Wk.32- Citius, Altius, Jankovicius

The were no official WTA events last week, and most of the Olympic 1st Round action was delayed by rain on Sunday.

Of course, that didn't keep you-know-who from being in the news all weekend.


PERSON OF THE WEEK: Jelena Jankovic, SRB
...as always, Jankovic managed to make herself the big story of the weekend... by doing absolutely nothing. For days, the big tennis story coming out of Beijing was that she was close to pulling out of the event because of her injured knee. It was going to be a morning decision on the day of her match, she said. Well, then it rained and wiped out most of the scheduled action on Sunday (including JJ's 1st Rounder). As it turned out, a Serb DID pull out of the women's singles... but it was top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, with an inflamed right thumb that's apparently been bothering her for weeks, but for which she didn't feel the need to provide a daily stream-of-conscious update about, like someone we know. Oh, Jelena... that's why you're so, umm, special. When it all shook out, JJ ended up playing her match, defeating Cara Black rather easily. Also, although the WTA said a week ago that new world #1 Jankovic would be leading Ivanovic by eight points in the new rankings, when they came out the margin was actually 112 points. Yep, it's official -- NO ONE can get a true handle on the Whirling Dervish.
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ITF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Yaroslava Shvedova, RUS
...the Hordette won a $100K event in Monterrey, Mexico with wins over Olga Savchuk, Ahsha Rolle, Rika Fujiwara, Kristina Barrois and Magdalena Rybarikova in the final.
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DOWN: Ana Ivanovic, SRB & Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
...AnaIvo not only lost her #1 ranking, but she didn't play in Beijing, either. As for the Contessova? Well, is it really a surprise to see her lay yet another egg in a "big" event (or whatever the Olympics should be considered). Take away that U.S. Open title four years ago, and she'd be without a doubt the most egregious underachiever on tour.
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1. Jakarta $10K F - Beatrice Gumulya d. Sandy Gumulya
...6-1/3-6/6-2. Indonesia's entry in the all-sisters merry-go-round actually produced an all-Gumulya final in the sisters' hometown tournament over the weekend. Top-seeded Sandy, 22, ended up coming up on the short end of the match-up with 17-year old sibling Beatrice, who grabbed her first career ITF title.
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2. Beijing 1st - Martinez-Sanchez d. Molik
...6-1/6-1. And the Steamer's journey has officially, but unfortunately, come full circle. A surprise Bronze Medalist in Athens in '04, Molik has seen all her promise disappear since then with a string of injuries/illnesses. She needed a wild card to get into the Olympic draw, and was scheduled to face Lindsay Davenport in the 1st Round. When the American pulled out, there was some hope that the Aussie might have gotten a break. Nope, she lost to late-addition MJMS anyway. Such a pity what's happened to her career.
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3. Beijing 1st - Stosur d. Errani
...6-3/6-2. Another Aussie who's battled through recent injuries, Slingin' Sammy ended Errani's 10-match winning streak right out of the Beijing box.
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4. Beijing 1st - Cornet d. Vaidisova
...4-6/6-1/6-4. Petrova's lost ranking points pushed Vaidisova back into the Top 20, but the same Nicole we've seen most of the season was still in attendance in Beijing. At least she didn't go out with a love set in the 3rd this time.
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5. Beijing 1st - Li d. Kuznetsova - 7-6/6-4
Beijing 1st - Zheng d. Szavay - 4-6/6-3/7-5
Beijing 1st - Peng d. Suarez-Navarro - 7-5/7-6
Beijing 1st - Zvonareva d. Yan - 6-2/6-0
...so far, so good for the Cookies at home, as two seeded-players fell at the hands of Li and Zheng. All three have winnable matches in the 2nd Round (Peng vs. Cornet is the toughest.). Yan, though, showed that not everything is going to go the way of the crowd favorites.
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HM- Beijing 1st - Jankovic d. Black
...6-3/6-3. Once again, Jelena's weekend drama was much ado about not quite as much as she made it appear to be. Well, either that, or she's making yet another big mistake by playing on in spite of saying she wouldn't risk her Open participation by pushing herself in Beijing. Hmm... did you notice that there were a total of EIGHTeen games played in this match? Sneaky, sneaky.
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CINCINNATI, OHIO USA (III-Hard Outdoor)
07 FINAL: Chakvetadze d. Morigami
08 TOP: Bartoli/Petrova
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=SF=
Bartoli d. Srebotnik
Petrova d. Lisicki
=FINAL=
Petrova d. Bartoli

...it's about time for Nadia to win something again, right? Well, even if it isn't, I'll go with it. But considering the propensity for surprise results during this North American hard court season, Lisicki scares me a bit.

All for now.