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Notes on A Draw Sheet
Ivo invincible indoors
Mauresmo melting: 'There's no point for me'
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
ATP |
| Ivo Karlovic |
That Ivo Karlovic can see off Greg Rusedski, Andy Roddick and Dominick Hrbaty at Masters Series Madrid says one very important thing about indoor tennis: The courts needs to be slowed down.
The 6-foot-10 inch Croat has only one major weapon, his serve, which is why this year he has only had good results on grass courts and reasonably fast surfaces. His groundstrokes are mediocre at his best, he doesn't volley very well and his returns in negligible. At his height, with his trajectory, he can bomb aces with the best of them, but how entertaining is that? Not at all for more than one set.
Indoors, it's much easier to get into a good serving rhythm because players don't have to deal with the wind, the sun or the cold. All a player like Karlovic has to do is crank up his heater and send foes and fans scurrying out of the event.
On Thursday, Karlovic went to breakers again for the third straight match, this time with a 7-6(9), 7-6 (3) victory over Hrbaty. He'll play David Nalbandian, who still has an outside shot of catching Nikolay Davydenko for the last spot in Shanghai. Nalbandian clipped Thomas Johansson 6-3, 7-5, while the still hot Robby Ginepri upset Davydenko 6-3, 7-5.
Fortunately for Madrid organizers, there are two Spaniards in the quarters, as the highly entertaining Rafael Nadal blew out his buddy Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-4 and the ferocious David Ferrer out-punched Mariano Puerta 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4.
By the way, Ferrer isn't out of Shanghai yet and, should he win Madrid, he could catch Davydenko with a couple match victories at BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Ferrer will go up against Ginepri, who now has a great chance to end the year ranked in the Top 20 for the first time.
The 19-year-old Nadal will face the soaring Czech, Radek Stepanek, who downed another big server, Argentina's Jose Acasuso 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(5). Unlike Karlovic, Ivan Ljubicic has plenty of tools and continued his great form by defeating Belgium's Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-4. He'll meet Fernando Gonzalez, who ousted Guillermo Coria 7-5, 6-3.
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Can Amelie Mauresmo get a grip on her faltering game? |
Mauresmo melting: 'There's no point for me'
How far back does one have to go to find the match where Amelie Mauresmo began to lose her confidence? How about against Mary Pierce at the US Open when she was run over 6-4, 6-1 in the quarters? Or you could hop to the next weekend in the Fed Cup final in Paris and view her two losses to Elena Dementieva (in singles and doubles) on the final day as two nails in her coffin. Throw away her loss to Lindsay Davenport in Filderstadt, because she hasn't had confidence against the American in five years, but, by then, the Frenchwoman was pretty much toast.
Last week in Moscow, Francesca Schiavone scalded her 6-1, 6-1 and then on Thursday in Zurich she suffered her worse loss of the year in a 6-2, 6-0 defeat by Slovenian veteran Katarina Srebotnik.
You can kiss the fourth-ranked Mauresmo's season goodbye, "There's no fun for me, for the crowd," she said. "There's no point for me considering what happened last week and today to keep going and pushing for no result."
That sounds like a woman on the verge of a mental breakdown. Expect her to pull out of Philadelphia and be out of the WTA Championships before the final weekend … if she shows at all.
And why not? The gracious Mauresmo simply has to reassess her career. She's far too talented not to have won a Grand Slam by now, let alone not having reached a final since her breakout at the '99 Aussie Open. Oh, sure, she has technical problems with her forehand, her serve is a bit over-rated and her backhand can be vulnerable, but she's certainly has enough overall talent to have snuck into the major's winners circle at least once by now. She does own 17 singles titles and, at the end of this year, will have been a member of the elite year-end Top 10 for five of the nine years that she's been a full-time player.
Her inability to break through is in her head and she knows that more than anyone. What she doesn't know is how to develop the knowledge and nerves to become a truly elite player. And, that's too bad, because she's had a Top-5 personality since the day that she turned pro.
The same can be said for Daniela Hantuchova, who was up 6-3, 4-2 against Lindsay Davenport but, of course, ended up going down 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. The slender Slovak also held two match points at 5-4, but Davenport hit a volley winner and then Hantuchova hit a forehand long. Davenport then broke her 5-5 when Hantuchova double-faulted. See ya.
"I knew it would be tough," said Davenport. "I didn't feel I was playing my best or striking the ball that well, but I still managed to win despite the circumstances. She became a little bit emotional when she didn't win those match points and seemed really down even starting at 5-5, so I was just trying to take advantage and move forward."
WTA Tour |
| Ana Ivanovic |
With the win, Davenport will begin an 85th week as No. 1 Monday. Given that Maria Sharapova has indicated that she might not show until the WTA Championships and that Kim Clijsters actually has points to defend points in Hasselt (her next event), Davenport has a fine shot at the year-end No. 1 ranking again.
Should she achieve that, she will become the first player in WTA history to finish as the top-ranked player in consecutive years without a Grand Slam title in either of those seasons.
IVANOVIC HANGS WITH THE STREAKING VAIDISOVA
Serb teen Ana Ivanovic continued her hot streak this week, crushing Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-1. Don't lose sight of Ivanovic in all the clutter that is surrounding Nicole Vaidisova.
In a battle of lucky losers Flavia Pennetta came back on Sesil Karatantcheva 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. And, in perhaps the most important result of the day, Schiavone overcame Nadia Petrova 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(3). Petrova will now have to post some very solid results in the next few weeks to reach the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships. Elena Dementieva and Patty Schnyder – both who are in action on Friday – stand a better chance. The Swiss will take on Pennetta while Dementieva will play her rival Anastasia Myskina. Davenport gets a chance to slow Schiavone, while Ivanovic goes up against Srebotnik.
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