Odesnik Accepts Voluntary Suspension

Brief update on the HGH saga: Wayne Odesnik has taken what the ITF calls a ‘voluntary provisional suspension’ from ATP and ITF events – but could start playing again at any time he chooses.

“How long that suspension will remain in place will be at the discretion of the player, but we would normally expect it to continue through to the point at which a tribunal renders a decision on the case,” said Stuart Miller, the head of the ITF’s anti-doping program. “Technically, the length of any withdrawal is his choice.”

source

Odesnik will face an independent tribunal in the next two months and could be banned for up to two years. The current suspension, because it’s voluntary in nature, will count towards whatever sentence he serves.

Stan’s the Man, Sam Not So Much

Stanislas Wawrinka d. Victor Hanescu, 62 63

If you like that sort of thing.

Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet teamed up last week to make a fool of me, with Gasquet losing a three-set quarterfinal to Victor Hanescu when I picked him for the title and Stan crushing Hanescu in the final when I specifically didn’t. Ah well. Can’t win any of them them all. Well done to Stan.

Speaking of Hanescu, I found his unrelentingly serious ATP Uncovered adorable:

Juan Ignacio Chela d. Sam Querrey, 57 64 63

Hmmm. I know I had a pretty busy weekend, what with inventing sci-fi themed cocktails and trying to keep my unco-operative cat alive and everything, but … Chela? Winning? Is that still a thing? Was that ever a thing? I rather thought Sam Querrey had this one sewn up after he finally defeated everybody’s least favourite player, Wayne Odesnik, in the semis:

Querrey reportedly said “I refuse to lose to that guy”, and refuse to lose he did. So … what happened in the final? Anyone?

All joking aside, that’s a startlingly good run from Chela. A cursory glance at his playing record suggests that the last time he won consecutive main draw matches was in Kitzbuhel last year. So something major must have been working for him this week.

Meanwhile, props to another Argy, Horacio Zeballos, for reaching the semi-finals and defeating Gonzo along the way:

Love it.

Houston: Blue Flu?

Wayne Odesnik played his first match today since pleading guilty to carrying Human Growth Hormone (HGH) into Australia, beating Jerzy Janowicz 63 64. It seems bizarre that he’s allowed to play, really, and Janowicz wasn’t best pleased:

“I think it is unfair to do something like this,” Janowicz said.

“It’s a misunderstanding because for me, he shouldn’t be playing at this moment. He should be suspended. There are bad feelings right now. He shouldn’t play and right now I’m playing with this guy. It’s tough to play with that kind of guy.”

In a probably-unrelated-but-fun-to-speculate-about development, four American players have now withdrawn from the tournament. Mardy Fish and Michael Russell were replaced by lucky losers, while Taylor Dent and Rajeev Ram both retired midway through their matches. I’m just saying. Have a picture of Odesnik.

Miami: Thursday’s Results, Friday’s OOP

Morning all. Yet another week of unsatisfactory bloggage continues as I’m away for the weekend starting in, oh, about an hour. I’ll try to pop in from time to time to update you on the losingness of my favourites (assuming they have the internet in the north …)

Results

Men’s Singles – First Round
[LL] N Lapentti (ECU) d P Starace (ITA) 75 63
M Fish (USA) d L Mayer (ARG) 76(4) 64
H Zeballos (ARG) d A Seppi (ITA) 76(4) 62
J Chela (ARG) d P Lorenzi (ITA) 64 36 76(3)
P Petzschner (GER) d [Q] R Sweeting (USA) 63 61
[Q] M Ilhan (TUR) d P Cuevas (URU) 62 62
[Q] S Giraldo (COL) d [LL] M Daniel (BRA) 63 62
A Falla (COL) d V Hanescu (ROU) 76(4) 36 64
D Sela (ISR) d E Korolev (KAZ) 63 63
T de Bakker (NED) d R Ram (USA) 64 75
M Berrer (GER) d L Lacko (SVK) 75 46 63
[Q] Y Lu (TPE) d F Fognini (ITA) 67(5) 62 64
F Serra (FRA) d [Q] N Massu (CHI) 64 64
P Luczak (AUS) d O Hernandez (ESP) 63 76(4)
[Q] K Anderson (RSA) d [Q] R Mello (BRA) 63 61
S Robert (FRA) d A Beck (GER) 75 64

Women’s Singles – Second Round
[1] S Kuznetsova (RUS) d S Peng (CHN) 62 36 64
[3] V Williams (USA) d S Cirstea (ROU) 64 63
[6] A Radwanska (POL) d E Makarova (RUS) 75 60
T Bacsinszky (SUI) d [8] N Li (CHN) 64 46 76(3)
A Petkovic (GER) d [10] F Pennetta (ITA) 63 36 60
[12] Y Wickmayer (BEL) d [Q] E Baltacha (GBR) 61 63
[13] M Bartoli (FRA) d M Rybarikova (SVK) 62 64
[16] N Petrova (RUS) d K Date Krumm (JPN) 63 76(7)
[WC] P Martic (CRO) d [18] A Rezai (FRA) 75 57 64
[19] D Hantuchova (SVK) d P Schnyder (SUI) 61 64
G Dulko (ARG) d [21] A Bondarenko (UKR) 75 62
Y Shvedova (KAZ) d [23] S Lisicki (GER) 63 01 ret.
[25] A Ivanovic (SRB) d [Q] P Parmentier (FRA) 64 63
[27] A Szavay (HUN) d [WC] A Molik (AUS) 60 60
R Vinci (ITA) d [30] A Medina Garrigues (ESP) 64 76(5)
P Hercog (SLO) d [31] A Wozniak (CAN) 76(5) 63

Women’s Doubles – First Round
[2] N Llagostera Vives (ESP) / M Martinez Sanchez (ESP) d A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Hradecka (CZE) 75 64
[3] N Petrova (RUS) / S Stosur (AUS) d S Errani (ITA) / S Peer (ISR) 61 62
[5] A Kleybanova (RUS) / F Schiavone (ITA) d I Benesova (CZE) / B Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 75 63
K Jans (POL) / V Uhlirova (CZE) d [7] C Chuang (TPE) / S Hsieh (TPE) 06 76(5) 10-8
M Niculescu (ROU) / E Vesnina (RUS) d [WC] Y Wickmayer (BEL) / V Zvonareva (RUS) 75 61
[WC] K Clijsters (BEL) / K Flipkens (BEL) d S Borwell (GBR) / R Kops-Jones (USA) 76(6) 64
Y Chan (TPE) / J Zheng (CHN) d A Amanmuradova (UZB) / D Kustova (BLR) 63 76(5)
O Govortsova (BLR) / A Kudryavtseva (RUS) d T Poutchek (BLR) / A Rosolska (POL) 46 64 13-11

Today’s OOP is brought to you by Andy Roddick’s premature ejaculation face.

STADIUM start 11:00 am
A Dulgheru (ROU) vs [4] V Azarenka (BLR) – WTA
O Rochus (BEL) vs [2] N Djokovic (SRB) – ATP
[14] K Clijsters (BEL) vs P Kvitova (CZE) – WTA
T Dent (USA) vs [4] R Nadal (ESP) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 pm
[5] E Dementieva (RUS) vs [WC] J Henin (BEL) – WTA
[6] A Roddick (USA) vs I Andreev (RUS) – ATP

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
[15] D Ferrer (ESP) vs M Llodra (FRA) – ATP
[7] J Jankovic (SRB) vs [Q] M Koryttseva (UKR) – WTA
[27] T Bellucci (BRA) vs J Blake (USA) – ATP
[30] V Troicki (SRB) vs [WC] D Nalbandian (ARG) – ATP

Not Before 5:00 pm
[8] J Tsonga (FRA) vs G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) – ATP

COURT 1 start 10:00 am
D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) vs [24] I Karlovic (CRO) – ATP
[Q] T Pironkova (BUL) vs [2] C Wozniacki (DEN) – WTA
C Suarez Navarro (ESP) vs [9] S Stosur (AUS) – WTA
[17] J Isner (USA) vs M Russell (USA) – ATP
A Medina Garrigues (ESP) / C Wozniacki (DEN) vs [4] L Raymond (USA) / R Stubbs (AUS) – WTA

COURT 2 start 10:00 am
[32] M Kirilenko (RUS) vs M Czink (HUN) – WTA
D Koellerer (AUT) vs [12] J Ferrero (ESP) – ATP
J Chardy (FRA) vs [21] S Querrey (USA) – ATP
M Oudin (USA) vs [11] V Zvonareva (RUS) – WTA

Not Before 5:00 pm
B Becker (GER) vs [11] I Ljubicic (CRO) – ATP

COURT 3 start 10:00 am
T Paszek (AUT) vs [22] A Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) – WTA
[WC] R Harrison (USA) / N Lapentti (ECU) vs E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) – ATP
A Kudryavtseva (RUS) vs [17] S Peer (ISR) – WTA
[18] T Robredo (ESP) vs [Q] I Marchenko (UKR) – ATP
M Llodra (FRA) / A Ram (ISR) vs F Lopez (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) – ATP

COURT 4 start 11:00 am
[29] M Martinez Sanchez (ESP) vs L Safarova (CZE) – WTA

Not Before 12:30 pm
[15] F Schiavone (ITA) vs A Cornet (FRA) – WTA
M Damm (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) vs I Karlovic (CRO) / D Vemic (SRB) – ATP

COURT 6 start 10:00 am
[33] N Almagro (ESP) vs E Schwank (ARG) – ATP
[Q] S Arvidsson (SWE) vs [26] D Cibulkova (SVK) – WTA
J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) vs [6] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) – ATP
F Mayer (GER) vs [28] P Kohlschreiber (GER) – ATP
S Stakhovsky (UKR) vs [32] J Benneteau (FRA) – ATP

COURT 7 start 10:00 am
L Dekmeijere (LAT) / P Schnyder (SUI) vs V Dushevina (RUS) / A Rodionova (AUS) – WTA

Not Before 11:30 am
[20] J Zheng (CHN) vs V Razzano (FRA) – WTA
[24] A Kleybanova (RUS) vs S Errani (ITA) – WTA
[1] C Black (ZIM) / L Huber (USA) vs N Grandin (RSA) / A Spears (USA)
T Garbin (ITA) / V Ruano Pascual (ESP) vs K Peschke (CZE) / K Srebotnik (SLO) – WTA

COURT 8 start 11:00 am
A Bondarenko (UKR) / G Voskoboeva (KAZ) vs J Coin (FRA) / V King (USA) – WTA
J Goerges (GER) vs [28] E Vesnina (RUS) – WTA
[6] B Mattek-Sands (USA) / Z Yan (CHN) vs M Kirilenko (RUS) / A Radwanska (POL) – WTA
I Senoglu (TUR) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) vs [8] E Makarova (RUS) / S Peng (CHN) – WTA

And oh yeah, Wayne Odesnik is in trouble after he pleaded guilty to bringing HGH (human growth hormone) into Australia. He has been fined and could face a two-year suspension. I don’t know about you, but I’m asking the question: you took HGH and you only managed to be Wayne Odesnik? It can’t be that good then, can it?

Oh, and there will be cheerleaders and Guillermo Canas retiring. Apparently.