The Theory of Serenativity

What happens when the same person is both an unstoppable force and an irresistible object?

Well, for one, you get the 2009 Australian Open women's singles final between Serena Williams and Dinara Safina. Just call it the relative "Theory of Serena." "Serena-tivity," if you will.


Getty Images

This match lined up beforehand as a battle not only for a slam crown, but also for the WTA's top ranking between the numbers two and three players in the world. But after a few moments, that was thrown out the window. It wasn't about that at all.

It was simply about Serena.

The only thing that mattered was that Williams was playing in a grand slam final, and except for a few rare instances in which her sister (two times, nearly seven years apart) was on the other side of the net or the birth of a Supernova was at hand (Wimbledon '04), that's a natural phenomenon that no one has been able to contain.

This match was never close. Not even for a moment, as Safina learned just how Maria Sharapova felt in the '07 Australian final when Serena ended her magical run that year by putting a painful beating on the Russian. Here, up 1-0, Williams pulverized a 100mph-plus Safina 1st serve for an easy winner... and the feeling of "uh-oh, here we go again" was evident.

It was soon 2-0 Williams after Safina had thrown in three double-faults in the game. Serena then held at love for 3-0. Then came 4-0. 5-0. 6-0. In the 22-minute set, Williams allowed just two points on her serve and had a 100% 1st serve win percentage.

Here's where the "Serenativity" comes into play, as Williams' quest to find her "A+" game at this tournament came to fruition at the worst possible time for her Russian counterpart. When Serena's play is at this level, she essentially renders everyone in the arena an awed spectator... including her opponent. As is often the case when Serena and Venus play their attacking doubles game, just the threat of being "run over" induces shots to go long or be wildly sprayed as the opposing player's mechanics go out of whack due to a simple desire to survive the onslaught. They try to do too much too soon too quickly, and only end up speeding up the pace of their ultimate demise.

That's what happened with Safina, who'd already gotten off on a wrong foot, then pretty much found herself shoved down and stepped on by a title-hungry Williams. It's likely Safina wouldn't have wanted to know after the 1st set that coming into the match Serena was 34-0 in Melbourne after taking the first stanza, or that she'd won forty-four straight slam matches when she'd done so. Not that it would have mattered much if she had.

Safina's play DID improve in the 2nd set. A little. She broke Williams to open the set, but was immediately broken back. The pressure of Serena's deep returns could not be answered. The über champion of women's tennis was not going to be denied, even by a player who's made a living pulling off comeback wins since last spring. Safina double-faulted on break point to give Williams a 3-1 lead, and the race to the finish line was on. She finally got her first service hold of the match at 4-2, then held again for 5-3. But Serena was never going to grant Safina yet another tennis life. She served out the match for a 6-0/6-3 win.

For her part, Safina took things as much in stride as could be expected. She later noted that Serena had pretty much turned her into one of the ball kids for the match, and said she didn't really have much to say in the post-match ceremony since she "wasn't even on the court for an hour."

As is the case every time Serena shines so brightly in the last women's match at a grand slam, afterward it's time to read off her latest list of achievements. This was her tenth career slam championship (in thirteen finals), and she's now 4-0 in finals in Melbourne, tying the record for the most Open Era titles in Australia. With the '08 U.S. Open title also under her belt, this completes her first back-to-back slam sweep since she won four consecutive during "Serena Slam" in 2002-03 (the Williams family has won three straight, and is 30-1 against the rest of the tour in slams since last year's Wimbledon), making her the first woman to win two straight since Justine Henin pulled off the same U.S./Oz combo in 2003-04, ending a tour-record run of nineteen straight slams without the stringing together of two consecutive titles by the same woman. On Monday, Williams will find herself ranked #1 once again, kicking off her sixty-second week in the position, and this time she assumes the top spot also knowing that she's now won more prize money than any other female athlete in any other sport in history (Annika Sorenstam is now #2).

Williams' last two slam wins were immediately followed by several months of inactivity, battles with injury and/or a lack of interest in maintaining her slam title momentum. But with a shot to reclaim and retain her dominant place in the game setting up like a short ball in the frontcourt, anything is possible. Her season still could quickly head south, for sure, but without Henin around in Paris it's not out of the question to at least entertain fanciful thoughts of her making a run at single-season Grand Slam (which would give her five straight slam titles, one off Martina Navratilova's record of six from 1983-84.

In the post-match ceremony, Serena talked and talked and said she wanted to talk some more. She might get the chance, too. For once again, at least for a while, the WTA tour has been turned into "SerenaLand."

Serena's the best in the world (again), and the best of her generation (still). But that's not all. At this point, the few remaining greats still looking down at her from their exalted historical perches are most definitely getting antsy, as well.



=DAY 13 NOTES=
...Safina is getting a little TOO adept at these second-place finishes. First, she did it at Roland Garros, then the trend picked up steam with a Silver Medal in Beijing. In 2009, it's like a runaway train: she's been a runner-up at the Hopman Cup, then again in both Sydney and Melbourne.

...Ksenia Pervak became the latest Hordette to win a junior slam crown, defeating Laura Robson in the Girls final 6-3/6-1.

*RECENT SLAM "JUNIOR BREAKOUT" WINNERS*
=2007=
AO: Madison Brengle, USA
RG: Mariana Duque-Marino, COL
WI: Urszula Radwanska, POL
US: Kristina Kucova, SVK
=2008=
AO: Jessica Moore, AUS & Arantxa Rus, NED
RG: Simona Halep, ROU & Elena Bogdan, ROU
WI: Laura Robson, GBR
US: Gabriela Paz, VEN
=2009=
AO: Ksenia Pervak, RUS

...meanwhile, Christina McHale's mostly star-crossed Aussie Open ended on a good note, as she won the Girls Doubles title with Croatia's Ajla Tomljanovic.

...the "Doubles Star" award comes down to the winner of the Mixed final, which pits Sania Mirza (w/ Mahesh Bhupathi) against Nathalie Dechy (w/ Andy Ram).

*RECENT "DOUBLES STAR" WINNERS*
=2007=
AO: Liezel Huber, RSA
RG: Katarina Srebotnik SLO
WI: Cara Black, ZIM
US: Nathalie Dechy, FRA
=2008=
AO: Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
RG: Anabel Medina-Garrigues & Virginia Ruano-Pascual, ESP
WI: Samantha Stosur, AUS
US: Cara Black, ZIM

...the great five-set, 5:14 record-setting Nadal/Verdasco Men's SF -- which took up nearly half a day of ESPN2 coverage between live action and replays -- was actually the lead story on ESPN's 6pm SportsCenter on Friday. Of course, when Verdasco was referred to as "Hector" -- Fernando's lost-long twin, perhaps? -- during the highlights package any positive style points the network gained from giving the sport its due were lost. You just can't make this stuff up.

...and, finally, after his next opponent has played two short QF and SF matches, and had an extra day off, Nadal will have to emerge from a phone booth (if he can even find one these days, that is) and become "SuperRafa" to be at his very best in the final. After all, I hear that Eugene Federer can be a tough out.




*ALL-TIME SLAM TITLES*
24...Margaret Smith-Court
22...Steffi Graf
19...Helen Wills-Moody
18...Martina Navratilova
18...Chris Evert
12...Billie Jean King
12...Suzanne Lenglen
10...SERENA WILLIAMS

*RECENT SLAM CHAMPS - CLOSE CALLS*
2004 Roland Garros - Anastasia Myskina
...MP down vs. Kuznetsova in 4th Round
=============================
2005 Australian - Serena Williams
...MP down vs. Sharapova in SF
=============================
2005 Roland Garros - Justine Henin
...MP down vs. Kuznetsova in 4th Round
=============================
2005 Wimbledon - Venus Williams
...MP down vs. Davenport in Final
=============================
2007 Australian - Serena Williams
...Petrova (3rd Rd.) and Peer (QF) served for match
=============================
2007 Wimbledon - Venus Williams
...Kudryavtseva 2 points from win in 1st Round; Morigami served for match in 3rd Round
=============================
2009 Australian - Serena Williams
...Kuznetsova served for match in QF
=============================

*SERENA WILLIAMS SLAM TITLES*
Australian Open (4): 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Roland Garros (1): 2002
Wimbledon (2): 2002, 2003
U.S. Open (3): 1999, 2002, 2008

*SERENA WILLIAMS SLAM RESULTS*
0...1st Round
1...2nd Round
7...3rd Round
4...4th Round
10...Quarterfinal
2...Semifinal
3...Runner-Up
10...Champion



*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#2 S.Williams/USA def. #3 Safina/RUS

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Nadal/ESP vs. #2 Federer/SUI

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#10 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) def. #9 Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #3 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
Dechy/A.Ram (FRA/ISR) vs. Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#3 Ksenia Pervak/RUS def. #5 Laura Robson/GBR

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Yuki Bhambri/IND def. Alexandro-Ferdinandos Georgoudas/GER

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#6 Christina McHale/Ajla Tomljanovic (USA/CRO) def. Alexandra Krunic/Sandra Zaniewska (SRB/POL)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
#7 Francis Casey Alcantara/Hsieh Cheng-Peng (PHI/TPE) def. Mikhal Biryukov/Yasutaka Uchiyama (RUS/JPN)




TOP QUALIFIER: Elena Baltacha/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Elena Dementieva/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): Serena Williams/USA
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Stephanie Dubois/CAN d. Urszula Radwanska/POL 6-4/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd: Suarez-Navarro d. V.Williams 2-6/6-3/7-5 (1 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd: Safina d. Cornet 6-2/2-6/7-5 (2 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): SF: Safina d. Zvonareva 6-3/7-6
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Agnes Szavay/HUN (1st Rd.- Voskoboeva/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The French
REVELATION LADIES: The Kazakhs
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR, Alberta Brianti/ITA, Sesil Karatantcheva/BUL-KAZ (2nd Round)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
COMEBACK PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
CRASH & BURN: Venus Williams/USA (lost in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Dinara Safina/RUS (down 2-5 in 3rd, & 2 MP to Cornet in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Ksenia Pervak/RUS



All for now. More tomorrow.

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The Decade's Best: Australian Open, 2000-09

Who was the Australian Open's top player during the 2000's? Well, I guess we sort of have a pretty good idea about that (hint: she's playing in the final), but who fills out the Top 10 from the last decade in Melbourne?

*2000's TOP 10 - AUSTRALIAN OPEN*
1. Serena Williams, USA: she won more singles titles (three, and maybe four after this weekend) this decade than anyone. More Doubles titles, too (well, except for her sister Venus, with whom she just teamed to win a third Oz crown). Serena pulled off titles from all angles, as well. She completed the "Serena Slam" with a Melbourne win in 2003, came back from a match point in the SF to win in '05, and then won in '07 while ranked #81 and having two opponents serve for the match against her during the tournament (it's happened once in '09, too). There were some great stories Down Under this decade, but no one authored more of them than Serena.
=============================
2. Jennifer Capriati, USA: maybe the most remarkable comeback in tennis history planted its roots in Australia at the start of the decade. Capriati, after having gone from child star to drug arrestee (complete with that famous mugshot), returned to the game and flew higher than ever before. After reaching the SF in '00, she won back-to-back titles in 2001-02 and rose to #1 in the world.
=============================
3. Lindsay Davenport, USA: Davenport won her last slam singles title in Melbourne in '00, and reached two more finals during the decade. A doubles force, as well, she reached two Women's finals with Corina Morariu, but lost both times.
=============================
4. Justine Henin, BEL: Oz wasn't like Paris for La Petit Taureau, but she did win one title, reached two more finals (infamously retiring vs. Mauresmo in '06) and a SF during the decade's middle years.
=============================
5. Maria Sharapova, RUS: the Supernova won the title without losing a single set in 2008, maybe the most dominant performance at the tournament during the 2000's. She was a RU once and reached two other SF.
=============================
6. Martina Hingis, SUI: before the decade began, Hingis had won three straight Aussie titles from 1997-99. She didn't win another this decade, but she did extend her finals streak to six seasons from 2000-02. After an early retirement, she returned to the game and reached QF in '06 and '07. An all-around threat, she also won Doubles and Mixed titles.
=============================
7. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA: after breaking out with a '99 run to the final that included snarky comments about her (then-considered too) muscular physique and sexual preference, Mauresmo's career belatedly bloomed when she finally won her first slam title in Melbourne in 2006 with style and grace, kicking off what was her career-best season.
=============================
8. Kim Clijsters, BEL: no woman reached more Oz SF in the decade (five) than Clijsters, but "Aussie Kim" (a nickname she picked up in Australia when she was engaged to Lleyton Hewitt) never won the title, and reached only one final ('04).
=============================
9. Venus Williams, USA: Venus didn't win the Australian, and her only final appearance was in 2003. Still, she reached another SF and won three Doubles titles with her sister Serena.
=============================
10. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK: a dual threat, the Slovak won a Mixed title and reached the Doubles final with two different partners. In 2008, she reached her first career slam singles SF. The Australian Open has traditionally been her best major, as she had four Round of 16-or-better results in the decade.
=============================

*DOUBLES*
1. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA/USA: 3 titles
=============================
2. Virginia Ruano-Pascual/Paola Suarez, ESP/ARG: one title in two trips to the final
=============================
3. Martina Hingis, SUI: won Mixed and Doubles crowns
=============================
4. Rennae Stubbs, AUS: won Mixed and Doubles crowns
=============================
5. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK: a Mixed title and two Doubles runner-up results
=============================

*JUNIORS*
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS & Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE: both won back-to-back junior Girls singles titles this decade
=============================

*UNDERRATED*
[singles]
Patty Schnyder, SUI: overshadowed by Hingis and unable to win "the big one," Schnyder reached at least the 4th Round in singles from 2003-07.
[singles/doubles]
Anna Kournikova, RUS: won a Doubles title with Hingis, and had 4th Round and QF singles results.
Nathalie Dechy, FRA: she's got a shot at the Mixed title at this Australian. In a 2005 SF, she came within two points in a 2nd set tie-break of upsetting Lindsay Davenport to reach her first and only slam singles final.
Virginia Ruano-Pascual, ESP: a known doubles commodity, she also reached the singles QF in '05.
[doubles]
Corina Morariu, USA: she won a Mixed title, and reached two Doubles finals with Davenport.

*DISAPPOINTMENTS*
[singles]
Venus Williams, USA: Serena prevented her from grabbing that Oz title in the '03 final.
Kim Clijsters, BEL: if she'd ever won, the Aussies would have considered it something of a "home" victory.
[doubles]
Lindsay Davenport/Corina Morariu, USA/USA: the only team with multiple finals appearances during the 2000's without a title as a duo.

*COMEBACKS*
1. Jennifer Capriati's 2001 title
=============================
2. Adopted Aussie daughter Jelena Dokic's just-completed run to the QF after nearly a half-decade as a WTA afterthought, as close to Connors-at-the-1991-U.S. Open as things are likely to ever get in Melbourne.
=============================
3. Martina Hingis emerges from retirement to reach the QF in 2006.
=============================

*REDEMPTION*
Amelie Mauresmo finally puts to rest the questions and wins her first slam in 2006

*STUNNER*
Ranked #81 in '07, Serena Williams survives two opponents (Petrova & Peer) serving for the match against her during the tournament and takes the title, establishing a potential template for her in every slam she's entered ever since... rendering any results she has leading up to a major virtually irrelevant.

*BREAKOUT*
[singles]
Aussie Alicia Molik reaches the QF in 2005, nearly knocking off Davenport before losing in a 9-7 3rd set.
[doubles]
Alona & Kateryna Bondarenko had never won a tour title as an all-sisters doubles team... then they suddenly won the Australian Open title in 2008.

*MOST DOMINANT*
[match]
Serena Williams destroys Maria Sharapova 6-1/6-2 in the 2007 singles final
[tournament]
Maria Sharapova wins the '08 crown without dropping a set, continuing what would ultimately be an 18-0 start to her season.

=NOTES=
Players who reached Women's Doubles final with multiple partners (2 for each): Daniela Hantuchova, Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Lisa Raymond
=============================
Multiple Doubles finals by teams: Williams/Williams (3), Ruano-Pascual/Suarez (2), Davenport/Morariu (2)
=============================
Won both Doubles and Mixed titles: Martina Hingis and Rennae Stubbs
=============================
Maria Sharapova was the only Oz junior Girls singles finalist this decade to go on and win the big tournament years later.
=============================
In 2002 in Melbourne, Monica Seles reached her final slam SF, nine years after her stabbing in Hamburg.
=============================



The quest to rank the Top 20 "Players of the Decade" has reached its first checkpoint. This first cutdown of the original nomination list -- from 104 to 75 -- is rather easy, though.

As of now, no additional players have met the qualifications to be included on the list, though both Dinara Safina (if she wins the Oz singles title) and Sania Mirza (if she wins the Mixed title) could both have their nomination "level" raised before the end of this Australian Open.

Here are the first 29 cuts, with each player placed under their highest-level "qualifying categories," which are listed in descending order of criteria "importance":

*GRAND SLAM SINGLES SEMIFINALIST*
Clarisa Fernandez
Fabiola Zuluaga

*GRAND SLAM SINGLES QUARTERFINALIST*
Shinobu Asagoe
Sybille Bammer
Daja Bedanova
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond
Sesil Karatantcheva
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Magui Serna
Adriana Serra-Zanetti
Karolina Sprem

*DOUBLES/MIXED SLAM CHAMPION*
Mariaan de Swardt
Kimberly Po-Messerli

*YEAR-END DOUBLES TOP 10*
Nicole Arendt
Janette Husarova

*OLYMPIC SINGLES QF-OR-BETTER*
Barbara Schett
Dominique van Roost

*OLYMPIC DOUBLES MEDALIST*
Kristie Boogert
Els Callens
Li Ting
Mariam Oremans
Patricia Tarabini

*SLAM DOUBLES/MIXED RUNNER-UP*
Casey Dellacqua
Tatiana Perebiynis
Anastasia Rodionova

Here are the players still remaining on the list:

*GRAND SLAM SINGLES CHAMPION* (12)
Jennifer Capriati
Kim Clijsters
Lindsay Davenport
Justine Henin
Ana Ivanovic
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Amelie Mauresmo
Anastasia Myskina
Mary Pierce
Maria Sharapova
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

*GRAND SLAM SINGLES RUNNER-UP* (+6)
Marion Bartoli
Elena Dementieva
Martina Hingis
Jelena Jankovic
Conchita Martinez
Dinara Safina

*GRAND SLAM SINGLES SEMIFINALIST* (+14 - 2)
Anna Chakvetadze
Nathalie Dechy
Jelena Dokic
Daniela Hantuchova
Elena Likhovtseva
Nadia Petrova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Patty Schnyder
Monica Seles
Paola Suarez
Nicole Vaidisova
Zheng Jie

*GRAND SLAM SINGLES QUARTERFINALIST* (+38 - 13)
Amanda Coetzer
Silvia Farina-Elia
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Julie Halard-Decugis
Anke Huber
Kaia Kanepi
Anna Kournikova
Li Na
Alicia Molik
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Agnieszka Radwanska
Lisa Raymond
Virginia Ruano-Pascual
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Francesca Schiavone
Meghann Shaughnessy
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Ai Sugiyama
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Nathalie Tauziat
Vera Zvonareva

*YEAR-END TOP 10* (0)
--

*EIGHT-OR-MORE WTA SINGLES TITLES* (+2)
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Anna Smashnova

*DOUBLES/MIXED SLAM CHAMPION* (+15 - 2)
Victoria Azarenka
Cara Black
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Liezel Huber
Corina Morariu
Martina Navratilova
Mara Santangelo
Katarina Srebotnik
Samantha Stosur
Rennae Stubbs
Sun Tiantian
Yan Zi

*YEAR-END DOUBLES TOP 10* (+5 - 2)
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Kveta Peschke

*OLYMPIC SINGLES QF-OR-BETTER* (+2 - 2)
--

*OLYMPIC DOUBLES MEDALIST* (+5 - 5)
--

*SLAM DOUBLES/MIXED RUNNER-UP* (+5 - 2)
Eleni Daniilidou
Sania Mirza

Until the next cut, during Roland Garros.

All for now.



BEST OF THE DECADE SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List

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Oz 11- Old Habits are Hard to Break

In the end, "Punch-Sober" fell off the serving wagon.

Elena Dementieva was the hottest player on tour coming into Melbourne, and had run her winning streak to fifteen matches before her semifinal meeting with Serena Williams on Day 11. Back in her "Punch-Drunk" days, the Russian's serve was like a clock striking twelve on any of her Cinderella slam dreams. Now, though, after a great deal of work that has made her former Achilles' heel a legitimate sometimes-weapon rather than a liability, her standing as one of the "favorites" at this Australian Open was a well-earned position.

But old habits are hard to break.

In the 1st set against Williams, the American was battling against herself at times, throwing in enough errors to give Dementieva hope that she'd be able to grab the lead in an attempt to win her fourth straight match against the nine-time slam titlist. But Serena's serve kept HER head above water. Even as her 1st serve percentage was below 50%, she was winning over 90% of the points when she DID get it in, and hovered around a 50% winning percentage on her 2nd serve. It's hard to beat a Williams under those circumstances, and when your own serve chooses the wrong time to break down it's downright impossible.

That' what happened to Dementieva. A few ill-timed double-faults began to pop up. Serena broke her for a 5-3 lead, then served out the set at 6-3.

In the 2nd set, Dementieva survived three break points in the first game and went on to take a 3-0 lead. But the DF's returned and she was broken for 3-2. The Russian battled back in her receiving games, though, coming back from two Williams aces and a 40/15 lead to break the American and knot the score at 4-4.

But she couldn't hold her own serve. Again, old habits are to break, especially in a grand slam SF against one of the greatest players of all time in what's traditionally been her best major. Dementieva couldn't crack at all if she was going to win, but she did just that in the biggest games of the match.

After the break, Williams served out the proceedings for a 6-3/6-4 win and her fourth trip to an Australian Open singles final (which she'll play a day after she's in the doubles final with sister Venus, where they'll try to get their third Oz crown).

Six matches into this tournament, Serena is still looking for a true "A" game performance. But she's getting closer and closer to it, and she has one more chance to perfect things and celebrate in the Oz winner's circle yet again after becoming a back-to-back slam champion for the first time since completing "Serena Slam" in Melbourne back in 2003.

In the final, Williams will meet Dinara Safina. Not really a big surprise, considering that was a likely ultimate result of two weeks of action before this Australian Open had ever begun (at least in both my and Pierre Cantin's opinions, though we split on our picks for the ultimate champion, as I picked Serena).

Against fellow Hordette Vera Zvonareva, the outcome came down to what pretty much all of Safina's matches have come down to in Melbourne. Namely, Dinara herself. "Little Dinara" was asleep in this match, as Safina controlled the action from the outset. Taking the initiative, she had both more winners and errors than Zvonareva, a sure sign that Marat's sister was playing exactly the type of aggressive game she had intended to before the first ball was struck. I know Zvonareva had been playing very well going into this match, but for the life of me I couldn't quite understand how oddsmakers were seeming to favor Zvonareva in this one (and ESPN's Darren Cahill even picked her to win before the match).

Really? Even with all that Safina has done in the last nine months? Zvonareva seems to have finally gotten a handle on her emotions, while Safina continues to play a occasional game of Whack-a-Mole with her's, but Dinara is the more talented of the two, the most driven at the moment to win a slam and the most ready of any of the currently slam-less women on the WTA Tour (including Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic) to do it RIGHT NOW. Anyway, I thought a 2 & 1 Safina straight sets win was more likely than a Zvonareva victory going in.

Safina won 6-3/7-6, after Zvonareva had served for the 2nd set at 6-5. So, Zvonareva did indeed hold up pretty well, but the better player won in the end. As it should have been.

Safina will have to strive to take full advantage of any of Serena's potential lapses in the final if she's to win it. She surely CAN, but when was the last time Williams had any noticeable lapses in an Australian Open final?

Serena can smell her fourth Oz title now, and it'll take a monumental effort to deny her the prize. Safina is one of the few players who could do it, but I'm still going to take Serena in three sets, with the Russian winning a very close set in the first two before Serena takes full control of the match in the 3rd.

Williams' spot at the all-timer's table is already secure and reserved. Now she's just trying to get as close to the head seat as she can before the appetizers arrive.



=DAY 11 NOTES=
...hmmm, amazing how that closed roof prevented Svetlana Kuznetsova from serving out the match the other day, huh? That darn roof, if he only knew he could cause a player to lose a game twelve games after he was closed he might have wielded his power more thoughtfully.

All right, enough of that. If we didn't have excuses we wouldn't have anything, right?

...so much for the thought that Andy Roddick had a snowball's chance in the Melbourne heat of defeating Roger Federer for only the third time in their now eighteen career meetings.

Federer simply destroyed the American yet again, even out-acing him in the ultimate embarrassment for a player whose serve is the strongest aspect of his game. Aside from that two-set weirdness against Tomas Berdych, Federer has mostly resembled his old #1 self at this tournament. Whether he'll face Rafael Nadal or Fernando Verdasco in the final, we might just see Pete Sampras' all-time slam title mark equaled this weekend.

...in the junior competition, the upcoming semifinals will include two intriguing matchups. In one, world junior #1 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) will meet Wimbledon Girls champ Laura Robson (GBR), while the other will include a matchup of teenagers who'll both be trying to add their name to the list of recent junior slam champs from their home countries -- Ksenia Pervak (RUS) and Ana Bogdan (ROU).

Lertcheewakarn is still alive in the girls doubles SF with Beatrice Gumulya and is keeping alive the dream of a double-title performance in Melbourne. Also, 1st Round cramp-sufferer (and later Robson victim) Christina McHale is in the doubles semis with Croatia's Ajla Tomljanovic.

...and, finally, with the women's final not played until Day 13 (the Women's Doubles and Junior Doubles champions will be crowned, and the other finals are scheduled to be set with the completion of the remaining SF), Day 12's Daily Backspin will step away from this year's action in Melbourne for a day in order to present the first of this year's "Best of the Decade, 2000-09" series. The first " Player of the Decade" nomination list cutdown will take place and I'll present my rankings of the Top 10 players at the Australian Open over the last ten years. I'll do the same thing at the remaining slams this season, leading up to the final Top 20 "Players of the Decade" list at the end of the year.




*CAREER SLAM FINALS - RUSSIANS*
4...Maria Sharapova, 2004-08 (3-1)
3...Svetlana Kuznetsova, 2004-07 (1-2)
2...Olga Morozova, 1974 (0-2)
2...Elena Dementieva, 2004 (0-2)
2...DINARA SAFINA, 2008-09 (0-1)
1...Anastasia Myskina, 2004 (1-0)

*CAREER SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE*
13...SERENA WILLIAMS, USA (9-3)
13...Venus Williams, USA (7-6)
7...Lindsay Davenport, USA (3-4)
4...Maria Sharapova, RUS (3-1)
3...Amelie Mauresmo, FRA (2-1)
3...Ana Ivanovic, SRB (1-2)
3...Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (1-2)
2...Elena Dementieva, RUS (0-2)
2...DINARA SAFINA, RUS (0-1)
1...Marion Bartoli, FRA (0-1)
1...Jelena Jankovic, SRB (0-1)
--
ALSO: 6-Mary Pierce (2-4)

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS, 2000-09 - BY NATION*
9...USA (4-S.Williams, 2-Capriati, 2-Davenport, 1-V.Williams)
3...BEL (2-Henin, 1-Clijsters)
3...RUS (2-Sharapova, 1-Safina)
3...SUI (3-Hingis)
1...FRA (Mauresmo)
1...SRB (Ivanovic)



*WOMEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#2 S.Williams/USA vs. #3 Safina/RUS

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Nadal/ESP or #14 Verdasco/ESP
vs. #2 Federer/SUI

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#9 Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN) vs. #10 Williams/Williams (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #3 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
Dechy/A.Ram (FRA/ISR) vs. Benesova/Dlouhy (CZE/CZE) or Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND)

*GIRLS SINGLES SF*
#1 Noppawan Lertcheewakern/THA vs. #5 Laura Robson/GBR
#3 Ksenia Pervak/RUS vs. #2 Ana Bogdan/ROU

*BOYS SINGLES SF*
#1 Yuki Bhambri/IND vs. #7 Adrien Puget/FRA
Alexandro-Ferdinandos Georgoudas/GER vs. #2 Julen Uriguen/GUA

*GIRLS DOUBLES SF*
Isabella Holland/Sally Peers (AUS/AUS) vs. #6 Christina McHale/Ajla Tomljanovic (USA/CRO)
Alexandra Krunic/Sandra Zaniewska (SRB/POL) vs. #2 Beatrice Gumulya/Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (INA/THA)

*BOYS DOUBLES SF*
#7 Francis Casey Alcantara/Hsieh Cheng-Peng (PHI/TPE) vs. Maximilian Neuchrist/Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT/AUT)
#1 Yuki Bhambri/Huang Liang-Chi (IND/TPE) vs. Mikhal Biryukov/Yasutaka Uchiyama (RUS/JPN)




TOP QUALIFIER: Elena Baltacha/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Elena Dementieva/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Stephanie Dubois/CAN d. Urszula Radwanska/POL 6-4/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd: Suarez-Navarro d. V.Williams 2-6/6-3/7-5 (1 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd: Safina d. Cornet 6-2/2-6/7-5 (2 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Agnes Szavay/HUN (1st Rd.- Voskoboeva/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The French
REVELATION LADIES: The Kazakhs
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR, Alberta Brianti/ITA, Sesil Karatantcheva/BUL-KAZ (2nd Round)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
COMEBACK PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
CRASH & BURN: Venus Williams/USA (lost in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Dinara Safina/RUS (down 2-5 in 3rd, & 2 MP to Cornet in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 11. More tomorrow.

Read more...

Oz 10.5- Middle-Round Madness

=MIDDLE ROUND AWARDS - 3rd-QF Rds.=
TOP PLAYER: Elena Dementieva/RUS
...the player answering the most questions in recent days.
RISER: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
...of course, now the spotlight that she's been avoiding so well in Melbourne will be squarely upon her. (ALSO: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP)
SURPRISE: Alisa Kleybanova/RUS
...in a tournament already top-heavy with overflowing Russians, the #29 seed nearly ended Dokic's Aussie party one round early. (ALSO: Anna Orlik/BLR)
VETERAN: Serena Williams/USA
...a force in Australia? Yes. An unstoppable one? We'll soon see. (ALSO: Nathalie Dechy/FRA)
FRESH FACE: Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...even in ultimately dizzy defeat, she made it known we haven't heard the last from her. (ALSO: Laura Robson/GBR & Heather Watson/GBR)
DOWN: Ana Ivanovic/SRB
...this is becoming a slam trend. (ALSO: Jelena Jankovic/SRB & Cara Black/ZIM)
COMEBACK: Jelena Dokic/AUS
...if she can continue this comeback through the rest of the season, who knows where she'll end up? (ALSO: Sania Mirza/IND)

BEST EXPENDITURE OF A TENNIS "LIFE": 4th Rd. - Safina d. Cornet 6-2/2-6/7-5
...of course, saving two match points and continuing to advance toward a slam final is old hat for the Russian Cat, isn't it?
BEST RE-INTRODUCTION TO THE TENNIS WORLD: 4th Rd. - Dokic d. Kleybanova 7-5/5-7/8-6
...it wasn't exactly a case of history repeating itself, but the sense of deja vu about seeing Dokic's name in a slam QF draw (think Wimbledon '99) was overpowering.
BEST REMINDER OF WHAT SHE'S CAPABLE OF: QF - S.Williams d. Kuznetsova 5-7/7-5/6-1
...on the brink of defeat, Serena manages to discover a push for victory. Speaking of deja vu.

LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic (welcome back home)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (welcome back to the Top 100)
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
ZOMBIE QUEEN (3r-QF): Dinara Safina/RUS (if Cornet wins, is Dokic still playing?)
CRASH & BURNER (3r-QF): Ana Ivanovic/SRB (Verdasco is handling the break-up pretty well, though, huh?)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP (look out, Paris)

May the best woman -- either Serena or one of the three Russians who claimed Olympic medals in Beijing last summer -- win.

All for now. More on Day 11.

Read more...

Oz 10- Pay Attention to the Woman Behind the Curtain (and under the roof)

Did Serena Williams just get her groove back?

It sure looked like it. For one set under the blazing sun on Rod Laver on Day 10, Williams resembled the player who might have been moments away from having to fight for her Australian Open life against Victoria Azarenka a round ago. Her serve was wayward and Svetlana Kuznetsova actually looked as if she might hold it together. The Russian took the set 7-5 and seemed ready to make the Oz semis an all-Hordette affair.

But then the record-breaking heat wave striking Australia this week forced the closure of the roof on Laver. The 25-minute delay may have changed the entire course of this tournament.

When the players returned, Williams' serve was back in gear. But Kuznetsova didn't immediately wilt indoors. She actually served for the match at 5-4. But Serena has been here before, having won the Australian title in '07 after surviving matches against both Nadia Petrova and Shahar Peer when they served for the match. Anyone watching knew that all Serena needed was one service break and everything could change. Thing is, Kuznetsova seemed to know it, too. She blinked, Williams seized upon the opportunity... and the rest was history, or could soon be by the end of the weekend.

Final score: Williams 5-7/7-5/6-1, punctuated by an ace on match point.

Jelena Dokic was the best story of this tournament, and Dinara Safina's sometimes-imposing presence has threatened to turn the WTA world on its collective ear. But Serena is still surviving, just like she has so many times Down Under over the years... to the consternation of her opponents (and their little dogs, too!). As things are beginning to turn more and more in her favor -- Azarenka gets sick, the roof gets closed just in time, etc.) -- the likelihood of the "Soul Survivor" series adding another installment gets better and better.

We started this tournament talking about new versions of the Jelenas One and Two, but we could end it talking about the latest persona of Williams. We've seen her as the young champ who shocked the world ('99 U.S. Open), the most dominant force in the game ("Serena Slam") and as the player trying to overcome inactivity and adversity ('05 and '07 in Melbourne). But now, as she inches closer to possibly becoming the first woman in five years to string together back-to-back slam titles, we may be entering into the "Grand Dame" portion of Serena's career, when she fully reclaims her throne as the game's best -- not only in theory, but in practice, as well..

The Williamses have never done anything by the book. Serena even more so than Venus. A TRUE second act in the career of a dominant athlete, not just a spare additional moment of glory every once in a while, is a rarity in sports. But Serena might just make it another chapter in her ongoing tennis life story.

Sure, there are multiple reasons to like one of the Russians to win this title. Safina is due. So is Elena Dementieva, and she's riding a fifteen-match winning streak and recently has had Williams' number. In the end, Serena may yet turn out to NOT be the women pulling the strings in Melbourne, but don't be surprised if in a few years when people wonder just what you have to do to win the Australian Open they set out on a quest down a yellow brick road to Serena's house, hoping that she'll be able to dispense the wisdom necessary for wishes to become reality.

In other words, pay attention to the woman behind the curtain.



=DAY 10 NOTES=
...Elena Dementieva wrapped up another fine performance by dispatching Carla Suarez-Navarro in the day's other women's QF by a 6-2/6-2 score. CSN didn't become a rare unseeded slam semifinalist, but two QF results in four career slam appearances mean this will likely be the last time in '09 she's unseeded at a slam. Look out for her at Roland Garros, where she qualified and reached the quarters last year in her slam debut.

Dementieva has won three straight matches over SF opponent Serena. But this in Melbourne, and Williams might have finally emerged in full Wizardess attire in her match against Kuznetsova.

...the Veradasco/Tsonga QF was similar to the one between Safina and Dokic, as far as the winner coming down to who took most advantage of the opportunities given to them by their opponent. Tsonga was just 2-for-14 in break point attempts, while Verdasco was 4-for-4. The Spanish lefty will now face off against that other Spanish lefty -- Rafael something) -- in the semis. With Federer and Roddick in the other SF, #14 Verdasco is the last player with a chance to extend the double-digit/unseeded men's final participant streak to four years (and 8-of-9).

*RECENT AO MEN'S FINALISTS*
1999 - #10 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, (u)Thomas Enqvist
2001 - #15 Arnaud Clement
2002 - #16 Thomas Johansson
2003 - #31 Rainer Schuettler
2004 - (u)Marat Safin
2006 - (u)Marcos Baghdatis
2007 - #10 Fernando Gonzalez
2008 - (u)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Of course, we could also be about to see the first final meeting by Nadal and Federer at a hard court slam, as well. If Nadal wins in Melbourne, how long will it take before people start talking about a potential "Rafa Slam?"

...the Girls QF are set, and six of the top eight seeds have advanced. Only Anna Orlik of Belarus and #9 Heather Watson (another Brit!) prevent a full house. The BOGDAN WATCH is on again, as the Romanians -- #2 Ana & #4 Elena -- are on opposite sides of the draw and could set up the second all-Swarmette junior slam final in the last year (E-Bog and Simona Halep made the final at Roland Garros).

...Nathalie Dechy is the only woman still alive in both the Women's and Mixed Doubles competitions. She and partners Mara Santangelo and Andy Ram, respectively, have both reached the SF. Mahesh Bhupathi (w/ Sania Mirza in Mixed, by the way) and Lukas Dlouhy (Iveta Benesova) can say the same amongst the men. Dechy, Mirza or maybe Casey Dellacqua, the last Aussie alive for a title, will likely claim Backspin's "Doubles Star" title for Oz.

...and, finally, a big debt of gratitude to Tennis Channel, but not ESPN2. After my satellite TV crapped out in the middle of the Safina-Dokic match the other night/morning, I needed to catch a replay of the 3rd set to actually see for myself what happened. Thankfully, Tennis Channel obliged before the afternoon had even begun. But ESPN2? The network never showed a replay of the three-setter (w/ a 3:30am start) between the world #3 and the story of the tournament.

As it turned out, rather than show even a partial replay of the entertaining Safina/Dokic clash during the network's late afternoon/early evening coverage, ESPN2 re-aired the Federer/del Potro (with back-to-back bagels of the Argentine to end the match) and Roddick/Djokovic (which ended in a retirement or, as Federer would say, a "give up") matches in whole.

Many commentators on ESPN like to talk about a lack of "star power" in women's tennis, and they're right when you consider that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy when decisions like this are made. Of course, this is the same net that two years ago ran print ads for RG coverage that featured Venus Williams and James Blake, hardly real factors in Paris, yet somehow managed to not include Nadal, who was already the reigning RG champ at the time. The promotions department has learned a little since then, but not as much as you'd think. Consider, during last night's coverage Chris Fowler was constantly promoting the 3:30am Federer/Roddick match that won't air until TONIGHT/TOMORROW MORNING, but for some reason neglected mentioning LAST NIGHT'S/THIS MORNING'S airing of the Nadal/Simon match. Hey, he's only the #1 player in the world playing better on hard courts than he ever has in his life. Why would you ever promote something like THAT when you can hope and hope for the seemingly millionth time that THIS TIME Roddick will actually put up a fight against Federer in a slam. Maybe he will this time, as his new fitness has made a big difference, but when you decide it's more important to focus your advertising on the American who's the #7 seed rather than the best player in the world who just so happens to be Spanish it says something about whether or not you really have any clue about how to promote the sport for which you now hold the broadcast rights for all four grand slams.

I've said it before and will again. ESPN's coverage of this year's U.S. Open will either be the best or the worst thing to happen to tennis on television in the United States. The network has the platform to return the game to a place of (increased) prominence, but the powers that be may have no idea how and/or desire to do it.



(Middle-Round Awards are coming momentarily)




*CAREER SLAM SF - ACTIVE*
18...Lindsay Davenport (7-11)
17...Venus Williams (13-4)
15...SERENA WILLIAMS (12-2)
10...Maria Sharapova (4-6)
8...Amelie Mauresmo (3-5)
7...ELENA DEMENTIEVA (2-4)

*SLAM SF - SINCE 2005*
9...Maria Sharapova (3-6)
8...Justine Henin (7-1)
5...SERENA WILLIAMS (4-0)
5...Kim Clijsters (1-4)
5...Jelena Jankovic (1-4)
4...Ana Ivanovic (3-1)
4...Venus Williams (3-1)
4...Amelie Mauresmo (2-2)
4...ELENA DEMENTIEVA (0-3)
3...Svetlana Kuznetsva (2-1)
3...DINARA SAFINA (1-1)

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN CAREER SF - ACTIVE*
5...Lindsay Davenport (2-3)
4...SERENA WILLIAMS (3-0)
4...Maria Sharapova (2-2)
2...Mary Pierce (2-0)
2...Amelie Mauresmo (2-0)
2...Venus Williams (1-1)
1...Ana Ivanovic (1-0)
1...ELENA DEMENTIEVA (0-0)
1...DINARA SAFINA (0-0)
1...VERA ZVONAREVA (0-0)
1...Kimiko Date-Krumm (0-1)
1...Nathalie Dechy (0-1)
1...Daniela Hantuchova (0-1)
1...Jelena Jankovic (0-1)
1...Patty Schnyder (0-1)
1...Nicole Vaidisova (0-1)

*AUSTRALIAN SF - 2000-09*
5...Kim Clijsters (1-4)
4...SERENA WILLIAMS (3-0)
4...Maria Sharapova (2-2)
3...Martina Hingis (3-0)
3...Jennifer Capriati (2-1)
3...Lindsay Davenport (2-1)
3...Justine Henin (2-1)
2...Venus Williams (1-1)

*2009 JUNIOR QF - BY NATION*
3...France (Mladenovic/Obry/Puget)
2...Germany (Becker/Georgoudas)
2...Great Britain (Robson/Watson)
2...Romania (A.Bogdan/E.Bogdan)
2...Russia (Biryukov/Pervak)
1...Belarus (Orlik)
1...Guam (Uriguen)
1...India (Bhambri)
1...Taiwan (Hsieh)
1...Thailand (Lertcheewakern)



*WOMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#7 Zvonareva/RUS vs. #3 Safina/RUS def. (WC)Dokic/AUS
#4 Dementieva/RUS vs. #2 S.Williams/USA

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Nadal/ESP vs. #14 Verdasco/ESP
#7 Roddick/USA vs. #2 Federer/SUI

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#9 Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN) vs. Dechy/Santangelo (FRA/ITA)
#12 Dellacqua/Schiavone (AUS/ITA) vs. #10 Williams/Williams (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES SF*
Kubot/Marach (POL/AUT) vs. #3 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH)
#6 Dlouhy/Paes (CZE/IND) vs. #2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA)

*MIXED DOUBLES SF*
#7 Medina-Garrigues/Robredo (ESP/ESP) vs. Dechy/A.Ram (FRA/ISR)
Benesova/Dlouhy (CZE/CZE) vs. Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND)

*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
#1 Noppawan Lertcheewakern/THA vs. Anna Orlik/BLR
#4 Elena Bogdan/ROU vs. # Laura Robson/GBR
#9 Heather Watson/GBR vs. #3 Ksenia Pervak/RUS
#7 Kristina Mladenovic/FRA vs. #2 Ana Bogdan/ROU

*BOYS SINGLES QF*
#1 Yuki Bhambri/IND vs. Richard Becker/GER
Mikhal Biryukov/RUS vs. #7 Adrien Puget/FRA
Alexandro-Ferdinandos Georgoudas/GER vs. #15 Hsieh Cheng-Peng/TPE
#5 Julien Obry/FRA vs. #2 Julen Uriguen/GUA




TOP QUALIFIER: Elena Baltacha/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Elena Dementieva/RUS
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Stephanie Dubois/CAN d. Urszula Radwanska/POL 6-4/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd: Suarez-Navarro d. V.Williams 2-6/6-3/7-5 (1 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd: Safina d. Cornet 6-2/2-6/7-5 (2 MP)
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Agnes Szavay/HUN (1st Rd.- Voskoboeva/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The French
REVELATION LADIES: The Kazakhs
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR, Alberta Brianti/ITA, Sesil Karatantcheva/BUL-KAZ (2nd Round)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
COMEBACK PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
CRASH & BURN: Venus Williams/USA (lost in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEENS: Dinara Safina/RUS (down 2-5 in 3rd, & 2 MP to Cornet in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 10. More tomorrow.

Read more...

Oz 9- Dinara on Her Shoulder

Jelena Dokic tried to deny Dinara Safina a spot in the 2009 Australian Open semifinals. The loud voice of that "little Dinara" who resides inside the Russian's head did, too. But, in the end, fate could not be denied.

Safina's close 6-4/4-6/6-4 victory, which was not without several moments when it appeared as if Aussie comeback queen Dokic was one or two points from turning the match in her favor, puts her within two wins of reaching her hoped-for grand slam destiny.

But for at least one more day, she'll have to share the spotlight with her Night 9 opponent, whose winning story has been so special Down Under that Rod Laver himself showed up in Melbourne for a first-hand look at what all the fuss has been about.

For her part, Dokic had spent the previous eight days of this tournament playing to perfection her role as a modern day Dorothy who'd been plucked from the swirling winds of the tornado named Damir and, after a long trip on a yellow brick road, finally plopped down in the Land of Oz with a legion of Aussie "munchkins" cheering her on. She went into this match not yearning to go home, for she'd already done that, but to try to extend this unexpected second Australian honeymoon for as long as humanly possible, even if the limits of her tiring body and the talent of her opponent seemed to be ready to spring upon her from the weeds at any moment.

This semifinal might not have been, as some called it, the "biggest match of her career" (she'd already played in a Wimbledon SF, and for an Olympic Medal in Sydney -- both more than eight years ago), but it might have been the most important one of her new life. The result didn't matter, as just persevering and reaching this point was about ten million times more than half the battle.

Of course, having sometime in the past week moved past the invisible "line of importance" that had previously divided the reclaiming of her off-court self and the resurrection of her past high-flying tennis fortunes, winning would have been another brick upon the load that she's been more than happy to carry on her shoulders at this tournament. After all, it would have just piled another heap of superlatives upon the ton of ones she'd already earned. And she DID have chances to win this match. But, in the end, Safina ultimately silenced them, as well as the havoc-heavy plans of "little Dinara," the alternate pseudo-personality who once again threatened to deny Safina's slam-winning dreams in this match.

Even with what Dokic still seemed capable of achieving in Melbourne under the right circumstances, there was always the underlying feeling that this match was going to be all about whether or not Safina could keep herself together long enough to not allow Dokic to get her fangs into yet another night match of which she would refuse to let go. In a battle which turned on who better handled a handful of big points, the Russian was the player who seized control of the most of them.

In the 1st set, she broke Dokic in her first serve game and soon took a 3-1 lead. After working her way into the match, Dokic broke back to tie the set at 3-3. But Safina's second break for 5-4 gave her the chance to serve out the set, which she did.

As the 2nd set moved along, Dokic pushed back and served for a 5-3 lead, but was broken. The match might have turned out to be a straight sets win for Safina at that point, but it was then that "little Dinara" came out of hibernation. Down 5-4, Safina posted four double-faults in a single service game, got that angry/frustrated look on her face that's become so familiar, slammed a racket and handed Dokic the set on a silver platter. Even while losing the set 6-4, Safina won more points (39-38) in the stanza. But the match was still tied at one set all.

Safina had given Dokic new life, and it very nearly cost her the match.

In the 57-minute 3rd set, big points swayed the momentum. Safina led 4-2, but Dokic surged back to tie the score at four-all. Serving down 15/30, the Aussie worked the point well to set up a mid-court shot perfectly situated for a put-away, but she netted a backhand to give Safina two break points. Dokic extended the game to deuce, and got to game point (just barely missing a backhand down the line for a winner), but Safina eventually broke her to take back the lead. Rather than being up 5-4 and forcing Safina to contend with a potential re-emergence of "little Dinara" on her shoulder, Dokic's back was against the wall. Thing is, she very nearly fought her way out of the corner again, holding a 40/15 lead on Safina's serve as the Russian served for the match. But it wasn't meant to be. Safina kept her inner demons in check, and finally ended Dokic's magical run.

In the end, the big point numbers told the tale of the match. In the 3rd set, Dokic was 1-of-6 on break attempts, while Safina was 2-of-4. While Safina had a 68% 1st serve win percentage in the set, Dokic's was 46%. While Dokic led the overall match in winners (29-23), was essentially even in aces and had fewer double-faults, Safina's 72% 1st serve win percentage was considerably better than Dokic's 56%. As was the case in Dokic I, while the Aussie serves hard her serve is not a reliable and consistent weapon, and in a match such as this -- especially while fighting fatigue in her fifth straight three-set match -- that's enough to make a difference in a close contest.

But Dokic has nothing to feel bad about. Not today. Not after pushing herself to the limit, knocking off three seeds, coming precariously close to making it four against the world #3 and perhaps being just one converted Alize Cornet match point or another "little Dinara" cameo from reaching her second career slam semifinal after being little more than a quickly-fading WTA memory for the last half-decade. This might not have been the ending to her '09 Australian story that many wanted but, then again, no one could have conceived of this story at all before this tournament began.

Fighting back against an opponent on the court used to be Dokic's salvation. Now it's simply proof of what always seemed to be the case even back in her early days -- that she has more than enough heart, courage and brains to get along well if only she'd recognize it herself.

Finally, that seems to be the case. Good for her.

So, while Dokic's career and life move forward in a better place than either were a week ago (imagine if she's able to remain consistent, get her ranking high enough to be seeded at a slam and take some version of the game she showed in Melbourne to her favorite Dokic I stomping grounds at SW19 this summer), Safina moves forward in this tournament. Whoever wins the '09 Oz title, if it's the Russian, is going to have to deal with the woman who's emerged from behind the WTA curtain over the past nine months.

Winner of fourteen straight-and-counting matches Elena Dementieva notwithstanding, if it wasn't for the presence of three-time champ Serena Williams on the other side of the draw, Safina would be the overwhelming favorite to win this slam. Well, those players and that little Russian who lives inside Safina's own head, who might have an itching to attempt one more coup d'etat before the Australian Open is over.

If Safina can manage to totally evict "little Dinara," or at least brush her off with great force if she appears on her shoulder again during what's left of this tournament, there might be no one who can stop her.



=DAY 9 NOTES=
...meanwhile, Vera Zvonareva easily made her way through a player who was but a shadow in the blazing sun of the same Marion Bartoli who knocked out Jelena Jankovic. It's Zvonareva's first slam SF, as the Russian that was one of the least talked about of her countrywomen coming into the tournament has seized the "Ms. Opportunity" crown for this Australian Open. After ending her 2008 season with back-to-back finals, then reaching the team final in Hong Kong to begin '09, Zvonareva will be looking to reach the last match in her fourth straight event.

*RECENT OZ 'Ms.OPPORTUNITY' WINNERS*
2004 Fabiola Zuluaga, COL
2005 Nathalie Dechy, FRA
2006 Martina Hingis, SUI
2007 Serena Williams, USA
2008 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2009 Vera Zvonareva, RUS

...while Dokic and Bartoli both lost one match, Cara Black lost two. She and world doubles co-#1 Liezel Huber were upset in a three-setter by Daniela Hantuchova & Ai Sugiyama. In Mixed Doubles, she and Leander Paes were ousted by Patty Schnyder & Wesley Moodie.

...Roger Federer reached his nineteenth straight slam SF with an easy win over Juan Martin del Potro; while the slimmed-down and fitter Andy Roddick outlasted defending champion Novak Djokovic, who retired in the 4th set in the 120-plus degrees F heat on Rod Laver.

...while Dokic didn't manage to do it, Carla Suarez-Navarro still has a shot to reach the women's SF as an unseeded player. If she does it, she'd become just the third unseeded woman to reach the Oz SF this decade, following in the footsteps of Serena Williams (2007) and Jennifer Capriati (2000). Only ten unseeded women have reached the semifinals in the Australian Open in the last thirty years.

...whoops. The Middle-Round Awards actually will come TOMORROW, since the quarters won't be finished until then. Jumped the gun yesterday a little on that one, I guess.

...so, to replace the Middle-Round Awards, here are a few off-Open awards, if you will. ITF Player of the Week goes to Canada's Sharon Fichman, 18. A week after losing to Gabriela Paz in a circuit singles final, Fichman defeated the Venezuelan in a QF rematch in the $25K in Lutz, Florida. She then went on to knock off Lauren Albanese in the final. On the junior circuit. 16-year old Ukrainian Nadiya Kichenok gets "Junior Star" honors for winning the Optus Nottinghill International Grade 1 event in Melbourne. She defeated Maria Kirillova and Elena Bogdan along the way.

...and, finally, it's funny how sometimes when a player says something in his/her second language, while it might be technically true, it sometimes has a blunter, almost more accusatory tone to in than the player might have intended. Case in point, when asked about whether or not he was surprised about Djokovic's retirement against Roddick, Federer matter-of-factly said that he wasn't since the Serb "has given up" in matches several times before. For his part, Federer, said that HE'D only "given up" once in his career, last season when he has a back injury. I doubt if Federer meant for it to sound as derogatory about Djokovic (and maybe his character) as it almost did, and he WAS just stating the true facts... only without the "nicer," more politically correct spin, tone and word usage that we've come to expect from generally emotionally level-headed athletes whose first language isn't English. Again, nothing was or I don't believe was attempted to be stirred up or tweaked here, but I just thought it was a good example of how the fine subtleties of a language can cause nonexistent things to be able to be read between the lines.

Of course, I'm sure Alla Kudryavtseva knows all about that, huh? Unfortunately, because of it, she'll likely never say another sentence in English about a fellow player's match day attire ever again.




*2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN NIGHT MATCHES*
[multiple scheduled matches]
4...Jelena Dokic (3-1)
3...Roger Federer (3-0)
2...Rafael Nadal (2-0)
2...Marcos Baghdatis (1-1)
2...Alisa Kleybanova (1-1)
2...Samantha Stosur (1-1)
--
NOTE: through nine days of scheduled night session matches at Rod Laver Arena, plus one night on Hisense Arena



*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#7 Zvonareva/RUS def. #16 Bartoli/FRA
#3 Safina/RUS def. (WC)Dokic/AUS
Suarez-Navarro/ESP vs. #4 Dementieva/RUS
#8 Kuznetsova/RUS vs. #2 S.Williams/USA

*MEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Nadal/ESP vs. #6 Simon/FRA
#14 Verdasco/ESP vs. #5 Tsonga/FRA
#7 Roddick/USA def. #3 Djokovic/SRB
#2 Federer/SUI def. #8 del Potro/ARG

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#9 Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN) vs. Dechy/Santangelo (FRA/ITA)
#12 Dellacqua/Schiavone (AUS/ITA) vs. #10 Williams/Williams (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Kubot/Marach (POL/AUT) def. #6 Fyrstenberg/Matkowski (POL/POL)
#3 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH) def. F.Lopez/Verdasco (ESP/ESP)
Bolelli/Seppi (ITA/ITA) vs. #6 Dlouhy/Paes (CZE/IND)
Fish/Isner (USA/USA) vs. #2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA)

*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
Schnyder/Moodie (SUI/RSA) vs. #7 Medina-Garrigues/Robredo (ESP/ESP)
Dechy/A.Ram (FRA/ISR) vs. Cibulkova/Melzer (SVK/AUT)
Benesova/Dlouhy (CZE/CZE) def. Cornet/M.Melo (FRA/BRA_
Mirza/Bhupathi (IND/IND) vs. Wozniak/Nestor (CAN/CAN)




TOP QUALIFIER: Elena Baltacha/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: q3 - Stephanie Dubois/CAN d. Urszula Radwanska/POL 6-4/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd: Suarez-Navarro d. V.Williams 2-6/6-3/7-5
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Agnes Szavay/HUN (1st Rd.- Voskoboeva/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The French
REVELATION LADIES: The Kazakhs
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR, Alberta Brianti/ITA, Sesil Karatantcheva/BUL-KAZ (2nd Round)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Vera Zvonareva/RUS
COMEBACK PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
CRASH & BURN: Venus Williams/USA (lost in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEENS: Dinara Safina/RUS (down 2-5 in 3rd, & 2 MP to Cornet in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (QF)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 9. More tomorrow.

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Oz 8- Wobbling Mathildas

And on Australia Day 2009, the Mathildas ceased to waltz. Instead, they wobbled.


Getty Images

A day after Rod Laver hosted one of the longest, most entertaining days of grand slam tennis in recent memory (it was akin to the old Super Saturday set up at the U.S. Open), bodies of fallen players were seemingly strewn all over the grounds of Melbourne Park.

No, there wasn't another chair-throwing incident or streaker (yet, at least), it was just the unlucky combination of fluke accidents (Zheng Jie falls and injures her wrist, precipitating a retirement five games into her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who must have some sort of black magic working on her opponents when it comes to injuries), the usual wear-and-tear (Gael Monfils, retiring in yet another big match) and an illness possibly made worse by the heat (Victoria Azarenka).

It was the latter instance that was the saddest, for Azarenka looked ready to put Serena Williams to the test in their QF meeting. The teenager from Belarus had won the 1st set with a game that was about as complete as could be expected, and she had the confident look of a player ready for her close-up. She had three break point chances to go up 2-0 on Williams in the 2nd, but Serena pulled out the five-deuce game thanks to a few ill-timed (no pun intended) Azarenka errors. Then, with Serena leading 3-2, Azarenka was overcome by something.

She didn't look well at all. Her cheeks were red. A week after pulling out of Sydney with a viral illness, she simply was having a hard time of it.

Returning after being tended to off the court, Azarenka seemed worse than she'd been when she left. Trying to play out a service game, she was wandering around behind the baseline, her balance obviously off as she wobbled with every step, whether she was trying to find the safety of the court's shadows or was emerging from them. More than once it appeared as if she might literally faint. Finally, she made the only decision she could, the hard one where she was forced to admit it wasn't her day. She retired with a 6-3/2-4 lead, and Serena heads to the QF to face the similarly short-matched Kuznetsova.

In a tournament in which Jelena Dokic has been the top story, and where Dinara Safina has at times looked like she could only be beaten by the tiny little Dinara Safina that lives inside Dinara Safina's head who sometimes comes out at the most inopportune times for Dinara Safina and creates havoc until Dinara Safina manages to shove her back into the recesses of Dinara Safina's mind, it should be noted just how big of an experience gap there is between Serena and the other seven remaining players in the women's draw as far as Australian Open results go.

While Serena has won three Oz titles and reached the QF six times in her career, the only other 2009 quarterfinalist to have ever previously advanced this far in the Australian Open is Kuznetsova, and she last did it four years ago. Yep, that means of all the quarterfinalists at this tournament from 2006-08, only Serena has managed to do it again at this tournament.

*RECENT OZ QUARTERFINALISTS, w/ '09 RESULTS*
=2008=
Daniela Hantuchova - 3rd Round
Justine Henin - retired
Ana Ivanovic - 3rd Round
Jelena Jankovic - 4th Round
Agnieszka Radwanska - 1st Round
Maria Sharapova - injured/did not play
SERENA WILLIAMS - IN QF
Venus Williams - 2nd Round
=2007=
Anna Chakvetadze - 2nd Round
Kim Clijsters - retired
Martina Hingis - retired
Shahar Peer - 1st Round
Lucie Safarova - 3rd Round
Maria Sharapova - injured/did not play
Nicole Vaidisova - 1st Round
SERENA WILLIAMS - IN QF

If only Azarenka could have been able to stand up a little better and longer -- and Alize Cornet been able to hit one more shot, for that matter -- this tournament might have REALLY been broken wide open.

Of course, it still could be.



=DAY 8 NOTES=
...now that's what I'm talking about. Finally, Elena Dementieva fully looked the part in her dismantling (well, at least until she led 5-0 in the 2nd set) of Dominika Cibulkova in their QF match. Test passed with flying colors.

Ditto for Carla Suarez-Navarro, who easily took out fellow Spaniard Anabel Medina-Garrigues in straight sets. Thus, AMG remains slam QF-less for her career, while CSN has now reached two in the last seven months. Not only that, but this is the second time the 20-year old has reached the QF in her debut at a slam (her final 8 run at Roland Garros was also in her Paris debut) -- and she's only played in four slams thus far in her career!

I'd say that's enough for her, as the youngest of the quarterfinalists, to earn this year's Oz "It Girl" award. Spreading the wealth a bit, I'll move the "Zombie Queen" title to Safina's column thanks to her come-from-behind win over Cornet the other day.

...so much for Andy Murray wiping "Fred Perry in 1936" from the British sports lexicon, huh? Could we be about to witness #14-seed Fernando Verdasco become the latest in the long line of surprise Australian Open men's finalists? Of course, Rafael Nadal might have something to say about that. His game is looking positively beastly dominant so far. It's a good thing, since he IS wearing that multi-colored short-sleeved shirt that looks like something I might have worn when I was in kindergarten. I guess he manages to pull off the look, though.

...the "big" 1st Round meeting in the Girls singles didn't turn out to be an epic, as #5-seed Laura Robson took out Christina McHale 7-5/6-3. No idea whether or not McHale had to be helped from the court afterward, but I'm sure Robson had SOMETHING cheeky to say about her day to SOMEONE, even if it was many hours later when hardly anyone was listening.

...Middle-Round Awards come tomorrow.

...and, finally, after having already played three of her four matches under the lights on Laver, Jelena Dokic will get a fourth nighttime date against Dinara Safina on Night 9 in the QF. Yes, this would seem to be a logical place for her trip down the yellow brick road to finally end in this tournament, but crazier things could -- and have -- happened. I mean, today we very nearly saw an ill young player wander around like a drunken sailor and fall face-first onto the new blue court behind the baseline, after all.

Who's to say? We could be about to witness the craziest grand slam run EVER carried out to the extreme reaches of what we THOUGHT was reality barely a week ago.




*2009 FINAL 8's BY NATION- WOMEN/MEN*
4...RUS (Dementieva/Kuznetsova/Safina/Zvonareva)
3...ESP (Suarez-Navarro/Nadal/Verdasco)
2...FRA (Bartoil/Simon)
2...USA (S.Williams/Roddick)
1...ARG (del Potro)
1...AUS (Dokic)
1...SRB (Djokovic)
1...SUI (Federer)
--
PLUS: winner of Blake/USA vs. Tsonga/FRA

*RECENT "IT GIRL" WINNERS*
2008 AO: Casey Dellacqua, AUS
2008 RG: Dinara Safina, RUS
2008 WI: Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
2008 US: Coco Vandeweghe, USA
2009 AO: Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP

*MOST Oz SINGLES QF-or-better - 2000-09*
6...SERENA WILLIAMS
5...Kim Clijsters
5...Lindsay Davenport
5...Justine Henin
5...Martina Hingis
4...Amelie Mauresmo
4...Maria Sharapova
4...Venus Williams
3...Jennifer Capriati
3...Patty Schnyder
2...Daniela Hantuchova
2...SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA
2...Monica Seles



*WOMEN'S SINGLES QF*
#16 Bartoli/FRA vs. #7 Zvonareva/RUS
#3 Safina/RUS vs. (WC)Dokic/AUS
Suarez-Navarro/ESP vs. #4 Dementieva/RUS
#8 Kuznetsova/RUS vs. #2 S.Williams/USA

*MEN'S SINGLES QF*
#1 Nadal/ESP vs. #6 Simon/FRA
#14 Verdasco/ESP vs. TBD
#7 Roddick/USA vs. #3 Djokovic/SRB
#8 del Potro/ARG vs. #2 Federer/SUI

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #9 Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN)
Dechy/Santangelo (FRA/ITA) vs. #11 Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez (ESP/ESP)
#12 Dellacqua/Schiavone (AUS/ITA) vs. Groenefeld/Schnyder (GER/SUI)
#10 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) vs. #16 Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Kubot/Marach (POL/AUT) vs. #6 Fyrstenberg/Matkowski (POL/POL)
#3 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH) vs. F.Lopez/Verdasco (ESP/ESP)
Bolelli/Seppi (ITA/ITA) vs. TBD
Fish/Isner (USA/USA) vs. #2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA)




TOP QUALIFIER: Elena Baltacha/GBR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dominika Cibulkova/SVK
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: q3 - Stephanie Dubois/CAN d. Urszula Radwanska/POL 6-4/6-4
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd: Suarez-Navarro d. V.Williams 2-6/6-3/7-5
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Agnes Szavay/HUN (1st Rd.- Voskoboeva/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The French
REVELATION LADIES: The Kazakhs
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR, Alberta Brianti/ITA, Sesil Karatantcheva/BUL-KAZ (2nd Round)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (xx)
IT GIRL: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
CRASH & BURN: Venus Williams/USA (lost in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEENS: Dinara Safina/RUS (down 2-5 in 3rd, & 2 MP to Cornet in 4th Rd.)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Jelena Dokic/AUS (xx)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx



All for Day 8. More tomorrow.

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