US 1.0 - All Quiet on the German Front

Aside from a little rain, it was a fairly uneventful first half of Day 1 at Flushing Meadows. Well, unless you were a female tennis star from Germany, that is.

One of the WTA's best stories over the past year or so has been the rise of the long-in-coming post-Graf generation of female German stars. Not long ago, Andrea "Petkorazzi" Petkovic became an internet sensation and on-court dancing star en route to three 2011 slam quarterfinals. Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber reached semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, respectively. Both Lisicki and Julia Goerges climbed into the Top 20 and then, after a nineteen-year stretch (Anke Huber in '92) in which no new German women made their Top 10 debuts, Petkovic accomplished the feat last season. This year, young Mona Barthel was an early-season first-time tour title winner. While Lisicki and Petkovic have had their problems this in '12, usually due to injury, Kerber's meteoric rise has continued unabated. She reached another slam semi at Wimbledon, defeated Venus Williams in the Olympics, then Serena Williams on hard court this summer. Safely lodged inside the Top 10, Kerber is now bearing down on a Top 5 ranking. The Germans have been a true revelation. Their rise has been quite possibly the best women's tennis revolution since the Hordettes rose to power in the early 2000's.

But today was not their day, the poor souls.

First, #16-seeded Lisicki was tossed by Sorana Cirstea. Lisicki won the 1st set against the Romanian, then got caught in the usual U.S. Open rain delay in the 2nd set. She was never able to reassert control of the match. Down 3-1 in the 3rd set, Lisicki failed to convert two break points. She couldn't take advantage of another at 4-2, either. In the final game of the match, Lisicki double-faulted on match point -- her 42nd unforced error of the day -- to lose 4-6/6-2/6-2.

Soon afterward, #18-seed Goerges was taken out in straight sets by qualifier Kristyna Pliskova. Later, though, to be fair, she IS in just the second tournament of her latest comeback from injury, Petkovic (who until just a few weeks ago was still in the Top 20 before her long tour absence finally knocked her out of seed contention for this Open) lost to Romina Oprandi 6-2/7-5. It took Oprandi four match points over the course of two service games, but the deed was still done.

Thankfully for them, Kerber and Barthel won take the court until Day 2. Maybe the smoke will have cleared by then.



=DAY 1 NOTES=
...just a quick note: I'm going to try to keep up a two-posts-a-day format for this Open, with a (usually) abbreviated rundown of the day's events coming somewhere in the 5-6pm (Eastern time) hour, then another coming in late night in the form of a "Backspin+ - The U.S. Open at Night" update that will cover the late afternoon/early evening matches, as well as the nighttime session action on Ashe. Tonight: Kim Clijsters, on the eve of the unveiling of the all-time Backspin MVP tomorrow, makes her debut at the final event of her career. Still riding a 21-match Open winning streak (she hasn't lost in NYC since Justine Henin defeated her in the '03 final), KC will meet 16-year old American wild card Victoria Duval.

Hopefully, Kim will go easy on the girl. If something "weird" happens... well, then I guess a new "star" will be born under the lights, while another bows out far earlier than expected.

...for a bit there, it looked like we were going to see a second "golden set" (or "golden egg," as Yaroslava Shvedova called it when she won every point in a set against Sara Errani at Wimbledon) in a slam this year during defending champ's Samantha Stosur first-up match on Ashe court against returning-from-injury Petra Martic. Looking every bit like a real live defending champion, not an in-over-her-head player ready to fold under the pressure of expectation, Stosur won the first nineteen points of the match, coming up five points short of the shutout. Stosur finished off the win by a 6-1/6-1 score or, as the Open website described it in a great headline: "Stosur spreads Vegemite on first round breadsticks".

Stosur had another "near miss" when it comes to being the "First Win" honoree. She'd been the first woman to advance to the 2nd Round at both this year's Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and looked like she was going to do it at a third straight slam. While the Aussie was putting away Martic, Anna Tatishvilii's 6-2/6-0 win over Stephanie Foretz-Gacon actually concluded less than a minute before the Stosur match did. So the Georgian was the first official main draw Backspin award honoree for this Open.

...elsewhere, Nadia Petrova defeated Jarmila Gajdosova in straights, 6-3/7-6. After retiring from her most recent tournament, I was a little worried for Nadia heading into this one. Whew! Since I never know how many times I'll be able to say it at a slam with a smile on my face, here it goes... oh, Nadia!

...as always at the slams, Anabel Medina-Garrigues' time in the draw is limited. After coming close to advancing to the 3rd Round at this Wimbledon, the slam at which the Spanish vet has her fewest number of match victories (8), the #27 seed was dumped out in straight sets of the Open by Lucie Hradecka this morning, before the rain delay. Adding a whole new layer to her "legacy," AMG was the "First Seed Out" of this slam. Okay, here's where I'm obliged to once again note that AMG is STILL linked in history with Anna Smashnova as the only players to ever win double-digit WTA singles titles but never reach a slam Final 8. There, that's another Daily Backspin slam ritual checked off the list. By the way, this was AMG's 42nd career slam, and her 16th opening round loss. Medina-Garrigues, who turned 30 last month, now has a career slam match record of 43-42. She's 9-10 at the Open, where she'd actually matched her career-best 3rd Round result at Flushing Meadows in 2011. Maybe Roberta Vinci winning in Dallas this weekend for career title #7, meaning she's just three more from being able to join the "10-and-Oh-No Club," distracted Anabel? No?

Either way... keep on fighting the good fight, AMG.

...LIKES FROM DAY 1:

-- the joy of having learned to simply turn the sound down whenever Hannah Storm appears on the screen. All right, maybe I sometimes mutter something under my breath before I hit "mute," too.

-- Rennae Stubbs on Tennis Channel. Hmmm,maybe I should just have that one ready to cut-and-paste at every slam from here on out.

...DISLIKES FROM DAY 1:

-- having to perform the act I talked about in my first "Like" from Day 1.

...and, finally, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm being sent secret messages again. At Wimbledon, I got an odd visit from a Great Blue Heron, and, naturally, I interpreted it as a message from The Radwanska to watch my back. Now, last night at about 2 a.m., I had another "visitor" from the great wilds of nature -- a big black bear who wandered outside of his usual realm to try to get into some trash cans to find, I suspect, some smelly, rotten potatoes that were there. When I turned the outside light on, he tried to take off with the big trash bag, but dropped it in his haste. He also left behind an identifying footprint. Here's the (grainy) shot of that:



Yep, that's a NINE-inch long foot. I'm no bear expect, but I'd say that's pretty damn big. All right, all right. I got the message, whoever-you-are-this-time. The Rad? Carl?

Now I just have to figure out exactly what that message is. Hmmm...




*RECENT "FIRST VICTORY"*
[U.S. Open]
2009 Vania King, USA (def. Yakimova)
2010 Francesca Schiavone, ITA (def. Morita)
2011 Monica Niculescu, ROU (def. Mayr-Achleitner)
2012 Anna Tatishvili, GEO (def. Foretz-Gacon)
[2012]
AO: Victoria Azarenka, BLR (def. Watson)
RG: Samantha Stosur, AUS (def. Baltacha)
WI: Samantha Stosur, AUS (def. Suarez-Navarro)
US: Anna Tatishvili, GEO (def. Foretz-Gacon)

*RECENT "FIRST SEED OUT"*
[U.S. Open]
2005 #28 Flavia Pennetta, ITA (lost to Schruff)
2006 #15 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, GER (lost to Rezai)
2007 #29 Samantha Stosur, AUS (lost to Cornet)
2008 #24 Shahar Peer, ISR (lost to Li)
2009 #25 Kai Kanepi, EST (lost to Chang)
2010 #8 Li Na, CHN (lost to K.Bondarenko)
2011 #5 Petra Kvitova, CZE (lost to Dulgheru)
2012 #27 Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP (lost to Hradecka)
[2012]
AO: #19 Flavia Pennetta, ITA (lost to Bratchikova)
RG: #30 Mona Barthel, GER (lost to Davis)
WI: #16 Flavia Pennetta, ITA (lost to Giorgi)
US: #27 Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP (lost to Hradecka)

*BACKSPIN 2012 PLAYER-OF-THE-MONTH WINNERS*
[Monthly/Quarterly winners]
JAN: Victoria Azarenka, BLR
FEB: Victoria Azarenka, BLR
MAR: Victoria Azarenak, BLR
1Q=VICTORIA AZARENKA, BLR
APR: Serena Williams, USA
MAY: Serena Williams, USA
2Q/CC=MARIA SHARAPOVA, RUS
JUN: Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, ITA
2Q/GC=SERENA WILLIAMS, USA
JUL: Serena Williams, USA
AUG: Petra Kvitova, CZE
[2012 Weekly POW Award Wins]
5...Serena Williams
4...Victoria Azarenka
4...Petra Kvitova
3...Maria Sharapova
3...Agnieszka Radwanska
2...Angelique Kerber
2...Sara Errani
1...Dominika Cibulkova
1...Jelena Jankovic
1...Bojana Jovanovski
1...Li Na
1...Melanie Oudin
1...Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci




TOP QUALIFIER: #1q Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1: (WC) Krista Hardebeck/USA def. Tamaryn Hendler/BEL 7-6(9)/5-7/7-6(3)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.): xx
TOP ASHE NIGHT SESSION MATCH: xx
=============================
FIRST WINNER: Anna Tatishvili/GEO (def. Foretz-Gacon/FRA)
FIRST SEED OUT: #27 Anabel Medina-Garrigues/ESP (lost to Hradecka/CZE)
UPSET QUEENS: xx
REVELATION LADIES: xx
NATION OF POOR SOULS: xx
CRASH & BURN: xx
ZOMBIE QUEEN: xx
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: xx
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: xx
LAST BANNERETTE STANDING: xx
IT: xx
Ms.OPPORTUNITY: xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
BROADWAY-BOUND: xx
LADY OF THE EVENING: xx
DOUBLES STAR xx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx




All for Day 1. More tonight.