Tennis This Week Pt. 2

In my last post, I left off right before the semifinals of the three tournaments last week (Rogers Cup ATP Masters Series - Montreal, JPMorgan Chase Open - LA, Nordea Nordic Light Open - Stockholm)... This is what happened since then:

Semifinals
JPMorgan Chase Open, Los Angeles, California
Daniela Hantuchova (9) def. Elena Dementieva (3), 6-3, 6-4 (woohoo, nice win for Daniela over the world No. 6)
Kim Clijsters (5) def. Francesca Schiavone (13), 6-2, 6-4

Nordea Nordic Light Open, Stockholm, Sweden
(2)Anastasia Myskina(RUS) def. Emilie Loit(FRA), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
(5)Katerina Srebotnik(SLO) def. (3)Vera Douchevina(RUS) 6-0, 7-5

Rogers Cup ATP Masters Series, Montreal, Canada
(1)Rafael Nadal(ESP) def. Paul-Henri Mathieu(FRA), 6-4, 7-5 (Too bad Matheiu lost, but this is his best performance in a big tournament so far. Nice to see him doing well after being injured for most of last year)
(4)Andre Agassi(USA) def. Greg Rusedski(GBR)

Final
JPMorgan Chase Open - Los Angeles, California
(5)Kim Clijsters(BEL) def. (9)Daniela Hantuchova(SVK) 6-4, 6-1 (This is Kim's fifth title of the year, four on US Hardcourts and one on Grass, she has lost only one match on hardcourts this year, to Shuai Peng(CHN))


For this tournament,
Kim wins a punch bowl...


Nordea Nordic Light Open - Stockholm, Sweden
(5)Katerina Srebotnik(SLO) def. (2)Anastasia Myskina(RUS) 7-5, 6-2 (Srebotnik beats two higher ranked players in the semis and the finals to claim her second title of the year)

Rogers Cup - ATP Masters Montreal, Canada
(1)Rafael Nadal(ESP) def. (4)Andre Agassi(USA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 (19 year old Nadal wins his ninth title of the year, and first on a hard court (his first eight titles came on clay), by beating 35 year old Andre Agassi)


Two big tournaments are going on this week, the ATP Masters Series - Cincinatti (www.cincytennis.com) in Cincinatti and the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. No. 1 and current Wimbledon and US Open champ Roger Federer(SUI) and '05 Australian Open champ Marat Safin(RUS) both make their comebacks in Cincy, joining last week's winner and '05 French Open Champ Rafael Nadal and '03 US Open Champ and former No. 1 Andy Roddick(USA) in the list of contenders. Nine-time Grabd Slam winner Andre Agassi is not playing this week because of old age...

In the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto, 6-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams(USA) and 4-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin-Hardenne(BEL) also make their comeback from injury, as well as world No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo(FRA) who has not played a tournament in about a month. They join Kim Clijsters and Russians Elena Dementieva and '05 US Open Champ Svetlana Kuznetsova in the tournament. Still not playing is No. 1 Lindsay Davenport(USA), '05 Wimbledon champ Venus Williams(USA), and '05 French Open Runner-up Mary Pierce(FRA) who are out with a back injury, the flu, and a thigh injury respectively. Maria Sharapova also pulled out of the tournament because of her chest muscle strain, but will take over the No. 1 ranking anyway at the end of the week (see post below). Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro is also entered in this tournament

Second round action gets underway later today, but don't look for Rafael Nadal to be there. He's already got his ass booted of by fellow 19 year-old Tomas Berdych(CZE) yesterday, in a tight three-set match. Berdych was also one of the few players who beat Roger Federer last year, at the second round of the Athens Olympics.



My girl Daniela Hantuchova, seeded 13th for this tournament, retired from her first
round match vs Alina Jidkova(RUS) due to heat illness. Daniela has played in four tournaments in four weeks, so I guess this is good for her as she will get some much needed rest before the US Open which starts August 29.


I'll talk more about these two tournaments later in the week.