It Wouldn’t Be Fed Cup Without Random Picspam.

Team bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Team wholesome.

Team not-remotely-wholesome-but-damn.

Team got-dressed-in-the-dark.

Team hot captain.

Team of contrasts.

Team words of wisdom.

Wimbledon Day 4: Oh Yeah, The Women

No major upsets on the women’s side yet, who by and large are keeping things ticking over nicely, with Serena, Wozniacki, and Sharapova  among the winners on day 4. Still, a few seeds dropped in reasonably quiet fashion.

Technically the biggest upset was Svetlana Kuznetsova’s loss to Anastasia Rodionova, the newly-minted Aussie who beat Anne Keothavong in the opening round. This being Wimbledon, and this being Sveta, I was more surprised that she wouldn’t shake Rodionova’s hand. I find Rodionova’s behaviour on the court pretty obnoxious (albeit not Kristof Vliegen levels of obnoxious), so I’m very much Team Sveta on this one.

Former quarterfinalist Daniela Hantuchova and former semifinalist Zheng Jie both lost as well, to Zahlavova Strycova and Kvitova respectively.

Aravane Rezai also lost to Klara Zakopalova, a.k.a Miss Sulky Pants, but this tournament is still waiting for a really big women’s match. Could day 5 by the way? Justine and Nadia Petrova first up on Centre …

RG Day Five: So … Bye, Then.

I feel a bit like I did recently when I ran into my ex at a party, went out of my way to be friendly and nice, took it well when dismissed me with a promise of finding me for a chat later, only for him to leave without bothering to say goodbye. Well, screw you then.

Sorry. My stuff. What I meant to say is that we’ve unceremoniously lost some of the top ladies without me even having time to really get to grips with the fact that they were there.

Yaroslava Shvedova added another big Slam scalp to her resumee, echoing her defeat of JJ at last year’s US Open by taking out Agnieszka Radwanska in straights. And in an eerie echo of that day when JJ and Licky lost to Shvedova and Rodionova within literally seconds of each other … Vera Zvonareva lost to Anastasia Rodionova.

Whatever.

Alisa Kleybanova, meanwhile, had a crushing 63 60 win over Ana Ivanovic. Frankly I blinked and missed it, but it seems to have been a day to forget for the pumping one.

On you go, Kleybs.

Fed Cup: Warrior Princesses

A little shout-out to some of the performers of the weekend.

How about Fed Cup debutante and recent Australian Anastasia Rodionova, who came back from a bagel to defeat Alona Bondarenko and take the legs out from under the Ukraine team?

Or little Bojana Jovanovski, who beat Magdalena Rybarikova to keep the tie alive?

Sam didn’t face the highest quality of opponents, but gets the nod for delivering two singles points for her team under pressure.

Daniela Hantuchova beat Jovanovski, notched up another victory over JJ in the singles, then teamed up with Magdalena Rybarikova to clich the tie in the doubles. Good girl.

And my lovely Wicky, after being effectively demoted for the comebackers, turned out to be the heroine. She did what Henin and Clijsters between them couldn’t and took two singles points, clinching the tie for Belgium.

Poor Andrea Petkovic. She played so well against Parmentier and then upset Rezai for Germany’s second point, only for a woeful performance with Barrois in the doubles to lose the tie and leave her in tears.

It would be remiss of me, however, not to recognise the fact that Coin and Cornet put in a fantastic performance when it counted.

It would also be remiss of me not to call attention to the hotness of Nicolas Escude.

Consider it done.

Fed Cup Play-offs: Results

Belgium 3 – 2 Estonia

R1 – K.CLIJSTERS (BEL) def. M.ANI (EST)
6-4  6-2
R2 – Y.WICKMAYER (BEL) def. K.KANEPI (EST)
6-2  4-6  6-1
R3 – K.KANEPI (EST) def. J.HENIN (BEL)
6-7(6)  6-4  6-3
R4 – Y.WICKMAYER (BEL) def. M.ANI (EST)
2-6  6-1  6-1
R5 – M.ANI / M.RUUTEL (EST) def. K.FLIPKENS / Y.WICKMAYER (BEL)
2-6  6-4  6-3

Ukraine 0 – 5 Australia

R1 – A.RODIONOVA (AUS) def. A.BONDARENKO (UKR)
0-6  6-3  7-5
R2 – S.STOSUR (AUS) def. M.KORYTTSEVA (UKR)
6-3  6-0
R3 – S.STOSUR (AUS) def. L.KICHENOK (UKR)
7-6(4)  6-3
R4 – A.MOLIK (AUS) def. M.KORYTTSEVA (UKR)
2-6  6-2  7-5
R5 – R.STUBBS / A.RODIONOVA (AUS) def. L.KICHENOK / N.KICHENOK (UKR)
6-2  6-7(2)  6-1

Germany 2 – France 3

R1 – A.PETKOVIC (GER) def. P.PARMENTIER (FRA)
6-3  6-2
R2 – A.REZAI (FRA) def. T.MALEK (GER)
2-6  6-3  6-0
R3 – A.PETKOVIC (GER) def. A.REZAI (FRA)
6-1  7-6(2)
R4 – P.PARMENTIER (FRA) def. J.GOERGES (GER)
7-6(4)  6-4
R5 – J.COIN / A.CORNET (FRA) def. S.LISICKI / A.PETKOVIC (GER)
6-3  6-1

Serbia 2 – Slovakia 3

R1 – J.JANKOVIC (SRB) def. M.RYBARIKOVA (SVK)
7-6(5)  6-3
R2 – D.HANTUCHOVA (SVK) def. B.JOVANOVSKI (SRB)
6-2  6-2
R3 – D.HANTUCHOVA (SVK) def. J.JANKOVIC (SRB)
7-6(2)  7-5
R4 – B.JOVANOVSKI (SRB) def. M.RYBARIKOVA (SVK)
6-1  7-6(4)
R5 – D.HANTUCHOVA / M.RYBARIKOVA (SVK) def. J.JANKOVIC / B.JOVANOVSKI (SRB)
6-4  6-3

USO Day Four: Further Adventures In Misery

At the very same moment that JJ was going down in a third-set tiebreak, Sabine Lisicki was losing to Anastasia Rodionova, 63 36 75.

The only photo of this event, apparently.

Licky played an abysmal first set where she could barely get a first serve in or find the court, and then promptly went down 3-0 in the second. Then she found some composure, picked up her serve a bit, and started finding her shots, taking the second set fairly easily and serving for the match at 5-3 in the third. Then she … well, imploded. Painfully.

It got worse; scrambling to save match point, Licky went over and hit the court screaming in pain. She couldn’t get up and it looked to be an ankle injury. Cue tears, anxiety and her eventually being wheelchaired off. It put the loss in perspective though. I just want her to be healthy! (And, sssh, winning, but mainly healthy).

Anyway, all credit to Rodionova, who I’ve not seen before. She’s a very feisty player with big shots who hung in there and earned her victory.

(Through gritted teeth) Well done to her.

So, to recap … the women’s draw has lost 16 of 32 seeds in total; nos. 4 (Dementieva), 5 (Jankovic), 11 (Ivanovic), 12 (Radwanska), 14 (Bartoli), 15 (Stosur), 16 (Razzano), 17 (Momo), 19 (Schnyder), 20 (Medina Garrigues), 23 (Lisicki), 25 (Kanepi), 27 (Kleybanova), 28 (Bammer), 30 (Bondarenko) and 32 (Schnyder). And it’s only the second round.

Oh yeah, and my two biggest favourites on the WTA side are gone in JJ and Licky. My only hopes for happiness in the next few rounds are Sorana Cirstea and Victoria Azarenka. Who have Wozniacki and Li Na next.

Bugger.