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Gilles Simon

Defending Champion Jelena Ostapenko, Venus Williams Fall on First Day – Mondays with Bob Greene

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Mondays with Bob Greene

 

STARS

 

French Open

First Week

Kateryna Kozlova beat fifth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 7-5 6-3

Wang Qiang beat ninth-seeded Venus Williams 6-4 7-5

 

OTHERS

Marton Fucsovics beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-2 6-2 to win the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open in Geneva, Switzerland

Dominic Thiem beat Gilles Simon 3-6 7-6 (1) 6-1 to win the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon in Lyon, France

Johanna Larsson beat Alison Riske 7-6 (4) 6-4 to win the Nürnberger Versicherungscup 2018 in Nürnberg, Germany

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-7 (5) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (6) to win the Internationaux de Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France

Hiroki Moriya beat James Ward 6-2 7-5 to win the Loughborough Trophy in Loughborough, Great Britain

 

SAYING

“I didn’t expect anything from this match. It’s just an amazing feeling.” – Kateryna Kozlova, after upsetting defending champion Jelena Ostapenko on the first day of Roland Garros.

“I feel that now everyone is here, it feels that the tournament is completed. Everyone is here just to show that tennis is really nice and also that everyone can win it. And these girls are coming back, Vika, Serena, with the kid, which is amazing. Makes it a little bit different and also special.” – Simona Halep, noting this year’s Roland Garros women’s draw includes Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, the first time all three are in a Grand Slam tournament since the 2016 Australian Open.

“I’m super happy. I fought really, really hard for this title. … It’s my tenth title, which is a great number.” – Dominic Thiem, who won in Lyon.

“Congratulations for the match, for the tournament and for everything you’ve achieved on clay. Beating Rafa in Madrid, that’s impressive.” – Gilles Simon, after losing to Dominic Thiem in the Lyon final.

“Until the end, it was tough to believe I could win this match, because to me it felt like I was always behind. It’s unbelievable. I think it’s maybe the longest match I’ve had on the tour, and to have a final like that is impressive.” – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who needed 3 hours, 35 minutes to beat Dominika Cibulkova and win in Strasbourg.

“Coming and standing with the trophy out there on Center Court is a great feeling. It makes that I can still do this and believe in myself, and especially before a Grand Slam, it’s very important.”  Johanna Larsson, after winning her second career WTA title.

“The good thing in tennis is that every week there’s a new chance.” – Peter Gojowczyk, after losing the Geneva final to Marton Fucsovics.

“The guy’s missed one first serve in about two hours.” – Thanasi Kokkinakis, after losing to Jurgen Zopp of Estonia 6-7 (4) 6-1 6-2 in the second round of qualifying for Roland Garros.

“Tennis is not the most important thing for me anymore, because it’s my son. And I am not the most important thing anymore either, it’s my son.” – Victoria Azarenka

 

STUNNER

It didn’t take long to fall from grace. One year after winning Roland Garros, Jelena Ostapenko was a first-round loser on the red clay in Paris. The straight-set loss to Kateryna Kozlova makes Ostapenko the second reigning women’s champion to be ousted in the first round of the French Open the next year – 2005 winner Anastasia Myskina was the first – and only the sixth at any major in the Open Era. Ostapenka committed 48 unforced errors, more than twice as many as Kozlova. And the winner was able to convert 7 of 16 break points, including on the final point of the 90-minute match. During the first set, Kozlova was treated by a trainer for a blister on the back of her right foot. “Actually, I have three blisters, but one was the worst, with blood,” Kozlova said. “When you are playing the match, sometimes you are not feeling the pain. … I tried to stay focused.”

 

SHOCKER

China’s Wang Qiang turned in the first upset at this year’s Roland Garros when she knocked off ninth-seeded Venus Williams on the first day of the two-week tournament. Wang had lost to Williams in the first round in Paris last year, and again in the second round at Wimbledon one month later. This time, though, the 26-year-old made only 14 unforced errors to go along with 19 winners. Williams, who lost to her younger sister Serena in the French Open final in 2002, had 28 winners but committed 35 unforced errors. Wang was impressive right from the start, finally converting her sixth break point in the opening game. Williams immediately broke back as the two battled evenly until a double fault gave Wang a 5-4 lead. The Chinese player held to take the opening set. Wang broke Williams in the 11th game of the second set, then held to close out the upset. Williams also lost in the first round at the Australian Open in January. This is the first time in the 37-year-old’s career she has lost in the first round in consecutive majors.

 

STRONG RUN-UP

Dominic Thiem completed his run-up to Roland Garros in winning form. The Austrian rallied from a set and a break down to overcome home favorite Gilles Simon in the Lyon final to earn his 10th career ATP World Tour title. It also was his 200th tour-level match win. “I really enjoyed being here,” said Thiem, a semifinalist at Roland Garros the last two years. “France has a very special place in my heart. I’ve always played great tennis here and I hope I will always play great tennis here.” Thiem saved two break points that would have given Simon an almost insurmountable double break. The eventual winner consistently used a backhand slice to wait for the right moment to strike. Thiem’s eighth clay-court title comes just weeks after he ended Rafael Nadal’s 50-set clay-court winning streak.

 

SURPRISE WINNER

When Marton Fucsovics captured the Banq Eric Sturdza Geneva Open, he became the first Hungarian in nearly 40 years to win an ATP World Tour title. The last Hungarian man to win a tournament was Balazs Taroczy in 1982. “I really love Switzerland,” the 26-year-old champion said. “Last year I played my first ATP quarterfinal in Basel and now I won my first title here, so it’s really special for me.” Fucsovics dominated from the start and never faced a break point in his win over Peter Gojowczyk. He lost just two points on his first serve, closing out the win on his first championship point, thanks to help from chair umpire Fergus Murphy. The Hungarian’s serve was called wide, but Murphy overruled the linesperson, giving Fucsovics his sixth ace of the day and the title. “It was great to reach the final in Geneva, even if it’s on clay, which is not my best surface,” Gojowczyk said. “It was also not my best day today.”

 

STRASBOURG SURVIVOR

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is a survivor. She’s also a champion. Pavlyuchenkova needed three hours, 35 minutes to outlast Dominika Cibulkova and win the Strasbourg International in three tiebreak sets. “It’s a final, so definitely I was saying to myself, ‘I’m going to give everything out there, and even if she wins, then that’s because she’s better,’” Pavlyuchenkova said. “So, even until the last point, I gave everything I had.” In winning her 12th WTA titles, Pavlyuchenkova ended with 13 aces and 73 winners. Cibulkova had 34 winners but stayed level with her Russian foe until the very last points. Pavlyuchenkova won 136 points, two more than her opponent. Cibulkova has two match points in the 10th game of the final set, but Pavlyuchenkova barely held for 5-5. In the third tiebreak of the match, the two battled to 6-6 before Pavlyuchenkova won the next two points to grab the big trophy.

 

SWEDE FINISH

After needing to rally from a set down in both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches, the Nürnberger Verischerungscup 2018 final was a straight-set win for Johanna Larsson. The victory over American Alison Riske was Larsson’s first WTA singles title in three years and only her second career singles crown. In both sets, the Swede had to come from behind. Riske got an early break before Larsson rallied to send the opening set into a tiebreak, where she won the last four points. The American then took a 4-1 lead before Larsson ripped off the next five games for the victory. “When I held for 4-2, I could see some signs that she was a little bit tired,” Larsson said, “and that gave me a lot of energy to fight back.” The Swede has had her best career results in doubles and had won consecutive singles matches just twice this season. “I feel unbelievably happy,” Larsson said. “Before this week, I arrived here with not that much confidence.”

The winner almost doubled up on titles, as she and Kirsten Flipkens came within one set of winning the doubles title. They fell to Demi Schuurs and Katarina Srebotnik in a match tiebreak. It was Larsson’s third match of the day as she and Flipkens won their rain-delayed semifinal after her singles triumph.

 

STREAK ENDED

A run of 76 consecutive Grand Slam tournament appearances has ended for American twins Bob and Mike Bryan. Bob Bryan’s injured hip is the reason he will miss Roland Garros. The brothers had not missed a tournament since the 1999 Australian Open. During that stretch, they won 16 Grand Slam tournament men’s doubles titles, including two on the clay in Paris, in 2003 and 2013.

Mike Bryan will play doubles at Roland Garros, teaming with fellow American Sam Querrey.

 

SISTERS DOING IT

Sisters Serena and Venus Williams will be after their third Roland Garros women’s doubles championship this year. The Americans received a wild card entry into the tournament, which they won in 1999 and 2010. As a team, the sisters have won 14 Grand Slam tournament doubles titles but have played only twice at Roland Garros since their last title, losing in the first round in 2013 and the third round in 2016.

 

STRONG EFFORT

Although he has played just one ATP World Tour-level match this year, Bernard Tomic will be in the Roland Garros men’s singles main draw for the eighth consecutive year. The 25-year-old Australian did not drop a set as he qualified for the year’s second Grand Slam tournament. Tomic drew fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios as a first-round opponent.

Among other qualifiers for the men’s singles main draw was Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who was once ranked as high as 10th in the world. Gulbis has not won a tour-level match since the US Open last August when he beat Alessandro Giannessi before losing to eventual finalist Kevin Anderson.

 

SICK BAY

Eugenie Bouchard’s French Open ended before it began. The Canadian retired while trailing Dalila Jakuopovic of Slovenia 6-0 2-1 in qualifying. Now 24, Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final in 2014, the year she was ranked fifth in the world. She currently is ranked 167th.

 

SHE’S IN AGAIN

Eight years ago, Francesca Schiavone won the Roland Garros women’s singles title. This year, the 38-year-old Italian had to qualify for the women’s singles main draw. Schiavone beat Evgeniya Rodina in the final round of qualifying 6-0 6-1 to book her 19th appearance in the main draw on the red clay in Paris.

Schiavone didn’t stick around long. She lost her first-round match to Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 7-6 (2) 7-6 (2).

 

SHORT STAY

Mohamed Safwat’s stay in his first Grand Slam tournament was brief. The first Egyptian man to compete in a Grand slam tournament since Tamer El Sawy at the 1996 US Open, Safwat is just the fourth Egyptian man to compete at a major in the Open Era, following Ismail El Shafei, El Sawy and Ahmed El Mehelmy. Safwat gained a spot in the main draw at Roland Garros as the lucky loser replacement for Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, who withdraw due to lower back pain. Safwat played in opening match of this year’s tournament, where he lost to fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-4 7-6 (1)

 

SWITCHING BACK?

Remember when Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek got married? Well, they did it again. The two players were first married when she was 18. They divorced in 2013. The Czech duo got married again last week. Vaidisova was ranked as high as seventh in the world, while Stepanek, now 39, was as high as eighth in the world. She retired for the second time in 2016 due to injuries. He ended his 21-year career last year and briefly coached Novak Djokovic.

 

SIX-HOUR SPAN

Ilie Nastase was arrested twice in his native Romania in a six-hour span. His first arrest came on suspicion of driving a car while drunk and refusing to take a breathalyzer test. The second arrest for going through a red light on a scooter. His driver’s license had been suspended after the first arrest. Bucharest chief police traffic officer Victor Gilceava said the former US Open and French Open champion had an alcohol blood level of 0.55 mg, enough over the limit for the former tennis star to face a maximum five-year prison sentence.

 

SUSPENDED

Two players from Argentina have been charged with rules violations by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU). Federico Coria was charged with failing to report being offered a payment to lose a set in a match in Sassuolo, Italy in 2015. The TIU statement said Coria had also been offered money to lose a number of matches during the year. “Although Mr. Coria did not accept any financial incentive or take action to comply with the corrupt approaches, he failed to inform the Tennis Integrity Unit, which constitutes a break of the program,” the statement said. A day earlier, 25-year-old Nicolas Kicker was found guilty of match-fixing by the TIU. Sanctions against both will be announced later.\

 

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Geneva: Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic beat Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram 3-6 7-6 (3) 11-9 (match tiebreak)

Loughborough: Frederik Nielsen and Joe Salisbury beat Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara 3-6 6-3 10-4 (match tiebreak)

Lyon: Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock beat Roman Jebavy and Matwe Middelkoop 7-5 2-6 11-9 (match tiebreak)

Nürnberg: Demi Schuurs and Katarina Srebotnik beat Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larsson 3-6 6-3 10-7 (match tiebreak)

Strasbourg: Mihaela Buzarnescu and Raluca Olaru beat Nadia Kichenok and Anastasia Rodionova 7-5 7-5

 

SURFING

Paris: www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/

Prostejov: www.czech-open.cz

Surbiton: www.lta.org.uk/surbitontrophy

Bol: https://bolopen.com/en/

 

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

 

MEN and WOMEN

Roland Garros (French Open), Paris, France, clay (First Week)

 

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

 

MEN

Roland Garros (French Open), Paris, France, clay (Second Week)

$148,371 Moneta Czech Open, Prostejov, Czech Republic, clay

$148,371 Surbiton Trophy, Surbiton, Great Britain, grass

 

WOMEN

Roland Garros (French Open), Paris, France, clay (Second Week)

$125,000 Croatia Bol Open, Bol, Croatia, clay

$100,000 Surbiton Trophy, Surbiton, Great Britain, grass

 

Jelena Ostapenko
Jelena Ostapenko

Triumphal Roger Federer Rules In Shanghai – Mondays with Bob Greene

by

Mondays with Bob Greene

 

STARS

Roger Federer beat Gilles Simon 7-6 (6) 7-6 (2) to win the Shanghai Rolex Masters in Shanghai, China

Alison Riske beat Belinda Bencic 6-3 6-4 to win the Tianjin Open in Tianjin, China

Samantha Stosur beat Zarina Diyas 7-6 (7) 6-3 to win the Japan Women’s Open Tennis in Osaka, Japan

Karolina Pliskova beat Camila Giorgi 6-7 (4) 6-3 7-6 (4) to win the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria

Lukas Lacko beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2 6-3 to win the Tashkent Challenge in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Steve Darcis beat Nicolas Mahut 6-2 6-4 to win the Open de Rennes in Rennes, France

Sam Querrey beat John Millman 6-4 6-2 to win the First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger in Tiburon, California, USA

 

SAYING

“I feel unbelievable prestige to win this event. Especially putting my hands on the trophy for the first time is a good feeling, I must say. I’m very happy with the way I’m playing.” – Roger Federer, after capturing the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

“It’s just a few points deciding it, and he was always really good on these points. He played some great shots.” – Gilles Simon, after losing to Roger Federer in the Shanghai final.

“It’s another great milestone. This week was full of them for us. To come and get in the title match, have a shot at winning the tournament that’s eluded us, complete the Golden Masters, is amazing.” – Bob Bryan, who with brother Mike won the Shanghai doubles title to complete the Americans’ goal of winning all nine ATP Masters 1000 championships.

“It’s very meaningful to finish the season as the number one team. This is always our top goal beginning the year, and to achieve this for a 10th time seems a little unreal.” – Mike Bryan.

“It could have been a little easier, but I’m still happy I won the title.” – Karolina Pliskova, who rallied from match point down to win the Generali Ladies Linz title.

“There are not that many secrets out there. We’ve played each other too many times at this point.” – Roger Federer, on playing Novak Djokovic.

“I have enjoyed playing this year with Carla and we are both excited about Singapore. Ever since reaching the final in Madrid, we set a goal to qualify for the WTA Finals. It will be an honor to compete against the best eight doubles teams in the world on the best stage in women’s tennis.” – Garbiñe Muguruza, after she and Carla Suárez Navarro qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore.

 

STILL A MASTER

Don’t count “the old man” out just yet. At 33 years old, Roger Federer is going up in the rankings, not down. The Swiss master beat Gilles Simon to garner one of the few titles missing from his trophy room, the Shanghai Rolex Masters. And he had to come from behind in both sets to capture his 23rd Masters Series title and first in China. When Simon netted a return on match point, the 17-time Grand Slam tournament champion let out a huge roar and pumped both fists into the air. It was Federer’s fourth title of the year and the 81st of his career. “Well, it just makes me very happy winning here because this tournament means a lot to me,” Federer said. “I’ve always enjoyed coming here. I’ve come close a couple of times, but I’ve always wanted to win it as a Masters 1000.” This is the fifth year the Shanghai tournament has been a Masters event. Federer won in Shanghai in 2006 and 2007 when it was the year-ending Tennis Masters. Simon reached a set point in the first-set tiebreak, only to have Federer hit an unreturnable first serve and later a near-perfect backhand winner down the line to win the breaker 8-6. Federer held serve in the 12th game of the second set to send it into another tiebreak. This time he grabbed a 6-2 lead – four match points – winning the title on the next point. “He was just more opportunistic,” Simon said. “We had a close match. I had a set point in the first, two in the second. He’s putting a lot of pressure. He’s always showing you that he is ready to be really aggressive on every shot. So he keeps you under pressure.”

The victory moves Federer into the second spot in the world rankings, replacing Rafael Nadal. There is a mathematical chance that he could surpass Novak Djokovic and end the season in first place in the Emirates ATP World Tour Rankings.

 

STOSUR TRIUMPHANT

For the third time in her career, Samantha Stosur has come away from Osaka with the Japan Open trophy. Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, who was competing in her first WTA final, led 5-3 in the opening set before the top-seeded Australian fought back. Diyas held two set points in the tiebreak before Stosur once again rallied. The 2011 US Open winner, currently ranked 18th in the world, broke her opponent to start the second set and went on to capture her sixth career title and first of 2014. Stosur also won in Osaka in 2009 and last year. It was the first time the 20-year-old Diyas has reached a WTA semifinal.

 

SPECIAL SIBLINGS

Twins Bob and Mike Bryan have added another mark to their expansive record book. The Americans have become the first doubles pair to win all nine current ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, adding the Shanghai Rolex Masters by beating Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. As a team, the brothers have now won 31 Masters 1000 titles. “To win here, it’s been a long time coming to Shanghai,” Mike Bryan said. “To finally get across the finish line as the winning team was extra special.” This year they reached 10 finals, winning seven, including their fifth US Open. The US Open win was very special, being their record 100th team title. Besides Shanghai, the twins won four other ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments: Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Cincinnati.

The Bryan brothers have clinched the year-end number one Emirates ATP Doubles Team Ranking for the sixth consecutive season and a record 10th time.

 

SWISS MAGIC

Playing nearly perfect tennis, Roger Federer knocked off top-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-4 in their Shanghai Rolex Masters semifinal, snapping the Serbian’s 28-match win streak in China. Playing in his 52nd ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal, Federer raced through the opening set in 48 minutes, needing only one break point to take the lead. He then broke Djokovic’s serve again to start the second set and never trailed. Djokovic saved two match points on his serve in the ninth game before Federer served out the victory in one hour, 35 minutes. The Swiss master faced only one break point in the entire match and never lost his serve as he time and again went to the net and cut off Djokovic’s passing shots with clean volley winners. Federer won 20 of 35 points at the net.

Federer’s toughest match of the week came in the second round when he was almost knocked out of the tournament by Leonardo Mayer. The Swiss star got a little lucky. On Mayer’s first match point at 5-4 in the third, the Argentine aimed a backhand passing shot down the line. But the ball clipped the tape and fell back on his side of the net. Federer staved off four more match points to beat Mayer 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7).

 

SQUEEKER

In a close contest, Karolina Pliskova beat Camila Giorgi to win the Generali Ladies Linz title. Pliskova lost the first set in a tiebreak after leading 5-3. The big-serving Czech player won the first four games in the second set, which she won 6-3, then took a 5-1 lead in the third. But Giorgi roared back, fiving five games in a row to go up 6-5 and reach match point in the 12th game. Pliskova finally held and won the ensuing tiebreak 7-4 by taking the final three points. “After I was 5-1 up and she came back and had match point, I was already thinking I would lose and that I would cry afterwards,” Pliskova said. “But she was playing so well in that part of the third set. Before that she was making so many mistakes, but she stopped doing that and calmed down, and she played so much better there.” It was Pliskova’s third WTA title, including Seoul, South Korea, recently. Since the US Open, Pliskova has been one of the hottest players on the WTA tour, winning 16 of 19 matches. She also is the third player to win a title from match point down this year. The only other winner who saved a match point in the final was Alizé Cornet, and that was also against Giorgi.

 

SECOND-ROUND SHOCKER

Feliciano Lopez beat Rafael Nadal for just the third time in 11 years, ousting the second-seeded in a second-round shocker, 6-3 7-6 (6).  The loss for the world former number one came one day after he revealed that he has been diagnosed with the beginnings of appendicitis. “For sure (I don’t feel) perfect,” Nadal said when asked how he felt following the loss. “It’s the same way that I felt before. A little bit more dizzy now. But that’s it. Nothing that I have to worry about. When you lose a match, it is not the moment to talk about obvious things. I lost. Feli played better than me.” The 33-year-old Lopez trailed 3-5 in the second set and saved a set point at 5-6 in the tiebreak before claiming the victory. He slammed 15 aces and saved four of the five break points he faced.

 

SET FOR SINGAPORE

Both the singles and doubles fields are set for the season-ending BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Playing singles will be Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Eugenie Bouchard, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic.

The doubles event was completed when Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro qualified for the elite field. Muguruza and Suárez Navarro didn’t begin playing together until Miami, yet made it into the WTA’s crown jewel event in their first try together. Also earning spots are the teams of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, Cara Black and Sania Mirza, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, and Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik.

 

STARTING POINT

Alison Riske can now call herself a champion. The 24-year-old American won her first WTA title by stopping Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the Tianjin Open final. “It’s a huge accomplishment for me to win my first WTA title,” Riske said. “I was here by myself, which made it even more special, just to know that I was able to do it by myself.” The 17-year-old Bencic, who reached the US Open quarterfinals last month, is still seeking her first WTA crown.

 

SICK BAY

A hip injury caused Ana Ivanovic to pull out of the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria, before her scheduled second-round match against American Madison Brengle. The former world number one received medical treatment during her first-round win over Pauline Parmentier of France. “This injury has been plaguing me the whole summer, and it got worse during the recent tournaments in Asia,” Ivanovic said in a statement. “I am sorry but I can’t play on.” Ivanovic, currently ranked eighth in the world, won the Linz tournament in 2008 and 2010 and reached the final last year. She already has qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore.

 

SEPARATING

For the past two years Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai have been one of the best doubles teams in the world, even taking over the number one ranking. They have never lost in 12 finals and won the WTA Finals a year ago. Yet they are splitting up after they defend their title in this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Hsieh, a native of Taiwan, will team up next year with India’s Sania Mirza. “I am very excited to make the WTA Finals in Singapore,” said Peng, who became the first native of China to be ranked number one in the world. “The last couple of years in China, tennis has become more and more popular. This is the first time the WTA Finals will be in Asia, and Singapore is a really interesting city. And last year we had a really good tournament.”

 

SHANGHAI DANCERS

Two ATP World Tour players – Tomas Berdych and John Isner – participated in a traditional Chinese “Dragon Dance” on the Bund in Shanghai’s city center. They received instructions on how to lead the Dragon Team before demonstrating their new skills in front of the assembled media. “I never imagined myself actually doing it,” Isner said. “I’d give myself about a C (grade). I started off pretty horribly, but as it went on I got a lot better. It was a lot of fun. By performing on the Bund, a wide walkway along the river, the players were in front of Shanghai’s famous skyline. “It’s a very signature view of this city,” Berdych said. “It’s like many pictures around the world. You can see this view and we are part of it. We’re here, we’re trying a new thing and had some fun. It’s been a really nice evening.”

 

SHE’S BACK

Kim Clijsters is returning to tennis, but this time as a tournament director. And also returning to the WTA tour is a Premier-level event in Antwerp, Belgium. “After seven years, world class tennis is coming back to Antwerp,” said Clijsters, a four-time Grand Slam tournament winner and former world number one. “The new BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games will not only become a high-level tennis event, but much more than that.” One of the unique traditions of the tournament is also returning. Any player who wins the tournament twice in three years will receive a special racquet made with 5.5 kilograms of gold and 2008 diamonds worth USD $1.5 million. “Believe me, that makes this tournament particularly attractive for the female tennis players,” Clijsters said. When the tournament was held between 2002 and 2009, the special racquet went to any player who won the tournament three times in five years. The only player to take the racquet home was Amélie Mauresmo, who won the event three straight years, 2005-2007. The tournament will be held the week of February 9, 2015.

 

SOFIA BOUND

Italy’s Flavia Pennetta has been awarded a wild card into the Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions, the season-ending championships for the WTA’s International Series. The six highest-ranked International title winners and two wild card entries who are not competing at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore will comprise the eight-player field at Sofia, Bulgaria. Pennetta won the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA, this year – the biggest WTA title of her career – besides reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the US Open, falling to the eventual champions in both Grand Slam tournaments.

Three other players – Ekaterina Makarova, Dominika Cibulkova and Andrea Petkovic – were the first to qualify for the Sofia tournament, a USD $750,000 even that will be held October 28-November 2.  Makarova won her International-level title at Pattaya City; Cibulkova captured Acapulco; and Petkovic won Bad Gastein. All three will be playing the Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions for the first time. Cibulkova was a finalist at the Australian Open, while Makarova reached the US Open semifinals and Petkovic was a semifinalist at Roland Garros.

Jelena Jankovic was to be the first wild card entry into the Sofia tournament, but the Serbian has been sidelined for the remainder of the season by a back injury. “My back injury has been bothering me and it’s not getting better quickly enough, so unfortunately my season has to come to an end after Tianjin,” Jankovic said in a statement. “I was looking forward to seeing my fans in Moscow and Sofia and playing both tournaments, but due to medical advice I must start my rehabilitation now to allow myself to properly heal for next year.”

 

SWEET CASH

Prize money at the 2015 Australian Open will rise 10 percent from this year’s payout. Because of the retreat of the Australian dollar, the payout will be USD $31.44 million, a rise of slightly more than USD $29 million when Stan Wawrinka and Li Na captured the men’s and women’s singles titles.

The Australian Open now has three covered show courts. The newly renovated Margaret Court Arena has a retractable roof to go along with Rod Laver Arena’s center court and the Hisense Arena. “I think it’s absolutely beautiful,” the 72-year-old Smith said after touring the 7,500-seat arena named for her. “Wouldn’t have minded something to play on like this in my day.” The refurbished arena gives the Australian Open three courts that can be covered in the event of rain or extreme heat.

 

STRUCTURE NAMED

A new tennis complex at California State Los Angeles University will be named for Rosie Casals and Pancho Gonzalez. Fellow International Tennis Hall of Famer Billie Jean King helped with raising the two-story, USD $5 million structure on the campus of the school King attended. For the last 17 years King has been returning to the university to host clinics and galas, helping raise money to boost the school’s sports facilities and teams. “Love this place,” said King, whose father was a firefighter in nearby Long Beach, California, USA.

 

SANIA STOPPED

It made no difference that Sania Mirza is India’s top women’s tennis player and a Grand Slam tournament doubles champion. Or that she had recently won a mixed doubles gold medal with Saketh Myneni at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Mirza arrived late so was stopped from taking a tour inside the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. She was in Agra to participate in a function at Jaypee Palace hotel. The following day she returned early enough to the Taj Mahal and toured the 17th century monument.

 

SET NEW RULES

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) will utilize the USTA Pro Circuit to award wild cards into next year’s Australian Open. The USTA announced the American man and American woman who earns the most ATP World Tour and WTA ranking points at two of three USTA Pro Circuit hard-court events this fall will earn the main draw wild cards into the first Grand Slam tournament of 2015. Only Americans who did not earn direct entry into the Australian Open are eligible. The USD $50,000 tournaments that will make up the new Australian Open Wild Card Challenge for women will be the Tennis Classic, Macon, Georgia, USA; John Newcombe Women’s Pro Challenge, New Braunfels, Texas, USA; and South Seas Island Resort Women’s Pro Classic, Captiva Island, Florida, USA. The men’s wild card winner will come from the Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Knoxville 2014 Challenger, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; and JSM Challenger of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA. The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which wild cards into the 2014 US Open and 2015 Australian Open are exchanged.

 

SAD NEWS

One of the world’s top tennis teaching professionals, Vic Braden, is dead at the age of 85. He died at his home in Trabuco Canyon, California, USA. After leading Kalamazoo College to the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship in each of his four years there, Braden turned pro and eventually joined Jack Kramer’s tour. Among those he played against were Jimmy Evert, father of Hall of Famer Chris Evert, and George Richey, the father of future pros Cliff and Nancy Richey. Braden and Kramer later co-founded the Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates, California, USA, where future Hall of Famer Tracy Austin learned to play tennis as a child. In 1971, he opened the Vic Braden Tennis College in Coto de Caza, California, USA, an instructional facility for tennis players of every range of ability, from beginners to pros. He became known for his innovative teaching methods and his application of technology to the basics of tennis instruction. Braden wrote several books and articles on tennis instruction and was a licensed psychologist in California. Besides his wife of 43 years, Melody, Braden is survived by his children, Kory Braden-Hittelman, Kristen Paul, Troy Davis and Shawn Davis, as well as four grandchildren. His daughter, Kelly, died 12 years ago.

Rochelle “Shelly” Solomon, who played on the WTA Tour in the early 1980s, fell 15 stories to her death from the top of a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, condominium. An on-site supervisor for a construction company claimed Solomon had jumped off the roof. Born in Washington, DC, Solomon had lived in Florida since she was 11 years old. The sister of former ATP pro Harold Solomon, Shelly – as she was known – was an All-American tennis player when she won both singles and doubles to lead UCLA to a national collegiate title in 1981. She immediately turned pro and in 1982 was runner-up at the Borden Classic in Tokyo, Japan, and a semifinalist at the Wells Fargo Open in San Diego, California, USA. She had career wins over Kathleen Horvath, Pam Casale and Betsy Nagelsen. Solomon served on the WTA Board of Directors in 1983-1985. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in political science, then graduated Magna Cum Laude from Nova University Law School. After being admitted to the Florida Bar in 1992, she became an assistant state attorney for Broward County. The mother of four children – Lexi, Jake and twins Adam and Ashley – Solomon ran unsuccessfully for Broward County School Board in 2012.

 

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Linz: Raluca Olaru and Anna Tatishvili beat Annika Beck and Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-1

Osaka: Shuko Aoyama and Renata Voracova beat Lara Arruabarrena and Tatjana Maria 6-1 6-2

Rennes: Tobias Kamke and Philipp Marx beat Frantisek Cermak and Jonathan Erlich 3-6 6-2 10-3 (match tiebreak)

Shanghai: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2 7-6 (3)

Tashkent: Lukas Lacko and Ante Pavic beat Frank Moser and Alexander Satschko 6-3 3-6 13-11 (match tiebreak)

Tianjin: Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova beat Sorana Cirstea and Andreja Klepac 6-7 (6) 6-2 10-8 (match tiebreak)

Tiburon: Bradley Klahn and Adil Shamasdin beat Carsten Ball and Matt Reid 7-5 6-2

 

SURFING

Moscow: www.kremlincup.ru/

 

Stockholm: www.stockholmopen.se/

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

Luxembourg: www.bglbnpparibas-open.lu/

Valencia: www.valenciaopen500.com/

Basel: www.swissindoorsbasel.ch/de-de/

Singapore: www.wtafinals.com/

 

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN

$776,620 Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow, Moscow, Russia, hard

521405 If Stockholm Open, Stockholm, Sweden, hard

521405 Erste Bank Open, Vienna, Austria, hard

 

WOMEN

$644,900 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia, hard

$226,750 BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg, hard

 

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$1,887,980 Valencia Open 500, Valencia, Spain, hard

$1,841,900 Swiss Indoors, Basel, Switzerland, hard

 

WOMEN

$6,500,000 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Singapore, hard

 

Roger Federer
Roger Federer

A Laundry List of Firsts For 2014 U.S. Open Champion Marin Cilic

by

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

 

Marin Cilic did a few thing he had never done before at the 2014 U.S. Open.

It started in a sparsely-attended round of 16 match on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday, September 2 when Cilic broke through to beat Gilles Simon of France for the first time in four previous meetings in the round of 16 in five sets in four hours, 13 minutes. In the quarterfinals, he then won consecutive matches against Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals for the first time. In the semifinals came his first career win over Roger Federer – a straight-set throttling to move him into his first career Grand Slam tournament final. He then capped his miraculous run to his first major title with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win over Kei Nishikori to become the first man from Croatia to win the U.S. Open singles title.

He won his quarterfinal, semifinal and final-round matches in straight sets – becoming to the first man since Stefan Edberg in 1991 to sweep their last three U.S. Open matches.

Cilic, at 6 foot 6, is the tallest man to win the U.S. Open – equaling Juan Martin del Potro, also at 6 foot 6, who won the title in 2009.

The eight-inch height discrepancy between Cilic and Nishikori, 5 foot 10, was the biggest height difference among Grand Slam men’s singles finalists in the Open Era, the previous being at the 1999 U.S Open – 6’6” Todd Martin was 7 inches taller than the 5’11” Andre Agassi – and at the 1971 U.S. Open – Stan Smith (6’4”) was 7 inches taller than the 5’9” Jan Kodes.

Cilic played the U.S. Open one year after missing the event in a drug-suspension when the tested positive for a banned stimulant that he claimed when he accidently indigested a glucose tablet.

In his last U.S. Open appearance, he blew at 6-2, 5-1 lead in the 2012 quarterfinals against Andy Murray, who went on to win the title.

It marked the first straight-set US Open men’s final since 2008 when Federer defeated Murray 62 75 62.

Cilic becomes the first Croatian to win a major title since Goran Ivanisevic, his coach, won Wimbledon in 2001. Seeded No. 14, Cilic is the lowest seeded man to win the U.S. Open since No. 17 seed Pete Sampras won the 2002 U.S. Open in his career finale.

The No. 10 seeded Nishikori, who defeated No. 5 seed Milos Raonic and No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka in five sets in the fourth round and quarterfinals respectively, and No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic in four sets on a 90-degree afternoon in the semifinals, was the first Asian man to play in a Grand Slam singles final.

The final was the first US Open final between two players making their Grand Slam final debut since 1997 when Patrick Rafter defeated Greg Rusedski in what was also the last US Open final that did not feature a Top 10 player. Rafter was ranked No. 14 and Rusedski No. 20.

Marin Cilic
Marin Cilic

Another Hallmark Day For Roger Federer

by

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

 

It was another hallmark day for Roger Federer

In securing his 900th career ATP singles match victory of his career, Federer had to rally from two-sets-to-one down to survive against the stubborn Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in frenzied fourth round French encounter.

The win advances Federer into the quarterfinals of a major tournament for a record-extending 36th consecutive time and also gives Federer his 58th career win at Roland Garros, surpassing the all-time singles match win record among men set by Guillermo Vilas and Nicola Pietrangeli.

After leading 3-2 in the second set, Federer fell on the red clay and seemed to have hurt his wrist. He then proceeded to slump and lose 10 of the next 13 games, before he sensed the need to move into a higher gear and won seven straight games to take the fourth set and lead 3-0 in the fifth before closing out the match six games later.

The last time Federer failed to reach the quarterfinal of a major tournament came at the 2004 French Open when three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten defeated the top-seeded Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.

Federer’s 900 match wins ranks him No. 3 all-time behind Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Vilas.

If Federer wins Roland Garros as the 17-time major tournament champion did in 2009, he will tie John McEnroe for third-place all time with 77 career ATP singles titles.

He next faces Simon’s countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, while David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo – both of Spain – play in the other quarterfinal in Federer’s half of the draw.

Roger Federer
Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal continues amazing title run — Mondays with Bob Greene

by

STARS

Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer 7-6 (1) 7-5 to win the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Barcelona, Spain

Maria Sharapova beat Victoria Azarenka 6-1 6-4 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany

Gilles Simon beat Fabio Fognini 6-4 6-3 to win the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest, Romania

Kiki Bertens beat Laura Pous-Tio 7-5 6-0 to win the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fès, Morocco

Go Soeda beat Tatsuma Ito 6-3 6-0 to win the OEC International Tennis Challenge in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

DAVIS CUP

Asia/Oceania Group III at Tehran, Iran (round-robin): Syria and Kuwait promoted to Group II in 2013; Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan relegated to Group IV in 2013

SAYING

Rafael Nadal celebrates his title in Barcelona (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

“’This is the hardest match I had on clay court this season. David always takes you to the limit. A bit of it was lottery; luck fell on my side today.” – Rafael Nadal, after beating David Ferrer to win the Barcelona title for the seventh time.

“Like always, Rafa. I’ve lost four times. but four times against a great.” – David Ferrer, after losing the Barcelona title match for the fourth time – all against Rafael Nadal.

“I’m excited. I’m going to play more tournaments now and try to win more.” – Kiki Bertens, a qualifier after winning her first WTA Tour singles title, the Grand Prix de Sar La Princesse Lalla Meryem.

“It is only my second tournament on clay, so I’m still happy with the result.” – Laura Pous-Tio, who lost to Kiki Bertens in the Fès final.

“I’m just happy to be the champion. I came to Europe this year a bit earlier than I usually do. I added this to my schedule and was going to use it as a warm-up tournament for the clay court season. But maybe I should start doing it every year since it’s obviously working for me.” – Maria Sharapova, after winning in Stuttgart, Germany.

“Obviously I’m not happy I lost in the final, but congratulations to Maria, she did a really good job this week. It was still a good week for me. I was really happy to come to Stuttgart and I hope to do better next year.” – Victoria Azarenka, after losing to Maria Sharapova in the title match of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

“’Clay’s not his best surface, but he consistently does well on it. Last year he reached the semifinals at the French Open, Monte Carlo and Rome, so he can play really well on it. For me, it was a big win, regardless of the surface.’” – Milos Raonic, after beating Andy Murray 6-4 7-6 (3) in the quarterfinals in Barcelona.

“The time of the match is not important. You could be spending two hours on the court but barely working hard and having no rallies, but you could spend one hour and it’s so intense. I don’t pay attention. I just try to stay focused.” – Victoria Azarenka, following her quick 77-minute semifinal win over Agnieszka Radwanska.

“Another semifinal this year at a very strong tournament is not a bad result, of course, but playing against the same player all the time is not really fun. She is just playing great tennis this year and played another good match against me today. I’ll be back to try and win the car next year.” – Agnieszka Radwanska, after losing to top-ranked Victoria Azarenka.

“We hadn’t won a title in our last seven finals. We were very lucky I’d say in the final. (Marcel) Granollers and (Marc) Lopez played a very good match, but couldn’t finish it. We fought hard and in the end it paid off by winning. The whole week’s been like this for us, very lucky. But we played some good quality tennis, especially in the semifinals against (Max) Mirnyi and (Daniel) Nestor, and today we got lucky and won.” – Marcin Matkowski, after he teamed with Mariusz Fyrstenberg to win the doubles in Barcelona.

“I had to run a lot today. You really have the feeling that you are never in control of the game. I’m always happy when I win a tournament like this because sometimes people think it will be easy when you’re the number one seed, but on the court it’s very close every time.” – Gilles Simon, after winning the Bucharest, Romania, tournament for the third time.

“I’m upset because I lost the final. I had my chances, but he has played more finals than me and is more experienced. Maybe next time I will have the chance to win the tournament.” – Fabio Fognini, who lost to Gilles Simon in the Bucharest final.

STREAK CONTINUES

It may not be routine, but Rafael Nadal sure makes it seem that way. The Spanish great won the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell for the seventh time and becoming the first player in the Open Era to win two tournaments seven times. Ranked second in the world, Nadal won his eighth straight Monte Carlo title a week earlier. Nadal has won 21 straight matches on clay, while only Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have beaten the Spaniard in a clay court final. Nadal now has won 48 tournaments in his career and ran his winning streak in Barcelona to 34 straight. It was the fourth time the sixth-ranked David Ferrer has reached the final at Barcelona. Each time he has lost to Nadal. “It’s almost unimaginable to win here seven times,” Nadal said. “It’s a special tournament for me, at home in my club. To win at home in front of the people you know is always more special.”

SHARAPOVA WINS

Maria Sharapova finally figured out a way to beat top-ranked Victoria Azarenka in the final of a tournament. While her advantage over Sharapova was only 5-3 in their career meetings, Azarenka owned a 4-0 record in finals, winning them all in straight sets, including this year’s Australian Open. Sharapova turned that around in Stuttgart, Germany, winning her 25th WTA career title by simply overpowering her opponent. The Russian was dominating on her serve, losing just 17 points in her nine service games in the match and not being broken at all. Sharapova had 31 winners to just 13 unforced errors. “I had lost the last few previous encounters with Victoria, so I was extremely motivated today,” Sharapova said. “When I got the chance to go out and play her again I knew I had to change a few things. Before I was maybe a little bit impatient and went for a bit too much sometimes, but this time I was really patient. I was aggressive but consistent when I had to be against her. I felt I played quite smart in the important moments in the match.” It was Sharapova’s sixth career win over a player ranked number one in the world. She beat Lindsay Davenport in 2005, Justine Henin in 2008, Amélie Mauresmo in 2006 and Caroline Wozniacki last year.

STICKING TO THE SCRIPT

When Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska reached the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, it sent the WTA Tour officials to the record book. It was the first time the top four players in the world reached the semifinals of an event since July 2009 at Wimbledon. That was when Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva made up the final four. The Williams sisters battled their way into the final, with Serena eventually capturing the title. “On the men’s side it’s normal to have the top four in the semis,” Kvitova said. “It’s great for the tournament, the sponsors and the people. It has been a long time since the last time, but hopefully it will happen in more tournaments soon.”

SURPRISING WINNER

Playing in only her second WTA Tour main draw, young Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens came away with the title at the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fès, Morocco. Last year she played her first WTA tournament in her home event in ‘s-Herogenbosch, losing in the opening round. And she had to qualify to get into the main draw in Fès, rallying from 3-1 down in the third set to Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino and 4-1 in the third set to Kristyna Pliskova. And that was in qualifying. Once she got into the main draw, Bertens beat Urszula Radwanska, Chanelle Scheepers, Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco and Simon Halep before taking on Laura Pous-Tio in the title match. It was the first final for Pous-Tio also, although she had been in three semifinals before. After falling behind 0-3, Bertens rallied. Knotted at 5-5 in the opening set, Bertens won the last nine games for a 7-5 6-0 victory. “In the beginning I was very nervous and she started well, but after I won the first set all my nerves were gone,” Bertens said. “I love it here. I was here for one week because I played the qualies too, so I’m a little bit tired now.”

In the semifinals, Pous-Tio lost her serve five times to Mathilde Johansson, but broke her French opponent seven times to win 6-1 2-6 7-5.

SUCCESSFUL STRUGGLE

Petra Cetkovska and Alexandra Panova had a hard time winning the doubles title match in Fès, Morocco. The pair rallied from 6-3 5-3 down and fought off five match points in their win over Irina-Camelia Begu and Alexandra Cadantu. Cetkovska and Panova actually missed six match points of their own, losing a 9-3 lead in the match tiebreak before closing out the victory 3-6 7-6 (5) 11-9 (match tiebreak).

SIMON REPEATS

It’s getting to be old hat for Gilles Simon. The Frenchman won the Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest, Romania, for the third time, this time besting Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4 6-3. Simon also won the tournament in 2007 and 2008. Fognini was playing in his first ATP World Tour final.

SIGNATURE COLOR

Until now clay came in two colors: red in most of the world and green in the United States. The Mutua Madrid Open is being played in Madrid, Spain, this week and the players will be traipsing on a blue clay surface. “If they have changed how the courts play, as well as the color, and the courts play better, that’s great,” said Australian Samantha Stosur. “I think it worked well when the Australian Open changed the color of the courts from green to blue, but that’s just a case of painting cement. This is changing the color of the dirt, and it will be interesting to see how it changes the court.”

STOPPING AT THE TOP

Lisa Raymond has joined her partner Liezel Huber at the top of the WTA doubles rankings. And at 38 years old, Raymond is the oldest player in WTA history to hold the coveted number one spot in either singles or doubles. The Americans also became the eighth pair to share the top spot. Raymond is not unfamiliar with that role. She has been a part of three of those duos, teaming with Rennae Stubbs 12 years ago and with Samantha Stosur in 2006-07. This is the fifth time Raymond has been ranked number one, and the first time since July 2007. Other duos who have shared the top ranking include Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez, Cara Black and Huber, Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, and sisters Venus and Serena Williams.

SEVENTH TITLE

The top-seeded team of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau won their seventh ATP World Tour doubles title when they beat Jeremy Chardy and Lukasz Kubot in the final in Bucharest, Romania. “I wasn’t 100 per cent before the first match. I had a knee issue,” Lindstedt said. “To get through that one really got us set on our tracks. The semifinal was the most rewarding match for us as a team. It was a very difficult match the way it evolved. It was very important for us. Today’s match is the icing on the cake for a great week.” It was the 13th career doubles title for the 35-year-old Lindstedt, while the 27-year-old Tecau captured his 10th career title.

SKIPS HOME EVENT

Because of the death of his grandfather, Novak Djokovic has pulled out of this week’s Serbia Open. “I’ve made a decision to take part in the tournament this year,” said Djokovic, who was the defending champion in the Belgrade, Serbia, clay-court event. “This is certainly one of the toughest decisions in my career but it is impossible for me to play in the next few days and to think about tennis when there are some other things in my head.” The top-ranked Djokovic lost to second-ranked Rafael Nadal in the Monte Carlo Masters final a week ago, just three days after his grandfather’s death

SIDELINED BY INJURY

Andrea Petkovic will be sidelined for three months after tearing ligaments in her right ankle at the Porsche Grand Prix. The German hurt her ankle in a second-round match against top-ranked Victoria Azarenka. The Stuttgart, Germany, tournament was Petkovic’s first since January, having been sidelined with a lower back injury. She also has been nursing a right knee injury. Currently ranked 11th in the world, Petkovic was the first German woman to finish a year in the top 10 since Steffi Graf in 1998. But in the second set against Azarenka, Petkovic stepped awkwardly and twisted her right ankle. She didn’t even try to continue playing and had to be helped off the court.

SVETLANA HURT

Svetlana Kuznetsova hurt her leg and had to retire from her second round match in Fès, Morocco. The two-time Grand Slam tournament champion had won the first set 6-1 against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu. The Russian star then lost the second set in a tiebreaker and trailed 3-2 in the third set when she pulled out.

STRONG SHOWING

A huge serve has been Milos Raonic’s calling card. It works on clay also, as Andy Murray found out. The Canadian crushed 14 aces as he ousted Murray 6-4 7-6 to grab a spot in the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open. Playing an aggressive game, Raonic took the initiative from the start against the second-seeded Murray and held off a fightback from the Scot at the end of the second set to record one of the best wins of his career. Murray managed just one break of Raonic’s serve. “Clay’s not (Murray’s) best surface, but he consistently does well on it,” Raonic said. “Last year he reached the semifinals at the French Open, Monte Carlo and Rome, so he can play really well on it. For me, it was a big win, regardless of the surface.”

SPREADING THE WEALTH

When the All England Club announced it has increased the prize money for this year’s Wimbledon, it noted that the majority of the cash will go to players who lose in qualifying or the early rounds. That doesn’t mean the top players aren’t helping fatten their bank accounts. The men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive USD $1.85 million. The purse will increase by USD $2.4 million to a total of USD $26 million. The increase for the lower-ranked players, some of whom struggle to cover the costs of training, traveling and competing at major tournaments, was requested by the world’s top four players – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray – in a meeting with Wimbledon officials in Indian Wells, California, USA. “’Wimbledon continues to be successful and we are delighted to share that increase with the players,” said All England Club chairman Philip Brook. “At the same time, we appreciate the need to help players meet the rising costs associated with professional tennis.” Wimbledon also will begin ply 30 minutes earlier on the outside courts, hoping that will cut down on the number of matches held over by darkness.

SPECIAL RANKING

A 16-year-old from Stockbridge, Georgia, USA, is the first American girl to be named number one in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Junior Rankings since the ITF combined singles and doubles rankings in 2004. Taylor Townsend won the girls’ singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open, becoming the first American to sweep both junior titles at a Grand Slam tournament since Lindsay Davenport did the same at the 1992 US Open. She also won the prestigious Easter Bowl singles title in April, where she also reached the doubles final. Donald Young is the last American male to reach the number one spot in the boys’ rankings in 2005. Perhaps not coincidentally, Young’s parents were also Townsend’s first tennis coaches.

SUPPORTIVE SISTER

Serena Williams has altered her diet to support sister Venus Williams. Serena said she’s cut down on eating chicken and fish and is eating more raw foods. Venus changed her diet to help her body cope with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain. Serena said that since she lives with Venus, she eats foods that won’t tempt her older sister. “I don’t want her to come home and see a piece of chicken and be like, ‘Oh, I want it,’ and she can’t have it,” Serena said. “It would be like a stumbling block for her.”

SIGNATURE ACHIEVEMENT

Prince Albert II of Monaco presented International Tennis Hall of Fame rings to four great tennis champions and contributors to the sport during the ATP World Tour stop in Monte Carlo. Honored were Ilie Nastase of Romania, Françoise “Frankie” Durr of France, Nicola Pietrangeli of Italy and Italian tennis journalist Gianni Clerici. All four have been inducted into the Newport, Rhode Island, USA, shrine. During the Monte Carlo ceremony, the official Hall of Fame rings were presented as a symbol of their International Tennis Hall of Fame induction. Prince Albert has served on the board of director for the Hall of Fame, a non-profit institution dedicated to honoring the greatest legends of tennis and preserving the history of the sport. Also participating in the ring presentation was International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum chairman Christopher E. Clouser and CEO Mark L. Stenning, and Zeljko Franulovic, director of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Since 1955, 220 of the greatest champions and contributors to the sport have been inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

SAY GOODBYE

The men’s tennis tour is leaving northern California. The 123-year-old event in San Jose, California, USA, currently called the SAP Open, is moving to Memphis, Tennessee, in 2014. The Memphis tournament is being sold and moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ATP Board of Directors approved the sale of the Memphis tournament to IMX for operation of the 500-level event in Brazil. The ATP will determine the calendar and format for the events in 2014 and 2015 later this year. The SAP Open began as the Pacific Coast Championships in Monterey in 1889 and has been played indoors recently. The WTA Tour still has an annual event at Stanford, California.

SWITCH IN NAMES

The Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC, USA, is changing its name to the Citi Open. The 500-level event has been known as the Legg Mason Tennis Classic since 1994. In addition to the new title sponsor, this year’s tournament will also include a lower-level WTA event played at the same time and place, July 28 through August 5.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Barcelona: Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski beat Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 2-6 7-6 (7) 10-8 (match tiebreak)

Bucharest: Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau beat Jeremy Chardy and Lukasz Kubot 7-6 (2) 6-3

Fès: Petra Cetkovska and Alexandra Panova beat Irina-Camelia Begu and Alexandra Cadantu 3-6 7-6 (5) 11-9 (match tiebreak)

Kaohsiung: John Paul Frutter and Raven Klaasen beat Daniel King-Turner and Frederik Nielsen 6-7 (6) 7-5 10-8 (match tiebreak)

Stuttgart: Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova beat Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4 7-5

SURFING

Munich: www.bmwopen.de/

Belgrade: www.serbiaopen.rs/

Estoril: www.estorilopen.net

Budapest: www.budapestgrandprix.hu

Tunis: www.tct.org.tn/

Medellín: www.tennissegurosbolivar.com

Madrid: www.madrid-open.com

Cagnes-Sur-Mer: www.opendecagnes.com

Davis Cup: www.daviscup.com

Sao Paulo: www.grandchampionsbrasil.com.br

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN

$523,619 BMW Open, Munich, Germany, clay
$523,619 Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal, clay
$484,000 Serbia Open, Belgrade, Serbia, clay
$125,000 Tunis Open, Tunis, Tunisia, clay

WOMEN

$220,000 Budapest Grand Prix, Budapest, Hungary, clay
$220,000 Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal, clay

SENIORS

Seguros Bolivar Tennis Champions, Medellín, Colombia, hard

DAVIS CUP

Europe Zone Group III at Sofia, Bulgaria, clay (round-robin, 13 nations in four pools): Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, San Marino

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$4,088,000 Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain, clay
$112,446 Strabag Prague Open, Prague, Czech Republic, clay

WOMEN

$5,189,000 Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain, clay
$100,000 Open GDF SUEZ de Cagnes-sur-mer Alpes-Maritimes, Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France, clay

SENIORS

Grand Champions Brazil, Sao Paulo, Brazil, clay

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.

Mardy Fish takes Atlanta, Vera Zvonareva takes Baku and Serena Williams uses rank protection – Mondays with Bob Greene

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STARS

Gilles Simon beat Nicolas Almagro 6-4 4-6 6-4 top win the bet-at-home Open German Tennis Championships in Hamburg, Germany

Mardy Fish beat John Isner 3-6 7-6 (6) 6-2 to win the Atlanta Tennis Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Vera Zvonareva beat Ksenia Pervak 6-1 6-4 to win the Baku Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan

Rui Machado beat Jerzy Janowicz 6-3 6-3 to win the Poznan Porsche Open in Poznan, Poland

Mathilde Johansson beat Petra Cetkovska 7-5 6-3 to win the ITF Roller Open in Petange, Luxembourg
Irina-Camelia Begu beat Laura Pous-Tio 6-3 7-5 to win the BCR Open Romania Ladies in Bucharest, Romania

Mardy Fish

SAYING

“In hindsight, I should have served and volleyed on the second serve. He got it in play and I went for too big of a backhand and missed it by a lot. He played the point well and the next two points he served two really good serves.” – John Isner, who had two match points in the second-set tiebreak before losing the Atlanta Tennis Championships final to Mardy Fish.

“When you’re in that position, it’s almost over. I was lucky to get out of it. I struck some returns and put some balls in play. I played some good points from then on.” – Mardy Fish, who won the last four points in second-set tiebreak, forcing a third set, which he won.

“I’ve lost five finals in my career – two to Mardy (Fish), two to Sam (Querrey) and one to Andy (Roddick), and arguably could have won every single match. This is the second where I’ve had match points and the other ones I’ve been one or two points away. I don’t know what it is. … I keep coming up a little short when I play a friend.” – John Isner.

“Every single opponent was tough. Right now women’s tennis is at a very high level and very competitive, and I know if I don’t have my full concentration or I don’t give my best there is no chance I will win a match.” – Vera Zvonareva, after winning the Baku Cup singles title.

“I’m so happy for this week. Finally some results came out for me and I’m very glad Tatiana and I did this title.” – Mariya Koryttseva, who teamed with Tatiana Poutchek to capture the doubles title at Baku, Azerbaijan.

“I feel very, very good. I had to win so many tough matches this week. Today, the final was really hard to win. I had to play my best tennis and I’m proud to win this tournament.” – Gilles Simon, after beating Nicolas Almagro in the final at Hamburg, Germany.
“I’m happy with my level of tennis on clay all year. I was champion at three tournaments and reached two finals. When you’re in a final, you want to win, but today was impossible because he was better than me in the important moments.” – Nicolas Almagro, after losing the Hamburg, Germany, final to Gilles Simon.

“When you’re in a final, you want to win, but today was impossible because he was better than me in the important moments.” – Nicolas Almagro, after losing in the final in Hamburg, Germany, to Gilles Simon.

“It’s a very good feeling (to win my first ATP World Tour title). I had five chances before, I missed them; so it’s definitely good to finally get the title. I hope it’s not going to be the last one. The whole week we played very solid, very good doubles.” – Alexander Peya, who teamed with Oliver Marach to win the doubles in Hamburg, Germany.


“This year my goal was to make it into the top 100, but I changed it now. I’m in the top 50 and I have to change it again!” – Irina-Camelia Begu, after winning an ITF event in her native Bucharest, Romania.

SCENE STEALER

John Isner camethisclose to beating Mardy Fish and winning the Atlanta Tennis Championships. But just like last year, Fish pulled out the victory, besting his fellow American 3-6 7-6 (6) 6-2. Isner was at double match point, 6-4 in the second set tiebreak. But Fish won the next four points, forcing a third set, which is then easily won. “I was lucky to get out of it,” said Fish, who beat Isner in the final a year ago. “It feels great to win here again and start off the summer like I did last year.” His sixth career title, it’s the first time Fish has successfully defended a championship. “I want to stay in the top 10 for as long as I can and keep bettering my career high ranking and do things I’ve never done before,” Fish said. “Today is one of them as I had never defending a title before, so it’s another milestone for me.” The defeat snapped Isner’s eight-match winning streak. “The match was in my hands,” he said. “I was up a set and a break. It’s as simple as that.”

SMOOTH SAILING

After a slight bump in the quarterfinals, Vera Zvonareva had little problem wrapping up her latest title. It was in the quarterfinals where Anna Tatishvili took the second set and battled the eventual champion for more than three hours before falling 7-5 6-7 (4) 6-2. After that, it was smooth sailing for Zvonareva, who captured her second WTA title of the year and the 12th of her career, beating Ksenia Pervak 6-1 6-4 in the final of the Baku Cup. Pervak was playing in her first WTA final. By reaching the title match, the left-hander will be in the top 50 in this week’s rankings. “Maybe I didn’t play my best tennis this week, but I still fought ever hard and played every match from the first point to the last,” Zvonareva said. “It’s a great feeling to win at the end of the day.”

SIMON SUCCESSFUL

It’s been a long time between French champions on the clay courts of Hamburg, Germany. When Gilles Simon won his second ATP World Tour title of the season, besting Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 6-4 4-6 6-4, he became the first Frenchman to win the title since Henry Leconte 25 years ago. “I feel very, very good. I had to win so many tough matches this week,” Simon said. It was the first clay-court title for the fifth-seeded Simon since he won at Bucharest, Romania, in 2008. The 26-year-old also won in Sydney, Australia, in January and now has captured nine ATP World Tour titles. Almagro was seeking his fourth clay-court title of the season. “I’m happy with my level of tennis on clay all year,” Almagro said. “I was champion at three tournaments and reached two finals.”

SPECIAL RANKING

She may be ranked 172nd in the world, but that’s not going to keep Serena Williams from competing at the US Open. A three-time winner of America’s top tennis tournament, Serena was granted direct entry into this year’s field by using her special injury-protected number one ranking. Because she was sidelined more than six months by a series of health issues, Serena had the right to use her special ranking to enter up to eight tournaments, including one Grand Slam event. Alona Bondarenko also gained entry via a special ranking.

With both Serena and her sister Venus Williams aboard, the United States Tennis Association announced the provisional US Open field will include 97 of the top 100 women, including two-time defending champion Kim Clijsters, Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and French Open champion Li Na. Other former champions in the women’s singles will be Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova. Misaki Doi of Japan, ranked 105th in the world, was the 104th and last player accepted directly into the women’s field of 128.

Novak Djokovic will be seeking his third Grand Slam men’s singles title of the year at the US Open, where the field includes defending US Open champion and French Open winner Rafael Nadal along with five-time US Open champion Roger Federer. Among the world’s top 101 men to receive direct entry includes former US Open winners Andy Roddick and Juan Martin del Potro. Marc Gicquel of France, who is ranked 101st in the world, is the last player accepted directly into the men’s field of 128. Three men used protected rankings to gain direct entry: Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, Tommy Haas of Germany and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.

The 2011 US Open will be played August 29-September 11 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. Both the men’s and women’s US Open singles champions will earn USD $1.8 million with the ability to earn an additional USD $1 million in bonus prize money based on their performances in the Olympus US Open Series.

SMASHING PERFORMANCE

Irina-Camelia Begu believes in doubling up. And because of that, the 2011 BCR Open Romania trophy stays in Bucharest. A native of Bucharest, Begu defeated Laura Pous-Tio of Spain 6-3 7-5 to capture her second International Tennis Federation (ITF) USD $100,000 tournament. Then she teamed with fellow Romanian Elena Bogdan to win the doubles, just as she did when she won her first ITF tournament in Cali, Colombia, earlier this year. At Cali, she also stopped Pous-Tio in the singles final. “I think she was a little scared of me,” Begu said of Pous-Tio, whom she also beat in Budapest, Hungary, in a first-round meeting. “And the audience really helped me in this match.”

The doubles final was one of the most closely contested battles of the year. The teams split their first two sets in tiebreakers, Italy’s Maria-Elena Camerin and Turkey’s Ipek Senoglu winning the first 7-0. The Romanians then took the second tiebreak 7-4 before capturing the match tiebreak 16-14.

It was the third straight match tiebreak for the losers. Camerin and Senoglu beat Ioana-Raliuca Olaru and Erika Sema 10-7 in the match tiebreak in the quarterfinals, then topped Maria Kondratieva and Sophie Lefevre 10-4 in the semifinal match tiebreak.

STARS OF WTT

Two doubles stars – Leander Paes of the Washington Kastles and Liezel Huber of the St. Louis Aces – have been named the World TeamTennis Most Valuable Players. Arina Rodionova of the Kastles and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Aces were named WTT Rookies of the Year, while Murphy Jensen was named WTT Coach of the Year in his third season at the helm of the Kastles.

SAYS I DO

The 2000 Olympic gold medal winner and former world number three, Elena Dementieva, has a new title: Mrs. The retired Russian star married her long-time boyfriend, hockey pro Maxim Afinogenov, at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Moscow, Russia. The ceremony was held on the roof of the hotel and pigeons were released during the celebration. Fellow player Vera Dushevina caught the bride’s bouquet while other players at the wedding included Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Vesnina, Ekaterina Makarova, Maria Kirilenko, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Igor Andreev. The newly-weds received video messages from Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki.

SET FOR CARLSBAD

Three young German stars will battle for the title in the 2011 Mercury Insurance Open when it begins its one-week run July 30 at the La Costa Resort and Spa. “All three of these dynamic rapidly-rising players have a very entertaining style,” Mercury Insurance Open tournament director Raquel Giscfre said of Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki. “They are starting to make an impact in women’s professional tennis and are on the verge of achieving great things in the sport.” All three have won tournaments this year, and Lisicki reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. Petkovic is the highest ranked of the trio at 11th in the world. Two-time defending US Open champion Kim Clijsters and Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova both withdrew from the Mercury Insurance Open because of injuries.

SAYONARA

The dream has ended for former Wimbledon and US Open finalist Mark Philippoussis. “I don’t really have any interest in returning to the ATP,” the Australian told the Boston Herald. “I’d love to play some events. I’m very interested in playing some events, but I’m very happy playing senior events.” After having success when he first joined the seniors, Philippoussis talked opening about rejoining the ATP tour. Now, at the age of 34, he’s decided his future lies with the senior tour. Only a few months ago he was again dropping hints that a return to the ATP would be right up his street. “I’m having a lot of fun. It’s a great group of guys,” he said. “It’s laid back. It’s got a great vibe, and I’m just really enjoying doing that. I’m not really into the traveling. I’ve done so much of it over the years. I’m not really happy traveling.” This month Philippoussis has been playing World TeamTennis with Boston.

SPLITTSVILLE BOUNCE

Just days after dumping his childhood sweetheart, reigning US Open golf champion
Rory McIlroy is dating the world’s top-ranked woman, Caroline Wozniacki. According to reports, the 22-year-old golf hooked up with the 21-year-old Wozniacki on the final day of the British Open golf championships. They reportedly were spotted kissing after an intimate dinner in London. The golfer’s management confirmed he had split from Holly Sweeney, saying the breakup was “amicable.” Sweeney, who had dated McIlroy for six years, said he had dumped her. McIlroy and Wozniacki met at the world heavyweight boxing title match between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko in Germany on July 2.

SHE’S THE TOPS

It apparently doesn’t matter that Serena Williams has only played two tournaments in the past 12 months. The tennis star has been voted the most popular female sports star in a Harris interactive poll among American sports fans. The poll was taken in June, just about the time Williams played a WTA tour match for the first time in 11 months. Two other inactive tennis players made the top 10. Anna Kournikova finished sixth in the balloting and Martina Navratilova was seventh. Venus Williams was second behind her sister in the poll, while Maria Sharapova finished fourth, giving tennis players half of the 10 spots.

SORRY

The BBC has apologized for inadvertently airing an advertisement for the first time. The 30-second commercial was shown on BBC Two during last month’s coverage of Wimbledon. The advertisement urged viewers to “log on now and get your tickets today” for the ATP World Tour finals, the men’s season-ending tournament that will be held in London in November, and also contained numerous references to Barclays Bank. The private television network, ITV, reportedly complained to the BBC about the transmission, demanding to know whether the advertisement was part of a financial arrangement between the BBC and the ATP, a suggestion that the broadcaster vehemently denies. “It was broadcast once. It was a mistake and it should not have been broadcast,” a BBC spokeswoman said. “Steps were immediately taken to ensure it was not broadcast again. This was not part of any deal with Wimbledon, the ATP or the Lawn Tennis Association.”

SHE’S BACK

Martina Hingis will participate in a pro-am event August 1 held in conjunction with the Mercury Insurance Open, a WTA tournament in Carlsbad, California, USA. Now retired, Hingis won the Australian Open singles three straight years, 1997-1999, and also won Wimbledon and the US Open singles in 1997. She won nine Grand Slam tournament doubles titles, and in 1998 became just the fourth woman to win a calendar-year Grand Slam in doubles.

SPECIAL HONOR

Doubles star Leander Paes has been elected honorary life member of the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA). Jai Singh Gill, CLTA president, said Paes was unanimously elected for the position and the tennis star has accepted. CLTA patron-in-chief Rajan Kashyap said Paes has a very long and fruitful association with the organization. “Leander had won his first ITF Junior tennis title in Chandigarh in 1989 here, and after that he did not look back. Paes went on to win the Junior Australian Open and Junior Wimbledon and other major titles,” Kashyap said. Currently, Paes is one of the top doubles players in the world.

SHOWING IT ALL

CBC Sports has agreed to a new five-year contract with Tennis Canada to carry the Rogers Cup. The new deal gives CBC exclusive English-language coverage of the semifinals and finals of both the men’s and women’s editions of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. Multi-platform coverage of the tournaments, which take place during the same one-week period each summer in Montreal and Toronto, will be seen on CBC Television, digital channel bold and streaming online at CBCSports.ca. “The Rogers Cup brings the top tennis talent in the world to Canada year in and year out, and we are thrilled to be the home of this tournament for the next five years,” said Jeffrey Orridge, CBC’s executive director of sports properties.

SET TO CLASH

The Washington Kastles wrapped up an unbeaten regular season with a dazzling display of power, shot-making and teamwork Thursday, trouncing the Philadelphia Freedoms, 25-11, before a spirited capacity crowd that braved the sweltering heat.

The Kastles improved to 14-0, becoming only the second squad in the 36-year history of World Team Tennis to compile a perfect mark in regular season play. The other team to do so was the 1994 Newport Beach Breakers (then known as the Dukes).

SALUTED

Announcer Dick Enberg and the Campbell Soup Company, along with this year’s Tennis Hall of Fame inductees – Andre Agassi and Peachy Kellmeyer – will be honored at The Legends Ball in New York City on September 9. The Legends Ball is an annual social event and fund-raiser put on by the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum. Enberg will be presented with the Eugene L. Scott Award, which honors an individual who embodies Scott’s commitment to communicating honestly and critically about the game and who has had a significant impact on the tennis world. Previous recipients of the award include John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe and his wife Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, and Martina Navratilova. The Campbell Soup Company will be presented the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Award, which is given in honor of the man who served as president and chairman of the Hall of Fame from 1982-88, and was responsible for elevating the organization to worldwide recognition. The award recognizes a company that shares Cullman’s enthusiasm for tennis and has also made a significant contribution to society at large.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Atlanta: Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Matthew Ebden beat Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser 3-6 7-5 10-8 (match tiebreak)

Baku: Mariya Koryttseva and Tatiana Poutchek beat Monica Niculescu and Galina Voskoboeva 6-3 2-6 10-8 (match tiebreak)

Bucharest: Irina-Camelia Begu and Elena Bogdan beat Maria-Elena Camerin and Ipek Senoglu 6-7 (1) 7-6 (4) 16-14 (match tiebreak)

Hamburg: Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya beat Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek 6-4 6-1

Petange: Johanna Larsson and Jasmin Woehr beat Kristina Barrois and Anna Lena Groenefeld 7-6 (2) 6-4

Poznan: Olivier Charron and Stephane Robert beat Franco Ferreiro and Andre Sa 6-2 6-3

SURFING

Astana: www.ktf.kz

Los Angeles: www.farmersclassic.com/

Gstaad: www.creditagricolesuisseopengstaad.ch/en/

Umag: www.croatiaopen.hr/tenis/home.aspx

Stanford: www.bankofthewestclassic.com/

Washington: www.midatlanticwtc.com/

Segovia: www.teniselespinar.com

Kitzbühel: www.bet-at-home-cup.com/de/

Washington: www.leggmasontennisclassic.com/

Vancouver: www.vanopen.com

Carlsbad: www.mercuryinsuranceopen.com/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN

$619,500 Farmers Classic, Los Angeles, California, USA, hard

$563,400 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad. Gstaad. Switzerland, clay

$563,400 ATP Studena Croatia, Umag, Croatia, clay

$125,000 President’s Cup, Astana, Kazakhstan, hard

WOMEN

$721,000 Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, California, USA, hard

$220,000 Citi Open, Washington, DC, USA, hard

$100,000 President’s Cup, Astana, Kazakhstan, hard

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$1,165,500 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Washington, DC, USA, hard

$563,400 Bet-at-Home Cup, Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel, Austria, clay

$122,323 ATP Open Castiolla y Leon, Segovia, Spain, hard

$100,000 Odlum Brown Van Open Presented by Ivesco, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hard

WOMEN

$721,00 Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad, California, USA, hard

$100,000 Odlum Brown Van Open Presented by Ivesco, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hard

A seeded disaster at Roland Garros 2011 – Mondays with Bob Greene

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STARS

 

French Open

(First Week)

 

Daniela Hantuchova beat top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-1 6-3

 

Arantxa Rus beat second-seeded Kim Clijsters 3-6 7-5 6-1

 

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat third-seeded Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (4) 2-6 6-2

 

Stephane Robert beat sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych 3-6 3-6 6-2 6-2 9-7

 

Gisela Dulko beat eighth-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-4 1-6 6-3

 

Lukas Rosol beat eighth-seeded Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (4) 6-4 4-6 7-6 (3) 6-4

 

Gilles Simon beat 10th-seeded Mardy Fish 6-3 6-4 6-2

 

OTHER

 

Carlos Moya beat Thomas Enqvist 7-6 (0) 6-3 to win the Grand Champions Brazil in Sao Paulo, Brazil

 

SAYING

 

“Actually, I think I’m playing really well at this moment.” – Novak Djokovic, after winning his 43rd consecutive match.

 

Novak Djokovic in round 4 of Roland Garros 2011
Novak Djokovic

“To beat him you need to produce the perfect match and not make any mistakes. You need to play like (Rafael) Nadal, hit the ball really strong, to make him run. But only a few guys can beat him at the moment. Even Nadal struggles to organize his game when he plays against him.” – Richard Gasquet, after losing to Novak Djokovic.

 

“Twenty-eight quarterfinals in a row, that’s great. But that’s another opportunity for me to go one step further.” – Roger Federer, after reaching a record 28 consecutive Grand Slam tournament quarterfinals.

 

“Of course, I should have lost this match. I have to be honest. I didn’t think I could win the match. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t serve.” – Fabio Fognini, after battling injuries and outlasting Albert Montanes to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

 

“I don’t really want to comment on this, because, well, it’s not of my business. I’m just trying to do my thing, focusing on me. … The rest, I don’t really care.” – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, when asked about the top three seeded women being beaten before the quarterfinals.

 

“When you play less than 50 percent of your potential, it’s very tough to win the fourth round of a Grand Slam. It’s just that she played a little bit more aggressive. That’s why I was playing a little bit too passive. It’s not acceptable at this stage of the Grand Slam.” – Vera Zvonareva, after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

 

“Kim (Clijsters) had a tough loss yesterday; I had a tough loss today. That’s what happens. Since we’re numbers one and two, it means that we must be doing something right. It’s just unfortunate to lose in a Grand Slam, but that’s what happens, and we just need to move forward.” – Caroline Wozniacki, after being upset by Daniela Hantuchova in the third round.

 

“I’m happy that I gave myself the opportunity. It’s better to try than not to try. That’s kind of the attitude of a real loser. I gave it the best that I had and with my abilities that I had. So I definitely don’t regret it.” – Kim Clijsters, after losing her second-round match to Aranxta Rus.

 

“This is for sure my biggest win. She’s a real hero. I played fantastic tennis. I always liked to see her playing and to watch her matches, and it was really, really nice that I played against her.” – Aranxta Rus, after shocking second-ranked Kim Clijsters.

 

“I started cramping at the end of the second set, and this continued in the third. From 4-2 in the third set I began to feel dizzy and had problems seeing the ball clearly. At no point did I think of retiring, and I kept fighting until the end.” – Sabine Lisicki, who had match point against Vera Zvonareva before losing the second-round match and being carried off the court on a stretcher.

 

“Life will continue. A match is lost, but life continues.” – Albert Montanes, after losing to an injured Fabio Fognini.

 

“It’s never too early to think about grass for us.” – Mardy Fish, noting that his loss meant no American player – male or female – made it past the fourth round on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

 

“It’s time to close this amazing chapter of my life. This very emotional decision makes me thankful and proud of all the moments I have been able to share on and off the court with fans from all over the world and with the champions and legends from many decades.” – Patty Schnyder, in announcing her retirement from the tennis tour.

 

SEEDED DISASTER

 

For the first time in the Open era, since 1968, none of the top three seeded women made it to the second week of Roland Garros. It is only the third time that none of the top three seeded women has reached the quarterfinals at a major in the Open era. It also happened at Wimbledon in 2008 – when the top four were eliminated by the end of the fourth round – and at the Australian Open in 1997.

 

Caroline Wozniacki still won’t be able to add a Grand Slam tournament title to her number one ranking after she was soundly beaten 6-1 6-3 by Daniela Hantuchova. Seeded 28th in the year’s second major, Hantuchova hit 26 winners compared to just eight by Wozniacki. The 20-year-old Dane had a mini-revival midway through the second set before her game fell apart again. Hantuchova’s run ended in the next round when she fell to the 2009 French Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (3) 6-3 6-2.

 

Second-seeded Kim Clijsters was ousted in the second round by little-known Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus. Clisters, playing only her second match since suffering a severe ankle injury, was seeking to win her third consecutive Grand Slam tournament title, having succeeded at the US Open last September and the Australian Open in January. She appeared to be having no trouble with her 20-year-old foe, leading 6-3 5-2 when Rus became finding the corners and Clijsters lost her rhythm and confidence. Rus, who staved off two match points by Clijsters, took 11 of the next 12 games to win 3-6 7-5 6-1. “I started doubting a little bit,” said Clijsters, who made 65 errors. “I think that on clay is something that for me is definitely the wrong attitude to have. My ankle feels fine, so that has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

 

It wasn’t pretty, but Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova prevailed over fellow Russian and third seed Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (4) 2-6 6-2 in a fourth-round battle. Zvonareva led 4-2 in the opening set before letting her opponent back into the match. In the third set neither player seemed able to win, while both appeared ready to lose as each made a series of errors. The win put the 19-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, the youngest player in the top 40, into s Grand Slam tournament quarterfinal for the first time.

 

With the top three players out of the tournament, the top woman going into the second week at Paris was fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka.

 

SHARK BITE

 

Novak Djokovic is trying to become only the fourth player since the computer rankings began in 1973 to take over the world number one ranking after winning a Grand Slam tournament title. According to the ATP’s Greg Sharko, the Serb, if successful at Roland Garros, would replace Rafael Nadal atop the rankings as the two would switch positions, the Spaniard falling to number two in the world. The others to move up to number one following a Grand Slam tournament title are Mats Wilander, after winning the 1988 US Open; Boris Becker, following his 1991 Australian Open title; and Roger Federer, who took over the top spot when he won the Australian Open in 2004.

 

SCAN ON ANKLE

 

Andy Murray underwent a scan on his injured right ankle after he bested Germany’s Michael Berrer 6-2 6-3 6-2 in a third-round match. The Briton twisted his ankle at the beginning of the second set, but was able to withstand the pain to advance. “I don’t know if I will be 100 percent fit. I don’t know if I will be playing the next match. Maybe I will be,” Murray said after the win. “You never know with these things. They can go away quickly. There’s things you can do to recover faster. That’s what I’ll do. I’ve managed to play almost two sets with it. I don’t know. I’ve just got to wait and see, see what happens, and do all the right things.” Murray suffered the injury while running to get a drop shot at 2-1 in the second set. He immediately began hopping on his left foot, keeping weight off his right. At the changeover, a trainer taped Murray’s right ankle.

 

STRETCHER NEEDED

 

Germany’s Sabine Lisicki was taken off the court on a stretcher when, she later said, her body let her down. Lisicki had a match point while leading 5-2 in the third set against third-seeded Vera Zvonareva when she was overcome with dizziness and cramping. The German eventually lost the second-round match 4-6 7-5 7-5. “I’m sad that my body let me down,” Lisicki later said on her website. “Doctors recently discovered that I’m intolerant to gluten – meaning I can’t eat e.g. pasta. One of the biggest energy sources …” She added that her “body needs to adjust to the big change and needs some time.”

 

SWITCHING COURTS

 

Roland Garros fans were angry when officials switched Novak Djokovic’s match against Juan Martin del Potro to another court and forgot to tell everyone. The high-profile men’s match had been scheduled to be last on Chatrier court. When the earlier matches ran long, officials moved the Djokovic-del Potro match to Lenglen Court but apparently forgot to tell gate officials at the new location. The gate crew at first refused to let in the extra crowd, which began chanting “Let us in” as play went on inside the smaller arena. The two players split the first two sets before play was called because of darkness. The following day Djokovic captured the next two sets to win the match.

 

SETS ANOTHER MARK

 

He’s almost the forgotten man at Roland Garros, but Roger Federer continues to set Grand Slam tournament records. Federer, who is seeded third behind Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, beat his Swiss countryman Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-2 7-5 to advance to his 28th consecutive Grand Slam tournament quarterfinal. Federer improved on the record he shared with Jimmy Connors, although Connors did not do it in consecutive tournaments. The last time Federer failed to reach the quarterfinals at a major was at the 2004 French Open, when he was the top-seeded player but lost to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round. Besides winning a record 16 major titles, Federer also holds the mark of 23 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances, a run ended at last year’s French Open, when he was beaten in the quarterfinals.

 

STRUGGLING TO VICTORY

 

Fabio Fognini could barely walk and figured he could not win his fourth round match. He was wrong, and now is in his first Grand Slam tournament quarterfinal. The Italian overcame a left thigh injury and five match points to outlast Spain’s Albert Montanes 4-6 6-4 3-6 6-3 11-9. “Of course, I should have lost this match,” admitted Fognini, who won 189 points, one more than his opponent. The match lasted 4 hours, 22 minutes, and by the end the 49th-ranked Fognini basically stood immobile on court, yet would end exchanges with a winner or when Montanes would make an unforced error. “I have to be honest. I didn’t think I could win the match,” Fognini said. “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t serve.” He said his only choice was to swing away at the ball, “and if it went in, it went in.” Fognini said he originally thought he was cramping, but later felt he might have pulled a muscle. The 38th-ranked Montanes was broken while serving for the match at 5-3 in the fifth, and he later failed to convert match points on Fognini’s serve at 8-7 and at 9-8. Fognini broke Montanes to lead 10-9, and then served out the victory, closing it with a backhand winner as, on point after point, Montanes would hit the ball right near Fognini, rather than forcing the Italian to move around more to get to shots. “He was hitting so hard I didn’t want to take too many risks,” Montanes said.

 

SYSTEM CHANGE

 

Rafael Nadal wants the ranking system to be changed. He called on tennis authorities to make it a two-year rolling ranking system, a move he believes will preserve the health of players. Nadal said the change from a one-year rolling ranking system would not only protect players from burning out but would also ensure that athletes coming back from long injury layoffs would not lose too many ranking points. Nadal made the suggestion before Novak Djokovic beat 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro. The Argentine’s ranking plummeted from fifth in the world in January 2010 to 485th a year later as he was sidelined for almost a year with a wrist injury. Del Potro was seeded 25th at this year’s French Open. “(With a two-year rolling ranking system) if you stop being number five of the world, you’re not going to be number six when you come back, but maybe you’re going to be number 14, 15,” Nadal explained. “But with the way the ranking is done today, that’s not happening. If you have an injury for three months, five months, you are done.”

 

SPEAKS UP

 

Julia Cohen’s search for a title ended up just one match short. The American, who failed to qualify for the French Open, opted to play a USD $25,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, where she was the top seeded player. Cohen dropped her opening set to Thailand’s Nicha Lertpitaksinchai to begin the tournament. And in the quarterfinals, she escaped Poland’s Sandra Zaniewska 3-6 6-1 7-6 (8). Cohen began the title match by taking the first set 6-3. After that, it was all 22-year-old Ayu-Fani Damayanti of Indonesia who captured the event 3-6 6-2 6-3.

 

STUPID RULE

 

Amelie Mauresmo, a favorite of the fans at Roland Garros, has been retired for two years. But she wanted to have fun and play a bit of mixed doubles in her home Grand Slam tournament with compatriot Michael Llodra, who she has spent some time coaching. Last year, Mauresmo even coached Llodra to a grass-court title at Eastbourne, England. Delighted to have her back, the French Open tournament organizers gave the pair a wild card. But then the rule book was produced. It turns out all players have to be registered for three months in the program that allows players to be tested anywhere, anytime. Since Mauresmo was retired, she hadn’t been drug-tested. Consequently, that was sufficient to ban her from competing in this year’s French Open mixed doubles.

 

SO LONG

 

After a highly successful 17-year career, Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder has retired from professional tennis. Schnyder won 11 WTA singles titles and was ranked as high as seventh in the world in 2005. She was ranked in the Top 10 for a total of 94 weeks. “Patty has displayed excellence and leadership both on and off the court for many years,” said Stacey Allaster, chairman and CEO of the WTA. “She has been a great ambassador for women’s tennis and made an important contribution to the growth of the sport as a long-time member of the Players’ Council.  Patty will be truly missed by her fellow players and the fans.  We wish her the best of luck and hope that she remains close to the women’s game.” Schnyder turned professional in 1994 and won her first WTA title in 1998 at Hobart, Australia. She holds a career win-loss record of 552-361 and has reached 27 career WTA finals, winning her most prestigious title in 2002 at Zurich, Switzerland, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the final. This year’s Roland Garros marks Schnyder’s 59th career Grand Slam tournament appearance, sixth on the all-time list in the Open Era. Her best Grand Slam event result was at the 2004 Australian Open when lost to Kim Clijsters in the semifinals. Schnyder qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships three times – in 1998, 2002 and 2005. She helped Switzerland reach its only Fed Cup final in 1998 and represented her country in three Olympic Games: Atlanta, Athens and Beijing.

 

SERENA TO PLAY

 

Serena Williams is scheduled to play World TeamTennis (WTT) in July. The WTT website said Williams will play in Washington, DC, on July 7 and two days later at Sacramento, California, USA. The 13-time Grand Slam tournament champion has not played since July 2010 after undergoing foot surgery and then developing blood clots on her lung. The WTT season will be held July 4-24.

 

SPEEDY START

 

Playing in only his second ATP Champions Tour event, Carlos Moya won his first title at the Grand Champions Brasil in Sao Paulo, besting Thomas Enqvist 7-6 (0) 6-3. Enqvist failed in his bid to win the Brazilian tournament three consecutive years.

 

SEVEN INDUCTED

 

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has inducted seven new members into the ITA Men’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame – one coach and six players, four of whom played varsity collegiate tennis at Stanford. Enshrined in the hall, located at the University of Georgia, were Simon Aspelin of Pepperdine, Marcel Freeman of UCLA and former Stanford stars Scott Davis, Jim Grabb, Gene Mayer and Jonathan Stark. Joining them was Tim Cass, who coached the University of New Mexico to five consecutive Western Athletic Conference titles between 1991 and 1998, and has since coached Texas A&M University to three Big 12 Conference Championships. Aspelin won the US Open doubles in 2007 and was a doubles silver medalist at the 2008 Olympics. Davis won the Australian Open doubles in 1991 and was ranked as high as number 11 in the world in singles in 1985. Grabb won both the French Open doubles and the US Open doubles in 1992. Mayer was the French Open doubles champion in 1978-79 and reached as high as number four in the world in singles. Stark won the French Open doubles in 1994 and the US Open mixed doubles in 1995.

 

SENIOR BATTLE

 

Mary Mentzer had to beat a living legend to win the USTA National Senior Women’s 90-over Hard Court Tennis Championships in La Jolla Beach, California, USA. Mentzer, from North Fort Myers, Florida, USA, defeated Dorothy “Dodo” Cheney of La Jolla, California, 6-1 6-4. Cheney was seeking her 391st United States Tennis Association (USTA) national title. Her 390th title came earlier in the week when she teamed with Mentzer to win the doubles crown. “My running is the key,” said the 91-year-old Mentzer. “At this age, most people can’t run, but I do, so that is the key.”

 

SALUTED

 

Andrea Petkovic is the winner of the latest Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award. The key to Germany’s Fed Cup renaissance, Petkovic won both her singles matches in Germany’s 5-0 win over the United States in the World Group playoffs in April. The win sealed Germany’s promotion back to the World Group after a one year absence. Petkovic was short-listed by the Heart Award judging panel with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, Olga Savchuk of Ukraine and Polona Hercog of Slovenia. The final decision was decided by a public vote on the Fed Cup website. Petkovic receives a check for $3,000 to be donated to her chosen charity. She joins Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, Bianca Botto of Peru, Ayumi Morita of Japan and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who were honored earlier in the year. Another player will be recognized at this year’s Final. The Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award is a joint initiative between BNP Paribas and the International Tennis Federation (ITF). It aims to recognize players who have represented their country with distinction, shown exceptional courage on court and demonstrated outstanding commitment to their team.

 

SACRIFICE REWARDED

 

Gisela Dulko wanted to be with her brother in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as his wife gave birth to twins. Her sacrifice was rewarded, however, as she upset 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur 6-4 1-6 6-3 to reach the fourth round, matching her best result at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament. “I stayed awake really late,” the 26-year-old Dulko said of the night before she was to play Stosur. “It was very emotional, because I would have loved to be there, but I’m here.” After Dulko beat Stosur, she waved a towel that said in Spanish “for Myla And Teo. It was worth it. I love them.”

 

SURFING

 

Paris: www.fft.fr/rolandgarros/

Sao Paulo: www.grandchampionsbrasil.com.br

Prostejov: www.czech-open.com/

Halle: www.gerryweber-open.com/?ref=atp

Copenhagen: http://e-bokssonyericssonopen.dk/

London: www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/AEGON-British-Tennis-Series/AEGON-Championships/

Birmingham: www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/AEGON-British-Tennis-Series/AEGON-Classic/

 

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

 

(All money in USD)

 

MEN

 

Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay (second week)

$152,000 Czech Open, Prostejov, Czech Republic, clay

 

WOMEN

 

Roland Garros, Paris, France, clay (second week)

 

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

 

MEN

 

$946,840 Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany, grass

$895,414 AEGON Championships, London, Great Britain, grass

 

WOMEN

 

$220,000 e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open, Copenhagen, Denmark, hard

$220,000 AEGON Classic, Birmingham, Great Britain, grass

 

No surprise – Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic to play for Indian Wells crown

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No surprises. This is just how the tennis cognoscente had it doped out at the Indian Wells 1000.

Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic in the final.

If you’re going by the ATP rankings, that’s No. 1 Nadal vs. No. 3 Djokovic. Or, if you prefer real time form, I’d make that No. 1 Djokovic vs. No. 2 Nadal. You can rearrange those two any way you like, but one thing is undeniable. These are the two best players in the world right now, with Roger Federer a fading third.

Novak Djokovic

Nadal looked just super in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Juan Martin Del Potro, who continues to make stunning progress in his return from last year’s injury. Then, about two and a half hours later, the Djoker walked off the stadium court with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Federer, and he’s not only now won three straight over Roger, but six of the last seven sets they’ve played.

I’ll get back to Rafa and Delpo in a bit, because there’s a lot to say about both, but there’s more grist to the win by Djokovic, who is now 17-0 for the season going into this final and, to be perfectly precise, he’s now won 19 in a row dating back to last year, counting a couple of impressive, straight-set wins over Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils in the Davis Cup final in December.

If I’d been watching this match a year ago, I would have chucked in Djokovic’s chances after he got a bit too defensive in the second set because mental strength with him had been a chronic problem. Had been.

But after Federer played his best tennis in Saturday’s middle set, I had no doubt that the new, mentally stronger Djokovic was going to steel himself for the third, and he did.

Once again, as Nole did to Federer in the Australian Open and at Dubai, he hurt Federer badly on service returns. For years, Federer has, well, fed off free points — aces and other unreturned serves.

In three losses to Djokovic this year, Federer has 11 aces in 39 service games. Of course he’s holding serve most of the time, but he’s also under pressure in most service games against Djokovic, and that’s having a major effect on his inability to build momentum.

The numbers in the final set Saturday paint a dramatic picture. Federer carried some powerful momentum into the third set, having won the second with a service break that allowed him to begin serving the third.

He was then broken three times. He got only 46 percent of his first serves in. He won only 29 percent of his second serves. For the match, Federer won just 41 percent of his second serves, well below his season average of 57 percent.

This is where Djokovic is dominating him. You’re not going to get 15 to 20 aces a match from Nole, who doesn’t rely on those free points to win. When he’s serving, he’s going to beat you with his superior backcourt game. When he’s receiving against Federer, he’s going to make you feel constant pressure.

That, for me, is the foundation of how he has surpassed Roger.

One final note on the Djokovic win. The publicity people, both at the ATP and in the television studios, are making a pretty big deal about Djokovic bumping up to No. 2 in the rankings ahead of now No. 3 Federer with this win.

Well, hold your water, folks. Between now and the French Open, Federer has 190 points to defend and Novak 550. Chances are strong he won’t be No. 2 very long.

Now, Nadal.

Considering where Del Potro is right now, this was a great matchup for Rafa. The one area where I don’t see Delpo quite approaching his peak is ground stroke pace, particularly on service returns.

There’s still a little too much air under the ball to start talking about him in terms of a Grand Slam final, though let’s not make this into a crisis. He has, after all, gone semis, semis, win, semis in four tournaments this year. He’s getting there, but he’s going to have to feel a higher confidence level to start ripping the ball a little harder to get back to his U.S. Open win form.

And against Nadal, the one thing you don’t want to do is put air under ground strokes and give him the necessary time to fire.

Rafa broke first at 2-2 in the opening set and it was classic Nadal the way he did it. Delpo at 30-40 hit a first serve down the T, forcing a weak return which he pasted into Nadal’s backhand corner.

You can go back and look at the tape of this one. On the dead run and with his legs spread as wide as they could go without doing the splits, Nadal produced one of those all-wrists two-handers up the line for a clean winner and the break.

His left foot was right on the extension of the singles sideline and his right foot very near at the extension of the doubles sideline.

Just three aces for Juan Martin in this semifinal. He pounded in 68 percent of his first serves, which is quite high for a big hitter, but won only 60 percent of those points, which is not good, but which tells you he’s not firing as hard as he can.

Today, Nadal and Djokovic play for the 24th time since the 2006 French Open — less than five years ago. Nadal has won 16 times and is 4-0 in finals. But the Djoker is on a 19-match win streak. So, can we coin-flip this one?

I’ll take Nadal. I’m not sure why. Intuition maybe. I do know this for sure, though. This is going to be a great match.

Djokovic Further Exposes The Slow Decline Of Federer In Dubai Final

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Well, there’s another record Roger Federer doesn’t want — a record that further signals his slow and yet painful retreat from the top of the game. As if we needed any more signals.

His 6-3, 6-3 loss to Novak Djokovic in the Dubai final on Saturday marked five consecutive sets he has lost to the Serbian No. 3, and to the best of my knowledge he’s never lost that many sets in a row to any player on a fast court (hard, grass or carpet).

Novak Djokovic & Roger Federer

Rafa Nadal has taken him down six sets in a row on clay in matches in 2006 and 2007 and six straight sets on a combination of clay and grass in 2008. But on Federer’s once-supreme surface, the fast court, I don’t think he’s ever lost five straight sets since he ascended to No. 1 in February of 2004.

I give you one cautionary note. I’ve double-checked this fact on his key opponents — Nadal, Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian and Gilles Simon, who once held a 2-0 edge on Federer. None of them have dominated Federer on a fast court as Djokovic has this year. Of course there could be someone I’ve overlooked and I’m not spending the next 10 hours poring over every Federer head-to-head. So just go with me on this one, OK?

Including the Australian Open semifinals, Nole has now taken him down 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 with the next stop for both at the ATP 1000 at Indian Wells, Calif.

And Novak whipped Federer this time very much as he did in Melbourne, by denying Federer free points off serve and beating him down in the backhand-to-backhand rallies. Just as at the Aussie Open, Federer could manage only five aces in this match, well below his average.

At the end, Federer looked tight, tentative and slow-reacting. On what was little more than a warm-up ball on match point, Federer, strangely open-stanced at the baseline, slopped a forehand well wide of Djokovic left sideline and it was over.

You can’t say that Federer didn’t have a chance to crash back into this party. In his only burp of the match, Djokovic looped a backhand deep on break point to give Federer a 2-1 lead in the second set, and it looked as we were headed for three.

Twenty minutes later, however, it was as if Federer had no idea how to secure his advantage. He gave the break back at 3-2, 15-40 when he let an easy lob drift on him. Never adjusting his position near the service line, he stroked the overhead so badly the ball slammed down on the bottom of the net.

Two games later, now on serve at 3-4, Djokovic forced him to hit four straight backhands. Federer’s fourth went deep. Another Djokovic tactical edge on the backhand side. Five points later the match was over.

The first set was more of the same, only worse, because Federer never had a break point. On set point, he looked indecisive, nothing like the player who had once dominated the game. In position to hit a commanding forehand from just inside his baseline, he stroked well enough to the corner, but he hesitated too long before sweeping to the net.

That hesitation cost him because he never got as far as the service line and Djokovic’s backhand crosscourt return forced Federer to stretch wide for a backhand that cuffed him. Had he been in tight to the net he would have handled the volley easily, but he lacked commitment to going forward and left himself in an untenable position. Set over.

For Djokovic, playing his first match since his Aussie Open triumph, he is now 12-0 for the season and exhibiting more confidence than I’ve ever seen from him.

For Federer, another disappointment. “Novak played well,” Federer said later. Played well? He played like the No. 2 player in the world and, who knows at this point if he’s not the best, regardless of what the rankings say.

Let’s move on to California and then Key Biscayne, Florida.

Around The Corner: Marseille, Memphis and Buenos Aires

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By Mike McIntyre

Open 13 – Marseille, France

Fresh off his win in Rotterdam, Sweden’s Robin Soderling looks to continue his impressive form this week in Marseille as the number one seed. This guy has certainly proved he belongs in the top five and the only thing really left for him to achieve at this stage in his career is to win a Slam at some point. With Roger approaching thirty and Nadal’s health always a question, there is no reason why Soderling cannot accomplish this at some point in 2011.

Robin Soderling

Soderling gets a first round bye and will face either Frenchman Nicolas Mahut or a qualifier in the second round. He will have the likes of Jurgen Melzer or Ivan Ljubicic to contend with in the top-half of the draw.

Tomas Berdych is the second seed and still seems to be struggling with his game. Despite making the semifinals of Wimbledon last year, Berdych has not managed to be as consistent week in and week out like Soderling is. The Czech will face either veteran Arnaud Clement or a qualifier in the second round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a more likely name to emerge from the bottom-half of the draw and lookout for Nikolay Davydenko or Gilles Simon – both unseeded – to also make a run in Marseille. The two former top-ten players face each other in the opening round and then have the “good” fortune of facing seventh seeded Mikhail Youzhny in round two. Getting through that kind of tough start could give them the momentum to go deep in the draw.

A Frenchman has won this event in four of the last five years. In 2010 it was Michael Llodra, who opens this time against Julien Benneteau. With all the big names entered in the draw I think it is a huge long-shot for Llodra to expect similar results this time around.

Regions Morgan Keegan Championships – Memphis, Tennessee

Andy Roddick makes his return to the ATP World Tour for the first time since the Australian Open where he surprisingly lost in the fourth round. He opens against Richard Berankis in a relatively easy opening match and then could face Janko Tipsarevic in round two. Tipsarevic has given him trouble in their past two meetings so this will be no easy draw for America’s top player. Roddick could really use a tournament victory to show others he is still one of the top contenders on the circuit. It wouldn’t hurt to prove that to himself either as he has not won a title since March of last year. Roddick has a lot of ranking points to defend next month and could see himself drop out of the top-ten if he doesn’t bring his best game to the court.

Veteran Lleyton Hewitt is also in Roddick’s quarter and the pair could meet up in the third round. Hewitt, even more-so than Roddick, needs to show he still has some fight left in him. Turning thirty in just over a week, the Australian is ranked 70th in the world and is looking for his first ATP level win of the season.

The first-round match to watch here in Memphis will undoubtedly be that between wild-card Juan Martin Del Potro and sixth seeded John Isner. Standing at 6’6” and 6’9” respectively, these two players will be bringing some serious firepower to the court. Del Potro leads the head-to-head 2-0 but is still not back at 100%. He did take a giant leap forward in his comeback from wrist surgery when he made the semi-finals in San Jose this past week before losing to Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco leads the bottom-half of the draw as the second seed and will face Canadian Milos Raonic in the first round. The interesting thing about this match-up is that the two have just played each other in the finals in San Jose. It is not often that you see two players meeting in the final of one event only to then meet in the first round of the next one.

Defending champion Sam Querrey is also in the bottom-half of the draw, but much like with Llodra in Marseille, I feel he will be hard-pressed to repeat as champion due to the tough competition. Ranked 17th in the world, Querrey has struggled mightily at the start of the season by losing both of his first round matches in Australia last month. We’ll see if he can get back on track while playing in a spot like Memphis where he has so many positive memories from 2010.

Copa Claro – Buenos Aires, Argentina

The seemingly mandatory clay court event on the tour this week takes place in Buenos Aires where forgotten veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero is the defending champion. Unfortunately Ferrero has not been able to play yet this season as he recovers from wrist and knee surgery and will miss the event this year.

That being said there are several worthy successors to walk away with the title. Top seed Nicolas Almagro loves playing on red clay and just won the Brasil Open against Alexandr Dolgopolov. Almagro has always had trouble putting together back-to-back titles though, so don’t expect another deep run this week. He often follows up a win with a second round loss for some reason. Should he get to round three in Buenos Aires, he will likely get a rematch with Dolgopolov.

David Nalbandian and Tommy Robredo represent the veteran presence in the top-half of the draw and while I would count on Nalbandian to emerge from this section, you can never really count out Mr. Robredo. This guy always seems to have a strong performance just when you think he’s on the verge of disappearing from the radar.

The bottom half of the draw is led by second seeded Stan Wawrinka. While Stan has had a great season thus far, on clay I’d take guys like Juan Monaco and Alberta Montanes as more likely picks in this section of the tourney.

All in all this week has some great matches despite the lack of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray. Most of the other top players are in action and we also have some great new faces like Dolgopolov and Raonic to continue to keep an eye on. Enjoy the tennis everyone!