Stuttgart Results: Dinara, Sveta, JJ Through

From what I saw, there was some great tennis going on courtesy of the laydeez in Stuttgart today. Li Na and Svetlana Kuznetsova had a long three-setter which eventually went 7-5 for the Russian in the third. Szavay played something like her best tennis for a set (which is something we’ve not seen for a long time) and came this close to unseating Demmy, but then fell away in the second. Dementieva, by the way, is looking rather lovely in her lilac ensemble.

Although not in this somewhat unflattering picture. And someone needs to tell Vera nix on the gold nail polish.

Dinara Safina played a remarkably calm and focussed match to take out Daniela Hantuchova 64 62. Daniela played lovely tennis, just not … winning tennis. Why does she not come to the net more? It’s a mystery. Oh, and ol’ “two bedrooms” Bartoli herself unseated Wozniacki – on clay, no less! – and Pennetta destroyed Chakvetadze in a fond re-enactment of happy Fed Cup memories.

But the match of the day was definitely JJ vs. Licky.

There was some of this …

And lots of this …

And plenty of this …

But in the end, it all came down to this.

Seriously, it was a very good match and good win for JJ, although it did remind us how vulnerable she is and will always be to an all-out attacking player. Licky, I think, was worn down by the experience of the sheer effort required to get even a point off JJ. But she still came very close and it will have been a great lesson for her. I’m rapidly becoming a Sabine believer (but JJ’s still my homecoming queen).

So the quarter-final line-up goes like this: Safina vs. Radwanska, Jankovic vs. Pennetta, Kuznetsova vs. Dulko, and Dementieva vs. Bartoli. Fun.

Singles – Second Round
(1) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 64 62
(2) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 76(4) 61
(3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (WC) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 75 57 63
(5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Li Na (CHN) 46 64 75
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. (6) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 62 62
Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (7) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 76(6) 64
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 63 63

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(3) Ruano Pascual/Zheng (ESP/CHN) d. Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) 75 64
(WC) Petkovic/Woehr (GER/GER) d. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) 75 63

Tandil Boys Roll in Rome

Juan Monaco d. Marin Cilic, 64 64.

Shame for Marin, but Pico’s on quite the run, especially considering he’s a qualifier.

Plus he’s pretty.

And guess who’s joining him in the quarterfinals?

The man with the unfeasibly long arms.

That’s right.

Juan Martin del Potro d. Stanislas Wawrinka, 62 67(5) 63.

Hot Tandilese FTW.

Quick Hits: Alize Cornet Suffers Groin Injury

Apparently, Alize Cornet suffered a groin injury during her match against Daniela Hantuchova in Stuttgart. She will have an MRI to determine how severe the injury is and how soon she’ll be able to return to the court.

Get well soon, Alize.

(this is, er, more or less from her official website)

OOPs: Rome, Stuttgart & Fes

ROME

STADIO PIETRANGELI

Starting At: 1:00 PM
Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI) vs Jurgen MELZER (AUT)
Tommy ROBREDO (ESP) vs Novak DJOKOVIC (SRB)
Radek STEPANEK (CZE) vs Roger FEDERER (SUI)

Starting at 8:30 PM
Rafael NADAL (ESP) vs Robin SODERLING (SWE)
Daniele BRACCIALI (ITA)/Potito STARACE (ITA) vs Max MIRNYI (BLR)/Andy RAM (ISR)

CAMPO 1

Starting At: 1:00 PM
Juan MONACO (ARG) vs Marin CILIC (CRO)

Not Before 2:30 PM
Juan Martin DEL POTRO (ARG) or Viktor TROICKI (SRB) vs Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI)
Gilles SIMON (FRA) vs Mischa ZVEREV (GER)
Richard GASQUET (FRA) or Ernests GULBIS (LAT) vs Fernando VERDASCO (ESP)

CAMPO 5

Starting At: 1:00 PM
Marcelo MELO (BRA)/Andre SA (BRA) vs Bruno SOARES (BRA)/Kevin ULLYETT (ZIM)
Mariusz FYRSTENBERG (POL)/Marcin MATKOWSKI (POL) vs Julien BENNETEAU (FRA)/Jo-Wilfried TSONGA (FRA)
James BLAKE (USA)/Mardy FISH (USA) vs Daniel NESTOR (CAN)/Nenad ZIMONJIC (SRB)

Not Before 4:00 PM
Bob BRYAN (USA)/ Mike BRYAN (USA) vs Julian KNOWLE (AUT)/Jurgen MELZER (AUT)

CAMPO 6

Starting At: 2:00 PM
Lukas DLOUHY (CZE)/Leander PAES (IND) vs Ivo KARLOVIC (CRO)/Dusan VEMIC (SRB)

Not Before 3:30 PM
To Be Arranged
Jeff COETZEE (RSA)/Jordan KERR (AUS) vs Flavio CIPOLLA (ITA)/Fabio FOGNINI (ITA) or
Tomas BERDYCH (CZE)/Nicolas KIEFER (GER)

Not Before 3:30 PM
To Be Arranged
Simone BOLELLI (ITA)/Andreas SEPPI (ITA) vs Mahesh BHUPATHI (IND)/Mark KNOWLES (BAH)

STUTTGART

Center Court (from 14.00hrs)
1. Szavay vs. Dementieva
2. Kuznetsova vs. Li
3. Jankovic vs. Lisicki (NB 18.15hrs)
4. Safina vs. Hantuchova
5. Pennetta vs. Petrova

Court 1 (from 14.00hrs)
1. Wozniacki vs. Bartoli
2. Pironkova vs. A.Radwanska
3. Ruano Pascual/Zheng vs. Borwell/Kops-Jones
4. Petkovic/Woehr vs. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova

FES

Court Mjid (from 11.00hrs)
1. Hercog vs. Kleybanova
2. Makarova vs. Domachowska
3. Czink vs. Hradecka
4. Medina Garrigues vs. Domínguez Lino

Court 1 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Ani/Vinci vs. Hercog/Olaru (after suitable rest)
2. Groth/Zakopalova vs. Kondratieva/Lefèvre (after suitable rest)

Court 5 (after suitable rest)
1. Pin/Védy vs. Kleybanova/Makarova

Four Words: STFU

You did not just call out Momo.

It’s on.

Kleybanova Blogs from Fes

I just noticed Alisa Kleybanova is blogging from Fes this week.

My favourite bit? Responding to a question about her hobbies:

And I don’t do this as much now, but at home I used to like making things out of beads, and if anyone has noticed my bracelet, I made it myself

Uh-oh … she’s the crafty type!

I don’t know why this makes me like her, but it does.

Quick Hits: Kei On Kourt

Nick Bollettieri’s blog is reporting that Kei Nishikori is back training for the clay-court season.

For the first time in five weeks, Japanese tennis sensation, Kei Nishikori, took the court to practice. Nishikori hasn’t played an ATP tournament since Indian Wells and hasn’t practiced due to the arm injury. This morning he was on the red-clay court at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy with his coach Glenn Weiner preparing for the European clay-court season. It was great to see Kei back out on the court, and you could tell by his smile that he is happy to be back!

Kei is also on the entry list for the Serbian Open.

For more info, go here.

(thanks to greenhopper for the heads up)

Quick Hits: As Usual, LaRosa Says It Best

So I love James LaRosa’s Sweet Spot blog for the Tennis Channel. And this week, he’s pretty much voicing my feelings.

Marat Safin, as a big big fan, I say this from the bottom of my heart. Please retire.

It’s as simple as this: I can’t take it anymore. This week you coughed up your third 5-2 lead in a month (against Gael Monfils in Miami, Nicolas Lapentti in Monte Carlo and now Tommy Robredo in Rome) …

To be going out with such a pouty-faced whimper is even more garish juxtaposed with the fact that your sister Dinara is sitting pretty as the No. 1 player in the world. And she got to No. 1 by, oh I don’t know, fighting back at 2-5 more than once at the French Open alone. It took her to the final. Fighting back at match point down took her to the final in Melbourne as well. Even when her game is off (in the same spectacular way yours careens off the rails), she fights. Just like you used to do.

Marat, you’re awesome. And in my mind you’ll always be awesome. But I feel like I’m watching someone do their final lap with a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of Stoli in the other. I can’t fight for someone who doesn’t fight for himself.

Go read the whole thing, if you haven’t already.

Rome Results: Weirdness Abounds

Seeds went toppling (do seeds topple?) right and left today. The biggest upset was definitely Pico beating Murray despite the 54 ranking places currently separating them. He looked like a mess in the first set but got his game together, played some great points, and generally deserves a new hairnet for this day’s work.

The hottest man won.

What else happened? Paul-Henri Mathieu upset David Ferrer and then lost to Mischa Zverev, which is possibly the weirdest day’s work in tennis history. Melzer upset Davydenko (so much for my predictions), Gasquet put out Tsonga and then Gulbis, and Fernando Verdasco somehow managed to drop a set to Mardy Fish, something for which he should be severely punished (and not in a sexy way). And Gilles Simon won a match. Stop the presses.

What else? Some guys called, like, Roger and Rafa won. And much more importantly, THIS GUY:

He sucks marginally less than Troicki.

I’m so proud.

Singles – Second Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d A Seppi (ITA) 62 63
[2] R Federer (SUI) d I Karlovic (CRO) 64 64
[Q] J Monaco (ARG) d [4] A Murray (GBR) 16 63 75
[6] F Verdasco (ESP) d M Fish (USA) 64 57 63
J Melzer (AUT) d [7] N Davydenko (RUS) 75 76(5)
[10] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] M Youzhny (RUS) 63 76(5)
[12] F Gonzalez (CHI) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 64 64
[13] T Robredo (ESP) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 62 76(5)
[15] M Cilic (CRO) d C Rochus (BEL) 60 57 62
R Soderling (SWE) d [Q] V Crivoi (ROU) 61 67(2) 61
[Q] M Zverev (GER) d P Mathieu (FRA) 36 76(5) 60
[16] R Stepanek (CZE) d F Lopez (ESP) 62 61
[8] G Simon (FRA) d [WC] F Fognini (ITA) 67(6) 62 63
R Gasquet (FRA) d E Gulbis (LAT) 62 16 64
[5] J Del Potro (ARG) d V Troicki (SRB) 63 61 63

Singles – First Round
R Gasquet (FRA) d [9] J Tsonga (FRA) 76(2) 64
P Mathieu (FRA) d [11] D Ferrer (ESP) 63 26 62
[16] R Stepanek (CZE) vs F Serra (FRA) 76(1) 46 75

Doubles- First Round
[WC] D Bracciali (ITA) / P Starace (ITA) d A Montanes (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 62 76(8)
[WC] F Cipolla (ITA) / F Fognini (ITA) vs T Berdych (CZE) / N Kiefer (GER)
[Alt] I Karlovic (CRO) / D Vemic (SRB) d F Cermak (CZE) / S Huss (AUS) 76(6) 57 10-8
J Blake (USA) / M Fish (USA) d S Aspelin (SWE) / W Moodie (RSA) 76(4) 61
M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) d R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) 75 62
[Alt] S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) vs F Lopez (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP)

But I'm a Cheerleader!

Richie gets an honourable mention for winning two tough matches today. Even though they were tough matches against players I like. Grrr.

Save the cheerleader, save the world.