Open this week...ESPN's Greg "The Former Ugly American" Garber on the latest Williams sister battle: "There was lots of shrieking, of course, but Venus-Serena XIV was even more devoid of drama than nearly all of its predecessors -- and that's saying something. Venus, at 25 two years older than her sister, evened the career series at seven each with an awkward and rhythmless 7-6(5), 6-2 victory on Sunday. At the end, Serena was generally frustrated, flat-footed and clearly favoring her left leg. There was a point in the seventh game of the second set that underscored the issue: Instead of stepping into an eminently makeable forehand volley, Serena's feet stayed put and she reached for the ball. It dribbled toward the net and she fell backward, right onto her substantial behind and emitted a horrible, plaintive wail." Garber, on top of his game...Richard Williams speaking to the New York Daily News on his daughters' relationship with the media concerning hurricane relief (Serena's earring being worth many times her donation, Venus saying she wasn't aware of the tragedy, etc.): "Why are people picking on a little girl (Serena)? What has the government done? Why aren't people talking about that? I don't hear no one complaining about (President) Bush. He just got his butt over there (Friday) and I read in the paper that he didn't want to go because he was scared to be in New Orleans. It's terrible, and people just want to talk about what my daughters are doing." 'Little' girl?...Proposals the WTA Tour Board are mulling for 2006: Play at Miami being mandatory with a "zero pointer" for eligible players who skip out, Top 10 players not being allowed to compete in Tier IV events, "quality points" to be eliminated in the ranking system (like the men), "Super Hard Designation Fines" (we didn't make that up) increased from $5,000 to $10,000, smoking to not be permitted within the lower level of seating around the courts, fine amounts proposed at 50 percent of the ATP amounts, doubles late withdrawal fines assessed at 25 percent of the singles fine, players can request a "Special (injury) Ranking," and players being required to do media/public relation appearances after withdrawing from an event...Severin Luthi is the new Swiss Davis Cup captain.
McEnroe Says Blake-Ginepri Davis Cup Choice Will Wait
http://www.tennis-x.com/story/2005-09-05/c.php