US 1.0- Waiting for Godot... err, I mean Jelena

This is what happens when the draw-meisters put together an unbalanced women's draw (and a certain Belgian and Supernova are on the sidelines) -- a Day Session not only absent any big upsets (even if a TRULY top seed HAD fallen), but also very little "star power." Nothing against Punch-Sober, Lindsay Davenport or any of the other "big names" in action on the schedule today, but it was all a wee bit "boring," for lack of a better word.

Oh, well. Have no fear. At least the Whirling Dervish (or is it Queen Chaos, or Snowflake... or whatever nickname fits Ms. Jankovic at any given moment?) hits Arthur Ashe court tonight, against the niece of a former New York Knick, so there'll soon be a little more drama... real or imagined.



=DAY 1 NOTES=
Ah, the U.S. Open on USA Network for the final time, as American coverage of the tournament moves to ESPN2 in 2009. But is the impending end of the network's association going to create a "what the hell, who cares?" attitude in the coverage?

In the opening moments of coverage today, you'd surely have a hard time not believing it to be so, as the day openen with Al Trautwig mangling Akgul Amanmuradova's name on the match schedule while Jim Courier giggled in the background. Unconscionable, considering Trautwig's many, many years covering the Tour de France and, in recent weeks, women's gymnastics, where he faced far more difficult surnames than the ones he encountered in his first two minutes of U.S. Open hosting.

Next? An immediate preview of the men's field that lasted a few minutes, followed by a WHOLE twelve seconds (yes, I timed it) about the women's draw, which included Courier's comprehensive analysis that it was "the sisters versus the Serbs." Seriously, that's all he said the women's tournament was about... and he just "proudly" repeated the too-simplistic line at the start of the 7pm coverage. Maybe twenty-five years on USA Network IS more than enough. Even ESPN2 wouldn't try to pull that, right?

(Whistles as walks away, hoping he's not proved wrong twelve months from now.)

At least Bill MacAtee and Tracy Austin came back after the break and displayed at least a cursory knowledge of the women's game during their pre-tournament discussion of the contenders (also, Austin DID manage to bring up the name -- hello? -- of Dinara Safina to Courier at the beginning of the 7pm broadcast). Of course, their appearance wasn't even alluded to going into the commercial break.

Bring on ESPN2! (Yikes, did I actually say that?)

...as far as actual tennis, the first player to chalk up a win on Day 1 was Yvonne Meusburger, who knocked off Lourdes Dominguez Lino before most players had even had one of the ball persons (not boys or girls at the U.S. Open) get them a new bottle of water out of the courtside cooler.

...the aforementioned Amanmuradova actually ended up having the meltdown of the day, leading Olympic champ Elena Dementieva 5-3 in the 2nd set and holding two set points to force a deciding 3rd set. But once Punch-Sober turned away the opportunities, it was all over but the shouting. Dementieva ended up sweeping the final twelve points of the match to win 6-4/7-5.

...oh, there's always one, isn't there? (Really, when WAS the last time a seeded woman didn't lose in the 1st Round of a slam?) This time it was poor #24-seed Shahar Peer, whose match against Olympic 4th place finisher Li Na pretty well summed up her disappointing season. Peer won the 1st set 6-2 and looked ready to cruise, only to drop the final two sets 6-0/6-1 to become the first seed ousted. Ouch. By the way, this is the second straight slam that the first seeded woman was knocked out by one of the Chinese (Zheng def. Cibulkova at Wimbledon).

...today's "hold on, girlie" moment for #10-seed Anna Chakvetadze was emblematic of her '08 campaign, as well. After reaching the New Haven final over the weekend to provide herself a bit of light on a mostly-dark season, she won the 1st set against fellow Hordette Ekaterina Makarova by a 6-1 score... but then lost the next two rather easily 6-2/6-3. The December burglary and otherwise nasty home invasion was surely an omen for 2008 for Chakvetadze. She needs the offseason to get here as quickly as possible. 2009 is only four months away.

...meanwhile, as one player's wayward season tilts downward, another's goes back up. Tamira Paszek, so often on the short end of results this year, managed to do what she's often been unable to do this season -- put away an opponent ripe for a loss. She upset #22-seed Maria Kirilenko 6-3/3-6/6-4. At least for today, all is right in Tamira's world again.

...could Lucie Safarova be confused? After all, on Saturday she won the tournament at the old Forest Hills site of the U.S. Open. Maybe she mistakenly thought she'd already won an Open championship and couldn't understand why she had to win the title AGAIN starting today. As it turned out, her "double" wasn't meant to be, as she's already out of this tournament at the hands of Sorana Cirstea.

...New Haven champ Caroline Wozniacki didn't suffer the same fate, though. She won her match against wild card Ahsha Rolle.

...as the day session was ending, only one women's qualifier -- Maria Elena Camerin -- had won her 1st Round match, over Emilie Loit.

...I'm liking the new Oreo Double Stuff ad featuring Venus and Serena Williams with Peyton and Eli Manning ("Ooooh! We're scared... Stop copying us!") airing during USA Network's coverage. It's a good thing, because (as is the case with one ad every U.S. Open -- remember the one with John "You're Not Evil" McEnroe and the old line judge?) that's probably going to be the one commercial that'll be run so far into the ground over the next two weeks that everyone in China will be saying, "Who's Eli Manning?"

Speaking of the sisters...

Finally, it might be good to note that new world #3 Serena Williams will become #1 for the first time since August 2003 if she wins this tournament. Hmmm.

Oh, also, as will be the case most nights during the tournament, there'll be a second "U.S. Open at Night" Daily Backspin update on the late-ending matches-of-note and night session once things wrap up for the day. Tonight, after a celebration of Open tennis with 21 former men's and 19 former women's champions, we actually get two potentially great matches. Well, one intriguing match -- Blake vs. Young -- and another to have a little fun with, as they actually scheduled the "Coco vs. Cuckoo-for-Cocoa Puffs" match between Vandeweghe and Jankovic that I was hoping to see. Night One. Queen Chaos versus a player named Coco. How great is that?




*2008 FIRST SEEDS OUT AT SLAMS*
AO: #32 Julia Vakulenko (1st Rd.-Vesnina)
RG: #15 Nicole Vaidisova (1st Rd.-Benesova)
WI: #30 Dominika Cibulkova (1st Rd.-Zheng)
US: #24 Shahar Peer (1st Rd.-Li)




TOP QUALIFIERS: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ & Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: #15 Olaru def. #22 Larcher de Brito 6-2/6-3
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 QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST AMERICAN NON-STAR STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 1.0. More tonight and tomorrow.



UPCOMING: Backspin Time Capsule: 1991 U.S. Open