Bringing on the Heat
As I type this, Andy Roddick is facing Gilles Muller, the tough lefty from Luxembourg. In the highlight match of the night session, Muller forced a tiebreak and won it after being down 2-5 at one point in the first set.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is the second day of the US Open, and much has already happened. For one thing, New York's heat is taking its toll on the players, but some of them feel it more than others. Maria Sharapova was sweating buckets in yesterday's match against Eleni Daniilidou, but won convincingly in straight sets. Akiko Morigami, however, lost versus Nicole Pratt and had to be
carted away in a wheelchair due to extreme cramping caused by the heat. Michael Llodra topped Morigami by
fainting on his way to the locker room after retiring against Carlos Moya.
Svetlana Kuznetsova made history yesterday by being the second defending women's champion from Russia to
lose in the first round this year, falling to countrywoman Ekaterina Bychkova 6-3,6-2. Kuznetsova said afterwards, "What do I do? Kill myself? I'll just take the positive things out of this and maybe I'll try to learn." It is, however, definitely a disappointing follow-up for her after coming from out of nowhere last year to win the Open.
Sania Mirza is another woman who has been making history all year. She made a triumphant run up to the third round at the Australian Open, got to the second round at Wimbledon, and now she's become
the first Indian woman to win a match at the US Open. If Star Sports had gotten the rights to cover the US Open and Vijay Amritraj were commentating, he'd be crowing about it even during the other women's matches.
Routine wins for Roger Federer (
def. Ivo Minar 6-1,6-1,6-1) and Justine Henin-Hardenne (
def. Zuzana Ondraskova 6-3,6-0). The really newsworthy match has been the upset engineered by
James Blake over Greg Rusedski 7-5,7-6(3),6-3. After a year of tragedy (freak neck injury and a death in the family), Blake is back. The last time I saw him play at the Open, he had dreadlocks and lost in a pretty close match against Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. He's worked himself back into fighting form over the sumer hardcourt season, winning the title in New Haven last week and making the final at Washington.
Now we're up to speed, and the Roddick-Muller match is now into its third set. Muller has brought the heat in his serves and groundstrokes, and it was all Roddick could do to keep from getting broken in the second set. Current score is Muller 7-6,7-6, and the tension radiating from my TV screen is palpable.
UPDATE: Muller's heat is too much for The Rocket Man to handle. Muller defeats Roddick in a resounding 7-6,7-6,7-6 victory.
This match reminded me very much of Roddick's loss to Paul-Henri Mathieu at Montreal earlier this August. Except, of course, that Muller is a lefty.
Roddick could have scored a huge psychological victory against Muller in the first set had he been able to serve it out (he was up 5-3). Getting the break back probably gave Muller the confidence boost he needed. Knowing that the Roddick serve could be broken, Muller then began playing out of his mind. A well-deserved victory for young Gilles, but a puzzling loss for Andy.
US Open Preview
WHO'S OUT: After reading an
eyewitness report that said Marat Safin had tweaked a knee while practicing at Flushing Meadows, I was hoping this wouldn't happen--but it did. Safin has pulled out of the US Open; according to
his official website, "as a professional tennis player he has had to admit his body is saying it is too soon." Get well soon, Marat. With you gone, Roger Federer's half of the draw is that much less unpredictable.
WHO'S UP: In roughly 11 hours, first round action will start at the Open. Top women seeds starting at 11:30 AM include Maria Sharapova (1), Kim Clijsters (4), and Serena Williams (8). Sharapova is seeded #1 in this tournament but got bumped down to #2 in the world rankings after Lindsay Davenport (seeded #2 here) defeated Amelie Mauresmo in the Pilot Pen final yesterday.
Williams has been plagued by fitness-related problems since her pull-out at the French Open and her flame-out at Wimbledon. If she manages to get through the first few opponents, she is
seeded to meet sister Venus in the fourth round.
Clijsters has been called one of the best current players never to have won a Slam. Going into the Open, she has had a strong summer hardcourt performance and may not have peaked yet. Hopefully she performs well and wins at least one Slam before
retiring in 2007. A US Open title will be as good as any to start with.
In the men's event, Rafael Nadal (2) and Andre Agassi (7) will begin play in the morning. Both of them will be looking to make a good run at the Open. Agassi is, as always, the perennial and sentimental crowd favorite at Flushing Meadows. He's given his back nerve enough time to recover from playing in Los Angeles and Montreal, and he's in fighting form again.
Nadal, who beat Agassi in the final at Montreal, headlines the bottom half of the men's draw. Last year he was
bamboozled by Andy Roddick in straight sets, but he's since proven himself a tough-as-nails competitor. Aside from a poor showing at Wimbledon and a first-round loss in Cincinnati, Rafa this year has been one of the most consistent players on tour, jumping in ranking from #46 to #2. We shall see if his game pays off on the fastest hard courts in the world.
WHO'S BLOGGING: Justin Gimelstob, the leaping American who made a run at Wimbledon, is now
writing for Sports Illustrated. He faces serve-and-volleying giant Max Mirnyi in the first round; if the first two articles he's written are
any indication, he'll have something interesting to say about the results of that.
Other bloggers (at least for the duration of their stay at the US Open):
Robby Ginepri,
Scoville Jenkins, and
Carly Gullickson.
WHO'S DRESSED: After weeks of wearing no-brand clothing, Lleyton Hewitt (through his manager) has finally announced that he's sealed a
deal with Yonex to dress him for the next three years. Yonex has a history of sponsoring the players who wield its racquets; notable examples include David Nalbandian and Elena Dementieva. Hewitt is set to debut in his Yonex gear at the US Open.
WHO'S EVERYWHERE: Have you seen Andy's Mojo? How about his Lexus? The official card and car of the US Open (American Express and Lexus, respectively) have both launched media-saturating ad campaigns with their star tennis endorser. If you're planning to watch all the US Open matches on TV, expect to have Andy's face burned into your retinas for the next two weeks. At last count, Roddick's Lexus ad had a total of 12 variations. Andy's Mojo (or, at least, the actor playing the ugly cowboy) has also been seen around town appearing at various events. To top it all off, Roddick made a very short appearance on the Today Show last Thursday just to promote the US Open and his American Express ads. (Screencaps available at
Men's Tennis Forums.)
Pilot Pen Women's Final
The last tournament of the US Open Series was once the poor cousin of the North American hardcourt season, since most top-ranked players opted to rest during the week leading up to the US Open.
This year, the men's field could be considered weak, with world #6 Nikolay Davydenko seeded #1 (he was
upset by Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) in the second round). The women's field, however, had world #2 Lindsay Davenport and #3 Amelie Mauresmo as the top two seeds--and they've lived up to their seedings.
Davenport, coming back from injury, has hit the trail strong. After losing the #1 ranking to Maria Sharapova at the beginning of this week, Lindsay will again be back on top next week after
beating Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) to reach the Pilot Pen final. There she meets Amelie Mauresmo, who overcame Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) in three sets.
The
Davenport vs. Mauresmo head-to-head shows a favorable forecast for Lindsay, since she has won their last eight encounters. Their most recent meeting was at this year's Wimbledon semifinal, where they played the match over the course of two days before Davenport won in three sets.
Around the TennisWorld
TENNIS.com's Peter Bodo has finally
upgraded his blogging software and layout, making
TennisWorld an even greater joy to read. From the
insider knowledge of the world of professional tennis to the no-nonsense opinion pieces (viz. "
Good Son Willy"), Mr. Bodo's is one of my favorite tennis blogs to read.
Tom Hanks plays Davis Cup?!
I didn't know Andy Roddick was a Tom Hanks lookalike. Yahoo screws up again.
(Found via
MensTennisForums.)
Pro Player Fan Sites
Since it's going to be a slow week going into the US Open, I decided to compile a partially annotated list of fansites dedicated to pro tennis players. Many thanks to
Pro Tennis Fan for giving me the idea. This list is a work in progress and will be updated whenever I run across a good fansite.
Anastasia MyskinaUnofficial Website of Anastasia Myskina: photos, articles, interviews, videos, and posters of the first Russian woman to win a Slam tournament.
Andre AgassiAgassi Open: Flashy site not affiliated with Andre Agassi or Agassi Enterprises. This site has the scoop on Andre--with a serving of Punisher attitude.
Andy RoddickRoddick Online: Well-updated with the freshest news, pics, and video on Andy Roddick. Most videos on the site are high-quality, encoded exclusively for Roddick Online. One of the major fansites dedicated to the American player.
Andy the Ace: Large photo gallery and video sections.
Faultless Roddick: Nice wallpapers.
Fernando VerdascoVerdasco Online: Who? Find out more about the big-hitting leftie from Spain. No, not Nadal. No, not Lopez. The other one.
Gisela DulkoGisela Dulko.com: fansite for the female Argentine player. Tri-lingual (French, English, Spanish).
Juan Carlos FerreroJuanqui.net: news and photos about French Open champion and US Open finalist Ferrero, presented in four different skins.
Justine Henin-HardenneJustine Henin.net: her results and statistics in an easy-to-navigate design.
Marat SafinSafinator: arguably the best-updated Safin site on the web. Yes, even better than the
official site.
Maria KirilenkoKirilenko.nl: find out more about the other Russian Maria.
Maria SharapovaMaria World: news about Masha on and off the court. Comprehensive photo gallery and interview transcripts.
Mario AncicAjmo Mario: up-to-date on what Super Mario is up to. Good section on Mario's head-to-head records with other players.
Nadia PetrovaNadia Petrova Fanpage: aside from the standard fanpage content, this site also has Winamp skins and mobile phone themes.
Rafael NadalVamos Rafael: the largest Rafa site on the net, afforded quasi-official status by Nadal. Lots of fan-submitted content as well.
Robby GinepriGinepri Fans: did you know Ginepri was the first man to wear a sleeveless shirt at Wimbledon? This player is enjoying a renaissance of sorts in 2005.
Roger FedererRoger Federer Magic: tracks where Federer is and how he's doing in tournaments, but also has informative articles about him. Good stuff.
Scoville JenkinsScoville Jenkins.com: the first fansite dedicated to the up-and-coming American youngster, this site has been with Sco from the beginning.
Tommy RobredoTommy Robredo.net: a good resource for the Spanish player's results, interviews, and articles.
Venus WilliamsVenus Williams presented by VenusTennis.com: video files, images, and news. Also offers videotapes of Venus's matches.
Vince SpadeaSpadea Ain't Afraid of the Top Ten: a fan's hilarious take on Vince Spadea.
Rivalry
After being billed as
Blockbuster Sunday, the finals of the two
US Open Series tournaments this week were contested by players who have at one time or another been tagged by the press as rivals.
At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick faced off.
Federer scored a comprehensive victory over Roddick, winning 6-3,7-5. Roddick had been gunning for a tiebreaker in the second set but was disarmed by a foot injury. This enabled Federer to break serve and win the match.
This match is the 22nd consecutive final Federer has won. It is also his 10th title of the year and fourth Masters Series title. And it marks Federer's tenth win over Roddick; the American has only won one of their 11 career meetings. Had Federer not been in his way, Roddick might have been the owner of two Wimbledon titles (last year and this year). As it is, their match-up is a rivalry only in name, though Roddick has thrown everything he has--and then some--at the Swiss. After the defeats, Roddick usually
jokes about his chances against Federer. "Maybe we need to do just a tag team effort or something, join forces, you know, like Power Rangers or something."
The two women who clashed at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, however, have a stronger match-up. The Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne had met 18 times in their careers and had split their head-to-head record, though Henin-Hardenne had the upper hand in the last few meetings. Their most
memorable meeting was at the 2003 US Open final. Both players had been dominating the women's tour and were the top two players in the rankings, but Henin-Hardenne swept Clijsters off the courts 7-5,6-1.
The Rogers Cup match was a different story. Both players came into 2005 off extended injury time, but it was Clijsters who swung out strong on hard courts, winning back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami. Henin-Hardenne was off the blocks a little slower but found her form during the clay season, winning three titles in a row and carrying off the French Open trophy.
Henin-Hardenne's form has suffered recently, though; she lost in the first round at Wimbledon and did not play at all until this week's Rogers Cup. One could say Henin-Hardenne was hamstrung, since she is still wearing a heat pad on her right hamstring (as she did at the French Open and at Wimbledon). Clijsters, in contrast, has been a steady competitor during the summer hardcourt season. True to form, Clijsters defeated Henin-Hardenne 7-5,6-1, mirroring the score at their US Open meeting.
By getting to the finals of their respective tournaments and having a strong showing during the US Open Series,
Roddick and Clijsters have effectively clinched the #1 spots on the US Open Series standings for men and women. This assures them of doubled prize money at the US Open--and perhaps some standing as one of the favorites going into the last Slam of the year.
Andy's Mojo
"
Have you seen Andy Roddick's mojo?" That's a line from his upcoming American Express commercials in which Roddick is searching for his missing mojo.
Well, it seems he's found it and used it to
beat Lleyton Hewitt 6-4,7-6(4) in the Cincinnati Masters semifinal.
"I felt like I was serving really well, especially on my second serve and I didn't want him to just be able to bunt the ball back in and battle from there," an elated Roddick said. (Reuters)
This is a major achievement for the Roddick camp (coach Dean Goldfine and trainer Doug Spreen included): prior to this win,
Roddick had never beaten Hewitt on hard courts. He did come close to beating Hewitt in Indian Wells this year with a scoreline of 6-7,7-6,6-7, but his lone win against Hewitt had happened on grass in a 2004 Queen's Club semifinal.
Andy now faces Roger Federer in their
second meeting of the year. Both times have been in tournament finals since their previous meeting was the Wimbledon men's singles final. We all know who won that (Federer 6-2,7-6,6-4), but if Andy finding his mojo is any indication, this final will be a hotly contested one.
"[Against Federer] I'm excited. I have nothing to lose. I am just going to go out there and be really aggressive." (Reuters)
Rematch
US Open 2003. Juan Carlos Ferrero had scored a major upset over crowd favorite Andre Agassi, beating him in the semifinal. Things were looking up: he was world #1 and he had made it to the US Open final, his second Grand Slam final of the year after winning the French Open. And then he ran into a wall of exhaustion... and Andy Roddick.
Cincinnati Masters 2005. After tumbling out of the top ten last year due to illness and injury, Ferrero is now ranked #24. Roddick meanwhile had ended 2003 as #1 but had slid down to #2 in 2004 and now #5 at this point in 2005.
For only the second time in their careers, Ferrero and Roddick played each other, but the results were the same: Roddick over Ferrero (6-7,7-6,6-2).
The gameplay this time, however, was markedly different. Ferrero was the better player over the course of one and a half sets, taking the first set in a tiebreaker. Ferrero had a golden opportunity to upset Roddick, who's been vulnerable all this year. Roddick meanwhile had to prove that he's still a top contender and a formidable opponent. With both of them at full health this time, this second round match was more closely fought than their US Open final.
Ultimately, it was Roddick's confidence that made the difference as he took the second set tiebreaker and steamrolled Ferrero in the deciding set.
Federer's Former Foes
Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych met for the
second time in their careers tonight, clashing in a first round match at the Cincinnati Masters. What makes this match (where Berdych beat Nadal 6-7,6-2,7-6) so special is an interesting factoid: both players have held winning records against Roger Federer.
Last year, when Federer seemed poised to take an Olympic medal home along with his Australian Open and Wimbledon trophies, a young player from the Czech Republic came out of nowhere and
upset Federer with his shotmaking and risk-taking. Tomas Berdych became known as the kid who beat the seemingly invincible world #1, and was one of the few who had beaten him that year. Federer avenged himself in straight sets on poor Berdych earlier this year at the Hamburg Masters, bringing their career record to an even 1-1.
Nadal leads his
career meetings with Federer at 2-1, most recently trumping Roger in a 2005 French Open semifinal. His first meeting with Federer was a first-round victory at the 2004 Miami Masters; they had a rematch this year in the final, and Federer barely overcame Nadal in five sets.
In their first match on hard court, Berdych came out on top versus Nadal by using the same strategy he used on Federer: he stayed back and created opportunities to hit groundstroke winners, or approached the net at the right times and volleyed the ball out of reach. His serving was solid and put Nadal on the defensive: Berdych won 83% of his first serves in. Nadal withstood this assault through the first set, ekeing out a tiebreak win. After Berdych broke Nadal twice in the second set and served it out, Nadal broke Berdych as he was serving for the match. Berdych then had to save match points against him and pushed the deciding set to another tiebreaker. This time around,
Berdych raced away with the tiebreaker--and the win.
Knocking off the Rust
Roger Federer was away from tournament play for six weeks, and his gameplay against James Blake tonight definitely showed rust. Yet he managed to beat Blake 7-6,7-5 in their first round match at the Western & Southern Group Cincinnati Masters.
Blake played compelling tennis that made you sit up in your seat and watch, but you always somehow knew that Federer had that extra gear to go to. In the last five games of the second set, you could sense him shifting up while Blake had nothing extra. Had Blake been able to capitalize on some break points, it could have gone to three sets. I think the result would still be the same, though. As it was, Federer was reeling in the second set, but Blake didn't make the knockout punch.
This was
only their second career meeting: their first one was at the 2003 US Open, where Federer won in straight sets.
Also in action today was Andy Roddick, trying to shake off a first-round loss at last week's Montreal Masters by
beating Jurgen Melzer 6-3,6-4. Tomorrow's contenders will include Lleyton Hewitt, who exited from last week's Masters event because of a stomach ailment, and Marat Safin, who has been out since Wimbledon due to treatment of his injured knee.
Delayed Gratification
Citing a shoulder injury,
Maria Sharapova pulled out of her quarterfinal match against Daniela Hantuchova at the JPMorganChase Open. This ensures Lindsay Davenport's stay at #1 for at least another week. But as Davenport's Olympic points come off and she's not entered in
Rogers Cup Toronto, the #1 ranking may just fall into Sharapova's lap after next week.
I would have liked Sharapova to earn the #1 ranking by winning a tournament, instead of Davenport just losing the points needed to remain at the top. Sharapova will become yet another one of those #1s who didn't win a Slam tournament en route to the top ranking in a particular year. Although she won Wimbledon last year, Masha was stopped in each of the year's past Slams by the eventual champions: Serena Williams in an Australian Open semifinal, Justine Henin-Hardenne in a French Open quarterfinal, and Venus Williams in a Wimbledon semifinal.
Hopefully Sharapova can justify her #1 ranking by this year's US Open; however, her
past appearances on the world's fastest hard courts have not been too impressive. She exited in the third round against Mary Pierce last year, while 2003 saw her crash out in the second round to Emilie Loit.
In Montreal,
Andre Agassi's quarterfinal with Gaston Gaudio was halted due to rain. The match will resume tomorrow with Agassi leading by one set to love.
Montreal Rain Delay
The quarterfinal match between Andre Agassi and Gaston Gaudio at the Rogers Cup Masters was suspended after rain started pouring down midway through the first set. Earlier in the day, Rafael Nadal met Mariano Puerta in a rematch of this year's French Open final.
Nadal advances to a semifinal meeting with unseeded Roddick slayer Paul-Henri Mathieu after defeating Puerta 6-3,6-1.
If Agassi wins his match versus Gaudio, he will meet either Greg Rusedski or Dominik Hrbaty in the bottom half's semifinal. If Agassi meets Nadal in the final, things should get interesting as
they have never played each other yet. Can Agassi's talent of taking the ball early and being aggressive with returns trump Nadal's extreme topspin and good defense? Not if Agassi can't play his quartefinal today. If his match has to be completed tomorrow and he has to play a semifinal on top of that, who knows what his physical condition will be like by the time the final rolls around.
Girls on Tour
The women of the WTA are currently playing in two tournaments this week: the JP Morgan Chase Open in Los Angeles and the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. Maria Sharapova is the top seed at the LA event, while Russian would-be rival
Anastasia Myskina is the top seed at the Stockholm event.
This week also marked Maria Sharapova's return to the circuit since her semifinal loss at Wimbledon to Venus Williams. She has come out strong, defeating good friend
Maria Kirilenko in the second round and Anna Chakvetadze in the third round. With Lindsay Davenport out of action,
Sharapova will assume the #1 world ranking this week if she reaches the semifinals.
Anastasia Myskina's run in Stockholm has not been as easy. She lost the first set in her second and third round matches and played a
match of ups and downs versus Camille Pin, stacking up both winners and errors. Now ranked at #14, Myskina has fallen far.
Upsets at Rogers Cup
Upset, upset, upset. Lleyton Hewitt retired from his match versus Florent Serra with an upset stomach. A few hours later, Guillermo Coria fell to a sharp-serving Juan Carlos Ferrero. Then, Andy Roddick was pushed over by Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets.
This continues a string of high-seed losses at the Rogers Cup, with Tim Henman (#10), Ivan Ljubicic (#13), Radek Stepanek (#14), and Fernando Gonzalez (#16) all bowing out in the first round. Hewitt and Roddick were seeded #2 and #3 respectively. Coria was seeded #7.
Other seeds still abound in
the draw, though they are largely dark horses. Among them are Richard Gasquet (#15), Thomas Johansson (#12), French Open finalist Mariano Puerta (#8), David Nalbandian (#9), Nikolay Davydenko (#5), and Tommy Robredo (#11). The top two big fish and the remaining favorites to win this tournament are Andre Agassi (#4) and Rafael Nadal (#1). Agassi faced Alberto Martin yesterday and defeated him 6-4,6-2. Nadal's first round match was not as easy, as he faced his mentor Carlos Moya and overcame him 6-3,6-7(0),6-3.
Cañas Cannot Play
Guillermo Cañas has been suspended from playing professional tennis as a result of testing positive for a banned diuretic. He has also been ordered to pay back $276,070 in prize money and his singles and doubles rankings will fall as he forfeits ranking points as part of the sanction. The fall in ranking won't really make a difference, since the Argentinian player won't be eligible to play until July 11, 2007.
The
banned diuretic is hydrochlorothiazide. Diuretics by themselves have valid medical uses, but since they can prevent or inhibit the excretion of a banned substance via urine (i.e. act as a
masking agent), they've been placed on the
World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substances list. Diuretics have been
implicated in anabolic steroid use, although Cañas did not test positive for that.
In the
Davis Cup quarterfinal tie last month between Argentina and Australia, a group of Australian supporters called the Fanatics wore T-shirts that mocked the Argentinians as drug cheats. These T-shirts were emblazoned with the slogan "Where's Willie?" and a cartoon of Argentinian players at a needle exchange. This was a direct reference to Cañas's withdrawal from the tie due to the doping investigation.
Weekend Wrap-Up
In today's US Open Series tournament finals,
Andy Roddick overcame James Blake to claim the Legg Mason Tennis Classic title in Washington, D.C., while
Mary Pierce gave Ai Sugiyama a bagel on the way to winning the Acura Classic in San Diego, California.
This win puts Roddick and Pierce atop the
US Open Series race standings. At the end of the series of tournaments that comprise the US Open Series, the male and female player who top the race will be entitled to receive double prize money at the US Open. There are five tournaments left in the
US Open Series. This coming week, the men will be playing in Montreal (Rogers Cup) while the ladies will still be in California (JP Morgan Chase Open).
Meanwhile, French teen
Gael Monfils has won his first ATP title at the Sopot Open in Poland. For someone who was playing in the juniors last year, this is a huge leap. Also, last year it was Rafael Nadal who won this title--and look where he is now. Monfils probably won't rise as fast as Nadal has, but hey, he was
four matches away from completing the junior Grand Slam last year.
Another All-American Final
After Indianapolis's final between Robby Ginepri and Taylor Dent, James Blake sealed another All-American final deal by defeating Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4,6-3 at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC. Ranked at #101, Blake now meets the top-ranked American Andy Roddick, who advanced to the final by
pounding Paradorn Srichaphan 7-6(4),6-2.
This week has been a good one for players who are trying to bounce back from less than stellar seasons. For
Srichaphan in particular, this semifinal appearance has been his best one in tournaments this year. As for Blake,
this is his first semifinal win and appearance in a final since 2003. That year also marked the last time Blake and Roddick had met.
Roddick leads their career head-to-head 7-0.
Open Season on Seeds
I mentioned in
an earlier post that the seeds at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic were pretty strong. It seems I spoke too soon; yesterday, Tim Henman continued a lackluster year by succumbing to Wesley Moodie, while in the battle of the serve-and-volley giants Ivo Karlovic felled Max Mirnyi.
Several of the tops seeds also fell in today's action, particularly Chile's Olympic gold medalist Nicolas Massu, Ricardo Mello of Brazil, Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, Dominik Hrbaty of the Slovak Republic, and most recently, Britain's Greg Rusedski.
Of the top eight seeds in the tournament, Andy Roddick is the only one still playing. He went into a three-setter with Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina but still won 6-4,6-7(4),6-4. He'll be facing Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals. The last time Roddick and Karlovic met was the final of Queens Club.
Sania Rising
Ever since her breakout performance at the Australian Open in January,
Sania Mirza has played well for her second year on tour. She beat US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai, then won her first WTA title in her hometown of Hyderabad, India. She also made history by being the first Indian woman to reach the third round of the Australian Open and the second round of Wimbledon, and to make the main draw of the French Open.
Sania's summer hard court exploits are also nothing to sneeze at: she made the quarterfinals of Cincinnati, and after playing three rounds of qualifying ran into Venus Williams in the second round of Stanford. This week, Sania is playing in California at the Acura Classic and
has beaten world #9 Nadia Petrova 6-2,6-1 in the second round. Mirza, (now rising to #59), will next be playing Akiko Morigami, who she last encountered in the Cincinnati quarterfinals.
A Win for Andy
To the relief of his fans, "Rocket Man" Andy Roddick has come through the second round of the
Legg Mason Tennis Classic with flying colors, rocketing through Giovanni Lapentti 6-3,6-4.
The
field looks relatively strong, even with Andre Agassi's absence and Lleyton Hewitt not defending the title. Roddick's half of the draw has players like Tim Henman (2003 champion), Ivo Karlovic, Greg Rusedski, and Max Mirnyi. The other half of the draw features Nicholas Kiefer, Nicholas Massu, James Blake (2002 champion), and Sebastien Grosjean.
Looking at the draw, it just hit me that Andy's half has the serve-and-volley specialists, while the other half is composed of baseliners/all-courters.
EDIT: Whoops. Well,
"The Gentleman" Tim Henman has been ousted by Wesley Moodie 6-7,5-7.
What the X?
I guess they couldn't decide on who to love or hate.
Andre Evens the Score
The 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cup final was only the second
career meeting between "The Legend" Andre Agassi and 22-year-old Gilles Muller. Their only other meeting was in the 2004 Legg Mason semifinal, when Muller made the headlines of his home country Luxembourg by defeating Agassi in straight sets (6-4,7-5).
Andre has always been known to be meticulous about everything on court: he won't begin play until the ballkids are in their correct places or until the balls are evenly distributed on the deuce and ad sides if he's serving. It's only fittingly symmetrical that
his win over Muller in the LA final has the same scoreline as his previous defeat: 6-4,7-5.
This is also Andre's first title this year, made even more impressive by the fact that he had been out with injury up until this week's campaign. His wife and Golden Slam winner Steffi Graf was in attendance with their little girl Jaz Elle, and coach Darren Cahill had much to say to Andre as he congratulated the 35-year-old on the title. Afterwards, it was Brad Gilbert, Andre's former coach, who did the post-match interview on court. Agassi seemed very pleased with his performance. If all goes well, he will be a force to reckon with at the US Open.
UPDATE:
Agassi has pulled out of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, citing a desire to conserve energy for the US Open. This marks the first time in the past 16 years that he will not be playing in Washington.
