Pacific Life Open, Indian Wells (March 13, 2003)

Clijsters and Martinez breeze, Hewitt and Roddick pull through
Pacific Life Open, Indian Wells (March 13, 2003)
by Ed Toombs

Kim and Conchi sweep into semis
Kim Clijsters (1) booked a spot in the women?s semifinals with a breezy 6-2, 6-3 win over 8th seed Chanda Rubin in just 51 minutes. It was another poor effort by Rubin against Clijsters. In her three previous losses to Clisters, Rubin had won a total of only 10 games. As erratic as Rubin was today, this was the most proficient performance by Clijsters so far this tournament. Her serve was effective (72% first serve percentage, with two aces), and she was striking her ground strokes accura tely and confidently.
Kim said after the win that she is dealing with a couple of minor injuries. Earlier this week she had appeared on court with a thigh taped, and today she also mentioned that her knee has ?sort of been flaring up. I have not tendonitis, but, I don?t know, physio-talk words, a bit too long for me.? Kim, I'm sure we wouldn't have understood anyway.
Clijsters will face a blast from the past, the rejuvenated 30-year-old Spaniard, Conchita Martínez, in tomorrow?s semifinal. The 1994 Wimbledon champion brought back memories of her glory years, showing pinpoint accuracy with her placements and loopy spins in a 6-2, 6-1 romp over another member of the 30-plus club, Amanda Coetzer.
Martínez, who will turn 31 next month, is pleased to see her ranking moving back up after being out for six months last season with an Achilles tendon injury. ?Just now I feel I?m coming back,? Conchita told the press corps. ?I?m not going to stop right here. I mean, I feel good, with a lot of chances to still do good.? Cruelly, fate has ordained that the oldest player left in the draw has to make the quickest turnaround, from an evening match today to a noon start tomorrow. ?Being an oldie like me, we don?t recover as fast,? said Martínez with a wry smile.
Both women?s semifinals will be played tomorrow, with the marquee Lindsay Davenport - Jennifer Capriati tilt headlining the evening session.

Lleyton Hewitt (1) d. Guillermo Coria, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3
Third round
Stadium 1
Previous head-to-head: First meeting
21-year-old Guillermo Coria is something of an Argentine Lleyton Hewitt (pictured at right). Coria, nicknamed El Mago (?The Wizard?) by the Argentine press, is two inches shorter than the world number one at 5?9? (1.75m), slight of build, and relies on his speed, determination and great hands more than power. Today he was a handful for the top seed and defending champion, but Hewitt had the answers in the end.
There were a number of long rallies throughout this contest. Each man used his ?wheels? well and each had difficulty putting the ball past his opponent. Errors were commonplace, since the players had to try something risky to win a point, and a few big points decided the match. Notably, tilting the match in Hewitt?s favour were a bit more pop on his serve (9 aces, compared to 2 for Coria), a few clutch lobs, and some effective net play (Lleyton won 21 of 29 points at the net today).
Coria more or less staggered into the first set tie-break, as he had to save three break points at 4-4, and one more at 5-5 (on a nifty forehand winner saluted by the crowd). Once in the tie-beak, Coria was solid and Hewitt uncharacteristically sloppy.

Coria serving: Coria sneaks to net and converts an overhead off a defensive lob. 1-0 Coria

LH: Hewitt, in a strong attacking posture, dumps an easy forehand in the net. 2-0 Coria

LH: On an overrule from the chair, a Coria shot is ruled out. Hewitt screams at the linesman. Coria gives the umpire sarcastic applause. 2-1 Coria

GC: Hewitt pulls a backhand wide. 3-1 Coria

GC: Coria gets Hewitt on the run with down-the-line shots, and forces a backhand error. 4-1 Coria

LH: Hewitt hits a short angled approach, Coria?s desperation pass is out. 4-2 Coria

LH: Hewitt knocks off a tough backhand stretch volley. 4-3 Coria

GC: Coria?s strong forehand forces an error from Hewitt. 5-3 Coria

GC: Hewitt?s backhand is long. 6-3 Coria

LH: Hewitt?s forehand is long. First set to the Argentine underdog.

The second set was a festival of service breaks, Coria losing serve four times and Hewitt on three occasions. Hewitt had a chance to serve for the set, but was broken again on a backhand error. But Coria lost his serve at 4-5, Hewitt converting his second set point thanks to a classy backhand lob.
Hewitt?s fine lobbing skill came back to haunt Coria in a third set in which breaks were harder to come by, and the only break was telling. With the Argentine serving at 2-3, 0-30, Hewitt set up triple break point with another perfect lob. Coria fought off the first two. At 30-40 a Hewitt backhand close to the sideline was ruled in, Coria mis-hit a backhand, pulling it out, and Hewitt had a 4-2 advantage.
There were some dramatics in the final game of the match, 5-3 on Hewitt?s serve. The Aussie gained a first match point at 40-30, but the Aussie overhit a short forehand. Then at deuce, Coria showed he can lob too, and Hewitt?s overhead bounced off the top of the frame and out. Advantage Coria: Hewitt stays alive with a service winner. Deuce: Hewitt finishes some strong net play with an overhead, Coria falling to his back in a futile attempt to flag it down. Match point #2: Hewitt again at the net, so me great defending by Coria, but Hewitt finally puts away the volley with his scrambling opponent out of court. The world number one, relieved, raises his fists in triumph, and the crowd salutes both players for an entertaining, if at times ragged, match.

Andy Roddick (6) def. Sébastien Grosjean (11), 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 7-6 (7-1)
Third round
Stadium 1
Previous head-to-head: Grosjean leads 1-0
The only previous meeting between Roddick and Grosjean was their emotional meeting at the Davis Cup semifinals in Paris last year, won by the Frenchman. It was as bitter a defeat for Roddick as it was an uplifting accomplishment for the Grosjean, and James Blake predicted that Roddick would be "jacked up" for the rematch. Indeed he was.
In a well-played first set, break points were hard to come by. Roddick was blasting serves in the 140 mph range, and both were trying to set up their own strong forehands by attacking each others? backhands. Grosjean earned a break point / set point on Roddick?s serve at 6-5 after the American tried a too-cute drop shot that failed to clear the net, but the Frenchman wasted the chance with an error. The tie-break was called for. It started inauspiciously for Roddick: on the first point he jumped for a Grosjean lob, tried a Sampras-style ?slam dunk?, and? whiffed! Grosjean quickly took a 2-0 lead on a backhand pass, but Roddick then took control of the tie-break, recovering the mini-break on a backhand down the line winner, then taking a 5-3 lead on a Grosjean forehand error. Serving at 6-4, Roddick failed to convert a set point, but made good on his second set point when he unloaded a screaming forehand return winner off a Grosjean second serve.
The second set was completely dominated by the 5?9? Frenchman, as Roddick?s level for some reason fell off precipitously. Grosjean seemed to be frustrating Roddick by getting some of his potent serves back in play, and broke the American twice. Meanwhile, Roddick failed to win a point from Grosjean?s service games in this entire set. ?A little bit of a brain fart,? Roddick quaintly explained after the match. ?I was pretty mad at giving away the early break, but I managed to regroup for the third set. ?
The third set stayed on serve throughout, although there were some dramatics with Grosjean serving at 5-6. The partisan crowd responded to Roddick?s arm-waving pleas for support by howling encouragement. Grosjean started to look a bit rattled. A Grosjean forehand error set up a match point for Roddick at 30-40 -- this was only the second break point for Roddick in the entire match -- but Andy wasted it with a baseline error of his own. Two deuces later Sébastien managed to hold, and the tie-break would settle the match.
Roddick started the tie-break badly with a double fault, but that was the only point Grosjean was to win. Roddick immediately got back the mini-break with a strong forehand down the line. Grosjean played the rest of the tie-break horribly, losing each of his service points on unforced errors, and on Roddick?s first match point sliced a backhand into the net.
Despite being outplayed for most of the match, Roddick came through in the tie-breaks. The 20-year-old advances to the quarterfinals, where he will again play a speedy little fellow, Rainer Schuettler.
At the end of the day, the men?s quarterfinalists set up this way:

Lleyton Hewitt (1) - Robbie Ginepri (Q)
Hewitt would seem to be home free to the finals, with no-one but qualifiers in his road. Ginepri can?t do any worse than he did the last time he played Hewitt -- a 6-0, 6-0 loss last summer in Cincinnati. Today Ginepri took advantage of a weakened Marat Safin, drubbing the 7th-seeded Russian, 6-0, 6-1. Marat has been afflicted by the gastro-intestinal ailment that has laid low a number of players here this week.

Brian Vahaly (Q) - Vincent Spadea (Q)
There are 5 Americans in the final eight, including three qualifiers, and this matchup guarantees that one of the American qualifiers will reach the semis. Vahaly, the 82nd-ranked University of Virginia graduate who shocked Juan Carlos Ferrero yesterday, kept his upset run alive with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Tommy Robredo. Spadea, a top twenty player in the late 1990s who has been wandering in the tennis wilderness for the past three years, has been very solid this week. Today the 28-year-old ended t he adventure of lucky loser Olivier Rochus, finally wearing down the tiny Belgian 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

James Blake - Gustavo Kuerten
Two of the dangerous floaters have made it through a tough draw. Blake gave the home crowd a thrill with his 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over 5th seed Carlos Moya, while Kuerten, who had accounted for 4th-seeded Roger Federer in the first round, scored a workmanlike 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) triumph over the Acapulco champion of two weeks ago, Agustín Calleri.

Andy Roddick (6) - Rainer Schuettler (15)
Schuettler?s solid counterpunching foiled the serve-volley game of Max Mirnyi this afternoon, in a 6-3, 6-4 win for the surprise Australian Open finalist. Schuettler also reached the quarterfinals here last year, losing to Pete Sampras.

Quotable quotes
Conchita Martínez is not the first player of her generation, nor the only observer at this tournament, to express disappointment at the one-dimensional, hard-slugging style employed by most of the younger female players. ?I guess that?s the way it is, the way that tennis is played right now. Everybody?s very fit and hitting the ball hard. I mean, it?s a disappointment. Particularly, I like a little more variety.?
The refreshing Brian Vahaly admitted that the string of upsets he has pulled off during his dream week here has a surrealistically comical feel. ?I hadn?t even gotten over yesterday?s match. I had written numerous e-mails, retuned around 40 or 45 phone calls, and all of a sudden this happens again, and here I am in the same spot I was 24 hours ago. It?s like the best day keeps happening over and over and over. It just gets to be funny.?
James Blake confessed that he turned to his countryman Mardy Fish, who has beaten Carlos Moya twice this year, for advice that helped him topple Moya today. ?I sent him an e-mail. I said, ?Just send me some good beat Carlos Moya vibes because I don?t have them yet.? He told me his game plan.?