Australian Open Report: Day 2

The top seeds continued to dominate, some bagels were dished, and a couple of Grand Slam champions were taken out. Onwards to day two...

In a trend that started on day one, the top men continued to breeze through their first round matches. Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray won when their opponents retired, with Nadal not giving his opponent any games. Robin Soderling also won in three easy sets, a far cry from last year when the two-time French Open finalist was bounced in the first round.

Other players with a straight-set wins include 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny, 11th seed Jurgen Melzer, 15th seed Marin Cilic, 20th seed John Isner, 31st seed Feliciano Lopez, Radek Stepanek, and Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro is playing his first slam match since he lost here last year in the fourth round.

A few others, however, were made to go the distance including David Nalbandian and 2-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt with Nalbandian winning against the Aussie 9-7 in the final set. 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 21st seed Marcos Baghdatis, and 30th seed Thomaz Belluci also had to win in five sets. With that said, the lone seed to fall yesterday was 24th seed Ernests Gulbis in straight sets.


It was pretty much the same story in the women's side as the top women moved on easily. Kim Clijsters embarrassed struggling Dinara Safina dishing out a double bagel to the former world no. 1. Vera Zvonareva, Samantha Stosur, Shahar Peer, Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta, Alize Cornet, Lourdes Dominguez Lino, and Iveta Benesova delivered similar beatdowns to their opponents who only managed to get three or less games the entire match.

The big "upset" of the day was the resurgent 19th seed Ana Ivanovic who fought off four match points against Ekaterina Makarova before the Russian eventually winning on her fifth match point 10-8 in the final set. Other notable losses include 27th seed Alexandra Dulgheru, Patty Schnyder, Melanie Oudin, and Kimiko Date-Krumm. Date-Krumm however still put up a fight against 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska (nearly 20 years her junior!) losing 5-7 in the final set.

Other notable winners yesterday include 7th seed Jelena Jankovic, 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 18th seed Maria Kirilenko, 25th seed Petra Kvitova, 26th seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Lucie Safarova, Vera Dushevina, Carla Suarrez Navarro, and Shuai Peng.

Clijsters Wins Doha, Player of the Year?

Kim Clijsters continued reshaping her legacy during her second tennis career after her comeback to the game last year as she defeated world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki at the WTA Championships in Doha. She becomes only the fifth player in WTA history to win the year-end event three or more times tying Monica Seles with three wins. Only Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Chris Evert have won more. With her win in Doha, Clijsters has compiled an amazing 6-0 record in finals since her comeback. Her other five titles include two Grand Slam wins at the US Open as well as titles from Brisbane, Miami, and Cincinnati.

Wozniacki ended her year bitter-sweetly, clearly happy for clinching that year-end #1 ranking and winning the most titles on the tour and yet obviously disappointed for not winning any of the major titles, hearkening back to the slam-less #1 reigns of Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic.

The match itself was worthy of a final between two top-tier players. Clijsters cruised to a 6-3 4-1 lead with Wozniacki digging deep to even the second set at 5-5. Clijsters' concentration and level of play dipped and suddenly it was the third set with Wozniacki up an early break. Clijsters finally came alive again, breaking the Dane right back and rushing to a 5-2 lead. Two games later, Clijsters was able to serve it out winning 6-3 5-7 6-3.

The question to ask now is who is the Player of the Year?

As I wrote above, Wozniacki ends the year as the top ranked player in the world amassing more titles than anyone, but her lack of success in majors is suspect. Serena Williams won the most majors out of anyone, 2, one at the Australian Open and another in Wimbledon. Those would be her only titles of the year, however, and she was largely absent during the second half of the year. Francesca Schiavone and Clijsters grabbed the other two majors with Clijsters also winning Doha and three other titles. Plus there are those who have made career breakthroughs this year such as Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva who both reached their first Grand Slam finals as well as their highest rankings. If I had to pick someone, it would be Clijsters. She won a Grand Slam as well as multiple titles both in the first and second halves of the year. Coincidentally, she does top the tour on one thing, prize money won.

French Open: First Round Report

For the French Open, the first round stretched out for three whole days. The weather for the first two days was hot and dry making the courts play faster. On the third day, it was cloudy and wetter slowing up the courts. Fortunately the rain stayed away until the very end of the day making it possible to complete all of the matches except for one.

Recent finalists Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Robin Soderling easily moved on as well as other top seeds who have played generally well this past clay season. Three of the top eight seeds, however, had to go the distance to move forward. 4th seed Andy Murray was actually predicted to lose to unseeded Richard Gasquet based on the latter's recent clay results and Murray's lackluster showing on the surface. Unfortunately, Gasquet ran out of steam after winning the first two sets giving Murray the win. 6th seed Andy Roddick and 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to rally from 2-1 sets down to move through.

Only five seeds fell most notably 23rd seed Ernests Gulbis who recently defeated Federer on clay and was one of only two men to take a set off Nadal on clay this year. Gulbis retired at the beginning of the third set after losing the first two. Other seeds who fell were Tommy Robredo (21), Juan Monaco (26), Feliciano Lopez (27), and a dispirited Sam Querrey (18) who also ended up withdrawing from doubles.

The seeds held a bit stronger in the women's draw than in the men's with only three seeds going out. The results, however, were far more shocking than what the men delivered.

The biggest shocker of all was 9th seed and last year's finalist Dinara Safina going out to 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm who has not won a Grand Slam match in years! As depressing as this is for Safina, it is just as inspirational for one Date Krumm. The other two seeds that fell were 10th seed Victoria Azarenka who has been injured for awhile and 20th seed and recent Rome Masters champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Most of the top seeds and contenders including former champions Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Ana Ivanovic got through in straight sets.

French Open: Women's Preview

Last year's champion and this year's 6th seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova will try to reverse her current fortune's and go far in this competition. She should be okay until the fourth round when she faces stiff competition with either 11th seed Na Li or, more likely, 17th seed Francesca Schiavone. In the same quarter as Kuznetsova is the 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki. She should be the favorite, but with recent injuries, she's a bit uncertain. Wozniacki can either face 14th seed Flavia Pennetta or Lucie Safarova.

Second seed and former finalist Venus Williams anchors this half of the draw, but gets a potentially tricky first round match with former top ten player, Patty Schnyder. Fourth round may see her face off against 15th seed Aravane Rezai or 19th seed Nadia Petrova with possibly dangerous floaters Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze lurking as well. If the older Williams sister makes it this far, 5th seed Elena Dementieva, 10th seed Victoria Azarenka, or Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez would be her most likely quarterfinal opponents.

Jelena Jankovic, the 4th seed, will yet again try and get her maiden slam. Her early rounds are full of tricky players, but she should be able to reach at least the fourth round where she could face 16th seed Yanina Wickmayer or Daniela Hantuchova. There is also Carla Suarez Navarro acting as potential spoiler. Her quarterfinal challenges include last year's finalist Dinara Safina, former champion Ana Ivanovic, and 8th seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Finally, but top seed and former champion Serena Williams will look to add more hardware to her already full shelf. Despite only playing one tournament since winning the Australian Open, it's foolish to underestimate her. She looks likely to reach the fourth round where 13th seed Marion Bartoli or 18th seed Shahar Peer awaits her. Four-time champion and currently 22nd seed Justine Henin could face Serena in the quarterfinals but must first get through a struggling Maria Sharapova, the 12th seed. That section also contains 7th seed workhorse Samantha Stosur and Jie Zheng.

Semifinals:
Justine Henin d. Jelena Jankovic
Flavia Pennetta d. Elena Dementieva

Finals:
Justine Henin d. Elena Dementieva

WTA: Year-End Championship

The field is complete for the WTA Year-End Championship set to take place at Doha in a couple of days. The only 2009 Grand Slam winner/finalist to not make it into the Top 8 is US Open champion Kim Clijsters. She is currently ranked 18 and has only played three tournaments since her fairy tale comeback.

The elite eight women vying for the end-of-year prize are:

1. Dinara Safina - Still without a Grand Slam title to her name, Safina won three titles and made another five finals this year including being runner-up at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

Grand Slam Results: F, F, SF, 3r
Titles: Rome, Madrid, Portoroz
Runner-Up: Australian Open, Roland Garros, Cincinnati, Stuttgart, Sydney

2. Serena Williams - Serena only won two titles this year, but those two were Grand Slams at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. And while she didn't make much of an impact on the regular tour (no titles and just one final), her strong performances at the other slams lifted her up.

Grand Slam Results: W, QF, W, SF
Titles: Australian Open, Wimbledon
Runner-Up: Miami

3. Svetlana Kuznetsova - From out of nowhere, Svetlana was able to dig down to claim her second Grand Slam win after winning her first nearly five years ago.

Grand Slam Results: QF, W, 3r, 4r
Titles: Roland Garros, Stuttgart
Runner-Up: Rome

4. Caroline Wozniacki - A smashing year for the young Swede, Wozniacki reached a tour-high eight finals including her first Grand Slam final at the US Open. She also won three titles matching her results from last year.

Grand Slam Results: 3r, 3r, 4r, F
Titles: Eastbourne, New Haven, Ponte Vedra Beach
Runner-Up: US Open, Madrid, Charleston, Memphis, Bastad

5. Elena Dementieva - With three titles and winner of the US Open series, Dementieva posted very solid results this year. She also came within a win to reach a Grand Slam final twice this year, but was thwarted both times by Serena.

Grand Slam Results: SF, 3r, SF, 2r
Titles: Toronto, Sydney, Aukland
Runner-Up: Paris

6. Victoria Azarenka - Azarenka had a breakthrough year on the tour this year winning her first three titles, reaching her first (and second) Grand Slam quarterfinal, and rising to the Top Ten.

Grand Slam Results: 4r, QF, QF, 3r
Titles: Miami, Brisbane, Memphis

7. Venus Williams - With Venus' finals appearance this year at Wimbledon, she has made the finals at Wimbledon 8 out of 10 times this decade with 2004 and 2006 the only years she has failed to do so. She is the defending year-end tournament champion.

Grand Slam Results: 2r, 3r, F, 4r
Titles: Dubai, Acapulco
Runner-Up: Wimbledon, Stanford

8. Jelena Jankovic - It's a great effort for her to make it into the year-end championship, but this year has been rocky for the former world no. 1. She did win two titles this year and has at least done better than fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic.

Grand Slam Results: 4r, 4r, 3r, 2r
Titles: Cincinatti, Marbella,
Runner-Up: Tokyo

With injuries and general fatiguesness on both the men and the women's tour, it'll be somewhat of a miracle if all of the players show up healthy and ready to play considering most of their recent results (after the US Open) have been quite abysmal. For this reason, Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska will also fly to Doha as alternates.

Fun (Sad?) Fact #1: Other than Serena Williams, each of the top eight players has lost in the 3rd round or earlier in at least one Grand Slam this year.

Fun Fact #2: This is the first time that Serena and Venus Williams have qualified to play doubles in the Year-End Championships. It's no surprise however, since they bagged 3 of the 4 Grand Slams doubles titles this year.

Fun Fact #3: Depending on their results, either Dinara Safina or Serena Williams will end the year with the number one ranking.

US Open: Women's Preview

Defending champion and world no. 2 Serena Williams will try to defend her title and get her 12th Grand Slam win in New York. Despite her rocky results in non-Grand Slam events this year, she somehow finds a way to bring a little something extra during Grand Slam. Having said that, on paper, her path to the semifinals doesn't look too intimidating. She might have to face Sybille Bammer in the third round, Sam Stosur in the fourth round, and then a resurgent Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals.

Serena is in the same side as her bigger sister and 2-time US Open champion Venus Williams. It's shocking that Venus hasn't had more recent success at the US Open and this year she may not go as deep as she wanted. Why? Because looming as a possible fourth round opponent is 2005 US Open champion Kim Clijsters who is coming back from retirement and has already beaten a couple of Top 20 players in the past few weeks. Clijsters first test will be a second round match with 14th seed Marion Bartoli, but if she gets through with that, I can see her going deep.

On the top half of the draw, world no. 1 Dinara Safina will yet again try to get her maiden slam coming so very close this year reaching the finals at the Australian and French Opens and semifinals at Wimbledon. For her she should go deep if she plays confidently. Possible roadblocks for her would be Patty Schnyder or Shuai Peng in the fourth round and then either Ana Ivanovic or Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals. The favorite among the Serbian would be Jankovic who reached the finals at the US Open last year and did quite well at the US Open Series this summer.

Like Safina, 2009 US Open Series winner Elena Dementieva is looking to get her first Grand Slam. Even though she hasn't reached any slam finals this year, she has had many memorable tangles with Serena and has been strong this summer on hardcourts. She has a tricky quarter with a dangerous third round match-up with 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova. If she gets through that then she might have to fight off yet another US Open champion in the quarterfinals with 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Semifinals:
Elena Dementieva d. Jelena Jankovic
Serena Williams d. Kim Clijsters

Finals:
Elena Dementieva d. Serena Williams

Wimbledon: Semifinals Preview

Prediction: Your [women] semifinalists will be the top four seeds.

And indeed the top four seeds have moved on to the semifinals. It's been quite awhile this has happened in the women's side. Three of the four have moved through the draw with menacing dominance. Venus, Serena, and Dementieva have not dropped a single set. But then there's the no. 1 seed Dinara Safina who has had to gut out most of her wins. She has been completely underestimated this whole tournament. But here she is, in her first Wimbledon semifinals.

Safina will have the nearly impossible task in beating 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus en route to getting her first Slam title. Venus will win that match. The other semifinal match between Dementieva and Serena will probably be more competitive, but I think Serena will win setting up my first day prediction of an all-Williams final.

Prediction: Your semifinalists will be Roddick, Murray, Haas, and Federer.

I predicted these final four since day one and I have to say I'm rather proud of this fact. Predicting Federer, Murray, and even Roddick wasn't too much of a stretch, but I just knew that if Haas continued his strong form from the French Open and Halle, he could beat Djokovic, which he did in four convincing sets.

With their easy wins, Murray has reached his first Wimbledon semifinals while Federer logs his staggering 21st consecutive appearance at a Grand Slam semifinal. Finally, Roddick was able to overcome a match tough Hewitt to win in 5-tight sets. Roddick's tiredness will determine how competitive his match is with Murray while I fully expect Federer to end Haas' fairytale run setting up for the every juicy Federer-Murray final.

French Open: Women's Final Preview

First seed Dinara Safina defeated Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova followed up her gutsy win against Serena Williams with another gutsy win against Samantha Stosur 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Safina makes it into her second consecutive French Open final while this is Kuznetsova's fourth Grand Slam final and her second French Open final. Their head-to-head is 8-5 in Safina's favor, but 4-4 on clay. They 've also split their previous two meetings at the French Open as well as their clay results this year. From that standpoint it really is anybody's game.

Either Safina consolidates her number one ranking and gets her maiden Grand Slam title or Kuznetsova finally wins her second Grand Slam title.

Prediction: Dinara Safina in three sets.

Two More to Go for Federer

Roger Federer is just two matches away from winning his first French Open title as he beat French favorite Gael Monfils in straight sets 7-6, 6-2, 6-4. With this win he has reached the semifinals at Grand Slam tournaments for a record 20 consecutive times. The next best result? 10 consecutive times. Wow. This also means that for the past 4-5 years he has been one of the last four men standing. Just amazing.

Federer faces Juan Martin Del Potro next. If Federer manages to win that, he will take on the winner of Robin Soderling vs. Fernando Gonzalez. All in all Federer has a record of 39-1against these three remaining players, but then again wasn't Rafael Nadal 31-0 at the French Open?

In the women side, likely finalists Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova had to go the distance to reach the semifinals. Safina lost her first set of the tournament while Kuznetsova was pushed hard by Serena Williams. Safina faces Dominika Cibulkova next who ended Maria Sharapova's unexpected run while Kuznetsova takes on veteran Samantha Stosur who reaches her first Grand Slam semifinal.

French Open: Quarterfinal Preview

After an insane fourth round, eight men have made it into the quarterfinals. One of the more surprising fourth round victims is 4-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal yesterday losing in four sets while Roger Federer was two sets down and needed five sets to move on. Crazy indeed.

Quarterfinalists

Nikolay Davydenko [10] vs. Robin Soderling [23]
Andy Murray [3] vs. Fernando Gonzalez [12]
Juan Martin Del Potro [5] vs. Tommy Robredo [16]
Roger Federer [2] vs. Gael Monfils

Apart from predicting Federer to waltz right into the finals en route to finally FINALLY getting his golden fleece, his Holy Grail, his WMDs, his copy of the last Harry Potter book weeks before it was to be published, it's a hard call. Please note my facetiousness here since it will NOT be a waltz for Federer. Yes, it's been five years since he's lost to anybody at Roland Garros not named Nadal, but the other guys cannot be discounted at all.

Davydenko has made the semifinals here twice. Can he take out Nadal-vanquisher Soderling? Can veterans Gonzalez and Robredo use their experience and clay-court savvy to take it to youngs gun Murray and Del Potro respectively? And finally, can Federer survive against Monfils and the fickle and vocal French home crowd? Look what it did to Nadal just days before!

Predictions: Federer will face Robredo in the semis while Davydenko and Gonzalez or Murray (can't decided!) fight it out on the other end. Federer will then face winner of Gonzalez/Murray for the French Open title.

For the women, Safina, Wiliams, and Sharapova continues to astound. For Safina she's lost a total of 5 games (!) in four rounds. That's complete and utter domination. For Williams, it's been a rollercoaster, but she's through like the champion she is. And finally Sharapova keeps exceeding her and everyone else's expectations by still being alive in the draw. A few noteworthy losses during the fourth round are the two Serbian women, Jelena Jankovic and defending champion Ana Ivanovic.

Quarterfinalists

Dinara Safina [1] vs. Victoria Azarenka [9]
Dominika Cibulkova [20] vs. Maria Sharapova
Samatha Stosur [30] vs. Sorna Cirstea
Serena Williams [2] vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova [7]

Can Sharapova and Stosur continue their storybook runs? Will first time quarterfinalists Cubulkova and Cirstea find it deep within themselves to defeat the veterans? Can Azarenka and Kuznetsova derail the Safina and Williams flood of dominance?

Prediction: Safina will face Cibulkova in the semis while Williams take on Stosur. Safina and Williams will then contend for the title with Safina winning her maiden Grand Slam title.

Let's just see how wrong I am, shall we?

French Open: Women's Report

Fourth Round

Dinara Safina [1] vs. Aravane Rezai

Ana Ivanovic [8] vs. Victoria Azarenka [9]

Dominika Cibulkova [20] vs. Agnes Szavay [29]

Na Li [25] vs. Maria Sharapova

Jelena Jankovic [5] vs. Sorana Cirstea

Samantha Stosur [30] vs. Virginie Razzano

Svetlana Kuznetsova [7] vs. Agnieszka Radwanska [12]

Serena Williams [2] vs. Aleksandra Wozniak [24]

Only 7 of the top 16 women tennis players made it through the second week with two top 4 players suffering early exits, Venus WIlliams [3] and Elena Dementieva [4]. Neither were expected to make a run for the title, but they were definitely expected to last longer than they did.

After three rounds, number one seed Dinara Safina had only lost 4 games total. Like Nadal in the men's side, she is in dominant form and is poised to grab her maiden Grand Slam championship. Former world number one, Serena Williams will try to derail Safina. While she has had to fight through a lot of her matches, underestimating her especially during Grand Slam tournaments is never a wise choice.

Defending champion, Ana Ivanovic has looked shaky and was downright in the dumps after she won this tournament last year. She gave herself low expectations coming into the French Open, but she has played like a defending champion ever since. Fellow Serb, Jelena Jankovic is quietly and strongly moving through the draw as well.

Finally, one wild-card player is Maria Sharapova who came into the tournament unseeded after being out for almost 10 months with shoulder problems. She has been far from perfect, but she has shown great mettle especially in defeating Nadia Petrova [11] in the second round. It would be an amazing story if she were to make a deep run especially at the one slam where she has not won.

Prediction: I'm going to be super safe and very predictable here. Safina will defeat Ivanovic in the quarters and then go on to defeat Szavay in the semis. Williams will defeat Jankovic in the semis en route to an Australian Open final rematch with Safina this time taking the crown.