Notebook

Hantuchova more hit on than Kournikova

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Is this the beginning of the end of endorsement domination for Anna Kournikova?

The Russian player has become familiar with losing singles matches, but there's one domain where she's always reigned supreme -- the Internet.

Now figures from the Australian Open Web site suggest tennis fans have found a new favorite in Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.

A week ago, Kournikova led Hantuchova 19,153 - 10,715 in hits on the women's profiles on the Web site. On Wednesday, new figures showed the Slovakian ahead 86,288 - 79,976.

Hantuchova shrugged off comparisons with Kournikova earlier in the tournament declaring, "For me the tennis is the most important thing".

In the Web site popularity "contest", Hantuchova had the edge of sticking around until a quarterfinal loss against Venus Williams. Kournikova lost in round two.

The Williams sisters might be No. 1 and No. 2 in the tennis rankings but they're down in fifth and sixth on the Web site hits list. Their Belgian semifinal opponents Justine Henin-Hardenne (Venus) and Kim Clijsters (Serena) are ranked No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.

Lleyton Hewitt is the most popular male player with 54,061 to Andre Agassi's 52,774.

Already 1.2 million fans have accessed the website. That beats the 2002 figure of 1.1 million with five days play remaining.

The majority of users are from the United States (24.4 percent) with Australia second (18.4 percent) and Belgium third (7.4 percent).

SERVE NOTICE: Sure, Serena Williams wants sister Venus to make the final of the Australian Open. But that doesn't mean the sisters lack a healthy competitive spirit.

While most fans reacted with awe to Venus' 201kph (125mph) serve against Daniela Hantuchova, Serena went straight out to try to beat it.

"I tried to get one (faster) today," said Serena, after her quarterfinal win against Meghann Shaughnessy. "Mine went past the baseline."

Serena had led the speed serving stats before Venus topped her.

"I was in the lead with 196kph (122mph) and I was like "Yeah!. But she hit a 201 and I was like "oh, shoot".

Serena said she was more excited than her sister about Venus' huge serve.

"I'm excited: `Venus you hit a 201'. She is like, `yeah I know'. I get more excited about it than she does. I'm just trying to catch up."

Serena had the edge in aces served through five matches. She sent down 29 while Venus was back in third on 22. Meghann Shaughnessy, beaten by Serena in their quarterfinal Wednesday, was second on 26 aces.

Venus' serve was faster than more than 100 of the 128 players achieved in the men's draw.

The men's speed and aces leader was Andy Roddick. Before his quarterfinal Wednesday night he had a fastest serve of 223kph (138mph) and 63 aces from four matches.

WAFFLING ON: The Williams sisters both face Belgian opponents in Thursday's semis with Venus against Justine Henin-Hardenne and Serena facing Kim Clijsters. Serena was asked apart from those two "does Belgium remind you of anything else?"

"Yeah. I hear they have wonderful chocolates ... and waffles."

THE A TRAM: Andy Roddick got to fulfil a dream ahead of his quarterfinal against Younes El Aynaoui on Wednesday night. He got to drive one of Melbourne's famous trams (street cars).

Roddick was going OK but did bring the tram to a shocking halt, shouting out "Oh, geez" as it stopped suddenly.

"Better safe than sorry," laughed Roddick. "I got really heavy on the brakes."

FIGHTING MAN: Unlike many players, Germany's Rainer Schuettler isn't one to moan and groan about his lack of vacation time. The surprise men's semifinalist took two weeks off at the end of last season before launching back into heavy work, and it's paid big dividends here.

"I start at the end of November so I have five weeks every year to work really hard with a condition coach. Since two years ago I do things a little different."

He said he had included training with a Tae Kwon Do world champion and the martial art had helped boost his fitness further.

 

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