Just Not Cricket

What was I thinking, saying anything even vaguely nice about Lleyton Hewitt yesterday? He might have a all right top spin lob, but his behavior in and after his match against Chris Guccione was terrible.

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What a princess! Going on and on about how he could sympathise with the Australian cricket team because of 'ordinary' umpiring! To launch a tirade of abuse like that at the umpire in the second set breaker - well, THAT just wasn't cricket, Lleyton. But what's worse, I think, is that he came out and said after the match that he was the better player, even though he lost.

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How dare he say something like that?! Chris Guccione played a fine match. Sure, his game is a little one-sided - it depends very heavily on his massive serve - but he got the job done. Guccione won, fair and square. Sure, some of the calls might have been a little bit dubious, but I don't think the whole match swung on them or anything like that. There was one call - I think it was at 3-2 in the second set breaker - where Hewitt thought the ball had bounced twice before Guccione got to it, and proceeded to abuse the umpire at length on the point.

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Guccione, on the other hand, thinks he did get to the ball. And wouldn't he be in a position to know?

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Just because you clearly have a problem with sportsmanship, Lleyton, doesn't mean that you should question everyone else's. If Guccione says he got to it, then I think you should believe he got to it.

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Meanwhile, what a win for Dmitry Tursunov! I couldn't watch it, because of gainful employment, but I was watching the scores the whole time, and oh! was I cheering (on the inside.) Tursunov ranks No. 2 on my list of favourite tennis players (after, of course, the wonderful Mr. Federer) and I was so pleased! I'm going to the men's final on Saturday, and I can't think of anything better than to see Dmitry play! The top three seeds are out of the tournament - the highest (and only, I think) remaining seed is Tomas Berdych at No. 4 - and so I *

think Dmitry has a real chance.

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(And if anyone wants to read a tennis blog that's actually amusing, Tursunov's ATP blog is hysterical!)

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Today's Results

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Medibank International (Sydney)

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Men's Draw

Dmitry Tursunov def. Richard Gasquet, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Tomas Berdych def. Gilles Simon, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Agustin Calleri def. Carlos Moya, 6-3 6-4

Chris Guccione def. Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2)

Sebastien Grosjean def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-3 6-4

Evgeny Korolev def. Ivo Minar, 6-2 6-3

Radek Stepanek def. Andreas Seppi, 7-5 2-6 6-4

Fabrice Santoro def. Steve Darcis, 6-1 6-3

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Women's Draw

Justine Henin def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-2 6-0

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-4 6-0

Nicole Vaidisova def. Jelena Jankovic, 6-4 4-6 6-4

Ana Ivanovic def. Katarina Srebotnik , 6-3 3-6 6-2

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AAMI Classic (Kooyong)

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Marcos Baghdatis def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-4 4-6 6-1

Andy Roddick def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3 6-0

Marat Safin def. Andy Murray, 6-1 6-4

Fernando Gonzalez def. Brydan Klein, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

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Heineken Open (Auckland)

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First Round

David Ferrer def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-1 6-2

Juan Monaco def. Thomas Johansson, 6-3 6-4

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Jesse Levine, 6-4 6-1

Xavier Malisse def. Jarkko Nieminen, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Michael Llodra def. Hyung-taik Lee, 6-1 6-4

Marin Cilic def. Tomas Cakl, 6-4 6-3

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Second Round

David Ferrer def. Sergio Roitman, 6-1 -7-6 (7-2)

Florian Mayer def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-3 7-6 (9-7)

Juan Monaco def. Olivier Rochus, 6-3 6-3

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Julien Benneteau def. Nicolas Almagro, 6-4 2-6 6-2

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Marin Cilic, 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4

Michael Llodra def. Albert Montanes, 6-3 6-4

Nicolas Massu def. Xavier Malisse, 6-4 6-4

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Moorilla Hobart International (Hobart)

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Vera Zvonareva def. Elena Vesnina, 6-3 6-3

Flavia Pennetta def. Sania Mirza, 7-5 1-6 6-3

Ashley Harkleroad def. Edina Gallovits, 6-4 6-4

Eleni Daniilidou def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-4 7-5