W.9- The Day Before the Day

Well, it's the day before the new women's #1 may be determined... do you know where your Radwanska is?

Well, THE Radwanska wasn't on the court at Wimbledon on Day 9. After the Pole with the mean-spirited alter ego played into the night on Day 8, finally finishing the last women's quarterfinal match some eight hours after it began, Agnieszka Radwanska and her sister Ula pulled out of their doubles 3rd Round match that had been scheduled with the team of Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci, who are riding a 25-match winning streak.

Well, that's two melons that were mercifully spared a nasty fate in the bowels of Radwanska Abbey. Of that, at least, we can be thankful. After all, melons are "people," too.



=DAY 9 NOTES=
...even with the Radwanskas sparing the lives of innocent melons "Errani" & "Vinci," there was still some nice doubles action today.

Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond, turning the tables a bit on AO nemesis Elena Vesnina, took out the Russian and her countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova to reach the doubles semifinals. Also, the Williams Sisters won the 9-7 3rd set over Maria Kirilenko (again, not QUITE enough) & Nadia Petrova to advance to the 3rd Round, then defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Sania Mirza to reach the quarterfinals. Venus & Serena are now 35-2 lifetime as a doubles duo at SW19.

...in junior action, the Canadians are at it again. After dominating in Roehampton last week, filling three SF slots and producing both finalists, the Canucks took down a biggie today, as #14 seeded Francoise Abanda upset #1 Taylor Townsend, the AO Girls champ, in straight sets. With #5 seed Eugenie Bouchard (the Roehampton winner) alive in the bottom half of the draw, there's still a shot for another all-Canadian Girls final. Filip Peliwo is in the Boys QF, as well. He's lost in the Boys finals in both Melbourne and Paris in 2012. To date, no Canadian has ever won a junior singles slam crown.

Elsewhere, #11 Anett Kontaveit took out #7 Sachia Vickery and has reached her second Girls slam QF this season. Same for wild card Antonia Lottner of Germany, who got a win today over #2 seed Elizaveta Kulichkova. Also, #8 Donna Vekic beat #12 Indy De Vroome, while #3 Elina Svitolina took out #13 Allie Kiick and Sabina Sharipova defeated both Marcela Zacarius and #6 seed Katerina Siniakova.

...LIKES FROM DAY 9:

-- The Hall of Fame, at least for now, finally growing a backbone by changing course and deciding to investigate the Bob Hewitt abuse claims, and leaving open the possibility of expulsion from Newport.

-- Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, sitting side-by-side in the Royal Box at Centre Court. Yep, sounds about right.

-- The possibility that Cliff Drysdale and Mary Joe Fernandez might have stumbled onto a really great idea on ESPN2 today. After going on about playing with wooden rackets again at Wimbledon, the notion of an exhibition using the old-school sticks came up. What a great idea! And with the change in equipment, you could even have a cross-generational combination of participants, too. Say, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe (or maybe Steffi & Andre?) and, let's see, Roger Federer, of course, and a current women's star. Maybe Serena or Maria Sharapova would be up for it? Or even someone like Kim Clijsters would do, I guess.

...DISLIKES FROM DAY 9:

-- David Ferrer, David Ferrer, David Ferrer. What are you doing? That match should have been over and we'd be rid of the Scot. And now the tennis world turns its lonely eyes to Jo-Wilfried.

...????? FROM DAY 9:

-- Joey Chestnut relishing his record-tying sixth consecutive "title" at the July 4th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest by shoveling 68 dogs down his gullet in ten minutes (and Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas defending her women's "crown" by chomping down a record 45 wieners).

...and, finally, I loved it when Mary Joe Fernandez, calling the Williams Sisters doubles match, noted that a serve-and-volleying Venus wants to "always be closing." Naturally, it made me wonder whether she should get a set of steak knives.

And if you actually get that reference... then congratulations!

If you didn't, here's the link to the censored version of one of the best single-scene roles EVER by an actor in a movie.



*WOMEN'S SINGLES SF*
#8 Angelique Kerber/GER vs. #3 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
#6 Serena Williams/USA vs. #2 Victoria Azarenka/BLR

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. #3 Roger Federer/SUI
#7 David Ferrer/ESP vs. #4 Andy Murray/GBR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF*
#1 Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) def. #5 Makarova/Vesnina (RUS/RUS)
Williams/Williams (USA/USA) vs. #10 Kops-Jones/Spears (USA/USA)
#9 Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez (ESP/ESP) vs. Pennetta/Schiavone (ITA/ITA)
#6 Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) vs. #2 Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES QF*
Bracciali/Knowle (ITA/AUT) vs. #5 Lindstedt/Tecau (SWE/ROU)
#15 Dodig/Melo (CRO/BRA) vs. #10 Melzer/Petschner (AUT/GER)
Marray/Nielsen (GBR/DEN) vs. Cerretani/Roger-Vasselin (USA/FRA)
Lipsky/R.Ram (USA/USA) vs. #2 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA)

*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
#14 Francoise Abanda/CAN vs. #8 Donna Vekic/CRO
#3 Elina Svitolina/UKR vs. Sabina Sharipova/UZB
#11 Anett Kontaveit/EST vs. #16 Ana Konjuh/CRO
#5 Eugenie Bouchard/CAN vs. (WC) Antonia Lottner/GER

*BOYS SINGLES QF*
#1 Luke Saville/AUS vs. #6 Nikola Milojevic/SRB
#3 Gianluigi Quinzi/ITA vs. Nick Kyrgios/AUS
Enzo Couacaud/FRA vs. #4 Filip Peliwo/CAN
#8 Mitchell Krueger/USA vs. #2 Kimmer Coppejans/BEL




*2012 GIRLS SLAM QF*
[by nation]
4...USA
3...CAN, GER
2...CRO, CZE, EST, RUS, UZB
1...FRA, JPN, SVK, UKR
[most by player]
2...Eugenie Bouchard, CAN
2...Anett Kontaveit, EST
2...Antonia Lottner, GER
2...Sabina Sharipova, UZB

*ACTIVE PLAYERS - FIRST SLAM FINAL*
1997 U.S. Open - Venus Williams
1999 U.S. Open - Serena Williams (W)
2001 Roland Garros - Kim Clijsters
2004 Wimbledon - Maria Sharapova (W)
2004 U.S. Open - Svetlana Kuznetsova (W)
2007 Roland Garros - Ana Ivanovic
2007 Wimbledon - Marion Bartoli
2008 Roland Garros - Dinara Safina
2008 U.S. Open - Jelena Jankovic
2009 U.S. Open - Caroline Wozniacki
2010 Roland Garros - Francesca Schiavone (W)
2010 Roland Garros - Samantha Stosur
2010 Wimbledon - Vera Zvonareva
2011 Australian Open - Li Na
2011 Wimbledon - Petra Kvitova (W)
2012 Australian Open - Victoria Azarenka (W)
2012 Roland Garros - Sara Errani
2012 Wimbledon - [Angelique Kerber or Agnieszka Radwanska]

*WOMEN'S OVERALL WON/LOST - BY NATION*
[through QF]
14-11 = RUS
12-9 - United States (S.Williams)
11-4 - Germany (Kerber)
11-8 = ITA
9-10 = CZE
6-1 - Belarus (Azarenka)
6-3 = CHN
5-2 - Poland (A.Radwanska)
5-2 = BEL

*MOST CAREER WIMBLEDON MATCH WINS*
120...Martina Navratilova
96...Chris Evert
84...Jimmy Connors
74...Steffi Graf
71...Boris Becker
71...VENUS WILLIAMS
65...SERENA WILLIAMS (post-QF)
64...ROGER FEDERER (post-QF)
63...Pete Sampras

*MOST CAREER SLAM SF - MEN*
32...ROGER FEDERER
31...Jimmy Connors




TOP QUALIFIER: Sandra Zaniewska/POL
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #3 Agnieszka Radwanska/POL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): #2 Victoria Azarenka/BLR
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: #12q Mirjana Lucic/CRO d. #24 Bibiane Schoofs/NED 7-5/6-4
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Tamira Paszek/AUT d. #7 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN 5-7/7-6/6-4
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 3rd Rd. - #6 Serena Williams/USA def. #25 Zheng Jie/CHN 6-7/6-2/9-7
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP UNDER-THE-ROOF MATCH: Nominee: 1st Rd. - Paszek d. Wozniacki
=============================
FIRST WINNER: Samantha Stosur/AUS (def. C.Suarez-Navarro/ESP)
FIRST SEED OUT: #16 Flavia Pennetta/ITA (lost to C.Giorgi/ITA
UPSET QUEENS: United States
REVELATION LADIES: Netherlands
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Slovak Republic (1-3 in 1st Rd.; 3 players w/ WTA titles lost)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Camila Giorgi/ITA (4th Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Yaroslava Shvedova/KAZ (4th Rd.)
LAST BRIT STANDING: Heather Watson/GBR (3rd Rd.)
IT (ALTER EGO): "The Radwanska"
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: Nominees: A.Kerber/GER, A.Radwanska/POL
COMEBACK PLAYER: Mirjana Lucic/CRO (first main draw Wimbledon win since '00; reaches 3rd Rd.; '99 semifinalist)
CRASH & BURN: #7 Caroline Wozniacki/DEN (lost 1st Rd. to T.Paszek/AUT, worst slam result since debuted at '07 RG)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Tamira Paszek/AUT (down 2 MP vs. C.Wozniacki/DEN in 1st Rd.; after down 6-4/4-0 in Eastbourne SF and 5 MP in Eastbourne Final; Y.Wickmayer/BEL served for match in 3rd Rd.)
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Early Nominees: A.Lottner/GER, F.Abanda/CAN




All for Day 9. More tomorrow.