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.

Fed Cup First Round Preview

Italy v Australia

H2H: 0-5

Venue: Domain Tennis Centre, Hobart, Australia

Italy (defending champions): Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci, Corrado Barrazzutti (captain)

Australia: Samantha Stosur, Jarmila Groth, Anastasia Rodionova, Rennae Stubbs, David Taylor (captain)

Saturday OOP: Groth v Schiavone, Pennetta v Stosur

Russia v France

H2H: 5-3

Venue: Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia

Russia: Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Dinara Safina, Shamil Tarpischev (captain)

France: Alize Cornet, Virginie Razzano, Pauline Parmentier, Julie Coin, Nicolas Escude (captain) 

Saturday OOP: Kuznetsova v Cornet, Sharapova v Razzano

Slovak Republic v Czech Republic

H2H: 0-3

Venue: Sibamac Arena, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Slovak Republic: Daniela Hantuchova, Dominika Cibulkova, Magdalena Rybarikova, Jana Cepelova, Matej Liptak (captain)

Czech Republic: Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Barbora Zahlalova Strycova, Kveta Peschke, Petr Pala (captain)

Saturday OOP: Hantuchova v Safarova, Cibulkova v Kvitova

Belgium v USA

H2H: 1-5

Venue: Sportpalais Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Belgium: Kim Clijsters, Yanina Wickmayer, Kirsten Flipkens, An-Sophie Mestach, Sabine Appelmans (captain)

U.S.A: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, Vania King, Liezel Huber, Mary Joe Fernandez (captain)

Saturday OOP: Wickmayer v Mattek-Sands, Clijsters v Oudin

It’s going to be a good weekend …

RG Day Three: So, Yeah

Just checking out what I missed while I did things yesterday (working, drinking and buying bosom-accenting clothes for Queens, if you must know.)

David won in straight sets. However, based on the photos, his shirt did not fly up nearly enough. Must try harder, David.

Old guys winning and flashing a bit of bellyflesh. That’s the stuff.

Every so often I remember Daniela Hantuchova exists. Then I forget again.

 

Andy Roddick and Jarkko Nieminen went five sets before Roddick emerged victorious. Despite being on tour together since the year dot, this was their first ATP match. I hear a rumour that Nieminen beat Roddick like 60 63 or something during RG juniors, but I can’t be bothered to look it up right now. What am I, the fact girl? Leave me alone, I’ve got a headache.

Am I still drunk, or does this work a bit?

Hi, Gianni Mina!

Bye, Gianni Mina!

Don’t even get me started on this one.

ATP

Singles – First Round
[2] R Nadal (ESP) d G Mina (FRA) 62 62 62
[6] A Roddick (USA) d J Nieminen (FIN) 62 46 46 76(4) 63
[7] F Verdasco (ESP) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 64 62 62
[9] D Ferrer (ESP) d D Guez (FRA) 61 63 61
[16] J Ferrero (ESP) d P Cuevas (URU) 64 63 61
R Ginepri (USA) d [18] S Querrey (USA) 46 76(3) 64 62
[22] J Melzer (AUT) d D Sela (ISR) 75 62 64
G Zemlja (SLO) d [26] J Monaco (ARG) 76(6) 36 75 63
[28] L Hewitt (AUS) d J Chardy (FRA) 75 60 64
[30] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d K Beck (SVK) 76(7) 61 61
N Mahut (FRA) d M Zverev (GER) 61 62 64
P Riba (ESP) d M Gicquel (FRA) 63 62 76(5)
A Seppi (ITA) d S Ventura (ESP) 75 64 75
B Kavcic (SLO) d E Schwank (ARG) 36 63 75 40 ret. (heat stroke)
D Istomin (UZB) d B Becker (GER) 75 75 63
F Serra (FRA) d M Russell (USA) 64 60 61
T Gabashvili (RUS) d D Koellerer (AUT) 62 62 61
H Zeballos (ARG) d M Fischer (AUT) 76(6) 67(8) 16 64 86
P Starace (ITA) d I Marchenko (UKR) 67(5) 61 63 63
X Malisse (BEL) vs S Greul (GER) – To Finish 64 76(7) 1-1

WTA

Singles – First Round
Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) d. (9) Dinara Safina (RUS) 36 64 75
(12) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (Q) Ksenia Pervak (RUS) 63 62
(13) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 62 63
(16) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) 61 61
(18) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (Q) Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 61 64
(21) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Alberta Brianti (ITA) 63 61
(22) Justine Henin (BEL) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 64 63
(23) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 61 61
(25) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) 75 64
(29) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Alizé Cornet (FRA) 64 62
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 76(9) 61
Sybille Bammer (AUT) d. Mariana Duque Marino (COL) 60 61
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 61 64
Klara Zakopalova (CZE) d. Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 76(3) 46 62
Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 63 62
Jill Craybas (USA) d. Katie O’Brien (GBR) 60 46 62
(Q) Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) d. Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) 64 63
(LL) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. Vania King (USA) 62 62
(WC) Jarmila Groth (AUS) d. Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 62 63
(WC) Olivia Sanchez (FRA) d. Shenay Perry (USA) 76(4) 60

Doubles – First Round
(1) Williams/Williams (USA/USA) d. Flipkens/Tanasugarn (BEL/THA) 60 61
(3) Huber/Medina Garrigues (USA/ESP) d. Koryttseva/Kustova (UKR/BLR) 26 61 64
(4) Petrova/Stosur (RUS/AUS) d. Pavlovic/Thorpe (FRA/FRA) 64 64
(5) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. Coin/Pelletier (FRA/CAN) 61 63
(6) Black/Vesnina (ZIM/RUS) d. Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy (ESP/USA) 46 63 63
(8) Kleybanova/Schiavone (RUS/ITA) d. Beltrame/Fedossova (FRA/FRA) 60 62
(9) Mattek-Sands/Yan (USA/CHN) d. Bacsinszky/Garbin (SUI/ITA) 63 63
(11) Kirilenko/Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Chang/Rybarikova (TPE/SVK) 61 61
(15) Govortsova/Kudryavtseva (BLR/RUS) d. Cirstea/Razzano (ROU/FRA) 62 62
Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) d. Gullickson/Hercog (USA/SLO) 63 62
Azarenka/Zvonareva (BLR/RUS) d. Czink/Parra Santonja (HUN/ESP) 61 63
Hantuchova/Wozniacki (SVK/DEN) d. Malek/Petkovic (GER/GER) 75 76(8)
Cornet/Rezai (FRA/FRA) d. Grandin/Spears (RSA/USA) 63 46 62
Safarova/Wozniak (CZE/CAN) d. Arvidsson/Kerber (SWE/GER) 62 75
Cibulkova/Goerges (SVK/GER) d. Cohen-Aloro/Parmentier (FRA/FRA) 36 62 61
Kondratieva/Uhlirova (RUS/CZE) d. Dzehalevich/Voracova (BLR/CZE) 64 62
Kvitova/Voegele (CZE/SUI) d. Daniilidou/Hsieh (GER/TPE) 75 76(1)
Kulikova/Sevastova (RUS/LAT) d. Jans/Schnyder (POL/SUI) 67(4) 64 63

Fed Cup: The Green/Blue/Red Grass/Hard/Clay of Home

Italy will face the US in a repeat of last year’s Fed Cup final after the doubles pairing of Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the deciding rubber against Russia’s Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva.

USA 3 – Russia 2

A well-deserved flag-bearing role for Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Heading into Sunday, the tie was poised 1-1 with Melanie Oudin and Elena Dementieva winning in straights on the opening day. But Demmy once again proved her Fed Cup credentials by recovering from a bizarre second-set bagel to take the match 63 in the third.

Fed Cup singles debutante Ekaterina Makarova was unable to close out the tie, however, falling to Mattek-Sands in a three-set defeat that left her in tears.

The devastated Makarova was benched for the doubles in favour of Alla Kudryavtseva and the gamble did not pay off, with the Russians never really in the match that Mattek-Sands and Huber won comfortably, 63 61, to kick off the celebrations in Alabama.

Congratulations indeed. Russia may not exactly have fielded their strongest team, but given the continuing and high-profile absences from the American team, it speaks volumes for their camaraderie and commitment that they’ve made their second Fed Cup final in as many years.

Unfortunately, unless something drastic changes, it’s hard to see the final going differently this time than it did in 2009. Admittedly the US will be the hosts and have a choice of surface, but it’s hard to see hard courts as disadvantaging the Italians, and Schiavone at least is no slouch on grass. And the final is right after the year-end championships, so those high-profile absences are probably set to continue. Basically I’m saying we can expect to see more of this:

And why not? Love those two.

Fed Cup Sunday: Amer-”I Can”

France 1 – USA 4

Take a bow, Melanie Oudin. Having lost her last six matches (and only winning 1 since the US Open), Oudin backed up her defeat of Pauline Parmentier on Saturday by defeating Julie Coin – subbed in for the floundering Alize Cornet – 76(3) 64 to clinch the tie for the USA.

It’ll be Russia next for the Stars & Stripes. Betting now open on who from both sides will actually show up.

Fed Cup Saturday

Early rounds of Fed Cup are just such a feast. I saw so much great tennis today.

Ukraine 1 – Italy 1

The Bondarenko girls, carrying the fate of the Ukraine on their shoulders, met with mixed fortunes today. Alona – a.k.a the Blondarenko – demolished a discombobulated Schiavone, 61 64, before Flavia Pennetta steadied the ship and took out the browner-enko in straights, evening up the tie heading into Sunday.

Czech Republic 1 – Germany 1

The intermittently-brilliant Anna-Lena Groenefeld demolished the fairly-invariably-awful Lucie Safarova, 62 62, before Petra Kvitova evened it up against Andrea Petkovic. Kvitova and Petkovic have had a couple of big wins each over the last year or so, but Kvitova was much the steadier against an inconsistent Petkovic. Good tie to keep an eye on tomorrow, I think.

Has a great twitter.

Has a great kit.

Serbia 1 – Russia 1

Woe for the hosts after a decidedly sub-par Ivanovic went down pretty tamely to a B-grade Kuznetsova, 61 64. Luckily for the home nation, foxy JJ in her red dress was up next; after getting in her own way for a set and a bit, she came within a point of going 1-5 down in the second before suddenly finding her feet and reeling off eleven straight games against a staggering Kleybanova to take the match 46 64 60 and leave the tie intriguingly poised (as Robbie and Jason would say).

France 0 – USA 2

Who here misses Alize Cornet? I mean the 2008 Alize Cornet, when emotional intensity was actually coupled to some sort of, you know, game. Now she’s like some psychological cloud of shrapnel, where her opponent’s best chance of beating her is to let her get ahead and then watch her implode, or failing that just turn up. Meaning no disrespect to Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who beat her in straight sets and hockey socks too.

Melanie Oudin gave the US a 2-0 lead by beating Pauline Parmentier, who is inexplicably La Belle France‘s no. 2 player. They’re almost as good as us at eating their own young. Almost.

In World Group II action … Estonia and the Slovak Republic are both 2-0 up over Argentina and China respectively. Poland are 1-1 with Belgium heading in to the Agnieszka Radwanska-Yanina Wickmayer rubber, which I for one am eagerly anticipating. And Australia are 1-1 with Spain after events which I feel can be best demonstrated by the following photos of Casey Dellacqua.

And a good time was had by all.

USO Day Three: Everything Else

So what else happened yesterday? Lleyton Hewitt beat Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets to set up a match with Federer that will probably go as well as the last thirteen or whatever. David Ferrer dropped a set to Albert Martin but came through in four, and Gilles Simon beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straights. Yay.

On the WTA side, Daniela Hantuchova survived a tough challenge from Timea Bacsinszky to come through in three for a match with Vania King, and Kim Clijsters beat Marion Bartoli for the second time since her comeback, bouncing back from the loss of the first set to take the second and third comprehensively. Good stuff.

Anna Chakvetadze played an excellent first set against Vera Zvonareva, but then faded dramatically to lose in three.

And Bethanie Mattek-Sands not only lost to Venus Williams – she wore this.

Dear lord.

Image is Everything: Even More Super Fed Cup Sunday

More hot Fed Cup action.

What a warrior.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love Schiavone a little bit. At least in her Fed Cup incarnation.

Who said there’s no sisterhood in the WTA?

SEXISTS. That’s who.

And now, according to ancient custom, Fran will be sacrificed to the tennis gods.

But look at her face, she’s loving it.

For Christ’s sake, have a sandwich, Lucie.

Sorry, where are you from?

I love Liesel. Bethanie’s clearly like, “Back away slowly.”

But she goes with the love in the end!

The old ‘levitating racquet’ picture. Still funny.

Is Sabine laughing in the middle of a point? So nice to see them when they’re still young and joyful.

MOMO CARES NOT FOR YOUR LAWS OF GRAVITY.

French veterans, coming atcha.

Race you to the wine cellar!

 Proof positive that all good things involve Momo and the Marseillaise in some form.

If they were just trampling some Nazis, this would be the best photo ever.

Blue Steel. Serbian style.