W.1- Russian Roulette

(better late than never... needless to say, I still hate technology)

For the most part, if you wanted to keep up with most of the biggest Day One news all you had to do was follow the bouncing (and bounced) Russians.

(And, no, that wasn't a setup for an Ashley Harkleroad nudity joke... that'll come MUCH LATER in this Backspin.)

So, let's turn the Spinning Wheel of Hordettes for today and see who comes up:

(spin)

And it lands on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Evgeniya Rodina, two of the three Russians who eliminated seeded players on Day One. Pavlyuchenkova, in a battle that might become more common down the road, locked horns with another extremely successful former junior star in #17-seed Alize Cornet. This one had the looks of a highly intriguing match, and it was just that as Pavlyuchenkova eliminated the Pasty 7-6/7-6. Meanwhile, while Rodina missed knocking off #1-seed Maria Sharapova BY THAT MUCH at Roland Garros, she had no such trouble with #27 Virginie Razzano in her 1st Round Wimbledon match, overcoming a love set to start the contest to win 0-6/6-2/6-4.

(spin)

Maria Kirilenko and Vera Dushevina.

A mixed bag here, as Dushevina was the third Hordette to knock off a seed -- but it was #19 Kirilenko, 6-3/6-3. I guess playing and winning a clay tournament barely a week before the start of Wimbledon wasn't great preparation for lawn tennis, after all. Go figure.

(spin)

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze.

Pastry Mathilde Johansson is now making a habit of playing well in slams but managing to not be able to take down a big tree in crunch time. Against Serena at Roland Garros, she showed great resilience in a losing effort. Today, she flirted with turning #4-seed Kuznetsova into one of the final top seeds buried in the Court 2 Graveyard before it passes into Wimbledon history after this tournament. Johansson very nearly took control of the 2nd set and pushed Kuznetsova out of Wimbledon, but the Contessova came to life just in the nick of time to win 6-7/7-5/6-3.

And then there was #8-seed Chakvetadze. I guess we found out where a few of Dinara Safina's Paris lives went -- Anna slipped them into her bag and carried them with her to London. Against Stephanie Dubois, the Doll was as good as done. Her season, which had some bad omens going against it before it even began, looked like she was going to be bounced in the 1st Round just two weeks after losing in the 2nd Round at Roland Garros. Dubois served for the match at 5-3 in the 3rd set, and held two match points on her serve. With her back against the wall, though, Chakvetadze starting hitting out and producing winners. Still, Dubois held another match point on the Russian's serve one game later at 5-4. Again, Chakvetadze saved it against the tight Quebec native.

Oh, but it didn't end there. Chakvetadze had a match point of her own at 7-6, but saw her nerves and a technique breakdown take her to the edge of defeat once again. After surviving a break point, Chakvetadze converted her second match point for a 2-6/6-1/8-6 win and a potential "Zombie Queen" title.

This win might not reset the course of the Russian Doll's season, but it at least showed that she's still got the fight in her that made her a Top 5 player in the first place.

Oh, even though she's not on the "roulette wheel," I suppose Elena Vesnina should be mentioned, too. She's had some success of her own knocking seeds out of slams in recent seasons. She defeated unseeded Nuria Llagostera-Vives today. Not a huge surprise, seeing that the match took place on grass, but it's still a nice win against a player having a very good season.

And, next, Sharapova is set to debut her certainly-soon-to-be-much-talked about shorts on Day Two. Once again, the Russians are going to be a big part of the story.

But, then again, what did you expect? Get the big wheel ready.



=DAY 1 NOTES=
Five women's seeds fell on Day One. Quite an impressive haul. The first to go turned out to be #30 Dominika Cibulkova, who fell to Zheng Jie (one of four wild cards who won 1st Round matches today -- along with Sam Stosur, Urszula Radwanska and Elena Baltacha).

...thus, Baltacha stakes her claim for Last Brit Standing. Countrywoman Melanie South played well, but ultimately lost in three sets to Alona Bondarenko.

...speaking of A-Bond, both she and sister Kateryna won 1st Round matches today. As did both Agnieszka and Urszula Radwanska, as well as Serena Williams (white "semi-trench rain coat" and all). Venus plays tomorrow and attempts to make the Collective Sisters Act 6-0 in the opening round.

...in an interesting 2nd Round match up, current "Best Polish Tennis Player in the World" A-Rad will face the former "Best Polish Tennis Player in the World" Marta Domachowska.

...the Last Qualifier Standing competition got off to a good start today as both Pavlyuchenkova and Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (def. Camille Pin) advanced.

...apparently, there's just something about this year's slams that is bringing out the best in Casey Dellacqua. The Aussie upset seeds Patty Schnyder and Amelie Mauresmo in Melbourne, then Marion Bartoli in Paris earlier this season. She continued her major event tear by taking out #10 Schnyder (again) in straight sets today.

...on the other hand, while Kaia Kanepi reached the QF in Paris, she didn't last past her opening match in London. Of course, having to face Serena Williams today had something to do with that. Not that the Estonian didn't have her chances to take the 1st set and put some early pressure on Serena. She did. But Serena weathered the storm and won in straights. Hmmm, I wonder if Kanepi will shoot daggers at Amelie Mauresmo the next time she sees her? If the '06 SW19 champ had decided to pull out of this event, Kanepi would have moved up to the final seeded position... and Serena would have been no where in sight on Day One.

...and, finally, about the aforementioned Mauresmo. She and her doctors made the decision that playing wouldn't do her quad injury any more damage. And play she did, beating Ashley Harkleroad in today's 1st Round matchup. Amelie's body held up. As for Harkleroad's body... well, have no fear, we'll be seeing a great deal more of it in about a month or so.



Five-time defending champ Roger Federer looked sharp for his 1st Round match against Dominik Hrbaty. His game was pretty good, too.


AP PHOTO/ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS

Should we call him Roger "Biff" Federer? I guess not, as long as he doesn't show up with his sweater tied around his neck by the sleeves.




*2008 SLAM 1st SEEDS OUT*
Aust. - #32 Julia Vakulenko (1st Rd.- Vesnina)
RG - #15 Nicole Vaidisova (1st Rd.- Benesova)
Wimb. - #30 Dominika Cibulkova (1st Rd.- Zheng)

*WIMBLEDON 1st SEEDS OUT*
2005 #10 Patty Schnyder (1st Rd.- Ant.Serra-Zanetti)
2006 #28 Sofia Arvidsson (1st Rd.- Birnernova)
2007 #30 Olga Puchkova (1st Rd.- Vesnina)
2008 #30 Dominika Cibulkova (1st Rd.- Zheng)




TOP QUALIFIERS: Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez/ESP & Eva Hrdinova/CZE
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: xxx
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MISS OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST BRIT STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STARS xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 1. More tomorrow.