Li Na Takes Edgbaston Title

Li Na d. Maria Sharapova, 75 61

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t see any of this tournament apart from the final. According to reports, however, Maria’s performance today was something of a drop from the standard set throughout the week, as she found herself outserved and outplayed by Li Na (who beat her in the semifinals last year). Cracking match from Li Na and a well-deserved title.

Also a well-deserved gravy boat.

RG Day Five: Boo, You Whore

Have a collection of faces which really sum the experience of Thursday at Roland Garros. Or at least trying to watch it during one’s rather narrow tennis-watching window.

All these sad puppies and a few more had matches called off for lack of light after waiting forever to get on to court. As a consequence, today’s OOP and the weekend schedule is likely to be a nuts.

Speaking of nuts …

Despite multiple rain delays, Andy Murray managed to finish his Wednesday-started match against Juan Ignacio Chela, winning in four, 62 67(5) 63 62. I didn’t see how he played and honestly I don’t really care. He’s through and that’s a cause for celebration.

Right?

No rest for the grumpy, though; he should be back about 2 this afternoon against Marcos Baghdatis. Dangerous days.

Incidentally, I’ve stopped shouting out to Steve Tignor until he stops describing Marin as ‘solid’ (we’re locked in a battle of wills, although he may not know it). But I absolutely love what he wrote about watching Murray yesterday. He not only makes an excellent point about the underrated physicality and power of Murray’s game, but I think he’s really insightful regarding the mental gymnastics that an essentially negative person has to go through in order to make themselves approach a match positively. I liked it, anyway. (But Marin is still NOT solid.)

Weekend WTA Winners: Sharapova, Dulgheru

Before I talk about who did what today at Roland Garros, it seems apposite to quickly mention the ladies who won titles this weekend. First up, some much-needed match wins for Maria Sharapova, who defeated Kristina Barrois to take the Strasbourg title.

She’s going to need whatever momentum and confidence she’s gained, considering her loaded section of the draw. Best of luck to her in Paris.

Meanwhile in Warsaw Alexandra Dulgheru underlined how far she’s come in a year, defending the title she won last year as a qualifier by defeating Zheng Jie in the final.

Well done to her.

WTA Madrid: Sharapova, Henin Out Already

Remember when I said this shit was going to be bananas? And then that it already was? Well, further credence has been leant to that theory.

Maria Sharapova’s first match since Indian Wells didn’t go so well, as she was shown the door by Lucie Safarova, 64 63. Given that Maria was making her comeback from her surgery about this time last year (Warsaw, if memory serves), it’s a bit worrying that she hasn’t really seemed to kick on from what she achieved in 2009. But Safarova is a tough draw and as usual, Sharapova displays nothing but good sense, determination and a healthy sense of propotion (and I’m actually not being sarcastic):

After this setback, she started with the usual platitudes about being too slow off the mark; wishing she had more matches under her belt and moving forward.

Then someone asked her if it was a pain for her to have to change her travel arrangements because of this early loss. Weren’t the logistics a bit difficult?

“That’s why we get paid so well,” she shot back and then went on to reveal a little about her philosophy of life.

“We don’t get paid because everything is brought to us on a gold plate every single day. We don’t wake up in the morning with someone brushing the clay off our shoes. We go out there and we work as many hours as we need to become better. There’s no real secret to success. People ask you why you won this and why you became that. I don’t know. That’s the way life goes. Why is this a difficult period for me? I don’t know. It’s a lesson.

“I still have to go out tomorrow and change my flights and it’s not a big deal – I mean it is a big deal but it’s just another thing. The bottom line is that you rely on a strong family back home. Because realistically a tennis match is a tennis match. We hit a yellow tennis ball with a racket and it’s actually quite funny when you think about it. But that’s my life at the moment and I enjoy doing it and I know what comes with it.”

(Confession: I can’t find the article that this came from – I found it courtesy of thedoublebagel‘s twitter. But I liked the quotes too much not to use it.)

Things didn’t go much better for Justine Henin, who was shown the door by Aravane Rezai in a match that included a third-set bagel. Henin was suffering from a cold but it’s still a huge win for Rezai, who’s a big favourite of mine. Good stuff from her.

Agnieszka Radwanska and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova both notched up solid wins too over Maria Kirilenko and Daniela Hantuchova respectively. And streaming starts from tomorrow …

Results

Singles – First Round
(4) Venus Williams (USA) d. (Q) Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 64 62
(9) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 62 62
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (11) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 64 63
(15) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (Q) Alizé Cornet (FRA) 62 62
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. Justine Henin (BEL) 46 75 60
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d. (Q) Iveta Benesova (CZE) 62 62
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 64 76(2)
Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (LL) Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 75 62
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d. Melinda Czink (HUN) 61 ret. (left shoulder injury)
Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. (Q) Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 62 61

Doubles – First Round
Chan/Zheng (TPE/CHN) d. (5) Black/Vesnina (ZIM/RUS) 60 76(6)
Chuang/King (TPE/USA) d. Errani/Vinci (ITA/ITA) 60 64
Rodionova/Schnyder (AUS/SUI) d. Govortsova/Kudryavtseva (BLR/RUS) 16 76(1) 105
Ruano Pascual/Shaughnessy (ESP/USA) d. (WC) García Vidagany/Soler Espinosa (ESP/ESP) 63 76(6)
(WC) Safina/Szavay (RUS/HUN) d. Amanmuradova/Hsieh (UZB/TPE) 26 63 108

OOP

Manolo Santana (from 12.00hrs)
1. Serena Williams vs. Vera Dushevina
2. ATP: Robert vs. Monfils (NB 14.00hrs)
3. ATP: Kubot vs. López (NB 16.00hrs)
4. ATP: Moyá vs. Becker (NB 20.00hrs)
5. Dinara Safina vs. Klara Zakopalova (NB 21.30hrs)

Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (from 11.00hrs)
1. Zheng Jie vs. Anabel Medina Garrigues
2. Virginia Ruano Pascual vs. Arantxa Parra Santonja (NB 14.00hrs)
3. ATP: Dolgopolov Jr. vs. Seppi
4. ATP: Kohlschreiber vs. Giraldo
5. ATP: Almagro vs. Troicki (NB 17.00hrs)
6. ATP: Gimeno-Traver vs. Fish/Knowles

Stadium 3 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Peng Shuai vs. Victoria Azarenka
2. ATP: Anderson vs. Melzer (NB 14.00hrs)
3. ATP: Mayer vs. Benneteau
4. Petra Kvitova vs. Caroline Wozniacki (NB 17.15hrs)
5. Vera Zvonareva vs. Venus Williams

Court 4 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Elena Vesnina vs. Nadia Petrova
2. Sorana Cirstea vs. Flavia Pennetta
3. Samantha Stosur vs. Gisela Dulko
4. Cirstea/Peng vs. Rosolska/Shvedova (after suitable rest)

Court 5 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Mattek-Sands/Yan vs. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova
2. Francesca Schiavone vs. Sybille Bammer
3. Li Na vs. Beatriz García Vidagany
4. Garbin/Kops-Jones vs. Peer/Schiavone (after suitable rest)

Court 6 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Akgul Amanmuradova vs. Alisa Kleybanova
2. Agnes Szavay vs. Patty Schnyder
3. Dushevina/Makarova vs. Kirilenko/Radwanska (after suitable rest)

Indian Wells: What’s Going On?

So, I missed a lot. A lot of kind of surprising losses. Marin Cilic lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 76(1) 60; that was pretty surprising. I thought he’d got over random losses to opponents he should take care of easily enough. Obviously not, or maybe he was just that keen to get on to Miami and “work” with Goran again. Moving on. Justine Henin lost 62 16 64 to Gisela Dulko, who went on to lose 61 60 to Agnieszka Radwanska.

Because that happens.

Similarly mixed fortunes for battling British qualifier Elena Baltacha, who did incredibly well to beat Li Na in three sets, scoring the first top 10 win of her career – and then lost 60 62 to wildcard Alicia Molik.

Because that … happens.

Gael Monfils, meanwhile, never the most reliable or consistent of players, still surprised in losing to Simon Greul 16 62 63.

This actually does happen.

And Svetlana Kuznetsova took being the top seed on the women’s side about as well as could have been expected, losing in three sets to Carla Suarez Navarro in her first match.

And Maria Sharapova found herself a victim of Zheng Jie’s indomitable (when she feels like it) spirit, falling 63 26 63.

Roger Federer, meanwhile, won everything.

Maria Takes Memphis Title

Congratulations to Maria Sharapova, who notched up her first wins of the year this week and ended with the title, beating Sofia Arvidsson 62 61. She hasn’t dropped a set all week. Obviously she’s not been facing top-tier opposition, but at least she’s had a few matches where things seem to have been clicking.

Congratulations to Maria on her 21st title.

You’ll never be short of an indistinguishable large crystal vase thingy in her house.

Your Tennis News Round-Up: Who’s In …

Shahar Peer, mainly.

She’s now beaten Yanina Wickmayer, top seed Caroline Wozniacki, and now Li Na after the latter was forced to retire with a back injury trailing 75 30. She may be surrounded by a small fleet of bodyguards and yet to play on the main court, there may be bizarre Twitter assassination nonsense going on, but Shahar is doing her job and doing it incredibly well under difficult circumstances. Good girl.

Victoria Azarenka had an impressive 61 63 over Vera Zvonareva, a titlist last week in Pattaya City and the conqueror of Jelena Jankovic one round earlier. Before today, Azarenka was 1 for 4 against Zvonareva. Nice to see her making inroads in the head-to-head.

Agnieszka Radwanska is also having a quietly impressive tournament, bagelling Flavia Pennetta and then earning a three-set win over Regina Kulikova, who took out Svetlana Kuznetsova. And props to Venus Williams for overcoming temporary nemesis Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to progress to the semi-finals.

 In Memphis, Maria Sharapova is into the quarterfinals, which means she’s won her first matches of 2010. She’ll be hoping to join Anne Keothavong, playing her first proper tournament since her extended lay-off with that knee injury, who beat Karolina Sprem in straights to progress to the semifinals. But another Brit, Elena Baltacha, stands in her way …

On the men’s side, Andy Roddick is the only top seed left after he defeated James Blake. He’ll be facing Lu later for a place in the semifinals.

Jo and Gael will be facing off in Marseilles after they both had tough wins today over Ouanna and Seppi respectively.

And I have no idea what’s going on in Bogota or Buenos Aires. But the latter seems to have involved wins for Boss and Ferru, so I’m in favour, in general.

 

AO Day One: Best of the Pressers

Just a few quotes I liked from today’s press room action …

Q. What do you say to yourself now in order to recover, let’s say, psychologically from a defeat which is painful, I guess?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Uhm, that it’s a bad day and you have to get on with your life. You know, there are many worse situations in life. There are people that don’t even know what a tennis match is in the world.

You know, just a bad day. A bad day’s not going to stop me from doing what I love. I’m still gonna go back on the court and work hard and perform. I’ll be back here on a Saturday of the second week, so you’ll watch.

Actually the whole thing is brilliant. You should read it.

Q. Did you resent having to play qualifying?

YANINA WICKMAYER: What does ‘resent’ mean?

Q. Your boyfriend plays Federer. Have you had a word about how to take down the big guns?

MARIA KIRILENKO: Yeah, he had Federer and I have Sharapova. I think before the matches he said that we can start the year like loud, you know (laughter). And I already start the year loud, I think. So now his turn.

Q. You seem a bit slimmer than last year, a bit lighter.

RAFAEL NADAL: Can we bring scales tomorrow? Everybody ask me the same. If we bring something here, I gonna put… I have the same weight than last year. I weigh the same five years ago. I didn’t change.

Q. But you are playing well, too, now.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: You’re asking me or you’re telling me?

Q. Telling you or asking you. Whatever.

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Telling me. Thank you (laughter.)

Q. Did you take a tumble out there?

ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I ran into one of those immovable objects called a referee. He wasn’t giving up any ground. I didn’t see him. He wasn’t really trying to do much to get out of the way.

Q. Has that ever happened to you before?

ANDY RODDICK: No. No. I don’t think so. Normally they see a player running full speed, they decide to at least move or catch the player. You know, I felt like he was trying out for WWE or something, just letting me go.

That Didn’t Take Long

The first major upset of the 2010 Australian Open actually happened in the first match, as Maria Kirilenko upset 14th seed Maria Sharapova 76(4) 36 64.

Bad day at the office for Shazza, who was markedly nervy and inconsistent; would she have done better to play an actual tournament rather than the Hong Kong exo? As it was, this was her first competitive match since Beijing.

All credit to Maria Kirilenko though. She’s been looking resurgent in fits and starts ever since the US Open, but I have never seen her play better than she did last night. I never thought she would have the requisite toughness to go toe-to-toe with Sharapova for three sets but she proved me wrong and frequently made Sharapova look a fool around the net.

Good work.

Australian Open: You Can’t Stop It

Is anybody else having a slightly difficult time getting their heads around the fact that the Australian Open is, like, next week? No? Just me, then.

Anyway, it is, and the players have been out on the practice courts in Melbourne to prove it.

Mr. Incredible.

Venus just showed up to be serene at you.

Justine … didn’t.

Andy Roddick sweats a lot.

Andy Murray mucks about a lot.

Kim wears a lot.

And Masha proves again that she’s ten times prettier just practicing …

… than she is selling earrings or whatever the hell is going on here.

Kolya, meanwhile, continues with the grand plan.

They’ll never see him coming.