Australian Open: Women Semifinalists

It's somehow appropriate that my last tennis post on this blog was entitled "Tennis is Over, Now What?" back in early September right after the US Open since I haven't talked about tennis at all since then, not even my usual year-end review. Which is odd really since 2012 was probably the most fascinating tennis year in recent years with the Olympics being held at Wimbledon, the top 4 men dominating in the slams, Serena making a comeback, and a couple of high-profile retirements (Clijsters and Roddick). My love for the sport hasn't waned really, but perhaps my need to post about it on this blog is coming to an end. I'm still not sure though which is why even though I haven't at all talked about the Australian Open which is winding down in a few days, I'm going to start now by talking about the women's tournament and the four semifinalists.

Everyone knew that an American was going to make the final four, but those people were betting that it would be Serena Williams to be not only the sole American standing, but the woman to beat. It wasn't such a wild idea considering what she had accomplished last year and a win here would've meant re-capturing that #1 ranking. Instead, she fell to American teenager Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals who to her credit stay focused on her game as Serena became hampered with an injury in the middle of the match. Stephens was seeded 29th, but will be safely entrenched in the top 20 after the tournament. She could move up as high as #11 if she were to win, but she would have to get through defending champion and world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka has been in cruise control all tournament with the exception of a third-round brawl against Jamie Hampton, another young American. Most recently, Azarenka took out 2-time slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova who came into the tournament unseeded due to missing play for most of the year in 2012 due to a knee injury. Kuznetsova exceeded expectations to reach the final 8 and beating 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki.

The woman of the tournament, however, is second seed Maria Sharapova who has lost only 9 games through 5 matches including doling out an impressive two double-bagel matches to begin the tournament. She also took out 7-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in brutal fashion with many thinking it was going to be a much closer match-up. Her semifinal foe will be none other than Na Li playing her "hometown" slam. While hardly consistent, Li seems to really bring her A-game during the slams, especially the first two of the year. Her straight set victories over 18th seed Julia Goerges and especially 4th seed Agnieszka Radwanska spoke volume. The latter is unfortunately still looking for her first major breakthrough. As far as predictions go, I'm banking on a 1 vs. 2 battle between Azarenka and Sharapova though I'm rooting for one or both of the underdogs to surprise.

And finally, I can't talk about the woman's tournament this year without mentioning 100th-ranked Kimiko Date-Krumm who defied her age yet again by reaching the third round of both the singles and the doubles draw taking out 12th seed Nadia Petrova in the first round and outlasting the 2nd seed doubles team of Hlavacka-Hradecka with partner Arantxa Parra Santonja in the 2nd round of doubles.

Australian Open Report: Quarterfinals

Australian tennis fans are in for a double treat today as not only are they celebrating a national holiday (Australia Day of course), but the tennis lineup is just ridiculously awesome as both women semifinal matches will be played as well as an epic blockbuster of a men's semifinal match at night, but before that let's quickly rundown what happened in the quarters...


Roger Federer d. Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4 6-3 6-2

Federer has only lost to two players in Grand Slam finals and Del Potro is one of them, so Federer has a lot of respect for the Argentine's game. It clearly showed when Federer put on a masterclass and wowed not only the crowd, but himself on his great play. Not to say Del Potro played badly, but Federer was just on another level. He is the only player left in the draw not to drop a set. He'll take this momentum and use it to his advantage when he next faces a very familiar foe...

Rafael Nadal d. Tomas Berdych 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-4 6-2

Two days earlier, Berdych made headlines when he refused to shake Almagro's hands at the end of his fourth round match garnering a ton of bad press. Many thought that would color the match between Berdych and another Spaniard Nadal. I don't think it did, especially since both already have a contentious history. With that said, Berdych played Nadal tough in the first few sets seemingly fearless. But Nadal stepped it up and took care of business in the fourth to setup a tantalizing match-up with Federer.

Novak Djokovic d. David Ferrer 6-4 7-6(4) 6-1

Defending champion Djokovic has been in cruise control all tournament long until he met up with Hewitt a round before where he lost his first set. Indefatigable Ferrer would seem like a bigger obstacle for him, but Djokovic was able to take advantage of Ferrer's non-threatening serve, especially in that crucial second-set tie break to jump ahead. Djokovic has won 19th straight Grand Slam matches and will try to make it 20 games to reach the final. But before that, he'll have to play in a rematch of last year's final with...

Andy Murray d. Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-3 6-1

It's obvious that Murray is the lone non-Slam winning member of the Big Four, but reaching nine major semifinals and three finals deserves credit. In this tournament, Murray has been blessed by the draw gods with his most dangerous opponents losing before they get to him. It was in this way that he faced Nishikori instead of Tsonga. The scoreline may seem overtly one-sided, but Nishikori played pretty Murray quite closely especially in those first two sets making Murray work hard. In the end, Murray was just too much.


Kim Clijsters d. Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 7-6(4)

This was a do or die situation for both players. If Wozniacki lost to Clijsters, she would relinquishes her no. 1 ranking. If she had won, she would be Clijsters final Australian Open opponent. Clijsters, still tentative especially with the ankle injury she sustained a match prior, really took it to Wozniacki in the first set. It was closer and more nervy, from both, in the second, but Clijsters finally came out on top in the tiebreak. She next faces...

Victoria Azarenka d. Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7(0) 6-0 6-2

Azarenka must have been super frustrated at herself after losing the first set tiebreak at love, but she took a break and came back a different player. That and she also got some help from Radwanska would couldn't string together points after winning the first set. This match has actually been very similar to many of their matches with Radwanska winning the first then losing composure for the last two. It's pretty bad since Radwanska is also the highest ranked women's player to never reach a Grand Slam semifinals.

Maria Sharapova d. Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-3

If you ask around, it seems that everyone is calling Sharapova the favorite to win the tournament. It's certainly a sound prediction especially with the way she has been in cruise control all tournament long. She continued her great form against an outpowered and outshrieked Makarova. But she'll have to get by another 'ova in the next round and this one has been on a roll...

Petra Kvitova d. Sara Errani 6-4 6-4

Kvitova is probably the best player in the women's game at the moment, but she really needs to live up to her seeding and reach the finals and possibly win to solidify this. Her match against Errani wasn't as straightforward as the straight-sets scoreline indicate. She was actually down a couple of break points in the second before reeling off five straight games to win the match. It's that fighting spirit she will need when she goes up against Sharapova.

Final Note: The semifinal stage is seriously stacked. Not only do we have the top 4 men, but also 3 of the top 4 women along with Clijsters. Both of the defending champions are still alive and amongst all of them, they have 38 Grand Slam titles. There's not one match that isn't intriguing, but I do admit that there is one match that is the MOST intriguing and that is Nadal-Federer XXVII. I will be up until the break of dawn for that one.

Brief Tennis Year-In-Review

Happy New Year to all, but especially fellow tennis fans who will be glad to have new tennis matches already underway to obsess over. Of course, the tennis offseason is notoriously short to nonexistent, but before we dive headlong to the new year, let's take a quick look back at the year that was via a couple of its most notable players...

Novak Djokovic - He went on a historic and undefeated run for most of the year and compiled an unreal 10-1 record against Nadal and Federer. He won 10 titles including 3 Grand Slams and earned more money than any tennis player ever. He faded a bit in the end, but

Petra Kvitova - She ended the year as the player to beat, rising to #2 and beating the best at the year-end championship as well as leading her Czech team to a Fed Cup win. On top of all of that, she also won her first major at Wimbledon.

Kim Clijsters - Started out the year very well winning her first non-US Open Grand Slam at Melbourne then reaches the top ranking soon after becoming the first mother to ever hold the top spot. She dropped off the rest of th year skipping Wimbledon and playing her last match in Toronto.

Rafael Nadal - Won his sixth French Open title and made the finals in two others, but the big story this year for him was his inability to beat Djokovic in every surface including his beloved clay. He went out on top though by leading Spain for their 5th win.

Roger Federer - He didn't win a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2002, but he was the only person to defeat a fully healthy Djokovic and ended his year on a great note going on a 17-match run winning his 6th year-end championship for his 70th title in 100 career ATP finals.

Li Na - Not only did she become the first Asian player to reach a Grand Slam singles final (at the Australian Open), but she became the first Asian Grand Slam champion at Roland Garros after taking out defending champion Francesca Schiavone.

Caroline Wozniacki - She ended the year at no. 1 two years in a row and while she won the most matches and tied with Kvitova for the most titles won, she was still slam-less. She didn't even reach a Grand Slam final all year.

Sam Stosur - She won only one title last year, but it was for her first Grand Slam championship at the US Open taking out Serena.

Andy Murray - Won the second most titles on the ATP and reached the Australian Open final for the second time, but still slam-less and still ended the year ranked as #4.

Serena Williams - Out for most of the year due to illness and injury, she won Toronto and reached the US Open final only to lose to Stosur on 9/11.

Venus Williams - Like her sister, she was out of the year due to illness and injury and was eventually diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease.

What will 2012 bring to all of these players? It's an Olympic year, of course, so all of them will have that on the back of their heads for most of the year especially since it'll be held at Wimbledon. Kvitova and Federer are hoping their late-season momentum continues through the new year while Djokovic and Wozniacki hope to play well enough to keep their top ranking. But simply they all just want to win. We won't have to wait very long to see how they all handle the big tournaments. The Australian Open begins on January 16th!

US Open Report: Day 11

After a tumultuous couple of days where rain interrupted play and players tangled with organizers over scheduling and safety, the sun shone high and bright today allowing for all of the scheduled matches to complete. Of course, even with this good luck the organizers took it up themselves to officially change the schedule putting the women's final on Sunday and, for a fourth year in a row, have the men's final on Monday.


The four matches that needed to finish today were the remaining fourth round men's matches from the bottom half and by 3:15pm, they were done and dusted. The only drama came from court placement of the Andy Roddick-David Ferrer match as there was a crack on their stadium due to the rain. With all of the other show courts taken, they were moved to Court 13 which only had the capacity to hold less than 600 fans. Roddick was able to move through in four sets against Ferrer. In a bit of an upset, fellow American John Isner also move through in four against Gilles Simon. After a tight first set, Rafael Nadal cruised to a straight-sets win against Gilles Muller while Andy Murray easily dispatched the young American Donald Young.

Quarterfinal Preview
N. Djokovic vs. T. Berdych J. Tipsarevic
R. Federer vs. M Fish J. Tsonga
A. Murray vs. J.M. Del Potro J. Isner
R. Nadal vs. D. Ferrer A. Roddick

Predictions: Not shocked to see that the top four seeds were the only picks that came through for me. That said, I also predicted those four to make it into the semifinals and other than a Tsonga upset of Federer, which is more than possible, it'll probably happen. Nadal and Djokovic should still be seen as favorite for the finals.

I wrote the above prediction before Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer played their matches today, but glad to see I was right. Both faced potentially tricky opponents in Janko Tipsarevic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tipsarevic played wonderfully for the first two sets giving Djokovic all he could handle. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep up that level of play and had to retire in the fourth set. Federer had a fairly routine match against Tsonga who just never looked comfortable for an extended period of time. They had the night match which was interrupted by rain, but thankfully they were able to resume and finish the match.


For the ladies, Serena Williams started out slow in the first set against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but after gutting out a win there, she cruised in the second. It was a mirror image for top seed Caroline Wozniacki as she made quick work of Andrea Petkovic in the first only to struggle to close it out in the second. Lower ranked Sam Stosur easily won against 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva, beating her for the 8th straight time. The final match went to surprise semifinalist Angelique Kerber who won in three sets against Flavia Pennetta.

Semifinal Preview
S. Williams vs. C. Wozniacki
S. Stosur vs. A. Kerber

Prediction: Stosur should be glad that she's facing Kerber instead of Pennetta and she should be heavily favored to reach her first US Open final. On paper, Williams is the odds-on favorite to win against Wozniacki and to win the whole thing, but if Wozniacki could beat Serena, that #1 ranking suddenly seems legit, doesn't it? I'm still betting on a Williams-Stosur final though.

US Open Report: Day 10

It was another washout day at the US Open as rain halted play and caused plenty of drama both on and off the court.

With yesterday's matches not being played also because of rain, there was real urgency to get some of the players on court today, especially the remaining eight men still to play their 4th round matches. With a supposedly small two-hour window of no rain, three of the matches were started to the consternation of the players. Most vocal was defending champion Rafael Nadal who at one point told tournament referee Brian Earley "It's the same old story, all you think about is money." Whoa. After a few minutes of play, Andy Roddick complained to his chair umpire about the slickness of the court and play was promptly suspended. The other matches, including Nadal's, followed suit. Nadal, along with Roddick and Andy Murray, then went to the tournament office to confront Earley.

After their behind-closed-doors meeting, commentator Pam Shriver talked with the players. Murray confirmed that they went in to protest the decision to bring the players out without guaranteeing the safety of the courts while Roddick was a bit more diplomatic as he expressed understanding the business side of tennis. Nadal was clearly still angry about the whole thing telling Shriver that with all the money the Slams make, they should make sure that the players as "part of the show" should be protected.

The ESPN commentators for their part tried to recap all of this for the tennis-starved audience and I admit, as one of those fans I was enjoying the drama of it all while being very sympathetic to the players. John McEnroe took a pro-player stance and went on a long speech putting the problems in context as a former pro. The usually zen-like Darren Cahill boldly stated on air that "There's no strong or visible leadership from the ATP." Wow.

The women, by the way, weren't bystanders to all of this. After the men's matches were canceled, their quarterfinal matches were inexplicably kept on schedule in hopes that they might get to play a bit later. All of them, including the top two seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva, grouped up and had their own meeting with Earley to make sure that what happened with the men earlier that day didn't happen to them. Earley for his part learned his lesson and duly made sure they would only go out to play if it was 100% safe. As a result, they didn't play. Of course, this means that tomorrow, weather-permitting, all of the remaining men's fourth round matches will be played simultaneously on the three show courts as well as the new Court 17 followed by the four women quarterfinal matches.

It will be a real challenge the next few days especially if the matches scheduled tomorrow don't finished. As of now, if the tournament were to remain on schedule (with the women's final on Saturday and the men's final on Sunday), the bottom half of the men's draw will likely need to play four 5-set matches in four days and the women would play three days straight. It will be grueling and the quality of play will surely suffer. Are we possibly heading to a fourth year in a row of a Monday finish for the tournament?

This post is already longer than I intended, but the real question now is what to do moving forward. The rain caused most of this drama and the only solutions are to wish it never rains again or build a roof over the courts. From all the commentaries on this the past few days, however, it seems wishing is the likelier option. All I know is this conversation isn't done and won't be swept under the rug. The complaints today came from very high-profile and important people with some clout. Here's hoping for sunnier days ahead.

US Open Report: Day 8

Rain was forecast to interrupt play as early as 4pm, but apart from a few light sprinkles after midnight, the rain gods largely spared Flushing Meadows making it possible to complete every match scheduled including a match that has the distinction of being the latest starting men's match at the US Open.

So, let's start there. Five-time champion Roger Federer stepped out to a still quite full Arthur Ashe stadium at around 11:50pm to play his fourth round match against Juan Monaco. With breezy conditions and imminent threat of rain, he played majestically losing only three games the whole match. By winning, he reached his 30th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, the most underrated and amazing record not just in tennis, but in all of sports. Federer will next face his recent nemesis Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who valiantly came back from 2 sets to 1 down, taking out 8th seed Mardy Fish in five sets amidst rough conditions. A couple of Serbians joined them as top seed Novak Djokovic and 20th seed Janko Tipsarevic also moved on. Djokovic has not lost a set yet.


Three former Grand Slam champions were ousted today on the women's side as their quarterfinal lineup was completed today. The lone exception, Serena Williams, is also the only slam champion left in the entire draw! She took out 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic. Former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was taken out by top seed Caroline Wozniacki in a tight three hour match while 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone went down to 17th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The last quarterfinalist is 10th seed Andrea Petkovic who moved on in straight sets.

Quarterfinal Preview
C. Wozniacki vs. N. Li A. Petkovic
S. Williams vs. J. Jankovic A. Pavlyuchenkova
M. Sharapova Flavia Pennetta vs. P. Kvitova A. Kerber
V. Zvonareva vs. S. Stosur

Predictions: Half of my pre-tournament guesses ended up being wrong, but I had higher expectations for those slam champions that fell way too early. That said, I predicted Serena to win the whole thing and none of the other ladies here is making me want to change my mind, so this is hers to lose. The question now is who she could face in the finals and my gut feeling says it'll be the winner of Zvonareva-Stosur with the slight edge to the Russian.

US Open Report: Days 4 and 5

Just a quick update on Days 5 and 6 of the US Open before the beginning of the great Labor Day weekend stretch of tennis.

The big upset of the past two days was the ouster of 3rd seed and former champion Maria Sharapova to Flavia Pennetta. Her great results at the French, Wimbledon, and over the summer hardcourts made her one of the favorites, but instead her side of the draw is very up for grabs as not one single Slam champion is there. Other upsets include 7th seed Gael Monfils who was taken out by a resurgent Juan Carlos Ferrero, 13th seed seed Richard Gasquet going down to Ivo Karlovic, and 14th seed Stan Wawrinka losing in the fifth set to American Donald Young incidentally the youngest player left in the draw.

Young is just one of the few Americans who has made a dent at this year's US Open. Vania King and Sloane Stephens both beat seeded players to reach the third round while Christina McHale and Jack Sock were given opportunities to play in Arthur Ashe after their great showing. Unfortunately they both lost pretty easily to Maria Kirilenko and Andy Roddick. John Isner and Mardy Fish won their matches, but not Robby Ginepri and James Blake.

Like the first three days, retirements and withdrawals abound. 23rd seed Radek Stepanek and Wimbledon fan favorite Nicholas Mahut retired from their matches, the latter while playing Rafael Nadal. Ana Ivanovic didn't even need to hit one ball as her opponent withdrew with injury before their match.

Probably related to all the injuries, there seems to be a lot of breadsticks (6-1) and bagels (6-0) sets this year. Francesca Schiavone, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, Sabine Lisicki, Marin Cilic, and a few others baked these sets for their poor opponents. Former US Open champions Roger Federer, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Juan Martin Del Potro also moved on easily to the next round. Meanwhile, Andy Murray had more difficulty going up against Robin Haase who was up two sets before injuring himself letting Murray run away with the next two sets. The fifth set was a bit nuts as Murray went up 4-0, only for Haase to even it up at 4-4. Murray managed to win the next two games to reach the next round.

Finally, let's hear it for the old fogies! Along with Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick who beat their much younger opponents, let's give it up to Tommy Haas (who plays Juan Monaco next), Nikolay Davydeko, and David Nalbandian for reaching the round of 32. For their rankings and more importantly for their recent histories, it's already been a successful US Open for them all.

US Open Report: First Three Days

Fireworks at the Opening Night of the US Open

256 players entered the tournament and after only three days, there are only 112 players left. So let's take a quick look at what's been happening at the US Open.

Lots of early retirement and withdrawals

With former US Open champions Kim Clijsters and Lleyton Hewitt withdrawing before the tournament even began, it should've been a sign that things are not well in Denmark. Through the first three days 10 players retired mid-match, including three Japanese and two Irish players. Three other players withdrew, most notably 6th seed Robin Soderling and 2-time US Open champion Venus Williams. Venus withdrew before her 2nd round match after she was diagnosed with Sjögren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease.

Americans strong showing so far

There were 29 Americans in the 128-Draw and 16 of them made it to the next round including top contenders Mardy Fish, Serena Williams, and Andy Roddick. Even with Venus' untimely withdrawal, there will be at least two American women in the third round as Christina McHale and Irina Falconi have already upset seeded players Marion Bartoli and Dominika Cibulkova. In the men's side, at least two Americans should make it as there are two all-American matches upcoming (Roddick-Sock and Ginepri-Isner)

Shocking and not-so-shocking upsets

Soderling, Bartoli, and Cibulkova were just three of the 12 seeded players that fell on the first three days of the tournament. The biggest shock is probably the ousters of 5th seed Petra Kvitova and 6th seed Na Li, the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champions, in the first round! Both have had slumps after their Grand Slam triumphs, but to have none of the women Grand Slam winners reach the 2r (Australian Open champ Clijsters is gone) is weird. Other seeds that have fallen include 10th seed Nicolas Almagro, 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 15th seed Viktor Troiki, 20th seed Yanina Wickmayer, 21st seed Daniela Hantuchova, 32nd seed Ivan Dodig, and 32nd seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. And speaking of upsets, top doubles seed the Bryan Brothers were surprisingly knocked out in the first round.

Top contenders still dominant

The top four men (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray) have not lost a set, though the latter three experience momentary hiccups on their way to winning. Serena is in a class of her own, especially with all of the injuries, withdrawals, and losses of certain key players. With that said, there are still four other Grand Slam winners left in the draw to deal with as well as a few more former/current world no. 1s and slam finalists that are itching to be the fourth surprise winner this year.

Hurricane Irene affects US Open

With Hurricane Irene barreling down up and down the East coast and hitting New York City a day before the start of the Open, it's a bit of a miracle that Day 1 went off with almost no hitch. Other than a few players having difficulty getting into the Open due to weather-related delays, Irene did very little to effect the Open. The tennis center thankfully had very little damage from the storm and the subway system was in operation from day 1. It has also helped that for three days now, the weather has been absolutely picture perfect, day and night.

Finally some miscellaneous topics

Golf-tennis love connection all over the place as Caroline Wozniacki reveals her relationship with US Open gold champ Rory McIlroy and former paramour Adam Scott watched Ana Ivanovic win her first round match... Meanwhile 658 people including Mardy Fish and Andrea Petkovic set a new Guinness World Record... And finally, defending champ Rafael Nadal strips down.

Serena, Novak Dominate; Other Seeds Falter

The tennis world headed to the Great White North last week to play for the Rogers Cup, the first big tournament since Wimbledon a couple of months ago. The women were in Toronto while the men dueled in Montreal. The week saw a lot of shocking results and upsets, but it ended with two players who can truly be called the favorites for the final Grand Slam of the year at the US Open.


Serena Williams was ranked outside the top 150 three weeks ago, but after winning two tournaments in a row, including this past week at Toronto, she is back in the top 32. En route, she took out top 4 seed Victoria Azarenka and 10th seed Samantha Stosur, both with straight-set victories. While Serena dominated, others didn't have such luck. The top two seeds, Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters, were taken out in their first match with the latter withdrawing with injury. Grand Slam champions Na Li, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, and Francesca Schiavone all couldn't even reach the quarterfinals.


It was a similar story in Montreal for the men. Second seed Rafael Nadal and defending champion Andy Murray were upset in their first matches while third seed Roger Federer fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga two tournaments in a row. This made way for the best player in the world going up against the best American man. Top seed Novak Djokovic improved his already magnificent record this year to 53-1 by beating Mardy Fish. Djokovic is the first player to win 5 Masters titles in a single year. Fish, who has reached the final in his last three tournaments, lead in the US Open Series rankings along with Serena.

Wimbledon Report: Fourth Round

With the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Prince William and Princess Kate) in attendance at Centre Court, Andy Murray swiftly handled Richard Gasquet in straight sets. On Court 1, Novak Djokovic similarly swept Michael Llodra with relative ease. Roger Federer dropped his first set of the tournament against a fiery Mikhail Youzhny, but won to reach his mind-boggling 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Finally, Rafael Nadal edged out Juan Martin Del Potro in a tight match to round out the top four. Both Nadal and Del Potro injured themselves during their duel and the extent of those injuries are still unknown.

Mardy Fish reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal by taking out last year's finalist Tomas Berdych in straights while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showed off his grass-court skills against David Ferrer. Down 0-2 in sets, Feliciano Lopez mounted an impressive comeback to defeat Lukasz Kubot in a dogfight that lasted more than four hours. Finally, Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic continued his dream run by taking out Xavier Malisse.

Quarterfinal Preview
Rafael Nadal vs. Tomas Berdych Mardy Fish
Andy Murray vs. Andy Roddick Feliciano Lopez
Roger Federer vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Novak Djokovic vs. Jurgen Melzer Bernard Tomic

Predictions: It really does boggle me how consistent the top four have been in big tournaments. In fact just a few weeks ago, they all reached the semifinals at the French Open and I believe they will do it again here. Tsonga and Lopez will be tricky players though and the extent of Nadal's injury could be a factor, but for now I'm sticking with the Big Four.


Before talking about the monumental upsets that transpired today, let's talk about the other matches. Top seeds Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka easily handled their opponents, Shuai Peng and Nadia Petrova respectively. Last year's semifinalist Petra Kvitova soundly defeated Yanina Wickmayer in straight stes. Kvitova and Sharapova are the only two players to not have dropped a set. Joining them in the quarterfinals are 2009 quarterfinalist Sabine Lisicki and Tamira Paszek (reaches Wimbledon quarters for the first time).

As for the upsets, defending champion Serena Williams and her sister, 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, are ousted on the same day. It's a first for this tournament and quite shocking as they've dominated this tournament for nearly a decade. Marion Bartoli took out Serena, a bit reminiscent of when she defeated sister Venus a couple of years back, while 2010 semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova repeated her amazing win last year against Venus in dominant fashion. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki hoping to win her first major title must wait again as she was also upset by Dominika Cibulkova. Wozniacki won the first set easily, but just couldn't steal one more set.

Quarterfinal Preview
Maria Sharapova vs. Caroline Wozniacki Dominika Cibulkova
Serena Williams Marion Bartoli vs. Na Li Sabine Lisicki
Victoria Azarenka vs. Andrea Petkovic Tamira Paszek
Petra Kvitova vs. Vera Zvonareva Tsvetana Pironkova

Predictions: My early guesses were obviously wrong, but in my defense I really didn't think both Williams sisters would be gone before the quartefinals. With that said, this is turning out to be Sharapova's slam to lose as she's the only one here to have a slam title to her name. The rest of the women though all have a great shot at not only reaching their first Grand Slam final, but to win their first one as well. I think Bartoli, Azarenka, and Kvitova will join Sharapova in the semis.

Wimbledon: Second Week Preview

Wimbledon began with 256 tennis players looking to grab the ultimate prize in tennis. After taking some rest on Sunday, the 32 remaining players, 16 men and 16 women, are all scheduled to play tomorrow in one of the greatest day in all of tennis.


Caroline Wozniacki [1] vs. Dominika Cibulkova [24]
Maria Sharapova [5] vs. Shuai Peng [20]
Sabine Lisicki vs. Petra Cetkovska
Serena Williams [7] vs. Marion Bartoli [9]

Tamira Paszek vs. Ksenia Pervak
Victoria Azarenka [4] vs. Nadia Petrova
Petra Kvitova [8] vs. Yanina Wickmayer [19]
Venus Williams [23] vs. Tsvetana Pironkova [32]

The big story here is that the Williams sisters are still alive and since they are on opposite sides of the draw, are we headed for yet another All-Williams final? Serena Williams probably has the better chance to win the whole tournament than her sister, but she definitely has the tougher road to get there getting Marion Bartoli and then having to face either Caroline Wozniacki or Maria Sharapova.

Venus Williams on the other hand is the only one in her side to even reach a Grand Slam final, let alone win one. But she'll need to avenge last year's loss first to Tsvetana Pironkova in order to even get that far.

Predictions: The higher seeds, should get through their matches along with Sabine Lisicki and Tamira Paszek. My earlier predictions are still for the most part OKAY since those I've predicted to win that to go to the semifinals are still alive!


Rafael Nadal [1] vs. Juan Martin Del Potro [24]
Tomas Berdych [6] vs. Mardy Fish [10]
Andy Murray [4] vs. Richard Gasquet [17]
Feliciano Lopez vs. Lukasz Kubot

David Ferrer [7] vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [12]
Roger Federer [3] vs. Mikhail Youzhny [18]
Xavier Malisse vs. Bernard Tomic
Novak Djokovic [2] vs. Michael Llodra [19]

The top four keep on rolling as they, combined, have only lost three sets. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic should be heavily favored in their match-ups as should Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, but the latter two will face a bit more of a challenge especially since Juan Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet respectively have cost them problems before in big matches.

The other matches are a bit more in the toss-up column and for many it'll be their first fourth round showing at Wimbledon. Can some of them go one further?

Predictions: With Andy Roddick and Jurgen Melzer out, my predictions earlier are messed up, but I still have the top four meeting at the SF which I still feel comfortable in predicting. I also predicted Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to join the top four in the next round so I'll keep them. As for my replacement quarterfinalists, I'll choose Feliciano Lopez and Xavier Malisse.

Wimbledon Report: Day 5

Crazy work day, family stuff, and a little something called Marriage Equality all conspired to make Wimbledon the last thing on my mind today, but there's no time like the present to talk about the fifth day of the tournament.


There were two big upsets today as former finalists 8th seed Andy Roddick and 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva were both ousted today. Roddick, who only reached the finals back in 2009, was beaten by solid grass court player Feliciano Lopez while Zvonareva, last year's losing finalist, was manhandled by 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova. Zvonareva was joined by 11th seed Andrea Petkovic and 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. The other seeded men to play today made it through with 4th seed Andy Murray and 1th seed Richard Gasquet setting up a mouth-watering 4th round duel between two former semifinalists after both winning their matches.


In keeping in line with what's happened so far, the women's match scheduled for Centre Court yet again went the distance as 4th seed Victoria Azarenka had to play a third set against 25th seed Daniela Hantuchova. They traded sets until rain forced a slight delay. When they came back, Azarenka dominated under the roof to reach the next round. A few of the other top contenders to win today include top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 5th seed Maria Sharapova, 8th seed Petra Kvitova, 9th seed Marion Bartoli, and 23rd seed Venus Williams.

Rain suspended and postponed play yet again with Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro, Gael Monfils, Francesca Schiavone, Mardy Fish, and Tomas Berdych all being affected. Fortunately, the forecast seem to indicate that this might be the last day the rain will effect play. With the tournament taking Sunday off, they are praying that all matches complete tomorrow.

Wimbledon Report: Day 2

Even though the wind made play a bit tricky for some players, thankfully the rain stayed away after postponing many of the matches the day before. Water was shed though from a very unlikely source.


Defending champion Serena Williams played her first Grand Slam match at Centre Court since she won the title last year. It wasn't easy as she had to gut out a 3-set win and by the end her emotions overwhelmed her. She was still tearing up when she spoke to the media after the match. And who could blame her after being unable to play for a year and getting a couple of surgeries that could've threatened her career.

Other top contenders who joined Serena in the second round include top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 3rd seed Na Li, 4th seed Victoria Azarenka, 5th seed Maria Sharapova, 8th seed Petra Kvitova, 9th seed Marion Bartoli, 11th seed Andrea Petkovic, and 18th seed Ana Ivanovic who all moved routinely in straight sets. The latter absolutely demolished American upstart Melanie Oudin. Unfortunately former Grand Slam finalists 10th seed Sam Stosur and 15th seed Jelena Jankovic weren't so lucky as they were unceremoniously bounced from the first round.


Unlike the women, no huge upsets for the men today as the top contenders including 2nd seed Novak Djokovic, 3rd seed Roger Federer, 7th seed David Ferrer, 8th seed Andy Roddick, 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and 24th seed Juan Martin Del Potro who all moved through with minimal drama. 5th seed Robin Soderling had to win in four sets after seemingly injuring himself in the third set. Other four-set winners include 11th seed Jurgen Melzer, 12th seed Gilles Simon, 18th seed Mikhail Youzhny, and former champion Lleyton Hewitt. The latter outlasted the younger Kei Nishikori in one of the outer courts.

The long awaited and much-anticipated rematch of The Longest Tennis Match Ever between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut lasted about 9 hours less than their historic match last year with Isner winning again, this time in 3 relatively straightforward sets. Joining Mahut on the sideline are 22nd seed Alexandr Dologopolov (beaten by former top 10 Fernando Gonzalez), 23rd seed Janko Tipsaveric (retired against Ivo Karlovic), 27th seed Marin Cilic (beaten by veteran Ivan Ljubicic), 29th seed Nikolay Davydenko, and unseeded James Blake who lost in a tight 5-set match against 32nd seed Marcos Baghdatis. 21st seed Fernando Verdasco won his close 5-set match against Radek Stepanek, 9-7 in the fifth set.

Though it's the longest day of the year, there are still some first round matches that will need to be played tomorrow due to the packed schedule today. But for the most part, it's on to the Second Round!

Wimbledon Preview

The tennis world moves to the green grass of the All-England Club at Wimbledon for the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins this coming Monday. Below are my initial thoughts and predictions.


Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal is entering the tournament with a 14-match win streak at the All-England club and though he has a tricky draw, it's hard not to see him powering through to the finals yet again. Boosted by his performance at the French Open, 3rd seed Roger Federer, who won Wimbledon just two years ago, should like his chances to win his first Grand Slam this year. But while it's easy to predict yet another Fedal Final, 2nd seed Novak Djokovic has only lost ONE match this year and 4th seed Andy Murray, fresh from winning on grass last week, is hungrier than ever for his first Grand Slam title.

Former Wimbledon finalists 6th seed Tomas Berdych and 8th seed Andy Roddick should not be underestimated, but then again they haven't played their best tennis recently. There is also 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who recently reached the finals at Queen's Club losing to Murray as well as the two German Philipps (Kohlschreiber and Petzschner) who reached the Halle final last week. There's also big-serving Juan Martin Del Potro and former semifinalist Richard Gasquet. With all of that said though, the match everyone is most anticipating will be the first round rematch of The Longest Tennis Match Ever between Nicholas Mahut and John Isner. The tennis gods surely have a wicked sense of humor don't they?

Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal d. Tomas Berdych
Andy Murray d. Andy Roddick
Roger Federer d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Novak Djokovic d. Jurgen Melzer

Semifinals
Rafael Nadal d. Andy Murray
Roger Federer d. Novak Djokovic

Finals
Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal


With Kim Clijsters out with injury, it's just one less player Serena Williams will have to beat en route to her first title since she won the tournament last year, which incidentally was also her last tournament played until last week's turn-up event. Ranked in the 20s, but seeded 8th, she's still the favorite. Her sister, Venus Williams is seeded 23rd, but has also seen very, very little play. Still, underestimate the Williams sisters at your peril especially at Wimbledon. Former champion and 5th seed Maria Sharapova should do some damage here as well as recent French Open champion and 3rd seed Na Li.

Like for the past year or two, this is a good opportunity for top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva, and 4th seed Victoria Azarenka to finally step up and claim their first Grand Slam title. The latter especially would do well to at least reach her first slam final. 9th seed and former finalist Marion Bartoli shouldn't be ignored as well as former slam champions Francesca Schiavone, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Ana Ivanovic.

Quarterfinals
Maria Sharapova d. Caroline Wozniacki
Serena Williams d. Na Li
Victoria Azarenka d. Andrea Petkovic
Petra Kvitova d. Vera Zvonareva

Semifinals
Serena Williams d. Maria Sharapova
Victoria Azarenka d. Petra Kvitova

Finals
Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka

FINAL WORD: Picking Federer to win is probably a bit of wishful thinking on my part since Nadal IS the favorite, but I would be shocked to see a winner not seeded in the top 4. As for Serena, if she's healthy, she will win this. There's no one that can match her will and power on court. Best people can hope for is she's really rusty, but even then she won't go down easily.

French Open: Third Round Report

The most anticipated match of this round that everyone was looking forward to was Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin Del Potro and yet there was some drama. The mixture of being scheduled last in the main show court, the previous matches going the distance, and the weather being gloomy meant that both men had to wait a long time with the chance that their match might be postponed altogether and/or moved to another court. Both happened. They moved to the other show court, but only managed to play two sets (both men winning one each) before the match was suspended for darkness. Djokovic then went on to extend his win streak to 40 by winning the next two sets they played the next day.

In more shocking news, top seed Caroline Wozniacki falls to 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova managing to win only four games and thereby extending the question of her credibility as the "number one player of the world." While people question her status, people are also wondering what's up with the other top seed, Rafael Nadal. But despite being pushed in his first two rounds, it was vintage Nadal in the third round sweeping a qualifier (who still broke the Spaniard twice in the second set) in straight sets. And despite his earlier problems, one should not be surprised if Nadal makes it look easy the rest of the tournament.

No Americans make it to the second week of the tournament (again... or is that redundant?) with Mardy Fish, Vania King, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands all losing. It's another story for the French though as four French players (Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, and Marion Bartoli) make it to the second week. It could've been five, but Stanislas Wawrinka mounted an impressive five-set comeback against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who was up two sets and a break). Other notable losses include last year's semifinalist Sam Stosur, Kaia Kanepi, Fernando Verdasco, and Mikhail Youzhny.

There was a slight scare for 4th seed Andy Murray as he sprained his ankle in the middle of his match. In obvious pain, he managed to power through to a relatively "easy" straight-set win, but one hopes that he can recover quickly from the injury especially with the cupcake draw that he has been offered. Other notable straight-set winners include Roger "Under the Radar" Federer, David Ferrer, Robin Soderling, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Francescha Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic, Vera Zvonareva, and Na Li.

Ten of the top 16 seeds are still alive in the men's draw, while 12 remain in the women's draw. Bring on the second week!

French Open: Second Round Report

The biggest news during the second round is the lost of 2nd seed Kim Clijsters who was a lot of people's pick, including mine, to win the tournament. A determined opponent, difficult conditions, possibly lingering health issues, and lots and lots of errors brought the 4-time major champion down making her the highest seed to leave the tournament. Another big upset is 8th seed Jurgen Melzer who joins fellow 2010 French Open semi-finalist Tomas Berdych in the sidelines. Other seeds to go down in the second round include Florian Mayer, Sam Querrey, Marcos Baghdatis, Alexandra Dulgheru, Nikolay Davydenko, Kevin Anderson, and Tsvetana Pironkova.

Top seed Rafael Nadal found himself once again in a tough and physical match against fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar. Andujar was up 5-1 in the third set, but wasted eight set points giving Nadal a straight-set win. Third seed Vera Zvonareva was down and out until her opponent Sabine Lisicki injured herself. Lisicki finished the match, but had to be taken out on a stretcher. Similarly Maria Sharapova was two points away from being upset early against French phenom Caroline Garcia. She reeled off 11 straight games through, bageling her young opponent in the final set. Speaking of the French though, they continue to have a strong presence with the top men and woman still around (Marion Bartoli, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Richard Gasquet).

As for the Americans, three are left--Vania King, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and Mardy Fish--all of them reaching the third round of Roland Garros for the first time. Other than Nadal, most of the men frontrunners are still around and doing well (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling, and David Ferrer). Djokovic is set for a blockbuster match with Juan Martin Del Potro next round. With Clijsters out, the open women's draw opened up a lot more giving players such as Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Francesca Schiavone, Sam Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova, among others, their best chance to win. Hell, I think an injured Serena Williams or an un-retired Martina Hingis could've done a lot of damage with this draw!

French Open: First Round Report

The first round is done and dusted and most of the favorites moved safely through to the second. Some though didn't make it look easy. Defending champion and 5-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal was forced to play a fifth set for the first time in Roland Garros in his brutal match with John Isner. The American won the 2nd and 3rd set in tiebreaks, but Nadal took control as Isner ran out of juice by the end. The other French Open defending champion, Francesca Schiavone, had a much easier time against another American youngsters as she absolutely demolished Melanie Oudin. But the news wasn't all bad for Americans. In fact even with some notable absences, Americans did well on the red clay. Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, Jill Craybas, Bethany Mattek-Sands, Vania King, and Varvara Lepcheko all moved on to the next round. The latter two women took down seeded players. And while Lucky Loser Ryan Harrison was beaten by last year's finalist Robin Soderling, he still managed to win a set.

Sixth seed and last year's semifinalist Tomas Berdych gets the dishonor of being the highest seed in either draw to get booted in the first round; 18th seed Flavia Pennetta was the highest seed in the women's side to get upset. 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic also fell in the first round, a discouraging result for her especially in light of some of her gains in smaller tournaments. Other seeds to get upset include Nicolas Almagro, Marin Cilic, Shahar Peer, Dominika Cibulkova, Milos Raonic, Nadia Petrova, and Klara Zakapalova. And though not seeded, sad to see Tommy Haas exit early as well as Lleyton Hewitt withdraw at the last-minute. Finally, former top ten player Patty Schnyder called it a career after her first round lost here.

Novak Djokovic continued his unbeatable form, winning his 38th straight match. Roger Federer, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, and Juan Martin Del Potro all showed excellent form. Coming back to Roland Garros for the first time in five years, Kim Clijsters extends her unbeaten Grand Slam match win to 15 matches. Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, Sam Stosur, and Maria Sharapova won in straights.

French Open Preview

So the world didn't end this weekend, which is not only fantastic news for, well everyone, but also for us tennis fans because Sunday marks the beginning of the French Open, the second tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year. Since I don't have time to do my usual draw analysis, here are my scattered thoughts for both the men and women instead.


The main story for the men this whole season has been the absolute dominance of 2nd seed Novak Djokovic. Undefeated this year, he has won 7 titles and shows no sign of slowing down. Defending champion and 1st seed Rafael Nadal is still the favorite, but the fact that Djokovic beat Nadal four straight times this year including twice on Nadal's beloved clay makes the whole thing just a bit more interesting. And even though 3rd seed Roger Federer is a former champion, his form and his chances here at least compared to Nadal and Djokovic aren't so good. Then again he IS the last person to defeat Djokovic (at last year's year-end championships). Then there's 4th seed Andy Murray who is slowly coming out of his post-Australian Open funk fighting Djokovic on clay this year closer than anyone else has.

Fifth seed Robin Soderling has reached the French Open finals two times in a row beating the defending champion en route each time. We doubt he'll do it a third time, but weirder things have happened. Other names to watch out for include David Ferrer (always a threat to test our your endurance), Richard Gasquet (beat Federer recently on clay), Milos Roanic (newcomer of the year, no?), and Juan Martin Del Potro (comeback of the year, no?).

Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal d. Robin Soderling
Nicolas Almagro d. Andy Murray
Roger Federer d. David Ferrer
Novak Djokovic d. Mikhail Youzhny

Semifinals
Rafael Nadael d. Nicolas Almagro
Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer

Finals
Rafael Nadal d. Novak Djokovic


With Justine Henin retired and the Williams sisters injured, the big story here is that anyone, I repeat, ANYONE can win this thing. The one who seems to be a few people's favorite is 2-time French Open finalist and 2nd seed Kim Clijsters even though she's injured and hasn't played competitively in two months. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki should see this as yet another golden opportunity to win that maiden slam especially since she has probably been the most consistent player on the tour this year. Defending champion and 5th seed Francesca Schiavone should not be counted out (remember her implausible dream run last year?), but she really hasn't been the same player since. Then there's 7th seed Maria Sharopova who is one of the very few multi-Grand Slam champions on the list and with her recent successes in clay, you never know. She could win the career Grand Slam.

Third and fourth seeds Vera Zvonareva and Victoria Azarenka can most definitely claim the championship, but they're their worst enemies. Then again this pretty much goes for a whole slew of players such as Li Na (have struggled recently, but always a threat in slams) and Sam Stosur (she was last year's finalist!) as well former champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic who both possess the talent obviously, but recently not the self-belief to win. All I really have to say is, Elena Dementieva surely retired from the game one year too early didn't she?

Quarterfinals
Caroline Wozniacki d. Samantha Stosur
Vera Zvonareva d. Francescha Schiavone
Victoria Azarenka d. Petra Kvitova
Kim Clijsters d. Maria Sharapova

Semifinals
Vera Zvonareva d. Caroline Wozniacki
Kim Clisjters d. Victoria Azarenka

Finals
Kim Clijsters d. Vera Zvonareva

FINAL WORLD: Somehow I find myself predicting the top four women seeds to reach the semifinals as improbable as that outcome may be, but that's what happens when I don't pay attention to the recent results. For the men, I predicted the top three plus Almagro since I just don't trust Murray to reach that far. In the end though Nadal will most likely repeat while there will be a first-time French Open champion for the women.