Close Encounters of the Female Kind

The day of close matches. Seriously, how many nailbiters were there today? Largely, these were on the women's side, and it's a rare day that I prefer women's tennis over men's, but oh! there were some exciting matches today! Dinara Safina and Hsieh Su-Wei was a gun of a match - I'm so glad Dinara pulled that one out, otherwise Russia would have lost the tie! Ana Ivanovic and Roberta Vinci was enthralling - Vinci had match points, but Ivanovic had other ideas... But the real cracker for me was Amelie Mauresmo against Julie Coin. That tiebreaker... I wasn't going for either of them, and I was still biting my nails.

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So maybe Julie Coin isn't just a onetime Ivanovic-beating fluke after all, eh? She may not have triumphed against Mauresmo, but she damn near did - and she has some awesome skills. I was much more impressed with her than I was with, say, Ivanovic. I wasn't keen on Ana at all last night. Looks? Check. Massive groundstrokes? Check. Netplay? Check. Serve? Check, except... seriously, she has the worst balltoss in the entire world. The commentators were discussing it, but I think I should reiterate - BADNESS. It'd go to the right, to the left, over her head... anywhere except where it was meant to go.

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Back to Hopman Cup, and Marat backed it up! I was impressed. Dinara needs to snap back into it - she could so easily have lost her match - but onya, Marat. Unfortunately, they still bite at doubles, but I guess you can't have everything...

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And Ernests couldn't back it up. Which is sad. But he still beat Djokovic - who has pinched some other well-deserving player's wildcard into Sydney. But the flag is still flying for the Stars - Kei Nishikori upset Tomas Berdych. I would love Kei to go deep!

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And Kolya is out of the Australian Open. It's horrible, but I doubt anyone will notice he's gone...

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Today's Results

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Harry Hopman Cup (Perth)

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Germany 2, USA 1

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Sabine Lisicki def. Meghann Shaughnessy, 4-6 6-0 6-4

James Blake def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (9-7) 4-6

Lisicki/Kiefer def. Shaughnessy/Blake, 6-3 3-6 10-7 (match tiebreaker)

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Russia 2, Chinese Taipei 1

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Dinara Safina def. Hsieh Su-Wei, 4-6 6-2 7-5

Marat Safin def. Lu Yen-Hsun, 7-6 (8-6) 7-5

Hsieh/Lu def. Safina/Safin, 4-6 6-3 10-8 (match tiebreaker)

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Brisbane International (Brisbane)

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Men's Draw

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Jarkko Nieminen, 0-6 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5)

Fernando Verdasco def. Mario Ancic, 6-2 6-3

Kei Nishikori def. Tomas Berdych, 7-6 (9-7) 6-3

Radek Stepanek def. Michael Llodra, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Ernests Gulbis, 6-3 6-4

Florent Serra def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Roberta Vinci, 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-1

Amélie Mauresmo def. Julie Coin, 5-7 6-2 7-6 (13-11)

Sara Errani def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-3

Olga Govortsova def. Sesil Karatantcheva, 6-0 5-7 7-5

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Chennai Open (Chennai)

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Lukas Dlouhy def. Nikolay Davydenko, walkover

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Qatar Exxonmobil Open (Doha)

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Rafael Nadal def. Karol Beck, 6-1 6-2

Roger Federer def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 6-3

Andy Murray def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-2 6-4

Andy Roddick def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 7-5

Gael Monfils def. Nicolas Devilder, 7-5 7-6 (7-4)

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4

Victor Hanescu def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-2 6-4

Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Alexander Peya, 7-5 6-3

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ASB Classic (Auckland)

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Elena Dementieva def. Marina Erakovic, 6-2 6-3

Caroline Wozniacki def. Jill Craybas, 6-4 7-5

Edina Gallovits def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-3 6-3

Ayumi Morita def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 7-5 6-2

Shahar Peer def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-3 4-6 6-2

Elena Vesnina def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-4 6-3

Aravane Rezai def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2 6-3

Anne Keothavong def. Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-2 6-4