W.8- Middle-Round Maneuvers

Five rounds in, and things have (mostly) gone according to plan.

Things started last Monday with 128 women in the main draw. While there are but four remaining, ALL of the top four seeded women have reached the semifinals, including three of the same players who advanced to this point at the All-England Club a year ago.

Is there anything or anyone that can prevent another Williams vs. Williams final?

=MIDDLE ROUND AWARDS - 3rd-QF Rds.=
TOP PLAYER: Serena Williams/USA
...is Serena actually playing BETTER than Venus? Maybe, even though big sister has been mowing through opponents the last two rounds (it could be that Serena's great is just so much more flashy that she SEEMS to be playing better). Either way, if they meet in the final, the previous fortnight would go out the window, which could be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. (RU: Venus Williams/USA & Williams/Williams in doubles... I sense a theme)
RISER: Dinara Safina/RUS
...she's too good to be totally bummed out and distracted by what happened in Paris. Of course, she still might leave London with a bad taste in her mouth and a a SafinaScowl on her face. (ALSO: Agnieszka Radwanska/POL)
SURPRISES: Elena Vesnina/RUS & Melanie Oudin/USA
...Vesnina's surges probably shouldn't be so much of a surprise six months into the season, though. Ditto for Oudin, who's now flashed in Fed Cup AND at a slam before her eighteenth birthday. (ALSO: Alisa Kleybanova/Ekaterina Makarova, RUS/RUS)
VETERAN: Elena Dementieva/RUS
...again, she proved she should never be counted out until she's TOTALLY out. And I mean airplane leaving the tarmac out. (ALSO: Francesca Schiavone/ITA)
FRESH FACES Victoria Azarenka/BLR & Sabine Lisicki/GER
...it's just a matter of time before Azarenka does something grand. Like, say, by the end of next season. Lisicki seems to be on a rocket trip to the Top 10 before the 2010 Wimbledon. (ALSO: Richel Hogenkamp/NED)
DOWN: Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
...she's not going to go five years before she rediscovers her slam mojo again, is she? (ALSO: Zi Yan/Zheng Jie, CHN)
COMEBACK: Ana Ivanovic/SRB
...things didn't end well but, assuming she's healthy, she might have gotten back enough confidence to be a factor in North America after being anything but for the past thirteen months. (ALSO: Daniela Hantuchova/SVK)

HISTORIC, but Amelie would probably rather forget about it: 4th Rd. - #1 Safina d. #17 Mauresmo 4-6/6-3/6-4
...the first match played (partially) under the Centre Court roof, Mauresmo might remember it as maybe her last chance to make an impact at SW19 -- she was up a set and a break, then 3-0 in the 3rd. Thankfully, 2006 cemented her Hall of Fame credentials.
INTRODUCING THE BASELINE ACCORDING TO MISS MELANIE OUDIN: 3rd Rd. - (Q)Oudin d. #6 Jankovic 6-7/7-5/6-2
...the bloom is off Queen Chaos' rose. Can it grow back before she gets to New York?
"UNKNOWN" JUNIOR ALERT: Girls 2nd Rd. - Hogenkamp d. #3 A.Bogdan 3-6/6-1/6-4
...when was the last time an unseeded junior came into a slam with such a head of steam as this one?

MS. OPPORTUNITY: Elena Dementieva/RUS. Punch-Sober strikes yet again with a second straight SW19 SF result out of her weak section of the draw.
IT GIRL: Sabine Lisicki/GER. Can she be what ALG never could? You know, the long-awaited heir to Graf's German throne.
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Melanie Oudin/USA. The American reached the 4th Round, and made even more fans in London than she did when she saved Mary Joe Fernandez's Fed Cup coaching credibility a few months ago.
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Dinara Safina/RUS. Naturally, the Russian Cat showed she had more lives in reserve when she escaped Mauresmo in the Round of 16, then advanced to her first Wimbledon semi. Of course, her grass-hating big brother reached the same round at SW19 a year ago, but it didn't change his opinion of the lawns (he lost in the 1st Round this year in what he says was his final appearance at the All-England Club).
COMEBACK: Ana Ivanovic/SRB. Of course, we won't know if her "recuperative" Round of 16 run really meant anything until the end of this summer.

TOO BAD: Vera Zvonareva, finally making her return from torn ankle ligaments in Charleston several months ago, had to give Virginia Razzano a walkover victory in the 3rd Round when her injury flaired up.
TOO GOOD: Venus Williams, on Day 7. She eliminated AnaIvo 6-1/0-1 in singles early in the day, then she and Serena took out former Wimbledon Doubles champs Yan & Zheng 6-0/6-0 later.
TOO LITTLE: Caroline Wozniacki lost in the 4th Round to nemesis Lisicki, who also wiped her out in the Charleston final, and is still in search of her first slam QF result. She and Anabel Medina-Garrigues are the only players currently in the Top 20 who've never done it.
TOO MUCH... and that's a good thing: Victoria Azarenka made quite a few points here at Backspin HQ by hitting back at the Anti-Grunting Brigade. I knew she was probably just having a bad few days in Paris, and I'd likely forgive her quite quickly. All is well again with the A-Train.

Now, who does Richard Williams think is going to win this title anyway?



=DAY 8 NOTES=
...only one of today's women's quarterfinals was much of a contest, and even it wasn't a great match in the end.

Venus easily blasted through A-Rad 6-1/6-2 (she actually had a point for a bagel opening set twenty-two minutes into the match). Dementieva did the same against Schiavone, 6-2/6-2, and even Serena was simply too much for Azarenka (who at least kept her head about her, only slamming down her racket a few times after immediately giving back the one break she'd grabbed in the match at 3-2 in the 2nd set). Williams had a 13-to-1 winners/unforced errors ratio in the 1st set of the 6-2/6-3 win, and when she served for the match with new balls you almost had to feel sorry for the Belarusan.

The only match that went three sets was the one between Dinara Safina and Sabine Lisicki. The German took the 1st set 7-6, then the Russian managed to win a close 2nd set despite having issues with her serve. In the 3rd, for a while, it looked like neither player wanted to win the match (neither could hold serve in the opening stages of the set). But, just as was the case against Mauresmo yesterday, Safina was bailed out of a potential jam when her opponent seemed less ready to take the match than she was. After having twelve aces in the first two sets, Lisicki has none in the 3rd and then couldn't hold her serve down 1-5 to at least force Safina to have to hold her nerves and serve out the match. In the end, Safina had ZERO aces and FIFTEEN double-faults, but still managed to take the match 6-7/6-4/6-1.

It's hard to beleive she'll get such assistance against Venus in the SF. And Dementieva, after getting to the final four without facing a single seeded player (quite amazing in the era of 32 seeded players at a slam), might be in for a very rude awakening when she gets Serena next.

At this point, as has been the case from Day 1, everything on the women's side of the draw seems to just be a prelude to the final matchup that was one of the most predictable ones in a slam since the days when Evert and Navratilova were winning nearly every slam, or Graf and Seles were reaching so many finals in the early 1990's... or, really, maybe it'd be more appropriate to say it's similar to when the Williams Sisters were battling so often at the start of this decade.

...a few years ago, the ATP used the slogan "New Balls" to promote the tour. At this Wimbledon, the WTA could almost use the phrase "Old Balls" to describe the semis, what with both Williams Sisters and Dementieva, three of the more veteran players in the draw when things began, still alive. For that matter, the men's QF have a very familiar, "old school" look, as well, with mainstay Federer joined by the likes of Hewitt, Roddick, Ferrero, Haas and even Karlovic (he's 30-years old, in spite of this really being his first great Wimbledon run after years of wowing everyone with his serve and then losing earlier than expected).

Additionally, the top four seeds have advanced to the women's singles SF. It's only the seventh time since 1989 that it's happened, and five of those times were at Wimbledon. Grass just seems to have a way of eradicating Cinderella's dreams, I guess. Here are the occurrences during the span:

*TOP 4 SEEDS TO SLAM SF - 1989-09*
1992 Roland Garros (Seles-Graf-Sabatini-Sanchez Vicario)
1992 Wimbledon (Seles-Graf-Sabatini-Navratilova)
1993 Australian (Seles-Graf-Sabatini-Sanchez Vicario)
1995 Wimbledon (Graf-Sanchez Vicario-Martinez-Novotna)
2003 Wimbledon (S.Williams-Clijsters-Henin Hardenne-V.Williams)
2006 Wimbledon (Mauresmo-Clijsters-Henin Hardenne-Sharapova)
2009 Wimbledon (Safina-S.Williams-V.Williams-Dementieva)

...the 2nd Round junior match that I mentioned the other day came off on Day 8, and Dutch girl Richel Hogenkamp DID continue her recent run by knocking off #3-seed Ana Bogdan 3-6/6-1/6-4. Meanwhile, unseeded Akiko Omae of Japan upst Roland Garros Girls finalist #15-seed Daria Gavrilova.

...and, finally, East Coast viewers lucked out today since the order of the Wimbledon schedule allowed the Venus/A-Rad match to be shown live on ESPN, along with the last half of the Safina/Lisicki match (though not a lick of the first set and a half, since it was apparently decided that it was more important to air every point of Williams' thrashing of Radwanska). The end of Safina/Lisicki was also simultaneously shown on NBC, followed by live coverage Serena/Azarenka on the peacock network. But I suspect, what with NBC's 10am-in-all-time-zones coverage, the rest of the country got royally screwed today since even the net's LIVE coverage wasn't live there. Then, when ESPN returned to air at 1pm Eastern, when NBC was still on air in some portions of the U.S., it had to wait even more hours before showing a replay of the Serena/Azarenka contest despite having promoted last night that it'd be shown at 1pm.

Thus, I didn't really have major complaints today, but I'm sure many others did.



*LADIES' SINGLES SF*
#1 Dinara Safina/RUS vs. #3 Venus Williams/USA
#4 Elena Dementieva/RUS vs. #2 Serena Williams/USA

*GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES QF*
Lleyton Hewitt/AUS vs. #6 Andy Roddick/USA
#3 Andy Murray/GBR vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero/ESP
#24 Tommy Haas/GER vs. #4 Novak Djokovic/SRB
#22 Ivo Karlovic/CRO vs. #2 Roger Federer

*LADIES' DOUBLES QF*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #11 Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez (ESP/ESP)
#4 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) vs. #12 Groenefeld/King (GER/USA)
Barrois/Garbin (GER/ITA) vs. #3 Stosur/Stubbs (AUS/AUS)
Kleybanova/Makarova (RUS/RUS) vs. #2 Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual (ESP/ESP)

*GENTLEMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #5 Soares/Ullyett (BRA/ZIM)
#4 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH) vs. #9 Moodie/Norman (RSA/BEL)
Aspelin/Hanley (SWE/AUS) vs. Blake/Fish (USA/USA)
#2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB) def. #8 Kubot/Marach (POL/AUT)

*MIXED DOUBLES QF*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) vs. #11 Sugiyama/Sa (JPN/BRA)
xx vs. #12 Ruano-Pascual/Huss (ESP/AUS)
xx vs. #15 Benesova/Dlouhy (CZE/CZE)
xx vs. #2 B.Bryan/Stosur (USA/AUS)




*2009 WOMEN'S SLAM SF - BY NATION*
7...Russia
3...United States
1...Australia
1...Slovak Republic

*2009 WTA SF - BY NATION*
31...Russia (W: 2)
12...France
11...United States (W: 2)

*2009 WTA SF*
8...DINARA SAFINA (6-1)
7...ELENA DEMENTIEVA (2-3 +W)
6...SERENA WILLIAMS (2-2 +L)
5...Caroline Wozniacki (5-0)
5...VENUS WILLIAMS (2-2)

*CAREER SLAM SF - '09 WIMBLEDON SEMIFINALISTS*
18...Venus Williams (13-4)
16...Serena Williams (13-2)
8...Elena Dementieva (2-5)
5...Dinara Safina (3-1)

*SLAM "MS. OPPORTUNITY" WINNERS*
[Wimbledon]
2004 Maria Sharapova, RUS
2005 Venus Williams, USA
2006 Severine Bremond, FRA
2007 Marion Bartoli, FRA
2008 Zheng Jie, CHN
2009 Elena Dementieva, RUS
[2009]
AO: Vera Zvonareva, RUS
RG: Samantha Stosur, AUS
WI: Elena Dementieva, RUS

*SLAM "IT/IT GIRL" WINNERS*
[Wimbledon]
2006 Li Na, CHN
2007 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2008 Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
2009 Sabine Lisicki, GER
[2009]
AO: Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
RG: Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
WI: Sabine Lisicki, GER

*SLAM "COMEBACK" WINNERS*
=2007=
AO: Serena Williams, USA
RG: Patty Schnyder, SUI
WI: Venus Williams, USA
US: Vera Zvonareva, RUS
=2008=
AO: Yan Zi/Zheng Jie, CHN
RG: Elena Dementieva, RUS
WI: Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
US: Anna-Lena Groenefeld, GER
=2009=
AO: Jelena Dokic, AUS
RG: Maria Sharapova, RUS
WI: Ana Ivanovic, SRB




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Venus Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #2 Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Vesna Manasieva/RUS d. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn/THA 6-7/6-4/6-1
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Ana Ivanovic/SRB d. Lucie Hradecka/CZE 5-7/6-2/8-6 (saved 2 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd. - Melanie Oudin/USA d. Jelena Jankovic/SRB 6-7/7-5/6-2
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN (1st Rd.-Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: The Germans
REVELATION LADIES: The Italian vets
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Melanie Oudin/USA (4th Rd.)
IT GIRL: Sabine Lisicki/GER
MS. OPPORTUNITY: Elena Dementieva/RUS
COMEBACK PLAYER: Ana Ivanovic/SRB
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS - lost to Gisela Dulko/ARG in 2nd Rd.
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Dinara Safina/RUS - in 4th Rd., down set and a break, then 3-0 in 3rd to Amelie Mauresmo/FRA; advanced to first Wimbledon SF
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR (2nd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 8. More tomorrow.

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W.7- The New Deal

As noted earlier, after a Sunday of rest and the busiest Monday on the grand slam calendar, everything changes. Well, at least a LITTLE.

Well, not really THAT much, now that I think about it. Here are the women's final eight, a some quick thoughts and a prediction for each quarterfinal matchup:

#1 Dinara Safina/RUS vs. Sabine Lisicki/GER: Safina was lucky enough to have an opponent in Amelie Mauresmo today who steadfastly refused to take advantage of the opportunities she carved out for herself. The Russian is now one win away from reaching the SF at a fourth straight slam, and five of the last six. She's gotten this far without having any pressure on herself to succeed on grass, but now that changes since she's THIS CLOSE to reaching a third slam final in '09. While she's picking up confidence with each win at SW19, it's hard to get past the thought that if she has a bad stretch against Lisicki she might not be able to get past it now that the stakes are higher. We'll soon see if she learned anything from her Paris collapse, not to mention the one in Melbourne and Paris again before that. Lisicki, who took out Caroline Wozniacki today (boy, it'd been nice to see some of that one... thanks, ESPN), has never been this far in a slam, but she handled pressure well in Charleston and is really the dark horse to break through and reach the final in the top half. PREDICTION: LISICKI IN THREE SETS

#3 Venus Williams/USA vs. #11 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL: Venus played a singles and doubles match today... and lost two games. Ana Ivanovic injured her thigh and retired down 1-6/1-0, then the all-Sisters doubles team double-bageled Zheng Jie & Zi Yan, ending a particularly disappointing SW19 for '08 singles semfinalist Zheng. Williams' Wimbledon streaks now stand at eighteen matches and thirty sets, and Agnieszka Radwanska might be in for a heap of trouble tomorrow. A-Rad, in her second straight Wimbledon QF, DID manage to break out of her "you-lose-it" pattern that always makes me question her ability to go deep into a draw, though. Instead, against Melanie Oudin today, she pressed the issue a bit and showed why she so often wins on her smarts and puckishness (remember her dancing around at the service box during that defeat of Sharapova at the U.S. Open a while back?). THAT was the Radwanska that climbed into the Top 10 and I noted always seemed to get better every time I saw her about a year ago. I thought THAT A-Rad was in hibernation, but there she was today. Only because of that, I guess A-Rad could push this one to three sets if Venus' forehand starts to fail her, but there's been NO evidence of that happening at SW19 so far this year. Radwanska's soft serves just seem like they'll provide target practice for Williams. PREDICTION: WILLIAMS IN TWO SETS

#4 Elena Dementieva/RUS vs. Francesca Schiavone/ITA: Does this one really matter in the long run (you know, like two days after this match is over)? Won't the winner simply lose the SF to the winner of Williams/Azarenka? Probably. Schiavone is a true surprise, but her '09 grass season (she was two matches in Birmingham and reached the Netherlands SF) means this result isn't as much of a fluke as it might appear, even if her last slam QF WAS almost six years ago. Meanwhile, Dementieva has continued her pattern of getting a good result right when everyone starts to discount her. She has yet to lose a set. Of course, since that pre-tournament scenario in which I noted that Punch-Sober might be able to reach the semis without facing a seed has actually played out to the letter, I'm not sure how much that stat really means. Still, it's hard to argue with a player who is one win away from reaching her fourth SF in the last five slams after having reached four in her previous THIRTY-EIGHT slams. She's doing something right, and I think she will again here. PREDICTION: DEMENTIEVA IN TWO SETS

#2 Serena Williams/USA vs. #8 Victoria Azarenka/BLR: Serena has a shot to reach the final in a fourth of the last five slams. The Dementieva/Schiavone winner should only be a minor obstacle, so Azarenka is all that's left in her way before that expected rematch with Venus. Somehow, though, even with so much anticipation for this third big-time meeting between these two this season, I don't think this is going to be much of a match. If Azarenka, who took a tumble to the grass late in her match today (she didn't seem to injury herself badly, though she appeared to possibly hyperextend her knee), has a hard time getting past Nadia Petrova -- having to win a set in a tie-break and going three -- then it's hard to imagine the two-time slam quarterfinalist challenging an in-form Serena at the All-England Club. Still, I must say, after turning on Azarenka in Paris after her antics against Suarez-Navarro in their hotly-contested match, I'm right back on board the A-Train after her frisky responses over the past week to those media members and fans who attempted to chide her for her in-point grunting. Even though I can easily gravitate to a please-the-crowder like Wozniacki, as I showed with La Petit Taureau, I'm often a bigger sucker for a player who's not afraid to ruffle a few feathers when it comes to people who complain because they like to hear themselves talk. PREDICTION: WILLIAMS IN TWO SETS

Of course, ANYTHING could happen, right? (All right, butt "technically" covered.)



=DAY 7 NOTES=
...while the Safina/Mauresmo match was the first official match played under the Centre Court roof, the one between Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka, which played out while the sun shined outside (the roof remained closed) AND after nighttime darkness had swallowed up the grounds, was the first FULL match to be played indoors.

Murray won in a four-hour five-setter after being pushed once again. Truthfully, one wonders how many more times he can keep that up if he intends to have a shot to reach and/or win the final and erase that "no British man since Fred Perry in 1936" business.

The match ended at around 10:40pm London time. Ah, nothing beats nighttime tennis. Not in New York. Not in Melbourne. And, now, not at SW19, either.

...a few additional comments about a few of today's women's matches:

--Oudin's inexperience finally did her in against A-Rad. She was up a break in both the 1st and 2nd sets, but lost the advantage both times. She held game point for 5-5 in the 1st, but was ultimately broken after some ill-timed errors, and served for a tie-break at 5-6 in the 2nd, only to be broken again to end the match. Still, she learned a great deal at this Wimbledon.

--of course, the same can't be said for Mauresmo. The draw opened up big-time for the '06 champ to put forth one more (final?) run for a Wimbledon SF-or-better. She had her chances against Safina today. She erased a break disadvantage in the 1st set to take it 6-4, but couldn't hold her own advantages the rest of the match. She was up a set and a break in the 2nd, but failed to secure the set (the roof was closed with the Russian up 4-1). In the 3rd, she led 3-0 but lost six of the final seven games of the match. The Williams Sisters were always going to be a tough nut for Mauresmo to crack at this tournament, but she could have and probably should have handled Safina. Turning 30 on the final day of this Wimbledon, she probably won't get an opportunity like this again.

--yet another grand slam ended with tears fallling down AnaIvo's cheeks, but at least this exit was the result of something beyond her control. A 6-1/6-1 loss to Venus might have hurt her psyche more than her thigh hurts after injuring it today. Thank the tennis Gods for small favors?

...AWARDS UPDATES: filling the role for the third time in a little over a year, Safina wins the "Zombie Queen" title for her comeback-X-two today against Mauresmo. "Ms. Opportunity" will be given to the winner of the Dementieva/Schiavone quarterfinal match. Lisicki will win the "It Girl" award, unless Azarenka upsets Serena and keeps the title in play going into the semis.

...ITF/JUNIOR UPDATE: While all the attention of the tennis world is focused on London, there ARE matches going on elsewhere. One ITF title-winner of note from this past weekend was Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko, as the tour's hard-luck woman won a $25K clay event in Perigueux, France. Another was 17-year old American Jacqueline Cako, who won a $10K in Wichita, Kansas.

Meanwhile, at the Grade 1 junior grass event at Roehampton, France's Kristina Mladenovic, the junior #1 and top seed in the Wimbledon Girls, won the title with wins over Brit Heather Watson (QF), Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (SF) and Olivia Rogowska (Final). The Boys title was won by the NCAA champ, American Devin Britton.

...congratulations to Lindsay Davenport on the birth of her daughter, Lauren. Soon, Jagger will have a playmate.

...a Wimbledon official has apparently admitted to scheduling matches featuring the likes of Gisela Dulko, Maria Kirilenko and Sorana Cirstea on bigger courts over players such as Safina, Serena and Svetlana Kuznetsova because of their looks. I think we all sort of knew that such things went on, but it's amazing that someone woulld actually ADMIT it.

...unfortunately, I didn't realize the other day that NBC will be "broadcasting" Wimbledon every day this week, so ESPN's coverage can be screwed ALL THE WAY to the semifinals. It's already started, too.

1) ESPN's announcers couldn't reveal the result of the Venus/Ivanovic match during the 7am to 1pm coverage (leading to Dick Enberg talking about Williams having won 29 straight sets at Wimbledon "going into her match" today, well after the match had already been completed). Although, the network pulled a "screw you, NBC" again by allowing the final score to be run in the sports score ticker at the bottom of the screen on ESPN2 while other matches were being aired. Where there's a will, there's a way. Still, if Williams had been the one who'd retired, this would have meant the biggest story of the tournament so far would have taken place off air without the network televising the event as it happened being able to discuss the draw-changing result during a six-hour telecast.

2) And how pathetic it was to hear Chris Fowler have to say that NBC "graciously allowed" ESPN to show the final points of the Roger Federer/Robin Soderling 3rd set tie-break that were taking place just after 10am East Coast time (a few minutes into the start of NBC's coverage), even though the network had been televising the match from the start. Isn't the deal usually that the televising network gets to show the conclusion of a match that it began showing, even if it happens to overlap into another net's coverage window? What sort of deal did ESPN sign in order to cover Wimbledon anyway? Does Chris Fowler have to turn over his next born child to Jeff Zucker, too? Does Brad Gilbert have to shine the floor after Conan O'Brien finishes "The Tonight Show?" Does Pam Shriver have to hit the "applause" bottom during the first week of "The Jay Leno Show"? Does Mary Carillo have to knock some sense into Ann Curry (though that could be a life-long job)? Does Mary Joe Fernandez have to gain seventy pounds so that she can go on next season's "The Biggest Loser"? All right, I'm out of 'em.

3) Naturally, NBC chose that moment to actually break away from its longtime policy of not showing any sporting event until it knows precisely down to the milisecond when it will end and televise LIVE tennis, showing the final points of Federer's victory.

It was going to be the ONLY live tennis NBC showed during its three hours of coverage. But then it started to rain (well, a LITTLE), and the Centre Court roof was closed. Someone at NBC decided to cut into the regular taped coverage to show the historic moment, then the conclusion of the 2nd set of the Safina/Mauresmo match and the start of the 3rd until 1pm came around. Of course,, no one on NBC bothered to answer the question of why the Safina/Mauresmo match wasn't being televised live at the time anyway, and it wasn't until play actually began after the roof opening delay that the SCORE of the Safina/Mauresmo match was even mentioned at all.

This just in: NBC just started running ads for its Winter Olympics 2010 coverage for next February. Ooh, I can't wait.

THIS JUST IN: not surprisingly, NBC is embargoing the Williams/Azarenka match tomorrow.

...and, finally, be on the lookout this week for the latest versions of "Backspin Time Capsule" (Novotna's collapse in the '93 Wimbledon final)and "Decade's Best" for Wimbledon 2000-09, which will also include the cutdown of the "Players of the Decade" list to the official finalists which will be counted down every week to #1 starting after the U.S. Open.



*LADIES' SINGLES QF*
#1 Dinara Safina/RUS vs. Sabine Lisicki/GER
#3 Venus Williams/USA vs. #11 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
Francesca Schiavone/ITA vs. #4 Elena Dementieva/RUS
#8 Victoria Azarenka/BLR vs. #2 Serena Williams/USA

*GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES QF*
Lleyton Hewitt/AUS vs. #6 Andy Roddick/USA
#3 Andy Murray/GBR vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero/ESP
#24 Tommy Haas/GER vs. #4 Novak Djokovic/SRB
#22 Ivo Karlovic/CRO vs. #2 Roger Federer

*LADIES' DOUBLES QF*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #11 Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez (ESP/ESP)
#4 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) vs. #12 Groenefeld/King (GER/USA)
Barrois/Garbin (GER/ITA) vs. #3 Stosur/Stubbs (AUS/AUS)
Kleybanova/Makarova (RUS/RUS) vs. #2 Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual (ESP/ESP)

*GENTLEMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #5 Soares/Ullyett (BRA/ZIM)
#4 Bhupathi/Knowles (IND/BAH) vs. #9 Moodie/Norman (RSA/BEL)
xx vs. Blake/Fish (USA/USA)
#8 Kubot/Marach (POL/AUT) vs. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB)




*2009 WOMEN'S SLAM QF - BY NATION*
[3 slams/24 berths]
9...Russia (Wimb.'09: 2-Dementieva/Safina)
4...United States (2-Williams/Williams)
2...Australia
2...Belarus (1-Azarenka)
1...France
1...Germany (1-Lisicki)
1...Italy (1-Schiavone)
1...Poland (1-Radwanska)
1...Romania
1...Slovak Republic
1...Spain

*2008 WIMBLEDON QF/2009 RESULTS*
Elena Dementieva (to QF)
Nadia Petrova (out 4th Rd.)
Agnieszka Radwanska (to QF)
Tamarine Tanasugarn (out 1st Rd.)
Nicole Vaidisova (out 1st Rd.)
Serena Williams (to QF)
Venus Williams (to QF)
Zheng Jie (out 2nd Rd.)

*SLAM "ZOMBIE QUEENS"*
=2007=
WI: Venus Williams, USA
=2008=
AO: Jelena Jankovic, SRB
RG: Dinara Safina, RUS
WI: Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
US: Jelena Jankovic, SRB
=2009=
AO: Dinara Safina, RUS
RG: Victoria Azarenka, BLR
WI: Dinara Safina, RUS




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Venus Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Vesna Manasieva/RUS d. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn/THA 6-7/6-4/6-1
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Ana Ivanovic/SRB d. Lucie Hradecka/CZE 5-7/6-2/8-6 (saved 2 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN (1st Rd.-Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: The Germans
REVELATION LADIES: The Italian vets
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Melanie Oudin/USA (4th Rd.)
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS - lost to Gisela Dulko/ARG in 2nd Rd.
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Dinara Safina/RUS - down set and a break, then 3-0 in 3rd to Amelie Mauresmo/FRA, advances to first Wimbledo QF
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR (2nd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 7. More tomorrow.

Read more...

W.6- Blade Runners, Pt.II

So, can anyone prevent Venus from reaching the final?

That's surely the prevailing -- and ONLY, really -- question with eight women now remaining in the top half of the Ladies' singles draw. With each round, the few players around who might be able to challenge Williams on a day when they play great and she plays poorly has shrunk just a little bit more. As of right now, I'd say there's really only one player left who might have an inkling of a shot. If you were to stretch, there might be THREE... but the draw says Venus could only possibly face one of them.

Here, in order, is how I'd rank the chances of the Bottom 8 to reach the final (not necessarily by their simple ability, but according to how the draw has panned out for them):

1. #3 Venus Williams/USA: From the start, the berth in the final has been her's to win or lose. The only player with a real shot to beat her would seem to be Mauresmo, on a good day for her and a semi-off one for Venus. Often, Williams takes a while to get into her groove at SW19, usually escaping an early-round upset bid. Right now, she's on a 17-match, 29-set winning streak there and seems to be grasping her career destiny at the All-England Club with both arms (and maybe both legs, too). If she keeps playing as she has this past week, the only other person who could beat Williams lives in the same house as her and shares her last name. Nothing against the rest of the players in this draw, but it would be an incredible gift to the sport if the Sisters could continue to play at their current level and meet in the final. It might actually produce the women's tennis equivalent of the Federer/Nadal final from last year.

2. #17 Amelie Mauresmo/FRA: The '06 champion's game is better suited to grass than any other surface, and that means her only legit chance to win a third career slam is at SW19. But probably not this one, not with BOTH Venus and Serena looking so good. While she has the best shot to defeat Venus -- that is, if Williams EVER has a slightly bad day at this tournament -- compared to the other six women in the top half, it's hard to imagine she will. She seems to be rounding into better form with each round, though. If she gets a shot at Venus in the semis, it'll mean Mauresmo has gotten past Dinara Safina and a potential headache of an opponent in either Caroline Wozniacki or Sabine Lisicki and has continued her improvement. At that point, a shot is all she could ever ask for.

3t. #9 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Sabine Lisicki/GER: Their 4th Round clash should be a great match. Both are wild fun to watch and pull for. While Wozniacki is a past Wimbledon junior champ and won a grass title a week ago, Lisicki said today that she'd never won a match on grass before this tournament. Considering C-Woz's tendency to get involved in long matches, even while she's breezed past opponents the last two rounds, this could be a real humdinger... and a long one, too. The winner, if they're not tired out, would have a good shot to knock off Mauresmo in a QF, and would be the likely pick to take out Safina if she's there.

5. #1 Dinara Safina/RUS: So far, so good. The lack of attention is just what she needed after her Paris debacle in the final. In the 4th Round, though, Mauresmo provides a huge obstacle. The Pastry goes in knowing her best surface is grass, while Safina believes in her heart that it's her worst. That sort of equation wouldn't seem to work too much in the Russian's favor. But if Amelie lets HER nerves get the best of her, Safina's whole mindset might change. That's the only reason she's as high as #5 on this list.

6. #13 Ana Ivanovic/SRB: Is she back or not? At the very least, AnaIvo didn't duck-and-cover and exit this tournament the first chance she had. And that's SOMETHING. After merely surviving in the 1st Round against Lucie Hradecka, she's gotten better each time out. Venus will probably take care of that possible surge in confidence in the 4th Round, though.

7. Melanie Oudin/USA: She can't believe she's still around. Obviously, it'd be a stunner of epic proportions if the American reached the final, but she surely CAN go further in this draw. Agnieszka Radwanska doesn't provide enough power for Oudin to be run off the court in their 4th Round meeting. If Oudin can just keep her head and not fall into the A-Rad you-make-the-mistake-and-I'll-just-watch-and-win trap, she's going to be in the QF facing Venus Williams. Now THAT would be a different kettle of fish, but no matter what happens next the last week has been the best of Oudin's career and might have changed it forever.

8. Agnieszka Radwanska/POL: She depends on her opponent to make the costly mistake. That gets a player only so far in a slam and the rankings. While her game is somewhat reminiscent of former #1 Martina Hingis', the Swiss Miss was a better athlete and big point player in her prime. In her favor, though, the Pole seems to be in good control of her emotions, the opposite of which was ultimately Hingis' undoing once she started to lose to power players in the late 1990's... so A-Rad can stick around long enough in a match with anyone to win it if she gets a few breaks. Radwanska is interesting to watch, not to mention a real head-thumper for an inconsistent opponent, but there's no way she's not going to run into SOMEONE who has enough shots to keep her from reaching a slam final in London.

Now, after a day of rest, everything can change.



=DAY 6 NOTES=
...in the conclusion of what was probably the best match of the tournament so far, Tommy Haas came back from being match point down twice yesterday (after losing a two sets to none lead, and holding two match points of his own on Day 5) to defeat Marin Cilic. Tied 6-6 in the 5th set going into today, Haas ended up winning the deciding set 10-8.

...hey, hey. The roof was finally closed today, but it was at the end of the day's Centre Court play.

...after Daniela Hantuchova eliminated doubles partner Ai Sugiyama is singles one day ago, on Day 6 the pair lost as a team to Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova.

...a quick rundown of today's 3rd Round women's results:

--American Melanie Oudin knocked out #6 seed Jelena Jankovic 6-7/7-5/6-2, rebounding from the disappointment of failing to convert three set points in the 1st. Showing herself to still be the fighter who saved the U.S.'s bacon in Fed Cup play earlier this season, Marietta, Georgia's own Oudin thus becomes the Last Qualifier Standing. While JJ won the opening set tie-break, she sure didn't look like she was playing to win it, just not to lose. It worked, but that's not how she reached the U.S. Open final last year and solidified her former #1 ranking during the closing weeks of the '08 season. THIS Jelena is but a shell of the player from last year, and it's no longer just because of her trip to Mexico, either. It goes deeper than that, and if she doesn't turn things around in her head soon it'll be AnaIvo who is the highest-ranked Serb at the end of the season. In this one, she complained of dizziness and said after the match she thought she might need to be taken away by an ambulance (now that would have been a sight). Hmmm, last year she talked about helicopters at SW19, and this year an ambulance. What is it about alternate forms of transportation, Queen Chaos and the All-England Club, anyway?

--Ana Ivanovic had a much easier time than expected with Samantha Stosur, and appears to have handled this year's early-round escape much better than she did last year's. Unfortunately for her, she faces Venus next. Williams bageled CSN in the 1st set and extended her Wimbledon streaks to 17 matches and 29 sets.

--Caroline Wozniacki ended Anabel Medina-Garrigues' tournament, two rounds before the QF (naturally).

--Agnieszka Radwanska failed to convert two match points against Li Na when serving at 6-4/5-4, but won the match two games later despite being outnumbered by Li in total winners by a six-to-one margin (35-6)... thanks largely to Li's additional forty-eight errors.

--Svetlana Kuznetsova, ending this post-Roland Garros Wimbledon not that differently from how Ivanovic did last year, was bounced by Sabine Lisicki without too much of a fight.

--Amelie Mauresmo double-faulted on a match point against Flavia Pennetta, but advanced in straight sets. She'll face #1-seed Dinara Safina, who continued to move through the draw under the radar since her Wimbledon expectations are so low. If she wins the next match, though, that could change.

...the junior draws have been announced, and play has begun...

*GIRLS TOP 10 SEEDS*
1. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2. Laura Robson, GBR
3. Ana Bogdan, ROU
4. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
5. Olivia Rogowska, AUS
6. Timea Babos, HUN
7. Sloane Stephens, USA
8. Ajla Tomljanovic, CRO
9. Christina McHale, USA (lost 1st Rd.)
10. Camila Silva, CHI
*BOYS TOP 10 SEEDS*
1. Daniel Berta, SWE
2. Huang Liang-Chi, TPE (lost 1st Rd.)
3. Bernard Tomic, AUS
4. Agustin Velotti, ARG
5. Andrea Collarini, ARG (lost 1st Rd.)
6. Gianna Mina, FRA
7. Shuichi Sekiguchi, JPN
8. Julen Uriguen, GUA (lost 1st Rd.)
9. Dominik Schulz, GER
10. Julien Obry, FRA

...interestingly, there's a good chance that #3-seed Ana Bogdan might meet unseeded Richel Hogenkamp in the 2nd Round (Hogenkamp, fresh off her recent junior title and ITF $10K challenger win, has already won her 1st Round match)

...and, finally, the silent hand of NBC reared its ugly head today on ESPN... but not nearly as thunderously as it might have. From how it appeared, with NBC's coverage not beginning until 3pm, the network must have had the option to embargo either the Roddick/Melzer or Murray/Troicki match today. It was said earlier in ESPN's coverage, which began at 8am rather than 7am as it had all week (who knows why), that the Murray match was the one embargoed, but it was the Roddick match that ended up not being shown or the result given (while the Murray match was aired live later on ESPN).

Possibly jumping through a loophole, though, ESPN DID show the Roddick post-match press conference where it became quickly obvious that he'd won the match, though the announcers didn't actually say it at the time. Take that, NBC.

Thankfully, there's no Sunday coverage, so NBC's damage to ESPN's production (which really can't stand outside sabotage, considering the internal problems it already has) will be kept to a minimum this weekend. Of course, had the rains come today during the Roddick match and the roof had to be closed, American TV viewers wouldn't even have been able to see the first match played under the roof live... even though it would have included an American player! For the life of me, I still can't quite figure out a television contract that allows a network that hasn't aired a second of coverage to direct that of another, especially on the Orwellian level such as the one with NBC/ESPN where the cable network seems to not even be able to actually SAY the result of a match, such as Darren Cahill saying "if form holds, Tomas Berdych would face Andy Roddick next" well after Roddick had already won his match (which is why the airing of the presser was so potentially sly and smart). I don't remember a similar set-up at the U.S. Open between USA Network and CBS in the past, but then again, CBS doesn't believe that events haven't happened yet just because its coverage window is still six hours away.

Since the rain held off, what was prevented was yet another embarrassment on the heels of ESPN not being able to air the Nadal loss at Roland Garros because NBC wouldn't allow it, and the horrific coverage of that Federer near-loss during the second week in Paris. Of course, there's always the possibly of tape-delayed coverage of the semifinals next week for NBC to screw up on two separate networks thanks to sports television's most insane set of "rules," isn't there?




*FINAL 16's - BY NATION*
[women/men]
5...Russia (4/1)
4...United States (3/1)
3...France (2/1)
2...Czech Republic (0/2)
2...Germany (1/1)
2...Serbia (1/1)
2...Spain (0/2)
2...Switzerland (0/2)
1...Australia (0/1)
1...Belarus (1/0)
1...Croatia (0/1)
1...Denmark (1/0)
1...Great Britain (0/1)
1...Israel (0/1)
1...Italy (1/0)
1...Poland (1/0)
1...Slovak Republic (1/0)
1...Sweden (0/1)

*FINAL 16 WOMEN*
[ranking]
#1 Dinara Safina, RUS
#2 Serena Williams, USA
#3 Venus Williams, USA
#4 Elena Dementieva, RUS
#8 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
#9 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
#10 Nadia Petrova, RUS
#12 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
#14 Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
#17 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
#23 Virginie Razzano, FRA
#32 Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
#37 Elena Vesnina, RUS
#41 Sabine Lisicki, GER
#43 Francesca Schiavone, ITA
#124 Melanie Oudin, USA
[age]
17...Melanie Oudin
18...Caroline Wozniacki
19...Sabine Lisicki
19...Victoria Azarenka
20...Agnieszka Radwanska
21...Ana Ivanovic
22...Elena Vesnina
23...Dinara Safina
26...Virginie Razzano
26...Daniela Hantuchova
27...Nadia Petrova
27...Elena Dementieva
27...Serena Williams
29...Amelie Mauresmo
29...Francesca Schiavone
29...Venus Williams

*LAST QUALIFIER STANDING - BEST RESULTS, 2006-09*
=QF=
Severine Bremond ('06 Wimb.)
Carla Suarez-Navarro ('08 RG)
=4th Rd.=
Marta Domachowska ('08 AO)
Anna-Lena Groenefeld ('08 US)
Hsieh Su-Wei ('08 AO)
MELANIE OUDIN ('09 WIMB.)...vs. A.Radwanska in 4th Rd.

*SLAM "CRASH & BURNS"*
=2007=
US: Maria Sharapova (3r-A.Radwanska)
=2008=
AO: Svetlana Kuznetsova (3r-A.Radwanska)
RG: Serena Williams (3r-Srebotnik)
WI: Maria Sharapova (2r-Kudryavtseva)
US: Ana Ivanovic (2r-Coin)
=2009=
AO: Venus Williams (2r-Suarez-Navarro)
RG: Elena Dementieva (3r-Stosur)
WI: Maria Sharapova (2r-Dulko)




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Venus Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Vesna Manasieva/RUS d. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn/THA 6-7/6-4/6-1
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Ana Ivanovic/SRB d. Lucie Hradecka/CZE 5-7/6-2/8-6 (saved 2 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN (1st Rd.-Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: The Germans
REVELATION LADIES: The Italian vets
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Melanie Oudin/USA (xx)
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS - lost to Gisela Dulko/ARG in 2nd Rd.
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (Temporary: Ana Ivanovic/SRB - saved two MP vs. Lucie Hradecka/CZE in 1st Rd.)
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR (2nd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 6. More tomorrow.

Read more...

W.5- Blade Runners, Pt.I

So, can anyone prevent Serena from reaching the final?

That's surely the prevailing -- and ONLY, really -- question with eight women now remaining in the bottom half of the Ladies' singles draw. With each round, the few players around who might be able to challenge Williams on a day when they play great and she plays poorly has shrunk just a little bit more. As of right now, I'd say there's really only one of THOSE players left. Well, actually, there's two -- but they play each other in the next round.

Here, in order, is how I'd rank the chances of the Bottom 8 to reach the final (not necessarily by their simple ability, but according to how the draw has panned out for them):

1. #2 Serena Williams/USA: From the start, the berth in the final has been her's to win or lose. The only player with a real shot to beat her would seem to be Azarenka, but that Williams lost to her in Miami and probably SHOULD have done so in Melbourne, as well, tells me that in NO WAY will she lose to the teenager in London if they meet next week.

2. #4 Elena Dementeiva/RUS: Looking at Punch-Sober's draw before the tournament, I said she had a good chance to reach the QF without facing a seed. If she defeats the unseeded Elena Vesnina in her next match, that'll happen. I also said that if things fell just right, she could even reach the SF without having a seeded player as an opponent. If she wins and Schiavone knocks off Razzano, there'd be a chance THAT could happen, too. While I couldn't bring myself to pick her to repeat her '08 SF performance here a week ago, it's almost difficult to think she WON'T now. If she doesn't reach the SF, then either Razzano, Vesnina or Schiavone will. Raise your hand if you picked any of them to have a shot to go that far... and don't be a fibber. Ah, just what I thought. Still, even as the #2 player here, I think she has ZERO shot to reach the final.

3. #26 Virginie Razzano/FRA: Hey, she can reach the SF without playing a true grass courter, and if someone could somehow upset Serena, or if Williams were to be injured, she might not even have to face her to reach a stunning slam final. That pretty much means she has as good a chance as anyone else, if not a better one than most...

4. #8 Victoria Azarenka/BLR: ...including Azarenka. With Serena's generally ticked-off attitude in recent months not helped by that loss in Miami to HER, Azarenka might find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time in the QF if she DOES defeat Petrova and faces Williams in the final eight. Even though her hard groundstrokes and fiery attitude are reminiscent of those of the Supernova who defeated Serena on Centre Court five years ago, THAT teenager was something of an unknown to Williams. The American knows just who and what Azarenka is, and would never overlook her for a second. That's bad news for the Belarusan.

5. Elena Vesnina/RUS: She's either battling a back injury, or very cagey. I think she's got a chance to upset Dementieva in the 4th Round, but then I remember her Shakespearean dramatics against Wozniacki in that match a few months ago and just can't imagine that she could hold it together long enough to reach the final even if she somehow finds herself in the semifinal.

6. Nadia Petrova/RUS: Talent-wise, I'd rank Nadia third -- at worst -- on this list when it comes to grass court ability. But even if she manages to upset Azarenka next time out, which she's got the ability to do, she'd STILL likely have to defeat Serena... and she'd need ANOTHER win more after that to reach the final. As much as I wish she was capable of doing it all, I don't think she is without throwing in a stinker performance somewhere in that mix.

7. Daniela Hantuchova/SVK: She plays Serena in the 4th Round. Hantuchova likes the grass, and anything COULD happen when they meet. (pause) Yeah, I don't really buy that one, either.

8. Francesca Schiavone/ITA: Considering how long it took the Italian vet to win a tour singles title, and that her best slam result has been a pair of QF (the last of which was six years ago), it's hard to see her surprising SW19 run lasting much longer. Plus, Round of 16 opponent Razzano didn't even have to play today, and instead got an extra day of rest.

Tomorrow: thoughts about the top half of the draw.



=DAY 5 NOTES=
...in some of the actual matches today, the "according-to-form" personality of this Wimbledon continued on many levels.

Serena Williams didn't have much difficulty with Roberta Vinci, and almost seemed bored much of the time. Victoria Azarenka won over Sorana Cirstea in straight sets on Day 5, as well. People on ESPN today, while looking forward to the potential QF meeting, were constantly bringing up the Miami final in which Azarenka defeated an injured Serena. But, really, the match that makes a QF pairing something to look forward to is the Williams/Azarenka match in Melbourne from January, where the Belarusan teenager was whacking Williams before the heat caused her to retire, then Serena went on to win the title. Hopefully, IF they meet again, BOTH will be healthy this time. Next, Serena plays Daniela Hantuchova, who defeated doubles partner Ai Sugiyama today. Williams should win, but on occasion Hantuchova flashes the talent that got her to the Top 5 a few years ago. Things COULD get interesting when they meet. (Nope, I'm still not sure I'm buying that line.)

If nothing else, at least Serena shouldn't get bored.

Elena Vesnina, possibly using the time-honored perfectly-timed visit from the trainer to her full advantage, saw her match against Dominika Cibulkova turn in her favor after she had her back treated in the 3rd set. Thus, Vesnina's careening ride through the 2009 season continues to tilt in her favor. Her next opponent will be Elena Dementieva, who so far is taking full advantage of her easy draw.

Unfortunately, the great season that Vera Zvonareva was having a few months ago once again has been stalled. After tearing ligaments in her ankle in Charleston, she'd come back this week and managed to get to the 3rd Round. But today her opponent, Virginie Razzano, advanded to the Round of 16 in a walkover because the Russian's injury was not sufficiently healed enough for her to continue in the tournament. It's too bad, but if this decision gets her on the court full-time sooner down the line this summer then I suppose it's a good thing. It's too bad, though, because that section of the draw is SO wide open. Meanwhile, the Razzano/Marion Bartoli match-up won't come off now that La Trufflette has been dispatched from singles by Francesca Schiavone.

Showing why she's always been such a frustrating presence on tour, Gisela Dulko couldn't follow up her upset of Maria Sharapova with another win. At least she lost to a capable player in Nadia Petrova, though, and not a player she was favored to defeat, as often occurs the match AFTER a large upset.

...and, finally, with so little news to talk about coming out of Wimbledon today, I thought I'd take a few moments to talk about the sudden death of Michael Jackson yesterday.



Not long after I posted yesterday's Daily Backspin, it all happened fairly quickly on Thursday, as reports about Jackson that first came at about 5:30pm Eastern time went from those of a hospitalization to a coma and, ultimately, to his death over the course of less than an hour.

I supppose it says a great deal about the direction that Jackson's life had gone over the past twenty-five years that my first reaction was that this might all be a trumped up story to delay his scheduled London concerts in July, or even cancel them altogether. When it became apparent how real the situation was, while stunned at the news, I couldn't say that I hadn't figured Jackson's life would come to some sort of abrupt end before he reached old age for quite a while now. How much of that was a case of facing reality, and seeking to distance myself from someone who'd gone from the biggest enterainment star I'll ever see in my lifetime to being the subject of constant jokes about his eccentricities and changing appearance to being reviled by many when those child molestation charges gave weight to all the raised eyebrows about his actions over the years, I don't know. What Jackson had become over the years made it so easy to lose the memory of what he'd once been. The reports of his death were somewhat surreal, but hardly flooring. I think so many people either had, or should have, prepared themselves for such a moment for a few years now, no matter what the ultimate CAUSE of his death turns out to be.

Unfortunately, now he'll surely be dragged through the tabloids again. There's already talk of prescription drugs maybe having played a role in this, and since the toxicology reports won't be known for weeks it'll lead to a whole new round of speculation on his life. Hopefully, though, in the end, he'll be remembered for his immense talent and, of course, the music. In the long run, I think he will be. The songs and video will survive. But, like Elvis Presley, there'll always be a potent mix of talent, eccentricity, scandal and tragedy that's attached to his memory. But that also means he's not going to be forgotten, and we might even see some sort of renaissance in terms of an appreciation for his career (not to mention, naturally, the inevitable movie about his life that will try to look behind the curtain of his fame, and determine whether or not it turned out to be his undoing).

His music was the theme for the first week of "American Idol" this past season, and it was nice to hear the songs on a big stage again. "Thriller" hit just before I went into junior high school, right before I became a teenager. So, obviously, I was very into his music and everything back in the mid and late-1980's. I can remember getting the VCR copy of his long-form "Thriller" video (I still have it) and watching it over and over again with my friends. One even got the "Beat It" jacket and wore it to school, as both it and the one from "Thriller" were being sold in stores at the time. I heard someone today call Jackson the "Elvis of Generation X," and I think that's right on target. Seeing such a person die serves to remind you of the passing of time, and that in and of itself makes you look at yourself and those around you in different ways than you might have before, even if only for a day or two.

Over the years, there'd always been the hope that he'd somehow resurrect something of his once brilliant career, but as time went by it seemed less and less likely. I suppose the London concerts were the last chance for that, and I wondered whether, if they were a success, he might one day have some sort of Elvis Presley-like career in Las Vegas, as there had been rumors about such a thing a year ago. Truthfully, I figured he'd do one or two London concerts, get decent reviews, but then suddenly cancel all the rest of them. Again, I guess recent years made that sort of thought natural. It would have been fascinating to see what happened. Now we'll never know.

Of course, there's a big media reaction o his death here in the U.S., but that happens when someone of far less importance in the entertainment industry and culture at large (think Anna Nicole Smith) passes, as well, so I'm not sure that means anything. I was glad to see people -- well, the REASONABLE people, at least -- focusing on his music last night and today rather than the scandals and "freakish" things, though it's difficult to separate the two when talking about his celebrity. The talent put him in the public eye, but after that it sort of eventually degenerated into a circus at times. It's not the first time it's happened, and it won't to be the last. As in tennis, sometimes the bigger they are the harder they fall in the end. Still, whenever Jackson gave a rare interview, I always watched it and came out liking him all over again, sometimes maybe even against my better judgment. You just WANTED to believe some of the things he said, even the sketchier ones, because you didn't want to see someone who was once so on top of the world become just the opposite over the course of a few years, ala say, O.J. Simpson. I never was among the group of people who'd come to view Jackson as a joke waiting for another punchline. He'd provided too much entertainment to too many for that.

Now, history will be his judge. Some will always appreciate the music and the talent. Others will focus on everything else. In the end, both will views will coexist to form the legacy of one of the most fascinating lives of the past century. But I'm sure that neither really tells the story of a life or its effect on so many others, whether it be as an inspiration to many of the artists we listen to every day in 2009 or those who will "discover" Jackson in the future, or even as a cautionary tale of what can happen to even an invididual blessed with so much talent and with seemingly so many opportunites in life.

Love him, hate him or disregard him personally, until yesterday, Jackson was quite possibly the most famous living individual on earth. And now it's over.

Nothing lasts forever. Above all else, that's probably the final lesson learned from the life and death of Michael Jackson.




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Venus Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Vesna Manasieva/RUS d. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn/THA 6-7/6-4/6-1
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Ana Ivanovic/SRB d. Lucie Hradecka/CZE 5-7/6-2/8-6 (saved 2 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN (1st Rd.-Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: The Germans
REVELATION LADIES: The Italian vets
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: (Temporary: Maria Sharapova/RUS - lost to Gisela Dulko/ARG in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (Temporary: Ana Ivanovic/SRB - saved two MP vs. Lucie Hradecka/CZE in 1st Rd.)
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR (2nd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 5. More tomorrow.

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W.4- Early-Round Endeavors (or should I say "endeavoUrs?"

Two rounds in, and things have (mostly) gone according to plan.

Things started on Monday with 128 women in the main draw. While there are but thirty-two remaining, ALL of the top fifteen seeded women have reached the 3rd Round, and nineteen of the top twenty.

If things continue to hold to this sort of form, is there anything that can prevent another Williams vs. Williams final?

=EARLY ROUND AWARDS - 1st/2nd Rds.=
TOP PLAYER: Venus Williams/USA
...at this point, just losing a set would be a headline-grabbing moment. (RU: Serena Williams/USA & Victoria Azarenka/BLR... heading toward a QF collision)
RISERS: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Sabine Lisicki/GER
...C-Woz is currently working on a seven-match winning streak. Lisicki seems to finally be over the injury bug that infested her game after she won in Charleston. (ALSO: Samantha Stosur/AUS & Virginie Razzano/FRA)
SURPRISES: Regina Kulikova/RUS & Gisela Dulko/ARG
...one of the last qualifiers standing, and one of the most talented players in women's tennis who is still capable of "surprising" everyone because she DIDN'T let a match slip away. (ALSO: Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP & Kirsten Flipkens/BEL)
VETERANS: The Italians
...perhaps giving us a preview of their potential Fed Cup championship later this year, Pennetta, Schiavone and Vinci are all still alive at SW19. (ALSO: Elena Dementieva/RUS)
FRESH FACES Sorana Cirstea/ROU & Melanie Oudin/USA
...Paris was no fluke. Neither was the Fed Cup QF. (ALSO: Tatjana Malek/GER & Michelle Larcher de Brito/POR)
DOWN: Maria Sharapova/RUS & Zheng Jie/CHN
...the '04 champ and an '08 semifinalist. One will probably get back to her former heights (maybe by the end of the summer?), while the other will probably always be left to savor her result from a year ago. (ALSO: Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN)
COMEBACKS: Daniela Hantuchova/SVK & Ai Sugiyama/JPN
...in singles, with doubles still left to be played. (ALSO: Vera Zvonareva/RUS)

BEST ESCAPE WITH A NET: THE SEQUEL: 1st Rd. - Ivanovic d. Hradecka 5-7/6-2/8-6
....AnaIvo once again gets help from a Wimbledon net cord and advances after saving two match points. But, without the net, will she feel relief and play with renewed heart and confidence the rest of the way, or question her survival like she did after the "Kiss of Life?"
NO LONGER SUBSISTING ON PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2nd Rd. - Dulko d. Sharapova 6-2/3-6/6-4
...it's now been half a decade -- and shoulder surgery -- since the Russian went Supernova in London.
SHOWING HER TENDENCIES: 1st Rd. - Wozniacki d. Date-Krumm 5-7/6-3/6-1
...down 7-5/3-1, C-Woz finally found a back door into the match. As usual.
WHAT FOCUSING ON SINGLES CAN DO FOR A ONE-TIME DOUBLES "SPECIALIST": 2nd Rd. - Stosur d. Malek 4-6/7-6/6-4
...call it the Novotna Principle: try, try, try again and you might just win in the end. More on this one in Day 4 Notes.

FIRST VICTORY: Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenko was the first woman to reach the 2nd Round. She was one of the first two players to advance to the Final 64 (with Li Na) in Paris, too.
FIRST SEED OUT: #24 Aleksandra Wozniak (lost to Francesca Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: The Germans. Anna-Lena Groenefeld lost her 1st Round match, but Sabine Lisicki defeated Anna Chakvetadze and has reached the 3rd Round. Meanwhile, qualifier Tatjana Malek upset Jelena Dokic, and nearly took out #18 Samantha Stosur, too.
REVELATION LADIES: The veteran Italians. Francesca Schiavone knocked out the first seed en route to the 3rd Round, and her countrywomen pulled their own weight, too. Roberta Vinci got wins over Birmingham champ Magdalena Rybarikova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach the Final 32. Tathiana Garbin got a 1st Round win, and Flavia Pennetta is still alive in the 3rd Round, as well.
ZOMBIE QUEEN (1r-2r): Ana Ivanovic, who was given a mulligan by the tennis Gods once again courtesy of a forgiving opponent and a friendly net cord. Still, one doubts that she'll be the "walking dead" for much longer. Stosur might take care of her "undead stroll" in the 3rd Round.
CRASH & BURN (1r-2r): Maria Sharapova, who went out in the 2nd Round for the second straight year. At least Dulko didn't unsuccessfully try to make a joke about Sharapova's outfit that was somewhat lost in translation by everyone in the room, though. Somewhere, Alla Kudryavtseva is smirking... and someone mistakenly thinks she's angry with them.
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha, who reached the 2nd Round.
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: Yet another Hordette, Regina Kulikova, has reached the 3rd Round along with American Melanie Oudin.

BIGGEST NON-STORY: The ability of young female athletes to kick-start the destruction of civilized (civilised?) Western society simply by making a noise when they hit a tennis ball.
BIGGEST STORY THAT AMOUNTED TO NOTHING: Jelena Dokic's return to Wimbledon. Rather than re-live her exploits as a qualifier ten years ago, she lost in the 1st Round to a qualifier.

BEST SIGN FOR BRITISH WOMEN'S TENNIS: Laura Robson, 15, was the youngest female in the main draw since Martina Hingis in 1995. And she very nearly upset Daniela Hantuchova, too.
WORST SIGN FOR BRITISH WOMEN'S TENNIS: Of the six Brits in the main draw, only Elena Baltacha won her 1st Round match, a victory that prevented a worst-ever performance by the home nation.

Meanwhile, we'll still waiting for the Centre Court roof to make its official debut. Watch, wouldn't you know it, this'll end up being one of those once-in-a-decade Wimbledons where it doesn't rain at all during the entire fortnight.



=DAY 4 NOTES=
...what a difference a year makes. Last year, Samantha Stosur blew a big lead against Nicole Vaidisova in the Wimbledon 2nd Round, losing a match after being one point from going up 3-6/6-0/4-0. Today against qualifier Tatjana Malek, who knocked off a pair of other Aussies (Anastasia Rodionova in qualifying, then Jelena Dokic in the 1st Round) earlier in the tournament, Stosur avenged her countrywomen's losses and made up for her own '08 choke three times over.

Against Malek, Stosur lost the 1st set and was down an early break in the 2nd. She battled back to force a tie-break. She fell behind there 4-0, only to climb back into the proceedings and win 8-6. In the 3rd, she was down 3-0 and 4-1, but managed to pull things together and advance to the 3rd Round, winning 4-6/7-6/6-4. Stosur's looked-forward-to grass court season got off to a slow start, but it's finally starting to come together. Next up is Ana Ivanovic and, if she wins that one, probably Venus.

...HERE SHE COMES AGAIN? Carla Suarez-Navarro's best results have come at the slams over the last two years, reaching the QF at both Roland Garros and the Australian. In the 1st Round at SW19, she upset #25-seed Kaia Kanepi the other day, and today knocked off Ekaterina Makarova to reach the 3rd Round. Could she be about to pull off a surprise run again? Well, hold your horses. She plays Venus Williams next. Of course, she DID get a win over Venus in Melbourne en route to that quarterfinal. If she did it again at the All-England Club it'd be a victory of about a million times more shock and awe. Not likely.

...speaking of Venus, she made the all-sisters meeting with Kateryna Bondarenko today a thoroughly lopsided affair. Of course, what else would be exected when she loses just six point on her serve all day and never faces a break point? This win gives her sixteen consecutive victories at Wimbledon, and twenty-seven straight sets won.

...AMG UPDATE: we know that Spanish vet Anabel Medina-Garrigues won't be reaching the QF, as she's never done that in a slam in her career and is just one WTA singles title away from joining Anna Smashnova as the only player in tour history to win ten-or-more titles without ever reaching a slam quarter, but when WILL she be leaving the Ladies' draw in this tournament? Well, she faces Caroline Wozniacki, who destroyed Maria Kirilenko 6-0/6-4 today (ESPN was busing doing other things to bother with showing even a single point of that one, by the way)... so I'm going to cross my fingers and say that AMG's estimated departure time will be in the 3rd Round.

...chalk one up for the "old" Aussie. Yet another player given a shot in the arm by the subtraction of Rafael Nadal from the Gentlemen's draw is Lleyton Hewitt. Seeing him winning his 2nd Round match against #5-seed Juan Martin del Potro wasn't a stretch (I mean, I picked it before the tournament... proving that I CAN at least get ONE prediction right for this Wimbledon), but it's hard to believe anyone -- Hewitt included -- could have in their wildest dreams thought he'd win in straight sets as he did today. Sure, something might happen that could bring down the house of cards, but, as of now, the moves that would allow a "let's get the band back together" QF meeting between Hewitt and Andy Roddick are coming off right on schedule.

...and, finally, after rightfully killing ESPN so often, I thought I'd say some nice things for a change. As seems to always be the network's pattern, four days into the tournament the coverage is doing a much better job of updating scores from around the grounds (and even showing a little action from the outer courts). Why it takes several days for these things to always happen is anyone's guess, since they'd be a much more effective component of coverage were they employed during the first couple of days. But, heh, I said I'd be nice, didn't I? So, to tip things over on the "good" side, let me just say that I absolutely love the "Big Babe Tennis Demonstration" segment with Mary Carillo, Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernandez. Funny, informative and all the things that ESPN's coverage should always be. Hopefully, this'll be the first of many such segments from the trio.




*FINAL 32 - BY NATION*
[women]
7...Russia (Dementieva/Kulikova/Kuznetsova/Petrova/Safina/Vesnina/Zvonareva)
3...France (Bartoli/Mauresmo/Razzano)
3...Italy (Pennetta/Schiavone/Vinci)
3...United States (Oudin/Williams/Williams)
2...Serbia (Ivanovic/Jankovic)
2...Slovak Republic (Cibulkova/Hantuchova)
2...Spain (Medina-Garrigues/Suarez-Navarro)
1...Argentina (Dulko)
1...Australia (Stosur)
1...Belarus (Azarenka)
1...Belgium (Flipkens)
1...China (Li)
1...Denmark (Wozniacki)
1...Germany (Lisicki)
1...Japan (Sugiyama)
1...Poland (A.Radwanska)
1...Romania (Cirstea)
[men]
6...Spain (Almagro/Ferrer/Ferrero/Montanes/Robredo/Verdasco)
3...Germany (Haas/Kohlschreiber/Petzschner)
3...United States (Fish/Levine/Roddick)
2...Croatia (Cilic/Karlovic)
2...Czech Republic (Berdych/Stepanek)
2...France (Simon/Tsonga)
2...Russia (Andreev/Davydenko)
2...Serbia (Djokovic/Troicki)
2...Switzerland (Federer/Wawrinka)
1...Australia (Hewitt)
1...Austria (Melzer)
1...Chile (F.Gonzalez)
1...Great Britain (Murray)
1...Israel (Sela)
1...Italy (Seppi)
1...Romania (Hanescu)
1...Sweden (Soderling)

*UNSEEDED WOMEN REMAINING*
Gisela Dulko, ARG
Kirsten Flipkens, BEL
Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
Regina Kulikova, RUS (Q)
Sabine Lisicki, GER
Melanie Oudin, USA (Q)
Francesca Schiavone, ITA
Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
Ai Sugiyama, JPN
Elena Vesnina, RUS
Roberta Vinci, ITA

*WIMBLEDON "UPSET QUEENS"*
2004 Brits
2005 Americans
2006 Brits
2007 Austrians
2008 Russians
2009 Germans

*WIMBLEDON "REVELATION LADIES"*
2006 Serbs
2007 French
2008 Russians
2009 (veteran) Italians




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Venus Williams/USA
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Vesna Manasieva/RUS d. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn/THA 6-7/6-4/6-1
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Ana Ivanovic/SRB d. Lucie Hradecka/CZE 5-7/6-2/8-6 (saved 2 MP)
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN (1st Rd.-Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: The Germans
REVELATION LADIES: The Italian vets
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: (Temporary: Maria Sharapova/RUS - lost to Gisela Dulko/ARG in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (Temporary: Ana Ivanovic/SRB - saved two MP vs. Lucie Hradecka/CZE in 1st Rd.)
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR (2nd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 4. More tomorrow.

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W.3- Most Definitely NOT Your Supernova's Mother's Same Old Maria

You just knew it was going to happen. You just knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up.

No matter who had won the 2nd Round match between Maria Sharapova and Gisela Dulko on Day 3, those words would have been appropriate. As it is, the Argentine emerged with the victory as the first big cleaver of this Wimbledon came down on the head of the Supernova.

Finally, we can say that this tournament has officially begun.


Reuters

Truthfully, even Sharapova admitted before this tournament began that she didn't think she was a TRUE contender to win it. As noted in this space before, much of the Sharapova "threat" at SW19 is based on hope and a single result from five years ago. Never a great mover around the court, a necessity for a true grass court stylist, Sharapova still isn't and never will be anything resembling a pre-Mexico Jelena Jankovic. Back from her shoulder surgery and nearly ten months off tour, her ever-important serve is not what it once was, either. She knows it, too. And when even a three-time slam champion doesn't have confidence in what used to be her best weapon, all sorts of bad things can happen on game day, as things are just a hop, skip and jump away from NO shot being dependable in the most crucial moments of a contest.

Watching Sharapova today, it was obvious that while she remembered how things were SUPPOSED to go, and DID for a while, her ability to convert opportunities simply by muscle and mental memory was severely cramped. Even though this match was her fifteenth since her return to action, most of her wins have been of the seat-of-her-pants (back-of-her-dress?) variety where she's often looked very bad at times, only to dig deep to find her champion's spirit and eventually emerge with the victory. During her surprise QF run in Paris, Sharapova often did just enough to get by. Just barely. That's what happened in her 1st Round match against qualifier Victoriya Kutuzova, too, and it appeared as if it was going to once again against Dulko.

But it didn't. No, this is most definitely NOT your Supernova's mother's same old Maria. Not yet.

Of course, Dulko is often an entirely different player every few minutes in a match. Blessed with a diverse game that works on all surfaces, the Argentine has often shown an ability to defeat top players (she's knocked off both Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka this year). But she's won only three career titles, has only reached a ranking as high as #26 and usually is flirting with falling out of the Top 50. Today, all of Dulko's sides were on display.

Dulko was in control of the match... until she was in control of the match.

Early on, she was confident and nearly flawless. She won the 1st set 6-2 and took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd. Sharapova was as good as gone. But that's when Dulko lost her edge. Her shots were tentative and her nerves were apparent. After giving back a break, she soon double-faulted on break point and gave Sharapova a 4-3 lead. Sharapova ran off a total of seven consecutive games, winning the 2nd set at 6-3, and had points for an eighth straight game after taking a 1-0 lead in the 3rd.

Normally, this would be where you'd expect Sharapova to seize control of things and run a wobbly Dulko off the court by shear will. But that's not what happened. The Sharapova who could have done that wasn't on Centre Court on Day 3.

Dulko went up a break at 2-1, but was immediately broken back the next game. She failed to take advantage of Sharapova's ailing serve a few games later when the Russian opened a game with two double-faults and was down two break points, but it was Sharapova who couldn't get it done in the big moments down the stretch.

Well, there WERE a few vestiges of the old Supernova. She saved four match points, forcing a semi-shaky Dulko into baseline errors, crushing a second serve return in the corner and employing a successful drop shot to at least give herself a chance to not allow her comeback in this match to have been in vain.

But is was. Sharapova had a chance on a break point that would have knotted the 3rd set at 5-5, but she missed her shot. Soon after, Dulko's fifth MP went in the Argentine's favor when the Russian made an error on another big point. Dulko won 6-2/3-6/6-4, and can say that she's defeated both Sharapova and Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon (when she made a name for herself in 2004 by knocking off the all-time great at both Roland Garros and SW19 when she made a brief singles comeback in her mid-40's) during her career.

While Dulko moves on, so does Sharapova for the second straight year after having played just two matches at the All-England Club. On to the North American hard courts where her lack of movement won't be as much of a detriment, and where she can begin to repair the confidence lost during her long stretch of inactivity and barely-surviving-even-when-she-wins series of efforts in her comeback. But how difficult is that going to be if the serve that made her a superstar ON the court refuses to cooperate? Quite possibly very.

On ESPN today, Brad Gilbert suggested going back to her old service motion once she's physically able to do so. Maybe she should, but who knows what that might do to that already-questionable shoulder and her career as a whole. One never knows. We may never see the Supernova of old again. But Sharapova certainly isn't going to give up trying to find that creature, and we'll all be wondering if she'll reappear in New York in a few months.

And that's a good thing for tennis, and us. Even with a "lesser" Sharapova around than the one we've been used to seeing for so long, the tour is a far more interesting place to visit.



=DAY 3 NOTES=
...while Sharapova is gone, the buzz has already started about a potential Serena Williams/Victoria Azarenka QF match. Serena breezed through Jarmila Groth today, while Azarenka totally dismantled Raluca Olaru 6-0/6-0.

While Nadia Petrova is still lurking, and might get past Dulko in the 3rd Round now that her career-long nemesis Sharapova is out of the way, I'm going to keep with the recent Backspin tradition of letting Nadia be Nadia and hoping for the best... and talking about a possible Williams/Azarenka matchup rather than something more "exotic."

...QUALIFIERS UPDATE: Regina Kulikova knocked off Alisa Kleybanova 0-6/6-4/6-1 to put her name in the mix for Last Qualifier Standing.

...and, finally, as expected, the talk on ESPN and elsewhere today was filled with a bunch of whining and complaining about Michelle Larcher de Brito's grunting/shrieking/whatever you want to call it. Oh, boo-hoo. Booo-hooo. I guess they're happy now, as the Portugese teen was beaten today by Francesca Schiavone 7-6/7-6. Of course, now what will they complain about?

A few bravos should go out before Larcher de Brito leaves town, though:

1) to The Kid for being unapologetic, and saying that if people don't like how she sounds they don't have to show up to watch her play

2) to Azarenka, for standing up for her brethren.

3) and to Darren Cahill, who successfully was able to change the overhyped-and-overheated conversation on ESPN this morning about on-court sounds by simply saying, "I could care less about the grunting," and immediately launchng into a complaint about players taking an excessively long time between points.

While I can understand opposing players being a little unhinged by the "noise" -- I know when I play I get ticked off by someone walking silently along the road fifty yards away -- I still don't get why "fans," including those who aren't in the stadiums and arenas, twist themselves into a knot about this issue. I don't even notice the "grunting" anymore. As Azarenka says, 70% of the players do it, so to try to cause an uproar over something that's been a part of the game since Monica Seles emerged in the early 1990's seems more-than-silly "fake outrage."

Are we sure Governor Palin doesn't have something to do with this?




*FINAL 32 - BOTTOM HALF*
[by nation]
5...Russia (Dementieva/Kulikova/Petrova/Vesnina/Zvonareva)
2...France (Bartoli/Razzano)
2...Italy (Schiavone/Vinci)
2...Slovak Republic (Cibulkova/Hantuchova)
1...Argentina (Dulko)
1...Belarus (Azarenka)
1...Japan (Sugiyama)
1...Romania (Cirstea)
1...United States (S.Williams)




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Victoriya Kutuzova/UKR
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: Vesna Manasieva/RUS d. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn/THA 6-7/6-4/6-1
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xxx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xxx
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #23 Aleksandra Wozniak/CAN (1st Rd.-Schiavone/ITA)
UPSET QUEENS: xxx
REVELATION LADIES: xxx
LAST QUALIFIERS STANDING: xxx
IT GIRL: xxx
MS. OPPORTUNITY: xxx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xxx
CRASH & BURN: (Temporary: Maria Sharapova/RUS - lost to Gisela Dulko/ARG in 2nd Rd.)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: (Temporary: Ana Ivanovic/SRB - saved two MP vs. Lucie Hradecka/CZE in 1st Rd.)
LAST BRIT STANDING: Elena Baltacha/GBR (xx)
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 3. More tomorrow.

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