The first day of tennis at Flushing Meadows was a fine way to start us off - lots of exciting tennis, but not a lot of upsets to write home about. On both the men's and women's side, there were only a pair of upsets, both male vets who couldn't make it to the second round. Fernando Gonzalez had to retire against Brian Dabul, and while Lleyton Hewitt didn't actually throw in the towel, he surely faded pretty severely in the final set against Paul-Henri Mathieu. It's the first time that Hewitt's lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 2003, when he fell to Ivo Karlovic as the defending champion.
Aside from that, the most notable loss of the day was last year's top seed on the women's side, Dinara Safina, who fought hard but couldn't quite hold it together against Daniela Hantuchova. Despite her disappointing performance here, I see promising signs in her game of late. She may never again ascend to the heights she was at last year at this time, but I can easily see her making it back into the top twenty, maybe ten.
Melanie Oudin really played well in her opening round, which was admittedly against a player of even less experience, but still, with all the pressure she had, I wasn't sure she could handle it. Credit to the teen. The other top players mostly cruised against undistinguished opponents, except for Robin Soderling, who was pushed hard by Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer (I know, 'who?') into a fifth set. But his experience saw him through in the end. Gael Monfils also needed a fifth set to beat American vet Robbie Kendrick. There was a questionable call in that match, but it didn't quite turn the tide in the end - the fact that Kendrick thought it went against him was what brought him down, in my opinion. The other two five setters of the day saw Jurgen Melzer get past Dmitry Tursunov (still hoping for his comeback!) and Albert Montanes over Przynsiezny, 6-0 in the fifth.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, we'll see Djokovic, Jankovic, Sharapova, Nadal and Wozniacki on Arthur Ashe. Not a bad line-up - there's an outside chance that Gabashvili could trouble Nadal, maybe a 20% chance of a close match. Djokovic-Troicki could be tight, but I don't give the junior Serb much of a chance of upsetting his countryman. Really, the matches on Armstrong and the Grandstand are much more exciting.
Baghdatis plays Clement, a French vet who has played some amazing matches of his career, but it's been a while since he's made much noise. Kateryna Bondarenko plays Na Li after that, followed by James Blake against Kristof Vliegen. Blake's going to have a ton of support, but that may not be enough for him. He seems like he's not fully recovered from his surgery, and he needs to be in top form considering his style of play. I hope he can win a couple of rounds, but it will be tough. Fish should have a better time with Jan Hajek, and Svetlana Kuznetsova should be able to handle the tricky Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm.
On the outside courts, there are some intriguing match-ups. This is Robbie Ginepri's favorite tournament, and he has a good chance against Argentine Eduardo Schwank. On court 7, watch for a potential (though unlikely) upset as Dolgopolov plays Ferrer. He's got a chance, but whether or not he wins tomorrow's match, you'll hear more from Dolgopolov in the future. Also, put an upset watch on Peter Polansky over Juan Monaco, and Julien Benneteau over Radek Stepanek.
I don't necessarily see another upset on Court 13, but the first match could be a cracker, between French Jeremy Chardy and Ernests Gulbis. I lean towards the seeded Latvian, but there could be an upset in the cards if Gulbis isn't at his best, because he can easily get frustrated and go off the boil.
There are certainly plenty of fun matches to keep an eye on tomorrow.
Showing posts with label safina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label safina. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
French Open Day 3
Now that we're through round one of the French Open, everyone who's going to have played a match has done so. Half the field is cleared out - well, almost. There's one match left to play - Xavier Malisse is up two sets to love against Simon Greul. Other than that, everything is set. There were a few relatively minor upsets today, but there's yet to be a big player to fall. One of the players who really wasn't a factor this year despite being the losing finalist last yeast was Dinara Safina, who collapsed against 39-year old Kimiko Date Krumm. It probably wasn't a back injury that cost her this match. She needs to get her head on straight.
The other player who lost because of mental problems was Sam Querrey, who lost to American Robbie Ginepri. After losing the second set in a tiebreak and getting broken to open the third set, Querrey just checked out. He said afterward that he didn't want to be on court, and he played like it. He seemed to be willing to admit his behavior was unprofessional, but the fact is that he's now 0-4 at Roland Garros, and there's no reason for him to have that kind of record.
On the other hand, American Andy Roddick got his clay court season off to a belated but successful start after beating Jarkko Nieminen in five sets. And the other players in Roddick's section of the draw that could have posed the greatest threat also lost today, so rather than a pair of Argentines waiting for him in the next two rounds, he's got a couple of Slovaks instead. He'll have Blaz Kavcic in the next round, and possibly Grega Zemjla instead of Juan Monaco after that.
Beyond that, the players who were expected to win managed to win today. French teen Gianni Mina put up a surprisingly good fight against Rafael Nadal, acquitting himself admirably, despite losing to the tune of 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. We'll see him here again. Other than Roddick, the only other five-set match today was Horacio Zeballos's win over Martin Fischer, 10-8 in the fifth.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, we're back to the top half of the draw. There are actually some pretty good matches tomorrow. Gael Monfils takes on Fabio Fognini, Robin Soderling takes on Taylor Dent, Tsonga takes on Ouanna, and Murray faces Chela. There's an outside chance of an upset in any of those matches - as well as 32nd seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez against Thiemo De Bakker. Leonardo Mayer and Julien Benneteau, Carsten Ball against Viktor Troicki, and John Isner faces Marco Chiudinelli!
This is really a pretty great lineup for a second round of a grand slam. Lots of great matches on outside courts, between players with great stylistic match-ups. Normally, grand slams take more than a round to get going, but I'm pretty excited about quite a few of these. With any luck, the tournament could really kick into high gear tomorrow.
The other player who lost because of mental problems was Sam Querrey, who lost to American Robbie Ginepri. After losing the second set in a tiebreak and getting broken to open the third set, Querrey just checked out. He said afterward that he didn't want to be on court, and he played like it. He seemed to be willing to admit his behavior was unprofessional, but the fact is that he's now 0-4 at Roland Garros, and there's no reason for him to have that kind of record.
On the other hand, American Andy Roddick got his clay court season off to a belated but successful start after beating Jarkko Nieminen in five sets. And the other players in Roddick's section of the draw that could have posed the greatest threat also lost today, so rather than a pair of Argentines waiting for him in the next two rounds, he's got a couple of Slovaks instead. He'll have Blaz Kavcic in the next round, and possibly Grega Zemjla instead of Juan Monaco after that.
Beyond that, the players who were expected to win managed to win today. French teen Gianni Mina put up a surprisingly good fight against Rafael Nadal, acquitting himself admirably, despite losing to the tune of 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. We'll see him here again. Other than Roddick, the only other five-set match today was Horacio Zeballos's win over Martin Fischer, 10-8 in the fifth.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, we're back to the top half of the draw. There are actually some pretty good matches tomorrow. Gael Monfils takes on Fabio Fognini, Robin Soderling takes on Taylor Dent, Tsonga takes on Ouanna, and Murray faces Chela. There's an outside chance of an upset in any of those matches - as well as 32nd seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez against Thiemo De Bakker. Leonardo Mayer and Julien Benneteau, Carsten Ball against Viktor Troicki, and John Isner faces Marco Chiudinelli!
This is really a pretty great lineup for a second round of a grand slam. Lots of great matches on outside courts, between players with great stylistic match-ups. Normally, grand slams take more than a round to get going, but I'm pretty excited about quite a few of these. With any luck, the tournament could really kick into high gear tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Week 2 Quarterfinals
It seems like most of the tour has shut down in anticipation of the Australian Open starting next week.
In Sydney, the men's draw has just fallen apart. Two seeds withdrew, and five of the remaining lost by the third round. The only seed remaining is Lleyton Hewitt, who unfortunately has to play one of the other contenders in the quarterfinals, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. You may remember that Hewitt and Baghdatis played a match at the Australian Open last year that went until 4:30 in the morning. It seems unlikely that this meeting will be quite as epic, but the winner will have a good chance of winning the tournament.
The other two players who have a realistic shot at the win are Mardy Fish, who would play the winner of Hewitt-Baggy in the semis, and Richard Gasquet, who is all alone in his half of the draw. If he doesn't make the final at least, this week will be a disappointment. The other three players left in his half are Starace, Benneateau, and Mayer, fine players all but Gasquet needs to be able to beat them without too much trouble if he wants to get back to the top tier of the game.
The women's side of the draw remains a bit more competitive, with three seeds making it to the semifinals. Serena Williams blew through her opponent Vera Dushevina 2 and 2, which is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina by almost that same margin. Now Williams plays Rezai in a formality of a match, while Dementieva plays Azarenka for the chance to face Serena in the final. It seems like Serena's victory should be a foregone conclusion, but she hasn't won a regular tour title (discounting grand slams or end-of-year championships) since April of 2008. She sure looks poised to break that streak, though.
In Auckland, there's an interesting quarterfinal match between John Isner and Tommy Robredo, which is a rematch of their tough three-setter last week in the Hopman Cup. Robredo came out on top in that contest, but he's played a lot more tennis in the interim. It could be a good match.
Finally, I've just set up a twitter account, from which I'll be posting updates to this blog as well as live commentary on some matches, in the future. Check me out at http://twitter.com/matchpointace !
In Sydney, the men's draw has just fallen apart. Two seeds withdrew, and five of the remaining lost by the third round. The only seed remaining is Lleyton Hewitt, who unfortunately has to play one of the other contenders in the quarterfinals, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. You may remember that Hewitt and Baghdatis played a match at the Australian Open last year that went until 4:30 in the morning. It seems unlikely that this meeting will be quite as epic, but the winner will have a good chance of winning the tournament.
The other two players who have a realistic shot at the win are Mardy Fish, who would play the winner of Hewitt-Baggy in the semis, and Richard Gasquet, who is all alone in his half of the draw. If he doesn't make the final at least, this week will be a disappointment. The other three players left in his half are Starace, Benneateau, and Mayer, fine players all but Gasquet needs to be able to beat them without too much trouble if he wants to get back to the top tier of the game.
The women's side of the draw remains a bit more competitive, with three seeds making it to the semifinals. Serena Williams blew through her opponent Vera Dushevina 2 and 2, which is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina by almost that same margin. Now Williams plays Rezai in a formality of a match, while Dementieva plays Azarenka for the chance to face Serena in the final. It seems like Serena's victory should be a foregone conclusion, but she hasn't won a regular tour title (discounting grand slams or end-of-year championships) since April of 2008. She sure looks poised to break that streak, though.
In Auckland, there's an interesting quarterfinal match between John Isner and Tommy Robredo, which is a rematch of their tough three-setter last week in the Hopman Cup. Robredo came out on top in that contest, but he's played a lot more tennis in the interim. It could be a good match.
Finally, I've just set up a twitter account, from which I'll be posting updates to this blog as well as live commentary on some matches, in the future. Check me out at http://twitter.com/matchpointace !
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Noteworthy upsets and withdrawals plus Aussie Open quallies!
The second week of the season has featured a few surprising upsets and not-so-surprising withdrawals, but I'd imagine the tournament organizers were none too happy to see these players out of their tournaments before Wednesday.
Nalbandian withdrew from Auckland before playing his match against Kohlschreiber, which I think puts the Argentine in doubt for the Australian Open, since this would have been his only tune-up event. Gael Monfils also withdrew from Sydney, which is not so much of a surprise, considering how heavily he was taped last week in Brisbane. Vera Zvonerava also stopped her match against Elena Vesnina after only six games with an ankle injury. This is on top of Justine Henin and Roger Federer withdrawing from their events, earlier in the week.
In Sydney, Evgeny Korolev beat Sam Querrey in the first round, which will mean that the recently-injured American will be 0-2 going into the first grand slam of the year, which is certainly not the way he would have wanted to start out his year, I'm sure. The Bryan Brothers also lost to first time doubles pairing Wassen and Zeballos, which was definitely a shock. On the women's side, Dominika Cibulkova beat third-seeded (and ranked) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Aggi Szavay beat Jelena Jankovic, and Na Li beat fourth-seed Caroline Wozniacki, so the upset bug is all over.
It just goes to show that some of the top players have trouble finding their form at the very start of the season, which is why the Australian Open often has the most surprising winners and finalists of any of the grand slams.
With all these upsets and withdrawals, some players are getting an easy route through their tournaments. Serena Williams can't face another seed until the final, for example. Others are not so lucky. The bottom quarterfinal of the women's draw in Sydney will feature Elena Dementieva against Dinara Safina, which has the potential to be an exciting match, or at least a good bellwether of how these two players' years are starting.
In Kooyong, the organizers were apparently unable to woo either of the Andys into playing the full three days, so they ended up replacing Roger Federer with Ivan Ljubicic, who is a fine player, but probably not what they had hoped for this year. So the Kooyong matchups are Djokovic-Haas, Fernando-Fernando, Soderling-Tsonga, and Ljubicic-Del Potro. It will be interesting to see who out of that group of top players has started the year on form.
Looking to the Aussie Open qualifying draw, there are some very interesting first-round matches. The quallies are incredibly important to the players in them, because getting a few rounds in a grand slam is the best way to rack up a chunk of points for the following year, but you have to win these mini-tournaments to have a chance. Here's my list of significant match-ups:
Xavier Malisse-Alex Kuznetsov, Marc Lopez-Donald Young, Josselin Ouanna-Joseph Sirianni, Yuki Bhambri-Jan Minar, Ryler DeHeart-Stefan Koubek, Grigor Dimitrov-Robert Kendrick, and Peter Polansky-Marcel Ilhan. Sixteen out of these 128 players will get into the main draw, which is a tough cut. There are a ton of up-and-coming players here, as well as more establish challenger pros who are knocking at the door of the top 100. It should be fun to see who makes it through.
Nalbandian withdrew from Auckland before playing his match against Kohlschreiber, which I think puts the Argentine in doubt for the Australian Open, since this would have been his only tune-up event. Gael Monfils also withdrew from Sydney, which is not so much of a surprise, considering how heavily he was taped last week in Brisbane. Vera Zvonerava also stopped her match against Elena Vesnina after only six games with an ankle injury. This is on top of Justine Henin and Roger Federer withdrawing from their events, earlier in the week.
In Sydney, Evgeny Korolev beat Sam Querrey in the first round, which will mean that the recently-injured American will be 0-2 going into the first grand slam of the year, which is certainly not the way he would have wanted to start out his year, I'm sure. The Bryan Brothers also lost to first time doubles pairing Wassen and Zeballos, which was definitely a shock. On the women's side, Dominika Cibulkova beat third-seeded (and ranked) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Aggi Szavay beat Jelena Jankovic, and Na Li beat fourth-seed Caroline Wozniacki, so the upset bug is all over.
It just goes to show that some of the top players have trouble finding their form at the very start of the season, which is why the Australian Open often has the most surprising winners and finalists of any of the grand slams.
With all these upsets and withdrawals, some players are getting an easy route through their tournaments. Serena Williams can't face another seed until the final, for example. Others are not so lucky. The bottom quarterfinal of the women's draw in Sydney will feature Elena Dementieva against Dinara Safina, which has the potential to be an exciting match, or at least a good bellwether of how these two players' years are starting.
In Kooyong, the organizers were apparently unable to woo either of the Andys into playing the full three days, so they ended up replacing Roger Federer with Ivan Ljubicic, who is a fine player, but probably not what they had hoped for this year. So the Kooyong matchups are Djokovic-Haas, Fernando-Fernando, Soderling-Tsonga, and Ljubicic-Del Potro. It will be interesting to see who out of that group of top players has started the year on form.
Looking to the Aussie Open qualifying draw, there are some very interesting first-round matches. The quallies are incredibly important to the players in them, because getting a few rounds in a grand slam is the best way to rack up a chunk of points for the following year, but you have to win these mini-tournaments to have a chance. Here's my list of significant match-ups:
Xavier Malisse-Alex Kuznetsov, Marc Lopez-Donald Young, Josselin Ouanna-Joseph Sirianni, Yuki Bhambri-Jan Minar, Ryler DeHeart-Stefan Koubek, Grigor Dimitrov-Robert Kendrick, and Peter Polansky-Marcel Ilhan. Sixteen out of these 128 players will get into the main draw, which is a tough cut. There are a ton of up-and-coming players here, as well as more establish challenger pros who are knocking at the door of the top 100. It should be fun to see who makes it through.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Week 1 Champions and Week 2 Preview
The remaining two finals from the first week of the 2010 ATP season have been contested. In Chennai, defending champion Marin Cilic beat Stan Wawrinka in two tiebreak sets. It was a close match, and really In Brisbane, Andy Roddick beat defending champion Radek Stepanek in two tiebreaks. Really, there was very little to choose between these two players. Cilic served at 57%, Wawrinka at 59%. They both won 61% of their second-serve points. They both converted two break chances. The only difference, in the end, was that Cilic won 72% of points on first serve, while Wawrinka won only 62%. Still, a close match, and both players should be encouraged by their performance this week.
In Brisbane, the match between Roddick and Stepanek went to two tiebreaks as well, but the second-set was absolutely bizarre. Stepanek went away and Roddick went to a 5-1 lead thanks to a pair of double faults on break points by Radek, only to be broken twice while serving for the match. Roddick's play didn't drop a great deal (it did drop, though) but Stepanek raised his game and changed his strategy to frustrate and bamboozle Roddick.
In the tiebreak, Roddick made it to 6-2, and then lost five consecutive match points to get back to six-all. He had another match point at 8-7, when Stepanek put himself out of his misery and double-faulted again. This has to be disappointing for both players. Roddick has to be shaken that he couldn't close out after getting two huge leads, and Stepanek has to be upset that he couldn't take advantage of Roddick being off his game and clearly in a bad mental state. That said, a win is a win, and Roddick will be happy to lift his first trophy since early last year. Roddick now has the longest active streak of years with at least one tournament win.
Looking ahead to the second week of the season, it's a tale of two tiers. In Sydney and Auckland, which both hosted women's events last week, there are ATP tournaments which feature a good list of mid-range talents. But all of the top players are either taking the week off or playing in the Kooyong exhibition. No top ten player is in official action, this week.
Of course, that's not to say that there won't be some exciting tennis. In Sydney, Monfils, Wawrinka, Berdych, Hewitt and Querrey lead the field and are the favorites to make it deep into the tournament, but there are a handful of dangerous floaters in the draw. Mardy Fish opens against Carsten Ball, while Baghdatis starts against Nick Lindahl. Fish will have his hands full, but Baggy shouldn't have any trouble getting through his wildcard opponent. Chennai semifinalist Dudi Sela is also in the draw, as is Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who opens against Feliciano Lopez.
In Auckland, the top seed is Tommy Robredo, fresh off his Hopman Cup win, who is joined by three other Spaniards to make up the top four: Ferrer, Ferrero, and Almagro. The seeds also feature Monaco and Montanes, so you might be forgiven for thinking that this could be a claycourt tournament. It's a pretty wide open draw, and there's a chance for some lower-ranked players to make a deep run.
John Isner opens against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, which should be an interesting match-up. Isner will surely be hoping to start his year as well as he ended last year, and will be looking to forget his modest results at the Hopman Cup last week. Swiss number 3 Marco Chiudinelli and Tomaz Bellucci face each other in the first round as well, for the privilege of facing the winner of the best first-round match-up of the week.
I'm speaking, of course, about David Nalbandian's return to competitive tennis, in which he faces German Phillip Kohlschreiber. It will be fascinating to see how Nalbandian is feeling. Has he recovered from his surgery? Has he worked on his fitness in the off-season? Will his unearthly timing and shotmaking have survived his long layoff? Only time will tell.
Kooyong is an interesting story this week. Federer opted not to play at the last minute, and it's still not clear who is going to take up that last spot. The other players in the field are Djokovic, Del Potro, Gonzalez, Tsonga, Soderling, Haas, and Verdasco. That's a strong field, no question. But it doesn't have Roddick, Murray, Nadal, Davydenko, or Federer. The draw won't be released until the 12th, so they'll have to fill in the last spot by then. I'm interested to see what the organizers do to deal with this unusual situation.
On the women's side, there's another sharp difference in the field between the two tournaments going on this week. Sydney features eight of the top nine players in the world, with only Venus Williams not present. In Hobart, on the other hand, the top seed is 27th-ranked Annabel Medina-Garrigues. Since the winner in Sydney takes home nearly $100K, while the Hobart champion gets only $37K, this may not be a surprise. But this also means that most people are going to be watching Sydney.
Play started earlier than I thought it would, and Russians Kuznetsova and Dementieva have already moved on to the second round. It's really tough to see anyone but the top seeds making it to the semis or final here, since the top of the field is just so tough. It will be interesting to watch Dinara Safina and see if she can recover from how dismally she finished up 2009, or if that was just the first step in a precipitous decline. I hope to see her bounce back and even break through to win a slam in 2010.
In Brisbane, the match between Roddick and Stepanek went to two tiebreaks as well, but the second-set was absolutely bizarre. Stepanek went away and Roddick went to a 5-1 lead thanks to a pair of double faults on break points by Radek, only to be broken twice while serving for the match. Roddick's play didn't drop a great deal (it did drop, though) but Stepanek raised his game and changed his strategy to frustrate and bamboozle Roddick.
In the tiebreak, Roddick made it to 6-2, and then lost five consecutive match points to get back to six-all. He had another match point at 8-7, when Stepanek put himself out of his misery and double-faulted again. This has to be disappointing for both players. Roddick has to be shaken that he couldn't close out after getting two huge leads, and Stepanek has to be upset that he couldn't take advantage of Roddick being off his game and clearly in a bad mental state. That said, a win is a win, and Roddick will be happy to lift his first trophy since early last year. Roddick now has the longest active streak of years with at least one tournament win.
Looking ahead to the second week of the season, it's a tale of two tiers. In Sydney and Auckland, which both hosted women's events last week, there are ATP tournaments which feature a good list of mid-range talents. But all of the top players are either taking the week off or playing in the Kooyong exhibition. No top ten player is in official action, this week.
Of course, that's not to say that there won't be some exciting tennis. In Sydney, Monfils, Wawrinka, Berdych, Hewitt and Querrey lead the field and are the favorites to make it deep into the tournament, but there are a handful of dangerous floaters in the draw. Mardy Fish opens against Carsten Ball, while Baghdatis starts against Nick Lindahl. Fish will have his hands full, but Baggy shouldn't have any trouble getting through his wildcard opponent. Chennai semifinalist Dudi Sela is also in the draw, as is Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who opens against Feliciano Lopez.
In Auckland, the top seed is Tommy Robredo, fresh off his Hopman Cup win, who is joined by three other Spaniards to make up the top four: Ferrer, Ferrero, and Almagro. The seeds also feature Monaco and Montanes, so you might be forgiven for thinking that this could be a claycourt tournament. It's a pretty wide open draw, and there's a chance for some lower-ranked players to make a deep run.
John Isner opens against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, which should be an interesting match-up. Isner will surely be hoping to start his year as well as he ended last year, and will be looking to forget his modest results at the Hopman Cup last week. Swiss number 3 Marco Chiudinelli and Tomaz Bellucci face each other in the first round as well, for the privilege of facing the winner of the best first-round match-up of the week.
I'm speaking, of course, about David Nalbandian's return to competitive tennis, in which he faces German Phillip Kohlschreiber. It will be fascinating to see how Nalbandian is feeling. Has he recovered from his surgery? Has he worked on his fitness in the off-season? Will his unearthly timing and shotmaking have survived his long layoff? Only time will tell.
Kooyong is an interesting story this week. Federer opted not to play at the last minute, and it's still not clear who is going to take up that last spot. The other players in the field are Djokovic, Del Potro, Gonzalez, Tsonga, Soderling, Haas, and Verdasco. That's a strong field, no question. But it doesn't have Roddick, Murray, Nadal, Davydenko, or Federer. The draw won't be released until the 12th, so they'll have to fill in the last spot by then. I'm interested to see what the organizers do to deal with this unusual situation.
On the women's side, there's another sharp difference in the field between the two tournaments going on this week. Sydney features eight of the top nine players in the world, with only Venus Williams not present. In Hobart, on the other hand, the top seed is 27th-ranked Annabel Medina-Garrigues. Since the winner in Sydney takes home nearly $100K, while the Hobart champion gets only $37K, this may not be a surprise. But this also means that most people are going to be watching Sydney.
Play started earlier than I thought it would, and Russians Kuznetsova and Dementieva have already moved on to the second round. It's really tough to see anyone but the top seeds making it to the semis or final here, since the top of the field is just so tough. It will be interesting to watch Dinara Safina and see if she can recover from how dismally she finished up 2009, or if that was just the first step in a precipitous decline. I hope to see her bounce back and even break through to win a slam in 2010.
Monday, October 26, 2009
WTA Tour Championships in Doha
Amidst all the complaining among players on the ATP tour about the length of the season, and the inevitable backlash, it's easy to forget that the WTA, which starts at the same time as the ATP, is finishing up its season this week. That is a month before the ATP's year-end championships. A bit curious, don't you think?
The format in Doha is the same as it has been for the past several years - the top eight players are split into two groups, with each player facing the other three women in her group in round robin matches. The top two players from each group then advance to the semifinals, which then plays out like a normal tournament. Understandably, the way the two groups are split ends up being essential to the way the tournament unfolds.
The most interesting thing that happened in the rankings this week (and the top ten were going crazy, as we'll see) was that Dinara Safina moved back ahead of Serene Williams to reclaim the number one spot. I don't pretend to understand the way that the WTA rankings system works - it doesn't make sense to me, since Serena didn't do anything after the U.S. Open in 2008, so I don't know why points would drop off, but in any case, Safina is back in the top spot. But whoever advances further in the year-end championship will finish the year as number one. A draw (should both players fail to make the semifinals, for example) goes to Safina, I think. But again, I could be wrong.
So how are the top two players' chances, from the looks of things? Of course, the competition is going to be tough, since this is the top eight players in the world, but the draw seems very, very lopsided. The Maroon group features both of the Williams, both of the slam winners from the past year who are in the top 8 (Serena and Kuznetsova - Clijsters obviously is not ranked that highly), and the fourth player in the group is the best active women's tennis player to have never won a slam, Elena Dementieva, who participated in the best match of the year on the women's side, in her semifinal against Serena at Wimbledon.
The opposite group, the White group (which doesn't feature the Williams sisters, remember) has wayward world number one Dinara Safina, U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka, and Jelena Jankovic, who squeaked in to the top eight by a razor-thing margin. Just for the record, the Maroon group has 34 grand slam final appearances, 20 grand slam titles, and 2 Olympic Gold Medals. The White group has 5 grand slam finals and no major titles. As I said, maybe a bit lopsided?
Of course, when things are this lop-sided, the players from the Maroon group might kill each other in the round robin and then be exhausted by the semifinals. But the much younger and relatively unproven group does have some up-and-coming talents, as well as players who are anxious to show the world that they deserve to be respected. These are the best eight players in the world right now, and there's no doubt that there is a possibility for some scintillating tennis. I'm looking forward to it.
The format in Doha is the same as it has been for the past several years - the top eight players are split into two groups, with each player facing the other three women in her group in round robin matches. The top two players from each group then advance to the semifinals, which then plays out like a normal tournament. Understandably, the way the two groups are split ends up being essential to the way the tournament unfolds.
The most interesting thing that happened in the rankings this week (and the top ten were going crazy, as we'll see) was that Dinara Safina moved back ahead of Serene Williams to reclaim the number one spot. I don't pretend to understand the way that the WTA rankings system works - it doesn't make sense to me, since Serena didn't do anything after the U.S. Open in 2008, so I don't know why points would drop off, but in any case, Safina is back in the top spot. But whoever advances further in the year-end championship will finish the year as number one. A draw (should both players fail to make the semifinals, for example) goes to Safina, I think. But again, I could be wrong.
So how are the top two players' chances, from the looks of things? Of course, the competition is going to be tough, since this is the top eight players in the world, but the draw seems very, very lopsided. The Maroon group features both of the Williams, both of the slam winners from the past year who are in the top 8 (Serena and Kuznetsova - Clijsters obviously is not ranked that highly), and the fourth player in the group is the best active women's tennis player to have never won a slam, Elena Dementieva, who participated in the best match of the year on the women's side, in her semifinal against Serena at Wimbledon.
The opposite group, the White group (which doesn't feature the Williams sisters, remember) has wayward world number one Dinara Safina, U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka, and Jelena Jankovic, who squeaked in to the top eight by a razor-thing margin. Just for the record, the Maroon group has 34 grand slam final appearances, 20 grand slam titles, and 2 Olympic Gold Medals. The White group has 5 grand slam finals and no major titles. As I said, maybe a bit lopsided?
Of course, when things are this lop-sided, the players from the Maroon group might kill each other in the round robin and then be exhausted by the semifinals. But the much younger and relatively unproven group does have some up-and-coming talents, as well as players who are anxious to show the world that they deserve to be respected. These are the best eight players in the world right now, and there's no doubt that there is a possibility for some scintillating tennis. I'm looking forward to it.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Finals day at the Rogers Masters Cup
Well, that may not have been the prettiest day of semifinals that I've ever seen, but it certainly was exciting.
Kiefer and Simon played the longest match of the tournament, and it really could have gone either way! But in the end, Kiefer's experience and Simon's exhaustion just made it too much for the young Frenchman. This wasn't an especially pretty match, as Simon wasn't hitting nearly as many beautiful backhand winners as he was against Federer, and Kiefer seemed to only play well from behind. Whenever he went up a break, the errors started again. Good for Kiefer, though - he made it to his first career Masters Series final after three previous trips to the semifinals, two of which took place at this very tournament! I attribute his success to his recent haircut, which is really a much better look for him, I must say. The folks at Tennis Served Fresh may disagree, but I like it!
The other semi lived up to its hype, for the most part. Murray gave Nadal his toughest run since their first meeting at the Australian Open, but Nadal was just too tough. The type of game that Murray was forced to play to stay in contention was so difficult to keep up, and eventually the errors did him in. What was up with Murray and Cedric Mourier arguing about the trainer at 6-5 in the first set? If you're Murray in that situation, you either need to insist on seeing the trainer, or you need to forget about it. It really bothered him in that tie break, and who knows what would have happened if he had managed to pull that one out? He didn't wilt like Gasquet in the second, so it could have made a huge difference.
But it didn't, and Nadal won. He hasn't been to the final of the Canada Masters since 2005, where he beat a 35-year old Andre Agassi. He won that in three, but he should have an easier time against 31-year old Kiefer. At this point, it's very difficult to see Rafa not continuing to dominate the hard court season like he did on clay. It may not have happened in years past, but he wasn't playing this well before. We may have traded one hegemonic tennis power for another! I'm calling today's final for Rafa, something like 6-3, 6-2.
Also worth noting: Bob and Mike Bryan are playing Nestor and Zimonjic, who just won Wimbledon. And it's actually being broadcast on www.atpmastersseries.tv! The first doubles match at the tournament that I'm going to get to watch. It should be exciting. Bob and Mike have had a lousy season by their standards, so maybe they can help redeem it with a win over the white-hot Nestor and Zimonjic.
And poor Jelena Jankovic! She had a chance to take the number one spot (again!) but she lost in the semis to Dinara Safina. I take Safina over Pennetta in the final, but that's another pretty exciting one. Should be closer than Nadal-Kiefer.
Kiefer and Simon played the longest match of the tournament, and it really could have gone either way! But in the end, Kiefer's experience and Simon's exhaustion just made it too much for the young Frenchman. This wasn't an especially pretty match, as Simon wasn't hitting nearly as many beautiful backhand winners as he was against Federer, and Kiefer seemed to only play well from behind. Whenever he went up a break, the errors started again. Good for Kiefer, though - he made it to his first career Masters Series final after three previous trips to the semifinals, two of which took place at this very tournament! I attribute his success to his recent haircut, which is really a much better look for him, I must say. The folks at Tennis Served Fresh may disagree, but I like it!
The other semi lived up to its hype, for the most part. Murray gave Nadal his toughest run since their first meeting at the Australian Open, but Nadal was just too tough. The type of game that Murray was forced to play to stay in contention was so difficult to keep up, and eventually the errors did him in. What was up with Murray and Cedric Mourier arguing about the trainer at 6-5 in the first set? If you're Murray in that situation, you either need to insist on seeing the trainer, or you need to forget about it. It really bothered him in that tie break, and who knows what would have happened if he had managed to pull that one out? He didn't wilt like Gasquet in the second, so it could have made a huge difference.
But it didn't, and Nadal won. He hasn't been to the final of the Canada Masters since 2005, where he beat a 35-year old Andre Agassi. He won that in three, but he should have an easier time against 31-year old Kiefer. At this point, it's very difficult to see Rafa not continuing to dominate the hard court season like he did on clay. It may not have happened in years past, but he wasn't playing this well before. We may have traded one hegemonic tennis power for another! I'm calling today's final for Rafa, something like 6-3, 6-2.
Also worth noting: Bob and Mike Bryan are playing Nestor and Zimonjic, who just won Wimbledon. And it's actually being broadcast on www.atpmastersseries.tv! The first doubles match at the tournament that I'm going to get to watch. It should be exciting. Bob and Mike have had a lousy season by their standards, so maybe they can help redeem it with a win over the white-hot Nestor and Zimonjic.
And poor Jelena Jankovic! She had a chance to take the number one spot (again!) but she lost in the semis to Dinara Safina. I take Safina over Pennetta in the final, but that's another pretty exciting one. Should be closer than Nadal-Kiefer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
