Rusedski’s Win Streak Continues

The cloud of suspicion under which the U.S. Olympic track and field trials have taken place?

Greg Rusedski has been there.

The questions and opinions about possible performance-enhancing drug use that cycling competitors have faced over the course of the Tour de France the past few days?

The veteran British tennis player has done that.

And frankly, he’s tired of it, so he’s giving people something else to talk about.

Rusedski, 30, defeated 22-year-old Karol Beck of the Slovak Republic, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), in a second-round match in the Mercedes-Benz Cup men’s tournament Wednesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA.

The victory, his seventh in a row, sent him into the quarterfinals Friday against unseeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and continued a recent string of success that last weekend included Rusedski’s winning the Newport, R.I. title, 11 years after he won it for his first ATP tour championship.

“I was talking about getting to the quarterfinals, and talking about getting to the semifinals and finals and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s great because the issue is ‘Are you going to win the next title?’ and ‘Who are you playing next?’ That’s the exciting part of this game and that’s the great thing, to be able to talk about it.”

Rusedski languished under a cloud of suspicion similar to the one hovering over Olympic and professional athletes.

Rusedski, the winner of 14 career titles, tested positive for nandrolone last July, but he maintained his innocence and was cleared of any wrongdoing in March when culpability for the positive test could not be proved after it was discovered that the ATP tour’s trainers had mistakenly given players contaminated nutritional supplements.

Despite resolution of his case, Rusedski has been dealing with drug-related questions ever since.

He reluctantly but politely answered them Tuesday after a three-set victory over Taylor Dent that he called “one of my best matches this year, by far.”

“The only way you can fight back in that situation is to start playing good tennis,” he said. “It’s great to talk about tennis. It’s great to talk about winning. It’ll be great when I don’t have to talk about that anymore and I can just talk about the match from start to finish.”

In addition to dealing with the tainted-supplements issue, Rusedski has been plagued by an assortment of foot, knee, back and shoulder injuries since late 2002.

He played the Australian Open this year but lost in the first round and did not play an ATP event again until May. His tour ranking plummeted from No. 31 at the end of 2002 to No. 118 last year.

“It was very, very difficult to get back mentally, physically, emotionally,” he said. “I’m pleased that I’ve come back so quick. That’s been important for me.”

He had to rally against Beck, too.

Beck won the first set before Rusedski took the second and then rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third, saving two game points that would have put the Slovakian up, 5-2, and then taking control with his serve in the tiebreaker.

“I just think it’s coming back,” Rusedski said. “It’s been a long time since I won seven straight matches, so that gives me a lot of confidence and makes me feel good about myself.”

Rusedski is now a member of a task force that will examine the supplement situation and increase player awareness of the issue. He believes tennis is in no danger of being overrun by drug suspicions and problems. After his case was resolved and seven other players were absolved in the wake of positive drug tests, the tour ceased giving nutritional supplements to players.

“It was exceptional circumstances, and we still have no explanation for it,” he said. “I don’t think you can compare tennis with track. It’s a different sort of sport. It comes down to shots here and there. It’s totally different. I believe tennis is a clean sport and I believe this problem we’ve had is going to get rectified.”

In other matches, third-seeded Mardy Fish defeated Gilles Elseneer, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and Cyril Saulnier outlasted Jan Hernych, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Kiefer advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over qualifier Glenn Weiner.