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According to Gauloises over at Yellow Fuzzy Balls, La Cone suffered a groin strain against Dani yesterday. Any chance she'll take some time to heal up in both leg *and* head? We all know about my French proficiency so I'm going to take G-Dog's word for it.
So that explains the weak display against Dani yesterday. Sure doesn't explain her two three set 6-4 in the third losses over the weekend, though. Get your head right, wee one.
Whatever, Rome. Fed and Rafa win, Muzz and Kolya lose, and Jo's gone too. Pfft.
Singles - Second Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d A Seppi (ITA) 62 63
[2] R Federer (SUI) d I Karlovic (CRO) 64 64
[Q] J Monaco (ARG) d [4] A Murray (GBR) 16 63 75
[6] F Verdasco (ESP) d M Fish (USA) 64 57 63
J Melzer (AUT) d [7] N Davydenko (RUS) 75 76(5)
[10] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] M Youzhny (RUS) 63 76(5)
[12] F Gonzalez (CHI) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 64 64
[13] T Robredo (ESP) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 62 76(5)
[15] M Cilic (CRO) d C Rochus (BEL) 60 57 62
R Soderling (SWE) d [Q] V Crivoi (ROU) 61 67(2) 61
[Q] M Zverev (GER) d P Mathieu (FRA) 36 76(5) 60
[16] R Stepanek (CZE) d F Lopez (ESP) 62 61
[8] G Simon (FRA) d [WC] F Fognini (ITA) 67(6) 62 63
R Gasquet (FRA) d E Gulbis (LAT) 62 16 64
[5] J Del Potro (ARG) d V Troicki (SRB) 63 61 63
Singles - First Round
R Gasquet (FRA) d [9] J Tsonga (FRA) 76(2) 64
P Mathieu (FRA) d [11] D Ferrer (ESP) 63 26 62
[16] R Stepanek (CZE) vs F Serra (FRA) 76(1) 46 75
Sabine keeps on trucking, beating Fed Cup skipper Peppermint Patty, 4 and 3.
In other news, Flavia's a bitch y'all. In the most awesomest way possible. Sorry, Chakky.
And the Cone goes from losing to Dani on Saturday at 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4, to losing to her today 3 and 1. So you know, things are looking good for her.
Singles play is wrapped for the day in Stuttgart. Here are your scores:
Singles - Second Round
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (4) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 64 63
Singles - First Round
(3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 61 61
(5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (Q) Andrea Petkovic (GER) 64 57 61
(6) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Zheng Jie (CHN) 64 57 64
Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 62 60
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Alize Cornet (FRA) 63 61
(WC) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. Patty Schnyder (SUI) 64 63
JJ dispatched Domi PDQ, double 'sticking her in an hour and nine minutes.
I have to say though. I'm *really* bummed JJ went back to the flat blue Anta dress and didn't stick with her awesomely Smurf blue Serbia dress. It would have been fun to have a little trio of Serbian Smurfs. Plus, that dress was just way fuckin' BETTER.
Sheesh. Apparently winning makes your boobs bigger.
Congrats to Gisela for dusting third seeded Viko in straight sets today, 64 63. The 80's throwback is really working for Gisela. She came oh so close to pushing Serena to a dicey third set at AO, took down JJ in Miami, and now knocks out red hot (not in looks, personality, or humanity, by the way) Viko.
Not a bad set of scalps. If only she had legwarmers at AO.
I woke up for about 5 seconds this morning and rolled over to TTC (I sleep with it on because I'm that pathetic) to barely catch that Muzz was up 5-1 on Pico in the first. So obviously I went back to bed. As did Andy, apparently, as he went on to drop the next two sets 63 75 to crash out of Rome in the second round.
Interestingly, in four tries he's never passed the second round in Rome. Bad juju.
Hopefully this is a blessing in disguise. Let your freak flag fly in Madrid, Muzz!
No major upsets on Tuesday (though rain continued to disrupt play, which was quite upsetting) though there were a few surprising results:
Singles - Second Round
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d A Montanes (ESP) 76(5) 60
Singles - First Round
[12] F Gonzalez (CHI) d J Chardy (FRA) 64 61
[13] T Robredo (ESP) d M Safin (RUS) 26 76(5) 62
P Kohlschreiber (GER) d S Bolelli (ITA) 46 61 60
R Soderling (SWE) d M Granollers (ESP) 63 60
[Q] M Zverev (GER) d T Berdych (CZE) 46 62 75
F Lopez (ESP) d [Q] T Bellucci (BRA) 64 62
J Melzer (AUT) d J Benneteau (FRA) 36 62 63
M Fish (USA) d I Andreev (RUS) 63 46 76(2)
A Seppi (ITA) d S Querrey (USA) 36 64 63
J Tipsarevic (SRB) d J Acasuso (ARG) 63 64
[Q] M Youzhny (RUS) d [Q] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 75 64
E Gulbis (LAT) d N Almagro (ESP) 36 76(5) 62
[WC] F Fognini (ITA) d [WC] F Volandri (ITA) 67(3) 61 76(4)
Well look at that, WTA. No upsets on Day 1 and the top seed played like a top seed. ALG gave Lena a bit of a scare but she ran out of gas in the third. Could Bizarro "Week" finally be over?
Yeah, probably not. Sigh.
(1) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 60 61
(2) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (WC) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 64 36 63
(7) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 63 75
(8) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 76(2) 60
Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (Q) Karolina Sprem (CRO) 63 26 61
Li Na (CHN) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 62 63
Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 63 26 76(4)
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 63 63
(Q) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) d. (Q) Alberta Brianti (ITA) 06 64 64
JJ's thoughts from the All-Access Hour in Stuttgart:
Dina gives some hilarious quote at her All Access interview in Stuttgart:
Oh, and to make matters awesome, the tournament presented her with a pink cake. So much win, tourney directors.
Pete Bodo stole my thunder on this in his Fed Cup post but it's something I've been thinking about since Sunday.
What are people's thoughts on the Williamses playing the Fed Cup final against Italy? Obviously we want to field the best team possible and that *really* is potentially the best team possible (even on clay). So of course as a U.S. Fed Cup fan, you kind of have to hope they play.
Then again, wouldn't it just defy the script? I mean, the U.S. team that Captain MJ has cobbled together has been nothing short of heartwarming and extraordinary. These ladies could justifiably watch Miracle and Hoosiers before their matches and there would be no sense of irony. But if the Williamses play it flips the script, and now the U.S. plays with expectation and pressure. And how would the current Fed Cup team feel about being pushed out of the final?
There's no right or wrong answer. I think I side with really wanting the Williamses to be there. I doubt they will be though. And that's not going to break my heart either.
From his most recent post on Fed Cup:
*head scratching*
Uh, doesn't that assume that Serbia WAS EVER IN the World Group? Doesn't it also seem to assume that France had already been relegated to World Group II?
Maybe I'm just uber-defensive lately but doesn't that seem like a cap on Team Serbia? Like, "They suck so bad that they lost their World Group status and had to fight back into the elite group EVEN THOUGH they have SUPPOSEDLY elite level players (WHO SUCK) in JJ and Ana."
Dude, if you want to cap on the Serbs be my guest. But at least do it when they've done something wrong as opposed to, oh I don't know, CARRY THEIR COUNTRY FROM ZONAL GROUP TO WORLD GROUP I for the past 2 years? This was a great accomplishment for them (not to mention individually for Ana and JJ to beat Spain in Spain on clay when both are supposedly struggling and Ana hadn't played on clay for a year) and I can't help but get annoyed when I see someone trying to take swipes.
So yeah. Come on! [/GOB]
Game on.
Center Court (from 12.15hrs)
1. Black/Huber vs. Dushevina/Husarova
2. Wozniak vs. A.Radwanska (NB 14.00hrs)
3. Wozniacki vs. Benesova
4. Groenefeld vs. Dementieva (NB 18.15hrs)
5. Safina vs. Errani
6. Bartoli vs. Sprem
Court 1 (from 12.15hrs)
1. Peng vs. Li
2. Brianti vs. Pironkova
3. Szavay vs. Sugiyama
4. Ruano Pascual/Zheng vs. Dekmeijere/Peng
5. Rybarikova vs. Dulko
6. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova vs. Groenefeld/Schnyder
So are none of the Chinese players playing doubles together anymore? Zheng/Ruano Pascal? Peng/Dekmeijere? Huh?
From Liezel's randomly entertaining Fed Cup blog:
Good stuff, Liezel. Now excuse me while I'm off to add Kaes as a friend on Facebook. Or maybe I'll sit here and stare at his picture. Same thing, really.
Given today's rain, Tuesday's OOP is jam-packed. Which of course means it will just rain again.
Because I never get what I want.
STADIO PIETRANGELI
start 1:00
P Kohlschreiber (GER) vs S Bolelli (ITA)
A Seppi (ITA) vs S Querrey (USA)
[4] A Murray (GBR) vs [Q] J Monaco (ARG)
Starting at 8:30 PM
A Montanes (ESP) vs [3] N Djokovic (SRB)
J Blake (USA) / M Fish (USA) vs S Aspelin (SWE) / W Moodie (RSA)
CAMPO 1
start 1:00
[13] T Robredo (ESP) vs M Safin (RUS)
M Fish (USA) vs I Andreev (RUS) 33 - To finish 3-3
[WC] F Fognini (ITA) vs [WC] F Volandri (ITA)
[9] J Tsonga (FRA) vs R Gasquet (FRA)
[WC] F Cipolla (ITA) / F Fognini (ITA) vs T Berdych (CZE) / N Kiefer (GER)
CAMPO 5
start 12:00
[Q] T Bellucci (BRA) vs F Lopez (ESP)
[16] R Stepanek (CZE) vs F Serra (FRA)
[12] F Gonzalez (CHI) vs J Chardy (FRA)
C Rochus (BEL) vs [15] M Cilic (CRO)
CAMPO 6
start 12:00
[Q] D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) vs [Q] M Youzhny (RUS) 57 45 - To Finish 75 54
[Q] M Zverev (GER) vs T Berdych (CZE)
P Mathieu (FRA) vs [11] D Ferrer (ESP)
I Andreev (RUS) / M Safin (RUS) vs F Lopez (ESP) / F Verdasco (ESP) - After suitable rest
CAMPO 4
start 12:00
R Soderling (SWE) vs M Granollers (ESP)
J Tipsarevic (SRB) vs J Acasuso (ARG)
R Lindstedt (SWE) / R Soderling (SWE) vs M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) - After suitable rest
N Almagro (ESP) / D Ferrer (ESP) vs F Cermak (CZE) / S Huss (AUS) - After suitable rest
CAMPO 3
start 12:00
J Benneteau (FRA) vs J Melzer (AUT)
N Almagro (ESP) vs E Gulbis (LAT)
Monday's abbreviated results due to the rain. Stan and Tux made it through in straights and Blah lost to qualifier.
So in other words, no surprises.
Singles - First Round
[10] S Wawrinka (SUI) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 63 64
[Q] V Crivoi (ROU) d [14] J Blake (USA) 75 63
[15] M Cilic (CRO) d [WC] F Cipolla (ITA) 62 62
C Rochus (BEL) d J Chela (ARG) 61 62
[Q] J Monaco (ARG) d N Kiefer (GER) 62 63
V Troicki (SRB) d V Hanescu (ROU) 63 63
I Karlovic (CRO) d [Q] J Hernych (CZE) 46 64 62
A Montanes (ESP) d [WC] P Starace (ITA) 76(8) 64
Doubles - First Round
J Benneteau (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) d R Hutchins (GBR) / A Murray (GBR) 64 64
J Knowle (AUT) / J Melzer (AUT) d J Chardy (FRA) / G Simon (FRA) 62 61
So my good TW buddy, gauloises, has finally accepted the fact that (a) her dry British tennis commentary rules, (b) she's funnier than 99% of the people out there, and (c) blogging/Twittering are the most awesomely narcissistic additions to the 21st century.
So check out Yellow Fuzzy Balls. You'll love it. Particularly if you're a fan of long and lanky Croats and Argentines. Or if you really really want to bone Momo.
Plus she's British, which makes everything 92% better.
The ATP provides a rundown of the race for #2.
With the 2008 Monte-Carlo points dropping off Monday, 27 April, Federer will lose 700 points, Djokovic 450 points and Murray 150 points. Murray will narrow the gap to 110 points going into the fourth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.
Here is what the trio's point totals will look like in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on Monday, 27 April:
| Ranking Points | |
| 2) Roger Federer | 10,060 |
| 3) Novak Djokovic | 9,160 |
| 4) Andy Murray | 9,050 |
Rome was held one week later last year and the 2008 points will drop on 11 May with Djokovic losing 1,000 points for his title, Federer 250 and Murray 70. Here are the minimum point totals (without the '09 Rome points added on 4 May and Belgrade points on 11 May):
| Ranking Points | |
| 2) Roger Federer | 9,810 |
| 3) Andy Murray | 8,980 |
| 4) Novak Djokovic | 8,160 |
So it looks like Muzz has a fantastic shot of coming out of Rome at #3 (he's only 110 points behind Nole), and an almost guaranteed rise to #3 in May. Nole's going to have to defend his Rome title, win Belgrade, and make a huge run in Madrid to keep distance over Muzz.
The more fun question is whether Muzz can catch Roger before RG. Probably not. But it'll be fun watching him try.
All you need to know: Andy's in Rafa's half, Nole's in Fed's half.
Well I guess that's not true. So I'll keep going.
Rafa doesn't have an easy quarter but it's not like that should matter. He has a potentially tough second rounder with Querrey California, who has always played Rafa tough on both clay and hard courts. After that he could pull Blah, but whatever, it's clay and Blah wears red, white, and blue. Luckily for Rafa, the bottom half of his quarter is going to be a brawl, with Jo, Reeshie, Nico, Igor, and Fer all battling it out for a quarterfinal birth. I'm picking Fer to come out if, mainly because I want to see the Rafa/Fer clay match that we didn't last week in Barca.
Muzz probably has the easiest quarter with not too many toughies until the quarters, where he could face a streaky Gonzo and recovering Kolya.
Fed's got a potentially tricky quarter, with an early match vs. Ivo (though on clay that shouldn't be too bad), a third round vs. Steps, and then a hot-handed Daveed in the quarters. Gilly is there too but it remains to be seen whether he's recovered his form yet.
Nole could have a tough third round where he could face Disco, who's always solid on clay. Past that there's Stan and Elf looming as quarterfinal opponents. I'm sure Nole would prefer to avoid Stan if he can. He always plays Nole tough.
I'm picking the Big Four for the semis. I want to pick Daveed over Fed but I'm just not sure Daveed has it in him to make a run in back to back tourneys. So, Rafa vs. Nole final.
Do you really need me to pick the winner?
Stuttgart draw. This has the potential to be a cracker from the get go, depending on whether or not the ladies suffer from a Fed Cup hangover. That said, three of the four top seeds didn't play Fed Cup this weekend so they should be fine and rested. Almost everyone else in the draw did have Fed Cup duties so a lot of these matches will be tough to call.
I'm going to go out on a limb and put my money on Dina to take the title. She's rested, she's seemingly in a good mood, and she's back on the dirt that she loves so much.
In order to make sure the Fed Cuppers can get to Stuttgart and get a bit of rest, play won't start in earnest until Tuesday. But Viko and CSN are up tomorrow, and that could be a fun one.
And by that I mean, GO CSN!!!
Center Court (from 14.00hrs)
1. Parra Santonja vs. Sprem (Singles Q Final)
2. Pironkova vs. Marosi (Singles Q Final)
3. Petkovic vs. Schruff (Singles Q Final)
4. Suárez Navarro vs. Azarenka (NB 20.00hrs)
Court 1 (from 13.00hrs)
1. Dushevina vs. Brianti (Singles Q Final)
2. Borwell/Kops-Jones vs. Hsieh/Scheepers (NB 18.00hrs)
"You're gonna have to get through me first."
The Cone collapsed, Momo stood tall, and Slovakia gave it their all. And in the end, France avoided relegation by taking the tie 3-2.
Poor Cone. Is there any other player right now that has lost so many close matches? She lost the first rubber to Dani 67 63 64, and the third rubber to Domi 62 57 64. She's now 0-6 in Fed Cup.
Which meant it all rested on the strong shoulders of Momes. She took her singles rubbers over Dani (75 64) and Domi (46 62 63), then teamed up with Natalie Dechy to beat Dani/Domi 46 61 64.
So congrats to the Pastries. They're the only team in the playoffs not to get relegated.
Some of the top boys got together in Rome for a charity exo in honor of Italkian baller Federico Luzzi, who died last year of leukemia.
Nole has apparently added Gene Kelly to his impersonation repertoire.
Smiley Muzz!
So you'll wear your initials on your shirt but you won't wear a cancer victim's face?
Worried it won't match the headband?
Congrats to Serbia, Germany, and Ukraine. They all won their World Group Play-off ties and gained promotion into World Group I in 2010.
Team Serbia beat Spain to gain promotion and force Spain out of World Group I for the first time in their Fed Cup history. JJ and Ana did their parts, taking the first three singles rubbers, with JJ securing the tie today with a hard fought three set win over AMG. JJ had to battle a cold over the weekend so good for her. I'm still really shocked that CSN didn't play. Odd.
As for Ana, she made the adjustments yesterday after dropping the first set 6-2, to cruise to a 26 62 61 victory.
So far so good for the Serbian girls. JJ's grinding out wins on clay and at least Ana got a match under belt and realized quickly that she can't be hard court aggro on clay.
Here's video of the celebration. I love that Ana was sitting with Sneki.
Give it up for Team Bondarenko. They blasted a Dulko-less Argentina 5-0 to gain promotion. To think how close Argentina was to making it past the U.S. and into the World Group I semis. Now they've been relegated to Group II.
And Alles Gut in Deutschland. They came into Sunday with a 2-0 lead, but China stormed back today to take both reverse singles rubbers, taking the tie to a decisive doubles match. There, Sabine and ALG came back after dropping the first set to Zheng/Peng to take the match 46 75 62.
Nice to see some new blood in World Group.
Nalby might need hip surgery. Not sure whether he'd have it before RG or after Wimbly, but they're talking about him missing the Davis Cup tie in July.
A decision will be made in a few days.
How weird is it that I kinda feel bad for Russia?
Congrats to Team Italy for securing a spot in the finals by defeating the defending champions 4-1.
Boss Lady Schiavone and Flava Flav took care of business yesterday, beating Sveta (16 62 62) and Chakky (64 60), respectively.
Russia responded today though, as Kuz destroyed Flavs (60 63), which set up a crucial rubber between The Boss and Chevy Nova. The match went the distance and for a while there, Tarpy was once again looking like a genius. But despite Pavs having two set points in the first, Boss Lady was able to weather the storm and secure the tie for Italy, 76 46 62.
So it'll be Italy vs. the wily Americans, who pulled out the shocker of the weekend. It wasn't just that they beat the Czech Republic. It was the *way* they did it, on the back of 19 year old Alexa Glatch, and a spectacular comeback by Liezel and Bethanie from match point down in the doubles rubber. A true team effort which starts at the top with Captain MJ's leadership.
I was scratching my head on Friday when MJ tapped Glatch over Oudin for the tie. Clearly I've been drinking the Zina Kool-Aid and I should know better than to quetion El Capitan. Glatch, ranked #114, took out both Iveta (#29) and Kvitova (#48) in straight sets, dropping only 6 games in the process. Impressive stuff considering it was her first Fed Cup and it was an away tie with a boisterous Czech crowd.
With Bethanie dropping the two singles rubbers, it was time for bit of redemption. With the tie going to the decisive doubles rubber the Czechs quickly found themselves with a 6-2 5-2, match point. But then the wheels came off after Peschke sailed a second serve return long, and Bethanie and Liezel found their form, coming back to take the second set in a tiebreaker and reeling off a 6-1 final set for the win.
And yes, Liezel showed off her awesome dorkitude throughout the match. Fun stuff.
So Italy vs. U.S. in Italy on what I presume will be clay. Yeah, good luck with that, MJ.
Does he have a separate house for all the trophies? He should look into that. Maybe he can rent some space out at Ana's place.
On to Rome, where Fed, Nole, and Andy are already waiting.
