A Ton Of Brits

I confess that I'm not sure what to write today - I actually fell asleep during the Wimbledon coverage last night (shame on me) and as always, Channel 9 only saw fit to show the Aussies, so I caught some Stosur and Hewitt and not much else.

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Let's talk Stosur and Hewitt for a minute. I really like Stosur's game, and while she probably could have performed better in her match against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and closed it out in two, her game is great on grass and I'm liking what I'm seeing just now. I think she should come through her second round match - she plays the qualifier who took out a not-herself Dokic - and she really has the ability to go deep here, just like she did at Roland Garros. Though she does have Venus in her section, who would be very, very difficult to upset.

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And Hewitt! I'm liking what I'm seeing off the little guy's racquet. The Channel 9 commentators said that if he comes through del Potro he could go all the way to the semis, and while I think this is a tad unrealistic, if he does come through del Potro he could go deep. It's del Potro who's the question, and he really was quite impressive, I understand - I listened to some of his match on Radio Wimbledon, and he seemed in fine form and fettle. Still, if Hewitt can get a lot of balls back and make the big guy get low low low to his shots, he's in for a real shot. That will be a really interesting match.

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But the story of the day is obviously Andy Murray, who is destined to be the story of every day he plays while he is still in the tournament, being, you know, British and all. The Muzz - I saw a few points of his match in a foggy sleepy haze - did drop a set, but I don't know how much it is to worry about... dropping a set is fine, as long as it wasn't the pressure getting to him. The British are really making it as hard as possible for their guys - if the Australian press put pressure on the Aussies, it is nothing to what the Brits do to their own. They crush you, like bricks. (Like Brits. Hahahaha).

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Just look at Anne Keothavong. Someone asked her a question which opened something like, 'this isn't meant to be an accusation, but...' I'm sorry, but excuse me? That is not cool. How are these players supposed to function under that amount of pressure? I think the rest of that question was, '...do you feel like you've disappointed a lot of people?' What kind of question is that? I would have bitchslapped that journalist silly. Anne started crying and they had to pause the press conference. And you can't blame her, because the pressure is obscene.

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The Muzz has always seemed pretty thick-skinned, but is he immune to this kind of pressure? It's totally immense. He's definitely got the game to reach the final - but if he can bear the weight of this much expectation, then he really has got something HUGE to be proud of. Not that reaching the final in and of itself isn't massive - but to reach it in such a pressurised circumstance is incredible. It's kind of like what Federer did making the finals of Roland Garros after Nadal lost - he basically had to play four finals because of the expectation. Now all of Britain is staring at Andy Murray - can he hack it?

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Today's Results

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The Championships (Wimbledon)

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Men's Draw

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Andy Roddick def. Jeremy Chardy, 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-3

Andy Murray def. Robert Kendrick, 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-1 6-2

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Tomas Berdych def. Alex Bogdanovic, 6-3 6-4 6-4

Gilles Simon def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-4 6-3 6-3

Michael Llodra def. Joshua Goodall, 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 3-6 6-4

Lleyton Hewitt def. Robby Ginepri, 6-4 6-1 6-1

Fabrice Santoro def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-4 6-2 6-2

Tommy Haas def. Alexander Peya, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 6-4

Radek Stepanek def. Alejandro Falla, 6-4 6-4 6-1

Nikolay Davydenko def. Daniel Evans, 6-2 6-3 6-3

Victor Hanescu def. Ivan Navarro, 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 12-10

Igor Kunitsyn def. Grigor Dimitrov, 3-6 6-0 4-0 retired

Ernests Gulbis def. Riccardo Ghedin, 6-2 6-4 6-4

Fabio Fognini def. Denis Istomin, 1-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 3-1 retired

Viktor Troicki def. Brian Dabul, 6-4 6-4 6-3

Benjamin Becker def. Roko Karanusic, 6-4 6-4 6-1

Thiago Alves def. Andrei Pavel, 6-3 2-6 6-1 2-6 6-1

Pablo Cuevas def. Christophe Rochus, 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-1 11-9

Leonardo Mayer def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-0 6-0 6-3

David Ferrer def. Kevin Kim, 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-2

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Eduardo Schwank, 7-5 6-4 6-1

Potito Starace def. Jose Acasuso, 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 retired

Jurgen Melzer def. Wayne Odesnik, 6-1 6-4 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Frederico Gil, 6-1 2-6 6-4 6-2

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Pablo Andujar, 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-2

Philipp Petzschner def. Rajeev Ram, 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3)

Victor Crivoi def. Bjorn Phau, 4-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-3

Jesse Levine def. Marat Safin, 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

Fernando Gonzalez def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 7-5 7-5 6-3

Mischa Zverev def. Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4 6-2 3-0 retired

Nicolas Devilder def. Nicolas Lapentti, 3-6 6-4 6-3 4-6 7-5

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Women's Draw

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Venus Williams def. Stefanie Voegele, 6-3 6-2

Dinara Safina def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 7-5 6-3

Elena Baltacha def. Alona Bondarenko, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki def. Kimiko Date Krumm, 5-7 6-3 6-1

Amelie Mauresmo def. Melinda Czink, 6-1 4-6 6-2

Jelena Jankovic def. Julia Goerges, 6-4 7-6 (7-0)

Patricia Mayr def. Anne Keothavong, 7-5 6-2

Ana Ivanovic def. Lucie Hradecka, 5-7 6-2 8-6

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Marta Domachowska, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Kristina Kucova def. Aiko Nakamura, 2-6 6-3 6-3

Shuai Peng def. Alexa Glatch, 6-4 2-6 6-4

Na Li def. Galina Voskoboeva, 7-6 (7-5) 6-0

Flavia Pennetta def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 3-6 6-1 6-0

Tatjana Malek def. Jelena Dokic, 3-6 7-5 6-2

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 7-5 6-1

Ekaterina Makarova def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 7-5 2-6 6-3

Olga Govortsova def. Tatiana Perebiynis, 4-6 6-3 6-4

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Monica Niculescu, 6-1 6-0

Pauline Parmentier def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-4 1-6 6-3

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3 7-6 (7-5)

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Kaia Kanepi, 4-6 6-3 6-3

Rossana de los Rios def. Nicola Vaidisova, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4

Vania King def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-4 6-2

Kirsten Flipkens def. Agnes Szavay, 7-5 6-4

Samantha Stosur def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-2

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Akiko Morigami, 6-3 7-6 (7-1)

Iveta Benesova def. Katie O'Brien, 6-2 5-7 6-4

Vera Dushevina def. Alize Cornet, 3-6 6-0 6-4

Maria Kirilenko def. Petra Kvitova, 6-4 6-4

Sara Errani def. Stephanie Dubois, 7-5 6-2

Melanie Oudin def. Sybille Bammer, 4-6 6-4 6-2

Sabine Lisicki def. Anna Chakvetadze, 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Vera Zvonareva def. Georgie Stoop, 7-6 (7-0) 4-6 6-4

Tathiana Garbin def. Alberta Brianti, 6-4 6-3