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Novak Djokovic Wins In China, But Rafael Nadal Retakes No. 1 Ranking – Mondays With Bob Greene

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By Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-2 to win the China Open women’s singles inBeijing,China

Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-4 to win the China Open men’s singles inBeijing,China

Juan Martin del Potro beat Milos Raonic 7-6 (5) 7-5 to win the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships inTokyo,Japan

Radek Stepanek beat Igor Sijsling 6-3 7-5 to win the Ethias Trophy inMons,Belgium

Donald Young beat Tim Smyczek 7-5 6-3 to win the Sacramento Pro Circuit Challenger inSacramento, California,USA

 

SAYING

“I needed this win today. I really wanted to get my hands on the trophy and win against Nadal, who has been the best player so far in 2013. It’s very important for my confidence. It’s very important mentally and emotionally for me.” – Novak Djokovic, following his win over Rafael Nadal in the China Open men’s final.

“I didn’t see the way to stop him this afternoon. This afternoon he was too strong for me. I didn’t play my best match this afternoon, but he played at a very high level with his serve.” – Rafael Nadal.

“Everyone is beatable at some point. I know I am. I’ve lost several times this year.” – Serena Williams, after winning her 10th title of the year.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better start. We’ll be playing together next year, so this is a pretty good start for that. We’re looking forward to giving it a shot and playing the whole year.” – Cara Black, after teaming with Sania Mirza to win their second straight doubles title together.

“We only started playing together last week. We try to win, of course, but we never expected to win, especially since we started at two of the biggest tournaments. To play so well with a new partner and to win two titles on the trot, it doesn’t happen every day. It’s tough to top this one.” – Sania Mirza.

“You have to be focused and wait for the chance. I took his serve in the last game to break. In the tie-break, he hit a double fault in the most important part of the match and then my chance came, which I knew I had to take.” – Juan Martin del Potro, on breaking the hard serves of Milos Raonic in the final inTokyo.

“There is not really much to be down about. I created opportunities and barring a double fault and a few points, I could not have done much better.” –MilosRaonic.

“Almost everything worked well and we are very happy. We were close to losing in our first match and saved one match point in our quarterfinal.” – Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who teamed with Rohan Bopanna to win the doubles inTokyo.

“I am back at the number one, something that I really thought that I would never have the chance to be back there. I’m playing one of the best seasons of my career, probably one of the more emotional years, if not the most for so many facts.” – Rafael Nadal, who moved past Novak Djokovic and take over the top spot in the rankings despite losing to Djokovic in the Beijing final.

“It’s definitely one of the best seasons I’ve had in my career. I don’t know if it’s the best – for me, winning three Grand Slams in one season is pretty amazing. And also winning two Grand Slams and two gold medals in one season is pretty amazing, too. So I think those are the top three of my career.” – Serena Williams.

“I’m not thinking about the future beyond my present state.” – David Nalbandian, when asked if he would one day become captain of Argentina’s Davis Cup team.

 

SERB SUPERB

At least Novak Djokovic came away from Beijing with a win over arch-rival Rafael Nadal and the China Open title. Even in defeat, Nadal came away with the world’s number one ranking. Nadal only needed to reach the final in Beijing in order to replace Djokovic as number one in the rankings, but the Serb handed his Spanish opponent his first hard court loss this year. “I managed to stay tough and not drop my concentration, which I think (happened) in both Montréal and at the US Open in the important moments,” Djokovic said. “I learned my lesson. It was a few very tough and close matches that I lost against Rafa on hard courts, especially the last one in the US Open final.” Djokovic has never lost a match at the China Open, winning his fourth title in five years in the Chinese capital. It was Nadal’s first loss since he was upset in the opening round atWimbledonin June. Since returning to the tour following an injury layoff, Nadal has been dominant, reaching 12 finals and winning 10 tournaments, including the French Open and US Open. But Djokovic controlled this match with his serve. “I was not able to have any chance when I was returning through the whole match,” Nadal said. “When that’s happening against a player like Novak, you are dead.”

 

SERENA AGAIN

Serena Williams continued her winning ways by overcoming Jelena Jankovic to capture the China Open, her 10th WTA title of the year and 56th of her career. She even seemed to win the battle of injuries. Williams was grimacing in pain when she lost her serve to trail 2-1 in the second set. But the trainer ended up working on Jankovic. When play resumed, Williams ripped off the next five games to break the tie of 55 career titles she had with Virginia Wade and Lindsay Davenport. Williams now stands alone in seventh place on the all-time list, trailing Martina Navratilova (167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107),Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (68) and Billie Jean King (67). Serena’s 10 titles this year is the most on the WTA Tour since Justine Henin won 10 tournaments in 2010. “I really love tennis so much and it’s fans like the ones here inChina who are so exciting to come to,” Williams told the crowd. “The fans make me want to play; they’re so great here, so coming here is such a great opportunity.”

Even though she lost, Jankovic continued her climb back up the rankings and has returned to the top 10. In 2008, she was ranked number one in the world when she reached her only Grand Slam tournament final, falling to Serena Williams at the US Open. Jankovic also becomes the 15th player in WTA history to surpass USD $15 million in career prize money.

 

SERVING UP A WINNER

 In a battle of big-servers, it was Milos Raonic who blinked.Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro earned the only service break of the match to edge his Canadian foe 7-6 (5) 7-5 inTokyo. “I played really well in the last two games of the match,” said del Potro, who won his third title of the year. “I broke his serve and closed out in a fantastic way and hopefully I can keep it going for the rest of the season.” The only break in the match gave del Potro a 6-5 lead in the second set. It was the second straight year Raonic came up short in the Japan Open. Last year he lost the title match toJapan’s Kei Nishikori. The Tokyo tournament was a late addition to del Potro’s schedule. He was added after Andy Murray withdrew due to a back injury. “I decided to come here because I lost early in the US Open and had several weeks off,” del Potro said. “I’m glad I decided to come here.”

 

SET FOR ISTANBUL

The lineup of teams playing in the doubles competition in the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships has been completed. The top eight singles players and top four doubles teams will compete in the Turkish capital for a record-setting USD $6 million prize money purse. Besides the top-ranked team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, others qualifying include Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, and Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai. Hsieh and Peng have won four doubles titles this year, including Wimbledon, where Hsieh became the first player from Chinese Taipei to win a Grand Slam title of any kind. The pair is a perfect 8-0 when they’ve played doubles finals together.

 

STOCKHOLM SENIOR

Jonas Bjorkman is coming out of retirement and says he’s serious about winning the doubles title at the If Stockholm Open. The 41-year-old Swede retired from the ATP World Tour in 2008 and is currently marketing director of the Stockholm event. He will team with Robert Lindstedt and go after his fourth If Stockholm Open doubles crown. He was part of the winning team in 2003, 2007 and 2008. “Robert is being humble saying we have a good chance to win a couple of matches,” Bjorkman said. “My goal is to win the whole tournament. It’s the mind frame I always need, I cannot do anything without being fully committed. … I’ve been practicing since the beginning of September and prepared myself in the best possible way. The strokes feel good but it will be a big difference to go from practice to match.”

 

SWEET PAIR

It has been a perfect Asian swing for Cara Black and Sania Mirza. The two won their second consecutive doubles title, this time in Beijing, in two weeks. Playing their first tournament together, the pair captured the title in Tokyo before moving to the Chinese capital. Seeded eighth, Black and Mirza powered their way through the week without dropping a set, and that included a straight-set win over the top seeded team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the semifinals. In the title match, they stopped Vera Dushevina and Arantxa Parra Santonja, dropping just four games. “We’ll try to top this, though,” Mirza said. “We’ll try to do an off-season together, maybe in India, work on some things together. Because in tennis you always have to keep improving to keep winning, and always trying to take it to the next level. It’s something we both want. We’re going to make a collective effort.” Black, a mother, has now won three WTA doubles titles since returning to the tour. She has won 57 doubles titles in her career, making her 13th on the all-time list.

 

SECURES FIRST TITLE

The team of Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin won their first title by capturing the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. The fourth-seeded team stopped Jamie Murray and John Peers to keep alive their chances reaching the season-concluding Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. “We started playing together after Wimbledon, so we knew that the battle to qualify for (the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in)London would be hard,” Bopanna said. “We would have to do well at the big tournaments and (ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events) in Shanghai and Paris. We will take the confidence we have from here.” The winners are in 16th place in the Emirates ATP Race To London.

 

SEEKING LONDON SPOT

Max Mirnyi and Horia Tecau ­are moving nearer to a berth in the year-ending championships. “Reaching London is one of the main goals at the beginning of the season, that’s what makes us go to the practice court and the gym every day,” Tecau said. “I’m really happy we’re getting close to that. Winning this week helps. We’re playing every week from now till the end, so hopefully we can keep up this level that we had this week and reach London.” Mirnyi and Tecau beat the Italian pair of Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi in the China Open final in Beijing. “It was certainly a good week, considering how the past couple of weeks went,” said Mirnyi, referring to four opening-round defeats the duo had endured in their past five tournaments. “Unfortunately, the Grand Slam results weren’t something to be proud of this year, but we’re happy to have found good form.” Beijingwas Tecau’s 16th ATP World Tour title, while Mirnyi improved his finals record to a 48-41.

 

SAY HOW MUCH?

The Australian Open is hiking its prize money 10 percent for next January’s tournament – or is it? Organizers said the purse will be increased Australian $33 million (USD $30.07 million), taking in consideration a slide in the worth of the Australian dollar. Last year’s total prize money was worth about Australian $30 million (about USD $31.2 million).

But the Australian dollar has since retreated by about 10 percent in US dollar terms since then. Tournament director Craig Tiley said top players had already been informed of next year’s prize money and had responded positively. “We’ve got great feedback and support from them,” Tiley said. “What other Slams do is their decision.”

 

SPANISH CHANGE

Carlos Moya reportedly will take over from Alex Corretja as captain of Spain’s Davis Cup team. The Spanish tennis federation (RFET) has decided not to extend Corretja’s contract when it expires at the end of this year. Instead, Moya, a former world number one who retired at the end of 2010, will take over the reins as Spain begins preparations for its opening World Group tie at home to Germany. Local media reported that another former world number one player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, had also been considered for the job. Corretja succeeded Albert Costa as captain after Spain defeated Argentina in the 2011 Davis Cup final. Spain was runner-up to Czech Republic last year, then, playing without Rafael Nadal, suffered a surprising defeat to Canada in the first round this year. Having recovered from a leg injury, Nadal returned to the team and helped Spain win its relegation round to remain in the World Group for next year’s competition. Following that victory, Corretja said he would like to continue as captain, but the federation has decided to make a change.

 

STAY AWAY

The Australian Open will bar the father of Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic from next year’s Grand Slam tournament. John Tomic has been suspended from the ATP tour for assaulting his son’s former training partner. The senior Tomic was sentenced to eight months in prison by a Spanish court last month for head-butting Frenchman Thomas Drouet in the face and breaking his nose. Since his sentence as under two years, Tomic was not required to serve any time in jail. The ATP banned Tomic’s accreditation for all tour events earlier this year and will decide next May whether to lift the ban. “The Grand Slams as well as the ATP work together on this,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said. “The rule is he’s not accredited and does not have permission to purchase a ticket.”

 

SARONARA

After a career that saw him reach the final at Wimbledon in 2002,Argentina’s David Nalbandian is quitting tennis. He said the reason he is leaving the ATP Tour is because of physical problems that have sidelined him for most of the year. “It’s not easy what’s happening to me now, my shoulder is not helping me to train as I should for the circuit,” the 31-year-old Nalbandian said. Ranked as high as third in the world, Nalbandian won 11 ATP Tour titles, including the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai,China, in 2005, when he beat Roger Federer in the final. Nalbandian underwent surgery on his right shoulder in May, and said he would play two exhibition matches against Rafael Nadal in Argentina next month before retiring completely.

 

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Beijing (men): Max Mirnyi and Horia Tecau beat Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-2

Beijing (women): Cara Black and Sania Mirza beat Vera Dushevina and Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 6-2

Mons: Jesse Huta Galung and Igor Sijsling beat Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen 4-6 7-6 (2) 10-7 (match tiebreak)

Sacramento: Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith beat Jamere Jenkins and Donald Young 7-6 (1) 4-6 14-12 (match tiebreak)

Tokyo: Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Jamie Murray and John Peers 7-6 (5) 6-4

 

SURFING

Shanghai: http://en.shanghairolexmasters.com

Tashkent: www.tennis.uz

Tiburon: http://tiburonchallenger.com/

Linz: www.generali-ladies.at/

Osaka: www.hp-open.jp

Moscow: www.kremlincup.ru

Stockholm: www.stockholmopen.se

Vienna: www.erstebank-open.com/de/

Luxembourg: www.bglbnpparibas-open.lu

 

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN

$3,894,445 Shanghai Rolex Masters,Shanghai,China, hard

$125,000 Tashkent Open,Tashkent,Uzbekistan, hard

$100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger,Tiburon,California,USA, hard

 

WOMEN

$235,000 Generali Ladies Linz,Linz,Austria, hard

$235,000 HP Japan Women’s Open Tennis,Osaka,Japan, hard

 

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$746,750 Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow,Moscow,Russia, hard

$719,100 If Stockholm Open,Stockholm,Sweden, hard

$680,028 Erste Bank Open,Vienna,Austria, hard

 

WOMEN

$795,707 Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow,Moscow,Russia, hard

$235,000 BGLBNPParibas Luxembourg Open,Luxembourg, hard

 

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Charlottesville Challenger: Prime in hospitality and world-class tennis with Jack Sock, Somdev Devvarman

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By Romi Cvitkovic

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (Oct. 30, 2012) — Many may not have heard of the Boar’s Head Inn before, but this prestigious tennis club is not only home to the powerhouse University of Virginia championship tennis teams, but also this week’s $75,000 ATP World Tour Challenger, featuring familiar faces such as Donald Young, Jack Sock, Somdev Devvarman and world No. 74 Jesse Levine. [Full gallery at bottom]

I arrived on-site entirely not sure what to expect of the venue. Having mostly covered Premier and Masters events on the ATP and WTA Tours, I had become accustomed to large, spread-out venues, a quick-moving schedule, and constant hustle and bustle running from court to court  trying to catch the right shot.

Boar’s Head Inn tennis club

But the Challenger this week in Charlottesville is in a class of its own. With a pristine and updated architecture and decor, the tennis club felt more welcoming and relaxed. With over ten indoor courts, it’s easy for players to find a place to practice. You could also easily spot them in the hallways catching up with each other, or in the stands soaking in a match while waiting for their own. Overall, the players seemed to be in a more carefree mood than at any Tour-level tournament I had been to before.

Then it hit me. The Challenger Tour is not as mystifying and rough as I had heard it could be.

Sure, many cities in the world that host Challengers are not lucky enough to have a world-class tennis facility like in Charlottesville. But that’s precisely what makes Challengers in the States so unique — they have adjusted their outlook to compete with the premier tournaments of the ATP Tour.

Tournament Director Ron Manilla with a ballgirl

Here, hospitality is key. Whether it’s to its players, spectators or media, the tournament knows how to treat its guests. Whats more, the fans themselves are some of the friendliest and most tennis-knowledgeable individuals I’ve ever encountered at a tournament. Many were delighted that their children were serving as ballboys and ballgirls.

The city truly got lucky with the breadth and depth of their fan base thanks in part to UVA’s consistently strong teams.

Somdev Devvarman

Former two-time NCAA champion and UVA alumni Somdev Devvarman is just one of the familiar faces these fans are cheering for this week. Coming back from injury, Devvarman accepted a wildcard into the tournament and went on to beat former top 50 player Mischa Zverev in three grueling sets in the first round, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. If I said that the heavy pro-Devvarman fans did not contribute to his win, I would be lying.

But just as many fans that cheered on Devvarman, the same was present for Jack Sock in his win over the tournament’s No. 1 seed Jesse Levine, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Jack Sock

From a purely rankings-stance, the result would come as a surprise as Levine is ranked 74 in the world and Sock only 166. But to say it was an unexpected result would not be entirely true either. Sock turned pro only last year, and with a couple of wins utilizing wildcards given to him in big tournaments such as the U.S. Open, he has quickly become the focus of American tennis’ rising generation. Levine, on the other hand, has been around for five years and is only now making any kind of movement deep into the top 100. The match was for Sock to win or lose with his dominant forehand and serve game, and luckily for him, it was the former tonight. Another test passed for the 20-year-old. [Fun Jack Sock montage below of how he waited out his match]

Earlier in the day, another American took to the stage but was handed a completely different result. For years, Donald Young was hailed as the “next best thing” in American tennis because he had all the right weapons: a strong forehand, an equally reliable backhand, quickness and agility. But after years of frustration and a failed balance between family and USTA coaching, Young’s mental game has taken a severe hit and he has never been the same.

Donald Young

Today, after handing veteran Michael Lammer a first set bagel and looking seemingly in control, Young lost his cool and his control, quickly going down 6-2 in the second. A couple of bad “let” calls that went against him in the third set, and he went hysterical after each ensuing call — three to be exact. He somehow forced a third set tiebreak, but went out in flames, 7-6(3).

Although there are no Federers, Nadals or Murrays playing the Challenger Tour, it is an opportunity for fans to see top 100 players and players of the next generation.

I’ve always wondered what Andy Roddick was like as a junior. I could watch all the video I want but can never truly understand him as a young player. The Charlottesville Challenger lets me experiment with this exact aspect. I’m able to catch players like Jack Sock when they are fresh and still fairly new on the Tour. And in five years, when he lands himself soundly in the top 20, I’ll look back and understand where he came from and what he had to accomplish. And that to me is the what the Challenger Tour is all about.

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Bonus Footage: As Jack Sock’s featured evening match was scheduled for 5:30pm, but due to previous matches going the distance, he did not go on until 9pm. Below is a fun montage of the youngster as he waited out his time to play.

Credit to author Romi Cvitkovic. (Coach name updated, thanks to Colette Lewis.)

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Full gallery of the day’s happenings below!

[nggallery id=52]

USA’s Performance At The Australian Open Is Gimpy

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Metaphorical, wasn’t it, as Andy Roddick limped off court, having waved the white flag after going down two sets to one to Lleyton Hewitt and grimacing through several games with a hamstring injury.

How gimpy was the overall U.S. performance at this opening Grand Slam of the season? When the day was done, John Isner was beaten as well, leaving no American men in the round of 16 since the beginning of the Open Era of tennis in 1968.

Gone: Roddick in the second round with yet another injury as he marches, or rather hobbles, toward his 30th birthday.

Gone: No. 8 ranked Mardy Fish, down in straights to Colombia’s Alejandro Falla in the second round.

Gone: Isner, beaten 6-1 in the fifth set by lefty ace-serving Feliciano Lopez in the third round.

And the rest of the U.S. cast of characters are gone as well: Ryan Sweeting, though he looks as if he might have a very good year, young Ryan Harrison, Michael Russell, Donald Young, Jesse Levine, and qualifiers Denis Kudla and Alex Kuznetsov.

On the women’s side, only two of 10 U.S. players remain in the draw — Serena Williams and, surprisingly, Vania King.

This was the start of what was hoped would be a breakthrough year for a number of young American women, and one might argue that 19-year-old Christina McHale, her ranking already at No. 43, had her breakthrough in 2011.

But she was thumped out of the Aussie Open in the third round by No. 13 seed Jelena Jankovic by 6-2, 6-0 with an extremely disappointing performance.

There are other young Americans from whom more is expected by the very heavily funded USTA development program — Madison Keys, 16; Sloane Stephens, 18, Irina Falconi and Alison Riske, both 21; and Jamie Hampton, 22. And for most of them their losses shouldn’t be seen as total failures. They are evolving players who should get better. Still, U.S. tennis fans can be impatient and the toe tapping is well under way for most of this young talent.

Let’s go back a week. The U.S. had just six men players in the Australian Open qualifying tournament, and that alone speaks to disappearing depth. Kudla and Kuznetsov qualified with Denis losing in five to the soon-to-be-retired Tommy Haas in the main draw while Alex drew No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal and went down quickly in three.

The other four in the qualifying produced just two wins, both by Tim Smyczek, who was beaten in the final round in a quest for a main draw spot. Robby Ginepri, Michael Yani and Rajeev Ram? All down in straight sets in the opening round.

On the women’s side, there were 12 in the qualifying with Riske, Hampton and Varvara Lepchenko going through. Only Hampton won a main draw round, beating career minor leaguer Mandy Minella of Luxembourg and then getting blasted 6-0, 6-1 by Maria Sharapova. No great shame in losing there, but the USTA had hoped for a lot more fight than she delivered.

Serena is doing what was expected and, though she’s a longshot to win the tournament because of her succession of injuries, she’ll almost certainly make the second week. King, who turns 23 on Feb. 3, has been a slow developer and, though she upset No. 15 seed Anastasia Pavlyochenkova in the second round, she won’t be favored to get by Ana Ivanovic in the third.

That would leave just one U.S. player out of a total of 22 entered in the main draws.

So what do you deduce? To begin with, it’s not a good start to the year. Last year, Roddick, because of injury, played the fewest matches since his first full-time season, and if this hamstring injury has indeed been lingering since December, that’s not a good signal of his recuperative abilities at age 29.

Mardy Fish? It has been a good year and a half since he became the svelte Mardy and he’s run up an excellent won-lost record and achieved top-10 status. But his performances in the Slams are largely disappointing. There was a quarterfinal finish at Wimbledon last year, where he beat Tomas Berdych and lost to Nadal, and who knows how far he might have gone with a cozier draw. But he was out in the second round of the 2011 Aussie Open (Tommy Robredo) and round of 16 at the U.S. Open (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga). Tough opponents, yes. But still . . . Big players score big results in big moments.

Isner? Two five-setters in a row was devastating. I think he can reach top-10.

Is there another top-10 talent out there on the U.S. women’s side? McHale is the best of the young Americans right now, but I still don’t see elite talent there. Keys is the X factor. She got slapped down pretty hard by Jie Zheng in the opening round (6-2, 6-1), scoring only 35 points in 15 games. But she’s only 16! We still have to see how she holds up physically with an intensified tournament schedule.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

Janko Tipsarevic wins first ATP Tour title

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STARS

Agnieszka Radwanska beat Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan

Janko Tipsarevic beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 7-5 to win the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Andy Murray beat Donald Young 6-2 6-0 to win the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok, Thailand

SAYING

“It feels great. I think I deserved it.” – Janko Tipsarevic, after winning the Malaysian Open.

Janko Tipsarevic

“I had some tough matches this week – and I was playing without a bye, so I had a lot of matches in a row – but I just kept trying my best. … All of the top players were playing here, and I played some good tennis to beat them.” – Agnieszka Radwanska, after winning the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

“It wasn’t my day today. Janko played great. He deserved to win, he was more aggressive. You just have to say ‘well done’ to Janko for a great week and a great year overall. I played some great tennis this week and I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the season.” – Marcos Baghdatis, after losing to Janko Tipsarevic.

“I just played really well. Towards the end of the first set he started to play a bit better, but once I got up in the second I hardly made any mistakes. Felt like I was moving well, so it was difficult for him to hit any clean winners. I served very well throughout and didn’t give him any opportunities. It was a great match.” – Andy Murray, after defeating Donald Young in the final at Bangkok.

“It was my first final on the ATP World Tour; I’ve had a semi and the fourth round of a slam, but there’s nothing like your first final. It’s great. I beat some high caliber players and I played well. It was definitely great to win four matches and I’m into the Top 50 which is great for me, it was one of my goals at the start of the year. I just hope I can build on that and have more tournaments like this.” – Donald Young, who reached his first ATP final.


“Obviously it’s very, very exciting; it’s my third career title. I was playing for the first time with Oliver and I’m really happy to be in Thailand and win the title. It’s perfect preparation for the tournaments coming ahead in Japan and Shanghai. Obviously the target at the end of the year is to make the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and I think it’s good preparation; I’m looking forward to playing with Rohan [Bopanna] again next week.” – Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, after winning the doubles in Bangkok.

“Of course I’m very, very happy to win another title, especially with Aisam because he’s a very nice guy. … I hope we can play together again and win another one.” – Oliver Marach, who teamed with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi to win the doubles in Bangkok.

“Tokyo is really one of my favorite tournaments. Especially now, after what has happened in Japan, I felt like I owed it to the tournament to come and play – and once again the tournament has been great back to me. To win a title here is so special.” – Liezel Huber, who teamed with Lisa Raymond to win the doubles.
“It feels great to continue the run from New York and to build on that. Every time we step on the court our goal is to win matches and titles. Hopefully we can keep it up for the rest of the year.” – Lisa Raymond.

“Today was one of those days where every shot you hit the ball feels great. You feel like you’re almost seeing the play one shot in advance. You hope you have more days like that. It’s a pretty good wedding present! If this continues, I’ll be very, very happy.” – Eric Butorac, after winning the Malaysian Open doubles.

“(Qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals) is one of our goals for sure. It’s difficult sometimes not to focus on that and instead focus on our matches and how to improve every day and with every practice. But that’s the goal and that’s what we’ve been working for all year, so we would definitely like to make it to London for the first time.” – Jean-Julien Rojer, who teamed with Eric Butorac to win the doubles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

SUCCESS, FINALLY

It was more than a tournament title for Janko Tipsarevic. Until he captured the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Tipsarevic was the only player in the top 20 to not have won an ATP World Tour title. “Yesterday after my semifinal I managed to not think about going for my first ATP World Tour title all evening,” the Serb said. “I was still awake at about 4 a.m. as I haven’t adjusted to the time difference all week, and I decided to have a look at the ATP website to see what the news was. I saw the headline ‘Fifth Time Lucky For Janko?’ and then started reading the article and saw that it said I was the highest ranked player at the moment not to have won a title. Of course, then I started thinking about it lying in bed and I couldn’t get to sleep for another hour!” No problem. Tipsarevic beat Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 7-5 in the championship match. “I’m so happy that it came in a good place, at a tournament that is really, really nice, and against a good player,” Tipsarevic said. “Marcos Baghdatis has played in 11 finals and was a former Top 10 player, a Grand Slam finalist. So I feel happy that I won against a great player in a final that I hope kept the fans on the edge of their seats until the very end. I could not be happier.”

SAFINA OUT FOR GOOD

Marat Safin says his sister, Dinara Safina, is unlikely to return to the women’s tennis tour because of her injured back. “If you recall, Dinara first suffered the injury in Beijing two years ago,” Safin told the Russian media before he was to play an exhibition match in the Chinese capital against Pete Sampras. “She tried several times to make a comeback, but it only caused her more problems. Now she must think of herself – not whether she will be able to play again, but just to live a normal life. … She will make an official announcement, but speaking as her brother, I think she has no chance at all of making a comeback.” The two – Marat and Dinara – are the only brother-sister tandem to both become number one in the world in tennis.

SAVIC BANNED

David Savic of Serbia has been banned for life and fined USD $100,000 for attempting to influence the outcome of a match. The player was found guilty of three violations of the Uniform Tennis Anti-Corruption Program, including soliciting or facilitating a player not to use his or her best efforts in an event, and soliciting, offering or providing money “with the intention of negatively influencing a player’s best efforts in any event.” The three violations occurred in October 2010. Savic is banned for life from any tournament or competition organized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of professional tennis. The 26-year-old native of Belgrade, Serbia, is ranked 658th in the world after posting a 6-13 singles record this year, playing Futures tournaments for the most part in Serbia. His best ranking was 363rd in the world in 2009. Consistent with the confidentiality of the Anti-Corruption Hearing process, no details of the hearing or decision will be made public.

STRIKE THREE FOR VERA

Agnieszka Radwanska has Vera Zvonareva’s number, that’s for sure. For the third straight time, Radwanska defeated her Russian opponent, and this time it was for the Toray Pan Pacific Open title in Tokyo, Japan. Seeded ninth, Radwanska lost the opening two games and was one point away from being down 3-0. But she then won eight of the next nine games to take a 6-3 2-0 lead and finished with a 6-3 6-2 victory. “I was a little bit nervous at the start, but I woke up after those first two games,” Radwanska said. It was Radwanska’s second Premier-level title of the season. She beat Zvonareva in the final to win in Carlsbad, California, USA, during the summer. “Obviously I’m disappointed I couldn’t come away with the title today,” Zvonareva said. “I started well and broke her, but after that I don’t know what happened to me. I’ve played with Agnieszka a lot and know how she plays, and if I played to my usual standard I could have won, but I just couldn’t today. It happens. I’ll take my lessons from this match then hope to forget it as soon as possible.” With her latest title, Radwanska now has Istanbul, Turkey, and the season-ending TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships on her mind. “Before this tournament my chances of qualifying for the Championships were very small, but now they’ll be better,” she said.

STRAIGHT-SET VICTORIES

Coached by Greg Rusedski, Evan Hoyt and Kyle Edmund led Great Britain to its first Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas title, defeating Italy in the final. Hoyt beat Stefano Napolitano 6-4 6-3 before Edmund stopped Gianluigi Quinzi 6-3 6-4 to clinch the victory. “There was less pressure on me to win, so Greg said go out there and swing. He has all the pressure on him so you can go for your shots,” said Edmund. “That’s what I did and I played really well, probably the best match I have on this trip, so I’m really pleased.” The Czech Republic won the battle for third place, beating Italy, while France bested South Africa for bronze in the boys’ event, which was held in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

Australia beat Canada for the Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas title as Belinda Woolcock beat Carol Zhao and Ashleigh Barty stopped the injured Francoise Abanda, both in straight sets. “I knew it was going to be a tight match and I had my doubts beforehand, but I knew that every point would count so I had to remain focused and concentrate on each and every point,” explained Woolcock. It was Australia’s first Junior Fed Cup crown since 2007.

STRONG MOVE

He didn’t come away with a title, but Donald Young is showing he just might be for real. The 22-year-old American, playing in his first ATP World Tour title match, was crushed by fourth-ranked Andy Murray 6-2 6-0 in the PTT Thailand Open. But his run to the final will boost the left-hander into the Top 50 in the world. “He played well. I couldn’t do much and it showed in the score,” admitted Young about Murray. “It was great play from him. It was my first final on the ATP World Tour; I’ve had a semi and the fourth round of a Slam, but there’s nothing like your first final. It’s great. I beat some high caliber players and I played well.” After becoming the youngest player to be ranked number one in the Junior Boys, Young saw his star dimmed considerably as he rarely won on the ATP World Tour. Until this year, that is, starting with a surprise upset over Murray in Indian Wells, California, USA. Murray avenged that loss by beating Young in the fourth round of the US Open, then needed only 47 minutes to rout the American and win the PTT Thailand Open.

STARTING OVER

Eight years after severing ties, Jelena Dokic has reunited with her father Damir. “I would like to confirm media reports that I have reconciled with my father Damir Dokic,” the Australian tennis player said in a statement. “My partner Tin Bikic and I have visited my father at his home to finally put an end to our disagreement.” Dokic, who was born in Serbia, was ranked as high as fourth in the world in 2002. The family rift followed a series of bizarre episodes that had Damir banned from the All England Club at Wimbledon and ejected from the grounds of the US Open. At one point, Damir claimed his daughter had been kidnapped. In 2009, charged with threatening the Australian ambassador to Serbia and illegal possession of firearms, Damir Dokic served a year in year. “I initiated the meeting as I want to reunite my family and allow us all to get on with our lives and be happy,” Jelena Dokic told the Sydney Daily Telegraph. “This has gone on too long. … My father was very receptive and I believe he has changed greatly. He understands that I am my own person who makes my own decisions.”

SET FOR ISTANBUL

Two singles players and a doubles team are the latest to qualify for the year-ending TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, October 25-30. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova along with Victoria Azarenka have earned berths in the elite event, as well as the US Open doubles champions Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. Already in the singles field are top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, three-time Grand Slam tournament champion Maria Sharapova and the doubles team of Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik. Kvitova will be making her debut in the Championships, becoming the first Czech player to compete in singles at the Championships since Jana Novotna in 1998. The top eight singles players and top four doubles teams with compete for the coveted title and a share of the USD $5 million in prize money. Last year, Kim Clijsters won the singles crown by beating Wozniacki in the title match. Because of injuries, Clijsters, who won the Australian Open in January, did not qualify for this year’s season-concluding tournament.

SEEKING PAN AM GOLD

Three men and two women have been nominated to represent the United States in tennis at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, later this month. Christina McHale and Irina Falconi, both of whom reached the third round of the US Open last moth, will be joined by Denis Kudla, Nicholas Monroe and Greg Ouellette. Sloane Stephens was also nominated to represent the American team was forced to withdraw due to injury. The players will compete in men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. The Pan Am Games are held every four years in the year immediately prior to the Olympic Games. Tennis has been contested at the Pan American Games since the event’s inception in 1951. Americans who have won the Pan American Games gold medal include Althea Gibson in 1959, Pam Shriver in 1991 and Paul Goldstein in 1999. Other Americans who have competed in the Games include Arthur Ashe, Patrick McEnroe and Chanda Rubin.

STANDING TALL

Mary Jo Fernandez will serve as the honorary chair when the Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships stages its 50th tournament. In 1985 at the age of 14, Fernandez became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the US Open. She subsequently turned professional in 1986 and finished 1990 ranked a career-high fourth in the world in singles. “Participating in the Junior Orange Bowl prepared me for my professional tennis career by matching me with players like (Stephanie) Graf and (Gabriela) Sabatini at 9 to 11 years old,” said Fernandez, who is coach of the US Fed Cup team and a tennis analyst for ESPN. “In fact, winning the Junior Orange Bowl twice earlier, and the Orange Bowl in the 18’s is what inspired me to turn pro. The Junior Orange Bowl will always hold a special place in my heart and I am proud to be its honorary chair.” Other Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship participants have included Andre Agassi, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Andy Roddick and Monica Seles, among others. The tournament draws participants from 74 countries.

SEBELIUS HONORS USTA

Kathleen Sebelius, United States Health and Human Services Secretary, and members of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition have recognized the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for its leadership and participation in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) challenge. Through its National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network and youth tennis programs, the USTA has gotten more than 226,000 children to participate in and complete the PALA challenge. To date, the USTA has had more children complete the challenge than any other youth sports organization in the United States. “The President Active Lifestyle Award is about getting kids and parents to understand how easy it is to have some fun, but also to be fit. It is really aimed at ending childhood obesity in our generation,” Sebelius said. “Our goal was to have a million PALA challenges met by this year, and we are really pleased to say we have almost 1.7 million, thanks to great partners and great organizations. It’s a great partnership to have the tennis association involved.”

SEED MONEY

The Rafa Nadal Foundation, the David Nalbandian Foundation and the East Japan Earthquake Charity Fund have received the first grants for 2011 from the ATP ACES For Charity program. The three grants were announced during the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. Brad Drewett, ATP chief executive officer for the International Group, presented checks to Rafael Nadal, the defending Tokyo champion, and Nalbandian for their respective foundations. Nao Kawatei, Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships tournament director, and two children accepted the grant for the East Japan Earthquake Charity Fund. The Rafa Nadal Foundation aims to provide opportunities for socially disadvantaged youth. The David Nalbandian Foundation aspires to create positive conditions that help people with a disability lead better lives.

STOSUR LOOKING AHEAD

US Open champion Samantha Stosur will participate in an exhibition tournament in Singapore in December that could lead to a WTA event within two years. Joining Stosur this year will be Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova, China’s Shuai Peng and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. Two other players will be announced shortly. Besides playing, the stars will conduct coaching clinics with local players.

SHARED PERFORMANCE

Bangkok: Oliver Marach and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi beat Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5)

Kuala Lumpur: Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer beat Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek 6-1 6-3

Tokyo: Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond beat Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (4) 0-6 10-6 (match tiebreak)

SURFING

Beijing: www.chinaopen.com.cn/en/index.shtml

Tokyo: http://rakutenopen.rakuten.co.jp/

Mons: www.ethiastrophy.be

Sacramento: www.natomaschallenger.com/

Shanghai: http://www.shanghaimasters1000.com/English/index.shtml

Osaka: http://www.hp-open.jp/

Linz: http://www.generali-ladies.at/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN

$2,100,000 China Open, Beijing, China, hard

$1,214,500 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo, Japan, hard

$143,000 Ethias Trophy, Mons, Belgium, hard

$100,000 2011 Natomas Challenger, Sacramento, California, USA, hard

WOMEN

$4,500,000 China Open, Beijing, China, hard

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$3,240,000 Shanghai Rolex Masters, Shanghai, China, hard

$100,000 Tiburon, California, USA, hard

WOMEN

$220,000 Generali Ladies Linz, Linz, Austria, hard

$220,000 HP Japan Women’s Open Tennis 2011, Osaka, Japan, hard

Roger Federer stops the rain

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By Thomas Swick
swickt@bellsouth.net

The greatest tennis tournament in the world (as they like to call it here), which takes place in the greatest city in the world (ditto), was held up for two days because of rain. Precipitation doesn’t bother the Australian Open in Melbourne (which is not even the greatest city in Australia), nor does it faze fusty Wimbledon, whose historic Centre Court now wears a fashionable, retractable roof.

Roger Federer

The first day of rain, Tuesday, was a godsend, as I caught up on sleep and did my laundry. It made me see for the first time the intelligence of Wimbledon’s organizers, who forbid play on the first Sunday and thus give everyone – media, staff, and especially players – a much needed rest.

By Wednesday the rain, though less forceful, got a little tired. Though it had the miraculous effect of making people who had watched eight straight days of tennis hungry for tennis.

Thursday morning I woke up to the now familiar sight of New Yorkers with umbrellas walking down 66th Street. I took my sunglasses and sunblock out of my bag, left the umbrella in there, and headed off for Flushing Meadows, where, naturally, the sun was shining brightly. (Note to the USTA: Should you wish to hire me as a weather-influencer, I am available.)

At the media center I picked up the day’s bulletin and saw that, while the U.S. Open does not have a roof, it does have a sense of humor. “Day Eleven,” read the front-page headline, “Is Awash in Talent.”

I headed out to the Grandstand, its singles life extended even further by the rain. Kennard was back at Gate 16, and Claudia, controlling the media box, looked refreshed.

As did Andy Murray, who took care of Donald Young in straight sets. I walked through the corridor and found a strangely empty Louis Armstrong Stadium. A bubble had appeared from all the rain, an usher told me, and the Andy Roddick-David Ferrer match had been moved to Court 13.

I grabbed a quick lunch in the food court – Cordon Bleu crepe – and, returning to the media center, found a crowd of people gathered at the practice courts. (Note to Donald Young: If by chance you’re reading this, you may want to stop now.) The object of their attention was Andy Murray.

Two media seats opened up on Court 13 for the third set of Roddick-Ferrer. During the eighth game, Ferrer serving, the strains of La Bamba penetrated the stands. It was all the Spaniard needed to win his first set. Pam Shriver, who had been waiting to do a post-match interview with Roddick, headed for the exit with her ESPN microphone in hand, followed by her soundman and cameraman. “That’s gotta be a moral victory,” said the reporter next to me, “for your opponent.”

Roddick, I noticed, puffs out air through Dizzy Gillespie cheeks after each shot (including his serve), and then again while preparing to hit the next one.

He won the fourth set and did a Todd Martin by daylight, taking a victory lap around the court and high-fiving front-row fans. For the post-match interview, he got the Tennis Channel instead of an impatient ESPN.

The next match on cozy Court 13 featured Andrea Petkovic versus Caroline Wozniacki, who had last been seen in a night match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. At times during the match you could hear the grunts of Djokovic inside that stadium broadcast by the speakers in the plaza.

The young man sitting next to me represented Wozniacki and I asked him if he wouldn’t prefer representing Petkovic. “She’s Number One,” he said, a bit surprised by my question. “But Petkovic has more personality,” I said. “Caroline has a lot of personality,” he insisted. “You don’t know her. She’s a very sweet girl.”

But not on the court. She took care of Petkovic in straight sets. I thought: If anyone has the resources – and reading materials – to get over a loss on a tennis court, it’s Petkovic.

Outside Court 17, where Angelique Kerber had just defeated Flavia Pennetta, I ran into Andrzej, the photographer who sits a few work stations away from El Expresso (where I am still sitting and actually thinking of requesting a raise). “A good day for Polish-speaking players,” I told him. In addition to Wozniacki and Kerber, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski had earlier won their men’s doubles match, and Agnieszka Radwanska (with Daniela Hantuchova) had won in women’s doubles. Of the Slavic languages left here, Polish may dominate.

Back at the media center I asked a German reporter about the Petkovic press conference. She was happily telling me what she knew and then, stopping in the middle of a sentence, she said: “Oh, Boris, sorry,” and rushed over to a small group surrounding Mr. Becker.

For the night session I took the elevator to the Club Level. “You know who I saw earlier?” the elevator operator asked. “Aretha Franklin. I wanted to get her autograph,” he said. “My mother loves her.”

While they cleaned the stadium I roamed the corridors. Champions Bar & Grill was loud with men in dress shirts and women in dresses. I squeezed my way in past the crowded bar and bumped against a waiter carrying a tray of raw oysters. So, I thought, the recession is over.

Then I realized that Arthur Ashe Stadium, during the second week of the Open, is like church on Christmas Eve. The hard-core believers are joined, if not outnumbered, by the once-a-year celebrants, people who like to dress up and be seen at big events.

A little ways down the corridor Silver Tennis Collection sold antique wooden racquets (some with broken strings), vintage tennis posters, used books on tennis, and tennis-themed glassware and jewelry, including a necklace with a minute, diamond-studded court set on a patch of black velvet.

The stadium was packed for the night match between Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer got cheers when he appeared on the big screen for his interview in the walkway. When he stepped onto the court – The Man in Black – the roar ascended.

A fine mist interrupted the first set, creating a delay of 94 minutes. But even rain stops for Federer. He came back out and took care of Tsonga in three relatively easy sets. In the on-court interview he spoke in that soft, boyish, victory voice that always sounds strange emerging from the body of the merciless marksman and is – along with his cool comportment and movie star looks – a large part of his appeal.

Then his fans filed out of a dry Arthur Ashe Stadium, content that all was once again well with the world.

Everybody’s in action as sun comes out

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NEW YORK – “We just want to play,” said Andy Roddick.

And play they did on Thursday at the US Open.

It was where they played that was the biggest surprise as the rain that washed out play for two days finally subsided.

Andy Roddick

Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion who hadn’t played outside of Arthur Ashe Stadium since 2002, ended up on Court 13 at the outer edges of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. His fourth-round match against fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain was to be played on Louis Armstrong Stadium, but was switched when water bubbled to the surface right behind the baseline.

“I played there in 1999. I lost to Scott Lipski in juniors first round,” Roddick said of playing on Court 13. “Year before that, I lost to Fernando González out there first round in juniors.”

He didn’t lose Thursday, pounding his way into the quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3 win over Ferrer.

Another American, 28th-seeded John Isner, grabbed a quarterfinal berth by ousting No. 12 Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (2) 3-6 7-6 (2) 7-6 (4).

There were surprises in the other two fourth-round matches as defending champion Rafael Nadal stopped Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 7-6 (1) 6-1 6-2 and fourth-seeded Andy Murray eliminated unseeded American Donald Young 6-2 6-3 6-3.

Because of the rain, the four early winners will have to play four consecutive days if the year’s final Grand Slam tournament is to end on Sunday. In the bottom half of the draw, Friday’s quarterfinals will pit Nadal against Roddick and Murray against Isner.

There were two upsets in the women’s quarterfinals, but not in the upper half of the draw where top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and heavy favorite Serena Williams posted straight-set victories. But ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia and surprising Angelique Kerber of Germany will face off for the other spot in the final.

Wozniacki bested Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-1 7-6 (5); Williams downed Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-1; Stosur knocked off second-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-3, and Kerber ended the run of Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-4 4-6 6-3.

Like Roddick, Wozniacki also was relegated to Court 13, which usually during the second week of the Open is where the juniors play.

“The whole match was tough,” Wozniacki said. “There are different conditions out there, the court is faster. But I won. That’s the most important thing.”

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic was the first man to reach the semifinals, outlasting his Serbian Davis Cup teammate Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (2) 6-7 (3) 6-0 3-0 retired. In Thursday’s night match, third-seeded Roger Federer took on No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to see who would face Djokovic on Saturday. That match was suspended in the opening set by rain.

The forecast for Thursday was for a four-hour window of good weather before the rain returned later in the day. To catch up, tournament officials began all four fourth-round matches on four different courts.

Then came the problem on Armstrong and the switch to Court 13.

Because of the weather and a backup of matches, officials switched the men’s final to Monday and the women’s final to Sunday.

In other schedule changes, the quarterfinals between Isner-Murray and Roddick-Nadal will be played Friday, with the men’s semifinals set for Saturday day. The women’s semifinals will be played Saturday evening.

The women’s favorite, Serena Williams, is seeded only 28th after being out of tennis for 11 months because of injuries and illness. She has dominated lately, winning the title at both Stanford and Toronto, and could collect a $1 million bonus

Against the 20-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, Williams started slowly, the two trading service breaks for the first six games. By the time she wrapped up the opening set she was beginning to look her usual overpowering self.

“It was a slow start, sand once I lost serve I was determined to break serve so I wouldn’t be down a break,” Williams said. “Then I just kept losing serve in the beginning. Very weird.”

Williams and Pavlyuchenkova briefly took to the court on Wednesday night, but never got beyond their warm-up before rain prompted officials to cancel all play.

Although Stosur is the higher ranked of the two players, she beat Zvonareva for their eight consecutive time in their 10 career meetings. While the Australian was stretched to three close sets in her last two matches, she was dominant against her Russian opponent, needing just 67 minutes to advance to the semifinals, her best showing ever at America’s premier tennis event.

Stosur never faced a break point as he hit 25 winners.

“She was able to hold her serve pretty easy, that’s why she could take a lot of risks on mine,” said Zvonareva, who had runner-up finishes at Wimbledon and the US Open last year. “She was over-playing me a little in every game.”

Kerber had never been past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament before now. Ranked 92nd in the world, she had lost in the first round of her last four major tournaments. Pennetta has never been past the quarterfinals at a major, who has reached this stage three times.

Rain continues to wash away US Open

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NEW YORK – Despite a brief flurry of play, defending US Open men’s singles champion Rafael Nadal will have to wait yet another day.

For the second straight day rain washed out play at the US Open, although three matches were started when the storm briefly subsided.

Gilles Muller of Luxembourg won the first three games against Nadal on Arthur Ashe Stadium court, while Andy Roddick took a 3-1 lead over Spain’s David Ferrer on Louis Armstrong. On the Grandstand, Donald Young led Andy Murray 2-1 as the two were on serve.


Nadal, Roddick and Murray complained to tournament officials about being made to play in what they felt were unsafe conditions. Although the courts appeared to be dry, there was a mist that eventually made the lines slippery and unable to continue play.

While waiting to see if conditions would improve, tournament officials announced the postponement of two men’s quarterfinals, top-ranked Novak Djokovic against his Serbian Davis Cup teammate Janko Tipsarevic and third-seeded Roger Federer against No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The matches that did get on court, although briefly, and the contest between Gilles Simon of France and American John Isner are all fourth-round matches, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals.

There were no matches played Tuesday as rain covered almost the entire eastern seaboard. It was the time both the day and night sessions were canceled in their entirety at the US Open since Sept. 2, 2006.

Grandstanding

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By Thomas Swick
swickt@bellsouth.net

My favorite court looked as if it had concluded its singles life for the U.S. Open 2011 – after Donald Young took out Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets yesterday afternoon – but by some lucky stroke the Maria Kirilenko-Samantha Stosur match was moved there for the evening.

Samantha Stosur

It began so prosaicly – Stosur taking the first set easily – that I wandered over to Gate 16 and struck up a conversation with one of the ushers. This was Kennard P. Rawson’s sixth year at the Open, and each one of them he had spent at Gate 16.

“It’s a difficult spot,” he explained, “because you’ve got to deal with people coming from two stadiums.” (The Grandstand sits in the shadow of Louis Armstrong, and the corridors of one bleed into the other.) “It’s also one of the busiest gates. And,” he added with a note of pride, “I think the fastest.”

A white handlebar mustache ribboned Rawson’s sun-burned face; tufts of white hair fluffed the sides of his cap.

“I really enjoy this spot,” he said, “and I enjoy the guy I work with. You get tired. You get frustrated. You run into people who get angry over something you probably have nothing to do with. But I’ve made a lot of friends in six years.”

He turned his attention to a woman waiting in line. “Don’t worry,” he told her confidently, “we’ll get the whole line in.”

I asked him if he ever saw celebrities.

“I see Pancho Segura every year,” he said. “I like him very much. I’m a racquet collector, and I’ve got a couple Pancho Segura racquets.”

“Any particularly memorable matches that you’ve seen?”

He thought for a long time and said: “Nothing comes to mind. I’ll probably wake up tonight and think of one. But I remember the little things. Like the other day a guy fell down, playing against Del Potro, and Del Potro came over and offered him a towel.”

A game had ended, Rawson got back to work, and I returned to my seat for the second set tiebreak.

The lead went back and forth, both women hitting ferociously, Kirilenko with loud utterances, Stosur in stoic silence. She seemed to have the most support, but by the time the points played reached 13, there arose a great divide between the players, who wanted the tiebreak to be over as soon as possible (each on her own terms of course), and the fans, who now wished it to go on and on. The nearly packed house had gone from cheering for a player to rooting for a drama. They had found, at last, their classic U.S. Open night match.

At the now almost unprecedented number of changeovers, both players took their time drinking and toweling off. Then they returned, almost disbelieving, to the court. The score continued to mount, as did the noise. In a facility where you’re constantly thinking you should be somewhere else – “Wonder what’s happening on Court 17” – you knew there was no other place to be.

Stosur got five match points and lost them all, two of them to challenges. The roars greeting the pictures that appeared on the big screen of a thick white line eclipsed, once just barely, by a shadowy sphere would have converted any doubters of the replay system. At 16-15 Stosur sent a shot wide, and the pandemonium of the crowd belied its disappointment that the epic duel was over.

And it was, as Stosur undeflatedly, and unremarkably, won the third set 6-3. But we had witnessed not only drama but history: the longest women’s tiebreaker in Grand Slam history. And Kennard P. Rawson had been given an answer for the next time someone asks him about a memorable match.

Flavia Pennetta, Donald Young are US Open winners

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NEW YORK – Flavia Pennetta is a believer. She’s also now in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

“I just believe all the time and I just try to play every point,” the Italian said. “Ws working pretty good.”

Flavia Pennetta

“Pretty good” is an understatement. In a see-saw battle, Pennetta outlasted 13th-seeded Peng Shuai of China 6-4 7-6 (6) in a dramatic fourth-round battle on the hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

It’s the third trip to the quarterfinals of the year’s final Grand Slam tournament for the 29-year-old Italian. She’s never gone past the fourth round at the other three majors.

“I like to be here,” said Pennetta, who upset third-seeded Maria Sharapova in the third round. “I just enjoy all the time when I am in New York.”

Seeded 26th, Pennetta’s next opponent will be unseeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, a 6-4 6-3 winner of Romania’s Monica Niculescu.

“She’s in the quarterfinals,” Pennetta said of Kerber. “You are not there because you want to be there. You are there because you beat a lot of good players.”

Pennetta has never lost to the 25-year-old Peng, who hits two-handed off both sides. Yet in their last three meetings before Sunday’s clash, the two battled to a full three sets. It appeared it would happen again.

The Italian right-hander broke Peng in the longest game of the match – an 18-point marathon – that saw Pennetta take the last three points to grab a 6-5 lead.

While serving for the match in the 12th game, Pennetta walked to the back of the court as she felt herself becoming ill. She received a time warning from the chair umpire, Tamara Vrhovec.

“I was feeling really bad,” said Pennetta. “I think it was because it’s really humid today. It’s hot. And also, when you are there, you have a lot of emotion in the court.

“My body just need to breathe and I starting maybe to have the sensation to throw up. But doesn’t, without nothing inside, so it didn’t come out.”

Peng took advantage of Pennetta’s condition and broke her Italian opponent right back, sending it into a tiebreak. Peng raced out to a 5-0 lead, then 6-2, quadruple set point,

Despite struggling with the muggy heat, Pennetta reeled off the next six points to claim her berth in the quarterfinals.

One of the older players in the draw, Pennetta looks at her age as an advantage.

“I know I’m a little bit old for tennis. For life I’m young,” she said, adding that older players have had recent success in the majors.

“Actually we have a good experience, like Francesca (Schiavone of Italy) last year, she won Roland Garros and she was 30, and this year the final at 31. Li Na, she won Roland Garros and she’s 29, also.

“There are some players that can grow up early, and some players they need time. I’m one of them.”

At age 22, Donald Young is no longer the “young phenom.” Now, he’s finally delivering on the promise he showed when he became the youngest player to be ranked No. 1 in the world in juniors.

With a full house on the Grandstand court cheering him on, Young defeated 24th-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 7-5 6-4 6-3 Saturday to gain a berth in the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

“The crowd was great,” said Young. “Without them I wouldn’t have won at all today. I don’t think I would have had a chance because, like I said, I was kind of getting a little fatigued. The energy was kind of going away. They definitely pushed me through.”

Six years ago, Young was the youngest boy to finish a season as the world’s top-ranked junior. Then came a series of disappointing losses.

“It was tough because I wanted to win,” he said. “I was used to winning. When you’re used to winning and you start losing, it doesn’t feel good.

“Then I was looking at myself at 15 playing grown men 25 to 30. If I look back at myself, even at 22, I would hate to lose to someone 15, so I would try a lot harder anyway. And I really can’t see myself losing to someone 15.

“So it was a learning experience. I think those things I did helped me now. It’s better late than never.”

Saturday’s victory was his second over a seeded foe, having knocked off No. 14 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the five-set second-round marathon.

The left-hander, who gained a spot in the main draw on a wild card, had 46 winners to just 19 for Chela. He now has reached the fourth round of a major for the first time in his career.

“At times I wasn’t winning matches at challengers and I was losing to guys (ranked) 300 in the world. Actually this year I lost to some players 300. To go from losing a first round challenger in Aptos (California) to the Round of 16 of the US Open is great.

“But you have your highs and lows in tennis. I’ve definitely had the lows. Hopefully I’ll have a lot more highs.”

Flavia Pennetta upsets Maria Sharapova

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NEW YORK – There were a lot of clattering among seeded players at the US Open on Friday – and one big bang.

Gone is former champion Maria Sharapova, the third seed this year and one of the favorites. The Russian beauty bombed on this far-off-Broadway production, falling to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-3 3-6 6-4.

“I just want to enjoy this moment now,” said Pennetta, whose fourth-round opponent will be China’s Peng Shuai.

Flavia Pennetta

In day matches, Monica Niculescu of Romania ousted 27th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic to grab a spot in the fourth round, while in men’s second-round play, Donald Young shocked 14th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (7) 3-6 2-6 6-3 7-6 (1); Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn ousted 17th-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 3-6 6-3 1-6 6-2 7-6 (5), and Argentina’s David Nalbandian eliminated 30th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-2.
“I made way too many unforced errors,” said Sharapova, who had 60 unforced errors in the 2-hour, 29-minute battle on Arthur Ashe Stadium court. “I didn’t feel comfortable with most of my game today.”

The hardest-working player in women’s tennis, Pennetta handed Sharapova her first third-set loss of the year. Last year, Pennetta played 137 matches combined in single and doubles, the most of any player on the WTA tour.

The two have split their four career meetings, but it was the Italian’s second straight triumph over the former world number one. Pennetta also beat Sharapova in three sets in Los Angeles two years ago.

“I think she played really smart,” Sharapova said of her conqueror. “That’s her gamer, and she makes you hit a lot of balls. Even when I had balls in the middle of the court I just didn’t do much with them. I thought I could have done a lot more.”

Although seeded third, Sharapova came into the year’s final Grand Slam tournament as one of the favorites to annex the title she first won in 2006. She also had a chance to rise to number two in the WTA rankings.

All that’s gone now.

“It’s disappointing,” Sharapova said. “It’s disappointing to lose in the middle of nowhere. It’s disappointing to lose in New York. Losing isn’t fun for anyone because we work to win. We don’t work to try to lose.

“So when we’re faced with a position where, you know, we can win and we didn’t in the end, it’s tough. But it’s all right.”

Besides Peng, a 6-4 706 (1) winner over 19th-seeded Julia Goerges of Germany, other women in early matches who gained fourth-round berths included Angelique Kerber of Germany, No. 2 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 22 Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

Young was the world’s top-ranked junior in 2005 when he was just 16 years 5 months old, the youngest boy to gain that honor. And he won the Wimbledon Boys’ title in 2007. But that was before he suffered a long period of first-round losses.

This year, the left-handed American has once again seemingly found his winning game, posting upset victories over Andy Murray, Jurgen Melzer and Marcos Baghdatis in the run-up to the US Open. Now, with his second-round win over Wawrinka, Young has equaled his best Grand Slam tournament result. He reached the third round at the USA Open as a wild card in 2007.

“This year I’ve had the biggest wins of my career and I put together matches in a row,” Young said. “It was quite tough for me to put together two, three (matches) in a row.

“That’s a big thing. I could win one match and not another. When you put matches together in a row against players of this caliber, it gives you confidence and you feel like you belong.”

In the fifth-set tiebreak, Young ripped off the first six points as Wawrinka’s game disintegrated into a slew of unforced errors. Young then slammed a forehand wide before Wawrinka buried a backhand into the net on the second match point.

Argentina’s Juan Martin de Potro has returned to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the first time since he beat Roger Federer in the final two years ago. Last year the Argentine was sidelined following wrist surgery.

For the second straight match del Potro has had an easy time, sailing through in straight sets. His second-round victim was fellow Argentinean Diego Junqueira, 6-2 6-1 7-5. Primarily a clay court player, Junqueira was playing on a hard court for the first time this year.

“I played better than my first round,” said del Potro, referring to a 6-3 6-1 6-1 win over Italy’s Filippo Volandri. “I was more confidence with my forehand, especially in the beginning of the match, and always is important go through.

“So doesn’t matter if you play good or not the first round if you win. Now I’m in the third one, so I need to improve, I need to be more confidence with my serves and forehands.”

 

Radek Stepanek reaches Legg Mason finals; Donald Young not ready for prime time

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By Christopher Lancette

In a match that appeared to feature teacher versus student, Radek Stepanek earned a spot in the finals after he thrashed Donald Young for a 6-3, 6-3 at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Saturday afternoon and demonstrated that the youthful and much-hyped American is still not ready for prime time. The Czech ran Young sideways, up, back and in a few other directions – opening acres of space for an unending series of winners all day long.

Youth be damned. It was intellect and experience that carried the day and will move the 32-year-old Stepanek, already the oldest man in the top 100, higher up the rankings from his No. 54 spot.

“Yeah, definitely,” Stepanek said in response to a WTM question about whether brains mattered more than brawn. “I came prepared technically the best that I can for every match. I played different than he was used to. That paid off. I was trying to be aggressive and attack his second serve, just putting that pressure on him and I was in control the whole time.”

Up 2-0 at deuce in the second set, for example, Stepanek served, volleyed and smashed an overhead that Young futilely chased although the ball bounced well over his head. Stepanek forced an error on the next point when he made Young hit a racquet ball shot with his back to the court, then finished the game on a backhand volley.

Those kinds of plays gave Young cases of the grumps throughout the match. Young spent much of the afternoon thrashing his body around in frustration and, to the annoyance of many of his critics who would like to see him coached by people other than his parents, talking to his mother in the front row. She also accompanied him to the press conference afterward.

Up 5-3 and serving the first point of the game, Stepanek yanked Young off the court, came in behind it and hit a forehand winner up the line. He went up 30-0 on a serve-and-volley and closed out the match on a pair of service winners.

Young admitted that he was overmatched by his veteran opponent.

“He took me out of my game pretty much,” he said. “He played different, changed the pace. He attacked. He didn’t really let me really get set into the way I wanted to play or have been playing. I was a little off today but that was probably accredited a lot to him.”

Asked whether he tried making and adjustments and if they worked, Young quipped, “All of ‘em didn’t work, obviously, because it didn’t end up with me coming back and winning. I tried to start putting a few more balls in play, not going for as much because it wasn’t landing like it was previously. I had to go through everything I wanted to do because he had me quite flustered anyway.”

The win continues a great week for Stepanek, who won a final in San Jose in February of 2009. His last final appearance came in a loss to Andy Roddick in Brisbane in January of this year.

“I think it’s very important,” he said of his week in Washington. “I’m getting my ranking much better for next week. It’s very important to be seeded at the U.S. Open which would be a great bonus for me, but the main thing I’m looking forward to is tomorrows match. It’s great to play a final in such a big event and I’m looking forward to it.”

Stepanek will face the winner of the Gael Monfils/John Isner match.

Follow World Tennis Magazine on Twitter at @worldtennismag

Photo credit by © Won-ok Kim

Bogomolov among Wimbledon first-day highlights

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It took just five hours before the tarps were rolled out at Wimbledon for the first time this fortnight, but long before this first rain delay the rejuvenated Alex Bogomolov of Miami, playing, surprisingly, his first Wimbledon at age 28, was showered and happily back at his hotel with his wife and baby son.

Wimbledon

This is decidedly not the old Bogie — head in the clouds, married much too young at 21 to former Playboy model-slash-WTA personality Ashley Harkleroad, divorced two years later, and suspended for a month and a half in 2005 for ingesting, unknowingly, a banned substance through an asthma inhaler.

He’s a pretty deadly serious guy these days and arrived at Wimbledon with a personal-best ranking of No. 72, which will get even better after his 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over fellow American Donald Young. Not many are expecting Bogie to reach the third round with No. 25 Juan Ignacio Chela on the horizon, but who knows? Strange things happen when Bogomolov is around.

It wasn’t the most notable start to Wimbledon since rain is part of the, shall we say, Wimbledon charm. Number one Rafa Nadal soared into the second round with only 14 unforced errors (35 winners) against little Michael Russell of Houston, Venus Williams easily won her welcome-back-to-the-Slams first rounder over Akbul Amanmuradova, and a few Americans had a jolly good time.

* Mardy Fish of Los Angeles smacked 26 aces in 17 service games and never faced a break point in a straight-set win over Marcel Granollers. Very impressive serving with little dropoff between his first and second (average 120 mph on his first, 96 mph on his second).

* Milos Raonic, the heavy-hitting Canadian who bears close watching, hit 25 aces without a double fault and got 66 percent of his firsts win, defeating Marc Gicquel. He worries even the top-10 players, deeply.

* Tomas Berdych never faced a break point against Filippo Volandri.

* His ranking dropped to No. 113, Rainer Schuettler at age 35 and a former Wimbledon semifinalist had his best win a long time, topping Tomaz Bellucci. This is Schuettler’s 13th Wimbledon.

* Number two Vera Zvonareva had a longer than planned day, defeating young American Alison Riske by 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Riske is ranked 115, works with coaching icon Dennis Van der Meer at Hilton Head, S.C.

* Six years ago, Anna Tatishvili, a Georgian who once and perhaps still does dream of becoming a naturalized American citizen, began training with Chris Evert at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton. She was talented and just oozed admiration for Chrissie, but the anticipated development never came. Now 21, she not only won her first Wimbledon match, but recorded her first Grand Slam win. She’s currently No. 118 with a chance to bust top-100. Maybe she was inspired because Chrissie is back at Wimbledon, working for ESPN.

* It was also a grand day for another Floridian — Ryan Sweeting, who at 23 has also done some major growing up. He was a surprise U.S. Open junior winner, unseeded, at 18, then enrolled at the University of Florida, where he got himself into some very typical immature college mischief that resulted in a team suspension and a much-needed tongue-lashing from his tough-love mother in Fort Lauderdale. On Monday, he came from two sets down to beat Pablo Andujar for his first Wimbledon win. He’s gone from reliance on his big serve and forehand to a more complete player and he’s having an excellent season. I wouldn’t fancy his chances in round two, however, against Nadal.

* Also: good win for Christina McHale, playing her first Wimbledon.

* And, finally, a word about one of my favorite players, Jill Craybas. She lost, but she deserves so many thanks from a grateful tennis nation for flying the flag all these years. She’s 37 now and this was her 11th Wimbledon and 48th Slam overall.

See you tomorrow.