Split Racket and Some High/Lowlights

LOL. I bet Marat is jealous this never happened to him.

The first two rounds of the Australian Open is now done, and we've seen some pretty great matches so far. The best one yet is the 4 hour, 48 minute Nalbandian vs Hewitt first round match. I'm not a huge fan of either players (and I particularly dislike Hewitt's special brand of annoying-ness.), but this was a really high quality, high-tension match. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the first round match between Kim Clijsters and Dinara Safina, which lasted 44 minutes, ending with the score 6-0, 6-0. It's definitely a heartbreaking loss for Lil Sis Dinara, who less then 2 years ago was the world #1. Now, after her 1st round loss, she's projected to drop out of the top 100. To give Dinara a break, let's just focus on Ana Ivanovic's heart-breaking loss to Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Ana started the match well, winning the first set, but Makarova started to find her shots and went on to upset Ivanovic, 10-8 in the 3rd set. It was a shame since Ana's form is definitely starting to pick up. She was hitting huge forehands winners and was really going for riskier shots. Unfortunately for her, so was Makarova and on the crucial points, Ana just fell short while Makarova remained solid.

The match highlights (or lowlights, in Dinara's case) are here:

Before the Finals @SW19

So the women's final is set, with the Williams sisters again facing each other, after beating their Russian opponents in contrasting manners. Defending Champ (and 5-time Wimbledon champion) Venus decimated supposed world #1 (and Marat Safin's little sister) Dinara Safina, 6-1, 6-0, while younger sister (and 2-time Wimbledon Champ) Serena struggled, and even had to save a match point against #4 (and Olympic Champion) Elena Dementieva in the longest women's semifinal match in Wimbledon, 6-7, 7-5, 8-6. I was rooting for Elena but was still surprised that she was able to give Serena, who played so well against #8 Victoria Azarenka in the quarters, a huge scare. Too bad Elena lost in the end, but hopefully this match helps her confidence for the rest of the year.

Venus has been playing great the whole tournament though, and I think she should take her 6th Wimbledon over Serena in the Ladies' Final tomorrow.

On the men's side, Roger Federer has just beaten a resurgent Tommy Haas in the semis and goes on for a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title on Sunday's final against an Andy. Right now, I'm watching Andy Murray and Andy Roddick battle each other in the second semifinal for the chance to be beaten by Federer in the final.

No matter who he faces in the final, I think Roger has a great chance of winning his 6th Wimbledon crown. He's been playing well and with a lot of confidence the whole tournament against quality opponents. Whoever wins between the two Andy's today needs to really lift their level of play if they want to win their first Wimbledon. (edit: The American Andy just beat the Brit Andy, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Roddick goes on to play his 3rd Wimbledon final. He lost his first two to Federer. Murray on the other hand, loses the chance to be the first homeboy to win Wimbledon in 70-something years.)

So, just like what I said before the French Open final last month: Be The Legend, Federer!

Oh wait, he already is. :-)


----------------
Now playing: James Morrison - Man in the Mirror (Napster Live Acoustic Session)
via FoxyTunes

Svetlana is Not a One-Slam Wonder. (Anymore.)

I just finished watching the Roland Garros women's final, where #7 Svetlana Kuznetsova convincingly defeated #1 Dinara Safina to win her second Grand Slam title, adding to the US Open title she won as a teenager back in 2004.

Svetlana kisses her trophy after easily winning the champhionship match, 6-4, 6-2.

I think a lot of people were expecting Dinara to win her first grand slam title today, since she's been the most dominant player on clay this year, riding a 16-match win streak after getting victories at big tournaments in Rome and Madrid (beating Kuznetsova in Rome.) She did finish runner-up to Kuzy in Stuttgart though, but that the first tournament in the European clay season. Dinara also won her first four matches at the French Open in devastating form: 6-0, 6-0 in the 1st round, 6-1, 6-1 in the 2nd, 6-2, 6-0 in the 3rd, and 6-1, 6-0 in the 4th.

But in today's final, she played like shit. I was expecting a tight 3-setter from the two fo them, but Dinara just came up short, which was too bad, and just reinforces the stigma that she can't handle the big match pressure. She was making too many errors and wasn't really controlling the points. She also had this scared/nervous look on her face all throughout the match which was a pretty clear signal that she wasn't gonna be able to pull this one out. And just like Ronnie, I knew she'd hit a double fault on match point.

Hats off to Svetlana though, she just didn't allow Dinara to play her game at all. She hit with loads of power from both wings, and her some of the forehands she hit were just sweet. And I loved it when she started bouncing a tennis ball on her foot towards the end of the second set, like she wasn't feeling any pressure at all.

Congratulations Kuzy! You are no longer a one-slam wonder.

----------------
Now playing: Garbage - A Stroke of Luck
via FoxyTunes

Action on the Red Clay

I've been meaning to post about Roger's win last week but never found the time, so let me just sneak in a hearty WOOOOHOOOOO!

Federer won his first title of the year last week by beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets, on clay, in Madrid. I literally woohoo'ed at my laptop screen right after Roger served an ace on match point, because I didn't expect him to actually win over Rafa that day (Roger played a "tired" Rafa at the Aussie Open and still lost, and I still remember that Italian Open final a few years ago when Roger had several match points and lost all of them while Rafa converted on his very first match point to win 7-6 in the fifth set), so suffice it to say, I was holding off my cheers until Roger actually won the final point.

Having said that, I still think Rafa is going to win the French Open. He's never lost a match at the red clay courts of Roland Garros, so despite that loss in Madrid (a high-altitude city which played to Fed's advantage), it's crazy to bet against the greatest claycourt player of all time.

Rafa's main challenge will come from Roger (obviously) and #4 Novak Djokovic. Fotunately for Rafa, those two could face/eliminate each other in the semis. Despite Andy Murray's recent climb to the #3 ranking over Novak, clay isn't his thing. He can beat Rafa on hardcourts, but on clay, he's got a long way to go. As for the French Brigade, clay isn't JWT's best surface, Gilles Simon is on a slump, and I want to say this is Reeshard Gasquet's year, but he went the Hingis route and is currently unable to play after returning a positive drug test for cocaine... so maybe in 2 years?

Anyway, this is once again Rafa's title to lose.

The women's side is much more open. Defending Champ Ana Ivanovic hasn't played well since winning the title last year and ascending to the #1 ranking. She has since fallen to #8 and has been nursing a knee injury just a few weeks before the French Open. Fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic also has lost the form that took her to the #1 ranking. New #1 Dinara Safina is probably the best bet, she won the 2 big clay tournaments before the French Open, and it doesn't look like her status as the new #1 isn't daunting her the way it scared Ana.

On the other hand, getting daunted or scared has never been a factor for Serena Williams. It's her health that's been her downfall. She's been injured since losing the final in Miami to 19 year-old Victoria Azarenka, and has lost 4 consecutive matches coming into the French Open (all on clay.) Serena's older sis Venus is a wild card, since her clay court results have been pretty inconsistent. Besides Dinara, Russia has two more strong contenders for the title: Svetlana Kuznetsova and (my facebook friend) Elena Dementieva, who have both finished as runner-up at the French Open a few years ago. They've both got great baseline games which serves them well on this surface, but the problem lies more on their (lack of) belief that they can actually win it all. Seeing that there really isn't a Henin-like dominant player this year, this could be their big chance (Go Elena!)

As for the youngsters, French Alize Cornet, Pole Agnieszka Radwanska and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova all had good years last year, but they haven't had that much great results this year. Meanwhile, Azarenka and fellow teen Caroline Wozniacki have broken through with some big results, and both are now in the top 10. I'm personally rooting for Caroline to get to the quarterfinals, at least.

So as I said, the women's draw is a lot more open than Rafa's draw... But I think at the end of the tournament, Dinara will walk away with her first Grand Slam title along with her #1 ranking. And I'll finally stop calling her Lil Sis and start calling Marat Big Bro.

Roland Garros 2009 started today and ends June 7.

----------------
Now playing: Arctic Monkeys - Stickin To The Floor
via FoxyTunes

Some Tennis News

Some tennis news catch-ups:

After breaking into the top 10 a few months ago, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and wins the biggest tournament of her career by beating world no. 1 Serena Williams at the SonyEricsson Open in Miami.

After announcing that they're having a baby this summer, Roger Federer and his longtime girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec got married last week in Switzerland, just before Fed flew in to Monaco for the Monte Carlo Masters.

Even before that, Roger did this:

Awesome or what?

And apparently, Andy Roddick has also gotten married to his fiancee, swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker.

Even more bad news for Serena, she will lose her top ranking to Dinara Safina by next week, after Serena lost in the first round in Marbella, Spain and pulling out of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Dinara will head into the clay court season as the #1 player in the world while attempting to win her first Grand Slam title on her favorite surface and prove that she deserves the top ranking as much as Jelena Jankovic did last year. Dinara and her older brother Marat Safin will also be the first brother-sister players to ever be ranked #1 in the world. Marat held the #1 ranking before the Federer era.

The French Open starts in a little over a month.



----------------
Now playing: Duffy - Mercy (Live On The Live Lounge)
via FoxyTunes

And Here Comes The Tail End, Part 1

The finals of the Australian Open is coming in the next couple of days. That means I'm staying home this weekend to watch the matches again :D

The women's final match will be a battle of the little sisters (except they're both far from being little, actually.) Three-time champion Serena Williams, who has won the Aussie Open the past three odd-numbered years faces Dinara Safina, who was the finalist in last year's French Open. Dinara aims to follow her older brother Marat's footsteps, who won the Aussie Open in 2005 (he beat Roger Federer in the semis that year in an awesome 5-setter.) Serena is aiming to follow her own footsteps, since older sister Venus has never won this thing. It's also a winner-take-all kind of match, as whoever wins the title will take the #1 ranking from Jelena Jankovic.

Serena will also be playing the women's doubles final with her sister Venus against Daniela Hantuchova (woohooooo!) and Ai Sugiyama. The Williams sisters rarely ever loses a doubles match, but still, PODME DANKA!!!








----------------
Now playing: Arctic Monkeys - d is for dangerous
via FoxyTunes

Near Misses and Actual Casualties

Lots of huge results happened earlier today during some 4th round action at the Aussie Open.

Following in the footsteps of fellow Serbian Ana Ivanovic (who's Grand Slam disasters continued with a 3-set loss in the 3rd round to Russian Alisa Kleybanova 3 days ago, which by the way, I predicted in my previous post), world #1 Jelena Jankovic lost to 16th seed Marion Bartoli of France (scoreline: 6-1, 6-4). Bartoli was the same player who upset then #1 Justine Henin couple of years ago at the Wimbledon semifinals when no one expected her to. I don't think anyone (except maybe her coach/father) ever predicted that she'd be able to beat Justine at a Wimbledon semifinal match, but she did. And I definitely didn't expect her to beat Jelena today, but she did it again.

I don't get how Bartoli does it. It's like her game is just a 7 usually, and once every two years, she manages to raise her game to an 11 against the No. 1 player in the world at a Grand Slam event. Maybe she sells her soul as a shared stock to the devil, thus the sometimes bug results, and the usually mediocre ones. Anyway, she's one hell of a quirky French player, so I guess I... like her?

Dinara Safina was another player who had a huge struggle in her match against another French player, #15 Alize Cornet (who defeated Daniela in the previous round.) The difference was she managed to win. Lil Sis Dinara (I've decided that she'll always be Marat's lil sis until she wins a grand slam...) was down 2-5 in the 3rd set, and Alize even held one match point before Dinara staged a huge comeback to win the match 7-5 in the 3rd set. With the two Sebs out of her way, I think Dinara has a huge chance to reach her 2nd Grand Slam final here, unless of course, the devil decides to buy stocks from Bartoli again. And in that case Lil Sis is toast.

Last but not the least among the players who were on a sinking ship today was, surprisingly(?), Roger Federer, who had to come back from 0-2 sets down to win in 5 sets against Czech #20 seed Tomas Berdych. Federer started off playing a bit wobbly, making a lot of errors and hitting some short, loopy shots that allowed Berdych to pound the daylights out of the ball. But as the match wore on, Berdych started to miss his big shots and Fed was able to steady himself and hang tough. He better clean up his game though, if he expects to beat Murray in the final.




----------------
Now playing: Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game
via FoxyTunes

Numero Uno

Ok. This is an all-tennis post/Roland Garros update:

The men's and women's French Open Championship matches are now set! Tomorrow, World #2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia will square off with Marat's Lil Sis Dinara Safina of Russia for the French Open title. Whoever wins here will get their first ever grand slam title. This will be Ana's third grand slam final, after she lost to Justine Henin in last year's French Open, and to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open last January. On the other hand, Dinara will be making her grand slam final debut.

The 22 year-old Dinara, ranked 14 in the world, has been having the best clay court season of her career. She won the German Open a few weeks ago by defeating three top 10 players (then-#1 Justine Henin, #5 Serena Williams, and #7 Elena Dementieva.) At the French Open, she did a repeat by beating current #1 Maria Sharapova (6-7, 7-6, 6-2, after being match point down in the second set), Elena D again (quarterfinals, after being down a match point again 4-6, 7-6, 6-0), and #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova (semifinals, 6-3, 6-2).

I caught Ana's semifinal match against 3rd ranked and fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic yesterday. It was a great match that ended 6-4 in the third set after 2 hours and 15 minutes. Lots of tension too, because whoever won that match would not only get the chance to play in the finals, but would also automatically overtake Sharapova and claim the #1 ranking (Masha lost in the 4th round.) So Ana won, and she'll now be ranked #1 next Monday, no matter what happens in the final match against Dinara.

Congratulations, Ana. Not just because you'll be the new #1, and because I think you'll win the ladies' final tomorrow, but because you also managed to land on the cover of FHM UK next August. You're not just taking Maria's titles. You're also getting her magazine cover opportunities.

You've truly made it.

-------------------------------

Ok, I spent so much time talking about the ladies' part of the draw. So moving on to the men's side. #2 Rafa beats #3 Djokovic (also from Serbia) in the semis to keep his perfectly undefeated record at the French Open. #1 Fed defeated surprise finalist and #59 Gael Monfils of France. Rafa beats Fed in the men's final on Sunday. That's all there really is to it.

ETA: Ok, since I was unloading a bunch of info on the women, I might as well go all the way on my tennis dork mode and talk more about the men's semifinalists too. Rafael Nadal holds a 26-0 w/l record at the French Open, By reaching the semis here, Roger Federer extends his record of reaching 16 straight semifinals at Grand Slam events. Novak Djokovic also has his own albeit smaller streak by reaching his 5th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. He is only the fourth player in the Open Era to reach 5 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals (the others are Fed, Becker and Lendl.) As for Gael, well, this really is the French dude's first big result in the ATP Tour... He's been hyped up a lot as a future champion when he was a newbie, and it took him about 4 years to finally come up with a nice result for all that hype.

----------------
Now playing: Modest Mouse - Out Of Gas
via FoxyTunes