US.2- Tick, Tick, Tick... whew!

I thought coming into this U.S. Open that Dinara Safina might secretly want to get out of the tournament before she had a chance to implode on the big stage. For a while today, it looked like she might already have her flight booked, bags packed and taxi waiting outside the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

As it turned out, with a little help from Olivia Rogowska, she decided to stay a while longer.

Never looking quite "right," an error-prone Safina was in trouble in this match against the teenaged wild card from Australia from the start. Rogowska stayed with Safina into the latter stages of the 1st set, managing to slip into a tie-break, and holding a set point at 6-5.

Safina double-faulted the set away.

She collected herself and ran off a 6-2 2nd set, but then went right back into the spin cycle in the 3rd. So many times Safina looked to be on the precipice of a very high cliff, peeking over the edge, with her '09 U.S. Open chances shattered on the on the canyon floor below... with Safina herself ready to take a flying leap to join them. If might have happened, too, if Rogowska wasn't a slam neophyte who's never even been close to an historic moment such as this one. The Aussie went up a break and led 3-0 in the 3rd, but Safina's history of slam comebacks from the brink never really let anyone totally believe she was ready to walk the door and into that waiting taxi. Maybe not even Dinara.

Rogowska double-faulted to break herself and allow Safina to edge to within 3-2, but then the Russian's forehand shot into the net on break point gave back the advantage in the very next game. It wouldn't last long, though. Up 4-2, the Aussie's play tightened, and Safina's sured up just enough to allow her to pull ahead decisively. She broke Rogowska's serve on consecutive occasions, held her own serve and then easily served out the match for a 6-7/6-2/6-4 win.

Whew! Consider that a successful mission by the Safina Bomb Squad.

Interviewed on court after the match, Safina was asked what "positives" she'll take after nearly becoming the first-ever women's #1 seed to lose in the 1st Round of the Open. Her initial response? With a smile, she said, "I didn't break any rackets."

Well, I guess you have to start somewhere.



=DAY 2 NOTES=
...hmmm, ESPN2 ran a viewer poll today asking whether Safina was "worthy" of the #1 ranking (whatever that means, as she's surely "worthy," having met the tour requirements to earn the position -- which isn't the same thing as whether or not she's the "best" player). 71% said she wasn't. So, the hounding continues, just as it did with Jelena Jankovic last year. Funny how I don't remember that many people bringing this up way-back-when when a certain "most popular player in the history of tennis" (though I'm still not sure what sort of scientific poll Tennis Channel used to determine that honor yesterday), hailing from Belgium, became the first woman to ever reach #1 without winning a slam.

...as has become "the usual" at quite a few slams of late, I guess today's narrow escape means Safina is once again a "Zombie Queen" nominee. As of now, she's right next to Venus Williams in the pecking order.

...you know, I'm not sure so sure how I feel about ESPN's Brad Gilbert, as I did, predicting Victoria Azarenka to reach the semifinals. Many of his "adamant" early-slam theories never turn out to be correct. Well, either that, or he changes his mind mid-way through the slam and decides that he'd actually always liked some other player to reach the SF.

...three more qualifiers won opening round matches today -- Petra Martic, Anastasia Rodionova and Shenay Perry -- to bring the total number in the 2nd Round to six (and Monique Adamczak is still playing her match against Alize Cornet). Meanwhile, Christina McHale is the third Wild Card to get a victory, joining Kim Clijsters and Vania King.

Also, along with Perry and McHale, Melanie Oudin, who handled Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2/6-2 (getting an ace on match point), pushed the number of American women in the 2nd Round to seven.

...a few results of note today: Patty Schnyder defeated Lucie Safarova in an 8-6 3rd set tie-break, Shahar Peer knocked off Agnes Szavay 6-2/6-2 (last year, Peer lost a 1st Round match to Li Na), and Nadia Petrova took out Katarina Srebotnik 6-3/6-3 in the Slovenian veteran's return from her season-long injury-related absence from the tour.

...Caroline Wozniacki, finally debuting the Stella McCartney-designed adidas attire that used to be modeled by Maria Kirilenko, made her first '09 Open appearance on Day 2. Against Galina Voskoboeva, she showed a sometimes shaky serve while trying to put away the 1st set, but didn't fall into the trap she often does -- dropping a winnable set and having to needlessly go three to win the match (and making it difficult to watch without having a stress ball handy). This time she put the hammer down, winning 6-4/6-0.

...and, finally, Maria Sharapova might have redisovered her "old" self. Well, at least for a match. In the night session, she seemed to have lowered her service toss and quite possibly smoothed out the serve timing that's been such an anchor around her neck since she returned to the tour in the spring. She wasn't an ace machine or anything (not getting her first until mid-way through the 2nd set), but she wasn't a double-fault maven, either. And that's a big step. If she can win in straight sets while tossing in double-digit DF's, imagine what she can do when she doesn't take two steps forward and one step back. She defeated Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3/6-0 tonight and might just be ready to turn a few heads at this Open, after all (and not just because of her latest fashion-friendly on-court attire, which is slightly reminiscent of her outfit from her "Exquisite in the City" title run in '06, either). Elena Dementieva might be wise to take note.




*EARLIEST EXITS BY US OPEN WOMEN'S #1 SEED*
2nd Round - Ana Ivanovic, 2008
3rd Round - Billie Jean King, 1973
4th Round - Justine Henin, 2004




TOP QUALIFIER: Eva Hrdinova/CZE
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Eva Hrdinova/CZE def. Laura Robson/GBR 7-6/4-6/7-6
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #25 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.-Chang/TPE)
FIRST WIN: (WC) Vania King/USA (def. Anastasiya Yakimova/BLR)
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: [Temporary: Venus Williams/USA down 7-6/3-1 vs. Vera Dushevina/RUS in 1st Rd.; Dinara Safina/RUS down 3-0 in 3rd set vs. Olivia Rogowska/AUS in 1st Rd.]
LAST AMERICAN STANDING: xxx
LAST non-WILLIAMS AMERICAN STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 2. More tomorrow or tonight.