Hi everyone!

I've had a really hectic week so I'll see how quick I can make this.
I was only able to see bits and pieces of the US Men's Clay Court Final
between Chang and Courier today since I was busy. From what I saw though
it was one heck of an exciting match! Both players took a set a piece
and were evenly matched for winners and unforced error going into the
third. Chang in particular served well though both players had good
service games throughout the entire match. In the third set.. Chang had
a few opportunities to break Jim C but he couldn't convert. Finally it
was Courier who used the crowd to pump him up and win over Chang.Courier
had to take a break for muscle cramps and was a little out of it when he
returned from that break but he ended up winning. I felt sorry for Chang
since he's been having such a bad year but I have nothing against Jim
either so I'm happy he won too.

Final results  7-5, 3-6, 7-5

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Onto.. Monte Carlo.... I was able to see the semi final between Richard
Krijeck <RK> and Carlos Moya <CM> First just let me say that Moya isn't
looking so sweet now that his locks are grwoing out and both guys were
decked out in NIKE apparel :)
Anywayz.. hehe... RK was having a great service game in the first set
and he was able to break CM once and hold on to win the set 6-4. Then
the commentators jinxed him because one of them said that anytime you
have a good server he usually has at least once bad service game per
set. This was not the case with RK until the commentator said those
words because after that RK got broken the the first game of the second
set. CM was able to take advantage of that and go on to tie it up at
once set a piece. He blew out RK 6-1. RK had to deal with a few bad blow
in my opinion. At one point he was up 0-30 on CM serve with an
opportunity to try to break back but the ball hit the tape and he had a
wide open court and hit the ball wide. C'est  la vie.
In the third set RK was serving a lot like the first set.. a lot of
first serves in :) He got an early break and was doing fine until CM who
was down 0-30 4-3 <in the set> on his serve just came firing back to win
the set! There was in particular a great baseline/at net rally between
the two players with RK showing that it takes a lot to get a ball past
his bag frame and Moya showing off his agility around the court :)

p.s. the commentators were Cliff Drysdale <nice guy!> and Jimmy Avias

I couldn't watch the final between Pioline and Moya since I was peeking
at the Chang Courier match. When I glimpsed though.. Moya was thourouly
trashing Pioline. He went on to win the match ....

Singles
Championship
Carlos Moya (14), Spain, def. Cedric Pioline (10), France, 6-3, 6-0,
7-5.

Doubles
Championship
Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, Netherlands (2), def. Todd Woodbridge
and Mark Woodforde,
Australia (1), 6-4, 6-2.
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I heard the commentators for the US Men's Clay Court Champoinship
mention that Jim Courier has moved to Orlando Florida.. Michael Chang
has moved to Washington and Pete Sampras to Long Island.... just though
some of you all would like to know in case there are any stalkers aout
there hehe :)

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SAMPRAS REGAINS NO. 1 THROUGH BACKDOOR <Damn! No offence Pete lovers!>

(AP) - He is coming off his worst loss in eight years and his confidence
is shaken leading toward the French Open. Say this, however, for Pete
Sampras. Once again, he's the No. 1 player in tennis. He returned to the
top Friday without even playing a match. While Sampras was heading back
to the United States -- still stinging from a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Fabrice
Santoro the day before -- Petr Korda was losing to Richard Krajicek in
the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Open. And that was all Sampras
needed. Krajicek's 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 victory eliminated any chance the
No. 3-ranked Czech had of claiming the No. 1 spot.

Korda had to get to the finals of this tournament to leapfrog Sampras
and Marcelo Rios in the rankings. Rios, who supplanted Sampras at No. 1
last month, has an injured elbow and could not
defend his title at this tournament, costing him the top ranking.
Sampras now must regroup as he prepares for Paris, the season's
clay-court major. He has not reached a quarterfinal since
February and lost in the quarters of the Australian Open, where he was
defending champion.

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The Pete/ Santoro match did show during the week and I peeked but just
cuz I had read on the internet that he lost :) I had to see the "Pete
Sampras dejected look"

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In the poll.. Mark Philippousis is killing the competition and so is
Steffi Graff! Poll #1 is gonna be up till Thursday 30th April and Poll
#2 will be up.. well uhh as soon as that one comes down *grin*