THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: MONDAY, JANUARY 20, No. 12

Shaughnessy, Fish, Cargill, Bogomolov under scrutiny

By Douglas Robson
Special to tennisreporters.net

FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN – As the first week of the Australian Open fortnight winds up, a quartet of young Americans came away with a better sense of where their games stack up against the best. Only time will tell if they can take the next step in their careers, but all are eager to make their mark.

MEGHANN SHAUGHNESSY IS STILL IN THE HUNT

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

One player who looks like she might finally find the consistency to become an elite player again is Meghann Shaughnessy. On Saturday, the 23-year-old easily took out Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-3, in third-round action. Koukalova had beaten an injured sixth-seeded Monica Seles the previous round.

"I was really happy with how I played today," the hard-striking baseliner said after her match. "I saw that (Koukalova) just likes to tee off and play really aggressive, so I just tried to mix it up, throw her off with some high balls, and that worked really well."

After a year of erratic results and some minor injuries, this could be a breakthrough tournament for Shaughnessy. The Scottsdale, Ariz., resident was ranked as high as No. 11 a year ago, but injured her back at this tournament and was out for nearly two months. When she returned to the tour full-time in the spring, the lack of play showed, as Shaughnessy endured a six-match losing streak at one point.

"I lost a little bit of confidence and I started losing some close matches and from there - I had a really rough year," said Shaughnessy, who lost the deciding match to Austria's Barbara Schwartz in Fed Cup last April. "But I had a great off season. In November and December I worked really hard and improved a lot of things. I'm noticing it now."

One of Shaughnessy's aims for 2003 is to break into the top 10, a goal that, though early in the season, seems possible if her form holds up. Shaughnessy has never gone beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam event – a statistic she can expunge from her record book if she handles rising young Russian Elena Bovina, who scored a victory over No. 10 seed Magdalena Maleeva on Saturday.

MARDY FISH DELIVERS BIG UPSET

ATP

Perhaps the week's biggest disappointment was Mardy Fish. The 21-year-old Floridian, who rose 60 places to No. 81 last year, seemed poised to show how far his game has progressed. After defeating Swedish qualifier Joachim Johansson 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round, the 77th-ranked Fish upset fifth-seeded Carlos Moya 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 Wednesday. It was the second time he upended Moya in two weeks.

"To beat a guy like that tells me a lot about my game and how far I've come and how much I've worked in the off-season," Fish said after the win. He went on to say that a "reachable goal would be top 50 by the end of the year, and I'm approaching that more quickly now. A far-fetched goal would be top 20."

But as in the Sydney tune-up the week before, Fish also showed why he has failed to advance up the ranks like talented peers James Blake and Andy Roddick, despite his powerful serve and nasty backhand.

After leading two sets to love over veteran South African Wayne Ferreira, Fish flubbed a chance to go up 5-2 in the fourth set. Visibly frustrated, he then completely imploded, losing the last 10 games in the 2-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 loss. After the match, which included a warning for verbal abuse in the fifth set, Fish said, "I don't really know what happened. But I think experience played a major part of it."

If he wants to join former housemate Roddick in the next generation of great American players, Fish needs to work on his mental toughness. Undoubtedly, he'll be settling in with his coach Kelly Jones for a long chitchat about his mental preparedness. Still, the Minnesota native has the shots to move up another 20-30 places in the rankings this year. The question is, will his mind let him.

ANSLEY CARGILL SURVIVES QUALIFYING
The immediate prospects for 21-year-old Ansley Cargill are bright but less certain.

The Atlanta native won three qualifying rounds before dispatching Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round. Medina Garrigues is no slouch, having finished 2001 ranked 65th before injury interrupted her 2002 campaign.

Unfortunately for Cargill, the win booked her an appointment with Venus Williams for the second year in a row. This time, the second seed overpowered the 5-foot-7-inch lefty 6-3, 6-0, in 52 minutes. Cargill had no answer to Williams' power, reach and speed, so she chalked it up to experience.

"I feel that she played an almost impeccable match," the 118th ranked Cargill said. "Overall, I felt my groundstrokes and serve were better this year than last year. I feel like I got more depth on the ball. But Venus controls her own destiny. When I realized Venus' game was on I just started going for my shots more."

Cargill recognizes that she is not likely to out-muscle many of the tour's top players. As a result, she and her coach, the USTA's Ola Malmqvist, are working on improving her quickness, her backhand and her offense.

"I do not consider myself a flashy player and don't hit too many winners," she said. "I'm working on that, on being more aggressive. … I've always been a more conservative player. I let people beat themselves."

Despite her size, Cargill has the potential to be a top-50 player. But to move up in the rankings, she needs to improve on her biggest weapon – her forehand – and learn to counter the power of her stronger rivals with quickness and variety.

Venus said, "She runs very well and she just tries till the very end. I suppose if we hadn't met tonight, she probably could have been able to get to the next round also. I think she's very good, actually."

The upside for the former Duke University star, who turned pro in 2001: Now she can say she's made it past the first round of a Grand Slam after five tries. Did she take anything else away from her second Aussie Open?

"Yeah, four wins," she answered.

ALEX BOGOMOLOV LOOKS FOR MORE EXPERIENCE
Experience was also the name of the game for Alex Bogomolov Jr. The Moscow-born Bogomolov, who calls Miami home, lost his second straight five-set encounter in a Grand Slam tournament. Unlike the '02 US Open, however, when "Bogy" blew a two-sets-to-one lead over Paraguay's Ramon Delgado, this time he fought back from two sets down. But it was too little, too late for the Lleyton Hewitt wannabe with the Russian accent. The more experienced Spaniard Alberto Martin prevailed, 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 6-1.

"I did not play my best tennis, but my competitiveness got me to the fifth set," said the 19-year-old, in the second year of his pro career. "Then in the fifth set, physically, I wasn't all there."

The 169-ranked Bogomolov, who won the boy's 16s (over Andy Roddick) and 18s national titles at Kalamazoo, knows what he needs to improve if he is to meet his goal of breaking into the top 100 by year-end. "I need to take it up a notch in my physical conditioning and I need to develop a weapon," he said. "Right now my two weapons are my mental toughness and my speed."

Bogomolov's coach, former pro Francisco Montana, sees a bright future for his student. "He's only 19," said Montana. "Last year was his first on tour and he started at around 980 and finished at 165, so he had a great year." More work on his forehand, volleys and his transitional game should move Bogy up the ranks quickly.

"He's going to keep getting better and better. There is no reason he can't be top 100 by the end of this year or by this summer even."

Like Cargill, Bogomolov fought through three rounds of qualifying to make the first round at Melbourne Park. In addition to that accomplishment, the kid with "Fear No Man" tattooed in Chinese on his left shoulder can take solace in the fact he gets to horse around on court with his glamorous fellow Russian transplant, Anna Kournikova, who is his mixed doubles partner.