Wimbledon Daze: Upsets

Stick with me while I attempt to catch up on everything that I missed at Wimbledon while I was there. (And yes, I know I may be stretching the definition of ‘upset’ somewhat with some of these …) This is who we’ve lost so far that we wouldn’t have expected to …

Sam Stosur and Francesca Schiavone crashed out to Kaia Kanepi and Vera Dushevina respectively. That’s an entire French Open final gone right there. You’d almost think it was played on a different surface or something.

Verdasco lost to Fognini in five. And still needs a haircut.

Damn Croatians. You’re supposed to be the reliable one, Marin! Although why anyone thinks that, I don’t know. Anyway, I watched this match. It made me sad.

Oh, Boss.

Please don’t let that be your last Wimbledon, OK?

Grass is not Shahar’s best ever surface, it must be said. She lost to Angelique Kerber in three. Still, I’ve been vaguely touting Kerber as a thing-in-waiting, so there’s that.

Big win for bronzed god Daniel Brands, who took out Kolya in straights. Kolya is another one who doesn’t thrive on the grass at all, though. Plus that whole fractured wrist thing.

If a result doesn’t upset anyone, is it still an upset? I’ve decided that this qualifies on the basis that Robin Haase did the upsetting, which means he actually won a match. Shock face.

Not sure what’s the bigger not-really-a surprise, Mel losing in the second round or the fact that she made it.

And how about a big hand for our upsetters …

What depth.

Charleston: Where Everybody Looks Good

I don’t know if it’s the photography (good job, Chris Smith!) or the light or the food or what, but how lovely are these off-court pictures from the Family Circle Cup?

JJ actually looks like she’s having genuine chilled fun.

A Vera sandwich.

(That’s Galina Voskoboeva in the middle, by the way. I’m sure you know that … but I had to look it up.)

Dani’s always lovely, but how often does she look relaxed?

Yes, that is Alona Bondarenko. Looking normal. Looking pleasant. Smiling.

Mallory and Melanie.

I have just realised how pretty Nadia is.

So I think we need to ask ourselves … is Charleston the friendliest, most laid-back tournament on tour, or just the one that serves the most booze with lunch?

Either way, it’s working.

USO Day One: Under the Lights

Drama, drama, drama. Venus Williams flirted with defeat against Vera Dushevina, but eventually pulled it out, 6-3 in the third. She got off to a slow start and called the trainer after three games for attention to her knee; according to twitter, it’s an old injury rather than one which was incurred during the match. It didn’t slow her down too much and she probably would have pulled out the first set, had she not been called for a foot fault. (She was eventually called for foot faults seven times). Still, it’s Venus.

Awful, AWFUL dress.

Tough loss for Vera, but I thought she played very well. She hit some beautiful winners off the backhand side and hung in there until the very end.

After all that, it was time for Rrrrroddick, who rolled over Phau without too much trouble, 61 64 62. Nice homecoming.

Oh, and sadly Jelena Dokic lost in straight sets to Kirsten Flipkens. She’s still trying to put herself back together after suffering from mono.

Can this woman catch a break?

Full men’s results here, women’s here.

Istanbul: Maiden Title for Dushevina

Vera Dushevina won her first WTA title in Istanbul today, beating Lucie Hradecka 60 61. I watched. It was woeful. Good on Dushevina though.

Continuing today’s theme of trophy issues, though … shouldn’t there be a bigger size disparity between the trophies? Hradecka won one game, and she was kind of lucky to get that.

ONE GAME.

Istanbul: Ancient Medina Garrigues

Happy birthday to Anabel Medina Garrigues, who turned 27 today and celebrated in Istanbul.

Unfortunately the party bus isn’t the only thing that stopped today; old lady Garrigues lost to Vera Dushevina in straight sets, 61 62.

“Hey you kids, get off my lawn.”

“Whatever, grandma,” she seems to say.

Istanbul

Singles – Quarterfinals
(5) Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. (3) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 61 62
Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (7) Olga Govortsova (BLR) 63 63
(8) Lucie Hradecka (CZE) d. Marta Domachowska (POL) 61 57 64
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) d. Urszula Radwanska (POL) 60 61

Doubles – Semifinals
(3) Hradecka/Voracova (CZE/CZE) d. (1) Senoglu/Shvedova (TUR/KAZ) 67(5) 64 102
(2) Goerges/Schnyder (GER/SUI) d. Klaschka/Petkovic (GER/GER) 63 61

Gilles, Tommy, Stan, AMG Out. But Pico Won!

Pico won. That’s really all you need to know.

You want more?! OK, well, Portoroz second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues went out to qualifier Vesna Manasieva, just to make it really embarrassing if Dinara doesn’t win the thing, and Vera Dushevina had a good win over last week’s Palermo semifinalist Tathiana Garbin.

Alize Cornet won a match in Bad Gastein – ssssh! – but apparently it seems to be a rule that only one French slumper can win a match on any given day, as Gilles Simon lost in Hamburg to wildcard Daniel Brands. I promised I would honour this victory with photos of Brands. So … yeah.

Auf gehts, Fragman.

It’s got to the point now where one doesn’t even bother speculating about a Gilles loss. One just sucks it up and grimly carries on.

Anyway, he wasn’t the only seed to fall in Hamburg today. Tommy Robredo lost to Ivan Navarro in straight sets, so, yeah, good luck winning anything for the rest of the year, Tommy. And Stanislas Wawrinka, also on his best surface, lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 62 64. I’d care, but I don’t. Did I mention Pico won?

Portoroz

Singles – First Round
(Q) Vesna Manasieva (RUS) d. (2) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)
63 16 75
(4) Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. (WC) Nastja Kolar (SLO) 62 60
(7) Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 60 63
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) d. (Q) Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 61 46 63
Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) d. (Q) Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) 61 64
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 75 64
Camille Pin (FRA) d. Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) 63 ret. (upper respiratory infection)
(Q) Ksenia Pervak (RUS) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 64 46 62

Doubles – First Round
Daniilidou/Woehr (GRE/GER) d. (2) Hrdinova/Voracova (CZE/CZE) 63 63

Bad Gastein

Singles – First Round
(1) Alizé Cornet (FRA) d. Mariana Duque Marino (COL) 46 76(3) 64
(3) Sybille Bammer (AUT) d. (LL) Nathalie Vierin (ITA) 75 64
(4) Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) 76(5) 63
(6) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) 63 61
(7) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) d. (Q) Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) 64 63
Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) d. (8) Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 62 62
(9) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (WC) Tina Schiechtl (AUT) 64 63
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. (Q) Lenka Jurikova (SVK) 61 60
Patricia Mayr (AUT) d. Lourdes Domínguez Lino (ESP) 63 63
Pauline Parmentier (FRA) d. (Q) Carmen Klaschka (GER) 61 61
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) 61 26 64
(LL) Tereza Hladikova (CZE) d. (WC) Melanie Klaffner (AUT) 64 26 64
(WC) Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) d. (Q) Sharon Fichman (CAN) 64 63

Doubles – First Round
Malek/Petkovic (GER/GER) d. (2) Senoglu/Shvedova (TUR/KAZ) 46 75 106
(4) Koryttseva/Olaru (UKR/ROU) d. Anderson/Chakhnashvili (RSA/GEO) 60 64

Hamburg

Singles – Second Round
[WC] D Brands (GER) d [1] G Simon (FRA) 36 64 63
I Navarro (ESP) d [4] T Robredo (ESP) 75 76(2)
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d [5] S Wawrinka (SUI) 62 64
[8] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d [Q] P Starace (ITA) 62 46 64
[Q] P Cuevas (URU) d [9] J Melzer (AUT) 76(5) 63
[10] V Troicki (SRB) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 36 62 64
[13] P Mathieu (FRA) d [Q] P Riba (ESP) 61 26 76(3)

Singles – First Round
J Benneteau (FRA) d J Chela (ARG) 64 16 61
J Monaco (ARG) d M Youzhny (RUS) 76(4) 63
[WC] F Mayer (GER) d R Schuettler (GER) 67(3) 63 63
F Fognini (ITA) d I Minar (CZE) 64 62

Doubles – First Round
[2] W Moodie (RSA) / D Norman (BEL) d J Chardy (FRA) / P Mathieu (FRA) 36 63 10-7
[4] L Dlouhy (CZE) / D Skoch (CZE) d J Brunstrom (SWE) / J Rojer (AHO) 76(5) 76
J Knowle (AUT) / J Melzer (AUT) d M Granollers (ESP) / T Robredo (ESP) 64 62
M Melo (BRA) / F Polasek (SVK) d [WC] K Krawietz (GER) / N Langer (GER) 60 64
S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) vs [WC] M Stich (GER) / M Zverev (GER)

RG Day Two: Caro Gets Out of Jail. For Now.

After dropping the first set to Vera Dushevina, Caroline Wozniacki caught a lucky break as play was suspended for lack of light just after she battled her way through to take the second set 75.

I don’t know if it’s new top-tenner yips or what, but Wozniacki was having a bit of a shocker. No feel on the forehand at all and really missing some gimmes from Dushevina, who she has beaten all three times they have met. She was a wee bit lucky to get out of the set, actually – it was really getting dark, and on set point Dushevina stopped play to challenge a baseline call she was sure was out. It was good, and she dropped the set. Hard not to think that poor light played a part in that.

Be interesting to see how this ends tomorrow …