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.

Like the Oscars, But More Meaningful

The 2010 Sony Ericsson WTA Player Awards were given out yesterday in Miami, with Serena picking up Player of the Year; Serena and Venus jointly taking Doubles Team/Fan Favourite Doubles Team of the Year; Kim Clijsters nabbing Comeback and Sportsmanship, Yanina Wickmayer taking Most Improved, Melanie Oudin Newcomer of the Year, and Elena Dementieva winning Fan Favourite Singles Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Horacio Zeballos picked up the ATP award for Breakthrough of the Year, or something along those lines. I don’t know, I just like looking at his gentle eyes.

I feel like he would gently stroke your hair. For hours. Without being asked.

Miami: Tuesday Results, Wednesday’s OOP

(Thank you so much to the magnificent IRTTY for her sneak infiltration in the last post, and to everyone who commented. You guys.)

So … I kind of lied when I said this thing started on Wednesday. Bygones!

Results

Women’s Singles – First Round
M Rybarikova (SVK) d L Hradecka (CZE) 36 64 62
S Cirstea (ROU) d [WC] M Larcher de Brito (POR) 75 76(9)
G Dulko (ARG) d O Govortsova (BLR) 64 61
L Safarova (CZE) d K Kanepi (EST) 67(1) 64 63
Y Shvedova (KAZ) d [WC] A Tomljanovic (CRO) 67(1) 76(3) 75
S Peng (CHN) d V King (USA) 64 16 63
[WC] A Molik (AUS) d A Harkleroad (USA) 61 61
A Kudryavtseva (RUS) d V Dushevina (RUS) 46 61 64
P Hercog (SLO) d B Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 63 60
[WC] P Martic (CRO) d J Coin (FRA) 57 76(1) 63
P Kvitova (CZE) d T Garbin (ITA) 64 64
A Dulgheru (ROU) d I Olaru (ROU) 61 63

Women’s Qualifying – Final Round
S Arvidsson (SWE) d [WC] C Vandeweghe (USA) 62 75
C Dellacqua (AUS) d D Kustova (BLR) 62 62
A Morita (JPN) d M Duque Marino (COL) 62 75
V Lepchenko (USA) d A Sevastova (LAT) 61 30 ret.
A Rodionova (AUS) d R de Los Rios (PAR) 46 64 61
E Baltacha (GBR) d Y Chan (TPE) 64 76(6)
M Koryttseva (UKR) d K Flipkens (BEL) 63 61
R Kulikova (RUS) d K Woerle (GER) 61 61
T Pironkova (BUL) d K Sprem (CRO) 76(3) 61
B Mattek-Sands (USA) d A Kerber (GER) 64 60
M Krajicek (NED) d K O’ Brien (GBR) 64 62
P Parmentier (FRA) d T Tanasugarn (THA) 63 62

Men’s Qualifying – Final Round
D Istomin (UZB) d S Bohli (SUI) 46 63 63
I Marchenko (UKR) d S Devvarman (IND) 64 63
M Ilhan (TUR) d M Daniel (BRA) 76(1) 62
X Malisse (BEL) d D Young (USA) 61 62
N Massu (CHI) d H Levy (ISR) 64 76(5)
R Schuettler (GER) d K Kim (USA) 76(2) 36 75
R Mello (BRA) d N Lapentti (ECU) 57 64 62
S Giraldo (COL) d R Delgado (PAR) 63 76(1)
A Golubev (KAZ) d I Dodig (CRO) 76(8) 61
Y Lu (TPE) d J Levine (USA) 64 61
K Anderson (RSA) d S Koubek (AUT) 76(5) 61
R Sweeting (USA) d T Alves (BRA) 61 64

(Today’s OOP is brought to you by the WTA Player Council.)

STADIUM start 11:00 am
A Chakvetadze (RUS) vs K Date Krumm (JPN) – WTA
[WC] M Ancic (CRO) vs J Chardy (FRA) – ATP
J Craybas (USA) vs [WC] J Henin (BEL) – WTA
[WC] D Nalbandian (ARG) vs L Kubot (POL) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
[WC] F Krajinovic (SRB) vs J Blake (USA) – ATP
M Oudin (USA) vs [Q] M Krajicek (NED) – WTA

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
E Schwank (ARG) vs M Gicquel (FRA) – ATP
M Llodra (FRA) vs [WC] R Harrison (USA) – ATP
O Rochus (BEL) vs R Gasquet (FRA) – ATP
T Dent (USA) vs [Q] R Schuettler (GER) – ATP

Not Before 5:00 PM
[Q] D Istomin (UZB) vs M Russell (USA) – ATP

COURT 1 start 10:00 am
[WC] A Pivovarova (RUS) vs C Suarez Navarro (ESP) – WTA
K Srebotnik (SLO) vs P Schnyder (SUI) – WTA
S Bammer (AUT) vs [Q] P Parmentier (FRA) – WTA
T Bacsinszky (SUI) vs [Q] B Mattek-Sands (USA) – WTA
G Dulko (ARG) / F Pennetta (ITA) vs [WC] S Kuznetsova (RUS) / A Molik (AUS) – WTA

COURT 2 start 10:00 am
A Clement (FRA) vs G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) – ATP
I Andreev (RUS) vs [Q] X Malisse (BEL) – ATP
E Makarova (RUS) vs [Q] C Dellacqua (AUS) – WTA
[Q] V Lepchenko (USA) vs V Razzano (FRA) – WTA

Not Before 5:00 PM
I Benesova (CZE) vs [Q] E Baltacha (GBR) – WTA

COURT 3 start 10:00 am
S Voegele (SUI) vs A Cornet (FRA) – WTA
A Keothavong (GBR) vs T Paszek (AUT) – WTA
[Q] T Pironkova (BUL) vs [WC] H Watson (GBR) – WTA
[Q] A Rodionova (AUS) vs A Petkovic (GER) – WTA

COURT 6 start 10:00 am
D Koellerer (AUT) vs C Rochus (BEL) – ATP
M Chiudinelli (SUI) vs F Mayer (GER) – ATP
S Greul (GER) vs B Becker (GER) – ATP
P Mathieu (FRA) vs [Q] I Marchenko (UKR) – ATP

COURT 7 start 10:00 am
T Malek (GER) vs S Errani (ITA) – WTA
M Czink (HUN) vs [WC] A Rus (NED) – WTA
[Q] S Arvidsson (SWE) vs A Brianti (ITA) – WTA
[Q] R Kulikova (RUS) vs R Vinci (ITA) – WTA

COURT 8 start 10:00 am
J Hajek (CZE) vs S Stakhovsky (UKR) – ATP
[Q] A Golubev (KAZ) vs D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) – ATP
K Barrois (GER) vs [Q] M Koryttseva (UKR) – WTA
J Goerges (GER) vs [Q] A Morita (JPN) – WTA

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.

Every Breath You Take

You can’t tell me that’s not a bit creepy.

Anyway, I feel bad now for mocking them, so I shall just mention that Bluber beat Tathiana Garbin and Nadia Petrova 10-3 in the champions’ tiebreak for the Sydney trophy. Well done, and so forth.

Fed Cup Final: Fighting Words

With the draw for the Fed Cup final being held tomorrow, both teams held press conferences in Reggio Calabria.

Team Italy (captain Corrado Barrazzutti, Francesca Schiavone, Roberta Vinci, Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta).

Italy has never beaten the U.S. in nine attempts, but captain Barrazzutti seems pretty confident:

“The players have the right spirit for this type of competition. When they play in Fed Cup, they give something more,” added Barazzutti. [...] “When they play, they don’t play for themselves, they play for their country, for Italy. That makes the difference [...]“

“The fact that the Williams sisters aren’t here won’t change anything. We will be concentrating on the players that are here, not the players that aren’t here,” said Barazzutti, insisting that Italy is ready for the job in hand.

Barrazzutti’s crack team.

Team USA (Liezel Huber, Melanie Oudin, Vania King, Alexa Glatch, team captain Mary-Joe Fernandez)

Fernandez seemed cheerful enough, although she did take a moment to address the Williams question in a not-totally-USA-AOK kind of way:

Fernandez spoke of her “tough week” when she received two separate calls from world No. 1 Serena and No. 6 Venus Williams informing her of their decision not to travel to Italy and responded to questions about the impact of their absence on the result this weekend.

“It would have been a big bonus having them here. But having said that, this is the team I know the best and the team that got us here. You want your players to have the same amount of pride as everyone else but you can’t force it on anyone.”

Well …. OK. Anyway, obviously a lot of attention will be focussed on Melanie Oudin, who seems to have committed the unforgivable sin of not winning everything since the US Open.

“Everyone expects me to win everything now after I did good in one tournament. Everyone has ups and downs and I happened to be up at the US Open,” said the smiling Oudin. “I’m playing well again and I’m ready for the psych-up this weekend. We’ve gone through so much and we’ve fought so hard together as a team, so winning this final would mean a lot to me.”

I’m genuinely excited about this one. I think we could get some unexpected drrrrama. Hope there’s a good crowd in.

Bob Bryan & Liesel Huber Take Mixed Doubs

So Bob Bryan (possibly. The caption says that but who the hell knows?) and Liesel Huber won the mixed doubles trophy today.

Hey, America?

Enjoy the killing spree.

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.