Women Who Serve

If you're going to cheat at tennis...

2008-07-23T23:14:00.001-05:00

I sometimes think I've heard all the stupid tennis ideas there are...

2008-07-23T22:10:00.001-05:00

Like composite racquets and no-ad scoring--and then I hear this.

Schnyder and Vaidisova both out of L.A.

2008-07-23T18:52:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, it was Daniela Hantuchova who was upset, by Olga Govortsova, in the second round of the East West Bank Classic. Today, Patty Schnyder and Nicole Vaidisova were also upset in the second round, by Ai Sugiyama and wild card Bethanie Mattek, respectively.

Meanwhile, the lucky losers have been more than lucky. Melinda Czink defeated Olga Savchuk (who defeated Gisela Dulko) in the second round, and Melanie South defeated the talented young Czech player, Petra Kvitova.

Flavia Pennetta has defeated Tamira Paszek, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Sugiyama def. Schnyder, 6-4, 7-5
Mattek def. Vaidisova, 6-4, 6-0
Czink def. Savchuk, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
South def. Kvitova, 6-4, 6-2

Golovin withdraws from Rogers Cup

2008-07-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

This is not an unexpected occurrence. The question is: When will Tatiana Golovin be able to play again? She and Li Na and Meghann Shaughnessy have all had long injury layoffs, and poor Li's began not long after she returned from an extremely long injury layoff.

Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Svetalana Kuznetsova, and Lindsay Davenport all had to withdraw from the East West Bank Classic. Marion Bartoli injured her wrist in June and wasn't sure she would be at Wimbledon; now something is wrong with her hip. Jelena Jankovic has a knee injury.

Here we go again...

Safina and Safin to be teammates at Hopman Cup

2008-07-22T21:56:00.001-05:00

Dinara Safina and her brother, ATP player Marat Safin, will comprise the Russian team at this year's Hopman Cup in Perth. They have never before competed together at the event. According to tournament director Paul McNamee, Safina had not considered herself good enough to play with her brother in years past, but with her enormous breakthrough this year, she now believes she will be a good partner for him.

Safin, who has won both the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, had his own breakthrough this summer, getting to the semifinals at Wimbledon after many had counted him out, career-wise. A huge talent on the court, Safin--like his sister--possesses just the right amount of madness. "You can destroy one racquet," he once said. "You can destroy a chair. But you can't destroy a racquet and a chair in the same match. There has to be a limit. Otherwise this is the tennis of a sick person."

Hopman Cup should be fun this year.

Serena Williams withdraws from Los Angeles

2008-07-22T16:06:00.000-05:00

Because of her left knee injury, Serena Williams has withdrawn from the East West Bank Classic. She was replaced in the draw by Melanie South.

Meanwhile, Flavia Pennetta defeated Stanford champion Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-1, 6-0.

Mauresmo confirms she will not play in Olympics

2008-07-21T21:38:00.001-05:00

With Mary Pierce withdrawing from the French Olympic team, Amelie Mauresmo was expected to take the open slot, but she has refused, so Pauline Parmentier will be the new team member. Parmentier just won the Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein.

Kuznetsova out of Los Angeles

2008-07-21T17:31:00.000-05:00

Svetlana Kuznetsova has joined Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams in withdrawing from the East West Bank Classic. Kuznetsova has a leg injury. Melina Czink has taken her place in the draw.

Thanks to On the Baseline for the news.

Slovenia qualifying: good news, bad news

2008-07-21T08:58:00.000-05:00

The bad news is that top qualifying seed, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, has been knocked out in the final round of qualifying. The good news is that she was defeated by Elena Bovina.

It has been so long since we have seen Bovina where she belongs--in the top 20. Perhaps this will be a good tournament for her.

Note to Pam Shriver

2008-07-20T21:56:00.001-05:00

Beige, brown and orange coordinate nicely together. Wozniak does not need to do her laundry, but you might consider stuffing a tennis sock in your mouth.

Black and Huber win Stanford

2008-07-20T19:42:00.000-05:00

Cara Black and Liezel Huber, the world's number 1 doubles team, won the Bank of the West Classic today by defeating Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva, 6-4, 6-3.

Wozniak wins Stanford

2008-07-20T18:57:00.002-05:00

First, let me get all my disappointment out of the way: I was certain Marion Bartoli was going to win this tournament. She has been playing splendidly with really good serving. I was really excited for Bartoli, and then...another injury, this time her hip. When, oh when, will she stop this insane training regimen that has her on the court for two hours right before a match? I think that Bartoli's father/coach has helped her a lot, but I think that he has also harmed her. There is fitness and there is fitness, and what Bartoli has done in the fitness training area seems to have harmed her more than helped her.

It was hard for me to take a lot of pleasure in Wozniak's win, I was so disappointed, but objectively speaking, she had a wonderful, if somewhat strange, tournament. In qualifying, she defeated Angela Haynes, Ayumi Morita and Samantha Stosur. Once she got into the main draw, she defeated Francesca Schiavone, Sybille Bammer, Stosur (who, by this time, had become a lucky loser), Serena Williams, and Marion Bartoli. The last two wins involved injured opponents; Williams' injury was so bad, in fact, that she had to retire (as opposed to her "slightly injured" state described by Cliff Drysdale).

But, injured opponents or not, Wozniak played beautifully, hitting stinging groundstrokes and keeping her cool throughout. It would have been a nicer win for her if both Williams and Bartoli had been healthlier, but fitness is part of tennis, too.

So, on July 20, your 2008 U.S. Open Series leader is number 85 in the world (but not for long), Aleksandra Wozniak. Well done.

This and that

2008-07-20T11:44:00.005-05:00

Jelena Dokic has won a $25,000 challenger in Darmstadt, Germany, by defeating her opponent 6-0, 6-0. (I will never get used to saying the words "Dokic" and "challenger" in the same sentence.)

Kimiko Date-Drumm has won another $25,000 challenger in Japan. Date-Drumm's comeback plan is to play (and win!) challengers and enjoy herself. As of this time, she has no plans to return to the tour.

According to Ana Ivanovic, Gael Monfils is the best dancer among all pro tennis players.

Martina Navratilova's new website design is a definite improvement--very nice.

Citizen Eco-Drive is no longer airing its Nicole Vaidisova commercial spot.

Those who deal in betting give good odds that Laura Robson will win Wimbledon before she is 20, but 2/3 of those voting in the Eurosport poll say she will not ever win it.

Steve Murray gets it right in Tennis Week

2008-07-20T10:29:00.001-05:00

At least this part:

Is it possible that everyone is a little uncomfortable with admitting to the idea of tennis as showbusiness and the way that glamour is being used to sell the sport? Did it just make more sense to accept Gimelstob’s hasty apology and let sleeping dogs lie than to draw more attention to what is going on.

From his article, "Sexist Secret?"

Parmentier wins in Bad Gastein

2008-07-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

Pauline Parmentier has defeated Lucie Hradecka, 6-4, 6-4 to win the 2008 Gastein Ladies. This is Parmentier's second Tour title.

Of interest: Sesil Karatantcheva and partner Natasa Zoric were the doubles runners-up at the tournament. The doubles title went to Hradecka and partner Andrea Hlavackova. Here's hoping we see a lot more of Karatantcheva.

Bartoli and Wozniak to play in Stanford final

2008-07-20T10:02:00.001-05:00

What can you say about Serena Williams' knee, other than "there it goes again"? Williams was obviously hampered by her bad knee when she played her semifinal match against Aleksandra Wozniak. Credit to Wozniak, however, who looked as though she was ready for a totally healthy Williams, and who hit with accuracy and self-assurance. Wozniak took the match, 6-2, 3-1 when Williams retired.

More interesting was the match between Marion Bartoli and Ai Sugiyama. In five tries, Bartoli had never beaten Sugiyama, a former top 10 player who can still show why she was ranked so high for so long. Sugiyama went up an early break in the opening set, but after that, Bartoli turned on that switch I wish she could turn on more often. With penetrating double-handed groundstrokes, beautiful volleying, and some solid serving, she dictated play for most of the match, winning 6-3, 6-3.

As I recently wrote, Bartoli has changed her service motion yet again, after having significantly changed it earlier in the season. It's still odd-looking, however. Of course, commentators love to deconstruct Bartoli more than any other player because everything about her is so unorthodox. Last night, Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernandez were concerned that Bartoli--who had very serious wrist tendonitis a few months ago and almost missed Wimbledon--kept executing a wrist action with her racquet while she was waiting to return serve, or even waiting to return a ball in the air. In the post-match interview, they asked her about it, and she said that her two-handed play can cause her wrists to lock, so she does that to keep them loose. So there.

Meet Arantxa Rus

2008-07-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

Here is a tour profile of the new junior world number 1.

Larcher de Brito watch--no Los Angeles main draw

2008-07-19T19:29:00.000-05:00

Michelle Larcher de Brito was defeated in straights sets today by Ahsha Rolle in the first round of qualifying for the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. Larcher de Brito hit ten aces, to her credit, but she was unable to stave off break points.

Larcher de Brito took Serena Williams to three sets in Stanford this week.

Parmentier and Hradecka to play in Bad Gastein final

2008-07-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

Because of the rain in Bad Gastein, players had to do catch-up today and play both quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. Number 1 seed Agnes Szavay, who defeated Iveta Benesova in the quarterfinals, was then defeated in the semifinals by Pauline Parmentier, 6-4, 6-2. And Lucie Hradecka defeated Mariya Koryttseva, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.

Last year, Hradecka--with partner Renata Voracova--won the Bad Gastein doubles title.

Defending champion out--Stanford semifinals set

2008-07-18T23:50:00.000-05:00

Marion Bartoli took out defending champion Anna Chakvetadze in Stanford tonight

When they are playing well, is there anyone more fun to watch (Patty Schnyder excepted!) than Anna Chakvetadze and Marion Bartoli? They met tonight at the Bank of the West Classic, and put on a great show. I reported in April that Bartoli was not only serving well, but had changed her peculiar service motion; she has now changed it again, and is again serving well. It was nice to see defending champion Chakvetadze--who has struggled so much since her world was seriously altered last December--do some of the things that make her such a good player. But she was not focused enough to undo a clever and--at times--deadly-accurate Bartoli. Bartoli won, 6-3, 6-4. It was a very entertaining match. I like both of these players a lot and would have been pleased to see either of them win.

Then there is the matter of Sam Stosur, who--having been defeated by Aleksandra Wozniak in qualifying--became a lucky loser (via Lindsay Davenport's withdrawal), and had to play Wozniak again. And she lost again. I don't know what's going on with Wozniak, but she's suddenly having her best season.

Dominika Cibulkova perhaps gained some type of record-keeping fame by retiring at match point. She held three match points herself in the second set.

And Patty Schnyder, once again, was unable to overcome Serena Williams, who defeated her, 6-4, 6-1.

Bartoli will play Ai Sugiyama in the semifinals, and Williams will play Wozniak.

A gender mistake has been made

2008-07-18T20:51:00.001-05:00

Jimmy Arias and Ted Robinson, the Tennis Channel commentators for the Capdeville-Tursonov match in Indianapolis, showed a photo of Rafael Nadal's arms in a sleeveless shirt, compared with Capdeville's, for the purpose of demeaning Capdeville's physique. Then they said that Capdeville looked like "the guy who didn't get chosen for pick-up basketball." Wow. That is really "bitchy" and "catty." I guess Arias and Robinson must be women.

Cibulkova retires on match point

2008-07-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

It was a thrilling match in Stanford, from all that I could tell by watching the electronic scoreboard. Dominika Cibulkova won the first set, 7-6, and was up 5-2 in the second. Then her opponent, Ai Sugiyama, held, and proceeded to break Cibulkova when she served for the match at 5-3. Cibulkova had three match points on Sugiyama's next serve, but Sugiyama saved them all, the set went to a tiebreak, and Sugiyama won it. Cibulkova went up a break in the third set, but was broken back. Then Sugiyama broke again.

What I was unable to see by looking at the scoreboard was that Cibulkova began cramping at some point in the third. The cramping became so terrible that she actually had to retire when Sugiyama was up 5-3, 40-0 in the third set. That is some bad cramping.

I like both of these players a lot, and would have been glad for either of them to win (though it's always nice to see the veteran Sugiyama show her stuff), but it's sad to know that someone lost because of terrible pain. She did have her chance, though, in the second set.

Sugiyama def. Cibulkova, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3

Sony Ericsson suffers big 2nd quarter loss

2008-07-18T16:38:00.002-05:00

Sony Ericsson, in light of its second quarter $3.1 million operating loss, has cut 2,000 jobs. The company is also expecting a bad third quarter. Sony Ericsson has fallen to fifth place worldwide among handset phone markets, following Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and LG Electronics.

It is unknown what this situation might mean for the relationship between Sony Ericsson and the WTA Tour.

Williams withdraws from Los Angeles

2008-07-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

Venus Williams has withdrawn from the East West Bank Classic. Who is surprised?

Wozniacki upset in Bad Gastein

2008-07-18T10:43:00.000-05:00

Mariya Koryttseva defeated number 3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 today in the second round of the Gastein Ladies in Austria. The match lasted almost three hours and appears to have been very close.