I Don't Know What I Was Expecting, But It Wasn't This

So, um, yeah, not the Doha semi final line up I was expecting. But if you were asking me what I was expecting, I wouldn't be able to tell you. It just wasn't this.

That said, Serena obviously deserves her spot here - she went perfect through the round robin stage - and I'm really liking what I've seen from Caro. She went down tamely to Jankovic today - please, please, please let her not be injured again! - but her match against Azarenka was awesome yesterday. I confess I am pulling for her to win the tournament.

Jankovic I was not expecting, not so much. She had a good win over Caro today, but her other 'win' was over Dinara Safina, which went all of thirteen minutes. If Safina had pulled out before the tournament, things might have been totally different. Or, you know, not, given that Safina's replacement was Zvonareva, who herself got replaced today by Agnieszka Radwanska (who played awesomely to beat Vika - nice one, A-Rad!) So Jelena has technically won two matches, but I remain... yeah, unconvinced.

And then there's Venus. Not that Venus isn't a great player and all, but it just seems strange to me how a player can take two losses and still qualify. I don't know how they calculated the one that went through, but I was feeling Dementieva, maybe.

Like I'm said, I'm pulling for Caro to win the tournament, but you've got to put your money on Serena. I mean, really.

Over to the men, and YAY MARAT! He's in the semis of St Petersburg after a great win (feat. bagel) over Denis Istomin. Not saying anything. Not even daring to hope, daring to dream.

Gulbis lost. Still, he managed to get to the quarters. Things are looking up for the young 'un.

And I have to give a shout out to Arnaud Clement, who had an absolutely fantastic win over Jo-Willy in a barnburner of a match. Made of awesome!


Today's Results

Sony Ericsson Championships (Doha)

Jelena Jankovic def. Caroline Wozniacki, 6-2 6-2
Agnieszka Radwanska def. Victoria Azarenka, 4-6 7-5 4-1 retired
Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Elena Dementieva, 6-3 6-2


St Petersburg Open (St Petersburg)

Igor Kunitsyn def. Victor Hanescu, 6-3 3-6 7-6 (8-6)
Marat Safin def. Denis Istomin, 6-0 7-6 (7-4)
Horacio Zeballos def. Ernests Gulbis, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4
Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Bjorn Phau, 6-2 7-5


Bank Austria Tennis Trophy (Vienna)

Marin Cilic def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-1 6-4
Jurgen Melzer def. Radek Stepanek, 6-2 6-2
Janko Tipsarevic def. Gael Monfils, 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 6-3
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Nicolas Almagro, 7-5 6-4


Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon (Lyon)

Arnaud Clement def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 5-7 6-4 7-6 (10-8)
Gilles Simon def. Julien Benneteau, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Ivan Ljubicic def. Florent Serra, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2
Michael Llodra def. Marc Gicquel, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4