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U.S. Open Capsules: Rafa rolling after four-set win over Monfils
NEW YORK — If Rafael Nadal was hurting, it didn't show. If he was vulnerable, it didn't last.
Running into an opponent who could match him fist pump for fist pump, but not quite groundstroke for groundstroke, Nadal got stronger as the match went on in a hard-earned, fourth-round win Tuesday night at the U.S. Open.
It was a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 13 Gael Monfils, a Frenchman who feeds off the crowd in New York and has the talent, but not the stamina yet, to put on a great show against the world's best.
"An important match for the confidence," Nadal said.
The first two sets were some of the most entertaining tennis of the tournament, full of stinging forehands and squeakily precise footwork. And when Monfils started asking for more noise on set point in the first — while Nadal was getting ready to serve — it brought some edginess to a match that could have been routine.
"Against Rafa, I have to improve physically, get stronger," Monfils said. "Maybe I'm good for an hour and 30 minutes. Now I have to improve to be good for maybe two hours and a half."
Before he ran out of gas, Monfils got his set. But Nadal won the match and there were no injury timeouts or signs that his stomach muscles or his knees — the two problem points this week and this summer — were any problem.
He did have a patch on his abdomen, shown off when he changed shirts at the end of the match, then got an unwanted kiss from a male fan who ran onto the court from the stands. The fan was arrested and the U.S. Open vowed to review its security procedures.
Nadal said he didn't have a problem with it.
"He said 'I love you,' and he kissed me," Nadal said.
Besides that security breach, it was a good-news day for the third-seeded Spaniard. He took the court a few hours after Britain's favorite, No. 2 Andy Murray, put in a lackluster effort in a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 upset loss to No. 16 Marin Cilic — a setback Murray called the most disappointing of his career.
The right-hander who hits a two-handed backhand said his left wrist was hurting — he could be seen grabbing it and wincing in pain during a changeover — but didn't blame that for his loss.
"Sometimes, if you play badly or whatever, you don't find a way back into the match," Murray said. "Sometimes that can happen. I don't think I'm perfect."
The Murray loss leaves Nadal as the highest seeded player on that side of the draw, and also means he'll jump ahead of Murray when the next rankings are released. After missing about two months, including Wimbledon, to rest his sore knees, Nadal is getting stronger with each match.
"The knees are perfect," he said. "That's very important for me."
He explained his preference not to discuss the stomach, however, by saying he didn't want his future opponents to know his exact status.
"After the tournament, if I have something, I'm going to say" then, he said.
Which means we might have to wait a while.
The prospect of the next Rafa-Roger (Federer) final at a Grand Slam tournament — tennis fans have had to wait more than seven months, since the Australian Open — is getting more likely.
Federer plays his quarterfinal Wednesday against Robin Soderling — the 12th-seeded Swede who knocked Nadal out of the French Open, then lost to Federer in the final.
Nadal's next match will be against No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez, who upset No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Tuesday.
Cilic, meanwhile, will follow his upset over Murray with a match against No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro, a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 winner over No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Nadal insisted the Murray loss didn't change his view of the tournament. He, like almost everyone else, is a one-match-at-a-time guy.
"Those things happen," Nadal said. "It happened to me at Roland Garros. Today it was him. The tennis at this level is very close."
On the women's side, 17-year-old and unseeded Melanie Oudin tries to keep her dream run going with a quarterfinal match against No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday night.
Another unseeded surprise, Kim Clijsters, beat No. 18 Li Na 6-2, 6-4 Tuesday to set up a semifinal meeting against No. 2 Serena Williams, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta.
"She plays tough. She plays hard," Williams said of Clijsters. "Now it's like a totally different level, because she has absolutely nothing to lose. I think that's when you can play your ultimate best tennis."
Nadal gets past Monfils to reach U.S. Open quarters
NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal is back in the U.S. Open quarterfinals and soon could be back at No. 2 in the rankings.
What probably pleases him the most: Nadal appeared to be back to his healthy, hustling self during a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 13-seeded Gael Monfils of France on Tuesday night, continuing his bid to complete a career Grand Slam.
"Well, very happy, no? After the last two matches I played, I had a few problems, but, anyway, I am here. I am in the quarterfinals for the third time," Nadal said.
The Spaniard moved well against Monfils, covering the court during their many extended exchanges. It was a high-quality, high-speed contest over the first two sets, with both men — considered by many to be the best pure athletes on tour — displaying tireless defense and powerful offense.
"Unbelievable, no? Sometimes you think you won the point," Nadal said, "and the ball is coming back another time and another time and another time."
Perhaps, but it was Monfils who began to tire late in the second set, sometimes leaning over with a hand on his knee to rest and gasp for air between points.
"Didn't have the miles in my legs," Monfils explained.
Nadal, meanwhile, showed no significant signs of problems from either the sore knees that kept him off tour for all of June and July — forcing him to skip a title defense at Wimbledon — or the abdominal muscle issue that flared up during his third-round victory over Nicolas Almagro.
"His defense was very, very strong today," Monfils said.
Nadal did have a small bandage on his stomach again Tuesday, and he did seem to serve conservatively, with zero aces and zero double-faults.
"I am improving every day. After a month and a half or two months of (not playing), it is not easy coming back," Nadal said. "The knees are very good, so very happy for that."
He is assured of overtaking Andy Murray in next week's ATP rankings, and a victory over No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez in the quarterfinals would guarantee Nadal a return to No. 2.
Nadal was No. 1 or 2 from July 2005 until three weeks ago, when he dropped to No. 3. But Murray's loss earlier Tuesday, coupled with Nadal's victory, means they'll switch places. There is still a chance Novak Djokovic could pass both of them by winning the title.
When Nadal finished beating Monfils, a spectator ran out of the stands and approached Nadal on the sideline before security guards intervened. It wasn't nearly as scary an episode as what occurred during the French Open final this year, when a man went up to Roger Federer during the match and tried to place a hat on his head.
"For me, it wasn't a problem. The guy was really nice," Nadal said. "He said, 'I love you,' and he kissed me."
The intruder was arrested, tournament spokesman Tim Curry said.
"We're reviewing what happened and then will determine if we have to make any changes to our on-court security procedures," Curry said.
-- Howard Fendrich
No prom, no big deal: Oudin stars at U.S. Open
NEW YORK — Melanie Oudin missed the junior prom.
Skipped homecoming, too.
And the 17-year-old isn’t spending a lot of time hanging out with pals at the mall, either.
Then again, none of the other kids back in Marietta, Ga., is preparing to play in the U.S. Open quarterfinals Wednesday night.
"She doesn’t do any of that kind of stuff — and she’s OK with it," Katherine Oudin said after sobbing in the stands when her twin sister pulled off a fourth consecutive upset victory at Flushing Meadows.
"I know she misses the normal life a little, but she does not regret it at all. Zero," Katherine said. "She’s totally OK with it, because she knows this is what she’s wanted her entire life."
That’s a relative term, of course. When your "entire life" encompasses 17-plus years — and you began playing tennis at 7, hitting balls out of a bucket with Grandma Mimi — you haven’t exactly been waiting forever for success. Indeed, Oudin is the youngest U.S. Open quarterfinalist since Serena Williams in 1999.
As the twins’ mother, Leslie, put it: "All of this has come so quickly."
Sure has. A year ago, Oudin was ranked 221st and lost in the first round in New York. She never had won a Grand Slam match until Wimbledon in June. Nowadays, she high-fives security guards on her way into the locker room.
Everything is "awesome" and "cool," and she’s "freaked out." Her stunning win over three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova? "I just had a blast."
This is where Oudin wanted to be, dating to when she and her sister would play "mini-tennis" in the cul de sac by their home, piling up jackets as a makeshift net. Or when the twins would hit balls against the garage door until Katherine would get bored, leaving Melanie out there alone — thwack! thwack! thwack! — until Mom or Dad ushered her inside at nightfall.
Or when Melanie would watch the Williams sisters on TV and proclaim that she wanted to play in those big arenas, too. Look at her now: There are still shots to be made and matches to be won, for sure, but there is a possibility Oudin could play Serena Williams in Saturday night’s U.S. Open final.
Oudin has been sharing a king-sized bed with Mom in a Manhattan hotel — until, that is, they had to switch hotels because they hadn’t reserved the room for long enough. Hey, who would have thought she’d still be playing? They’ve been waking up together when the alarm goes off, then going their separate ways: Melanie hops in a courtesy car provided for players; Mom waits in line for a shuttle bus to the tournament site in Queens.
Not that this wild ride is getting to the kid’s head.
She vows to keep doing some landscaping work around the grounds at the tennis club where she still practices with the same coach she’s had since she was 9.
"Just because all of this is happening, it’s not like I’m going to change (as a) person," Oudin said. "I just love to play tennis, and I’m doing well. And I’m winning. That’s the only thing that’s changing."
Well, that and all of the attention she’s getting. Unaccustomed to being recognized by strangers, Oudin now needs security guards to navigate hordes of autograph-seekers on her way to the practice courts. Crowds gather in the lobby of her hotel. A photo op in Times Square the other day got unruly. The evening news shows at ABC, CBS and NBC all sent crews to interview Oudin after her latest win.
"It’s going to take a while to get used to it," said her coach, Brian de Villiers. "She’s used to going where she wants, when she wants. It’s strange for this little kid."
Oudin’s age and newcomer status are only a couple of the many reasons she has become the focus of the year’s last major tennis championship.
For one thing, she’s an American at the American Grand Slam tournament, providing hope for the future of the sport in a country that boasts the Williams sisters at Nos. 2 and 3 in the rankings — but then no one else until Oudin at No. 70. This also happens to be the first U.S. Open in history with zero U.S. men in the quarterfinals.
Oudin’s story is also compelling because of the players she has beaten — and how she beat them.
She’s the ultimate underdog. The worst-ranked of any of her opponents so far was No. 36 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round. Otherwise, Oudin dismissed No. 4-seeded Elena Dementieva, No. 13-seeded Nadia Petrova and former No. 1-ranked Sharapova. All are somewhere between 3 and 8 inches taller than the 5-foot-6 Oudin. And all, coincidentally, are Russians, prompting one reporter from that nation to preface a question he posed to Oudin by noting, "Basically, you managed to crush them."
Actually, not exactly. In each of her last three wins, starting against Beijing Olympics gold medalist Dementieva, Oudin lost the first set before coming back to defeat the more experienced, more accomplished player across the net.
"It’s just the beginning," Dementieva cautioned, "but it looks like she has a good future."
Oudin can’t necessarily outhit anyone. Or outserve them, rarely approaching 100 mph and accumulating a paltry total of four aces through four matches.
What Oudin does is outhustle other players, scurrying this way and that, her pink-and-yellow sneakers — which feature, at her 15-year-old boyfriend’s suggestion, the word "BELIEVE" stamped near the heels — squeaking with every tiny step.
"Mentally, I’m staying in there with them the whole time, and I’m not giving up at all," Oudin said. "If they’re going to beat me, they’re going to have to beat me, because I’m not going to go anywhere."
She decided at 12 she wanted to be home-schooled so she could focus squarely on tennis. Katherine, meanwhile, has designs on being a doctor and attends private school, playing on the tennis team there and entering national junior tournaments.
After Melanie’s first-round match last week, Katherine and their younger sister flew home to Georgia because school was starting. But Melanie kept on winning, so Katherine and their father came back in time for Monday’s victory.
"Right now, I think she’ll play Serena in the finals," Katherine said, "and we’re not going anywhere until that happens."
Nice. A little trash-talking from the twin.
Clearly, this is all so new to the whole family.
And clearly, Oudin herself is so new to all of this. So much so that her quarterfinal opponent, No. 9-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark — who is all of 19 — joked about not being quite sure how to say Oudin’s name.
For the record: It’s "oo-DAN," on account of her father’s French ancestry. Wozniacki is hardly the only one having trouble, though. Chair umpires and plenty of others bungle the pronunciation, too.
"Sometimes they get it wrong," Oudin said, "but I don’t try to tell them anymore."
Not to worry. Keep this up, and it will be a household name soon enough.
-- Howard Fendrich
NYC lawsuit seeks wheelchair tennis coverage
NEW YORK — A New York City documentary filmmaker sued the U.S. Tennis Association on Tuesday, claiming it discriminates against wheelchair players by refusing to sell broadcast licensing rights to their matches.
State Supreme Court Justice Michelle Weston reserved decision on a request to allow Brooklyn filmmaker Alan Rich to record the wheelchair competition at this week's U.S. Open.
The wheelchair division, which features 20 of the top players, begins competition on Thursday and ends on Sunday.
Rich, a lawyer who is representing himself and seven handicapped players in the case, has been filming a documentary about the players called "Fire in the Belly." He said his immediate goal is to be permitted to film the competition and later argue in court over whether the footage can be used in his documentary.
He contends that because the major networks covering the tournament — CBS, ESPN and the Tennis Channel — do not cover the wheelchair events, he should be given the rights.
"While I do not fault the broadcasters for doing what, at present, they view as commercially viable, the USTA cannot have a policy that has the result of discriminating against these outstanding athletes with disabilities," Rich said in his court papers.
USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said his organization limits filming of matches to the three television companies that have contracts with them. He noted international television companies have separate agreements.
Rich said he expected a ruling from the judge on Wednesday.
U.S. Open at a glance
A look at Tuesday's play at the $21.6 million U.S. Open tennis championships:
WEATHER: Mostly cloudy and cool. High of 74.
ATTENDANCE: Day: 26,131. Night: 22,408. Total: 48,539.
MEN'S WINNERS: Fourth Round: No. 3 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez and No. 16 Marin Cilic.
MEN'S LOSERS: No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 13 Gael Monfils and No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
WOMEN'S WINNERS: Quarterfinals: No. 2 Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters.
WOMEN'S LOSERS: No. 10 Flavia Pennetta and No. 18 Li Na.
TOP PLAYERS ON COURT WEDNESDAY: Men: No. 1 Roger Federer vs. No. 12 Robin Soderling, No. 4 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 10 Fernando Verdasco. Women: No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki vs. Melanie Oudin, Yanina Wickmayer vs. Kateryna Bondarenko.
STAT OF THE DAY: Kim Clijsters is the first unseeded women's semifinalist since Elena Dementieva in 2000.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Today, I could've been better in pretty much every part of my game, whether it was mental, forehand, backhand, return." — 2008 finalist Andy Murray, who lost his fourth-round match to Marin Cilic.
WEDNESDAY ON TV: ESPN2, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 6-10 p.m.; Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
ON THIS DATE: Sept. 9, 1984: John McEnroe wins his fourth U.S. Open men's singles title, the last of his seven overall major titles, defeating Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
Elsewhere
AP Interview: New ATP CEO planning All-Star event
NEW YORK — Andy Roddick vs. Roger Federer in a serving speed contest? How about Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray in a timed race to chase down drop shots?
Those are the kind of matchups that could be featured at an All-Star showcase the head of the men’s tennis tour is introducing next year as part of his efforts to help boost the sport’s popularity.
"We’re looking at it as a way to extend our reach, to reach more casual sports fans and tennis fans," Adam Helfant told The Associated Press on Tuesday in his first one-on-one interview since becoming the ATP’s chief executive in January.
"It seems to work in other sports. We’ll see if it works here. Our players think it will work."
The idea is to have a one- or two-day event in March, during the week before the hard-court tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., including a skills competition, pro-am celebrity doubles matches and an awards show. There have been preliminary talks about a TV deal.
Not interested in making any immediate changes to the game itself — no on-court coaching, the way the WTA tour allows, for example — Helfant is more concerned at the moment with off-court promotion and marketing.
He would, for example, like to generate more buzz at the beginning of the season, saying that’s something other sports manage to do better than tennis. He’s not sure whether anything can be put in place by the start of 2010, but he wants fans paying more attention in the days leading to the Australian Open each January.
Helfant, who grew up in New York, has an engineering degree from MIT and a law degree from Harvard. He worked for the NHL and in global marketing for Nike — getting to know tennis players such as Federer and Maria Sharapova while negotiating their endorsement contracts — before being hired by the ATP.
Touching on various topics, Helfant said he does not consider doping or match-fixing a "significant problem" for tennis. He also noted there are "some very serious conversations with a number of interested parties" that could result in a long-term deal with a new major sponsor beginning in 2010.
Mercedes-Benz ended its sponsorship of the ATP tour when its contract expired in 2008. The carmaker had been one of the tour’s main global sponsors since 1996.
"We understand that we have a hole in terms of not having a tour-wide sponsor," Helfant said. "We have not replaced Mercedes yet. At the beginning of the year, it was very difficult to even get meetings. Companies and industries are hurting, and the tour isn’t immune to that."
-- Howard Fendrich
Federer chosen for Switzerland in Davis Cup
LONDON — Roger Federer was chosen Tuesday to play for Switzerland’s Davis Cup team in the country’s attempt to stay in the elite World Group.
Federer will lead the Swiss team against Italy in Genoa on outdoor clay in the playoffs from Sept. 18-20, the International Tennis Federation announced. Federer is the defending champion of the U.S. Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
Although Federer was picked for the Switzerland squad, he has indicated he will decide after the U.S. Open whether to play against Italy. Players can be replaced on Davis Cup rosters.
Federer missed the first round of this year’s Davis Cup in March with a back injury, and the Swiss team lost to the Americans 4-1.
The top-ranked Federer bounced back from the injury layoff and won the French Open for the first time in his career, while at the same time equaling Pete Sampras with 14 career major titles. A few weeks later at Wimbledon, the Swiss star earned his record 15th by beating Andy Roddick 16-14 in the fifth set.
Rafael Nadal, who beat Federer in five sets in the Australian Open final but missed several weeks of the season with injuries, will lead Spain in the Davis Cup semifinals against Israel.
Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez will also play for Spain on outdoor clay in Murcia. Israel will be represented by Dudi Sela, Harel Levy, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram for the best-of-five series.
In the other semifinal, Croatia will host the Czech Republic on indoor clay in Porec. Ivo Karlovic, Marin Cilic, Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko will compete for the host country against Czech players Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Jan Hernych and Lukas Dlouhy.
The semifinal winners will meet for the Davis Cup trophy in the final from Dec. 4-6.
Also in the World Group playoffs, it’s: Chile vs. Austria; Belgium vs. Ukraine; Brazil vs. Ecuador; Netherlands vs. France; South Africa vs. India; Serbia vs. Uzbekistan; and Sweden vs. Romania.
Fourth-ranked Novak Djokovic was not on the official roster for Serbia, but No. 2 Andy Murray was chosen to represent Britain for its zonal playoff series against Poland.
-- Chris Lehourites
