Getting Stuck on 'Annihilate'

We're into the third round now, the round where, as we all know, the seeds begin to meet, and consequently, we're seeing bigger and bigger upsets. The huge one today was on the women's side - we said farewell to the #3 seed, Venus Williams. Second round in Australia, third round at Roland Garros - it has not been a happy year for Venus at the Slams. For her sake, one has to hope that Wimbledon turns out a little better.

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It isn't often that you see Venus - or Serena either, for that matter - get beaten so comprehensively. 6-0 6-4 was the score today, and though Venus staged a mini-comeback in that second set, from the instant they hit the first ball, you could tell that this game belonged to Agnes Szavay. I actually felt very vindicated about Szavay pulling this upset - I used to talk about her a lot maybe a year, eighteen months back as a big hope for the future, but then she sort of faded into the background. This was an excellent win for her here, and she deserved it thoroughly - sure, Venus didn't play well, but Agnes did, and that's all that counts. She played the big points with aplomb, and this is a very good sign for the future.

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One up-and-comer who will go no further in this tournament is my last remaining female Star, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She had an absolute beatdown put on her by her countrywoman and, by now, out and out favourite for this tournament, Dinara Safina. I was pulling for Dinara in this match, what with her being my special favourite in the women and all, but I felt sorry for Anastasia. She's got a lot more talent than 6-2 6-0 shows. Her time will come.

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And I would just like to note that Dinara has only given up four games in three matches. That is incredible. Outstanding, in fact. She's served up three bagels, two breadsticks and a... what does one call 6-2? A croissant, maybe? Anyway, the Dinara Safina bakery is open for business, and Aravane Rezai better watch out.

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Another #1 player who served up an absolute two-hoof beatdown today was Rafa Nadal, who pummelled poor Lleyton Hewitt. There's not much you can say about that match, except that Rafa will be Rafa... and sometimes he gets stuck on the 'annihilate' setting.

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But we did lose some big seeds in the men today - though not ones that were really surprising. Was anyone surprised that Gilles Simon went out? I wasn't. Victor Hanescu got him in straights. David Ferrer went out to Robin Soderling, but Ferrer has been pretty much non-existent this year, so I wasn't really surprised... and hey, this will set up an interesting match between Soderling and Nadal. No love lost there. Somehow, I would not be surprised if Rafa got stuck on 'annihilate' again.

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Nicolas Almagro also went out - no quarter final repeat performance for him. This will set up a veeeeeeery interesting round of sixteen match between Verdasco (who beat Almagro) and Davydenko (who beat Wawrinka). Man, that one could go for about twelve hours. I wouldn't like to pick a winner there, that's for sure!

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Today's Results

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French Open (Roland Garros)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Lleyton Hewitt,, 6-1 6-3 6-1

Fernando Gonzalez def. Josselin Ouanna, 7-5 6-3 7-5

Novak Djokovic def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3 6-4 6-1

Andy Murray def. Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 retired

Victor Hanescu def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-4 6-2

Robin Soderling def. David Ferrer, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Fernando Verdasco def. Nicolas Almagro, 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8)

Marin Cilic def. Radek Stepanek, 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Nikolay Davydenko def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-2

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Aravane Rezai def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Maria Sharapova def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 1-6 6-3 6-4

Ana Ivanovic def. Iveta Benesova, 6-0 6-2

Agnes Szavay def. Venus Williams, 6-0 6-4

Dinara Safina def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2 6-0

Dominika Cibulkova def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-2

Na Li def. Olga Govortsova, 7-5 6-1