RG.7- Sixteen on the Floor... err, the dirt

One hundred and twelve down, fifteen to go.

Another anticlimactic ending, a disappointment, a near-miss, an overdue ejection and at least one fait accompli helped fill in the final eight slots in the women's Sweet Sixteen at Roland Garros. Here's a thumbnail look at who remains, quarter-by-quarter:

QUARTER 1/Safina: This has been Safina's quarter to win since the beginning, and it still is. The re-emergence of defending champ/two-time RG finalist Ana Ivanovic, though, might make things interesting. Victoria Azarenka survived her 3rd Round encounter with Carla Suarez-Navarro today, but it's hard to see her emerging from here on a surface that still doesn't suit her game.
POWER RANKINGS: 1. Safina... 2. Ivanovic... 3. Azarenka... 4. Rezai

QUARTER 2/ex-V.Williams: The wild card of the bunch. Maria Sharapova has the most experience here, but is battling through to a slam SF a case of too much too soon in her comeback? After having to go three sets against a qualifier last round, I'm sticking with the thought that a total surprise (someone seeded between #20-29) will fill one of the Final Four spots.
POWER RANKINGS: 1. Szavay... 2. Sharapova... 3. Li... 4. Cibulkova

QUARTER 3/ex-Dementieva: This quarter got quite a bit less interesting once Caroline Wozniacki went down to Sorana Cirstea 7-6/7-5 in the final completed match of Day 7. Thus, that hoped-for Jankovic/C-Woz meeting won't be happening in Paris. Sigh. It figures. Still, this might be good news for Queen Chaos, as she's now the definitive favorite to survive. Still, a bad day could mean any of the other underrated three in the quarter could pounce.
POWER RANKINGS: 1. Jankovic... 2. Cirstea... 3. Stosur... 4. Razzano

QUARTER 4/S.Williams: Serena keeps wiggling off the hook. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez took the 1st set today, and was even early in the 3rd as Williams was visibly ill. Every additional day Serena survives, the chances of her winning a third straight slam title grows. There's momentum, and there's Serena Momentum. Someone in this quarter is going to have to cover the grenade for the good of the rest of the draw. Based on pre-Paris form, Svetlana Kuznetsova COULD. Based on pre-'09 clay season form, she's got no chance in hell against Serena in a big match (and might even lose to A-Rad, who beat her in Melbourne in '08). We'll see.
POWER RANKINGS:1. Kuznetsova (because I want to be right)... 2. S.Williams (ditto)... 3. A.Radwanska.. 4. Wozniak

We've got a slew of mouth-watering rematch possibilities on the agenda here: Safina vs. Ivanovic ('08 RG Final) in the Quarterfinals. Safina vs. Sharapova (Dinara upset Maria in Paris last year after Sharapova had MP) and Jankovic vs. Williams ('08 U.S. Open Final) in the Semifinals. Safina vs. Williams ('09 Australian Open Final), Sharapova vs. Williams (going back to the '04 Wimbledon Final), Ivanovic vs. Jankovic ('08 RG SF), Azarenka vs. Williams ('09 Oz & Miami) or Safina vs. Kuznetsova (completing this clay season's best trilogy) in the final.

Fifteen more matches and we'll have a champion.



=DAY 7 NOTES=
...maybe Elena Dementieva realized that she didn't belong in the 3rd Round.

After all, even she knew she was being prepared for shipment against Jelena Dokic the other day before the Aussie's back injury forced her retirement. Today, against another Sheila in #30-seed Sam Stosur, Punch-Sober had a shot to at least make good on her I.O.U. to Australia. She did, too, losing 6-3/4-6/6-1, as Stosur continues her surprisingly good clay season.

In the 3rd set, #4-seed Dementieva double-faulted on break point in back-to-back service games to contribute to Stosur's quick 3-0 lead. Even after Stosur held to go up 4-0, I couldn't help but remember Slingin' Sammy's collapse last Wimbledon against a beaten-and-barely-caring Nicole Vaidisova after leading 3-6/6-0/4-0 and wondered if it might happen again. It didn't, though. Stosur decided to focus more on her singles in '09, and she's slowly but surely become better and better in pressure situations and serving out matches.

Thus, Dementieva officially gets the "Crash & Burn" award for this Roland Garros, two days later than she should have received it. Elena's now all-square with Australia... but she still owes JELENA one.

...sort of as expected, the completion of the Azarenka/Suarez-Navarro match had none of the drama of the suspended match from Day 6 in which the #9 seed battled back from a 7-5/4-1 deficit, her own near-meltdown and a crowd very unforgiving of her outbursts. Azarenka got an early break and went up 4-1, blinked for a moment when CSN broke back, then served out the final set at 6-2. As she exited the court, she was trailed by a very mixed reaction (actually, that's being conservative -- it was more like 60-70% anti-Azarenka) from the crowd.

Of course, not that the Tennis Channel announcers had any clue whatsoever what it was all about. Since the match landed in the lap the net's "D"-team of Katrina Adams & Corinna Morariu, one might as well have been watching the action with the sound turned off.

=ROUND OF 16 PICKS=
[WOMEN]
#1 Safina d. Rezai in TWO
#8 Ivanovic d. #9 Azarenka in THREE
#29 Szavay d. #20 Cibulkova in TWO
Sharapova d. #25 Li in THREE
#5 Jankovic d. Cirstea in THREE
#30 Stosur d. Razzano in THREE
#7 Kuznetsova d. #12 A.Radwanska in TWO
#2 S.Williams d. #24 Wozniak in TWO
[MEN]
#1 Nadal d. #23 Soderling in THREE
#8 Verdasco d. #10 Davydenko in FOUR
#3 Murray d. #13 Cilic in FIVE
#12 Gonzalez d. #30 Hanescu in FIVE
#9 Tsonga d. #5 del Potro in FOUR
#16 Robredo d. #29 Kohlschreiber in FOUR
#11 Monfils d. #6 Roddick in FOUR (or Monfils will get hurt and retire)
#2 Federer d. Haas in THREE

...the Junior Draws have been released. Here are the top ten seeds for the Girls and Boys singles:

*GIRLS*
1. Laura Robson, GBR
2. Ana Bogdan, ROU
3. Ksenia Pervak, RUS
4. Timea Babos, HUN
5. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
6. Ajla Tomljanovic, CRO
7. Lauren Embree, USA
8. Elena Bogdan, ROU
9. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
10. Camila Silva, CHI

*BOYS*
1. Huang Liang-Chi, TPE
2. Bernard Tomic, AUS
3. Andrea Collarini, ARG
4. Shuichi Sekiguchi, JPN
5. Julen Uriguen, GUA
6. Julien Obry, FRA
7. Denis Kudla, USA
8. Hsieh Cheng-Peng, TPE
9. Facundu Arguello, ARG
10. Agustin Velotti, ARG

Of note, 1st Round MD winner Olivia Rogowska is the #12-seed, Christina McHale is #14, Sloane Stephens is #15 and Anna Orlik is unseeded. In Melbourne, the final four girls were Pervak (W), Robson (RU), Lertcheewakarn (SF) and A.Bogdan (SF).

...once again, now is the time when we welcome NBC to the Roland Garros party. Oh, great. So, rather than getting to see live coverage of the "embargoed" Roger Federer and Serena Williams matches today, we got highlights, Justin Gimelstob (and whoever the announcer was who said the Final 16's had "held to form"... well, you know, except for the fact that two #4 seeds went out on Day 7) and a little Novak Djokovic (going out in straights to Philipp Kohlschreiber after a great clay season, perhaps once again letting himself down in the fitness/stamina area of his game after playing so many pre-RG matches) on Tennis Channel for several hours while we waited for the "major" network to finally saunter through the door at 1:30pm, well after the Williams match was over. Surprisingly, the Federer match was at least joined in progress. Still, the Williams match -- chopped up to fit into the coverage window -- was finally aired after Federer won, many hours after it actually happened. I know this is standard operating procedure on American television when it comes to the #4 of the Big Four broadcast nets, but it's still aggravating that NBC continues to behave like the big shot who arrives late to a dinner party but keeps everyone else from eating until he or she gets there. By the time The Arrival occurs and the main course is served, it's old and spoiled and you'd just as well skip it altogether... which, except for a few minutes, is just what I stubbornly did. So, sorry for not having any real details on the Serena/MJMS match (Diane at Women Who Serve does, though -- so you can check that out if you like, as she talks about an incident that would have been nice to see LIVE).

Why not come on the air at noon and avoid all this?

And I won't even get into how this all must play on the west coast, since it doesn't effect me. But it must be even more ire-raising for tennis fans in California and the rest.

Again, thanks NBC. Are you guys sure you don't want to air a Jay Leno monologue during the coverage, too?

...and, finally, there's always one commercial every grand slam that is played and played and played and played so often during the U.S. television coverage that it drives you crazy. There are some rare exceptions, though, such as the John McEnroe-hugs-the-umpire one from a year or so ago. This Roland Garros, THE ad is the Lacoste clothing line commercial that features driving music, "cutting-edge" graphics, a shot of the actual tennis-playing Frenchman Rene Lacoste, runway-walking models and Andy Roddick (hmmm, a Brooklyn Decker wink?). So far, I like it. I really like it.

Today, Roddick advanced to the Round of 16 in Paris for the first time in his career. Throw in his actions during the Dubai Dabacle, and he's having a darn good few months.




*WOMEN'S FINAL 16*
[by age - youngest to oldest]
19...Victoria Azarenka
20...Dominika Cibulkova
20...Agnieszka Radwanska
20...Agnes Szavay
21...Ana Ivanovic
21...Aleksandra Wozniak
22...Maria Sharapova
22...Aravane Rezai
23...Dinara Safina
23...Svetlana Kuznetsova
24...Jelena Jankovic
25...Samantha Stosur
26...Virginie Razzano
27...Li Na
27...Serena Williams
[by ranking]
#1...Dinara Safina
#2...Serena Williams
#5...Jelena Jankovic
#7...Svetlana Kuznetsova
#8...Ana Ivanovic
#9...Victoria Azarenka
#12...Agnieszka Radwanska
#19...Dominika Cibulkova
#24...Aleksandra Wozniak
#25...Li Na
#31...Agnes Szavay
#32...Samantha Stosur
#36...Virginie Razzano
#41...Sorana Cirstea
#57...Aravane Rezai
#102...Maria Sharapova

*WOMEN'S/MEN'S FINAL 16's - BY NATION*
4...Russia (Davydenko/Kuznetsova/Safina/Sharapova)
4...France (Monfils/Razzano/Rezai/Tsonga)
3...Spain (Nadal/Robredo/Verdasco)
2...Germany (Haas/Kohlschreiber)
2...Romania (Cirstea/Hanescu)
2...Serbia (Ivanovic/Jankovic)
2...United States (Roddick/S.Williams)
1...Argentina (del Potro)
1...Australia (Stosur)
1...Belarus (Azarenka)
1...Canada (Wozniak)
1...Chile (F.Gonzalez)
1...China (Li)
1...Croatia (Cilic)
1...Great Britain (Murray)
1...Hungary (Szavay)
1...Poland (A.Radwanska
1...Slovak Republic (Cibulkova)
1...Sweden (Soderling)
1...Switzerland (Federer)

*SLAM "CRASH & BURNS"*
=2007=
US - Maria Sharapova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
=2008=
AO - Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS (3rd Rd.)
RG - Serena Williams/USA (3rd Rd.)
WI - Maria Sharapova/RUS (2nd Rd.)
US - Ana Ivanovic/SRB (2nd Rd.)
=2009=
AO - Venus Williams/USA (2nd Rd.)
RG - Elena Dementieva/RUS (3rd Rd.)




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dinara Safina/RUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Vitalia Diatchenko/RUS d. Mathilde Johansson/FRA 1-6/6-2/10-8 (saved 7 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The ex-Russian Kazakhs
REVELATION LADIES: The Aussies
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR & Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ (both to 3rd Rd.)
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: Elena Dementieva/RUS - dominated by Dokic in 2nd, but advances with retirement, then taken out by Stosur in 3rd Rd.
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (temporary) Sharapova down 4-2 in 3rd, point from 5-2, in 2nd Rd. vs. Petrova; Azarenka down 7-5/4-1 vs. Suarez-Navarro in 3rd Rd.
LAST PASTRY STANDING: (temporary) both Aravane Rezai and Virginie Razzano to 4th Rd.
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 7. More tomorrow.

Read more...

RG.6- It's Always Szomething

It was just one of those days.


Finally, a happy Agnes!

First off, let's dispense with all the talk that ESPN has surely been shouting from every Paris rooftop that Agnes Szavay's defeat of Venus Williams on Day 6 was some sort of monumental, ground-shaking upset. It wasn't.

The world #3 has only appeared in one Roland Garros singles final -- seven years ago -- in her career, is better on grass and hard courts, and manages to "zone out" against a wrongly underestimated opponent at about this time every year in Paris.

(Plus, I predicted this result when the draw first came out... so it couldn't have been TOO alien an outcome, right?)

Maybe it has something to do with the knowledge in the back of Venus' mind that her "real" season begins next month when she heads to the All-England Club, usually wins a title, then heads back to North America for the lead up to the U.S. Open. Whatever it is, at Roland Garros it's always SOMETHING.

In this case, it was "szomething." In the form of Szavay's 6-0/6-4 victory.

While Venus' serve and movement were off, and her shots often loose, Szavay was on her game from the start. She grabbed an early lead and refused to let it go. True, she nearly blinked late in the 2nd set, double-faulting and throwing in an unforced error to give Venus a break and a 4-3 lead just after Szavay herself had failed to convert break points in two consecutive Williams service games. But Szavay didn't go down the tubes like Lucie Safarova did against the American one round earlier.

Instead, she held on. Coming back from game point down on Venus' serve, she hit a winner into the corner to get a break point... then watched Williams double-fault away the game to her. All she had to do was hold serve to advance to the Round of 16, and that's just what Szavay did (just months after being the first seed ousted in Melbourne).

Most young players spend some time in the "wilderness" after breaking out. Ever since her sterling summer of '07, Szavay has had a hard time getting her game untracked. Over the past few months, though, the sense of belonging she used to sport with such winning aplomb against top players has started to inch back. Now, maybe it's here to stay. All in all, the Hungarian has weathered her storm of early round losses quite well and emerged in fine form pretty quickly... it's certainly a better rebound than some of her contemporaries have managed to pull off after hitting the skids. Just ask Nicole Vaidisova.

At the end of today's match, the British announcer said, "Frankly, at times, (Szavay) made Venus Williams look very silly." It's not the first time she's stood up to a top player, though. This was the sixth career Top 10 win for the former world #13, and SOMEONE I know was touting Szavay as THE player to watch about fourteen months or so ago. She's been on the verge before, and she looks like she is again.

Hey, better to be on top of a player's potential early than late, I always say.

About Williams. For all the consistency of results that Venus has shown this season, this gives her a pair of early exits at both the Australian Open (where she lost to Carla Suarez-Navarro in the 2nd Rd.) and Roland Garros this year. Oh, well... now she'll just have some doubles fun with Serena and get ready for Wimbledon.

This will not be good news for the rest of the women's field a month from now.

As for Szavay? Well, she's still harboring some Paris dreams, and is staring at a draw that says she might have a chance at living them. As has often been said by others, better a little late than never, eh?



=DAY 6 NOTES=
...as I noted before the tournament began, if Venus didn't pull through her Zvonareva-less quarter, then WHO would?

Maybe Maria Sharapova... but the long and bumpy road that is a clay court grand slam for a player who's not a natural "dirtballer" were evident today when the Supernova faced qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova. Sharapova won the two-and-a-half-hour contest in three sets, playing the big points better than her Kazakh opponent, but whether she can continue to do so for much longer in this tournament is an open question. She's making the most of her return so far, but a lack of match play/overall top fitness is probably going to get her in the end... maybe before she can emerge from the quarter to reach her second career RG semi.

Then who? Well, I still think I was on the right track when I said there'd be a surprise, low-seeded player in the final four. My original pick was #29 Szavay, but the number freaked me out a bit... so I crossed her out on my bracket and inserted '08 quarterfinalist, #19 Kaia Kanepi instead. Smart move, huh? Kanepi was the first seed ousted, while Szavay is looking stronger and stronger. The Hungarian plays #20 Dominika Cibulkova next, while Sharapova faces #25 Li Na. The winners face off for the right to reach the SF.

Well, at least I was right about Venus not pulling through. We'll see about Serena.

...I finally got my most extensive look at Michelle Larcher de Brito, other than in WTT action, today when she played Aravane Rezai. Needless to say, it was quite easy to see just what sort of potential she has. Can you say, "rocket forehand?" Of course, the teenager still has a ways to go, as her 7-6/6-2 loss to the more complete game of the 22-year old Rezai showed.



Much (too much, actually) of the talk during the Tennis Channel coverage was of the loud shrieks The Kid made on pretty much every shot. Even Rezai, who grunts often herself and thus really has nothing to complain about, was making a big deal about it to the umpire early on. It was like the arrival of Monica Seles revisited. I can remember back in the early 1990's the commentary constantly alluding to her in-point sounds, the talk of grunt-o-meters and Martina Navratilova griping that such noise should be banned and/or penalized. Martina was it again today, by the way. I don't agree with her point of view on this topic, as pretty much every player these days grows up making similar sounds when delivering shots, but at least Navratilova is consistent on the subject.

MLDB is such a typical Bollettieri Academy product you'd know where she's spent all her years since age 9 just by watching her. A great deal of the talk today was about how her forehand motion is so reminiscent of Nick kid Sharapova's, but I couldn't help but think of another Academy alum -- Jennifer Capriati -- when I watch her. Capriati, too, had the crushing groundstrokes and the boundless enthusiasm when she was first coming up, but while the 5-foot-4 Larcher de Brito doesn't yet have a serve that opponent's have to worry about, Capriati had the shot when she was the Portugal-born teen's age. Capriati was advancing deep into slam draws when she was younger than MLDB is now, but it'll probably take the The (New) Kid a few more seasons to get to that level. You can tell by her inconsistent scorelines, often losing love sets even in matches she wins, that she's not quite "there" yet.

She should be soon, though. She'll likely grow a little bit more, and will surely get stronger. When she does, watch out. It's sort of like how it felt to see a young Seles hitting those laser beam shots from every inch of the court. You just KNOW that Larcher de Brito is going to be HELL for players to face in a couple years. In 2009, players can reach the Top 10 with no real discernible weapon to scare opponents other than guile. MLDB has one in spades. That forehand isn't going anywhere, and once a complete game is built around it -- and maybe before -- it's going to be hard to prevent her from becoming a Top 10 player herself before she turns 19, and maybe even 18.

As for now, after serving notice on slow red clay that she's going to be something to reckoned with, I can't wait to see what she does on fast hard courts this summer.

...as it turned out, though, the most interesting match of the day yet again occurred late in the evening. In this case, it was the psycho-drama that was the Victoria Azarenka/Carla Suarez-Navarro rumble.

(Not that ESPN2 viewers were seeing any of this, as the network was busy showing the Venus Williams match from many hours earlier in the day.... hmm, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?)

For a set and a half, CSN simply outplayed, out-hit and outwitted the world #9. In the 1st set, Azarenka had just 2 winners (and 18 unforced errors) to the Spaniard's 11 (14). Part-way into the 2nd set, she didn't have even a single forehand winner to speak of.

And the Belarusian didn't like it, either. In fact, as she looked like she was going to emotionally melt down on the way to falling behind 7-5/4-1 she was putting on a show, honestly, quite unbefitting a top player. Squawking. Ranting. Muttering. Throwing her racket. Smashing signs. Azarenka was leering at the crowd. The crowd was getting on her. Her mother was getting into arguments with the crowd from her seat in the stands (at least it seemed like it must have been her mom).

Anyway, you know the drill.

Azarenka continually tried to get into baseline rallies on the slow clay with a player who'll hit balls back all day if given the chance. It wasn't working, and you started to wonder just how many times Azarenka had to slam her head into a brick wall before she decided to change things up.

But, apparently, Azarenka knew what she was doing (or CSN, whose results tend to be as inconsistent as the Paris night is long, got a bit lackadaisical and/or tightened up just enough to allow Azarenka back into the match). With the clock past 9:30 in the evening, and the light quickly fading, Azarenka put on a rally that included a flurry of winners and fist pumps that got her even in the set, then the match. As the set wound down, the pair exchanged breaks, but Azarenka grabbed a 6-5 advantage with her final one of the set and served things out to knot the contest. They'll have to finish things up on Day 7.

...in other women's matches on Day 6, as usual, the session opened with a blowout as Ana Ivanovic took down Iveta Benesova on Lenglen Court 6-0/6-2. With a potential rematch of the '08 final awaiting in the quarterfinals, Dinara Safina once again showed no mercy (good for her) against a fellow Hordette, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2/6-0 and running her total games mark at this tournament to 36-4.

Two of the three all-sisters doubles teams advanced, as Serena & Venus (getting some "revenge" on Szavay, who likely couldn't have cared less, by defeating her and partner Gisela Dulko) and the Radwanskas won. The Sisters Bondarenko, though, were taken out by Nadia Petrova and Bethanie Mattek-Bands. In singles, the two remaining non-Williams siblings -- A-Rad and K-Bond -- will next meet each other in the 3rd Round on Day 7.

...and, finally, as I was listening to what I believe was the international (Sky Sports, maybe) feed of the Azarenka/CSN match today, I kept trying to figure out who the female commentator was. As per usual in those feeds, only one announcer is assigned to call a match. And the woman covering this one was really good. She didn't talk TOO much, and wasn't as maddeningly silent as many of the British announcers are (would it be too terribly difficult to say the game score occasionally?). She sounded a bit like Tracy Austin, but I didn't think it was her. Finally, when the match was suspended, I found out who it was. It was Elise Burgin, the former American player (1980-93) who reached a career high rank of #22 and won a WTA singles title in Charleston in 1986. It was a delight listening to her. She was more informative, enthusiastic and not at all annoying, unlike even the best traditional multi-person crews whose chatter can sometimes make you want to throw something at the television (or at least shout, "Get on with it!). Why can't SHE be covering tennis on ESPN, Tennis Channel or CBS (I think she was an American TV commentator a while ago, but I can't remember hearing her here for years and years)? I know, I know. Ask stupid questions...




*ROLAND GARROS "LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING"*
=2006=
(3rd) Aravane Rezai/FRA, Julia Vakulenko/UKR
=2007=
(3rd) Dominika Cibulkova/SVK, Alla Kudryavtseva/RUS, Ioana Raluca Olaru/ROU
=2008=
(QF) Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
=2009=
(3rd) Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR, Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dinara Safina/RUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Vitalia Diatchenko/RUS d. Mathilde Johansson/FRA 1-6/6-2/10-8 (saved 7 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The ex-Russian Kazakhs
REVELATION LADIES: The Aussies
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR & Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ (both to 3rd Rd.)
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: (temporary) Venus Williams/USA (3rd Rd.-Szavay 6-0/6-4)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (temporary) Elena Dementieva (dominated by Dokic in 2nd Round, but advanced when Dokic injured back)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 6. More tomorrow.

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RG.5- What Did We Just Miss?

I had today's Daily Backspin all ready to go. Then it happened, and it ruined everything.


THAT DIDN'T JUST HAPPEN, DID IT?

The other day, I mentioned the potential of a "re"-comeback by Jelena Dokic at Roland Garros. After being the story of the tournament in Melbourne, the once-again Aussie had pretty much been a non-entity on tour ever since. Then, after a slow start in the 1st Round against Karolina Sprem on Day 3, Dokic suddenly became very sharp and ran off two well-crafted sets to move into the 2nd Round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2003.

On Day 5, against #4-seed Elena Dementieva, Dokic's roll continued. She broke the Russian in the first game of the match, held to go up 2-0, then held again in a dicey six-deuce game to take a 3-1 lead. While Dokic's nerve, groundstrokes and serve were as crisp as they'd been in years -- even more so than in Melbourne, where she had to battle to go three sets every time out -- Dementieva's game was off. As perfect as Dokic's timing was, Dementieva was spinning in her tracks. Throwing in double-faults at inopportune times (on break point down to give Dokic a 4-1 lead), the Russian saw the 1st set slip away by a 6-2 score.

(Not that ESPN2 viewers were seeing any of this, as the network was busy showing the Venus Williams match from many hours earlier in the day.)

Dementieva opened the 2nd set with another double-fault, though she saved two break points and eventually held. Dokic wasn't about to bend, though. She broke the Russian again to take a 2-1 lead, and I could see the Daily Backspin headlines dancing in my head.

"Dokic Does It Again!, "She's Baaaack... for more!," "The Comeback, Take Two."

With fellow Aussie Samantha Stosur awaiting the winner in the 3rd Round, and either Virginie Razzano or Tathiana Garbin in the 4th, another slam quarterfinal looked possible for Dokic.

Then it happened.

In the next game, Dementieva flirted with a break back, then got it when Dokic double-faulted to knot the score at 2-2. Moments later, perhaps as a result or the cause of that DF, something slipped inside Dokic. A slight move at the baseline caused the Aussie to stop in her tracks and grab the small of her back in pain. Wincing, she leaned over on her racket, then gingerly walked to her chair, buried her face in a towel and awaited a tournament trainer.

With a 6-2/2-2 lead, no one wanted to entertain thoughts of what anyone watching KNEW might be about to happen. No, not NOW. She'll be okay. She HAS to be. Right?

After an off-court injury break, Dokic returned and attempted to play out the match, perhaps hoping that the late-in-the-day contest might be suspended by the oncoming darkness and she'd be saved to fight another day. Wincing and unable to put her full body into her groundstrokes, though, watching her was like watching an injured animal struggle. You just wanted to avert your eyes, hoping for a miracle. She didn't want to give up, but her head was telling her she HAD to or else she'd damage her body even worse.

Finally, in the middle of the 2nd set's eighth game, she tearfully approached the chair umpire. It was over. Dokic led the match 6-2/3-4, but she wasn't the player who'd be advancing to the 3rd Round.

After seeing what the Aussie is still capable of on the grand slam stage in January, what type of May/June story were we just robbed of? We'll never know, but with some time to heal maybe we'll find out at SW19. It's always been Dokic's favorite slam, and where she's had the best moments of her odd career. Her caution today, as sad and disappointing as it was, might ultimately allow this story to be continued at the All-England Club in a few weeks. At least, we can only hope. I didn't get to write the story I wanted to today, but maybe I will soon.

Elena, you owe Jelena -- and us -- one.



=DAY 5 NOTES=
...neither Venus nor Serena might end up lasting until this tournament's final weekend, but both are showing signs that their game faces are ready to be put into place for their attempts to defend their Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles.

Serena didn't have another Zakopalova moment on Day 5, easily dispatching veteran Virginia Ruano-Pascual 6-2/6-0. Meanwhile, Venus broke out quickly in the resumption of her match with Lucie Safarova. She won the 2nd set 6-2 to knot the contest. But then things got interesting.

The match really boiled down to one game. Venus was serving down 5-4 when Safarova showed why the results of the '07 Australian Open quarterfinalist can sometimes be so maddening. Up 30/love on Williams' serve, the Czech missed a wide open backhand shot, then had the next point end when a Safarova ball hit the net cord and dribbled onto her side of the net rather than Venus'. Moments later, she had a match point. Venus saved it, holding for 5-5 and essentially ending the match. Williams took 40/love leads in both of the next two games, winning both to claim a 6-7/6-2/7-5 victory. You can't give a Williams sister a second chance at life on the tennis court. Safarova did, and now she's out.

While the sisters might not reach their peak in Paris, there's always London and New York. Again. Consider that an early Wimbledon and U.S. Open "preview."

...DAY 5 QUICK HITS: Hmmm, was that the Roger Federer we've come to know and question over the past year popping up again against Jose Acasuso today? Sure, he erased a 6-3 deficit in a 1st set tie-break (he won 10-8), then came back from a 5-1 hole in the 3rd set when he was staring at a possible two-sets-to-one lead by his opponent. THAT was good stuff, but the Federer who beat Nadal in Madrid wouldn't have had to do that. Really, does anyone really thing that Rafa WON'T win a fifth straight Roland Garros title? ... Next up for Serena is MJMS. I picked an upset in that one before the tournament. We'll see. Needless to day, I'm worried. ... Serena & Venus finally finished off their 1st Round doubles match against Hlavackova/Hradeka. ... C-Woz opened up great against Jill Craybas, taking the 1st set 6-1. But then she fell into the American's trap and starting exchanging moon balls and playing non-aggressive tennis. She was soon behind 3-1 in the 2nd. Whenever she took the initiative, she had it made in the shade (she took the set 6-4), so she can't let that happen again, especially if that match with Jankovic becomes a reality in the 4th Round. ... Oh, and if you blinked you probably missed both Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova's first-match-up wins at the start of the day. Between their and Safina's first-match destructions of their unwitting opponents in recent days, early-bird patrons might wonder if they accidentally walked in on a practice session.

...AMG UPDATE: Anabel Medina-Garrigues lost in the 2nd Round today to Virginie Razzano, thereby keeping her on track to join Anna Smashnova as the only player in WTA history to win ten or more tour singles titles (she's currently at 9) but NEVER reach a slam quarterfinal.

...and, finally, I only noticed it for a brief period of time today on Tennis Channel, but the "dream team" announcing duo of John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova did share commentary duties during some of the network's coverage this morning. I don't even remember what match it was on, as it was very early and I was listening between cat naps from a safe distance away (with a nice soft pillow), but I DO remember wondering why they don't team up more often. Why is it that things that should be obvious hardly ever seem to become reality when it comes to American tennis coverage? Sigh.



=EARLY ROUND AWARDS - 1st/2nd Rds.=
TOP PLAYER: Dinara Safina/RUS
...she's won 24 of 26 games. (RU: Ana Ivanovic/SRB... quietly rounding into defending champion form?)
RISERS: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Aravane Rezai/FRA
...JJ vs. C-Woz would be nice. A week after winning her first title, Rezai is still rolling. (ALSO: Samantha Stosur/AUS & Virginie Razzano/FRA)
SURPRISES: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ & Tathiana Garbin/ITA
...away from Russia, Shvedova is now her new nation's #1. Garbin was the only woman to defeat Henin at RG in the Belgian's last five appearances in the tournament. (ALSO: Jarmila Groth/AUS & Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN)
VETERANS: Iveta Benesova/CZE & Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/ESP
...is Benesova over her Fed Cup disaster? MJMS gets Serena next... gulp. (ALSO: Venus Williams/USA & Serena Williams/USA)
FRESH FACES Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR & Sorana Cirstea/ROU
...The Kid finally gets her first big grand slam win (over Zheng). Cirstea finally put Cornet's EuroClay season to bed. (ALSO: Olivia Rogowska/AUS & Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP)
DOWN: Amelie Mauresmo/FRA & Flavia Pennetta/ITA
...their RG '09 visits weren't supposed to end like THAT! (ALSO: Anna Chakvetadze/RUS & Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez, ESP)
COMEBACKS: Maria Sharapova/RUS & Agnes Szavay/HUN
...she's back, even if this is supposed to only be a "tune-up" for Wimbledon and the hard court season. Szavay will face Venus -- another one in which I picked an upset before the tournament. (ALSO: Jelena Dokic/AUS)

BEST ESCAPE: 1st Rd. - Diatchenko d. Johansson 2-6/6-2/10-8
....the Russian saved seven match points. Seeing that her countrywoman was "stealing her act," Dinara Safina put the teenager -- and her odd, poodle-bark sounds after almost every shot -- out of her misery in the 2nd Round.
BEST STRUGGLE WITH HERSELF: 1st Rd. - S.Williams d. Zakopalova 6-3/6-7/6-4
...the usual early-slam trip to the psychiatrist's coach for Serena = needing nine match points to win to you and me.
BEST EXAMPLE OF WHY YOU DON'T GIVE A WILLIAMS SISTER A SECOND CHANCE: 2nd Rd. - V.Williams d. Safarova 6-7/6-2/7-5
...the Czech had a match point at 5-4 in the 3rd. She didn't convert it. She didn't win another game.
BEST EXAMPLE OF WHY THE SUPERNOVA IS STILL THE SUPERNOVA: 2nd Rd. - Sharapova d. Petrova 6-2/1-6/8-6
...down 4-2, and a point from 5-2, Sharapova pulls out the big serve and big-point superiority that didn't wilt away during her ten-month absence.

FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (lost to Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The (ex-Russian) Kazakhs. After Galina Voskoboeva knocked off the first seed at the Australian (Szavay) in January, her old-and-new countrywoman Shvedova did it at Roland Garros. For her part, Voskoboeva took out Sania Mirza in Paris. After winning "Revelation Ladies" in Melbourne, I'm giving the Kazakhs this one for Paris. Interestingly, currently the top three ranked players in Kazakh tennis are imports -- Moscow-born Shvedova and Voskoboeva, and Bulgaria's own Sesil Karatantcheva.
REVELATION LADIES: The Aussies. After rising to the occasion Down Under, they did so again in Paris. Sam Stosur, Jelena Dokic, Jarmila Groth and Olivia Rogowska all won 1st Round matches. Stosur and Groth are still alive in the 3rd Round and, if not for an ill-timed back injury, Dokic almost assuredly would have knocked off the highest seed (#4 Dementieva) yet to fall in this tournament today.
ZOMBIE QUEENS (1r-2r): Venus Williams faced down a match point against Lucie Safarova in the 2nd Round, while Maria Sharapova was down 2-4 in the 3rd set against Nadia Petrova. Both won. But no player surviving in the 3rd Round looked more D.O.A. than Elena Dementieva did today before she got a "get out of the graveyard free" pass courtesy of Dokic's retirement (man, how awful is it to have to retire from a match you're dominating?).
LAST PASTRIES STANDING: Aravane Rezai and Virginie Razzano are in the 3rd Round, but top-ranked French women Marion Bartoli, Alize Cornet and Amelie Mauresmo are not.
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Yaroslava Shvedova and Michelle Larcher de Brito will get a shot to reach their first career slam Round of 16's.
MOST INTERESTING VISITOR... or not: Justine Henin again showed up on the RG grounds on Day 5... but continued to express her lack of any desire to return to the tour. Sigh.




*FINAL 32's BY NATION - WOMEN/MEN*
9...France (2/7)
8...Spain (3/5)
7...Russia (5/2)
3...Argentina (1/2)
3...Australia (2/1)
3...Serbia (2/1)
3...United States (2/1)
2...Belarus (2/0)
2...Czech Republic (1/1)
2...Hungary (2/0)
2...Romania (1/1)
2...Switzerland (0/2)
1...Austria (0/1)
1...Belgium (0/1)
1...Canada (1/0)
1...Chile (0/1)
1...China (1/0)
1...Croatia (0/1)
1...Denmark (1/0)
1...Germany (0/1)
1...Great Britain (0/1)
1...Italy (1/0)
1...Kazakhstan (1/0)
1...Poland (1/0)
1...Portugal (1/0)
1...Slovak Republic (1/0)
1...Sweden (0/1)
1...Ukraine (1/0)
--
ALSO: Djokovic/SRB vs. Stakhovsky/UKR and Ferrero/ESP vs. Kohlschreiber/GER winners

*ROLAND GARROS UPSET QUEENS*
2004 - Ukrainians
2005 - French
2006 - Americans
2007 - Romanians
2008 - Czechs
2009 - (ex-Russian) Kazakhs

*ROLAND GARROS REVELATION LADIES*
2006 - French
2007 - Italian
2008 - Czechs
2009 - Aussies




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dinara Safina/RUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Vitalia Diatchenko/RUS d. Mathilde Johansson/FRA 1-6/6-2/10-8 (saved 7 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: The ex-Russian Kazakhs
REVELATION LADIES: The Aussies
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (temporary) Venus Williams (down MP to Safarova in 2nd Rd.), Maria Sharapova (down 2-4 in 3rd set to Petrova in 2nd Rd.), Elena Dementieva (dominated by Dokic in 2nd Round, but advanced when Dokic injured back)
LAST PASTRY STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 5. More tomorrow.

Read more...

RG.4- Natural Selection, Hordette Style

Natural selection is the "principle by which each slight variation [of a trait], if useful, is preserved." - Charles Darwin, 1859

Darwin's got nothing on the Russians.


AP Photo / Bernat Armangue

Except on rare occasions, the theory of natural tennis selection is almost always played out on the courts of the WTA when Hordettes are on opposite sides of the net. Day 4 provided two perfect examples of why, even with the tremendous depth of Mother Russian talent, the better equipped, most evolved creatures live to breath in another round of grand slam action while those who aren't... well, don't..

In the all-Russian 2nd Round matchup between Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova, while there were small clues throughout, there was no doubt by the end of the contest which player is a future Hall of Fame and which is, well, a talented player who's career has often been defined by an inability to be her best at the most crucial moments of her workday.

Petrova seemingly should have had every advantage today: she was playing on what might be her best surface and what is most definitely Sharapova's worst, was facing an unseeded opponent because last week's three outings in Warsaw were the only pre-Paris matches Sharapova has played since last August and, bigger still, she had managed to grab a 4-2 3rd set lead and was even one point away from going up 5-2.

It still wasn't enough. Instead, it only provided an important stage on which the Supernova could prove that she's still a force to be reckoned with. Blessed with the ability to shine in the spotlight, her survival on Day 4 was all but assured once things got sticky. At 4-4, Sharapova used big serves and big-point prowess to hold her serve in a nine-minute game, during which Petrova held break point, that Tennis Channel commentator Martina Navratilova correctly dubbed the most important in the match.

After failing to convert a break point on Sharapova's serve at 6-6, Petrova's game broke down just enough to lead it to slaughter. Down 6-7, one poor forehand that went wide prevented her from going up 30/love, a double-fault gave Sharapova a match point and, not long afterward, another error sent her Russian counterpart into the 3rd Round... and ended Petrova's most recent Roland Garros quest. Again. Drawing Sharapova in the 2nd Round doesn't rank as high on Nadia's "bad luck" chart as her pre-Roland Garros injury during the best, most consistent stretch of her entire career back in '06, but it IS a fairly typical, "oh, great," moment in her career.

With her quarter the most hard-to-call in the draw, everyone has a right to wonder if Sharapova might be constructing quite an intriguing storyline in Paris. She's not a "cow on ice" on the red clay, and is 21-6 at RG in her career, with a 2007 SF on her resume. Aside from some strategically-placed tape, she's so far showing no signs of a ten-month absence from the tour following shoulder surgery. Her ability to raise her game at the most important moments today is why she is who she is... and, unfortunately, why Nadia is who SHE is -- a good player who's almost always just not good ENOUGH.

Oh, Nadia.

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, #1-seed Dinara Safina also faced a countrywoman, qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko. In the 1st Round, Diatchenko had saved seven match points against Mathilde Johansson. So, seeing a kindred spirit on the other side of the net, might one expect the Russian Cat to go a little easier on the upstart?

Umm, no. Well, unless you consider allowing her TWO games rather than the ZERO that Anne Keothavong managed in the 1st Round is showing mercy, that is.

Fact is, though, Diatchenko played pretty well. Early on, the teenager was moving Safina around the court with her odd-looking groundstrokes (which looked normal compared to her service motion... and I won't even get into the little poodle bark-sounding noise she'd make while hitting most shots), controlling many of the points... until Safina would take advantage of one less-than-perfectly-placed shot and end the point with a winner. It was like she was swatting flies on a lazy afternoon.

The two were just on different levels. And even the honor amongst Hordettes couldn't hide that fact. Safina has worked hard to get to this point, and it's going to take a far more formidable foe to end THIS Paris dream.

While 2004 Roland Garros champion Anastasia Myskina was never able to evolve significantly enough to maintain her position atop of the Russian tennis hierarchy (and ultimately chose motherhood and TV stardom instead), the likes of Sharapova and Safina are the prototypes upon which future Russian champions will be based, or former ones will have to successfully attempt to mimic (Svetlana, this means you) if they are to return to their abdicated position of prominence.

Learn, work, evolve. And get better. And if you can't do that? Well, they're always accepting new applications for "former" Russians -- and Bulgarians -- to play under the flag of Kazakhstan. Which isn't bad work if you can get it, I suppose.

But more on those revelatory ladies tomorrow.



=DAY 4 NOTES=
...of course, all the talent in the world still isn't enough if a player doesn't have the heart and drive to be the best he or she can be ALL the time.

Hence, Marat Safin.

Any ill-conceived "dreams" of a brother/sister combination of champions this year in Paris saw their hopes dashed on Day 4 with the ejection of #20-seed Safin by French wild card Josselin Ouanna in a five-setter than lasted 4:34 and ended with the Russian going out of what will likely be his final Roland Garros in a 10-8 5th set.

It was a great, dramatic match. Safin came back from a two-sets-to-none hole to make a match of things, erasing two match points (one thanks to a poor eye by the umpire, who looked at the wrong mark near the service box and judged an out Safin shot as "in"... but still). While the super-talented former #1 is still capable of playing a part in game day spectaculars like this, that he does so as often as he has over the past few seasons -- and usually ends up on a similarly losing end -- gives a good idea why he's preparing to hang it up at the end of 2009.

The sport will miss him. But, truthfully, we haven't seen the "real" Marat for quite a while. Well, actually, maybe we have... which is why a long, consistent career was probably NEVER going to be in the cards for Dinara's big brother. It's too bad.

...in other matches today, qualifiers Yaroslava Shvedova and Michelle Larcher de Brito (who upset #15 Zheng Jie) reached the 3rd Round. Victoria Azarenka sleepwalked through the first six games of her 2nd Round match with Kristina Barrois, losing five of them. Once she woke up, though, she reeled off six games out of the next seven to take the set in a tie-break and go on to win the match 7-6/7-5. Meanwhile, the coming darkness -- and the long Safin/Ouanna match that delayed the contest and forced it to be moved to another court -- prevented the other Williams sister from dancing with defeat against Lucie Safarova. She did lose the 1st set, though, when the Czech smashed a forehand that twisted Venus into a stumbling near-mess at the baseline.

But with a night for BOTH players to think about things, how many think the resumption of this match will play out just as the Wozniacki/Dushevina one did?

...and, finally, tomorrow, Paris weather permitting, I'll present the Early-Round Awards (and maybe name this Roland Garros' "Upset Queens" and "Revelation Ladies," too)




*WOMEN's FINAL 32 - TOP HALF BY NATION*
3...Russia (Pavlyuchenkova/Safina/Sharapova)
2...Belarus (Azarenka/Govortseva)
1...Argentina (Dulko)
1...China (Li)
1...Czech Republic (Benesova)
1...France (Rezai)
1...Hungary (Szavay)
1...Kazakhstan (Shvedova)
1...Portugal (Larcher de Brito)
1...Serbia (Ivanovic)
1...Slovak Republic (Cibulkova)
1...Spain (Suarez-Navarro)
--
ALSO: V.Williams/USA vs. Safarova/CZE winner




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Dinara Safina/RUS
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST PASTRY STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 4. More tomorrow.

Read more...

RG.3- An Anticlimactic Ending, a Re-Comeback (?) and Serena Dances a Duet with Defeat... so what else is new?

Boy, we've seen this scene played out before, haven't we?


AP Photo / Lionel Cironneau

It's become something of a grand slam's right of passage to see Serena Williams attempt to walk the precarious high wire stretched between one early slam round to another. It usually looks like her trip will be a breeze, then she nearly falls, only to catch herself and go on to bigger and far better things, leaving us to wonder "what if?" It happened in Melbourne when Victoria Azarenka had Serena dead to rights in the 4th Round, only to be felled by the heat while Williams went on to win the title.

On Day 3, Serena did her dance with defeat with Klara Zakopalova, the Czech who provided loss #2 in Williams' current career-long, four-match losing streak.

Well, Serena didn't really dance with "defeat" as much as she tangoed with trouble. You never got the sense that she was TRULY heading for her first-ever 1st Round slam loss, but she sure didn't look ready to win the match, either.

Up a set and 5-3, after falling behind 3-0 early in the 2nd, Williams failed to convert five match points against Zakopalova. She seemed to wait for the Czech to capitulate, but the Maiden instead got more aggressive and erased Serena's seemingly insurmountable lead, winning a tie-break to send the proceedings to a 3rd set. There, Zakopalova went up a break at 2-1, then Williams surged back to go up 5-2... but then failed to convert a sixth, seventh and eighth match point.

Finally, on the ninth MP, she put Zakopalova away, winning 6-3/6-7/6-4. Just your usual grand slam teeter-totter of a match, courtesy of the world #2.

Before the tournament, I gave Serena little chance of pulling through seven matches to win the title. In fact, I was rather stunned when I saw that some members of the major media (SI's Jon Wertheim, for example) were picking Williams to win, at her worst grand slam with a bum knee/leg (especially when some of those predictions were coming from people who hadn't, as I had, picked her to win in NYC and Melbourne at the previous two slams). Of course, poor results/fitness/match play often are a sign that Serena is about to soar to unimaginable heights.

But, personally, I still think that I was on the right track.

Serena can play her way into shape and pick up match play, but her knee has more often than not been her Achilles heel. And having an injury that effects her movement on red clay would seem to be too much for her to overcome for seven straight matches.

Of course, when it comes to Williams, there's a very fine line between predictors of success and/or failure looking smart, or being proven stupid (this time). "Good" often means bad. "Bad" often means good. We'll know soon on which side this tournament's version of Serena will fall. In a few weeks, she'll either be gearing up to bounce back in London, or heading there with the currently-flying-under-the-radar possibility of completing a second "Serena Slam" by winning a fourth straight slam crown.

Which will it be?

(Cue the "Jeopardy!" music.)



=DAY 3 NOTES=
...picking up where we left off yesterday, #10-seed Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Dushevina returned on Day 3 to complete a 1st Round match that Dushevina once led 6-4/3-1. Things ended on Monday with the Russian stopping play mid-point to challenge a call on a C-Woz shot at the baseline, but when the umpire ruled against her the 2nd set went to the Dane.

Maybe the late-blooming Dushevina thought about her blown lead and call all night, because what happened today was the very definition of an anticlimax. Wozniacki quickly got a break of serve, went up 3-1 and raced to a 6-1 3rd set win. Not that I was all that upset at the "lost chance" for a great finish... it's a little too early in the week for a truly Jankovician moment for the Dane.

If this was C-Woz's "gulp" moment prior to a potentially big Round of 16 meeting with Jelena Jankovic, she seems to have made it through with flying colors.

Day 4 also provided a hint at a potential "re-comeback." By whom, you ask? Well, pray tell, I'll tell you.

I'd be talking about Jelena Dokic. You remember her, right? She was the story of the tournament back in Oz in January, but she'd gone 1-4 in tour MD matches ever since. After dropping the 1st set to Karolina Sprem today, she settled herseld, cut down her avalanche of early unforced errors, and handily won by a 3-6/6-1/6-2 score. As you have to do when talking about Dokic these days, here's where I mention that this was the Aussie's first RG win since 2003 (of course, she hadn't played a 1st Round match there since '04).

Her next opponent? #4-seed Elena Dementieva, against whom she put up a 5-3 mark in her "previous life" from 2001-04, including a 2-0 record in clay matches (both on green clay, though, as they've never met on the red dirt). Could recent slam history be about to repeat itself? Yeah, probably not... but it'll certainly be a result to keep an eye on, just in case.

Dokic's best results always used to come at the bigger events. In 2009, that hasn't changed.

Meanwhile. on the other side of the looking glass, Nicole Vaidisova is still lost somewhere in Wonderland. Three years ago, the Czech was one poor forehand shot selection away from having a match point against Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the RG final. Today, she went down in straight sets to veteran Virginia Ruano-Pascual 6-4/6-3. VRP gets Serena next. If she can't take out the #2 seed, the next player to get a shot in the 3rd Round could be Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, who advanced in three sets past Peng Shuai on Day 3.

...things returned to normal for American men's clay court tennis today, as both Mardy Fish and James Blake (I knew that decent clay court season he's been having was likely a mirage) were sent packing without getting a win in Paris.

...there were no dramatic endings to suspended matches today, at least not like the one with the Wozniacki/Dushevina tussle from yesterday. Alize Cornet, though, will have to ponder overnight whether her snake-bitten clay season will continue when she resumes her 1st Round match with Maret Ani on Day 4, with the Pastry leading 6-4/4-4. Also, Venus and Serena still have to complete their 1st Round Doubles match with Hlavackova/Hradecka, with the sisters leading the on-serve Czechs 4-3 in the 3rd set.

...and, finally, congrats to Mallory Cecil. The Duke freshman has won the NCAA Women's singles championship, defeating Miami's Laura Vallverdu 7-5/6-4 in the final. Cecil also was a part of the NCAA championship-winning Duke women's team last week.

Oddly enough, Georgia freshman Chelsey Gullickson, who lost in the semifinals to Vallverdu to end her sixteen-match winning streak, was earlier named the college "Rookie of the Year" for the NCAA season.

You know, that's sort of like Serena being the reigning champ at two slams at the moment, but being #2 on the computer to Safina, who's won none (but reached two slam finals). Yeah, it's a slight stretch... but I needed SOMETHING to end this notes section with, right?




*QUALIFIERS (and others) IN THE 2nd ROUND*
Vitalia Diatchenko, RUS
Polona Hercog, SLO
Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR
Petra Martic, CRO
Arantxa Rus, NED
Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
[Lucky Losers]
Mariana Duque-Marino, COL
[Wild Cards]
Olivia Rogowska, AUS
[Pastries]
Marion Bartoli
Julie Coin
Virginie Razzano
Aravane Rezai



Psssst, I still think I was right about Serena.




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST PASTRY STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

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RG.2- Please Dinara, Don't Hurt 'Em!

Say hello to Dinara Safina, the number one and only... to double-bagel her opponent in the 1st Round of Roland Garros.

So far, so good. So very good, in fact.

If world #1 Safina is going to chisel a favorable inscription into the currently design-in-waiting stature of herself in the mythical women's tennis Hall of Champions, she may never have a better chance to meet the grand slam title prerequisite than she has at this tournament. And on Day 2, she surely seemed to be a Russian on a mission.

Poor, Anne Keothavong. She had the unenviable "luck" of being the first player to be trapped under the wheels of the Safina SUV as it hums along in Paris. 6-0/6-0 is a pretty looking scoreline, but never believe it's not a painful one on the losing end of it... especially one who was getting patted on the back a week ago for becoming the first British woman to reach a clay semifinal in twenty-six years. In the end, it's not been a good day when in discussing your loss people are forced to call to mind that ugly Graf/Zvereva Roland Garros final from 1988. Never.

Cold reality is a wicked mistress, I guess.

Safina's reality, though, is that she has to maintain this head of steam for two more weeks. Let's have none of this Russian Cat using up more of her nine lives stuff. Next up in the 2nd Round is a fellow Hordette, qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko. Maybe Dinara will go a little easier on her than she did on the Brit, out of professional courtesy?

Vitalia might be hoping so... but Safina can't be letting thoughts of mercy creep between her ears. As a member of a family with infamous bouts with brief thoughts growing into self-destructive on-court monsters, she's better being safe than sorry.

In other words... Please, Dinara. DO hurt 'em. For your own good.



=DAY 2 NOTES=
...there were some interesting results today, including:

1) Venus Williams having to go three sets to take out Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Serena plays tomorrow.

2) recent Fed Cup stars Flavia Pennetta and Alexa Glatch facing off (with -- surprise! -- the American coming out on top, losing just two games). Pennetta has now lost in the 1st Round of a slam twelve times in her twenty-five career appearances.

3) Aravane Rezai somewhat surprisingly not having first-title-hangover, getting a win over veteran Ai Sugiyama

4) Sabine Lisicki's sick (in a bad way) spring ending with a thud, otherwise known as a loss to Lucie Safarova

5) Maria Sharapova dropping the 1st set to Anastasiya Yakimova, then seizing control in the last two stanzas to advance fairly easily

6) And, last but not least, Patty Schnyder being ridden out of the RG singles competition by a Bondarenko, as Kateryna won in straight sets (meanwhile, Alona lost in three to Dominika Cibulkova). So, after matching her career-best Paris result a year ago with a quarterfinal, Schnyder follows it up with her first 1st Round exit there since 2000. Sneaky, Patty. Sneaky.

But even with all those happenings, there was another match (well, two-thirds of a match anyway) that caught my fancy. So far, it's really the only "goosebumpy" -- is that a word? -- action I've seen to this point in the tournament.

Over the past few months, Caroline Wozniacki has gone from a player I liked to one that I've really taken to pulling for. I'm not precisely sure why just yet, but there's just something "cool" about a C-Woz match. Somewhere between those early clay season semifinal battles with the Elenas Vesnina and Dementieva and her 1st Round match today with Vera Dushevina, watching C-Woz play has taken up a seat right next to watching Queen Chaos do her thing on the Backspinner "favorite things to do" list during a WTA tournament. Probably not surprisingly, their best matches seem to follow a similar pattern.

That was the case today, too, as Wozniacki dropped the 1st set 6-4, and soon found herself down a break at 3-1 in the 2nd. The chances of the first Top 10 seed being dumped out of this tournament were unfortunately looking good, but that's when C-Woz buckled down and got to work. Battling a sometimes-wayward forehand, she got a break and put the set back on serve as the darkness was encroaching upon Chatrier Court.

Much like a certain Serb, the Dane often grabbed big leads in her service games as she tried to knot the match, only to see a forehand smack into the net and soon find the game at deuce. Wozniacki never lost her serve again in the set, which would have given the Russian the opportunity to immediately serve for the match, but keeping that slate clean wasn't easy. In the end, she broke Dushevina in a very Jankovician way... in the middle of a rally, set point down, Vera stopped play and challenged the call that a Wozniacki shot had hit the baseline. The umpire trotted over, checked the mark, declared Dushevina wrong and awarded to point to C-Woz. Set, Wozniacki. 7-5.

And now the two have to come back on Day Three to finish up things.

In a weird way, Wozniacki is just like Jelena... without all the theatrics and in-match comedy skits. And, surprisingly or not, I'm really digging the whole thing.

Now, hopefully, my RU pick for this tournament will find a back door through which to escape into the 2nd Round. You know, just like a certain J-Bot we know and love has been known to do.

...qualifiers, wild cards and lucky losers! Oh, my! All three saw their likes win 1st Round matches today, as qualifiers Polona Hercog (over #23-seed Alisa Kleybanova) and Michelle Larcher de Brito, wild card Olivia Rogowska (over Maria Kirilenko, perplexing once again) and lucky loser Mariana Duque-Marino (over #26 Anna Chakvetadze... ditto) all advanced. So far, that makes five qualifiers, one wild card and a LL that have won so far, with more still to make their debuts on Day Three.

...and, finally, what's the deal with ESPN2? You know, the "grand slam network." So, you have a Monday that's a national holiday in the U.S. and you don't have any live coverage from Roland Garros scheduled? None? Not even a couple of hours around noon when you might have the chance to grab some eyeballs that you might not otherwise during the week? On a day when Sharapova, Venus, Rafa, Federer and Roddick are ALL in action? All right, I guess you guys know what you're doing. (Chuckle.)




*SCHNYDER AT ROLAND GARROS*
QF: 1998, 2008
4th Round: 2002-03, 2005-07
3rd Round: 1997, 1999
2nd Round: 2001, 2004
1st Round: 1996, 2000, 2009




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST PASTRY STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 2. More tomorrow.

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RG.1- I Hate Early Sunday Play in Paris... and so does Amelie

I'm not a fan of this early Sunday action at Roland Garros. And, after today, I suspect that Amelie Mauresmo would say the same.

Of course, not that she's ever been very comfortable playing on the slow red clay in Paris in front of a French crowd that she has invariably disappointed each and every year she's played there. At this point, even after having a fine EuroClay season the last few months, she was openly hedging her RG bets and talking more about her chances at Wimbledon before she'd even stepped onto the court on Day 1.

I guess that should have been the warning sign that her stay in this tournament wasn't going to be a long one. It wasn't, either. She's already gone, in a quick seventy-seven minutes at the hands of Anna-Lena Groenefeld by the score of 6-4/6-3.

Oh, well. I guess if you arrive with little confidence in your own ability to reverse your sorry history at an event (ex-#1 Mauresmo's only advanced past the 4th Round twice), you're pretty much destined to live down to your own miniscule expectations.

It's too bad. But good luck to Amelie at SW19, I guess.



=DAY 1 NOTES=
...first off, I'd like to officially apologize to Kaia Kanepi. I guess I should have known that predicting the #19 seed to reach the semifinals of this tournament was tantamount to placing her proverbial head in the guillotine. It was, as it turned out. She was the first seed ousted today, in a three-setter against qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, 7-6/3-6/6-2.

I probably shouldn't mention that Agnes Szavay was my original pick as the "wild" semifinalist for this RG, but I got cold feet and changed my mind at the last moment. Whoops... sorry, Agnes.

...defending champion Ana Ivanovic didn't play a perfect game on Day 1, but she won. And that's all that matters. AnaIvo's 7-6/6-1 win over Sara Errani allows her to last at least a few more days in Paris. If she can get her feet under her, who knows? Call it the "Serena Williams Way to Play a Slam."

...in men's action, AN AMERICAN WON A MATCH! Yeah, only one -- Robert Kendrick, who was a physical wreck by the time his day was through -- but since that's been such a rare occurrence in Paris in recent years it's worth a mention. Also, Ivo Karlovic had a fairly normal day, for him. He served a RG record 55 aces, but lost a two-sets-to-love lead against Lleyton Hewitt and was bounced from the tournament. Oh, Ivo.

...aside from Shvedova, two other qualifiers won matches today: Hordette Vitalia Diatchenko, who defeated Mathilde Johansson, and Arantxa Rus, who knocked off 16-year old French wild card Olivia Sanchez.

...remember a few years ago when they first instituted this early Sunday play? The featured performer that day was Maria Sharapova, and she DID NOT LIKE having to play so early. Well, the suddenly-unseeded Russian didn't have to worry about that this year. Instead, she'll take to the court tomorrow, as Day 2 will feature arguably four of the five most famous faces in the sport in action -- Sharapova, Venus, Rafa and Roger. See, I LIKE the first MONDAY at a slam.

...and, finally, aside from the inconvenience, another reason I hate this early Sunday play is that the just-concluded regular week (which included TWO first-time WTA champs this week) gets shortchanged. So, to see the Backspin Awards for Week 20, look below for the "Bare Bones" version of the usual recap.



*WEEK 20 CHAMPIONS*

WARSAW, POLAND (Premier $600K/Red Clay)
S: Alexandra Dulgheru d. Alona Bondarenko 7-6/3-6/6-0
D: Kops-Jones/Mattek-Sands d. Yan/Zheng

STRASBOURG, FRANCE (Int'l $220K/Red Clay)
S: Aravane Rezai d. Lucie Hradecka 7-6/6-1
D: Dechy/Santangelo d. Feuerstein/Foretz


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Alexandra Dulgheru/ROU
...the 18-year old Swarmette, ranked #201, qualified for her first WTA main draw, then proceeded to win the tournament! She's only the sixth player ranked #200-or-worse to win a WTA title in tour history.
RISERS: Aravane Rezai/FRA & Alona Bondarenko/UKR
...22-year old Rezai won her first career title in Strasbourg. A-Bond had one of those "best of times/worst of times" weeks, defeating Sharapova and reaching the Warsaw final, but then losing to Dulgheru in a love 3rd set. Hmmm, I wonder which she'll be thinking about when she takes the court on Day 2?
SURPRISES: Lucie Hradecka/CZE & Anne Keothavong/GBR
...while Vaidisova wilts on the vine, Hradecka is a Czech Maiden who's blossoming. She reached her second career tour final in Strasbourg. In Warsaw, Keothavong, seemingly setting all sorts of records that Laura Robson will likely knock down in a few years, became the first British woman to reach a tour SF on clay since Jo Durie in 1983.
VETERANS: Nathalie Dechy/Mara Santangelo, FRA/ITA
...in Strasbourg, the pair won their third doubles title of the season.
FRESH FACES: Ayumi Morita/JPN & Viktoriya Kutuzova/UKR
...both reached their first career tour SF in Strasbourg.
DOWN: Jelena Dokic/AUS
...Dokic lost in the 1st Round in Warsaw to Ioana-Raluca Olaru in a match she deemed one of the worst she's played in years. And for Dokic, that's saying something.
ITF PLAYER: Kristina Antoniychuk/UKR
...she won a $25K in Kharkiv, Ukraine, getting wins over Ksenia Milevskaya and Oksana Kalashnikova.
JUNIOR STARS: Laura Vallverdu (Univ. of Miami) & Mallory Cecil (Duke)
...the pair, junior Vallverdu and freshman Cecil, have advanced to Monday's NCAA singles championship. Vallverdu outlasted Georgia freshman Chelsey Gullickson in three sets, while Cecil handled Miami's sophomore Julia Cohen in straights.

*BIGGEST MATCH*
Warsaw SF - Dulgheru d. Hantuchova
...6-4/6-7/6-1. After this one, the Romanian's run in Poland could no longer be considered a fluke.


*RECENT RG FIRST SEEDS OUT*
2005: #25 Dinara Safina, RUS (lost to Razzano/FRA)
2006: #18 Elena Lihovtseva, RUS (lost to Sprem/CRO)
2007: #31 Severine Bremond, FRA (lost to Krajicek/NED)
2008: #15 Nicole Vaidisova, CZE (lost to Benesova/CZE)
2009: #19 Kaia Kanepi, EST (lost to Shvedova/KAZ)

*2009 FIRST-TIME CHAMPIONS*
JAN - Victoria Azarenka, BLR/19 (Brisbane)
JAN - Petra Kvitova, CZE/18 (Hobart)
FEB - Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP/26 (Bogota)
APR - Sabine Lisicki, GER/19 (Charleston)
MAY - Yanina Wickmayer, BEL/19 (Estoril)
MAY - Aravane Rezai, FRA/22 (Strasbourg)
MAY - Alexsandra Dulgheru, ROU/18 (Warsaw)

*ALL-TIME LOWEST-RANKED WTA CHAMPIONS*
#579...Angelique Widjaja, 2001 Bali
#285...Fabiola Zuluaga, 2002 Bogota
#259...Tamira Paszek, 2006 Portoroz
#234...Lindsay Davenport, 2007 Bali
#205...Kumiko Okamoto, 1989 Tokyo
#201...Petra Langrova, 1988 Paris
#201...ALEXANDRA DULGHERU, 2009 WARSAW




TOP QUALIFIER: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2: Corinna Dentoni/ITA d. Sesil Karatantcheva/KAZ 4-6/6-3/6-2
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #19 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.- Shvedova/KAZ)
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MADEMOISELLE/MADAM OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: xxx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xxx
LAST PASTRY STANDING: xxx
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 1. More tomorrow.

Read more...