Fan ejechttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070327/ap_on_sp_te_ga_su/te n_sony_ericsson_open;_ylt=AretspAJOr8LeMxg86tC8OFNz7QFted for heckling Serena Williams
<DIV id=ynmain>
<DIV id=story>
<DIV =storyhdr>
By STEVEN WINE, AP Sports Writer Tue Mar 27, 12:37 AM ET
<DIV =spacer>
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Serena Williams says a heckler bothered her throughout her match Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open, making at least one racist remark before he was finally ejected.
<DIV =lrec>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0>
<T>
<TR>
<TD align=middle>ADVERTISEMENT
<> adx_U_12439="";adx_D_12439="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12ho lf61a/M=576815.10470047.11099079.2890849/D=news/S=95735629:L REC/_ylt=AnzpjgVfLgUibbO9BpLLkiFNz7QF/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1175003441 /A=4491970/R=0/*";adx_I_12439="";
< = src="http://mi.adinterax.com/js/yahoo,mrs06227_flip_otp_450x350_2,C=OTP_Vista,P=Microsoft,A=Microsoft,L=OddNews/ad2.js?q=1174691110">
< = id=adl_S_12439 src="http://mi.adinterax.com/customer/yahoo/mrs06227_flip_otp_450x350_2.js?adxq=1174958313">
<> setTimeout('document.getElementById("adl_S_12439").src="http ://mi.adinterax.com/customer/yahoo/mrs06227_flip_otp_450x350 _2.js?adxq=1174958313"',1)
</TD></TR></T></TABLE>
if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();
window.yzq_d['ECRQiELEYpI-'] ='&U=13b6t402i%2fN%3dECRQiELEYpI-%2fC%3d576815.10470047.1109 9079.2890849%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4491970';
<NO>
</NO>
"The guy said, `Hit the net like any Negro would.' I was shocked," Williams said. "I couldn't believe it. I had to do a double take. I think I hit a double fault on that point."
In a match delayed by rain, Williams defeated No. 23 Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round and will next play top-seeded Maria Sharapova. Williams complained late in the match to the chair umpire about the heckler.
"I shouldn't have let it bother me, because growing up in Compton we had drive-bys," said Williams, who was raised in Los Angeles. "I guess that's what my dad prepared me for, but I'm not going to stand for it."
Fans and security confirmed a man heckled Williams inappropriately, tournament director Adam Barrett said.
"The man was identified and escorted off the site," Barrett said. "As security determines the severity of his actions, he may not be welcome to return. We take these matters very, very seriously."
Williams, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, is among the event's most popular players. She lives in South Florida, considers Key Biscayne her home tournament and has won the title three times.
With a small crowd in the stadium for her late-afternoon match, she said she could hear the heckler between points and during them.
"Every time I missed a shot or a serve, he would say, `That's the way to do it,'" she said. "He was calling, `Foot fault.' He was saying, `Hit in the net.' ... I mean, who does this? That's so elementary. You don't do this on a professional level."
Williams and her sister Venus have boycotted the Indian Wells tournament since 2001, when the family was booed after Venus withdrew just before a semifinal match against Serena. Their father, Richard, said those jeers were racially motivated.
"It's always something with me," Serena said with a laugh.
Earlier Monday, Bosnian-born Amer Delic beat a top-10 player for the first time and advanced to the fourth round.
Delic upset fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (5), 6-3 for his fifth win in a row, including two in qualifying.
"I just went out there and I said to myself, `Swing for the fences. See what happens,'" Delic said. "It helped me out."
Ranked 89th, the 24-year-old Delic is only 11-21 since turning pro in 2003 and has never before won consecutive matches at an ATP tournament.
"Confidence is always a big thing in anything that you do," he said. "Some days you have it; some days you don't. And I've been kind of able to string a few wins together here."
Also reaching the round of 16 was top-ranked Roger Federer, who served poorly but still beat No. 29 Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-3. Federer's opponent Tuesday will be qualifier Guillermo Canas, who ended Federer's 41-match winning streak two weeks ago at Indian Wells.
Canas advanced by beating No. 15 Richard Gasquet 7-6 (3), 6-3. Other winners included No. 6 Tommy Robredo and No. 23 Juan Ignacio Chela, who plays Delic on Tuesday.
Third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 4 Kim Clijsters were eliminated. Defending champion Kuznetsova was beaten by No. 14 Shahar Peer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Clijsters, the 2005 champion, lost in her final appearance at Key Biscayne to No. 15 Li Na, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Clijsters plans to retire this year.
Joining Peer and Li in the quarterfinals was top-ranked Justine Henin, who beat 18th-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2 Agnieszka Radwanska, a 17-year-old who eliminated Martina Hingis on Sunday, lost to No. 24 Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-2.
The 6-foot-5 Delic overcame two set points in the first set, one when replay reversed a call. He served well, saving seven of eight break points, and hit 28 winners to 11 for Davydenko.
The American upstart became more comfortable with the stadium court as the match progressed.
"The first few games, even though I hit there before, it just seemed like I was out there on a football field," he said. "It just seemed like I would never be able to put the ball away, because I know how Nikolay is fast. But then I settled down a little bit, and my serve kind of held me in the match."
He had plenty of crowd support, including his father, friends from college and tennis friends Delic met when he trained at the U.S. Tennis Association center on Key Biscayne.
Delic left Bosnia with his sister and their parents in April 1996, the year after the war ended.
"Everything was so corrupt that it was absolutely no future for my parents or my family there," he said. "It was either stay there and kind of literally battle for survival day by day, or start a new life somewhere else."
His parents, who like their son spoke no English, brought with them to the United States four bags of belongings and $1,000. Delic brought two rackets  he had already developed a fondness for tennis, even though no one else in his family played.
The Delics moved to Jacksonville, Fla., because a relative was already there.
"Otherwise we would have ended up in Cincinnati or St. Louis or whatnot," Delic said. "I was just fortunate. Did I know the ATP headquarters were there? No clue. Great weather, plenty of courts. It has honestly just been luck, and it has kind of snowballed since."
Delic didn't always feel lucky. Including cousins, he was part of a family of seven living in a two-bedroom apartment. At first there was no money for a car, much less tennis lessons.
"Was I thinking that I was going to be here today beating the No. 4 player in the world? No," Delic said. "We had courts in our apartment complex, so I would go out there  my dad would throw some balls at me, and I would just hit them."
He grew, improved, benefited from the support of local coaches and went to Illinois, where he won the
< =yqin =http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post>< = value='"NCAA"' name=p> < = value=c1,i,yn,c3 name=sourceOrder> < = value='NCAA' name=c1> < = value='
SEARCH
News |
News Photos |
Images |
Web' name=c3> < = name=sourceURL> < = value=yq-news name=fr> < = value="Canas advanced by beating No. 15 Richard Gasquet 7-6 (3), 6-3. Other winners included No. 6 Tommy Robredo and No. 23 Juan Ignacio Chela, who plays Delic on Tuesday.
Third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 4 Kim Clijsters were eliminated. Defending champion Kuznetsova was beaten by No. 14 Shahar Peer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Clijsters, the 2005 champion, lost in her final appearance at Key Biscayne to No. 15 Li Na, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Clijsters plans to retire this year.
Joining Peer and Li in the quarterfinals was top-ranked Justine Henin, who beat 18th-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2 Agnieszka Radwanska, a 17-year-old who eliminated Martina Hingis on Sunday, lost to No. 24 Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-2.
The 6-foot-5 Delic overcame two set points in the first set, one when replay reversed a call. He served well, saving seven of eight break points, and hit 28 winners to 11 for Davydenko.
The American upstart became more comfortable with the stadium court as the match progressed.
"The first few games, even though I hit there before, it just seemed like I was out there on a football field," he said. "It just seemed like I would never be able to put the ball away, because I know how Nikolay is fast. But then I settled down a little bit, and my serve kind of held me in the match."
He had plenty of crowd support, including his father, friends from college and tennis friends Delic met when he trained at the U.S. Tennis Association center on Key Biscayne.
Delic left Bosnia with his sister and their parents in April 1996, the year after the war ended.
"Everything was so corrupt that it was ly no future for my parents or my family there," he said. "It was either stay there and kind of literally battle for survival day by day, or start a new life somewhere else."
His parents, who like their son spoke no English, brought with them to the United States four bags of belongings and $1,000. Delic brought two rackets &#151; he had already developed a fondness for tennis, even though no one else in his family played.
The Delics moved to Jacksonville, Fla., because a relative was already there.
"Otherwise we would have ended up in Cincinnati or St. Louis or whatnot," Delic said. "I was just fortunate. Did I know the ATP quarters were there? No clue. Great weather, plenty of courts. It has honestly just been luck, and it has kind of snowballed since."
Delic didn't always feel lucky. Including cousins, he was part of a family of seven living in a two-bedroom apartment. At first there was no money for a car, much less tennis lessons.
"Was I thinking that I was going to be here today beating the No. 4 p in the world? No," Delic said. "We had courts in our apartment complex, so I would go out there &#151; my dad would throw some balls at me, and I would just hit them."
He grew, improved, benefited from the support of local coaches and went to Illinois, where he won the NCAA championship in 2003. Delic became an American citizen shortly thereafter, turned pro and has improved his ranking every year.
He cracked the top 100 for the first time in 2006. Delic savors every such achievement, thanks in part to his background.
"I don't want to make a big drama out of this &#151; I wouldn't say some of the other kids are spoiled, but I definitely appreciate some things a little bit more," he said. "And it has helped me."" name=context> </>
NCAA championship in 2003. Delic became an American citizen shortly thereafter, turned pro and has improved his ranking every year.
He cracked the top 100 for the first time in 2006. Delic savors every such achievement, thanks in part to his background.
"I don't want to make a big drama out of this  I wouldn't say some of the other kids are spoiled, but I definitely appreciate some things a little bit more," he said. "And it has helped me."
