Incy Wincy Cincy

No rest for the wicked - or the tennis players of the world. I'm not sure how I feel about all the Masters Series events being clustered up like this. They come in wee groups - Indian Wells/Miami, Monte Carlo/Rome/Hamburg, Toronto/Cincinatti, Madrid/Paris. Is this really the best way to play them - bang bang bang?

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Geographically, it makes sense, I suppose, to keep the tour in one place at a time. But that does raise a whole other issue - why are four out of these nine major events in North America? Especially considering they get their own Slam too? And the other five are in Europe - how 'bout them other continents, eh? Even the Masters Cup will be in Europe soon, when it shifts to London next year. As a representative of the Asia Pacific - apparently the Australian Open is the Slam of the Asia Pacific, which I only learned recently - I'm a tiny bit disgruntled.

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But, unfortunately, my opinion means very little. Just like the Asia Pacific, apparently. And South America. And Africa.

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But... onto tennis. And can I say that I am OWNING the bracket challenge at the moment. I know it's only Monday, but still! Ownage! I am 58th out of 11471 - which I think basically means second, as I have nine points and the leaders have ten. The only match I picked wrong was Bellucci/Karlovic. I went with Star of the Future Bellucci, but Star of the Present Karlovic got him. In straights. Oops.

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But still, I got all the rest of them right! How good am I!? Even Kohlschreiber didn't let me down, and he ALWAYS lets me down. Haas pulled his upset over Youzhny, just like he was supposed to. Same with Berdych over Gonzalez, Querrey over Mathieu and Gulbis over Nieminen. And Soderling is looking good - maybe he'll do better this week. My bracket has him survive till he runs in with Federer. Because the Rog is going to win this week. I feel it in my bones - and I'm pretty sure it's not wishful thinking.

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I've picked a Roger/Stan final, which I think might be wishful thinking, because Stan is in the same half as Rafa and Novak, and he'd be due to meet said Novak in the quarters. But I believe in Stan. He's a good boy. My four semi finalists are Roger, Andreev, Stan and Cilic. I believe in Marin too.

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Speaking of Stars of the Future, Gulbis had a win today - as predicted by yours truly! Unfortunately, he meets Stan in the next round, and I don't know if he's up to beating the Swissie just yet. But still... nice work Ernests. We're going to be seeing a lot more of that boy in the future. If I haven't said it enough.

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The Safin/Tursunov match is just about to start, and that one's going to be really interesting. I've picked Marat to win, but either way, one of my boys is going to come through. Unfortunately, one of them isn't, but them's the breaks, I guess...

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And on a brief digression to women's tennis - shocking, I know! - may I ask just why Agnes Szavay is playing the Tier IV event in Stockholm rather than the Tier I in Montreal? Something is just not right with that. She's top twenty, yesno? She should be where the big guns are. Pfft. I am unimpressed.

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Today's Results

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Western and Southern Financial Group Masters (Cincinatti)

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Robby Ginepri def. Jonas Bjorkman, 6-0 7-6 (7-5)

Ivo Karlovic def. Thomaz Bellucci, 6-3 6-4

Tommy Robredo def. Mardy Fish, 6-2 6-2

Robin Soderling def. Julien Benneteau, 6-0 6-3

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Michael Yani, 6-3 6-4

Sam Querrey def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4 4-6 6-3

Ernests Gulbis def. Jarkko Nieminen, 7-6 (9-7) 6-2

Tomas Berdych def. Fernando Gonzalez, 6-3 3-6 6-3

Andreas Seppi def. Feliciano Lopez, 7-5 7-5

Tommy Haas def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-4

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Rogers Cup (Montreal)

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Marion Bartoli def. Melanie South, 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-0

Virginie Razzano def. Aravane Rezai, 6-1 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova def. Elena Vesnina, 6-1 6-1

Petra Kvitova def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-2 6-4

Monica Niculescu def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1 6-2

Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Vania King, 2-6 6-3 6-3

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Nordea Nordic Light Open (Stockholm)

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Agnes Szavay def. Yanina Wickmayer, 7-5 7-6 (7-2)

Camille Pin def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

Iveta Benesova def. Tatiana Perebiynis, 6-2 6-2

Emma Laine def. Alexandra Panova, 6-1 6-3