Shtoo-rill II: The Verdasconing

Hey, so. I wrote a thing about Heather Watson for tennis.com and another thing about Alisa Kleybanova which should be up soon. But because I love you, here’s some more pictures courtesy (and copyright) of the fantastic Pedro Mendes of the goings-on in Estoril.

Jarmila Gajdosova sexing it up.

Pablo Cuevas. Likewise.

The very cute Tiago Fernandes, who will one day be a thing, mark my words.

Heather Watson, a.k.a. Our Hev, who had a really tough match today against Tamira Paszek and missed qualifying into the main draw. She was understandably gutted, but we won’t forget her.

Adrian Mannarino and Gaston Elias respectively, both of whom lost today.

Antonio Van Grichen, coach of Vika, Vera and Ivanovic, checking out the craic.

Jo and Marc Gicquel checking out the Chardy-Mannarino match.

Bendy Robin, who has been just a beast on the practice courts.

Dimple close-up during the practice match with Verdasco. Believe me, it wasn’t Verdasco’s tennis that was worrying him.

Verdasco wringing out his shirt. Love the expression on Robin’s face in the second photo.

Verdasco using the world as his washing line. He was not looking good in practice today, I’m told. Tennistically, that is.

Gilles and Yves Allergo playing doubles on Centralito. They lost to Pablo Andujar and Daniel Gimeno-Traver, but the most entertaining part of the match was waiting for Gilles to explode in frustration. Which he duly did, yelling “Ah, this fucking bitch of a line!” during the second set. Comedy gold.

Shtoo-rill

That’s how you pronounce ‘Estoril’, apparently, and that’s where I am, havin’ it large (and sometimes small). I’m doing some writing for other sources but I thought you’d appreciate some photo content.

No, they’re not my photos. I didn’t bring a camera – at least, not one that I can hook up to a computer. (I’m bringing the disposable camera back.) These are courtesy of the fantastic Pedro Mendes and I’m sure you’ll agree he’s a handy man with a lens.

The omnipresent Jeremy Chardy, daring you not to look at his bulge.

The very beautiful Jarmila Groth Gajdisova at the draw ceremony.

The very lovely Heather Watson, who had a great win in qualifying aganst Karolina Sprem and was then nice enough to chat to me afterwards. Forgot to ask if she would be stalking Delpo though.

Speaking of which …

The big man was on cheerful form in practice today, generally goofing around and being a bit lazy. He was cracking those forehands, though. And was promptly engulfed by a crowd of autograph-seeking kids as he left the court.

… No comment.  

(These photos belong to Pedro Mendes, so please don’t steal them.)

One in the Eye.

Great Britain’s Fed Cup team, led by mini powerhouse Heather Watson, have successfully avoided becoming any worse at Fed Cup. Hooray!

Team GB faced Denmark today in a bid to avoid a relegation play-off in the Europe/Africa Group I tie in Eilat. Both teams had lost to Switzerland (led by Patty Schnyder and Timea Bacsinszky), so the loser of this tie had to face a relegation play-off. Amazingly, said team is not Great Britain. After Anne Keothavong lost to Wozniacki 60 62, Watson came back to beat Karen Barbat (no. 543), and then Watson teamed up with Jocelyn Rae to beat Wozniacki and her compatriot Mai Grage 57 75 75 in the deciding doubles – during which, apparently, Watson managed to hit Wozniacki rather hard in the eye, incurring an MTO. UPDATE: courtesy of Miss Wozniacki’s own twitter, there is video here.

Fortunately Wozniacki’s main concern as expressed via twitter seems to be the possibility of a black eye, so I think we can assume she’s OK. Unfortunately Serena is on the case. I hope our Heather doesn’t get a bad rep for this one.

You can catch up on the full results so far from Eilat here. As I understand it, Switzerland will take on the Netherlands, and Poland will take on Belarus in the semi-finals. (Thanks Christina.)

Eastbourne: Love is a Battlefield

Some interesting results from a tournament so loaded it is traditionally total carnage. First up, Aravane Rezai beat Caroline Wozniacki in the Battle of the New Outfits:

Wozniacki’s loss, as defending champion, will put JJ up to no. 3 next week, I hear.

Things did not go a lot better for the almost identically-named Aleksandra Wozniak, who lost in straight sets to plucky young thing Heather Watson in the Battle of Being Nearly the Sole Hope of Your Nation:

C’mon Tim!

The Battle of the Belgians was won by Kim Clijsters in emphatic style, downing the somewhat floundering Yanina Wickmayer 61 61 after returning from her foot injury:

Francesca Schiavone followed in the footsteps of last year’s French Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in losing in the first round, bundled out by Sorana Cirstea in the Battle of Career Highs at Roland Garros:

Sveta herself, meanwhile, survived the Battle of the Russians, beating Alisa Kleybanova 46 75 62. Then she announced she was playing doubles with Rezai at Wimbledon via twitter. That whacky Sveta.

In younger generation news, Victoria Azarenka took out Agnieszka Radwanska in the Battle of Can I Get Past the Wimbledon Quarters This Year? No:

But she does have amazing hair.

And in the Battle of the Careers Plagued By Injury, Elena Baltacha was left standing for once as Li Na, probably exhausted from her efforts in Edgbaston last week, retired after winning the first set, 76(6):

And that was your WTA wackiness for the day.

Meanwhile, on the ATP side, James Ward and Feliciano Lopez duked it out fiercely to see who could confound expectations the most. Ward looked to have an unassailable lead on that front, as he stunned everyone by not only winning the first set but going up a break in the second. Not to be outdone, however, Lopez abruptly retired at 4-5 down, denying Ward the chance to explode spectactularly when serving for it. A Pyrrhic victory at best, one feels.

ATP – Tuesday’s Results

Singles – Second Round
[5] G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d F Fognini (ITA) 62 62
I Marchenko (UKR) d [6] H Zeballos (ARG) 76(2) 63

Singles – First Round
[1] N Almagro (ESP) d L Kubot (POL) 75 76(3)
[WC] J Ward (GBR) d [2] F Lopez (ESP) 63 54 ret. (shoulder)
Y Lu (TPE) d K Beck (SVK) 64 64
R Schuettler (GER) d A Golubev (KAZ) 62 63

Doubles – First Round
[2] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d L Friedl (CZE) / D Vemic (SRB) 76(4) 62
[4] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) d R Hutchins (GBR) / J Kerr (AUS) 63 63
J Benneteau (FRA) / M Llodra (FRA) d [WC] J Delgado (GBR) / D Inglot (GBR) 62 62
L Mayer (ARG) / H Zeballos (ARG) d M Emmrich (GER) / A Siljestrom (SWE) 76(4) 62

WTA – Tuesday’s Results

Singles – First Round
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 64 16 63
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (2) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 75 63
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 76(2) 61
(5) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 61 61
(Q) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (6) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 76(5) 61
(WC) Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. (7) Li Na (CHN) 67(6) ret. (left thigh injury)
Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (Q) Karolina Sprem (CRO) 26 75 76(4)
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Shahar Peer (ISR) 16 61 63
(Q) Heather Watson (GBR) d. (Q) Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 63 62
(WC) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 46 75 62

Doubles – First Round
(1) Huber/Martínez Sánchez (USA/ESP) d. Gallovits/Petrova (ROU/RUS) 62 64
Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy (ESP/USA) d. (WC) Keothavong/South (GBR/GBR) 64 36 107
Black/Hantuchova (ZIM/SVK) d. Amanmuradova/Voracova (UZB/CZE) 63 63
Chan/Zheng (TPE/CHN) d. Dushevina/Makarova (RUS/RUS) 75 06 108
Grandin/Spears (RSA/USA) d. Chuang/Govortsova (TPE/BLR) 76(1) 60

Eastbourne: The New Heather

Huge congratulations to Heather Watson, who backed up her win over Tsvetana Pironkova by defeating Bojana Jovanovski in three sets to reach the main draw of the AEGON International.

The old new Heather, meanwhile, played her first match since her somewhat saddening loss to Schiavone in the French Open final, beating last year’s Heather, Melanie Oudin, in straight sets.

High school is cruel.

Miami: Mixed Fortunes

Three Timettes in action. One won. Elena Baltacha notched up another great win, beating Iveta Benesova 62 64. Brilliant stuff.

You know when you’ve been Bally’d.

No suck luck for the others, though. Anne Keothavong, still struggling to build any momentum after her long injury layoff, fell to Tamira Paszek in straights. And Delpo fangirl Heather Watson lost to Pironkova 64 62 – which is not too shabby for her first WTA main draw match.

Next time, ladies.

It was a mixed bag for the wildcarded sentimental faves returning from injury/illness, too. David ‘El Rey’ Nalbandian disposed of Kubot with nae bother, 63 62, but Mario Ancic turned out to be about the one person Jeremy Chardy can beat these days, falling 64 64. Back to the Futures tour for him.

Outpouted.

AO Day Seven: Watson Stumbles, Robson Rolls

So the US Open Junior champion and fellow del Potro-fancier, Heather Watson, lost in the first round of the girls’ singles. Boo.

But she’ll still be competing in the girls’ doubles with Laura Robson. Who, incidentally, continues to roll with Australian partner Sally Peers, beating Dushevina and Rodionova 63 63 to reach the fourth round.

Go Laura! (and Sally Peers).

And go read this interview, it’s adorable.

Lucky Heather

A nice piece on Heather Watson, the surprise US Open junior girls’ champion, who has made the decision to skip university for now and focus on trying to make it on the tour.

Having won the US Open junior title, Watson is full of optimism. With 15-year-old Laura Robson, the 2008 Wimbledon junior champion, she appears to give British women’s tennis an exciting future. Heather insists the pair are friends, as are their mothers, who regularly sit down to share a pot of tea. “Laura and Heather are pals, there’s no rivalry,” says Michelle. “They are good for one another.”

A week on from her New York success, Heather has had time to celebrate [...] Most importantly, she has decided how the next chapters of her story might unfold. Despite offers of full scholarships from some of the United States’ best academic universities, she has decided she wants to be a full-time touring tennis professional. “It has taken some time to come to this decision. My parents and I spent months talking over the options,” said Heather, who is back in action this weekend in Saguenay, Canada, contesting a tournament that will bring her first pay cheque if she qualifies for the main draw.

“The prospect of university seemed the most sensible; plenty of college tennis plus the chance to get qualifications. Last weekend altered my thinking, though, and with time to reflect I can understand the feeling I got holding that trophy in New York, which was all so buzzy at the time. My dedication to tennis is 100%. I believe I can make it in the game.”

I’m fairly keen on this decision. She seems like she has an incredibly solid and supportive family behind her and if she wants to give the tour a go, why not? I wish her all the best, and that’s not just my desperation for some homegrown tennistical success talking.

I’ve also spent some minutes giggling over this first-class piece of hyperbole from Nick Bollettieri:

“Heather is exemplary as a player and a student,” he said. “She’s come through the trenches, fought like hell, become a champion but always realised the importance of her education. She’s a princess, a scholar and a warrior. A few weeks ago I agreed her best option was to go to college. Now, watching her in New York, I see her vision and agree with it. I want to work with her on a one-to-one basis, give her all my 53 years of coaching experience and I see the future as so exciting.”

She’s also the 60-Second Interview, which has a couple of good moments in it.

So, where do you go from here?
If you gave me three wishes for my career I’d want to be No 1 in the world, win all four grand-slams and be a good role model.

Reach for the stars, sister.

What about “Our Andy”? How do you get on with him?
I’ve never even spoken to Andy Murray. I have sat a few seats down from him in the players’ lounge and I see him at the National Tennis Centre [in Roehampton, southwest London], although I haven’t plucked up the courage to talk to him yet.

Are you listening, Andy? Go be a nice boy and talk to the girl.

And the best bit …

Who do you look up to in tennis?
My favourite players are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martín del Potro — I always really liked him.

A young woman of taste and discretion, clearly. Go girl.

USO Day Fourteen: What’s Your Damage, Heather?

Nothing. She’s solid. Heather Watson beat Yana Buchina 64 61 for the US Open junior girl’s title today.

I think this is the first time a British girl has ever won the juniors at the US Open. And who would have thought the girl in question would be from Guernsey?! Madness.

“When I won, I hadn’t realized I’d won. I thought, ‘Oh, I won the match.’ And then I put my racquet down, and it finally began to sink in. It feels great,” she said. [...]

Asked if she had been inspired by Robson’s win at Wimbledon last year Watson replied: “Definitely. She’s doing really well at a very young age.

“It would have been good to have an all British final, but she had it tough yesterday. It’s really good for British tennis, and we’re starting to come through.”

source

I’ve seen a few interviews with Heather on Sky Sports and she is adorable, sweet and smiley and a bit shy. She talked about what an inspiration her dad is – apparently his mantra is, ‘Whatever happens, I’m proud of you’ – and she had her mum, who looks also awesome, with her in New York. Really well done to her, I’m so pleased.

On the boy’s side, congratulations go to the Atomic B, who picked up another junior Slam with a win over Chase Buchanan (also known as the WC who got torn apart by Tsonga in the first round).

Should he really still be in the juniors?

USO Day Thirteen: Tims Flourish In Rain

Huge congratulations to Heather Watson, who reached the finals of the US Open juniors by defeating top-seeded Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 62 61 and then Daria Gavrilova 63 60.

Sadly Laura Robson couldn’t join her there, falling to Yana Buchina in three sets. But this is an absolutely fantastic result for the 17 year-old from Guernsey. C’mon Tim!