Australian Open Report: Day 1

It was opening day at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year and other than a few sprinkles and 1-2 mild upsets, it was business as usual.

For the men, at least, it was either a very easy day or a very difficult one. Former Grand Slam champions Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick all lost just five games each in their first round routs to move onto the second round. Top ten players Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco also won on the first day with relative ease in straight sets.

Both 12th seed Gael Monfils and 16th seed Mardy Fish mounted impressive comebacks, winning three sets after losing the first two. 18th seed Sam Querrey didn't fare so fortunately as he was bounced out for a second year in a row in the first round, losing 6-8 in the fifth. The only other men's seed to lose yesterday was 23rd seed and last year's semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko who listlessly lost in four sets. Take note that he comprehensively defeated Rafael Nadal in Doha just a couple weeks ago.

Other notable winners of the day include 14th seed Nicolas Almagro, 17th seed Ivan Ljubicic, 19th seed Stan Wawrinka, 28th seed Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Mahut, Janko Tipsarevic, and Gilles Simon. The latter will take his 2-0 H2H record against defending champion Federer to a second round match everyone will be paying attention to.


Were we actually worried about Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova heading to their respective tricky matches yesterday? Because they all won pretty decisively putting to rest, at least for now, their respective forms. French Open champions Francesca Schiavone and Justine Henin had a bit more difficulty winning, the latter initially getting hammered by Sania Mirza, but they still survived.

Easy wins were also logged by 8th seed Victoria Azarenka, 9th seed Na Li, 15h seed Marion Bartoli (who dished out this year's tournament's first double bagel), 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, and 30th seed Andrea Petkovic. A couple of seeds weren't as lucky as 17th seed Aravane Rezai and 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova both lost.

A few more notable winners include 20th seed Kaia Kanepi, 21st seed Yanina Wickmayer, 29th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova, Vania King, Jelena Dokic, and Chanelle Scheepers.

Australian Open: Women's Preview

Hampered with injuries, defending champion Serena Williams withdrew from the Australian Open, which also means she will fall out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2008. Her absence will certainly be talked about ad nauseum this fortnight in relation to the wide-open field the women have. So let's see how the rest might fare...

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki had not been having a great start of the year losing all of the matches she's played and most by a crazy lopsided score. She will find it very difficult to progress through the draw as early as the first round facing top doubles player Gisela Dulko. If she gets through that and get a handle on her game, she could reach the fourth round and face either Marion Bartoli or Yanina Wickmayer. 6th seed Francescha Schiavone, last year's finalist Justine Henin, and Svetlana Kuznetsova will make it even harder for her in the quarterfinals.

Fourth seed Venus Williams will carry on the Williams name despite not playing a lot of tennis leading up to this tournament. If she's in-form, it's hard to see her not reach at least the second week. If so, she could have a blockbuster fourth round match against Maria Sharapova. Winner of that could face 8th seed Victoria Azarenka, 9th seed Na Li, or 17th seed Aravane Rezai.

Third seed, and a lot of people's pick for the win, Kim Clijsters will have no time to ease into trying to capture her first non-US Open slam. Her first round match is with former world. no 1 Dinara Safina. A tricky match for sure, but Clijsters should see herself get through that and go up against Ana Ivanovic or Nadia Petrova in the fourth round. Last year Clijsters was blown off the court by Petrova this very round, so she needs to step up her game. Her possible quarterfinal foes include 7th seed Jelena Jankovic, 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, or someone totally random.

Finally, second seed Vera Zvonareva is looking to play up to her career-high ranking. Sybille Bammer in the first round will be a fun, but winnable match for her. She should be okay until the fourth round where she might get Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Maria Kirilenko. If she wins that, she'll reach the quarterfinals for the first time and she'll likely have to go up against 5th seed Samantha Stosur or 10th seed Shahar Peer.

Quarterfinals
Justine Henin d. Yanina Wickmayer
Na Li d. Venus Williams
Kim Clijsters d. Agnieszka Radwanska
Samantha Stosur d. Vera Zvonareva

Semifinals
Justine Henin d. Na Li
Kim Clijsters d. Samantha Stosur

Finals
Kim Clijsters d. Justine Henin

Players Win First Titles of the Tennis Season

Ahead of defending his only Grand Slam title of last year at the Australian Open, world no. 2 Roger Federer got off to the best possible start by winning his first title of the year in Doha defeating defending champion Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4. This was Federer's third Doha title and 67th overall. A feverish Rafael Nadal lost brutally to Davydenko in the semifinals, but valiantly played doubles with Marc Lopez resulting in a doubles title to begin the year. At the Australian Open, Nadal will look to be the first man since Rod Laver to win all four slam titles in a row.

In Chennai, another Swiss won a title over the weekend with last year's finalist Stan Wawrinka defeating Xavier Malisse 7-6 4-6 6-1 in this year's final. Wawrinka defeated Chennai Open top seed Tomas Berdych in the semifinals. Robin Soderling also began his year with a title, battling the wet weather as well as the defending champion Andy Roddick in straight sets with a score of 6-3 7-5. Petra Kvitova took the women's title in Brisbane winning against Andrea Petkovic 6-1 6-3. In Auckland, Greta Arn also had a great week by first beating top seed Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals before winning the title against defending champion Yanina Wickmayer 6-3 6-3.

Finally, the US claimed yet another Hopman Cup title as the team of John Isner and Bethanie Mattek-Sands went up against the Belgian team of Justine Henin and Ruben Bemelmans. The Belgians were alternates when the Serbian team of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic had to withdraw due to an minor injury sustained by Ivanovic. Andy Murray, Francescha Schiavone, Lleyton Hewitt, and Nicolas Mahut also used Hopman Cup as their preparation for the Australian Open.

The first Grand Slam tournament will begin in earnest on January 17. Game on.

Wimbledon Report: Fourth Round

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The biggest upset of the tournament happened this Monday when 82nd ranked Yen-Hsun Lu defeated last year's finalist Andy Roddick in five grueling sets. Lu was able to go up 2 sets to 1 winning tiebreaks in the second and third set. Robin Soderling was also pushed to a fifth set, but he was able to edge out David Ferrer in the end.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray won in straight sets with the latter defeating Sam Querrey. Murray is the only man to have not lost a single set this tournament. Other fourth round winners include Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Tomas Berdych. Djokovic defeated Lleyton Hewitt as well as promptly ripped his shirt open after he won.

Quarterfinal Preview: The match to watch will be the rematch of this year's French Open final between Soderling and Nadal. Nadal won comfortably on clay, but Soderling's pace will be much more difficult to handle on grass. Federer should win over Berdych, but do remember that the Czech recently defeated the Swiss last time they met. Murray should be the favorite against Tsonga while Yen-Hsun Lu should cost Djokovic all kinds of trouble.

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Kim Clijsters continues her dominant return to the game by defeating Justine Henin for the third time since her comeback. Their H2H now stands at 13-12 in Clijsters' favor and it's back to the drawing board for Henin and her quest to capture that elusive Wimbledon crown. Serena Williams managed to edge Maria Sharapova in the other blockbuster match up, winning a tight first set tiebreak and breaking the Russian in the second. Venus Williams followed suit and won in her match.

While the Williams sisters and Clijsters defeated their lower-ranked opponents, the other matches all went to the lower-ranked player. 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki (d. by Petra Kvitova) and 4th seed Jelena Jankovic (d. by Vera Zvonareva) crashed out winning only three games between the two of them. Jankovic retired due to injury. Other winners include Kaia Kanepi, Tsvetana Pironkova (d. Marion Bartoli), and Na Li (d. Agnieska Radwanska).

Quarterfinal Preview: The bottom half of the draw seems to be opening up for Clijsters and Venus as both should be favored to win their match against Zvonareva and Pironkova respectively to setup a semifinal blockbuster match. Na Li has the skills to trouble Serena, but probably not enough to actually defeat the defending champion. Finally, flip a coin for Kvitova vs. Kanepi!

Swiss Miss Sighting: Martina Hingis is set to play the Ladies' Invitational Doubles with old partner Anna Kournikova. I'm so jealous for those with Court 2 tickets tomorrow!

Wimbledon: Fourth Round Preview

Wimbledon began with 256 tennis players looking to grab the ultimate prize in tennis. Tomorrow the 32 remaining players, 16 men and 16 women, are all scheduled to play in one of the greatest day in tennis.


Serena Williams [1] vs. Maria Sharapova [16]
Agnieszka Radwanska [7] vs. Na Li [9]
Caroline Wozniacki [3] vs. Petra Kvitova
Kaia Kanepi vs. Klara Zakopalova

Kim Clijsters [8] vs. Justine Henin [17]
Jelena Jankovic [4] vs. Vera Zvonareva [21]
Marion Bartoli [11] vs. Tsvetana Pironkova
Venus Williams [2] vs. Jarmila Groth

With these match-ups, all eyes are on the blockbuster fourth round clashes between former number ones and Grand Slam champions. On the top, it will be former Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. They have not met in the grass of Wimbledon since Sharapova upset Serena in 2004 to capture the title. Based on form, it should go to Serena, but Sharapova should not be underestimated.

The other clash is between Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin. Both retired then unretired, they quickly rose up in the ranks with Clijsters claiming her second US Open and Henin reaching the finals at the Australian Open. Should be a toss-up, and thus a definite a must watch.

Other than Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Na Li, which is another toss-up, the other matches should be relatively straightforward with higher seeds winning.

Predictions: Before the tournament, I made my predictions and I went with Serena and Henin in their respective blockbuster match ups. My early prediction of Samantha Stosur and Jie Zheng to make it this far is wrong so I'll replace them with Caroline Wozniacki and Kaia Kanepi. Everyone else is still alive, so I'll remain with my earlier guesses.


Roger Federer [1] vs. Jurgen Melzer [16]
Tomas Berdych [12] vs. Daniel Brands
Novak Djokovic [3] vs. Lleyton Hewitt [15]
Andy Roddick [5] vs. Yen-Hsun Lu

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [10] vs. Julien Benneteau [32]
Andy Murray [4] vs. Sam Querrey [18]
Robin Soderling [6] vs. David Ferrer [9]
Rafael Nadal [2] vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has a tougher-than-expected first week, but they should get through their next match. Federer shouldn't underestimate Jurgen Melzer though since Melzer accomplished something this year that Federer didn't, reach the French Open semifinals. Andy Roddick should feel happy with his chances against Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu who is making his first 4th round appearance ever.

As the only two players in the men's side to not have lost a set, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling are looking very strong heading into the second week. Both will have to get through motivated opponents especially Murray who has to face off against surprise Queen's Club champion Sam Querrey.

A Frenchman will make the quarterfinals this year since compatriots Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Julien Benneteau will go head to head. The match of the day, however, will probably be Novak Djokovic going up against a resurgent and recent Halle champion Lleyton Hewitt.

Predictions: Surprisingly, other than Fernando Verdasco, everyone I had predicted before the tournament to still be around by the quarterfinals are still around. I'll put Tsonga in as my replacement quarterfinalist.

Wimbledon Report: Day 5

© AELTC / Pro Sport

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt who defeated Gael Monfils in straight sets led the top men into the second week in a relatively easy and drama-free day. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick all won as well as Jurgen Melzer who defeated Feliciano Lopez and Yen-Hsun Lu who becomes the first Taiwanese to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam.

12th seed Tomas Berdych won, but was pushed to the fifth set. 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny wasn't so lucky as he lost in the fifth to Paul-Henri Mathieu. There was some drama on Court 18 again as 31st seed Victor Hanescu lost a 2 sets to love lead as he retired down 0-3 in the final set. Finally, 23rd seed John Isner expectedly lost in straight sets to Thiemo De Bakker, serving 0 aces, evidently still recovering from the longest tennis match ever.

© AELTC / M. Hangst

There was even less drama in the women's side as every match was one in straight sets. Among the winners are Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters who are seeded to meet in the next round for a blockbuster of a fourth round match. Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Marion Bartoli, Vera Zvonareva, Jarmila Groth, and Tsvetana Pironkova all move through with 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer and 12th seed Nadia Petrova falling, the latter to Henin.

Wimbledon Report: Day 3

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First I want to talk about the women, because they were pretty drama free. Top contenders such as Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, and Nadia Petrova all got through in straight sets. 4th seed Jelena Jankovic needed a third set, but also won. Marion Bartoli didn't even need to play any sets to move on with her opponent withdrawing. A few seeds fell though namely 13th seed Shahar Peer, 30th seed Yaroslava Shvedova, and 33rd seed Melanie Oudin.

Now onwards to the men. Sure, we can talk about how Roger Federer looked human two early rounds in a row. We can talk about Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, and Tomas Berdych moving through routinely or even about how lucky Lleyton Hewitt was that his opponent retired in the third set. We can even lament the loss of 7th seed Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets.

But it was all about those matches that went the distance. Jurgen Melzer, Albert Montanes, and Philipp Kohlschreiber had to win in the fifth set with the latter winning 9-7. Sounds tough, right? Not even. In a continuation of their suspended first round match yesterday, Thiemo De Bakker and Santiago Giraldo had to play their final set today. The fifth set score? A whopping 16-14 with De Bakker winning.

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And yet that was nothing compared to what transpired on Court 18 today. John Isner and Nicolas Mahut's first round match was also suspended yesterday due to bad light. They played their fifth set today... and play... and play... and play. It went on for so long (10 hours total, 7 hours just for this final set), with both guys solid on their serve, they had to suspend their match a second time due to bad light! They stopped it at 59-59. That's just unreal. Of course they broke all kinds of records: longest tennis match ever, most games played, longest set, etc. Both players even broke the old record for most aces in a match (78) by about 20 aces. Epic. I feel so sorry for the one of them who will lose tomorrow.

Xan Brooks over at The Guardian live-blogged the entire day, but you should really read his humorous take on the epic Isner-Mahut match starting at 4:05pm. Zombies!

Wimbledon Report: Day 1

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The top half of the men's draw led by Roger Federer played on Monday and to most of the seeded men, it was the longest day of their lives.

Top seed Federer was down two sets to love to Alejandro Falla before he managed to stage a miraculous comeback saving four break points in a crucial game during the third set and then breaking Falla as the Colombian was serving for the match in the fourth set. Federer took care of business in the final set by winning six straight games, but he was only a couple of points away from exiting early. Fellow top ten players, Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko also had to come back from 2 sets to 1 down, but both managed to squeezed out a win. Djokovic and Olivier Rochus played under the roof due to bad light.

Top players that weren't so lucky include 11th seed Marin Cilic, 17th seed Ivan Ljubicic, 20th seed Stanislas Wawrinka, and 30th seed Tommy Robredo. Others such as 5th seed Andy Roddick, 12th seed Tomas Berdych, 15th seed Lleyton Hewitt, 21st seed Gael Monfils, among others, moved on much more routinely.

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For the women, the bottom half of the draw led by Venus Williams saw a pretty uneventul Monday as most of the seeds went through.

The favorites such as Williams, 4th seed Jelena Jankovic, 8th seed Kim Clijsters, 11th seed Marion Bartoli, 12th seed Nadia Petrova, and 17th seed Justine Henin all moved on without dropping a set. Other seeded winners include 13th Shahar Peer who defeated former number one Ana Ivanovic, 33rd seed Melanie Oudin, 21st seed Vera Zvonareva, and 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer. Kirsten Flipkens join Wickmayer and their more popular Belgian counterparts into the second round.

The lone upset of the day in the woman's side was the ouster of recent French Open champion and 5th seed Francesca Schiavone, losing to Russia's Vera Dushevina. While grass is not her favored surface, this must be quite disappointing for the Italian after her results at Roland Garros and her quarterfinal showing here the year prior. Like Ivanovic, other recent former top players exited early including Patty Schnyder and Agnes Szavay.

Wimbledon: Women's Preview

Defending champion and top seed Serena Williams will try to get her first title since winning the Australian Open earlier this year. It'll be a loud first round match against Michelle Larcher De Brito and her second round against potentially Anna Chakvetadze could be tricky. 25th seed Lucie Safarova or unseeded Dominika Cibulkova awaits her in the third round. After that, she could face 24th seed Daniela Hantuchova, but more likely it'll be a blockbuster match between two former champions as Serena could face 16th seed Maria Sharapova. Winner of that could meet 7th seed Agnieska Radwanska, 9th seed Na Li, or struggling 19th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

Still trying to heal from a recent injury, third seed Caroline Wozniacki will be tested in the early rounds with dangerous floaters such as Tathiana Garbin and Sybille Bammer lurking. If she reaches the fourth round, she can look out for 14th seed Victoria Azarenka or 23rd seed Jie Zheng. In the quarterfinals, recent French Open finalist and 6th seed Samantha Stosur awaits as well as 10th seed Flavia Pennetta, or 18th seed Aravane Rezai. In this same quarter, superwoman Kimiko Date Krumm will try to win another slam match against a seeded player this year going up against 31st seed Alexandra Dulgheru.

The Belgians commandeer their own quarter in the other side of the draw with a possibility of meeting one in the fourth round. Before that, 8th seed Kim Clijsters might have to get by a few tough qualifiers such as Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Shenay Perry, and Anastasiya Yakimova not to mention 27th seed Maria Kirilenko. 17th seed Justine Henin, whose primary goal for coming back was to win this title, shouldn't face too much of a challenge until the third round with either a meeting with 12th seed Nadia Petrova or unseeded Patty Schnyder. Winner of Clijsters-Henin will have to contend with 4th seed Jelena Jankovic, fellow Belgian 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer, 21st seed Vera Zvonareva, or 28th seed Alona Bondarenko in the quarterfinals.

Finally, five-time Wimbledon champion and second seed Venus Williams look to continue her dominance in this surface. Based on skill and history, she should have little problem until the semifinals even with the winner of the first round duel between 13th seed Shahar Peer and shockingly unseeded Ana Ivanovic as a potential third round opponent as well as 33rd seed Melanie Oudin who reached the fourth round last year. Venus can meet recent French Open champion and 5th seed Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals, but the Italian's record at Wimbledon is inconsistent. Venus can also meet former finalist and 11th seed Marion Bartoli.

Quarterfinals
Serena Williams d. Na Li
Samathan Stosur d. Jie Zheng
Justine Henin d. Jelena Jankovic
Venus Williams d. Marion Bartoli

Semifinals
Samantha Stosur d. Serena Williams
Venus Williams d. Justine Henin

Finals
Venus Williams d. Samantha Stosur

Storylines at Wimbledon

The qualifying rounds are already happening at Wimbledon, but the official start of the third and most prestigious Grand Slam of the year is only a few days away. Let's look at some of the storylines to look out for this year...

- Can the relatively out-of-form top seeds and defending champions re-capture their mojos? Both Serena Williams and Roger Federer are seeded as number one, but neither of them have won a title since capturing the Australian Open back in January. Serena essentially didn't play for three months and when she did, most of her success came in doubles with her sister. Roger, in the meantime, had a forgettable spring hard court season and a somber looking clay season, reaching only one final at Madrid. He recently reached the final at Halle, but he unexpectedly lost to Lleyton Hewitt. Both Serena and Roger reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros both losing to the eventual losing finalist. With all of that said, how can one bet against 27 Grand Slam titles?

- Who are the next best bets? Well there's Venus Williams who did better than expected the past few weeks on clay, her worst surface. Last year's finalist and now up to #2 in the world and in her best surface, she will be nearly impossible to beat. The same could be said about former Wimbledon and now 5-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal. He was unable to defend his Wimbledon title last year and you know he's hungry to get a chance of the title again especially with some much needed momentum from his latest French Open win.

- Can the Andys meet expectations? Last year, Andy Murray came into Wimbledon with high aspirations of being Great Britain's first homegrown champion in what seems like forever. He was one match away from reaching the finals and having the Queen on Centre Court, but he was blindsided by a resurgent Andy Roddick who put up more than a fight against Federer losing 14-16 in the final set. Despite some encouraging results earlier this year with Murray reaching the Australian Open finals and Roddick winning Miami, both have floundered including shocking losses in the early rounds of the AEGON Championships in Queens, London.

- How will other former Grand Slam champions fare? Justine Henin more or less declared that the reason for her comeback is to try and win the one Grand Slam that has alluded her for the career Grand Slam. She even tweaked her game to be more effective on the grass. Her Belgian compatriot, Kim Clijsters, makes her Grand Slam comeback at Wimbledon after withdrawing from the French Open after some injuries. Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, and former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova will also look to gain some form on the grass.

- Is that Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova? According to some, these two will reunite in Wimbledon to play legends' doubles. For Hingis, this might be the first step in re-joining the tour, if only to be a doubles specialist.

Can't wait! A look into the men's and women's draw to come later this weekend.

French Open: Fourth Round Report

Top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal moved swiftly to the quarterfinals in straight sets losing only 11 games each, beating Stanislas Wawrinka and Thomaz Bellucci respectively. Their wins this year are far removed from what their experienced last year in the same round. Last year, Federer had to come back two sets to love down against Tommy Haas while Nadal was defeated for the first time in Roland Garros by last year's finalist Robin Soderling. Speaking of, 5th seed Soderling is moving through the draw with fierce efficiency as well, defeating 10th seed Marin Cilic in straights.

3rd seed and former semifinalist Novak Djokovic defeated Robby Ginepri, the last American man standing, in four sets while 22nd seed Jurgen Melzer made his first Grand Slam quarterfinal by beating Teimuraz Gabashvili. 4th seed Andy Murray lost to 15th seed Tomas Berdych, 7th seed Fernando Verdasco was beaten by 19th seed Nicolas Almagro, and 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired with a bad back in his match against 11th seed Mikhail Youzhny. This is only the second time that Berdych, Almagro, and Youzhny have reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam event.

Factoid: Roger Federer is one win away from reaching 24 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals. If he does this, he also guarantees his #1 ranking after the tournament and will tie Pete Sampras' record of overall weeks at #1. With his win against Belluci, Rafael Nadal has notched an impressive 200 wins in clay.


Three of the top four seeds moved through the fourth round as Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and Jelena Jankovic survive with Wozniacki being pushed to three grueling sets by 14th seed Flavia Pennetta. 2nd seed Venus Williams was defeated by 19th seed Nadia Petrova in straight sets. Venus is still alive in doubles with her sister Serena and they are the favorites to win.

Serena's next opponent was set to be four-time champion Justine Henin, but 7th seed Samantha Stosur showed it's just not THAT easy to return after being away from the tour. Stosur defeated Henin 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. 5th seed Elena Dementieva, 17th seed Francesca Schiavone, and surprise quarterfinalist Yaroslava Shvedova for Kazakhstan round out the fourth round winners.

Factoid: Serena Williams is the last American woman standing and she is also the last Grand Slam champion left in the draw. Jelena Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki, and Elena Dementieva have all been Grand Slam finalists, but have yet to get their maiden slam title.

French Open: Third Round Report

Unlike the second round, the third round went without a hitch as the weather finally improved. This doesn't mean there weren't shocking results in the meantime.

Who could've predicted that the last American man standing would be 98th ranked Robby Ginepri? Ginepri defeated 16th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in five sets while his fellow Americans 6th seed Andy Roddick and 17th seed John Isner lost to Teimuraz Gabashvilli and 15th seed Tomas Berdych respectively in straight sets. The Isner-Berdych result was to be expected, but Roddick must be kicking himself at the results. It stings even more because his projected opponent, 9th seed David Ferrer, was also inexplicably beaten by 22nd seed Jurgen Melzer! 14th seed Ivan Ljubicic was taken out as well, defeated by 24th seed Thomaz Bellucci.

Top seed Roger Federer was the first one through to the fourth round with an easy win while 2nd seed Rafael Nadal also had a relatively comfortable time in his match with 28th seed Lleyton Hewitt. And finally, here's a fascinating scoreline from the Andy Murray-Marcos Baghdatis match: 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2. Did Murray fall asleep in the third set?

For the women, one third round match was not completed and it's the one everyone has been buzzing about. Multiple Grand Slam winners Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova were tied at one set a piece before play was suspended for the day. Based on their clay histories, one would've expected Henin to walk away with the win, so this is quite interesting. Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to fellow countrywomen and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko, which just continues the recent bad results for the two time Grand Slam winner.

Top 16 seeds Na Li, Marion Bartoli, and Yanina Wickmayer were defeated in straight sets by 17th seed Francesca Schiavone, 18th seed Shahar Peer, and 23rd seed Daniela Hantuchova respectively. Meanwhile, 19th seed Nadia Petrova survived her match with 15th seed Aravane Rezai winning 10-8 in the third set. Meanwhile, the top four seeds--Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and Jelena Jankovic all move through to the fourth round.

The second week begins tomorrow.

French Open: Second Round Report

Rain caused havoc in the schedule of play forcing the tournament directors to extend some second round matches into a third day. Despite an almost wash-out on Thursday, all of the second round matches were completed by Friday due to good weather.

The seeds in the men's side held strong with dominant showings from top ten players Robin Soderling (5th seed), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (8th seed), and David Ferrer (9th seed). Combining their second round results, they only lost 11 games! 6th seed Andy Roddick, 17th seed John Isner, and unseeded Robby Ginepri show Americans can play on clay by moving on to the third round. Another American, Mardy Fish, was this close to joining his compatriots. Instead he lost 8-10 in the fifth and final set to veteran and 14th seed Ivan Ljubicic.

Speaking of fifth sets, 28th seed Lleyton Hewitt was able to grind out a win in a match that had a rollercoaster quality of up and down. The scoreline was 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Fifth setters were less kind to 13th seed Gael Monfils who ended up losing to Fabio Fognini 7-9 in the fifth set. Their match lasted two days, rescheduled due to "insufficient light," which according to reports, was an understatement. They resumed their match 5-5 in the fifth set on Friday. Other seeds that fell in the second round were Fernando Gonzalez (12) and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (32).

For the women, it was business as usual as favorites such as Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Justine Henin cruised to the next round. After upsetting Dinara Safina in the first round, 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm was unable to extend her Cinderella run losing to Jarmila Groth of Australia 0-6, 3-6. This score is a bit of a mirror image of the beating that 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova delivered to former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.

Another former French Open champion, last year's champion, 6th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was this close to getting ousted. Her opponent, Andrea Petkovic, had four match points, but got tight and was unable to capitalize on what certainly would've been one of the biggest wins of her career. These seeded players weren't as lucky as Kuznetsova: Agnieszka Radwanska (8), Vera Zvonareva (21), Lucie Safarova (24), and Jie Zheng (25).

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

King and Queen of Clay Win

With four French Open trophies each, Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal continue their clay domination by winning important tournaments this weekend. For Justine, third time was the charm as she won her first title in her third final since coming back from retirement. She did so by defeating three top 12 players including an in-form Samantha Stosur in the final of Stuttgart.

In the meantime in Rome, Nadal showed the rest of the ATP tour how it's done as he lost only one set the whole tournament to capture his 17th Masters trophy tying him with Andre Agassi for the record. Nadal will look to sweep the clay court Master tournaments and do one better than Agassi in Madrid next. Last year in Madrid, Nadal lost to Roger Federer, who then went on to win the French Open. Federer was ousted in Rome this year by Ernest Gulbis in the second round. Gulbis made good in his upset victory by reaching the semifinals and being the only player to take a set off Nadal.

It's difficult to see other contenders for the French Open crown this year when these two champions are playing. Can the defending champions Federer and Svetlana Kuznetsova reach the same pinnacle? What about former champions and finalists such as Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Robin Soderling, Ana Ivanovic, and Dinara Safina? How about in-form players such as Stosur, Flavia Pennetta, David Ferrer, Francesca Schiavone, Fernando Verdasco, and Novak Djokovic? The French Open begins in less than three weeks.

Verdasco Wins Barcelona, Rome Next

The clay season continues as Fernando Verdasco defeats French Open finalist Robin Soderling in the finals of the Barcelona Open. Great showing for both, Verdasco doing one better than his results in Monte Carlo the prior week and Soderling showing the world that he's no one-clay-tournament wonder.

But now things get real as the reigning French Open champion Roger Federer plays his first clay court tournament since winning in Roland Garros. Federer has never won in Rome, coming tantalizingly close in 2006 losing in five sets to Rafael Nadal in the finals. If Nadal wishes to solidify his clay dominance, he will have to get through to both French Open finalists. He is seeded to meet Federer in the semifinals for the first time in five years while Soderling, the only player to have defeated him in Roland Garros, is seeded to face him in the quarterfinals.

And after all that, if he makes the finals, he might have to contend against Novak Djokovic who gave him a real test last year and their brutal clay matches last year probably contributed to his knee troubles that continues to plague him.

Other tennis happenings:

- Fed Cup is underway with Italy and the United States moving on to the finals. Venus Williams withdrew like her sister. Justin Henin pulled out due to injury, but then played when her compatriot Kim Clijsters suffered a foot tear to keep her out for six weeks.

- Federer graces the cover of ESPN Magazine with the headline "Who's the World's Greatest Athlete? Roger Federer Looks the Part."

- Nadal took a rest from Barcelona and instead served as a pall bearer for former president of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Miami Report

Confession time. The reason why I put Clijster's and Roddick's images in my last Miami entry was because I thought both would lose (valiantly) to their respective opponents in the semifinals. They proved me wrong.


Kim Clijsters defeated her arch rival Justine Henin in a roller coaster 6-2 7-6 7-6 match. Clijsters was up 6-2 3-0 before letting Henin back into the game. The final set was a game of chicken for both ladies, neither one capable of taking a hold of the win. With her fourth match point, Clijsters eked out Henin 8-6 in the third leveling their H2H at 12 wins a piece.


Clijsters will have a chance to even another H2H when she goes up against Venus Williams in the finals. Both ladies have move through the draw with minimal drama, losing only one set the whole tournament. They most recently met in the fourth round of last year's US Open with Clijsters winning a very strange 6-0 0-6 6-4 match. Clijsters then went on to win the tournament.

Fun Fact: Clijsters will break into the top ten with a win here in Miami. Even without the win, she will move up all the way to #11. Unranked until this week, Henin will move into #23 after this tournament, just in time for her favorite part of the year: clay season.


Andy Roddick was seen as the underdog against Rafael Nadal. When Nadal won the first set, many thought the Spaniard would win in straights to reach the finals and finally get his first title in nearly 11 months. Roddick had a different idea. Playing aggressive and smart tennis, Roddick was able to break Nadal late in the second set and then early in the third set to take control. For his part, Nadal didn't help himself as he looked frustrated by the end. Roddick clinched the win by breaking Nadal a second time in the final set. Roddick d. Nadal 4-6 6-3 6-3.


Roddick will face the man who took out Roger Federer earlier this week, Tomas Berdych. Roddick has a 5-2 H2H against Berdych, but do remember that Nadal had a similar H2H against Roddick before they played. Plus en route to the finals Berdych not only took out Federer down a match point, but he also beat talented players such as Fernando Verdasco and Robin Soderling.

Fun fact: Three of the four men's semifinalists also made the semifinals in last week's BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (Roddick, Nadal, and Soderling). Both Nadal and Soderling also lost in the semifinals while Roddick made it to the finals as well. Will the "other" person (Berdych) win like last week (Ljubicic)?

Prediction: Since I underestimated them both last time, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and predict that both Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick will be walking off the champions this weekend down in Miami.

Catching Up in Miami

Rafael Nadal will try to reach his first final in almost 11 months by going up against Andy Roddick in the Sony Ericsson Open semifinals. Both also made the semifinals in Indian Wells a week ago with Roddick making it all the way to the finals. Nadal is once again the last player of the Big Four to survive the tournament with Roger Federer losing to Tomas Berdych in the fourth round after having a match point in the third set tiebreaker. So no Fedal final still! Berdych will have to get through Fernando Verdasco today to get one of two remaining semifinal berths. Mikhail Youzhny and Robin Soderling will be contesting the other one later today.

The ladies are set for the semifinal matches. Venus Williams will face Marion Bartoli in one side while the other side is none other than a pair of newly un-retired Belgians. This will be the second match between Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin this year. Both made a remarkable return to tennis after a brief hiatus from the game with Clijsters winning the US Open last year and Henin reaching the Australian Open finals earlier this year. Both are now ranked in the Top 30 with both having NO POINTS to defend for most of the year.

Hit for Haiti, Part 2

A couple of hours ago, the tennis stars came out in Indian Wells, California, where the BNP Paribas Open is being currently held, to hold a charity exhibition to raise money for Haiti relief. This is the second time the tennis world has come together this year for Haiti. The first time was during the Australian Open in January as Roger Federer organized a Hit For Haiti exhibition with his fellow players including fellow Grand Slam champions Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, and Novak Djokovic.

Federer and Nadal took part in tonight's festivities as well this time being joined by fellow tennis legends Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport, and Justine Henin. They all share 94 single Grand Slam championships among themselves. Insane.

Both the men and the women played doubles with the first team to reach 8 in one set winning. The night started off with Henin/Navratilova v. Davenport/Graf with the former team leading for most of the match and finally winning it 8-6. Navratilova was the MVP here as she did most of the talking and played brilliantly. Clearly, she's still a world-class doubles player even now.

The women's match towards the end turned a bit quiet (i.e. boring) and so it was up to the men to bring back the fun and excitement with Federer/Sampras v. Nadal/Agassi. All four men held their serve during the first four games and for the most part it was Agassi and Federer doing most of the talking and ribbing. It was towards the middle when things got just a tiny bit interesting and uncomfortable with Agassi and Sampras exchanging some choice words between one another.

It sort of sucked the fun out of the event even though Nadal and Federer did the best they could to add some levity. In the end, things seemed to have settled down as Sampras/Federer won it 8-6. Sampras and Agassi followed the younger players' example as they hugged at the net showing no hard feelings between them.

$1 million was donated to the charity and many more will be collected from both the fans who showed up live and the fans who watched the exhibition online. Click here to donate now.

Both Federer and Nadal have yet to play their first matches at the BNP Paribas Open. Federer is looking to improve his semifinal results last year as he tries to get his first title since winning the Australian Open back in January while Rafael Nadal is hoping to defend his title after being title-less since May.