The men's draw in Rome is so...UGLY. I mean, get these first round matches:
- Henman vs. Coria
- Kafelnikov vs. El Aynaoui (again!)
- Srichaphan vs. Nieminen
- Safin (who is ailing) vs. Volandri (the hot new Italian)
- Grosjean vs. Robredo
- Kuerten vs. Gaudio
- Philippousis vs. Ferrero

Other notable potential match-ups:
- Spadea vs. Roddick, in Rd. 2
- Safin vs. Blake (unlikely to happen, but it would be a purdy match if it did!)
- Zabaleta vs. Federer in Rd. 2

Players who could have a BIG event here:
- Enqvist, who can make the quarters to face Ferrero (by beating Hrbaty, then the winner of Novak/Arthurs, and then Ferreira)
- Alberto Martin, who has the weapons to beat Schalken, then upend James Blake on clay, and really challenge Safin if he's not focused
- Nieminen, who just reached a clay final (losing to Federer) - he gets Paradorn in the first round (whose clay game will NEVER come together with competition like this each week!), then Davydenko or Kucera, then...Roddick (or Spadea)...this could be a great run for the Fin.
- Nalbandian, who has beaten everyone in his section of the draw...David needs to start stringing together some wins to take momentum into the summer...no better time that now for the Wimbly finalist to start putting wins together!


[Thread title modified to correct case - Outsports moderator]

[ May 07, 2003, 06:47 AM: Message edited by: m1 ]

well, at least, andre agassi is playing.

I'm not sure if Andre has incentive to repeat here, actually...can one of the number crunchers tell us if Hewitt will gain any ground if Agassi fails to defend all of his champ. points here?

'Dre's biggest threats wouldn't surface til the finals, though Carlos Moya could give him fits in the semi's.

Still, I wouldn't be suprised by an injury or a generally subpar performance. If Andre really IS stoked by creating a legacy, however, he could very well squeeze by Moya and do battle with Ferrero, or maybe Safin and Kuerten in the final. Andre's draw last year was very kind. His road to the final looks to be more difficult in 2003.

Agassi has to win Rome to stay #1 this week - he has 500 points to defend whereas Hewitt only loses 35 by his nonparticipation. So Hewitt's lead in "Safe Points" is around 365 - and a loss in the finals by Agassi would only earn him 350.

Both players should be safe as the top two seeds at RG, however - unless Agassi falls apart early this week and Moya or Ferrero can sweep the next two tourneys (Ferrero might just need a win and a final)...

This is based on a pretty quick late-night figuring.

Poor Guga got about the worst draw imaginable. Gaudio in round 1, followed by Calleri or Koubek, both of whom are hot, then probably Ferrero. If he can make it through the first three rounds, it does get easier. Though to be honest, the draw is stacked almost everywhere. Safin probably got the friendliest draw. Agassi's draw isn't that bad--Coria might be the biggest bump in the road until a semi-final date with Moya.

f**k, andre lost the third set. frown

[ May 05, 2003, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: Andre29 ]

What an awful day...

*Coria d Henman, 6-2, 6-1 (much easier than we might have expected)
*Ferrer d Agassi, 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-4
*Ferreira d Lopez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
*Hrbaty d Enqvist, 6-3, 6-3
*Verkerk d Spadea, 6-3, 7-6(2)

Nice call on the AA match from up above. It doesn't look like he could keep the horses pulling the cart. And poor Tim Henman is probably anxiously awaiting some grass court tennis. He has been out injured for much of the year, and this is not the surface for him to reappear on.

at least Roddick won today.

Is this the year Juan Carlos finally wins the French Open. I mean that was still a shock last year when he lost to Costa.

Agassi I believe has won 4 tournaments this year and lost twice now in the first round. so if he wins his first match at the French Open will he win it all? =)

Mardy Fish had a good day too. I didn't think he'd make it past Santoro on clay.

Remember how I said Safin was ailing...? Well, he was apparently worse off than I thought: Safin has pulled out and has been replaced by Nicolas Massu.

The marquee players are dropping in Rome at an alarming rate... Well, that might be an overstatement, esp. considering that Federer DID advance today. Kuerten and Ferrero both play today...I'll keep us posted...

Gaudio has done it! G2 d. Guga K., 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

More results...:
- Ferrero d. Scud, 7-6(3), 6-4
- Moya d. Vicente, 6-2, 6-4
- Kafelnikov d. El Aynaoui, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 (poor Younes...he's NEVER beaten Yevgeny and he's drawn him in the first round twice recently...will his clay game come together this year?)

Also, Mirnyi scored an upset over Lapentti, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 and Robredo upset Grosjean, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3. I'm pretty excited about the Mirnyi win: I would have never imagined him beating Lapentti on clay...with a steadily improving ground game, he could have a great run at Wimbledon

[ May 06, 2003, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: The B Man ]

Let's talk about this week's crazy doubles pairings, too!

Check these teams out:
Henman/Kuerten
Federer/Srichaphan
Grosjean/Roddick
El Aynaoui/Malisse

This just in: Roddick is OUT - he fell to up-and-comer Marty Verkerk from The Netherlands...it was a three set affairs.

Fish was swept aside by Mantilla.

The biggest news of the day so far is that Kafelnikov was better than Moya, 6-4, 7-6. Wow.

Federer totally outplayed Robredo, Schuettler d. Novak, and Ljubicic d. very good clay courter Coria.

The event is wiiiide open now. My picks, for the moment at least, for the semi's:

Kafelnikov d. A. Costa
Federer d. Ferrero

What a great win for Federer today. It is tough to take out JC in a big clay event. Perhaps Roger is a little more put together this season than last. I think he has the game to be on top for a few years. He plays a bit like Pete, and can do pretty much everything on the court. Plus, he seems like a nice guy, which is good to see.

Felix Mantilla continues to show why the Spanish contingent is so darn tough on the slow stuff. He will be a worthy opponent tomorrow in the final.

The men head to Hamburg for the Masters Event up there next week. Several withdrawals from the field already.

The Masters Series was designed to bring all the top players together regularly. It has worked pretty well, but too many players are still able to step out of the tournaments if they don't want to play. That makes it hard for the tour. Perhaps a little more thoughtful scheduling would help, but the top players need to support the big events rather than pulling out last minute like Agassi and Hewitt have done a few times the last three years.

Yeah, Agassi is out for Hamburg. Is Hewitt playing?!

In Rome, Federer is in all sorts of trouble. Mantilla is up, 7-5, 6-2, and leading 1-0 in the third.

Wow...Felix Mantilla has done it!

The cutie Barcelonan has upended the seemingly in-form Roger Federer to win the Italian Open, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (8).

This is the former French semifinalists biggest tour win. Go Felix!

Not to sad for Roger...he's bounced back incredibly this year. After losing in the ABN/AMRO semi's, he won Dubai. After losing in the Nasdaq quarters, he won the BMW title. If form holds, he should WIN Hamburg since he reached the final here...