Korda ousted by No. 15 Martin
Agassi cruises into 3rd round, S. Williams makes angry exit
Posted: Saturday January 23, 1999 11:47 AM
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Korda: "I had my head up. I think I played on the best possible level" AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Todd Martin saved a few of his best
serves for when he really needed them and eliminated defending
champion Petr Korda from the Australian Open in a see-saw five-set
match.
Martin, the 15th seed, reached match point with his 29th ace of
the 3 1/2-hour match and hit three other unreturnable serves in the
final game as he won 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-4, advancing to
the fourth round.
At the end, at 1 a.m. Sunday, he hopped over the net, shook
hands with Korda and spoke with him for a moment.
Some players objected to Korda getting off without a suspension
after testing positive for a steroid at Wimbledon last year.
Martin, president of the ATP Tour Player Council, has insisted
Korda must be allowed to play while the case is going through court
challenges.
"I told him that I thought that here he had dealt with the
whole thing very well," Martin said. "To be able to come out and
be able to play that caliber of tennis I thought was pretty
admirable, regardless of anybody's opinion on the doping issue."
Korda enjoyed warm support from the crowd of nearly 14,000,
although one man yelled at one point: "You'd better get back on
drugs." Spectators around him shouted him down.
Martin's victory extended his winning streak to 13 matches.
He started both the fourth and fifth sets by breaking Korda's
serve, but couldn't hold his advantage in the fourth.
Kournikova will play seventh-seeded Mary Pierce, the 1997 Australian Open champion, next AP |
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Korda, who captured his first grand slam title by winning here
at age 30 last year, blasted deadly ground strokes from both sides
whenever Martin didn't keep up the pressure.
But in the third-set tiebreaker, while leading 5-2, Martin
fooled Korda with a deep, soft forehand slice. Martin said he had
intended to hit a drop shot but changed his mind in mid-shot.
"I had my head up. I think I played on the best possible
level," said Korda, who marked his 31st birthday Saturday. "He
played some crucial points better than I did."
Martin said, "I feel like I should be in the semifinals
already" after playing matches of five, four and five sets on his
way to the fourth round.
"I haven't felt like I have played terrific tennis," he added.
"I have served very well."
Concerning Korda's drug case, Martin said, "He still tested
positive for the nandrolone. ... I don't necessarily agree with the
[tennis independent appeals] committee's decision to allow him to
keep playing. But if that's the way the rule is I have got to
respect that, and therefore respect Petr when he walks out on the
court."
Earlier, Andre Agassi, now the highest-ranked player in the
men's field, reached the fourth round with the loss of only 17
games in three matches.
Serena Williams made a racket-flinging exit, booed by the crowd
for her petulance, after losing her second match point when the
line judge said 'in' and the umpire said 'out.
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Yevgeny Kafelnikov said he is ready to win AP |
Williams already was advancing toward the net for a victory
handshake Saturday when the call turned against her.
"The match was actually mine at that point, so that's like
having someone take it away from you," she said after her 6-2,
2-6, 9-7 loss to No. 14 seed Sandrine Testud of France.
She also thought she had been cheated on her first match point,
at 5-4 in the third set, but added: "I don't think the bad calls
got the best of me." The situation never would have arisen "if I
had been attacking."
In the round-of-16, Testud plays No. 6 seed Monica Seles, a
four-time champion who pushed her record in Australian Opens to
31-0 by overcoming Belgian Sabine Appelmans 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Another four-time champion, No. 10 Steffi Graf, also had to
struggle to beat Mary Joe Fernandez 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours,
bringing her record against the American to 17-0. Fernandez used
her lob effectively to fend off Graf's attacks, but finally hit a
backhand wide on the third match point.
For the first time in three matches, Agassi didn't score a 6-0.
He beat Czech player Jiri Novak 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, and said that
"if I can keep that standard up, I like my chances against
anybody."
Only five men's seeds remain in the tournament, and Agassi is
the top at No. 5. There's no chance of him meeting another seed
before the semifinals, where No. 10 Yevgeny Kafelnikov might come
through. Kafelnikov won 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 3-0 in the third round when
Jim Courier retired with a groin pull.
Agassi has won three grand slam events, but none since the Australian in 1995 AP |
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On the Rebound Ace courts, in Melbourne's heat, Agassi said, "I
can really beat a guy up physically because I control most of the
points."
Agassi has won three grand slam events, but none since the
Australian in 1995. He fell as low as 141st in the rankings in 1997
before climbing back.
Last year, he said, "I played some great matches. I just didn't
play those great matches at the right time."
He next meets 44th-ranked Vincent Spadea, a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 winner
over Czech player Martin Damm, and a winner over Agassi in
Cincinnati last August.
Agassi called the 24-year-old American "the kind of player that
can even play better against better guys."
Kafelnikov, the 1996 French Open champion, rates the favorites
here as himself, Agassi, No. 7 Karol Kucera, Sweden's Thomas
Enqvist and South Africa's Wayne Ferreira. On Friday, Enqvist
ousted third seed Patrick Rafter, the U.S. Open champion, and
Ferreira outlasted No. 9 Richard Krajicek.
"I was missing motivation in 1998," Kafelnikov said. "I was
kind of lost in space. ... I'm ready to win again, winning the big
tournament, big matches, and under these circumstances I have to
use my chance. This is the best opportunity I've ever had to win
this event."
Late last year, his wife gave birth to a girl, he switched
coaches and he took off a month without picking up his racket.
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Serena: "I don't think the bad calls got the best of me. The situation never would have arisen if I had been attacking" AP |
Kafelnikov's next opponent is Romanian Andrei Pavel, who
struggled to a 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over 187th-ranked
Paul Goldstein, the American newcomer who ousted eighth-seeded Greg
Rusedski in the second round.
In women's matches, two-time defending champion Martina Hingis
and 1995 winner Mary Pierce both won easily, and Anna Kournikova
cut her double faults in half -- serving just 14 -- in a 4-6, 6-2,
6-3 victory over Germany's Andrea Glass.
Kournikova, who had served 31 double faults in her second-round
victory, said, "I've improved with each match. I'm playing better
and better."
The 17-year-old Russian, seeded 12th, said she isn't worried
about later, stronger opponents taking advantage of her recent
serving problems.
"I'm going to take advantage of their weaknesses," said
Kournikova, who next plays No. 7 seed Pierce.
Pierce beat Italian Rita Grande 6-2, 6-2, while Hingis, seeded
second, needed just 48 minutes to oust promising Australian
15-year-old Jelena Dokic.
Hingis has lost only 11 games in six sets. She now meets No. 16
Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Taiwan's
Janet Lee.
Testud's victory put four French women into the last 16 for the
first time at any grand slam event in the three-decade-old Open
Era. She joined Pierce, Emilie Loit and Amelie Mauresmo. But Loit
and Mauresmo face each other in the fourth round.
Testud sympathized with Williams.
"She was a little upset. I would have been upset, too," she
said.
When Williams was running to the net in triumph, Testud was
pointing to the spot on the court and gesturing frantically to
umpire Laura Ceccarelli of Italy.
"The ball was out. I could see the mark," Testud said.
Ceccarelli reversed the call, indicating it was wide, and the
game went on at deuce.
Testud then held serve, broke on a double fault by Williams, and
won the nearly two-hour match when Williams slapped a final
backhand into the net. The 17-year-old American hurled her racket
about 25 feet toward the net in disgust and left it
there as she sulked in her chair.
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