Wk.16- The Cinderella Bannerettes (and other Fed Cup fairy tales)

Some of 2009's more remarkable tennis stories are taking place in the world of Fed Cup.

A few years ago, Italy stunned the women's game with its first-ever FC championship. But that Team Italia was led by an experienced core group of good, if oft-underachieving players, and never had to face a Russian team that'd been dumped out of the field in the 1st Round months earlier.

This weekend, that little detail was taken care of -- by essentially that same group of players -- en route to yet another Fed Cup championship match.

The Russians had won four of the last five FC titles, but entered the semifinal against Italy without the services of world #1 Dinara Safina and injured, originally-named team member Vera Zvonareva. Nadia Petrova wasn't chosen to play singles, and coach Shamil Tarpischev's move to put up the still-slumping Anna Chakvetadze against Flavia Pennetta in the opening singles match proved to be the wrong-headed decision of the entire Fed Cup weekend. She stumbled right out of the box, getting blitzed by Pennetta (losing the 2nd set at love) and putting the Hordettes in a hole from which they were never able to climb.

Usual team leader Svetlana Kuznetsova fell in three to Francesca Schiavone to see Italians take a commanding 2-0 lead. The Contessova bounced back to defeat Pennetta on Sunday, but the die was cast. Youngster Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova battled gamely against Schiavone with Russian survival on the line, splitting two tight sets, but couldn't prevent the veteran from seizing control in the 3rd and clinching Italy's third trip to the FC final in the last four years.

Just goes to show that even with the best pool of talent in the world to choose from, the Russians can be still be undone by a botched coaching decision... and a perennially underrated set of Italians. Of course, yet another "surprise" run to the final by Italy has nothing on the American Bannerettes. As difficult as it is to believe, the bigger Fed Cup story this weekend was taking place in Brno, Czech Republic.

Back in the 1st Round in February, U.S. coach Mary Joe Fernandez pulled all the right strings in her first tie in the head job. Without a Williams, Davenport or Harkleroad at her disposal, and with (then) Bethanie Mattek injured, MJF picked FC neophytes Melanie Oudin and Julie Ditty to fill out the roster. As it turned out, Oudin got a huge win that erased a 1-2 deficit against Argentina, sending the tie to a live doubles rubber, where Ditty and Liezel Huber won to get Team USA to the semifinals. This time, on the road (but on hard court), Fernandez went with FC newbies (now) Mattek-Sands and Alexa Glatch.

For a while, things didn't look good. Mattek-Sands, slumping in singles since her post-marriage return to the tour, went down meekly in both her singles matches without winning a set. But Glatch, 19, played the steadying role of pseudo-"veteran" to the hilt. Just as Harkleroad had saved the American bacon a year ago after Sabine Lisicki upset Lindsay Davenport in the opening match of the USA/GER tie, and Oudin performed in avenging fashion a few months ago, Glatch barely blinked in the face of the pressure. Showing amazing poise, she blew out a path through the more experienced Iveta Benesova and Petra Kvitova, allowing just six games in total as the Czechs crumbled in front of their home fans with the team on the brink of its first FC final since the Czech Republic became an independent nation.

Hmmm... Oudin, Glatch, McHale, Ahn. No one should ever be allowed to question the heart and/or fighting spirit of this new group of Bannerettes, huh?

Going in, I never really thought this tie would get to the doubles and Huber/Mattek-Sands. Late replacement Lucie Safarova's win over Mattek-Sands in Match #3 gave the Czechs a chance to make things easier on themselves and wrap things up in four matches. Then, when Benesova and Kveta Peschke led 6-2/5-2 and held a match point in the decider, I surely didn't expect that my decision to go check out the NFL draft on ESPN would mean I'd miss all the live fun... but that's what happened. Whoops. I tuned in later and was stunned to see the match still going on, and the Americans mere points away from a come-from-behind win. Needless to say, I was a bit peeved.

Never trust a pair of nervous Czechs, I guess.

I did see Peschke's wild shot that set the village and soul-crushing Czech avalanche down the mountain, though. Benesova, who'd already failed to show a pulse in singles, soon followed Peschke's lead in a performance that'll surely be up for every year-end In-Need-of-the-Heimlich-Manuever Award seven months from now. After being on the brink of a FC result not experienced in Brno in over twenty years, the Czechs saw the Americans reach THEIR first Fed Cup final since 2003... without a Williams, Davenport, Capriati or Seles anywhere in sight, too.

Huber and Mattek-Sands won 2-6/7-6/6-1 in front of a stunned crowd and disheartened Maiden team, somehow wrapping up Team USA's second FC victory this season after being down 1-2 heading into the final singles match. Amazing.

Now the question will be whether or not the Cinderella Bannerettes (and South Africa's own Huber) will be joined by one or even two Sisters come November. Maybe. If so, Serena and Venus would get much of the major media glory if the U.S. were to go into Italy (on clay, hardly an easy task) and win an eighteenth Fed Cup title, but the "grunts" and the "General" will have done most of the hard work behind the scenes. No matter what happens in seven months, credit should go where it's due right now.

To Huber. To Ditty. To Oudin, Glatch and even Mattek-Sands, too. And, of course, let's not forget Fernandez, who managed to buck history and have lightning strike her coaching decisions twice in three months (maybe Tarpischev should consult her next time around?) with this unlikely performance by another group of mostly FC-virgins.

I said it in February, and I'll say it again. On her way back to Florida, I hope MJF made a side trip to Vegas or Atlantic City. Or at least played the lottery or something. She's got something good working for her right now, and it'd be a shame to let it go to waste.

*WEEK 15 - FED CUP*


=FED CUP MVPs=
(Semifinals)
ITA d. RUS 4-1
USA d. CZE 3-2


Francesca Schiavone, ITA: Schiavone out battled both Kuznetsova and Pavlyuchenkova in three-setters, leading the way for the Italian upset. She's only won one tour singles title in her career, but she'll go down as one of the most consistent Fed Cup players of the decade.

Alexa Glatch, USA: just as Oudin did three months ago, Glatch's prowess in the clutch -- dominance, really -- made Mary Joe Fernandez look like a genius.



(COACH)
Mary Joe Fernandez, USA: speaking of MJF, if she wins a FC crown playing with mostly a "B" team of players in her first season as coach, maybe some publisher should sign her up for some sort of "Doing More with Less" type of instructional/inspirational self-help book.

(World Group Playoffs)
SRB d. ESP 4-0
FRA d. SVK 3-2
GER d. CHN 3-2
UKR d. ARG 5-0

Jelena Jankovic, SRB: with wins over Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez and Anabel Medina-Garrigues, JJ clinched Serbia's first appearance in the FC Group I in 2010 and extended her own personal '09 winning streak to seven matches. Look out Stuttgart, here she comes.

Amelie Mauresmo, FRA: France was awful in its 1st Round tie with Italy, losing 5-0. Mauresmo bounced back big time, getting wins over both Cibulkova and Hantuchova and joining Nathalie Dechy in doubles to salt away the Pastries' 3-2 win.

Sabine Lisicki, GER: she experienced no Charleston hangover, winning Match #1 over Zheng Jie and then closing out Germany's 3-2 win in doubles with Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Mariya Koryttseva, UKR: with only one Sister Bondarenko (Alona) healthy enough to play, Koryttseva assumed a bigger role. Playing in the #1 singles slot, she knocked off she's-no-Dulko Jorgelina Cravero then teamed with Olga Savchuk in doubles in Ukraine's 5-0 sweep.

(World Group II Playoffs)
BEL d. CAN 3-2
EST d. ISR 3-2
POL d. JPN 3-2
AUS d. SUI 3-1

Yanina Wickmayer, BEL: doing a nice Henin impression, Wickmayer took the reigns of the Belgian team in the tie against Canada. Taking out Canada's best two players -- Wozniak & Dubois -- in both singles and doubles (with Kirsten Flipkens), she had a hand in every point in the Waffles' 3-2 win.

Kai Kanepi, EST: Shahar Peer couldn't do it all for Israel, but Kanepi did for Estonia, grabbing a piece of all three points in the 3-2 victory.

Agnieszka Radwanska, POL: making up for her sister's 0-2 singles mark, A-Rad went 2-0 against Ai Sugiyama and Akiko Morigami and sent the tie to the doubles rubber and the capable hands of Jans/Rosolska.

Samantha Stosur, AUS: playing better and better under pressure as the season has progressed, Stosur notched two wins in Australia's 3-1 win over a Schnyder-less Switzerland.

(RISERS)
Klaudia Jans & Alicja Rosolska, POL: the pair have so far only won one tour doubles title as a pair (though they have a handful of ITF crowns), so their win over Morita/Sugiyama in the deciding match in the POL/JPN tie might qualify as their biggest moment as a team. Both are nearly ranked in the doubles Top 50 (Jens #51, Rosolska #45).

(COMEBACK)
Kirsten Flipkens, BEL: Flipkens cracked under the pressure as a singles player in Henin's last Fed Cup appearance a few years back, badly losing a match that forced Henin to play in the doubles contest (she got hurt, and Belgium lost when she was forced to retire from the match). After disappearing for a while after that, Flipkens has been inching her way back over the past year. This weekend, she joined Wickmayer to take out Dubois/Wozniak to secure Belgium's 3-2 win over Canada and get the Waffles closer to a return to Group I just in time for Kim Clijsters to possibly lend a hand in the future.

(VETERAN)
Liezel Huber, USA: the naturalized American once again anchored the U.S. team's come-from-behind effort, this time playing the part of a Phoenix herself by coming back from the 2-6/2-5, match point down deficit along with Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the deciding doubles rubber. Hmmm, if both Williams sisters decided to play for MJF in the final, would Huber be edged off the schedule entirely if the tie came down to a single doubles match? Could be interesting.

(SURPRISE)
Ana Jovanovic, SRB: ranked #237, Jovanovic provided the final singles win (JJ had two, and AnaIvo one) over Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez in Serbia's 4-0 shutout of '08 FC runners-up Spain.

(DOWN)
Team Czech Republic: only Lucie Safarova, who got a win over Mattek-Sands, emerged unscathed in the Czech Republic's crash in Brno. Kvitova was a disappointment in the clutch, while Peschke shined a bit of light on the questions about why such an accomplished doubles player doesn't have nearly as many (or as big of) titles as you might expect. In a matter of two days, did Iveta Benesova erase all the good memories she's so far created over the first four months of the season?

Anna Chakvetadze, RUS: really, did Tarpischev think that Chakvetadze could be counted on to get a win on the road in Match #1? Really?

Alize Cornet, FRA: although they were both three-setters, Cornet still lost two matches against Cibulkova and Hantuchova this weekend, making her 0-4 in FC play in 2009 and, perhaps more importantly, still looking to get over the hump early in this clay season.

(ITF PLAYER OF THE WEEK)
Shenay Perry, USA: there was something contagious in the U.S this weekend other than the swine flu -- winning tennis. Perry won the $75K in Dothan, Alabama with wins over Chan Chin-Wei, Ekaterina Bychkova, Angela Haynes, Patricia Mayr and Carly Gullickson in a 4-6/6-1/6-3 final.

(JUNIOR STAR)
Daria Gavrilova, RUS: there was SOME good Russian tennis news this weekend (I mean, other than a Supernova sighting on ESPN, where she's set to appear with top NFL draft pick Matthew Stafford in a makeover segment on the "E:60" program), as the 15-year old Muscovite claimed the Grade I Open International Junior title in Beaulieu, France. She defeated Ukraine's Lyudmyla Kichenok 4-6/6-2/7-6 in the final.


1. USA/CZE SF Match #5 - Huber/Mattek-Sands d. Benesova/Peschke
...2-6/7-6/6-1. 6-2/5-2 and holding a match point still wasn't enough to ensure that the Maidens would reach their first Fed Cup final since Czechoslovakia defeated the Soviet Union in 1988.
=============================
2. ITA/RUS SF Match #2 - Schiavone d. Kuznetsova
...1-6/6-2/6-3. The Queens of the Fed Cup in the 2000's (along with maybe Ms. Mauresmo) meet in what turned out to be the match that essentially broke the Russian camel's back. Before this, the Russians had won fifteen of sixteen FC ties, last losing to Belgium in the 1st Round in 2006.
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3. ITA/RUS SF Match #4 - Schiavone d. Pavluchenkova
...7-6/4-6/6-2. Pavlyuchenkova got "stuck" with the unenviable chore of trying to prevent the Italian tide from rolling completely in. That being said, a younger and even less experienced Oudin pulled off a similar feat against Argentina in the 1st Round, though. Of course, Betina Jozami isn't Schiavone, either.
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4. USA/CZE SF Match #4 - Glatch d. Kvitova
...6-2/6-1. I guess the Czechs should have known they were cooked when Glatch framed that overhead with the tippy-top of her racket... and still won the point. Then there was that defensive lunge return that skimmed the net and went into the open court to put the American up 2-0, too.
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5. ITA/RUS SF Match #1 - Pennetta d. Chakvetadze
...6-4/6-0. When you go with arguably your fourth-best option in the first match, one is almost led to believe that you're trying to lose. Or at least not trying to win, per se.
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6. DECIDING DOUBLES RUBBERS
FRA/SVK - Dechy/Mauresmo d. Cibulkova/Hantuchova 4-6/6-1/6-4
GER/CHN - Groenefeld/Lisicki d. Peng/Zheng 4-6/7-5/6-2
BEL/CAN - Flipkens/Wickmayer d. Dubois/Wozniak 6-1/6-3
EST/ISR - Ani/Kanepi d. Obziler/Peer 1-6/6-4/8-6
POL/JPN - Jans/Rosolska d. Morita/Sugiyama 1-6/6-3/6-3
... after so many recent FC ties that were blowouts, it was quite a wild weekend with six of the ten match-ups coming down to the deciding fifth match.
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7. UKR/ARG Match #4 - Savchuk d. Salut
...6-2/6-1. Does Olga Savchuk have a license to operate an olgasavchuk?
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8. AUS/SUI Match #2 - Dokic d. Vogele
...7-6/6-4. Dokic is a career 13-2 while representing Australia in Fed Cup play.
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9. Bari $25K Final - Alexandra Dulgheru d. Sandra Zahlavova
...6-4/6-4. Finally, a Romanian wins an ITF singles title in 2009.
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10. Stuttgart 1st Rd - Azarenka d. Suarez-Navarro
...6-1/6-4. So, she can play on RED clay, too. Hmmm, maybe I should amend my upcoming pick for Stuttgart?
=============================


**FED CUP FINALS - 1999-present**
1999 United States def. Russia
2000 United States def. Spain
2001 Belgium def. Russia
2002 Slovak Republic def. Spain
2003 France def. United States
2004 Russia def. France
2005 Russia def. France
2006 Italy def. Belgium
2007 Russia def. Italy
2008 Russia def. Spain
2009 ITALY vs. UNITED STATES

**2010 WORLD GROUP**
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Italy
Russia
Serbia
Ukraine
United States

**2010 GROUP II**
Argentina
Australia
Belgium
China
Estonia
Poland
Slovak Republic
Spain

**BACK TO 2010 ZONE PLAY**
Canada
Israel
Japan
Switzerland



STUTTGART, GERMANY (Premier $700K/Red Clay)
2008 FINAL: Jankovic d. Cornet
2009 TOP: Safina/Dementieva

*SF*
Jankovic d. A.Radwanska
Dementieva d. Azarenka
*FINAL*
Jankovic d. Dementieva

...will her new crown wear heavily on Safina's head? Going on the theory that it will, I'll go with Dinara's Stuttgart run expiring before the SF... allowing Queen Chaos to continue to build up momentum.


FES, MOROCCO (Int'l $220K/Red Clay)
2008 FINAL: Dulko d. Medina-Garrigues
2009 TOP: Medina-Garrigues/Kleybanova
=============================
*SF*
Medina-Garrigues d. Pavlyuchenkova
Makarova d. Vinci
*FINAL*
Medina-Garrigues d. Makarova

...I was planning on picking Maria K., making sure she wouldn't catch me off guard again this week. Of course, she then proceeded to lose in the 1st Round today to Marta Domachowska. She showed me, I guess. The bottom half of the draw might now produce a first-time tour finalist, so I'll get it over with and pick Makarova (another Russian who wasn't playing in play of Anna C. in Italy this weekend, by the way).


All for now.

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Wk.15- Random Musings of the Backspinner Mind

Time to clean out the attic and spruce up Backspin HQ just a bit. Thus, the Seemingly Eternal Rummaging Through of the Boxes of a Far-from-Spotless Backspinning Mind 2009, Spring Cleaning Edition.

Sometimes you capture the moment. Sometimes it captures you. Case in point, Vera Zvonareva. A couple of weeks ago, the Diplomat was continuing to rev up her inner engines and getting ready to race into Europe with an eye peeking ahead at something potentially far grander than she'd ever imagined. Then the clay court in Charleston got in the way. The result: torn ankle ligaments, a theoretical head-first crash into a brick wall and a clay season (and maybe far more than that) that went poof in an instant. Geez, that's just something that makes you want to get a good lawyer and an immediate hearing before the Tennis Gods. Is Alan Shore real?


AP

Meanwhile, did we just witness Venus Williams' clay season cameo appearance? Sure, she provided Sabine Lisicki with a nice boost in confidence... but it's hard not to wonder if we won't be seeing her again late in a tournament until after her plane touches down in England. These first few months might just have been a case of us being served our 2009 dessert first when it comes to Venus' presence on tour.

Speaking of the German Lisicki. Add yet another name to the long-and-getting-longer list of teenaged Europeans who are sprucing up the recently dilapidated WTA environs. It's nice to say that those eye-opening wins over Lindsay Davenport (Fed Cup) and Dinara Safina (Australian Open) last season can now be looked upon as a prelude to something more, rather than as an aberration.

Good things come to those who wait? Caroline Wozniacki would have officially entered the Top 10 today had she won the Charleston final. As it is, she's still waiting just outside the front door at #11. As for the Dane, she's had what amounted to "full seasons" the last two weeks in just her semifinal matches against two Russians -- the Elenas Vesnina and Dementieva -- alone... and the clay court season hasn't even truly kicked off yet.

Her rollercoaster performance against C-Woz in the Charleston semifinals aside, are we now prepared to welcome back Elena Dementieva to the 2009 season?

I know I get a chuckle (maybe a smirk) when ESPN2's Cliff Drysdale mentions that the Charleston title was Lisicki's first career "Premier" championship. Well, I guess so, considering such a thing didn't exist a couple of months ago. Of course, since the WTA decided not to truly define what a "Premier" title is, any casual fan (well, any fan at all, really) has little idea just how much weight to give to any singles title with doing "extensive" research. Tier I, II, III and IV-labeled events were pretty self-explanatory, but dubbing $4.5m, $2.0m, $1.0m and even $600K events as "Premier" (I refuse to even classify them as "Premier Mandatory" or any of that mind-numbing Road Map nonsense) is beyond redundant and confusing. And here a year ago it seemed nonsensical that the ATP was going to re-name its top level Masters Series tour events "Masters 1000" tournaments. Leave it to the WTA to make it seem genius in comparison since it didn't even bother to classify most of its tournaments in any meaningful way at all. Would it have been so difficult to define Premier tournaments as "Gold," "Silver" or some such-level events, or anything remotely equivalent in order for a discussion about the "value" of a player's titles to be understandable?

2008 Barcelona champ Maria Kirilenko lost in the final while trying to defend her title over the weekend. So far, no player has defended a title in '09. Ten of the champs from the sixteen returning events on the schedule so far didn't even play at all. Of the six defenders who've returned to the scene of their triumphs, four have reached the final. They're 0-4.

Hmmm, "Backspin on Twitter" during the grand slams? At least it's under consideration. Stay tuned.

Just how international is the WTA tour? Well, over fifteen weeks, the eighteen tournaments that have been completed have been claimed by women from ten different nations.

ATP INTERLUDE: Rafael Nadal has won twenty-one straight clay court matches, and is 43-1 and 124-2 dating back over the last few seasons. The women's competition in Paris looks like it'll be a free-for-all, but the men's might just be a fait accompli yet again. The bigger question might be whether or not Roger Federer even reaches the second week. The last time he didn't at a slam was at Roland Garros in 2004. As Roger the Former Great has continued to slide in 2009, might Nadal be the only player left who still views him with something resembling "awe?" Even if it IS probably because Rafa is too polite to admit anything different.

Hmm, after Roberta Vinci's title in Barcelona, Jelena Jankovic's tough time with her in Marbella looks a little different now, doesn't it?

Will lightning strike Mary Joe Fernandez twice? Her second Fed Cup roster includes Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alexa Glatch, Melanie Oudin and Liezel Huber for the SF match-up with the Czechs this weekend. The hard court setting might level the playing field, but #1 singles player Mattek-Sands hasn't exactly been burning up the court with her singles results since her post-wedding return (though her Charleston doubles title is a good sign), and she'll have to step things up big time to get the tie to the deciding doubles match and Huber. If the U.S.'s Cinderella run to the final comes off, might the Sisters be convinced to emerge from the shadows in early November?

Note to self: make sure to pick up Monica Seles' new book.

Why do I get headaches thinking about predicting clay court events? Well, a week ago, I predicted a Wozniacki/Lisicki final in Ponte Vedra Beach. It happened... in Charleston a week later. In Barcelona, Alize Cornet (a fine claycourter) was the early pick, then she lost in the 1st Round. Sorana Cirstea, a semifinalist in Marbella, was substituted. She lost in the 1st Round, too. The winner? Vinci, who hadn't won a title in two years. Ah, another reason to miss La Petit Taureau -- she at least made a few clay event predictions feel as if they're something short of shot-in-the-dark stabs.

Ah, I love spring cleaning. Well, not really... but sometimes cookies just need to be cleared in order to make things run a bit more smoothly. (And, no, that's not a sly 4/20 reference.)

Now, everybody grab your olgasavchuk (a nod to Women Who Serve's Diane and her fun new game) and transport your thoughts to Europe, where the clay season can really get serious. Hmm, I wonder how much gas it takes to fill up an olgasavchuk, anyway? And does it even take gas at all?

*WEEK 15 CHAMPIONS*

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA USA (Premier $1m/Green Clay)
S: Sabine Lisicki def. Caroline Wozniacki 6-2/6-4
D: Mattek-Sands/Petrova d. Dekmeijere/Schnyder

BARCELONA, SPAIN (Int'l $220K/Red Clay)
S: Roberta Vinci def. Maria Kirilenko 6-0/6-4
D: Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez d. Cirstea/Klepac


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sabine Lisicki/GER

AP
...behind a great serve and an aggressive gameplan, 19-year old Lisicki completed the big move that began fifteen months ago when she stunned Safina in Melbourne. After failing to convert a match point in her previous tour final in Tashkent last season against Cirstea, she ran roughshod through the draw in Charleston to get her first career singles title and move into the Top 45 in the rankings. Her confidence-boosting upset of Venus in the 3rd Round shined the spotlight on her, but it was her follow-up wins over Vesnina, Marion Bartoli and a tired Wozniacki in the final that said more about her mental makeup than that one big victory. Now the top-ranked German, Lisicki takes her turn at finding some light in the long, never-filled shadow of Fraulein Forehand.
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RISERS: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Maria Kirilenko/RUS
...Wozniacki has played an awful lot this season, sitting out just two weeks and advancing deep into tournaments every time out (something to take into account as she sets forth in her planning of the remainder of her schedule). Back-to-back PVB and Charleston finals follow on the heels of a QF-or-better string of results at ten of her last eleven events dating back to last October (only her 3rd Round loss to Jelena Dokic in Oz keeps her run from being perfect). She didn't take her second title of '09, but her thrilling SF battle with Dementieva should set the tone for her next few months (and serve as a warning about how quickly things can very nearly slip away if a player lets her nerves get the best of her). Meanwhile, Kirilenko finally reawakened from her hibernation by reaching the final in Barcelona, where she won the title a year ago. Before losing to Vinci, she notched wins over '08 Barcelona RU Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez and Marbella RU Carla-Suarez-Navarro.
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SURPRISE: Roberta Vinci/ITA
...one of the few serve-and-volleyers in the women's game, 26-year old Vinci has oddly enough found her footing on the clay the last few weeks. After pushing Jankovic a week ago, she followed up by taking the Barcelona tournament for her second career tour title (after '07 Bogota, the only other final to which she's ever advanced). She didn't slip through a weak field, either, getting wins over Pauline Parmentier, Flavia Pennetta, Anastasiya Yakimova, Francesca Schiavone and defending champ Kirilenko.
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VETERANS: Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP

...Black & Huber still make up the game's best doubles team, but Llagostera-Vives and Martinez-Sanchez now have more titles in '09 than any other duo. In Barcelona, they wrapped up their third clay court doubles title of the season.
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FRESH FACE: Viktoriya Kutuzova/UKR
...the 20-year old Ukrainian got wins over Alisa Kleybanova and Alona Bondarenko in Charleston before losing to Dementieva. After finishing 2008 at #141, she's up to #94.
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DOWN: Alize Cornet/FRA & Vera Zvonareva/RUS
...well, at least Cornet set a rather low bar to clear over the course of the rest of her clay season with her 1st Round exit in Barcelona, a 6-0/6-3 stunner at the hands of Stephanie Cohen Aloro. Zvonareva seems to be perpetually condemned to have something go wrong before everything can go right.
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ITF PLAYER: Irini Georgatou/GRE
...apparently, Eleni Daniilidou isn't the only woman from Greece who plays tennis. Who knew? 19-year old Georgatou won her second of back-to-back $10K titles in Antalya-Belek, Turkey this weekend, running her match win streak to ten.
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JUNIOR STAR: Christina McHale/USA
...16-year old McHale, she of the dramatic Christina-wobbled-in-the-heat-and-she-nearly-fell-down match in Melbourne, claimed the Easter Bowl Closed U.S. Championship in Rancho Mirage, California. After defeating #2-seed Kristie Haerim-Ahn in the SF, she bumped off #1-seed Lauren Embree in a 6-0/6-3 final. McHale will be a hitting partner for the U.S. team this week in the Czech Republic.
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1. Chas SF - Wozniacki d. Dementieva
...6-4/5-7/7-5. For the second straight week, Wozniacki was the belle (well, the "survivor" was more like it) of a hell of a semifinal. After being steadier than a carpenters level (that's the first time I've used that one... and the last) last week in PVB, C-Woz showed herself to be a typical 18-year old budding tennis star in Charleston. In other words, she burned hot, cold, then warm. She took advantage of Dementieva's off-kilter start and raced to a 6-4/3-0, two-break lead, but the "fun" was just starting. She fell head-over-tea kettle after stumbling while racing to reach a ball in the short court, failed to serve out the match at 5-2, botched three match points up 40/love on the Russian's serve at 5-3, failed to serve things out again at 5-4, didn't make good on a break point at 5-5, double-faulted at set point down and slammed her racket in frustration, lost six straight games and sat quietly while her father told her about her troubles between sets. But then the Dane took a great breath, and went out and won the match anyway. Wozniacki regained her composure in the 3rd, held off the sort of three-set come-from-behind win that Dementieva used to specialize in when she'd always fall behind early against lower-ranked players in her "Punch-Drunk" days, and reached the final after her fifth MP of the day with a forehand winner down the line. C-Woz has now defeated Dementieva two straight times and, title or no title in South Carolina, heads to Europe with her head held very high.
=============================
2. Chas 3rd - Lisicki d. V.Williams
...6-4/7-6. Venus led in both sets, but clay court tennis isn't exactly her bailiwick. Of course, that was supposed to be the case with Lisicki, too.
=============================
3. Chas Final - Lisicki d. Wozniacki
...6-2/6-4. It took six match points, but Lisicki's serve intervened to set things right in a match that was her's from the get-go.
=============================
4. Barc Final - Vinci d. Kirilenko
...6-0/6-4. The enigma that is Maria Kirilenko continues to build its legend.
=============================
5. Chas 3rd - Razzano d. Zvonareva
...1-1 ret. With yet another potential headliner getting cut off at the knees (or, in this case, the ankles), the WTA looks even more fortunate to have seen the early spring be so fertile when it comes to all the European teenagers popping out of the woodwork and winning titles. Paris is going to be a nightmare to forecast... which should lead to a rather outrageous two weeks.
=============================
HM- Chas 2nd - Oudin d. Wozniak
...7-5/6-0. The U.S. vs. Canada, case #1674221. Nice win for Oudin, by the way, against an A-Woz coming off the PVB final.
=============================
HM- Osprey, Florida $25K Final - Fichman d. Fedak
...6-4/6-1. The Canadian didn't get "revenge" on an American for A-Woz's loss, but she DID win a title in America, though. It's Fichman's second ITF crown this season.
=============================


**WEEKS AS WTA #1**
(WTA titles/slam titles)
377...Steffi Graf (107/22)
331...Martina Navratilova (167/18)
260...Chris Evert (154/18)
209...Martina Hingis (43/5)
178...Monica Seles (53/9)
117...Justine Henin (41/7)
98...Lindsay Davenport (55/3)
72...Serena Williams (33/10)
39...Amelie Mauresmo (25/2)
22...Tracy Austin (30/2)
19...Kim Clijsters (34/1)
18...Jelena Jankovic (10/0)
17...Maria Sharapova (19/3)
17...Jennifer Capriati (14/3)
12...Ana Ivanovic (8/1)
12...Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (29/4)
11...Venus Williams (41/7)
2...Evonne Goolagong (68/7)
1...DINARA SAFINA (9/0)
--
PRE-COMPUTER YEAR-END #1's: Margaret Smith-Court (92/24), Billie Jean King (67/12)

**DINARA & MARAT**
10 WEEKS AT #1 - Marat (9), Dinara (1)
24 CAREER SINGLES TITLES - Marat (15), Dinara (9)

**2009 FIRST-TIME TITLISTS**
Victoria Azarenka, BLR (age 19) - Brisbane
Petra Kvitova, CZE (age 18) - Hobart
Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP (age 26) - Bogota
SABINE LISICKI, GER (age 19) - CHARLESTON

**2009 WTA FINALS**
3...Victoria Azarenka (3-0)
3...Elena Dementieva (2-1)
3...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (1-2)

**CONSECUTIVE WTA FINALS**
2 - Elena Dementieva (JAN: Auckland-W/Sydney-W)
2 - Dinara Safina (JAN/FEB: Sydney-L/Australian-L)
2 - Venus Williams (FEB: Dubai-W/Acapulco-W)
2 - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (APR: PVB-W/CHARLESTON-L)

**2009 LOW-RANKED CHAMPIONS**
#66 - Maria-Jose Martinez-Sanchez (Bogota)
#63 - SABINE LISICKI (CHARLESTON)
#61 - ROBERTA VINCI (BARCELONA)
#49 - Petra Kvitova (Hobart)

**2009 TITLE DEFENSE ATTEMPTS**
Dubai - Elena Dementieva (QF-S.Williams)
Bogota - Nuria Llagostera-Vives (2nd-P.Mayr)
Acapulco - Flavia Pennetta (RU-V.Williams)
Indian Wells - Ana Ivanovic (RU-Zvonareva)
Miami - Serena Williams (RU-Azarenka)
BARCELONA - MARIA KIRILENKO (RU-VINCI)

**2009 "PREMIER" TITLES**
($4.5m+/$2m+/$600K+)
1-0-0...Vera Zvonareva, RUS
1-0-0...Victoria Azarenka, BLR
0-1-0...Venus Williams, USA
0-0-1...Elena Dementieva, RUS
0-0-1...SABINE LISICKI, GER
0-0-1...Amelie Mauresmo, FRA

**TEEN CHAMPIONS - 2005-present**
2005: 14 (6-RUS, 5-CZE, 1-IND/NED/SRB)
2006: 17 (7-RUS, 3-ISR, 2-CZE/NED, 1-AUT/SRB/USA)
2007: 10 (3-SRB, 2-FRA/HUN/RUS, 1-POL)
2008: 8 (3-DEN/POL, 1-FRA/ROU)
2009: 6 (3-BLR, 1-CZE/DEN/GER)

**2009 DOUBLES TITLES**
3...LLAGOSTERA-VIVES/MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ, ESP
2...Black/Huber, ZIM/USA
2...Dechy/Santangelo, FRA/ITA

**TWO CAREER TITLES - ACTIVE**
(last title)
Sara Errani, ITA (2008)
Tatiana Golovin, FRA (2007)
Anne Kremer, LUX (2000)
Li Na, CHN (2008)
Nuria Llagostera-Vives, ESP (2008)
Mirjana Lucic, CRO (1998)
Pauline Parmentier, FRA (2008)
Virginie Razzano, FRA (2007)
Agnes Szavay, HUN (2007)
Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA (2008)
ROBERTA VINCI, ITA (2009)
Klara Zakopalova, CZE (2005)





FED CUP
=============================
=SF=
Russia def. Italy 4-1
Czech Republic def. United States 3-2

...there's no Zvonareva, but the on-the-road Russians should still find a way into yet another FC final, with Kuznetsova leading the way. Playing on hard courts in the Czech Republic, the U.S. has a chance to take a wild "B" team ride into the final, but Mattek is probably going to have to sweep her two #1 singles slot matches to pull it off.

=WORLD GROUP PLAYOFFS=
Serbia def. Spain 3-2
France def. Slovak Republic 3-2
Germany def. China 3-2
Ukraine def. Argentina 5-0

...JJ and AnaIvo team up for Serbia. France can't possibly play as poorly as in the 1st Round, right? We'll see if Lisicki can carry over her Charleston success for Team Germany. No Dulko = no chance for Argentina.

=WORLD GROUP II PLAYOFFS=
Belgium def. Canada 3-2
Estonia def. Israel 4-1
Japan def. Poland 3-2
Australia def. Switzerland 4-1

...I've switched the BEL/CAN numbers twice already, but I'll go with Wickmayer & Co. since they're hosting. Peer can't do it all alone for Israel (she found that out last round). I'll take the Japanese vets to win the tie with Poland in a deciding doubles match. Hey, Dokic is on the Australian roster.


All for now.

Read more...

Wk.14- Did Jelena Get Her Groove Back? / Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

(yes, indeed, it's a Backspin first -- a double headline week!)

The top of the WTA rankings has been a messy place in 2009.

As of next Monday, there will have already been three different women who've held the #1 ranking this season, and the soon-to-be new top-ranked player in the world has appeared over the last couple of months to be barely a shadow of the player who totaled up the points over the past twelve months that will allow her to rise to #1. Last year's five different #1 players? Well, at the moment, one is retired, while her successor hasn't played since August. Still another is hobbling around on a bad leg. The fourth is going to flirt with dropping out of the Top 10 unless she defends a large chunk of her '08 Roland Garros title points in May, while her formerly top-ranked countrywoman a week ago was talking about wishing her season would finally "start" sometime soon... three months into the WTA schedule.

But on the heels of Victoria Azarenka's ascent in Miami, the past week in Spain may have produced the first step in the process of restoring order to the chaos. And, ironically enough, this bit of housekeeping was provided by Jelena Jankovic, Queen Chaos herself.

"DID JELENA GET HER GROOVE BACK?"



For a player who claims to have considered quitting the sport a few seasons ago while in the midst of a horrid patch of results (see, she was overly dramatic even before people started paying attention), the battle against oneself has always been a wild, though often entertaining even in the worst of times, ride for Jelena Jankovic. Before last week in Marbella, she'd wilted in the harsh judgment of the #1 spotlight after overtraining during the offseason and losing the one attribute that helped cover up her game's liabilities -- her fluid and instinctive on-court movement and defense. She didn't deal with the new variable well, lost her confidence and her ranking, fired her fitness coach and wished upon a star for her season to begin anew.

Enter the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.

Jankovic's form wasn't perfect in Spain, but after having a hard time getting out of her own way for three months, stringing together five straight wins against some good clay courters surely wasn't something I, for one, saw coming. Not yet, anyway. She may not have fully gotten her groove, back, but maybe the J-Bot is ahead of schedule and will be looking to cause her own brand of chaos to restore some of that order I was talking about to the WTA rankings... or at least as much as she's able, if the Williams sisters are healthy.

Before the season, Paris seemed to be JJ's best shot at a slam title. A week ago, that seemed a longshot, at best. The odds just got shorter. Jankovic has started down the road to Roland Garros, and her vehicle of choice might just be in fine form by the time she gets there, after all.

Hmmm, if Azarenka is the WTA's "sun," then what's Jankovic? (And don't be a smarty and say "the eclipse.")

"ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER"

Meanwhile, a few thousand miles away from Marbella, Caroline Wozniacki was doing all she could to remind everyone that Azarenka isn't the only teenager poised to make a dent in the tennis establishment in 2009.


AP Photo / Phil Coale

Remember, while the Belarusian was still learning how to win (going 0-4 in finals), Denmark's Wozniacki won three times in 2008. Azarenka, 19, is the youngest player in the Top 10, but the honor will be taken by 18-year old C-Woz once the now-#12 player in the world makes her inevitable leap.

A week after Azarenka won her third title of '09, Wozniacki finally got on the board this weekend with a title in Ponte Vedra Beach. PVB is the new home of the tournament that used to reside in Amelia Island. In 2008, Maria Sharapova won her first career clay court title there and, wouldn't you know it, just days after Azarenka was being so favorable compared to the Russian, Wozniacki can be, as well. This was C-Woz's first clay title, too... but she's currently five years younger than the Supernova was a year ago.

Things weren't easy for Wozniacki, as she had a hard time of things in the California heat and very nearly was upset in the semifinals. But the slew of traits she showed en route to the title -- superb movement and an accompanying great defense, mixed with an impressive steadiness in the face of all sorts of non-Jankovician chaos -- should prove beneficial to the Dane this clay season.

Case in point, against Elena Vesnina in the SF. Wozniacki's thigh was wrapped, and she was attended to by a trainer because of the heat. Still, she seemed to get fresher as the match wore on, as she saved four match points, never let Vesnina's emotional outbursts (she was cursing the air and whatever else it was that was curling her hair as the match slipped away) derail her and held her ground when it took her three match points to finally put away the match.

In the final, in a match up of players with similar-sounding names (a fact that seemed to tickle the two women as much as when fans giggle when a player's serve sticks in the net), Wozniacki outclassed Aleksandra Wozniak and was never really in danger of failing to win the crown.

The Russians have pushed each other for years in women's tennis, and now it looks like the slew of new teenaged Europeans (some Russian, some not... though many of then seem to have a "z" in their names in something of an "Attack of the Killer Z's" daymare) might do the same. As goes Azarenka goes Wozniacki, with maybe a spare Pavlyuchenkova or Radwanska to follow.

Good things often come in bunches, and after a worrisome first few months of the season the news is suddenly looking brighter and brighter all the time for the WTA.

Whew!

Of course, I was never worried. (Yeah, right.))

*WEEK 14 CHAMPIONS*

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, CALIFORNIA USA (Int'l $220K/Green Clay)
S: Caroline Wozniacki def. Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1/6-2
D: Chuang/Mirza d. Peschke/Raymond

MARBELLA, SPAIN (Int'l $220K/Red Clay)
S: Jelena Jankovic def. Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-3/3-6/6-3
D: Jans/Rosolska d. Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jelena Jankovic/SRB
...Jankovic edges Wozniacki for P.O.W. because of what her potential reawakening COULD mean. After having such a hard time get ANY wins, posting victories over Schiavone, Sfar, Vinci, Medina-Garrigues and Suarez-Navarro (the latter two of whom had home crowd support) is more than enough reason to be optimistic that we'll have Jelena's antics to kick around again all spring and summer long.
=============================
RISERS: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN
...Caroline see, Caroline do. Please, keep her away from Sesil! Azerenka reaches the Top 10 and wins in Miami; Wozniacki wins in Ponte Vedra Beach and edges a little bit closer to the Top 10 herself. Stosur, Razzano, Hantuchova, Vesnina and Wozniak were set up and knocked down by the Danish blonde in California, whose second '09 final proved to be better than her first (she's 4-2 in her career). Wozniak, just one title away from tying the all-time Canadian mark for WTA singles crowns, will have to wait until next time to have THAT big day. PVB wins over Craybas, Lisicki, Paszek and Petrova will have to suffice for now. Still, the '08 Stanford champ has now reached tour finals on three different surfaces the past three years (red clay in Fes '07, hard in Stanford before this green clay RU) and continues to become a better player than most probably ever expected she'd become a few years ago.
=============================
SURPRISES: Elena Vesnina/RUS & Madison Keys/USA
...Vesnina has made a quantum leap in singles in '09, reaching her first career singles final in Week 1 in Auckland, but she's going to probably have to learn to maintain her head if she's to take the next step. Maybe she should talk to The Diplomat? In PVB, she knocked off Peng Shuai and Dominika Cibulkova to reach the SF. With a little luck and a cooler temper she might have knocked off C-Woz to reach the final, too. She held those four match points against the Dane, losing one -- to her growing consternation -- when Wozniacki's shot did one of those maddening/hilarious (depending on your point of view, of course) net cord ploops onto the Russian's side of the court. All the while, Vesnina was playing out her own personal internal and external drama as she reacted to the various twists and turns of her Saturday fate. It was entertaining to watch, but probably largely counterproductive considering the even-tempered Wozniacki barely blinked through it all and ended up winning the match and, ultimately, the title. A week ago today, 14-year old Keys -- averaging 101 mph per serve -- knocked off Alla Kudryavtseva in PVB in her WTA debut. She lost her second match to top-seeded Nadia Petrova, but consider her officially part of the conversation when it comes to the "next American hope."
=============================
VETERANS: Nadia Petrova/RUS & Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN

AP Photo / Alvaro Barrientos
...Petrova will never be as successful as some people (including me) would wish, but at least she threw her name into the mix in PVB. Wins over Govortsova, Keys and A.Bondarenko put her in the SF and sends her into the heart of the clay season with a little momentum. Meanwhile, in a $75K in Monzon, Spain, 38-year old Date-Krumm won the fourth ITF challenger in her comeback. But, of note, it was her first singles title outside of Japan since she won the tour-level tournament in San Diego in 1995. After wins over Elena Baltacha and Arantxa Parra-Santonja, she defeated 19-year old Swarmette Alexandra Dulgheru in the final.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP & Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...even after doing so well in her slam appearances over the past year, CSN went into Marbella still ranked outside the Top 30 and without a singles final in her career. Watching her struggle to put away Sorana Cirstea in the SF this weekend, her nervous inclinations as the big moment edged nearer might have provided one of the clues to why she's been stuck in the proverbial "Pironkova Zone," where a player capable of huge upsets on big stages somehow can't find a way to win anything anywhere else. After being up 4-1, she twice served for the match in the 2nd set against the Romanian and held two match points. But, still, onto the 3rd they went. She eventually put Cirstea away to finally reach her first final, where she lost to Jankovic in three. It'll be interesting to see how she responds in Barcelona, once again in front of a Spanish crowd but this time with maybe a better handle on her nerves (oh, and a brand-spanking new #27 ranking). I'll give a hand to Cirstea, too, since she seems to be the most likely of the Romanians to make her mark on tour anytime soon. She won a title last year in Tashkent, and looked in Marbella to be possibly ready to seek out a second in some smallish event. Before losing to CSN, she defeated fellow Romanian Raluca Olaru, as well as Andreja Klepac and Kaia Kanepi.
=============================
DOWN: Patty Schnyder/SUI & Jelena Dokic/AUS
...Schnyder seems to be lost somewhere on the White Mile. Her 1st Round loss in PVB to lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko -- in which she won just two games -- drops her '09 mark to 5-6. Dokic, so great a story back in January, has gradually receded as a factor as the season has gone on. She hasn't had a result of note, and now is going to be off tour for who knows how long after being diagnosed with "sports fatigue syndrome." Maybe her "hello" was also her "goodbye?"
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Karolina Sprem/CRO
...in Torhout, Belgium, Sprem won a $100K hard court challenger with a win in the final over Victoriya Kutuzova. She also knocked off Aravane Rezai, Yulia Fedossova, Julia Goerges and Yanina Wickmayer en route to her second ITF title of the season.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Sloane Stephens/USA
...the 16-year old American won both the singles and doubles at the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, California. The Ft.Lauderdale native defeated Grace Min 6-1/6-2 in the singles final, but might cause more eyebrows to raise with her wins over Anna Orlik (3rd Rd.) and Lauren Embree (QF). Last August, Stephens sparked at the U.S. Open, reaching the girls doubles final as well as getting a win in main draw qualifying over Melinda Czink as a then-15 year old. According to ZooTennis, Stephens is now off to serve as a hitting partner for the U.S. Fed Cup team before its SF meeting with the Czech Republic.
=============================


1a. Marb 1st - Zakopalova d. S.Williams
...6-4/3-6/6-1. With Serena's Charleston points from last year ready to drop off next week, Dinara Safina will thus become the nineteenth woman to become #1 next Monday -- and the first whose brother was also ranked #1.
=============================
1b. Barcelona 1st - Rybarikova d. Zakopalova
...6-1/7-6. Obviously, Serena is nothing compared to Magdalena Rybarikova, as far as Klara is concerned.
=============================
2. PVB SF - Wozniacki d. Vesnina
...2-6/6-3/7-6. C-Woz was down 2-4 in the 3rd. Vesnina served at 5-3 and held two match points in a wild five-deuce game. She had two more MP with Wozniacki serving down 5-6 -- one of which was wiped away with that net cord. In the end, Vesnina lived up to her self-appointed role as a tragic Shakespearean figure, going down in a hail of shrieks and fits of anger when Wozniacki finally converted on her own third match point.
=============================
3. PVB Final - Wozniacki d. Wozniak
...6-1/6-2. More than a "c" and an "i" separated them in this one.
=============================
4. Marb Final - Jankovic d. Suarez-Navarro
...6-3/3-6/6-3. CSN was up a break at 1-0 in the 3rd, only to see Jankovic reel off five straight games. That's when she made JJ sweat a little. CSN had a break point to get back on serve at 4-5, but didn't convert it. Finally, Jankovic salted away the title on her fifth match point.
=============================
5. PVB 2nd - A.Bondarenko d. K.Bondarenko
...4-6/6-4/6-3. Considering how they sometimes comport themselves as a doubles team, I wonder if the sisters got into an argument in singles if they'd draw a point penalty from the chair umpire?
=============================
HM- PVB QF - Petrova d. A.Bondarenko
...4-6/6-3/7-6. Petrova came back from a 0-3 deficit in the 3rd set.
=============================


**WTA TITLES - LAST 2 SEASONS**
5...Elena Dementieva (3/2)
5...Venus Williams (3/2)
5...Serena Williams (4/1)
5...JELENA JANKOVIC (4/1)
4...Vera Zvonareva (2/2)
4...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (3/1)
4...Dinara Safina (4/0)

**YOUNGEST 2009 CHAMPS**
18y9mo - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (PONTE VEDRA BEACH)
18y10mo - Petra Kvitova (Hobart)
19y5mo2wk - Victoria Azarenka (Brisbane)
19y7mo - Victoria Azarenka (Memphis)
19y8mo2wk - Victoria Azarenka (Miami)

**2009 WEEKS IN BOTH SINGLES/DOUBLES TOP 20**
(of 15 wks., simultaneously Top 20/Top 20)
15...Victoria Azarenka *
11...Venus Williams *
11...Serena Williams *
6...Anabel Medina-Garrigues *
4...Flavia Pennetta *
4...Katarina Srebotnik
1...Nadia Petrova
--
* - current Top 20/Top 20

 What will be Kim Clijsters' best 2009 result?

• 
  
  W


• 
  
  RU


• 
  
  SF


• 
  
  QF


• 
  
  Worse than QF


• 
  
  She'll retire again

view results
Free vote poll

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA USA (Premier $1m/Green Clay Outdoor)
08 Final: S.Williams d. Zvonareva
09 Top Seeds: Dementieva/V.Williams
=============================
=QF=
Cibulkova d. Dementieva
Zvonareva d. Wozniacki
Wozniak d. Petrova
V.Williams d. Vesnina
=SF=
Zvonareva d. Cibulkova
V.Williams d. Wozniak
=FINAL=
V.Williams d. Zvonareva

...a year later, will a different Williams prevent Zvonareva from walking away with this title?


BARCELONA, SPAIN (Int'l $220K/Red Clay Outdoor)
08 Final: Kirilenko d. Martinez-Sanchez
09 Top Seeds: Cornet/Pennetta
=============================
=SF=
Suarez-Navarro d. Martinez-Sanchez
Cirstea d. Schiavone
=FINAL=
Cirstea d. Suarez-Navarro

...the clay season has arrived. Alize should be happy... but she's already been upset by Stephanie Cohen Aloro in the 1st Round. Go figure. Guess I'll go with Cirstea winning a rematch with CSN then.


All for now.

Read more...

Odds & Ends Between Marbella and Paris (and Top 10 Second Thoughts)

"Is Justine playing?"

That used to be all that needed to be asked when looking out at the expanse that is the WTA's clay court season, and Clay Queen Henin the First usually made sure things went according to plan. But ever since La Petit Taureau up and retired two weeks before the start of Roland Garros a season ago, it's been more of a 'Who?," or "Really, her?" or "Are you sure she can keep it together long enough to do something like THAT?" proposition on the clay.

And since know one's thinking about Sesil when they're asked potentially leading questions such as those, it's probably best to devise some sort of plan of action when it comes to who to pay attention to over the next few months.

The 2009 Clay Court Experience has begun at, to name one tournament, "The Andalucia Tennis Experience" in Marbella (seriously, has there ever been a cooler name for a tournament than that?) in Week 14, and some interesting things have already occurred that could alter the course of the road to Roland Garros.

Here's a quick look at the players who'll be looking at the clay court season in entirely different ways:

**MOST IMPORTANT**
Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic: last clay season, these were the players who filled the space left by Henin's departure. Jankovic defended her Rome title, Safina won Berlin and reached the RG final, and Ivanovic became a grand slam champion in Paris. As of Monday April 20, when Safina moves up, all three will have spent post-Justine time at #1, but up until this weekend none had been able to win a singles title in '09. Jankovic changed that today by winning her tenth career (fifth on clay) title in Marbella, overcoming a slew of clay courters and seeming to regain a great deal of the fluidity of movement and defensive skills she lost during that "bulking up" offseason phase that pretty much blew up in her face during the 1st Quarter. Before the season, Roland Garros seemed to be Jankovic's best shot at that elusive slam title. After a slow start, maybe that conventional wisdom will turn out to be true after all. This weekend could have been the unexpected beginning of Queen Chaos' triumphant march toward Paris.

Umm, or not. Who can tell with the J-Bot?

Ivanovic admits to having a hard time balancing her life and tennis with the new expectations heaped upon her since winning RG in '08. Occasionally over the past year, she's popped up with a good result, but she's never been able to follow it up with another one and regain the confidence she had in Paris. A return to the clay might be her best chance to reclaim the memory, though. As for Safina... well, maybe she won't experience the same #1 slump that has struck the Serbs since she's pretty much been going through it BEFORE assuming the top spot. Of course, sitting atop the rankings will encumber the Russian Cat with a whole new type of pressure, won't it? Being a Safin, she could be about to soar to new heights... or crash in a fashion that might make you want to cover your eyes to block out the carnage.

Maybe none of these three will scale the heights of their previous clay seasons, but here's their collective chance to begin to save their campaigns and reclaim the spotlight that Victoria Azarenka has stolen from them so far in '09.
-------------------------------------
**LEAST IMPORTANT**
Serena and Venus Williams: Serena is hobbled and pulling out of tournaments as the clay season is getting underway, while Venus has never been a dominating presence at this time of the year (though she's not inconsequential by any means, and already has a clay title in '09). The Sisters have carried the tour on their shoulders in '09 as Maria Sharapova has been absent and the aforementioned trio of Europeans have fallen off, and maybe they're owed the next few months to refuel and get ready for the grass and hard court seasons that very well could be dominated by the pair as thoroughly as they were last year. Serena held onto her #1 ranking as long as she could (her 1st Round loss in Marbella finally put that to rest), so there's no longer any urgency to play when she's not 100%. Venus might have her best chance to challenge for year-end #1 since the beginning of this decade, though, and a good clay season would go a long way toward helping her pull off the feat (she's never finished a season at #1). Somehow, though, being healthy enough to win in London and New York would seem to be a higher priority for her. Ditto for Serena.
-------------------------------------
**POISED FOR "GREATNESS"?**
Vera Zvonareva & Victoria Azarenka: The Diplomat and the tour's Little Miss Sunshine '09 herself have been the two revelatory players of the past six months. Both have already claimed "premier-plus" titles, reached new career highs (Zvonareva Top 5, Azarenka Top 10) and flashed at a slam (the Russian reached her first slam SF in Melbourne, while the Belarusian had eventual champ Serena on the ropes before the heat got the best of her) in '09, but the best may be yet to come. The true test will come in Paris, though. Will the "new" Vera allow HER to become the next first-time slam winner at the event that has produced so many, or will it be Azarenka (who's yet to reach a slam QF) who'll continue her climb there? Surely, they'll both be (at the very least) dark horse choices to win the title, though Azarenka's shoulder soreness will have to be watched. While there are many things she has in common with Sharapova, that need not become one of them.

If not these, too, though, then whom? Hmmm... maybe Elena Dementieva, though her recent dip in results has sort of removed her from the first paragraph of the conversation. She might not have a better chance to win a slam than she could have in Paris, especially if the Safina/Serbs trio aren't on the upswing come RG time.
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**READY TO TURN HEADS**
Caroline Wozniacki & Carla Suarez-Navarro: Wozniacki is following along in Azarenka's footsteps. As of this posting, she hasn't yet won a title in '09, but she'll be playing for the Ponte Vedra Beach title in a matter of hours. In the SF, she showed great defensive skills and an intense steadiness in the face of the Shakespearean drama going on on the other side of the net with Elena Vesnina. C-Woz saved four match points and ultimately won a 3rd set tie-break by putting away her third match point. Hmmm... defense, steadiness, patience and a knowledge of how to win a close, grueling match under tough conditions... yeah, those things could come in handy on the clay.

Suarez-Navarro made her mark last year by qualifying in Paris and reaching the QF. She reached her second slam QF in Melbourne in January, but she's lacked enough consistency (and steady nerves) to move up the rankings as quickly as one might expect from her slam exploits. She did reach her first career singles final in Marbella this weekend, though (after nearly letting the potential moment get the better of her in the SF against Sorana Cirstea), so her post-Australian Open lull seems to be over. As long as she can remain slightly under the radar, she could be a natural force to reckon with on the clay thanks to her Henin-esque backhand, mobility and fighting skills.

Looking for another potential mover-and-shaker? Well, Alize Cornet would certainly be a good bet. While she's improved her hard court results over the last year, she always has been and still is a menacing fighter with the potential to topple just about anyone on clay.
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**LURCHING TOWARD DISASTER?**
Maria Sharapova: oh, remember when it looked as if Sharapova was going to head to Melbourne to defend her Australian Open title? Well, we're still waiting... and with every passing week one wonders if we'll see the Supernova at all in '09. A season ago she was winning her first career clay title in Amelia Island, but now she's the biggest question mark in the sport. Shoulder injuries can be tricky and potentially devastating (ask Ms. Capriati), and she's learning that the hard way. Rome is the next rumored city where Sharapova will resurface, but one wonders why she'd bother to try to come back on slow clay when she can wait for the grass or hard court season to re-emerge. I guess this sort of year was in the cards whenever both Pierre Cantin and I picked Sharapova to finish the season at #1, huh? I guess the ol' "Kuznetsova Curse" is still just as potent as ever. Sorry, Maria.



Speaking of those pre-season rankings, here's where the "second thoughts" come in. It's been three months, and it's clear that I was under the influence of something when I picked my original Top 10. So, I'll try again.

(original prediction in parenthesis)

1. Serena Williams (3)... still the best
2. Venus Williams (6)... unless
3. Vera Zvonareva (8)... the next slammin' Russian?
4. Victoria Azarenka (-)... ready, set, go?
5. Jelena Jankovic (2)... she's baaaack, maybe
6. Elena Dementieva (9)... January already seems ages ago
7. Dinara Safina (5)... heavy wears the crown
8. Caroline Wozniacki (7)... looking for something BIG
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova (-)... against my better judgment
10. Ana Ivanovic (4)... still looking for the bottom?

I suppose I'll know in a few months whether or not I was under the influence of something else when I made THESE picks. If I was, though, I'll refuse to be wrong a THIRD third time. My limit for looking like a fool in the same arena is twice... well, unless I'm under the influence of something, I guess.

All for now.

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WTA Backspin 1Q Awards

One quarter of the way into the 2009 season and rather than knowing more than we did three months ago, we know less than we'd ever have imagined we could.

Jelena Dokic returns, then disappears again. Dinara Safina's game loses its edge, but she's set to become #1 anyway. Jelena Jankovic tries to give her top ranking some added heft, but loses it as a result. One of the Waffles is waiting in the wings... but it's probably not the one most people thought it might be.

Have no fear, we still have another eight months to figure things out... hmm, or is it to become even more confused?

**1st Quarter Awards / Week 1-13*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Serena Williams, USA
...the computer won't say she's #1 come next week, but who really believes that nonsense anyway?
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2. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
...the waiting game finally paid off. And the best may be yet to come in '09.
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3. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
...ditto.
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4. Elena Dementieva, RUS
...but did she go all out too early? Probably. But she might never have a better opportunity to get to #1 than she will before this season is over.
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5. Venus Williams, USA
...speaking of a potential #1. Last year, Venus' season didn't really start until Wimbledon. This time around she's got two titles and is in the Top 5 before mid-April. Venus, by the way, has never finished a season at #1 and last held the top spot seven years ago..
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6. Marion Bartoli, FRA
...quietly re-asserting herself.
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7. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
...Dokic possibly aside, maybe the best comeback story of the season (and one with likely more staying power over the next eight months than the Aussie's).
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8. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
...as happened a year ago, they've been toppled early in more tournaments over the season's opening stages than one would expect. But, by and large, they're still having the best year of any team so far (and Huber was a Fed Cup star, too).
=============================
9. Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
...not that far behind Black/Huber, but can they do it on the bigger stages all season long? Black and Huber have, and surely will again.
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10. Iveta Benesova/ CZE
...she's already achieved a personal-high ranking and is setting herself up for a career year at age 26.
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HM- Petra Kvitova, Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, Williams/Williams, Dechy/Santangelo, Kuznetsova/Mauresmo.
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QUOTE:
"It's really emotional to win today. What I had to go through, it's really great to have this win. I don't think a lot of people know what it means to me. It's great to be here at a slam." - Jelena Dokic

**RISERS**
1. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2. Marion Bartoli, FRA
3. Petra Kvitova, CZE
4. Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
5. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
6. Zheng Jie, CHN
7. M.J. Martinez-Sanchez/N.Llagostera-Vives, ESP
8. Iveta Benesova, CZE
9. Samantha Stosur, AUS
10. Li Na, CHN
11. Shahar Peer, ISR
12. Hsieh S-W./Peng S., TPE/CHN
13. Kaia Kanepi, EST
14. Elena Vesnina, RUS
15. Gisela Dulko, ARG
16. Virginie Razzano, FRA
17. Agnes Szavay, HUN
18. Alize Cornet, FRA
19. Sara Errani, ITA
20. Anne Keothavong, GBR
HM- Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE & Agnieszka Radwanska/POL

**FRESH FACES**
1. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
3. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
4. Alisa Kleybanova, RUS
5. Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
6. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
7. Melanie Oudin, USA
8. Urszula Radwanska, POL
9. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
10. Sabine Lisicki, GER
11. Gabriela Paz, VEN
12. Jessica Moore, AUS
13. Christina McHale, USA
14. Alexa Glatch, USA
15. Evgeniya Rodina, RUS
16. Anastasia Pivovarova, RUS
17. Kristie Haerim Ahn, USA
18. Zhou Yi-Miao, CHN
19. Tatjana Malek, GER
20. Mathilde Johansson, FRA
HM- Julia Goerges, GER & Sharon Fichman, CAN

**JUNIORS**
1. Ksenia Pervak, RUS
2. Chelsey Gullickson, USA (Univ. of Georgia)
3. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
4. Laura Robson, GBR
5. Ana Bogdan, ROU
6. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
7. Elena Bogdan, ROU
8. Ajla Tomljanovic, CRO
9. Anna Orlik, BLR
10. Maryna Zanevska, UKR
HM- Camila Silva, CHI & Heather Watson, GBR

**SURPRISES**
1. Jelena Dokic, AUS
2. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
3. Anne Keothavong, GBR
4. Julie Ditty, USA
5. Mervana Jugic-Salkic, BIH
6. Masa Zec-Peskiric, SLO
7. Patricia Mayr, AUT
8. Anastasiya Yakimova, BLR
9. Vitalia Diatchenko, RUS
10. Elena Baltacha, GBR
HM- Galina Fokina, RUS & Galina Voskoboeva/KAZ

**VETERANS**
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Elena Dementieva, RUS
3. Venus Williams, USA
4. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
5. C.Black/L.Huber, ZIM/USA
6. M.J. Martinez/N.Llagostera-Vives, ESP
7. Iveta Benesova, CZE
8. S.Williams/V.Williams, USA
9. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
10. Jelena Dokic, AUS
HM- Samantha Stosur, AUS & Nathalie Dechy, FRA

**COMEBACKS**
1. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2. Jelena Dokic, AUS
3. Sania Mirza, IND
4. Li Na, CHN
5. Shahar Peer, ISR
6. Agnes Szavay, HUN
7. Michaella Krajicek, NED
8. Laura Granville, USA
9. Elena Bovina, RUS
10. Julia Vakuleno, UKR
HM- Angela Haynes, USA & Karolina Sprem, CRO

**DOWN**
1. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
2. Dinara Safina, RUS
3. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
4. French Fed Cup team
5. Maria Sharapova, RUS
6. Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
7. Patty Schnyder, SUI
8. Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
9. Maria Kirilenko, RUS
10. Katarina Srebotnik, SLO
HM- Meghann Shaughnessy, USA & Bondarenko/Bondarenko, UKR

**FED CUP**
1. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2. Liezel Huber, USA
3. Petra Kvitova, CZE
4. Melanie Oudin, USA
5. A.Bondarenko/K.Bondarenko, UKR
HM- Julie Ditty, USA

**ITF PLAYERS**
1. Lucie Hradecka, CZE
2. Gabriela Paz, VEN
3. Darya Kustova, BLR
4. Katie O'Brien, GBR
5. Abigail Spears, USA
6. Zhou Yi-Miao, CHN
7. Violette Huck, FRA
8. Sarah Gronert, GER
9. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
10. Oksana Kalashnikova, GEO
HM- Chanelle Scheepers, RSA & Bianco Botto, PER

QUOTE:
"You should never be surprised by anything that I do." - Serena Williams

**TOP PERFORMANCES**
[1]
Serena Williams wins the Australian Open, her tenth career slam singles title
[2]
Elena Dementieva opens her season by winning back-to-back titles in Auckland and Sydney
[3]
Jelena Dokic blooms once more, reaching the Oz quarterfinals in front of the Australian fans
[4]
Amelie Mauresmo defeats three Top 10 players in Paris, winning her first title since 2007 and returning to the Top 20
[5]
Venus Williams wins back-to-back titles on hard (Dubai) and clay (Acapulco) courts
[6]
Vera Zvonareva wins Indian Wells without dropping a set, then pairs it with the doubles crown, too
[7]
Victoria Azarenka wins Miami, knocking off then-#1 Serena one tournament after defeating soon-to-be #1 Safina in I.W., reaching the Top 10 for the first time
[8]
At the Australian Open, Carla Suarez-Navarro upsets Venus Williams and reaches her second slam QF in four tries
[9]
Liezel Huber leads Team USA to a come-from-behind win over Argentina in Fed Cup action, headlining the deciding doubles match with partner Julie Ditty
[10]
Flavia Pennetta and Team Italia obliterate France 5-0 in the 1st Round of Fed Cup action

*TOP MATCH*
[Singles/Most Emotional]
Australian Open 4th Rd. - Jelena Dokic def. Alisa Kleybanova
...7-5/5-7/8-6. The Queen of the Melbourne Night's final gift to the tournament, a come-from-behind (she was down 3-1, love/30 on her own serve in the 3rd) win under the lights during the on-the-seventh-day-Laver-Arena-exploded spectacular, that solidified her out-of-nowhere-after-all-these-years run that became the tournament's best story.
[Doubles]
Australian Open QF - Hantuchova/Sugiyama def. Black/Huber
...7-6/3-6/7-6(10). Hantuchova/Sugiyama didn't win the title, but their 3:00 take down of a very game world's #1 doubles team was probably the best match in Melbourne that was almost ignored by the most people.
[Drama-101... but with no JJ in sight]
Australian Open 1st Round - Jessica Moore def. Christina McHale
...1-6/6-3/9-7. What is it about players cramping during matches that is just SO dramatic? Well, whatever it is, it happened in this matchup of two wild cards. McHale seemed well on her way to victory in the 2nd set, then suddenly could barely make it around the court. She nearly pulled out the match anyway, serving for the whole ball of wax in the 3rd. But Aussie Moore eventually took control of things and put the American out of her misery.
[Most Overwhelmed by Outside Forces]
Dubai SF - Venus Williams def. Serena Williams
...6-1/2-6/7-6. Little seen (Tennis Channel boycotted the event, even if the WTA didn't)... but it MUST have been a good one, right? I mean, how many times have the Sisters gone to a 3rd set tie-break?

QUOTE:
"It was like an out-of-body experience." - Serena Williams, on the intense Melbourne heat during her Oz match vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova

*COMEBACKS*
Australian Open 4th Rd - Dinara Safina def. Alize Cornet
...6-2/2-6/7-5. Safina hasn't been the same since her Oz run to the final, but she WAS up to her old slam tricks in Melbourne. Cornet led 5-2 in the 3rd here and twice served for the match, holding two match points.
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Australian Open QF - Serena Williams def. Svetlana Kuznetsova
...5-7/7-5/6-1. Kuznetsova served at 5-4 in the 2nd, but couldn't close out the match. The Laver roof WAS closed between the 2nd and 3rd sets, though... and Serena used the altered conditions to her advantage, running away with the match, acing the Russian on match point, and going on to take the title.
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Sydney 1st Rd - Serena Williams def. Samantha Stosur
...6-3/6-7/7-5. How close did Stosur come? Well, she twice double-faulted on match points.
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Fed Cup (AUS/THA) - Samantha Stosur def. Tamarine Tanasugarn
...4-6/7-5/6-0. From 2-5 down in the 2nd, Stosur roared back to wipe away at least a few of her own bad memories about matches she let slip away (Serena in Sydney, Dementieva in Melbourne and Vaidisova at Wimbledon).
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Fed Cup (USA/ARG) - Melanie Oudin def. Betina Jozami
...2-6/6-1/6-2. Needing to win to keep American hopes alive, the 17-year old Oudin found herself down 0-2 in the 3rd but slowly reeled Jozami back and sent the USA/ARG tie to the deciding doubles match.

QUOTE:
"I love my job. I love hitting balls, running and jumping, chasing after the ball. I love what I do, so I think that's what keeps me motivated." - Venus Williams

=The Good=
U.S. Coach Mary Joe Fernandez picks Melanie Oudin for the roster in the USA/ARG tie, and replaces an injured Bethanie Mattek with doubles specialist Julie Ditty.
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Jelena Dokic fully embraces Australia... and has her feelings reciprocated
=============================
Samantha Stosur decides to focus on her singles over her doubles play, and has already shown great progress
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Svetlana Kuznetsova with Olga Morozova (to be continued)
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Yanina Wickmayer gets coaching from Carlos Rodriguez (to be continued)
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Serena funds a school in Kenya
=============================
Vera Zvonareva takes part in Diplomat School
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Justin Henin and the aforementioned Rodriguez start up a tennis academy in Florida
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Anne Keothavong becomes the first British woman in the Top 50 since 1993, and Laura Robson becomes the #1-ranked junior girl
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Jarmila Gajdosova + ATP Player Sam Groth = Jarmila Groth (finally, the answer to those "who's that?" questions when the name "Groth" suddenly began to appear in WTA singles results a few weeks ago). They were married in February.
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Jelena Jankovic comes up with a brilliant idea: air-conditioned shoes, perfect for those January trips Down Under

QUOTE:
"The hunger is back." - Kim Clijsters, in March

=The Bad=
Yanina Wickmayer gets herself defaulted from a $50K challenger in Clearwater after she hits a ball that strikes a linesperson. A finalist in both singles and doubles, she forfeited her ranking points and prize money.
=============================
Jelena Jankovic, trying to become the best she could be, overtrains during the offseason in Mexico and loses the asset -- her court movement and quickness -- that got her to #1 in the first place
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Svetlana Kuznetsova with Olga Morozova?

QUOTE:
"I just thought, 'My eyes, my innocent eyes.'" - Serena Williams, on her thoughts when a streaker interrupted her match with Venus

=And the Ugly=
The WTA allows itself to get suckered by the Dubai tournament when a visa was denied to Israel's Shahar Peer at such a late date that it would have been a "nightmare" for the tour to cancel the tournament. After paying lip service in "support" of Peer, the players don't back a boycott, siding with "the sponsors" over a fellow player. Dubai is fined a "record" amount ($300K) and put on notice for 2010. A few weeks later, tour chief Larry Scott resigns to take over the reigns of the Pac-10 athletic conference, unsuring that next year he won't have to deal with the "year-after" fallout of the controversy over which he presided.
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Mashona Washington is arrested for vandalism in California, and charged with causing $5,000 damage to a hotel room.

QUOTE:
"I'm eating too many chocolates out of depression from not being allowed to play." - Shikha Uberoi, on the new rules that prohibit U.S. citizen-playing-under-India's-flag Uberoi from participating in India's Fed Cup ties

*UPSETS*
Australian Open 2nd Rd - Carla Suarez-Navarro def. Venus Williams
...2-6/6-3/7-5. Venus led 4-1 in the 3rd, served for the match at 5-3 and held a match point at 5-4. CSN's win ends the Sisters' combined 25-match winning streak vs. the field at slams dating back to last year's Wimbledon.
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Australian Open 3rd Rd - Alisa Kleybanova def. Ana Ivanovic
...7-5/6-7/6-2. AnaIvo's slam results since winning Roland Garros? How about, "3rd-2nd-3rd" (after previously having five straight 4th-Round-or-better results).
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Indian Wells 2nd Rd - Urszula Radwanska def. Svetlana Kuznetsova
...6-2/4-6/6-3. U-Rad makes her big move (and was it the proverbial straw that broke the back of the Contessova/Morozova relationship?).
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Indian Wells 2nd Rd - Petra Cetkovska def. Elena Dementieva
...7-6/2-6/6-1. Elena might still be carrying on a conversation with herself about how she shouldn't even have been playing in this tournament (or at least that might explain her performance in Miami the next time out... I mean, other than that she played far too much in the season's first two months and is now paying for it, that is).
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Indian Wells 2nd Rd - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Jelena Jankovic
...6-4/6-4. Soon, everyone will HAVE to learn how to say her name with flair. Altogether now...

QUOTE:
"For three months I haven't been doing very well at all, and I hope to begin my season sometime soon." - Jelena Jankovic, in March

=STORIES OF THE QUARTER=
The Dastardly Depressing Dubai Debacle
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Dokic Comes Home
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Waiting for the Supernova... still
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Serena is #1 again... but not for long... though she'll probably be #1 again soon
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The (Temporary) Falls of the Houses of Jankovic, Safina and Ivanovic
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World... meet Victoria Azarenka
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Lindsay Davenport is pregnant, Ashley Harkleroad is a new mother... and Kim Clijsters is set to become a working mom
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Sarah Gronert battles (and seemingly wins) a gender controversy (Julia Glushko's coach declares that the German shouldn't be allowed to compete on the women's tour), winning two ITF singles titles so far in 2009

QUOTE:
"The more you know, the worse you sleep." - Dinara Safina

Finally, a sentiment we can all get behind, from the soon-to-be-newly-crowned #1. On that note...

All for now.

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