[DUlrich1227]

MURRAY SHOULDERS INJURY WORRIES

British number three Andy Murray is nursing a shoulder injury going into the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

The 18-year-old, who won this event at junior level last year, was visibly struggling when his qualifying match against Ecuador's Giovanni Lapentti went to a tie-break on Friday.

Having breezed through the opening set, Murray had to hang on to win 6-0 7-6 (7-5), becoming the youngest Brit ever to qualify for a Grand Slam. He has been drawn against Romania's Andrei Pavel in the first round.

Despite the problem with his shoulder, Murray told the Lawn Tennis Association website he was determined to play in the event.

"The shoulder has got worse as the week has gone on but it was something that I had to put to the real back of my mind," he said.

"The US Open is a tournament I have always dreamed of playing the main draw, it's my favourite tournament. So if I was feeling sore, it was not going to make a difference."

Murray will be joined in New York by Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. Henman, seeded 12th, has been suffering from injury problems of his own in the lead up to the tournament, having sustained a stomach strain a week ago which forced him to pull out of a warm-up event in New Haven.

Henman will face Spain's Fernando Verdasco in his first match, but has been drawn in the same quarter as Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt. Greg Rusedski, seeded 28th, opens against James Blake, the American who has a British mother.

Switzerland's Roger Federer is the top seed among the men, ahead of Spain's Rafael Nadal and Australian Hewitt.

In the women's tournament, Russian Maria Sharapova is the top seed, despite losing the world number one ranking to American Lindsay Davenport - the number two seed - after only a week at the top.

Davenport has the momentum behind her having moved back to the top of the world standings with victory in the Pilot Pen tournament at New Haven.

Davenport beat France's Amelie Mauresmo 6-4 6-4 in the final to confirm her return from two months out with a back injury. She did not lose a single set during the tournament.

"I'm happy and amazed that I'm sitting here winning," Davenport said after the final.

"You never know what to expect when you come back. I'm really happy I got the matches in, (but) I still think there's a lot of things I would like to improve on before the US Open, but to sit here with a title is pretty rewarding."

Mauresmo, seeded third, is hoping for a change of fortunes in New York.

"Every week you have new challenges to face," she said.

"I am now focusing on the US Open and things are going be different there. That's the way it is."

Sharapova opens against Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, but has Kim Clijsters, and both Serena and Venus Williams blocking her path to the later stages.

The Williams' sisters, both former winners of this tournament, are among the top 10 seeds, with Serena eighth and Venus 10th.

Davenport opens against China's Na Li while Mauresmo faces Roberta Vinci of Italy, and the pair could potentially meet in the semi-finals.

On offer at Flushing Meadows this week is the highest annual purse in sport, totalling more than US$20.6million.

Both the men's and the women's singles champions will collect US$1.1million.

[Buckery]

Thanks Dave, good info...

B

[DUlrich1227]

Agassi, Nadal Win, Gaudio Set on Stunned at US Open

20-year-old off-the-radar American Brian Baker provided the shocker of the opening day Monday at the US Open, straight-setting No. 9 seed Gaston Gaudio 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2.

The American wildcard entered the event with a 1-2 win-loss record this year at tour events, spending much of the year at challenger-level minor league tournaments without winning a title.

"I think I've always had it in me," said Baker who spent three months on the sidelines earlier this year with a wrist injury. "I just haven't quite been able to put it together for a whole match. Ever since I was a little kid, you always dream about being Top 10 in the world and winning a Grand Slam. I know that's a long way away right now, but hopefully with a lot of hard work, getting a little bit better, maybe I can accomplish those things down the road."

Gaudio, who has repeatedly stated his desire to qualify for the year-end Masters Cup, currently hovering neat the bottom of the Top 10 rankings, could not hide his disappointment in his post-match conference.

"He was serving he was serving pretty good today," said a testy Gaudio. "And then from the baseline, I thought that he I thought that I was like I can take advantage of that, but I couldn't do it, you know. Like he was playing pretty good from the baseline, too. So serving good and playing good from the baseline, I think I couldn't do I didn't get any opportunity to break his serve or anything."

Seeded winners on the day were (2) Rafael Nadal (d. (WC) Reynolds), (7) Andre Agassi (d. Sabau), (8) Guillermo Coria (d. Mantilla), (10) Mariano Puerta (d. (Q) Okun, bagel in the fourth), (13) Richard Gasquet (d. A.Martin in five), (14) Thomas Johansson (d. Zabaleta), (18) Ivan Ljubicic (d. (Q) Summerer), (19) Tommy Robredo (d. (Q) Bracciali in four), (23) Jiri Novak (d. D.Norman), (24) Mikhail Youzhny (d. Mayer, dropping only 3 games), (29) Tommy Haas (d. (Q) Luczak in four), and (32) Tomas Berdych (d. Kohlschreiber).

Nadal, the tour's blooming metrosexual, debuted Monday for his match in Nike's version of a Spiderman costume, with a skin-tight virtually-painted-on red sleeveless top and black shorts.

"The last two years when I was coming here, I was playing very, very bad...but the worst moment in the year (was) when I come to the US Open," said Nadal, last year spanked by Andy Roddick in straight sets. "I think now is a little bit different, no?"

Agassi addressed the crowd after rolling Sabau in straight sets.

"That's an amazing thing," said Agassi on his 20th US Open appearance. "I've been through a lot of things in my life. A lot of things have taken me away from the lines of a tennis court. But it's never taken me away from here. Twenty years here feels better than 19, so thank you."

Other un-seeds into the second round were Croat "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Fish in four), Chile's Nicolas Massu (d. (WC) Gambill), waffle Xavier Malisse (d. Hernych), Swede Robin Soderling (d. Chela in four), Russian Igor Andreev (d. (Q) Elseneer), France's Cyril Saulnier (d. Tipsarevic in four), American wildcard Scoville Jenkins (d. (Q) Bastl in five to set up a meeting with Nadal), and Brazil's Ricardo Mello (d. Monaco in four).

"A lot of energy from the crowd," Jenkins said after edging Bastl, the man who beat Pete Sampras at Wimbledon. "I've dreamed about going five sets at a Grand Slam all my life. I just thought: 'This is a great time. Just take it one point at a time.'"

Two qualifiers also advanced into the second round, with Swedish Jonas Bjorkman (d. Behrend, bagel in the third) and Italy's Giorgio Galimberti (d (WC) Young) posting wins.

"I'm very disappointed Donald (Young) went down one and two," USA Network commentator John McEnroe said of Young's effort in the final two sets of his match, with the 16-year-old discouraged and tanking to get off the court after losing a first-set tiebreak. "You get the feeling he didn't fight hard."

On tap Tuesday on the men's side are (1) Federer vs. Minar, (28) "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. Blake, (4) Roddick vs. Muller, (12) Henman vs. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, (30) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Gimelstob, (11) Nalbandian vs. Bogomolov Jr., Pavel vs. Murray, Ginepri vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, (20) Ferrero vs. Clement, (26) Feliciano Lopez vs. Volandri, Weiner vs. Spadea in an all-American, (31) Moya vs. Llodra, H.-T. Lee vs. (22) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Zib vs. (6) Davydenko, Peter "Nuclear" Wessels vs. Christophe "Coch" Rochus, Alexander "My Serve Has" Popp vs. Phau in an all-German, Gael "Force" Monfils vs. Djokovic, Moodie vs. (21) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, Goldstein vs. Kuerten, Kiefer vs. Vanek, Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. El Aynaoui, Wawrinka vs. R.Ram, Tursunov vs. Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis, O.Hernandez vs. Grosjean, Montanes vs. Hanescu, "You Say" Potito Starace vs. Schuettler, Nieminen vs. Beck, Mathieu vs. Capdeville, Sanguinetti vs. Wayne "The Serving Machine" Arthurs, Vik vs. (27) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, Serra vs. Koubek, Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro vs. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, and N.Lapentti vs. (16) Stepanek.

Defending champ Kuznetsova Stunned in Opener at US Open

Svetlana Kuznetsova found out that defending a Slam title can be a "bych," with the No. 5 seed and defending US Open champion making a first-round 6-3, 6-2 exit Monday to fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.

"I was ready, but I wasn't at my best," said Kuznetsova, whose confidence was flagging even before suffering a back injury a couple weeks ago. "Now nobody will disturb me about this. Nobody will say nothing to me. I'll just relax and take some time off, I guess, and just prepare for the next events."

Otherwise known as the "Pete Sampras circa 1991"-way of dealing with the slam pressure.

Showing no signs of her recent pectoral muscle injury, top-seeded Maria Sharpova spanked Greece's Eleni Daniilidou 6-1, 6-1 to advance.

"I haven't played a lot of matches, so I'm just trying to get used to the conditions, the stadium, the wind, playing under the lights for the first time in a while," Sharapova said. "When you're out for a little while, first match you're a little tentative. The injury, you don't know how it's going to be. So far it's OK."

Other seeded winners Monday were (4) Kim Clijsters (d. (Q) Muller 1-and-2), (8) Serena Williams (d. (Q) Chan), (9) Nadia Petrova (d. Birnerova), (10) Venus Williams (d. Fujiwara), (18) Ana Ivanovich (d. Lee-Waters), (20) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Pin), (25) Francesca Schiavone (d. Kostanic), (26) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Peschke), (30) Ai Sugiyama (d. A.Bondarenko from a set down), and (33) Vera Douchevina (d. (Q) Dabek).

"I'm feeling really good," Serena said, falling behind 1-3 to the 16-year-old Chan before pulling it out. "I'm just I'm not feeling too much pain out there at all...I didn't get tired at all, I think I just started out flat. Maybe I was thinking about something else. I just was really flat. I knew it. I was like, 'Serena, get more pep in your step.' Once you got down, I just got a little more footwork. I was just flat for some reason."

Say "flat" more.

Serena wore $40,000 chandelier earrings during the match, but took them off during the first set when troubles arose.

"Well, one fell, and so I didn't put it on tight enough because I was rushing to go out," Serena said. "So I was hoping it wouldn't fall, but I knew in the back of my mind it would, and it did. I was like, 'Okay, I'll just put them on earlier in my next match.'"

Four other seeds made exits Monday at the hands of American wildcard Shenay Perry (d. the back-from-illness (14) Molik), Italian Maria Camerin (d. (21) Safina in three), American Laura Granville (d. (22) Farina Elia), and German Julia Schruff (d. (28) Pennetta in three).

Three qualifiers orchestrated upsets to move into the second round in Croatian Ivana Lisjak (d. Loit from a set down), Argentina's Maria Emilia Salerni (d. (WC) Kirkland 7-6 in the third), and Fin Emma Laine (d. Peng from a set down). Where has China's Peng gone?

Apparently when Kim Clijsters tags you as a future Top 10 player, the crushing weight of expectations can be hard to bear.

Among the remaining torrent of unseeded players into the second round were Colombia's Catalina Castano (d. Jidkova) and Fabiola Zuluaga (d. (WC) Harkleroad who retired down 0-9 with respiratory problems), American Lisa Raymond (d. (Q) Kremer in three), Israel's Shahar Peer (d. Domachowska), Czech Michaela Pastikova (d. Grande in three), France's Marion Bartoli (d. Strycova, bagel in the second), Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy (d. (WC) Gambale), Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. Mamic from a set down), Japan's Aiko Nakamura (d. Irvin), Russian Maria Kirilenko (d. Pous Tio), India's darling Sania Mirza (d. Washington in three), China's Jie Zheng (d. Benesova 6-0 in the third), and Aussie Nicole Pratt (d. Morigami who retired in the third with injury).

On tap Tuesday at the US Open are (7) Henin-Hardenne vs. Ondraskova, Li vs. (2) Davenport, Vinci vs. (3) Mauresmo, (6) Dementieva vs. the Forest Hills winner Safarova, Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva vs. Shaughnessy, Santangelo vs. (12) Pierce, Garbin vs. (19) Likhovtseva, Diaz-Oliva vs. Mattek, Ruano Pascual vs. (23) Golovin, Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Haynes, Martinez vs. (11) Schnyder, (15) Dechy vs. Beltrame in an all-French, Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. King, Razzano vs. Spears, Llagostera Vives vs. Linetskaya, Kutuzova vs. (29) Chakvetadze, (13) Myskina vs. Tanasugarn, Craybas vs. Jamea "Action" Jackson in an all-American, (24) Asagoe vs. Cohen-Aloro, (31) Groenefeld vs. Brandi, Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. Gullickson in an all-American, Antonella Serra "Nevada" Zanetti vs. Parmentier, Gagliardi vs. Maleeva, Sun vs. Stosur, Smashnova vs. Kloesel, Sucha vs. Bammer, Foretz vs. (27) Dulko, Srebotnik vs. Hsieh, (17) Jankovic vs. Chladkova, Cho vs. Parra Santonja, Fedak vs. Glatch, and (32) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem.


NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Guillermo Canas is in New York with girlfriend/player Maria Emilia Salerni, however the US Open will not let him on the grounds: "It's very ugly. He is no criminal," commented Carlos Moya. "This is beyond of what it should be. I didn't even know that rule existed. It's insane. Allowing him to see his girlfriend's matches wouldn't hurt anyone."...Weather permitting, look for Rafael Nadal-Scoville Jenkins Wednesday night, and Roger Federer Thursday night on the US Open schedule...Akiko Morigami left her match with Nicole Pratt in tears and a wheelchair Monday -- this from The Age: "After taking a medical timeout for treatment while trailing 2-0 in the second set, Morigami called for the trainer again after falling behind 3-0. By the time it was 5-0 to Pratt, Morigami was crying, struggling to breath and declining to drink -- which was worsening her cramps -- as the trainer urged her to stop for fear that continuing may endanger her heart. Astonishingly, though, the Japanese player limped back on court but could barely walk or serve as she dropped her serve to love and promptly sought the 10-minute break permitted under the WTA's rules before the deciding set. She had won the draining first set that lasted almost an hour and a half 7-0 in a tiebreak -- When Morigami finally agreed to quit her distress became so great she began to hyperventilate and needed a wheelchair to take her from the court and an intravenous drip."...All five matches on Ashe went straight sets with nary a tiebreak played Monday...Hurricane Katrina is expected to make her presence felt as early as Tuesday afternoon in New York, and it could hang through Thursday with wet weather -- but at least the weekend looks good...Time for USA Network to set up a Court 4 cam -- though nice effort with the shoulder camera to catch the end of the fifth set between Scoville Jenkins-George Bastl...Donald Young has yet to win a set in seven career ATP matches, and he's yet to play in a challenger this year -- anything wrong with that picture?...Razvan Sabau once finished as the No. 1 junior in the world...Does Ivo Minar go to Yevgeny Kafelnikov's barber? Watch the match and you be the judge (unless he just got a haircut)...In an effort to keep Ashe full in the evening (we guess), the US Open is no longer scheduling "not before" 7pm matches...Nice touch from the USTA having the Ashe winners hit signed balls into the crown following wins on Monday...Someone get USA Network's Al Trautwig a tennis player pronunciation guide -- you're not covering the Tour de France on OLN anymore where butchering names in the norm...Have the ESPN viewing numbers for the US Open Series been overinflated? Last week from Jane McManus at The Journal News: "The US Open Series tennis matches are averaging a 0.3 this year on ESPN, or just under 300,000 homes."...Lindsay Davenport on delaying her retirement: "I work way harder now than at any point in my career, off the court, and I feel like that, all of a sudden, came into play quite a bit. I enjoy it more now. I don't know if that's because I came to the realization that I might be without it soon, or came to the realization that I better enjoy the last few years, however long they last."...Serena Williams on strengthening her knee problem with physical therapy since pulling out of Toronto in her second match: "I just kept strengthening every day. I didn't take a day off. It was really time consuming. That was the number one, two, and three priority for me, was to just keep strengthening my leg. That's what I was able to do. I just needed a little more time not too much more, but just a little more and I was able to get that."...Serena on grunting: "When I was younger I used to love Monica Seles, she was like my role model. I loved her game. I loved her grunt. So my grunt is kind of like hers a little bit where it's like a double grunt, instead of just like one long one, it's like two of them. I don't know why I grunt. Grunting actually is a way of breathing. That's how I'm breathing out instead of going -- I'm actually grunting to get the air out."...Svetlana Kuznetsova became the fourth defending women's champ to lose in the first round of a slam in the Open Era after Steffi Graf (Wimbledon in 1994), Jennifer Capriati (2003 Australian Open), and Anastasia Myskina (2005 French Open)...Nice pre-walk-on-the-court interviews by USA Network in their coverage of the Open, ESPN needs to take a hint on that and other innovations in their coverage...Ouch, John McEnroe leading off USA Network's coverage saying he thinks Marat Safin will have a difficult Open -- a day after Safin pulled from the tournament. Time to kick some USA Network intern ass, tell those kids to keep you up-to-date as you're in and out of the studio...Razvan Sabau was 5-4 in tour play this year entering his match with Andre Agassi...Where is that "Andy's Mojo" commercial where Andy's Mojo gets up while Andy sleeps to beat Roger Federer?...The American women among the Top 20 have each entered about 14 tournaments, on average, this year, while the 10 Russians and Eastern Europeans among the Top 20 have competed in an average of about 21 tournaments each...Justin Gimel"blog" has backed off in his blogging for SI.com, after first shooting from the hip on controversial topics such as women's tennis showing too much skin, his latest entry is a bland tribute to how great Andre Agassi is and how great James Blake's win was at New Haven. C'mon Justin, blog something we already didn't know...From The Telegraph: "(Tim) Henman has requested a late start for his first-round match against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. "It is frustrating to say the least," Henman said. "Having had a problem with my stomach, I think my body has ended up compensating for it and my back has stiffened up as a result. I haven't been able to practise as much as I would have wanted. It's not the best way to prepare but I have to simply try to take the positives out of the situation and try to deal with it as best I can.""...Roger Federer: "I would like to be loved, to have fans around the world. I had a moment last year when I felt people always wanted me to lose because I was winning too much. Now I think differently about that. Maybe losing in the Australian, but fighting and fighting, showed I was human. In Paris when I lost I felt the fans were for me. Those losses were so important to me. They made a difference in how fans see me and how I see the game."...Outgoing ATP CEO Mark Miles will be "roasted" tonight at The Tavern on the Green in NYC...From New York Newsday: "If it seems like Maria Sharapova is everywhere, you're not imagining things. Canon yesterday unleashed some 20 Sharapova look-alikes around hotspots including Grand Central Station, Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Flushing Meadows. The willowy blondes are passing out hand-held fans to help visitors keep cool; the stunt is a follow-up to Sharapova's "Maria Was Here" ad campaign. In addition, two billboards of Sharapova have sprouted alongside sections of the Long Island Expressway. No word on where the Lake Success-based biz found the supply of 6-foot-2 Russian women, but we're guessing Brighton Beach."...Tennisreporters.net's Matt Cronin on Svetlana Kuznetsova's hasty exit: "Kuznetsova had very little interest in winning points of any kind. She knew coming into the tournament that she had virtually no chance of winning because she hasn't learned to contend with the pressure of being a recognized elite player. A few weeks ago, she spoke of having nothing left in the tank mentally, of how confused she was as to why, and how much she dreaded the expectations that come along with being a player who has reached the top of the mountain. "This year I've wanted to go out and play like the US Open champion," said Kuznetsova. "I put too much pressure on myself and tried to be too good.""...Xavier Malisse has been left off the Belgian Davis Cup team that will face the U.S. in the qualifying round in September, leaving the Roach Brothers, Olivier and Christophe Rochus in charge with U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe looking for the bug spray on the red clay...From the New York Times: "Recently, however, Serena has blurred the line between reality and entertainment. She and Venus produced a reality show, "Venus and Serena: For Real," to mixed reviews this summer. Serena was not pleased when the directors suggested she take a nap in one episode because appearing lazy would draw more laughs."...From Keep Media: "The sport also has made big inroads in showbiz, with Woody Allen's "Match Point" -- one of the splashes at Cannes this year -- promising to help us forget last fall's Paul Bettany-Kirsten Dunst dud "Wimbledon." Also, celebs like Alec Baldwin, Matthew Perry and Bill Murray, as well as Hollywood execs like Brad Grey and Jeffrey Katzenberg, have long been drawn to the Open. "I've definitely noticed a lot more glitter," says Jim Rosenthal, head of New Line's TV division and an Open regular. "There's always been crossover, but lately there's been much more." Arlen Kantarian, CEO of the United States Tennis Assn., has drawn on his background running Radio City Music Hall and marketing pro football to boost the entertainment quotient of the event: Jumbotron screens fill the grounds; musical acts like Maroon 5, Gavin DeGraw and James Taylor perform. The USTA's parties on finals weekend at Mojito Restaurant and Bar are always a coveted ticket. Last year, the Olsen twins were among attendees. "We've set out to create a sports and entertainment spectacle," says USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier."

[Tommy]

Thanks David

[DUlrich1227]

Roddick Backhanded, Federer Wins Easily at US Open

Luxembourg's Gilles Muller was not an easy first-round draw for Andy Roddick at this year's US Open -- but it wasn't until past 11 p.m. Tuesday night that the former US Open champ found out just how not-easy things had become as he was ushered out of the tournament in a tight 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 7-6(1) loss to the free-swinging lefty.

"I don't really remember a loss where I've felt this bad afterwards," Roddick said. "I love playing here. I probably had the best practice week I've ever had in lead-up. It just didn't translate tonight. I'm in a little bit of shock right now, to be honest. I'd give anything to go back four hours right now."

Roddick was serving at 5-3 in the first set in what looked like another routine win over an inexperienced opponent when, like Muller had done a few games earlier, Roddick tossed in a sloppy service game to put things back on serve. Suddenly Roddick was looking at a player that did everything better than him -- from his vaunted serve and forehand to two-handed backhand and net game. Once Muller got his teeth in the match, he utilized his big swinging lefty forehand to Roddick's backhand, the two-handed wing that has proved so inefficient under pressure.

"I have no idea (how I won)," Muller said. "It was just unbelievable to come out here today. It was the first time I was playing at night (on the) stadium in a Grand Slam. Before the match I told myself to go out there and enjoy it. And I did."

Muller delivered 24 aces to Roddick's 17, and confirmed his giant-killing status after just months ago beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. The loss also highlighted Roddick's amazing fall-off with his record in tiebreaks, from the player who was once master of the art of the 'breaker. Another stat shocker: Roddick had only seven forehand winners in the match, and a grand total two off the backhand side.

"Backhands, I didn't hit it well tonight," said a simmering Roddick in his post-match conference. "You're absolutely correct."

Muller concurred.

"I have to say it -- I don't think he played his best match," Muller said. "He had some problems with his backhand, and I took advantage of it."

Earlier in the day world No. 1 Roger Federer rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and Czech Ivo Minar out of the tournament, advancing into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win in just over an hour.

"I don't play much in the morning any more," Federer said. "Mostly play the prime time hours, which means three, five, seven o'clock. Coming out early today was different. Also when I practice, it's usually always afternoon. So, again, you have to change your plans. But it was a great start."

Other seeded winners in opening-round matches were (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Zib), (11) David Nalbandian (d. Bogomolov Jr.), (16) Radek Stepanek (d. N.Lapentti), (22) Mario Ancic (d. H.-T. Lee), (26) Feliciano Lopez (d. Volandri in four), (27) Olivier Rochus (d. Vik in four), (30) Max Mirnyi (d. Gimelstob), and (31) Carlos Moya (d. Llodra who retired in the third with heat exhaustion).

Three seeds met their demise Tuesday in Brits (12) Tim Henman (l. to Verdasco) and (28) Greg Rusedski (l. to Blake), and former No. 1 and No. 20 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero (l. to Clement 6-1 in the third).

"I knew that my back wasn't great, but after the practice I had for three-quarters of an hour on Sunday and then a bit longer yesterday, I felt like it was moving in the right direction," said Henman who had been receiving treatment for a back injury since arriving in New York. "But I just think there's always that difference between practice and matches. You know, you've got to go after shots a bit more."

Qualifier Andy Murray (d. Pavel in five) now remains the only British hope, joined by other unseeded winners Rainer Schuettler (d. Starace in three), Nicolas Kiefer (d. Vanek) and Bjorn Phau (d. countryman Popp) of Germany, Chileans Fernando Gonzalez (d. Moodie in four) and Paul Capdeville (d. Mathieu in four), France's Fabrice Santoro (d. Melzer), Sebastien Grosjean (d. O.Hernandez) and Florent Serra (d. Koubek in four), Spaniard Albert Montanes (d. Hanescu who retired with heat exhaustion), Italian Davide Sanguinetti (d. Arthurs), Dutchman Peter Wessels (d. C.Rochus in four), Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Beck in five), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Baghdatis), Serb Novak Djokovic (d. Monfils in five), Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka (d. R.Ram in five), Americans Vincent Spadea (d. Weiner 6-0 in the third) and Robby Ginepri (d. Garcia-Lopez), former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten (d. Goldstein in four), and Thai Paradorn Srichaphan (d. El Aynaoui).

"I was a little bit tired at the beginning of the final set, so I started to drink (an energy drink) and always when I drink it I start to feel a little bit sick," said Murray, who hurled on-court near the end of his match with Pavel. "I took too much and felt like I was going to burp, then yuk! It's very tough to go and hold your serve after taking a break as long as that but I got back on track."

Pavel was gracious in defeat and praised the 18-year-old Murray.

"Of the young generation there are a few guys that are playing very good -- you should put Murray in with (Rafael) Nadal I guess," Pavel said. "He played a very good match and I couldn't get my rhythm going with his game. He played really smart, with a lot of slow balls that I don't like."

The fan-favorite Kuerten earned a rare win, coming into the Open with a 4-8 record on the year.

"For me, every moment is a different situation. Maybe in 2000, '99, I could come here and win a match, it would be one match for me, not a good result. But right now, it's important because I'm able to play another match," said Kuerten, who doesn't even have a clothing contract these days. "Basically, I have no contracts, so I try to find different shirts. In Brazil, I have a friend that is making them for me. Every tournament I'm using a different shirt."

The Serb Djokovic had three injury time-outs in his five-set win over fellow teen Monfils, suffering breathing problems at the beginning of the second set, a sore shoulder in the fourth set, and cramping in his calves in the fifth set.

"The timeouts helped me a lot," Djokovic said. "He was physically better prepared than me...I have problems with my shoulder. I have problems breathing. But every timeout I had a reason. Cramps in my back, cramps in my leg, my shoulder. The weather was so bad, it was so humid. I felt like giving up in the fourth set...I'm really sorry because Gael is a real good friend of mine. But I had to do it."

The heat claimed a number of victims on the day, with France's Llodra collapsing unconscious on some outside-court bleacher seats on the way to the locker room after retiring against Moya.

Scheduled for the men on Wednesday are (3) Hewitt vs. Costa in a battle of slam champs, (2) Nadal vs. Jenkins, Burgsmuller vs. (25) Taylor "Acci-" Dent, Philippoussis vs. Kucera, Carlsen vs. Almagro, Lammer vs. K.Kim, Acasuso vs. Luis Horna, (17) Ferrer vs. Calleri, Seppi vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, and in doubles highlights Argentines (14) Etlis/Rodriguez vs. Spaniards Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez and Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco.

Contenders Davenport, Mauresmo, Henin Win at US Open

All 16 women's seeds in action advanced into the second round Tuesday at the US Open, led by main contenders (2) Lindsay Davenport (d. Li), (3) Amelie Mauresmo (d. Vinci), defending runner-up (6) Elena Dementieva (d. Safarova), and French Open winner (7) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Ondraskova, bagel in the second).

"It's just feeling good," Mauresmo said. "Pretty solid today, consistent match. Really a good way to get into this tournament."

Davenport looked fit in her school-bus-yellow skin-tight top and black skirt, but unhappy as China's Li kept the match close.

"I didn't feel like I was at my sharpest," Davenport said.

Other seeds into the second round Tuesday were (11) Patty Schnyder (d. former slam champ Martinez from a set down), (12) Mary Pierce (d. Santangelo), (13) Anastasia Myskina (d. Tanasugarn), (15) Nathalie Dechy (d. Beltrame), (17) Jelena Jankovic (d. Chladkova), (19) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Garbin), (23) Tatiana Golovin (d. Ruano Pascual 7-6 in the third), (24) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Cohen Aloro), (27) Gisela Dulko (d. Foretz), (29) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Kutuzova in three), (31) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Brandi), and (32) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Sprem).

Un-seeds into the second round were Slovania's Katarina Srebotnik (d. Hsieh, bagel in the first), Americans Amy Frazier (d. countrywoman Gullickson), Alexa Glatch (d. Fedak), Vania King (d. Koukalova in three), and Jill Craybas (d. countrywoman Jackson in three), Israel's Anna Smashnova (d. Kloesel), Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. Haynes), Russian Evgenia Linetskaya (d. Llagostera Vives from a set down), Bulgarians Maggie Maleeva (d. Gagliardi) and Sesil Karatantcheva (d. Shaughnessy from a set down), Argentine Mariana Diaz-Oliva (d. Mattek), France's Virginie Razzano (d. Spears) and Pauline Parmentier (d. Ant. Serra Zanetti from a set down), China's Yoon Jeong Cho (d. Parra Santonja in three) and Tian Tian Sun (d. Stosur), and Slovak Martina Sucha (d. Bammer from a set down).

"I don't think there was one turning point or one key point," said Karatantcheva after weathering the almost 2-1/2 hour match over Shaughnessy. "It was so back and forth that even until the last point I couldn't feel I was in total control. I guess that's what made for a good match."

Scheduled for the women on Wednesday are (4) Clijsters vs. Zuluaga, (1) Sharapova vs. Randriantefy, (8) Serena vs. Castano, Camerin vs. Mirza, Salerni vs. (20) Hantuchova, Bartoli vs. Perry, Raymond vs. Schruff, (25) Schiavone vs. Laine, Peer vs. (33) Douchevina, (18) Ivanovic vs. Vento-Kabchi, Pastikova vs. (30) Sugiyama, (9) Petrova vs. Nakamura, (26) Vaidisova vs. Zheng, Pratt vs. Granville, Lisjak vs. Bychkova, and (10) Venus vs. Kirilenko.

Bjorkman Says Leave Doubles Alone, but Change ATP

By virtue of being part of the No. 1-ranked doubles team on the ATP this year, you'd think Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman would get a little more attention from ATP officials.

"(The players) have been having quite a lot of meetings," Bjorkman told Tennis-X of his efforts with the Bryan brothers and other doubles players to get the ATP to overturn the decision to apply a short-scoring system to doubles matches after the US Open.

"We need to be a little more like a (player's) union."

Bjorkman and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi currently top the ATP Doubles Race standings ahead of Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, two teams that go the extra yard in attempting to promote doubles, and tennis in general. What frustrates the players is that this goes on at the same time the ATP and tournament directors work to cut the size of doubles draws, and replace the doubles specialists in the doubles draws with singles players who don't play doubles.

The ATP says the changes are to better the sport, to make doubles more attractive to fans. The players say that is just spin, and the changes are so tournament directors can save money -- fewer hotel rooms, meals and other perks to pay for with were fewer no-name doubles players in their events.

The ATP made the doubles scoring change after announcing a poll of fans, players, tournaments and the media showed support for a change. But the poll questions were vague, and the ATP still refuses to release the results to the media.

Greeted by a media, fan and player backlash (tournament directors, or course, are happy), the proposed changes have not been popular, to say the least. Top singles players such as Andy Roddick said the changes wouldn't entice him to play any more doubles.

With the spate of injuries in the modern game, players are looking to play less tennis, not more.

The ATP says the scoring changes will now see tiebreaks at 5-5 in the set instead of at 6-all, and there will be a "sudden death" point played at deuce where the next point wins the game, otherwise known as no-ad scoring.

Originally the scoring changes were to run for an unsubstantiated amount of time after the US Open, but the latest ATP release says the scoring changes will be tested at six post-US Open ATP tournaments: Beijing, Bucharest, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Palermo and Metz.

"In addition to the new scoring format, the ATP to make doubles more exciting to watch is introducing other changes," says a grammatically-challenged ATP statement. "More doubles matches will be featured on show courts; promotional initiatives are being developed; and beginning 2006, players will use the better of their singles or doubles ranking to enter doubles draws. Many of the changes were recommended by the ATP's Research & Development Doubles Project Team, which evaluated data from surveys from four target groups: fans, players, media and tournaments."

ESPN analyst Mary Carillo, speaking to reporter Paul Fein on the doubles scoring changes, summed up the opinion of the majority of tennis media.

"As for the ATP doubles debacle, what a colossal error those knuckleheads have made this time," Carillo said. "I almost couldn't believe the press release. I thought it had to be a joke. Then I approached both my bosses at ESPN and NBC during Wimbledon, and I asked them if the new format for doubles would get doubles more air time. Both network execs laughed at the notion. The ATP has dropped the ball so many times so many ways, but this could be the stupidest "innovation" of all."

Bjorkman says he is ready to end the experiment, and any talk of changing the tennis scoring in doubles. The International Tennis Federation (ITF), which runs the slams, said no to the ATP's request for the slams to also adopt the changes. Now Bjorkman is ready to get on to the business of correctly promoting doubles and doubles players.

"(The ATP) goes in and say 'We're going to change the rules of tennis,'" Bjorkman said. "The ITF is not going to change it...We need to do more research. And we just need to talk positive about the doubles."

The ATP was the player's union up until 1990 when it took over the governing of the men's tour, and now the players are essentially without a union, hoping the ATP acts in the player's best interest as it acts as a middleman between the tournament directors and players -- both essentially independent bodies from the tour.

Players and tournament directors alike have council representatives on the ATP Board, where the player representatives in June folded their votes, helping the doubles changes through and infuriating doubles specialists such as the recently-retired Todd Woodbridge.

"I'm disappointed with our players' council," Woodbridge said after the decision. "They all should resign, because they've made changes without asking what the rest of the tennis world thinks. They've made a scoring system that doesn't exist. It's not an approved system by the International Tennis Federation. Perhaps with that in mind, I've timed my (retirement) decision pretty well."

Bjorkman says that beyond the players' council voting debacle, the system itself has broken down and the players are starting to give up.

"We used to have strong representatives like Todd Martin on the player council," Bjorkman said. "But now a lot of the players are stepping back, they say (the ATP Council/Board system) is not working anymore."

The ATP had experimented with another doubles scoring change, a third-set tiebreak instead of playing a third set, but Bjorkman says any scoring changes will poison the integrity of the game, lead to further erosion down the line, and turn tennis into more of a game of chance than a sport of skill or endurance.

"Todd (Woodbridge) and I won Monte Carlo during that period," said Bjorkman of the third-set tiebreak experiment. "Afterwards we said that we didn't feel like we deserved it, we weren't playing well and we weren't the best team that week. But tiebreakers are like a coin flip and we ended up winning."

Another problem with the triumvirate relationship between the players, ATP and tournament directors is communication -- or lack of. Bjorkman says players take their problems to the ATP, and they in turn sometimes don't make it to the tournament directors.

"What we've been talking with the ATP hasn't reached the tournament directors," Bjorkman said. "I spoke to (Cincinnati Tournament Director) Bruce Flory and he hadn't heard of some of the things."

Bjorkman says from simple promotions like putting doubles (not just singles) players pictures and bios in tournament programs to holding pro-ams with fans and skill-type exhibitions such as those at the Arthur Ashe Kid's Day, fans can become more involved via doubles players.

"The tournament directors have a lot of ideas, and the players have a lot of ideas," Bjorkman said. "Unfortunately not every tournament director is willing to listen...and we probably don't have the right people in position (at the ATP). We need some fresh people in there, some new business people in there."

One thing that excites Bjorkman is the recent appointment of former Disney exec Etienne de Villiers as ATP Chairman. de Villiers will provide some guidance to the organization while spearheading the search for a new CEO, with Mark Miles retiring on Sept. 1.

"I am excited about the new guy de Villiers," Bjorkman said. "We need a new direction...we are worldwide very well known. It shouldn't be so difficult."


NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
On his 23rd b-day, Andy Roddick suffered his first opening non-clay Slam loss since his US Open debut in 2000. Roddick has now lost six straight sets in Slam play...Gilles Muller said he didn't play his best tennis in his win over Roddick, and that he did not find Roddick's serve that difficult once he saw it a few times...Andy Murray threw up on court in the fifth set of his match Tuesday night, causing a 20+ minute delay to clean-up the mess...Novak Djokovich also won his first five-setter Tuesday, and he too needed plenty of help from the trainer. Who's better? Djokovich has more tools in the box at the moment...All matches on Arthur Ashe this year have gone straight sets...At just 15, Alexa Glatch won her first Slam match on Tuesday...Anyone seen Andy's Mojo?...Gilles Muller trains in Barcelona...Justin Gimel"blog" says he will publish a Top 10 best-looking female player ranking, along with a few others, in his SI.com blog -- stay tuned...What is up with the weak singles schedule Wednesday with only eight men's matches?...Roger Federer has lost just three matches since the start of the 2004 US Open...No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko won Tuesday but did anyone notice, with the Top 10er relegated to the outer hinderlands?...James Blake got a US Open suite for a bunch of his "J-Blockers" from New Haven...Both 2003 finalists Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick lost Tuesday in straight sets...Andy Roddick said coming into the Open he was feeling the best he ever had entering a Slam...Check out SI.com's Jon Wertheim's hilarious take on the Tuesday night "roast" of outgoing ATP CEO Mark Miles: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jon_wertheim/08/26/miles.roast/ ...Justin Gimel"blog" furiously backpedaling in writing for SI.com: "I know I was a bit rough on the women of the WTA Tour last Friday, and some of the ladies here at the US Open now want my head served up on a platter. I find that a bit ironic on two counts: First, I had intended to write a follow-up piece about how skilled and impressive the WTA players are. (More on that later.) The second, and more obvious reason, is that everyone on the women's tour knows I've been dating one of their own, Corina Morariu, for two-and-a-half years. Clearly I find an athletic and determined woman more attractive than the waif-model types who fill up most of the players' lounges at our events." It's ironic because you date women? Good point Justin! "One of their own," that's too good. That blog is like an advertisement for seeing through your college degree. More from the Gimelblogger: "One of the best weeks of practice I've ever had was at the Bank of the West Classic, a WTA event in Stanford, Calif., last month. I was lucky enough to practice with world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport. I couldn't have been more wowed with how talented she is and how hard she works. Her ability to hit the tennis ball is no less impressive than any male player I have ever played or practiced against." Yeah, but tell us what we really want to know -- did you beat her?...Best USA Network moment Tuesday night: Coming back from a break during the Andy Roddick match with the music playing and the announcers not yet realizing they're on air, with someone saying "Do I have a mustache?"...Roger Federer on not needing a full-time coach: "I don't feel like I need a guy all the time next to me telling me what I should eat and drink, when I should go to bed, you know. I think I know these things. For me the coach is there to be on court with me, that he's not late showing up for practice sessions, that he can help me how to improve my game. Not just bring my racquets to the stringer, book me a practice court. This I can do myself. I have the feeling maybe in this respect I have a different philosophy. I haven't been speaking much to (part-time coach) Tony (Roche) either, you know. I haven't spoken to him in three weeks. Basically maybe I'll call him tonight. We'll see."...Tim Henman on likely being ranked outside the Top 25 after the US Open: "It's a challenge for me, isn't it? Over the years I've been that consistent that it's really only happened on one other occasion. That's definitely going to be a motivating factor. You know, I've got five events between now and the end of the year. I want to finish strongly so that I can go into the off-season, work hard, start afresh in '06."...Al Costa has lost first round in his last four slams...Last year Mark Philippoussis retired in the fifth set of his first-round match against Nikolay Davydenko at the US Open with a gluteal muscle injury...This year Tim Henman failed to reach the last 16 of any of the four majors for the first time since 1995...From Peter Bodo's TennisWorld blog: "Andy Roddick is out of the US Open. He went down to a very competent player, Gilles Muller, in a match that demonstrated why Grand Slam tennis is so riveting. While I can't claim to have seen this coming (could anyone, including Muller or his coach?), I had an uneasy premonition about Roddick in this tournament." Just ask the X-staffer who put down $20 on Muller to win $140 -- cha ching! Those were nice odds. The interns are cleaning up, we need to take a cut...Nice USA Network camera work of Andy Roddick coach Dean Goldfine dropping an f-bomb after Andy lost the first point of the second-set tiebreak. Was that an I-just-lost-my-job f-bomb?...How about the New York fans whistling to distract as Gilles Muller threw up his service toss on crucial points vs. Andy Roddick? Nice class New York!...Lleyton Hewitt has lost to the eventual champion in the last six slams he has contested...Roger Federer will appear on the weekly "Budweiser Hot Seat" tonight on ESPN's SportsCenter at 6 p.m. (EST)...Embattled former pro coach (Mark Philippoussis, Monica Seles) Gavin Hopper failed in his bid to overturn his two-year conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage girl...From Charlie "The Brick" Bricker of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "You couldn't call it a revolution...yet. But the ATP's doubles players appear to be bordering on rebellion over the radical new scoring rules that are scheduled to go into place after the US Open and they're going to plead their case as a group on Friday. Either today or Thursday, several high-profile players, including the Bryan twins of the United States, Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, who is one of the elder statesmen on the tour, singles and doubles, will announce a press conference to make their complaints heard."

[DUlrich1227]

Nadal, Hewitt, Dent Advance Wednesday at US Open

What a difference a year makes.

In 2004 both Rafael Nadal and Scoville Jenkins were blown out in straight sets at the US Open by Andy Roddick. One year later, Roddick was on the sidelines after an opening-round loss while Nadal and Jenkins were entangled in a highly-competitive second-round match, with the muscle-bound Spaniard prevailing Wednesday night 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

The two 19-year-olds battled in high winds and rainy conditions during the last night match, with the American's huge forehand and aggressiveness play keeping him in the match against the No. 2-ranked Nadal.

"I stepped up," said Jenkins, who is 350 ranking spots behind Nadal. "It gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I can be right there with the No. 2 one day."

Jenkins hit 45 winners to Nadal's 23, but that was tempered by 49 unforced errors to Nadal's 13, with consistency beating flashiness in the end.

"He has a very good future," Nadal said. "I needed to play 100 percent to win this match."

No. 3 seed Lleyton Hewitt also looked exceptionally steady in his opener Wednesday, dismantling fellow slam winner Al Costa 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 in his quest to defend his 2004 runner-up effort to Roger Federer.

Both player had to deal with temperatures near 90 degrees and winds kicking up gusts of 36 mph during the match.

"It was just extremely difficult conditions," Hewitt said. "You want to get it under your belt, get into the tournament and get back into the locker room as quickly as possible...I think I just handled the conditions better. I don't think these kind of conditions suit his game."

Costa, who chooses to stick to the physically-kinder claycourts with a dodgy knee, had not played a hardcourt match since January at the Australian Open.

Other seeded winners Wednesday on the thin men's schedule were (15) Dominik Hrbaty (d. Seppi in four), (17) Dave Ferrer (d. Calleri in five), and (25) Taylor Dent (d. Burgsmuller in four).

"The conditions were so tough out there, they were so tough," said Dent of the wind. "I just consider it a victory getting out there and toughing it out and coming through the win."

Unseeded winners were Slovak Karol Kucera (d. Philippoussis) putting the Aussie wildcard quickly out of his misery, Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer (d. K.Kim in four) competing in only his second tour-level event of the year, Argentine Jose Acasuso (d. Horna in four), and Spain's Nicolas Almagro (d. Carlsen) who was 0-2 on hardcourts this year entering the Open.

"It's not like I've got too much pride to play Challengers," Philippoussis said. "It's all mental. I've been working hard off the court, very hard. Definitely lacking confidence. It's definitely what I'm lacking."

On tap for Thursday are (7) Agassi vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, Blake vs. Andreev, Ginepri vs. Muller, (8) Coria vs. Spadea, Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. Baker, (29) Haas vs. Schuettler in an all-German, (13) Gasquet vs. Galimberti, (26) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. Soderling, (24) Youzhny vs. Bjorkman, (10) Puerta vs. Wawrinka, (18) Ljubicic vs. Saulnier, (14) T.Johansson vs. Grosjean, (19) Robredo vs. the former No. 1 Kuerten, and (32) Berdych vs. Mello.

"On Thursday we cannot be friends on the court," Muller said of facing his doubles partner Ginepri in singles. "But then after we can go and drink one beer together."

Womens Blowouts as Five Seeds Bake Bagels at US Open

Maria Sharapova mastered the blustery conditions Wednesday in her opening-round match at the US Open, blowing past Dally Randriantefy 6-1, 6-0 in her quest to re-take the No. 1 spot during the Flushing Meadows fortnight.

The 6-foot-2 Sharapova blistered the 5-foot-5 player from Madagascar, showing no sign of the pectoral muscle issue that troubled her entering the US Open.

"It's good that I ate some chocolate cake last night," said the model-thin Sharapova, dropping some funny after the match. "I'm glad I put on a few pounds. Otherwise, I might have blown away out there."

No. 4 seed Kim Clijsters held off a first-set challenge from Fabiola Zuluaga before rolling the Colombian 7-5, 6-0.

Clijsters led 4-1 before dropping four straight games, then ran through the last nine games to win in little over an hour.

"I lost a little bit of my footwork. I wasn't as on my toes anymore," Clijsters said. "At 5-4, I started to be a little more aggressive again. I think I wasn't being aggressive enough anymore at 4-1. That made her come back into that first set."

No. 8 seed Serena Williams had an easy time with Catalina Castano, punishing the Colombian 6-2, 6-2 while adorned with more than $50,000 worth of diamond jewelry. After the match Serena clapping for herself after announcing she would donate $100 for every ace she delivers for the remainder of the year to the Gulf Coast hurricane relief effort.

"I've always considered myself a philanthropist," Serena said.

Serena is now one match away from a meeting with No. 10-seeded sister Venus, who dropped four games in easing past Russian Maria Kirilenko.

After her match Serena bristled at the notion that the bling, the fashion and cosmetics design, the reality show, the (fill in the blank) come before tennis in her life.

"I love tennis," Serena said. "Quite frankly, I'm tired of people saying I put tennis third and last in my life. If I did, I wouldn't be here playing. I wouldn't be here practicing. I could be at the beach. I could be retired. I could be drinking lemonade with my legs crossed in the sun on the beach. I'm not doing that. I'm not in Saint-Tropez."

Other seeded winners Wednesday were (9) Nadia Petrova (d. Nakamura, bagel in the second), (20) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Ma. Emilia Salerni, bagel in the second), (25) Francesca Schiavone (d. Laine), (26) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Zheng, bagel in the second), and (30) Ai Sugiyama (d. Pastikova from a set down).

Two seeds were sent home on the day with Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. (18) Ivanovic from a set down) and Israel's Shahar Peer (d. (33) Douchevina in three) victorious.

Unseeded winners into the third round were India's Sania Mirza (d. Camerin in three), Germany's Julia Schruff (d. Raymond), Croatian Ivana Lisjak (d. Bychkova), American Laura Granville (d. Pratt in three), and France's Marion Bartoli (d. Perry, bagel in the third).

Scheduled for Thursday are (7) Henin-Hardenne vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, (2) Davenport vs. Parmentier, Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva vs. (3) Mauresmo, (15) Dechy vs. King, Srebotnik vs. (12) Pierce, Smashnova vs. (23) Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin, (17) Jankovic vs. the 15-year-old American Glatch, Craybas vs. (29) Chakvetadze, (32) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. Sun, Cho vs. (27) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, (31) Groenefeld vs. Razzano, (24) Asagoe vs. Linetskaya, Martina "Nurse, Hand Me a" Sucha vs. (11) Schnyder, (13) Myskina vs. Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier, (6) Dementieva vs. Diaz-Oliva, and (19) Likhovtseva vs. Maleeva.


NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
According to Bob and Mike Bryan, the doubles players will hold a 10 a.m. press conference Friday morning to announce a new doubles strategy to increase the popularity of the sport and to thwart the ATP's recently-adopted changes to the game. The ATP responded by reissuing their old doubles scoring-change press release with some new tweaks, but the players say that still won't do...Former Andy Roddick coach Tarik Benhabiles is now helping "Dr." Ivo Karlovic...All Arthur Ashe matches during the first three days have gone straight sets...Wonder what happened to Andy Roddick's b-day cake the USTA had lined up in anticipation of his win Tuesday night...Someone tell Laura Granville to stop crying during matches...Could Mark Philippoussis be slower on court?..As if he needs it, Roger Federer gets two days off after a 1, 1, and 1 win over Ivo Minar. He'll play Fabrice Santoro, likely on Friday night...I-Play has released the "Maria Sharapova Tennis" game for cell phones. "By using my name in a mobile gaming context, I hope that tennis fans will be able to share my passion, whatever the weather or conditions of play." And give me lots of money...Greg Rusedski, after Guillermo Canas' recent two-year ban for doping, couldn't leave the US Open without taking some shots at the ATP for their failed conviction of him: "It was the injustice I was being put through with the whole situation. I think it was very unfair...Plus, the (ATP) tour gave me absolutely zero help (afterwards) -- It's just something where you want to fight back and prove people wrong and show you can still play well."...Gustavo Kuerten is the ace leader at the US Open through the first round with 35...For Andy Roddick's win of the US Open Series he doubled his first-round loser's money of $3,000...SI.com's Jon Wertheim agrees that Andy Roddick's game doesn't seem as big as last year: "He doesn't seem able to generate the same "stick" on his shots. I might buy this. It seems that opponents -- I noticed that when Roddick lost to Paul-Hank Mathieu earlier this month in Montreal and again last night -- no longer get blown off the court. Roddick will get his share of aces, but once the rally begins he doesn't dictate as much."...Like the teacher willing to reach out to the troubled youth, Bud Collins is not going to give up on Andy Roddick: "But I do want to make it clear that Roddick is only 23, and while he spoiled his 23rd birthday by falling to Muller, he's still a very young guy. I'm disappointed by Roddick's result at this US Open, and I believe he's going to have to do some serious soul searching as to how to turn things around. That said, I am definitely not ready to give up on Roddick. I think that he's young enough and talented enough to find a way to pick himself by his boot straps and come back around. But it's going to take a lot of work. Roddick's a feisty and competitive guy, so I'm betting he's willing to log the time needed in order to turn things around, but only time will tell."...Meghann Shaughnessy led all women in first-round play with 12 aces at the US Open...Vijay Singh had to pull from his PGA event this week after injuring his back playing table tennis with his son -- probably the closest he has gotten to real sport during his career?...Al Costa says he will decide at the end of the season whether to retire with his dodgy knee: "I want to finish this season and then decide. If I finish, I finish altogether. I can't play only on clay."...Does Michael Barkan seem like even more of an insufferable ass-clown than usual this year during his "personality pieces" for USA Network's US Open coverage? Tap the interviews of Serena and Chris Rock so far this year as some of the worst ever...Taylor Dent on the American tennis commentators saying he is not in condition: "I don't really react too much to what, you know, Patrick McEnroe says and Jim Courier says. I think they kind of see what they want to see sometimes. I've had discussions with a few people about why I lose matches. They seem to be the expert on my tennis, seeing me play one or two matches a year. I don't know. I find that a bit humorous. You know, there's always a second side to the story for me being tired in Indianapolis...if (the U.S. Davis Cup captain McEnroe)made those comments to light a fire under me), then he doesn't really know my personality that much. I'm pretty tough on myself. I spend as much time working on my game and on my tennis -- everything -- fitness, as my body will allow me to. If someone criticizes me, then I kind of go the other way with that person. I'm so tough on myself, I don't need the extra added pressure and beat-down from somebody else."...Maria Sharapova said she watched a little of Andy Roddick's loss: "I was getting a massage. Yeah, you know, like I said, it's tough. I mean, first round. The other guy played out of his mind, I thought. You know, you run into someone that good in the first round, it's tough. But this is life."...Switzerland has three representatives in the second round of the US Open for the first time in the Open Era in qualifier Michael Lammer, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka...Jiri Novak pulled from his second-round match at the US Open with a heel injury...Taylor Dent is the only remaining American in the top half of the Open draw with Roger Federer...Andre Agassi announced he will not be part of the U.S. Davis Cup team traveling to Belgium later this month in an attempt to try and remain in the World Group for 2006...Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty has the answers to the rash of injuries plaguing ATP and WTA players: "I always follow doctor's orders. I take care of my body. And I sleep 10 to 12 hours every day."...India's Sania Mirza on accusations she shows too much skin while playing tennis: "No Muslim is perfect and no human being is perfect. I guess I'm not dressing the way Islam states but I guess we all make mistakes and that's why Islam has forgiveness."...The ATP has changed its doubles scoring "experiment" after the US Open to sets up to six with a tiebreak at 5-5, and no-ad scoring, featured at six tournaments only. But how odd that the ATP simply re-released that original doubles press release from June, tweaked the scoring, but kept the musty quotes from the English-challenged Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet saying how great they thought the scoring changes were. When will that rudderless ship hit ground?...Serena notes that in case you haven't noticed lately, she is practically the reincarnation of John McEnroe at the net: "I've been working on my net play. I have great volleys. It's a shame I haven't been to the net sooner. I'm just really talented at that. I have great volleys." Serena also noted that she's not at 100 percent physically, but when has she needed to be at 100 percent to win a slam over the competition? "I'm definitely not at my best," said Serena after advancing Wednesday. "Honestly, I'm under 50 percent (healthy). But I've won stuff under 50 percent before."...Which is your favorite Andy? The one who cock-struts around Arthur Ashe screaming "This is my house!" after winning big points, or the one with the deer-in-the-headlights look dreading another approach shot coming to his backhand?...Andy-killer Gilles Muller is without a coach at the US Open...LA Times tennis bulldog Lisa Dillman caught up with Evgenia Linetskaya, who allegedly required stitches this summer after being slapped around by her father, and has since split with her father and her coach, going solo in New York: "He was my manager, not a coach," said the Russian of her father. And "Well, it's not that easy," she said of splitting with her coach also after the event in Carson. "I feel right now, it's better for me. Just to play and get pleasure. Relax. I like it. I just like playing on the court. I'm just not listening to anything. I'm just doing what I like."...Cause and effect: TennisWorld's Pete Bodo blasted the US Open website for a story that took a personal shot at Tim Henman, now that story has mysteriously disappeared off the site...Brit-Scot Andy Murray seems to have stepped it up in the fitness dept. with coach Mark Petchey, eh? Guess that's what nine consecutive weeks of playing tournaments since Wimbledon will do for you...Venus Williams on avoiding reality: "No, I don't really watch the news...In some ways, I'm very unaware of the latest happenings in the world. I kind of leave it like that because sometimes it's better not to know."

[DUlrich1227]

Agassi, Ginepri, Blake Fly American Flag at US Open

No. 7 seed Andre Agassi, resplendent in what could be this his last US Open, weathered 28 aces Thursday from towering Ivo Karlovic, edging the Croat 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(4) to move into the third round.

"Today required a lot of concentration because it only took a mental lapse for one or two shots and the set's over with," Agassi said. "On a calm day if I'm taking risks against a guy like that, all he needs is one game and then he's going to win the set. I couldn't afford to get too risky. Points happen too quickly out there."

Other seeded players advancing into the third round were (8) Guillermo Coria (d. Spadea), (13) Richard Gasquest (d. Galimberti who retired in the fourth with injury), (18) Ivan Ljubicic (d. Saulnier in four), (19) Tommy Robredo (d. Kuerten in four), (24) Mikhail Youzhny (d. Bjorkman), (29) Tommy Haas (d. German countryman Schuettler, bagel in the third), and (32) Tomas Berdych (d. Mello, bagel in the third).

Agassi will now face a tough task against Berdych, who beat Roger Federer at last year's Olympics.

Three seeds were outed Thursday in French Open runner-up (10) Mariano Puerta (l. to Wawrinka 6-1 in the fifth), former Aussie Open winner (14) Thomas Johansson (l. to Grosjean in four), and (26) Feliciano Lopez (l. to Soderling).

Other un-seeds into the third round were Belgian Xavier Malisse (d. Baker in four), and Americans Robby Ginepri (d. Muller), and James Blake (d. Andreev).

"I think it was too much for me," said Muller after winning only six games off Ginepri, failing to rebound after his upset of Andy Roddick. "It wasn't the tennis. I think it was something in the head. I mean, yesterday I didn't have so much time to rest. So I think I have to learn how to deal with these things, with these kind of moments."

Scheduled for Friday are (25) Taylor "Acci-" Dent vs. Almagro, (1) Federer vs. Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro, (3) Hewitt vs. Acasuso, (6) Davydenko vs. Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, Clement vs. Murray in a battle of qualifiers, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Capdeville, (17) Ferrer vs. Kucera, Montanes vs. (27) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus, Lammer vs. (15) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, (30) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Serra, Kiefer vs. (16) Stepanek, (11) Nalbandian vs. Peter "Nuclear" Wessels, (31) Moya vs. Sanguinetti, Djokovic vs. (22) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Tursunov vs. (21) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, Nieminen vs. Phau, and in doubles highlights (2) the Bryan brothers vs. Swedes Lindstedt/Soderling, (9) Aspelin/Perry vs. Russians Andreev/Davydenko, and Czechs (10) Cermak/Friedl vs. Frenchmen Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau/Mahut.

Women Seeds Win Yawners Again at US Open

Three current or former No 1s led the winners into the third round Thursday at the US Open in (2) Lindsay Davenport (d. Parmentier 1-and-1), (3) Amelie Mauresmo (d. Karatantcheva 0-and-1), and (7) Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. Sanchez Lorenzo).

"The conditions were pretty difficult today and worse yesterday," said Henin-Hardenne who won 3-and-4. "But I did serve a couple of double faults. But when my first serve is in I win a lot of points, so I need to be very focused on that and I'm sure I'll serve better, I hope, next match."

Karatantcheva should have provided fans with a refund after an error-strewn performance due to nerves on the big stage in the first night match.

"It didn't happen to me before that I was playing the first night, on the central court in the biggest stadium of the world," said Karatantcheva, who won one game off Mauresmo. "That was a bit, 'Wow,'."

Mauresmo, the wise old veteran at age 26, said the youngsters have a lot to learn.

"I think these girls coming up, it's normal, it's great and it's good for tennis," Mauresmo said. "But they still probably have to learn a few things."

Other seeded winners on the day were (6) Elena Dementieva (d. Diaz-Oliva), (11) Patty Schnyder (d. Sucha in three), (12) Mary Pierce (d. Srebotnik), (13) Anastasia Myskina (d. Amy "Down Goes" Frazier), (15) Nathalie Dechy (d. King 1-and-1), (17) Jelena Jankovic (d. Glatch 2-and-0), (19) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Maleeva), (23) Tatiana Golovin (d. Smashnova), (24) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Linetskaya), (29) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Craybas 0-and-2), (31) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Razzano from a set down), and (32) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Sun).

"There was a little bit of wind -- obviously not as much as yesterday -- I didn't play yesterday," Pierce said of the swirly conditions. "But it was kind of tough out there at times. I do feel like I'm serving really well. You know, I'd like to improve a little bit on my second serve. I think my return's improved as the match went on at the end today, but I do feel like I'd like to return better. I feel like I'm hitting the ball pretty good."

One seed was ousted Thursday, with Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho upending (27) Gisela Dulko.

Scheduled for Friday at the US Open are (1) Sharapova vs. Schruff, (4) Clijsters vs. (30) Sugiyama, (8) Serena vs. (25) Schiavone, (10) Venus vs. (20) Hantuchova, Mirza vs. Bartoli, (9) Petrova vs. Granville, (26) Vaidisova vs. Lisjak, and Vento-Kabchi vs. Peer.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Look for a parking lot doubles press conference Friday at 10am at the US Open tennis center. The Bryan Bros. along with Jonas Bjorkman and Mark Knowles are among those scheduled to appear. Punch and pie will be served...Biggest story of the day Thursday was the fact the USTA moved the Patty Schnyder-Martina Sucha match from Court 10 to Arthur Ashe at 5pm, thereby jeopardizing the 7pm start of Amelie Mauresmo-Sesil Karatantcheva. What's with all the bad US Open scheduling this year, breaking in a new intern?...Weather forecast looks good for the weekend...With Andy Roddick watching at home, Robbie Ginepri, James Blake, and even Taylor Dent are making strong cases for the No. 2 Davis Cup spot...Of the 16 women's matches Thursday, just two went three sets, with numerous bagels baked -- not a lot of challenge to the top players or depth for the women at this year's US Open...Kudos to American youngster Alex Kuznetsov who broke his leg in a car accident in May, returning to win in doubles on Wednesday. He may play the junior boys event...Some advice for the Muslim Indian princess Sania Mirza: If you're going to wear t-shirts to post-match press conferences with natty slogans such as "Well-behaved women rarely make history" and "I'm cute? No shit.", you shouldn't be surprised when the media harps upon them. "I'm tired of answering that question," said Mirza in response to yet another t-shirt question. "I wear a lot of t-shirts that say a lot of things. I don't think you should take a lot of things seriously that I wear. Let's just put it this way. It's just a t-shirt."...From SI.com: "(Scoville) Jenkins will take home $40,000 for making the second round of the US Open, not bad for a player with only $48,538 in career prize money. The exposure on USA Network and CBS, and the reams of copy on him today will be worth exponentially more. Tom Ross, his agent at Octagon, told The New York Times that Jenkins does not have a major clothing or shoe deal, but he expected the player to have one signed by the time they left New York. As of Wednesday night, there was still no deal in place, but we're guessing someone will bite on a handsome and charismatic African-American player (replete with cool dreadlocks) who pushed the world No. 2 to the limit."...ATP and WTA players have pledging to donate autographed tennis equipment, apparel and memorabilia throughout the remainder of the US Open for an auction to benefit the American Red Cross hurricane relief efforts in the hardest-hit areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. For whatever unrelated reason, the ATP/WTA announced that the "auction will begin on September 11, the anniversary of the disaster that struck New York City four years ago." Is George Bush coordinating your press effort?...From the press release: "The best doubles players in the world have joined together to file a lawsuit against the ATP Tour, Inc. (ATP) to "save doubles" and preserve the tradition and integrity of the sport of tennis. Ironically, it is the ATP that governs the professional tennis tour, formed in 1990, to, among other things, "promote and protect the future of the sport of professional tennis" and to give tour players a voice in their sport. The suit was filed earlier today on the fortnight of the U.S. Open, the highest attended tennis tournament in the world, in which the plaintiff players are participating. Some of the top players in the suit and their attorneys will hold a press conference at the tournament site in Flushing Meadows, New York on Friday, September 2 at 10:00 a.m. E.T. The lawsuit alleged that the ATP's efforts to purportedly "enhance" doubles is in fact a concerted effort by tournament directors to run the best doubles players out of the game and turn the doubles circuit into nothing more than an exhibition marketing tool for tournament directors to promote their singles tournaments."...US Open schedulers dropped the ball Thursday night, putting the snorer Blake-Andreev on for the featured night match rather than Agassi-Dr. Ivo...TennisReporters.net's Matt Cronin on the doubles debacle: "(Leander) Paes and Co. are supposed to have a voice in the ATP, which was originally created as a players association. Their representatives of the ATP Board of Directors are Tomas Carbonell, Ricardo Acioly and Bob Brett. But they claim the trio -- along with ATP Tournament Representatives Patrice Dominguez, Charlie Pasarell and Graham Pearce -- does not have their best interests in mind. "Unfortunately, players aren't getting good representation," insisted Bob Bryan. "Unfortunately, we're breaking down with our three guys. They're coming over to the 'suits.' The tournament directors are influencing our guys." Bob Bryan went as far as calling Dominguez, the tournament director of the ATP stop in Metz, France, a "Hitler." Easy Bob...The USTA announced it will donate $500,000 from US Open proceeds toward the American Red Cross hurricane relief effort for affected communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama...Justin Gimel"blog," turning the boredom level up to nine in his latest blog entry after a spectacular debut for SI.com, is now deconstructing himself getting hammered by critics for earlier remarks on women's appearances of the WTA Tour: "I find it both comical and futile to bemoan the reality of that situation, because it will never change. In a perfect world, we'd focus on instilling the belief and understanding in young people that what's most important is both being the best you can be in whatever you're doing and being the best person you can be." What is this now, a self-help blog? Quit listening to feedback and, like the first entry, just write without fear about whatever pops into that one-year-of-college-educated melon...Gustavo Kuerten looked to be suffering from his recurring hip injury in his loss to Tommy Robredo...Andy Murray, Nicolas Kiefer and David Nalbandian are former US Open junior champs still alive in the main draw singles...Fabrice Santoro has a career record of 388-363...If Roger Federer wins the US Open he will be the first player in the Open Era to win Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back in consecutive years...Lleyton Hewitt, who isn't on the best terms with the whole of Argentina, plays Jose Acasuso for the first time today.

[DUlrich1227]

Federer Out-tricks Magician Santoro at US Open

Roger Federer had solved the slice-and-dice problem of French magician Fabrice Santoro since ascending to the No. 1 ranking, but the ghosts of losses-past came back to haunt the Swiss Friday night as he was forced to fight to edge the two-hander 7-5, 7-5, 7-6(2) to advance into the third round at the US Open.

Santoro's shot-making had Federer cursing at points, especially after he saw a 5-1 lead disappear before securing the first set 7-5.

Afterwards though the Swiss admitted the match wasn't just entertaining to watch.

"I had a blast out there today," Federer said. "Rarely the crowd gets into a match like they did tonight. The way he plays, the way I play, I knew it could be a great one...it was quite windy and it was tough to get it past him, particularly when he was coming to the net."

Santoro said he gave it his all, overcoming some early nerves.

"I can't play any better than I did tonight," Santoro said. "I was a little nervous before the match because if you play even a little under your level against Roger then it's over in an hour."

Other seeded winners Friday were (3) Lleyton Hewitt (d. Acasuso), (11) David Nalbandian (d. Wessels in four), (15) Dominik Hrbaty (d. Lammer), (17) David Ferrer (d. Kucera, bagel in the second), (21) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Tursunov in four), (25) Taylor Dent (d. Almagro in four), and (27) Olivier Rochus (d. Montanes in four).

"He's a tough competitor out there," Hewitt said after his first meeting with Acasuso. "He's got a lot of flashy shots and a lot of weapons out there. I'd never hit a ball against him, so it took me a while to get in and read his game a little bit...I thought he'd make a lot more errors than he did."

Dent dropped 17 aces on Almagro to set up a third-round meeting with his nemesis Hewitt.

"I'm feeling good, you know. I'm not looking forward to my ice bath later, but good right now," Dent said after the match, explaining his ritual. "Just good for the legs, good for me. It helps my legs recover, so just do it every night. It's just to get the legs fresh and make sure I'm covering all the bases."

Dent has lost to Hewitt in four of their five career meetings, most recently in four sets this year at Wimbledon.

Four seeds also made exits Friday, with upsets orchestrated by Thai Paradorn Srichaphan (d. (6) Davydenko), hot-handed German Nicolas Kiefer (d. (16) Stepanek from 0-2 sets down), Serb teen Novak Djokovic (d. (22) Ancic in four), and Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti (d. (31) Moya in four).

Srichaphan, who entered the US Open with a 21-25 record on the year, provided the largest upset of the day over Davydenko, a much-needed jolt for the former Top 10-ranked Thai who has suffered 11 first-round losses this year.

"To win today I think is give me a lot of confidence that I still can do well like a couple years ago," Srichaphan said. "And (I) still believe that I can make it back to Top 20."

Other unseeded winners into the third round were Arnaud Clement (d. Murray 6-0 in the fifth), Spaniard Fernando Verdasco (d. Capdeville), Belarus' Max Mirnyi (d. Serra in four), and Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Phau in four).

Murray succumbed to cramps with his second consecutive five-setter.

On tap for Saturday are (2) Nadal vs. Blake, (7) Agassi vs. (32) Berdych, (29) Haas vs. Ginepri, (13) Gasquet vs. (18) Ljubicic, (19) Robredo vs. Grosjean, (8) Coria vs. Soderling, Massu vs. Wawrinka, and (24) Youzhny vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse.

"I've got to beat Rafael Nadal, which is not an easy task at all," Blake said on facing Nadal. "I think before this hardcourt season, a lot of people would have considered he's just a claycourt specialist, so he's probably not a favorite to win the Open. But then what he did in Montreal was incredibly impressive, especially from what I heard I wasn't there but those courts were also pretty quick. So for him to go through that draw, also beating a legend like Andre Agassi in the finals on pretty quick courts, is very impressive. It makes him, in my mind, one of the favorites to win this. So I got to worry about that."

Doubles highlights abound Saturday in Spaniards Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez/Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Americans Kuznetsova/Oudesma in an all-unseeded, Israel's (11) Erlich/Ram vs. Romanians Hanescu/Sabau, Argentines Acasuso/Prieto vs. Americans Goldstein/Thomas in an all-unseeded, (1) Bjorkman/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Americans Jenkins/Reynolds, Aussies (8) Arthurs/Hanley vs. Slovaks Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty/Mertinak, and (7) Bhupathi/Damm vs. Croatians Ancic/Ljubicic.

Sharapova Wins, Williams Sisters to Meet at US Open

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova cruised into the fourth round Friday at the US Open, defeating German Julia Schruff 6-2, 6-4 as the seeds continued to barely break a sweat in the early goings.

"I was moving quite well in the first set and then second set I felt a little sloppy," Sharapova said. "You know, played a sloppy game at 4-2 serving with the wind, made a few easy errors. But other than that, came back strong. She hits pretty flat, so it was a little different compared to the other opponents I played in previous matches."

Other seeded winners Friday were (4) Kim Clijsters (d. (30) Sugiyama), (8) Serena Williams (d. (25) Schiavone), (9) Nadia Petrova (d. Granville), (10) Venus Williams (d. Hantuchova), and (26) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Lisjak).

Wins by Serena and Venus Williams Friday will now pit the sisters against one another in the fourth round.

"Every single point will be (important)," Venus said. "More than anything I'll just have to compete better. I got a lot of tricks from Serena just watching her. She inspired me so many times. I got motivated by her in the early part of my career, and even now."

Venus beat Serena in their last meeting earlier this year in Miami.

"It's obviously extremely disappointing to have to play my sister in the next round," Serena said. "But I can't tell you the disappointment. Hopefully one of us will be in the quarters and we'll just have to go from there."

Unseeded Indian media darling Sania Mirza defeated Marion Bartoli in straight sets to set up the most anticipated match on the women's side thus far, a meeting with top seed Maria Sharapova, likely a featured night match on Arthur Ashe stadium.

"It will be one of the biggest matches of my career," said Mirza on facing the Russian "global icon." "You know, I think I played Wimbledon Centre Court. It's definitely going to be one of the biggest matches in my career, but hopefully I'll have the crowd there again. I mean, it's great. It's the biggest stadium in, you know, in all the Grand Slams, so I'm actually very excited."

Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi also moved into the fourth round with a three-set win over Israel's Shahar Peer.

Scheduled for Saturday are (7) Henin-Hardenne vs. Cho, (2) Davenport vs. (32) Medina Garrigues, (15) Dechy vs. (23) Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin, (3) Mauresmo vs. (31) Groenefeld, (6) Dementieva vs. (29) Chakvetadze in an all-Russian, (11) Schnyder vs. (24) Asagoe, (12) Pierce vs. (17) Jankovic, and (13) Myskina vs. (19) Likhovtseva in an all-Russian.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Peter Bodo answering viewer mail for the TennisWorld blog: "Todd Rich, a regular reader from Ohio, writes: 'Here's a politically incorrect question for you. How much does Serena Williams weigh? She's listed at 143, but my wife claimed that she looked at least 180 on TV last night. She looks terrible. If she doesn't lose (weight) soon, she's going to seriously injure herself.' Well, Todd, that's a tough one to answer as I haven't weighed Serena recently, but your letter does raise an interesting point, which is the accuracy of the WTA media guide and other "official" publications or player guides. It's long been a favorite pastime in some quarters to take the WTA media guide and parse it for those little, well, apparent inaccuracies that sometimes pop up. Serena isn't exactly breaking new ground here." But she could be breaking those stretch pants she's so fond of wearing...James Blake says coming off the win in New Haven and some added mental maturity are making for the best run of his career: "Coming from a win, such a high, in your home state, around all your friends, to come here two days later and beat a Top 30 player in straight sets, I don't think I would have been mature enough to do that a couple of years ago. I would have gotten ahead of myself, if I get up an early break, or gotten down on myself after any kind of bad call or something. Just though, you know, 'I don't need this. I just won a tournament.' Now I'm just looking at winning every point, trying to do that, and kind of micromanaging out there. It's working out right now, and I think it's helping to make it so I can go on these kind of runs."...Lindsay Davenport on all the early-round blowouts and lack of interesting early-round women's matches at the US Open: "That changed drastically when they started seeding 32 a few years ago. You used to have a lot more unknown or really tough battles in the first few rounds because obviously you had a chance to play someone ranked 17 through 32. I think that took away a lot of it, especially on the women's side. While we are getting more depth, if you go outside the Top 40 or 50, there's not tons and tons of girls that are really challenging the top players. There might be a few, but that's the way it goes. But on the men's side, obviously, you have some upsets still here once in a while. And, you know, hopefully women's tennis will get there to where there's a lot of depth through one through 100."...Lindsay Davenport on Justin Gimel"blog"'s writing about the women players on SI.com: "The funny thing is he's one of my closest friends. We've been on vacation like four times in the last two years together, we practice together. He knows the different stances that we all take. We obviously have conversations about it. His quote to me was that all men are like him; he just expresses it. I said I have higher hope for men than that (laughter from the assembled media). I don't believe that they're all that bad. So, you know, it's just a philosophical difference, but it wasn't really, you know -- we believe different things, that's all."...Mary Pierce on the new generation of women-child players: "They seem to be mentally, umm, different, I guess. You know, a lot more, I don't know ---I don't know, I can't find the right words, probably. I only know them really tennis-wise. But game-wise, tennis-wise, pretty aggressive players, baseliners. Aggressive, I would say." Spray-guns, would you say?...Through two rounds of play, Ivo Karlovic leads the men in aces with 62, followed by Gustavo Kuerten's 44...From Jossip.com: "Be sure to send us camera phone snaps of paid street walkers stripping these (Andy Roddick) AmEx ads from the city. Bonus really, really gay interpretation of Mojo that somehow slipped passed Andy Roddick's publicist after the jump -- While waiting for AndysMojo.com to load, you'll be treated to the gay green cowboy."...Sania Mirza is the first Indian woman into the fourth round at the US Open...Since Gilles Muller took Andy Roddick's Mojo, then Robby Ginepri beat Muller, does Ginepri now have Andy's Mojo sitting in his player box during matches? Will he give Mojo back? Does he make Mojo wash his car? Is that the most career-denting ad campaign for Roddick since Andre Agassi's "Image is Everything" Cannon ads? -- 'Yeah, American Express? I need to cancel my card...No, no, no problems, I...I just want to quit looking at this thing in my wallet...Yeah, Andy -- R-o-d-d...'...Taylor Dent on facing Lleyton Hewitt: "Cheering on double-faults and easy miss shots, I wouldn't call that super sportsmanship. So I don't think too many of the guys would. I don't even think Lleyton would, I don't know. Maybe he's got something else to say about that. But it's all part of the game. If it bothers you, then, you know, you better pray you don't play against those guys because there's a few of them out there."...Former doubles slam title winner Lleyton Hewitt on the doubles controversy: "I don't know enough about it, to tell you the truth. Obviously, the doubles guys are pretty disappointed. It's a hard situation because tournament directors still have to look at what's the right thing for their tournaments that they're putting so much money into. I can't speak on behalf of them. Me, as a player, I don't play a whole heap of doubles because the singles tour is hard enough as it is."...Will the exhausted and injured Andy Murray actually play a 12