Dethroned

Upsets do not come bigger than this.

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We all know that I am a raging Roger Federer fan, and that this result is presumably going to be to his advantage, but my heart broke for Rafael Nadal today. To go out in a fashion so... well, ignominious would not be too strong a word - to a man whom it is well known that he dislikes. To be dethroned in his kingdom, Court Philippe Chatrier, in such a manner, is truly tragic.

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"This is not a tragedy, losing here in Paris," Rafa said after the match. Personally, I beg to differ. I think it is very sad for the sport to see one of our great champions humbled thus. I know Rafa needs to believe that it is not a tragedy, otherwise what point would there be in fighting on? but as a spectator at the French Open, I feel cheated.

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Rafa didn't really turn up today. He's not as polarised as David Nalbandian, but he does have an alter ego (whom I have christened 'Shmafa'.) Shmafa doesn't suck - he'd still be in the top ten, if such things could be quantified - but on the wrong day, in the wrong conditions... sometimes a Soderling is waiting in the wings.

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Full credit to Soderling. He played incredibly well today - I don't know how he'll ever equal that performance in his career again. It was simply outstanding. But if Rafa had been at his best, I don't know if it would have mattered. Rafa at his best is pretty much untouchable - the only players you would even give the glimpse of a chance are Roger Federer, playing to the utmost of his ability, and maybe the Marat Safin of a few years ago who was totally lethal. Soderling played amazingly, but he's no Rafa. The match was on Rafa's racquet. And he let it fall.

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It's pretty early in the morning here now, but I can't sleep. Rafael Nadal dethroned at Roland Garros - by Robin Soderling. It is as if we have entered the Land of Misrule, when all things are inverted - when the night becomes day, the servant becomes the master, when Soderling beats Nadal. It's just... it sounds like crazy talk.

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I don't even want to talk about the effect this could have on the rest of the draw, because I'm afraid of jinxing it, so let's talk about the women instead. Another '08 Roland Garros champion went out today - Ana Ivanovic, who fell to Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka will now play Safina in the quarters, and what a cracker of a match that should be. Safina was imperious over Rezai today, giving up only one game - making for a grand total of five games surrendered in four matches, which is just stupid. I think Azarenka can get a few more... maybe three. Four if she's really lucky. But it's all Dinara, all the way.

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Props to Maria Sharapova for gritting out a win against Li Na to put herself in the quarter finals, where she'll face little Dominika Cibulkova, which should be a good one. Other winners today include Gonzalez and Murray, who will play another interesting quarter final, and Nikolay Davydenko, who will play Rafa.

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Oh, wait. No he won't.

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In shock. Rafa at Roland Garros is the safest bet in tennis. This is just... there aren't even words. Surreal, perhaps, might come close, but not close enough.

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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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Robin Soderling def. Rafael Nadal, 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-2)

Fernando Gonzalez def. Victor Hanescu, 6-2 6-4 6-2

Nikolay Davydenko def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-2 6-2 6-4

Andy Murray def. Marin Cilic, 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 6-1

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Aravane Rezai, 6-1 6-0

Maria Sharapova def. Na Li, 6-4 0-6 6-4

Victoria Azarenka def. Ana Ivanovic, 6-2 6-3

Dominika Cibukova def. Agnes Szavay, 6-2 6-4

#4s to the Floor

SO not a good day to be seeded #4 at Roland Garros. However, if you're me, it was a pretty excellent day, because I was pulling against both #4 seeds, and they lost, and I was pulling for Federer, and he won, so fun times!

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Let's start with the dismissal of the women's #4 seed, Elena Dementieva. I quite like Elena (except for her serve) and probably wouldn't pull against her normally, but she was playing one of our own, Australian Samantha Stosur - who is now, incidentally, the last Aussie left in the draw after Jelena Jankovic made mincemeat of Jarmila Groth. Hats off to Sammy Stosur, who played absolutely wonderful tennis, especially in the first set. Her third set performance was also very solid, but Dementieva fell to pieces really. I guess this is a sort of pale justice after Jelena Dokic was all set to knock Dementieva out but then came down with that awful back injury.

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You've got to say this about Sam Stosur - she is one of the most likeable players on tour. She's just laidback and easy going and not much seems to phase her. And you have to like her game as well - her serving is excellent, her volleys exquisite... as long as she's at the net, you can assume you're in for a big one. She might not win all of them, but she wins enough. It's a very lovely game to watch, and it's quite clever as well... and as a sportswoman, she is a real role model for Australian tennis, if you ask me. And she's a role model with a real chance to make the quarter finals - she faces Virginie Razzano, and if she can beat Dementieva...

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Over to the other #4 seed, and though we all know my immense hate affair with Novak Djokovic, I feel a little bit sorry for him. He just looked totally lost out there on court today, like he'd completely forgotten how to play tennis. He started off all right, but then Kohlschreiber seemed to... I don't even know what he did, but he messed up the Djokovic rhythm, and Novak never got it back. Kudos to Kohlschreiber - not many people could close out Djokovic in straights like that. Even Rafa couldn't do it in Madrid. A lot of people were tipping Djokovic to be the one who might trouble Rafa, and the most likely finalist from the bottom half. Obviously that isn't going to happen this decade.

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Which leaves the way open for my man Roger Federer, who played a sloppy first set against Paul-Henri Mathieu but then tightened it up to win in four. It was the last match on, and I valiantly tried to stay awake for it... only to fall asleep and then wake up at 3-3 in the third, for the Seventh Game (tm) wherein Federer promptly broke Mathieu and sealed the match. Not his bestest match ever, by all sounds, but he's hitting some balls out there and getting some time to work on that flawless drop shot he's somehow developed out of pretty much nowhere. (That bizarre outside spin he gets on it, so that it almost bounces sideways... I've never really seen anything like it!) He's through to play Haas, and presuming he gets through either Roddick or Monfils in the quarters, he could play just about anyone in the semis. Del Potro and Tsonga are both in the mix - won't that fourth round match be a classic! My early semi final pick Tommy Robredo is also in there. The only one I don't really think has a chance of making the semis is, ironically, Kohlschreiber, who put Djokovic out in the first place. Now watch me be spectacularly wrong...

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One has to throw a shout out to Andy Roddick as well, whose achievement got overshadowed by the elimination of Djokovic. He made the fourth round for the very first time - good on you, Andy! He'll face Gael Monfils, which should be a stern test, providing Monfils can remain uninjured for longer than four seconds. That one could go deep and late. I actually think, injury nonwithstanding, Monfils will come out on top, but I am 100% prepared to be wrong. In fact, I'd like to be wrong. I'd like to see Roddick make a decent stab at the second week.

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And another shout out has to go to Sorana Cirstea, who knocked out my finals pick, Caroline Wozniacki. If she's not seeded by the US Open, I will be very surprised. Girl's got game!

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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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Roger Federer def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Christophe Rochus, 6-2 6-2 6-2

Andy Roddick def. Marc Gicquel, 6-1 6-4 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-1

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Novak Djokovic, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Tommy Haas def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Igor Andreev, 6-4 7-5 6-4

Tommy Robredo def. Maximo Gonzalez, 4-6 7-5 6-1 6-0

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Women's Draw

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Virginie Razzano def. Tathiana Garbin, 7-5 7-5

Samantha Stosur def. Elena Dementieva, 6-3 4-6 6-1

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Melinda Czink, 6-1 6-3

Serena Williams def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 4-6 6-3 6-4

Victoria Azarenka def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 5-7 7-5 6-2

Jelena Jankovic def. Jarmila Groth, 6-1 6-1

Sorana Cirstea def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2 604

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, 6-2 3-6 6-3

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

Acasuso's Gallery of Disappointments

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Roger Federer! You owe me a manicure, monsieur! I am not really cool with this being-a-set-and-a-double-break-down-to-some-random lark you seem to think is so much fun. What was this, some kind of bet with Andy Murray about who could dig themselves a deeper hole in the third set and then still come back to win in four? I've got no nails left, I was biting them so much.

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Of course, after putting himself in this most unadmirable of positions, Federer did the admirable thing and dug himself out of it handily - after being down 5-1 in the third set, he reeled off five straight games and ended up winning the set in a breaker. It's an object lesson that anything can happen in tennis and you should never let your guard down when one of the great champions of sport is playing, because when Roger had a double break in the fourth, you knew there was no way Acasuso was coming back from that. So the comeback itself = good. The hole itself - I wasn't a fan.

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All credit to Jose Acasuso - he played out of skin well. But he did choke majorly on a few huge occasions - the breaker in the first, where he had four set points, springs to mind, as well as, oh yeah, the double break he gave back. Sure, Federer lifted his level, but he should have won that third set. I guess this will be another one to add to his gallery of disappointments with those two Davis Cup rubbers he lost in finals.

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But we all know I care much more about Federer than Acasuso. What effect will this have on him? None, I hope - and if it is an effect, I hope it will be positive. It certainly won't wear him out, that's for sure - he's fitter than that. I'm hoping it will give him some mental toughness here at Roland Garros - he proved himself capable of digging himself out of a position where he was losing badly, and he did it with style.

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Other exciting matches included Safarova and Venus Williams - both had match points, though Williams pulled it out in the end - and Jeremy Chardy and Simone Bolelli, which went the full distance, with Chardy coming out the victor there (score one for the Stars!) Heartbreaking matches... well, the cake here goes to Dokic/Dementieva. Dokic was looking like she was going to win - she won the first set 6-2 - and then she had to retire. I was very sad for her.

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Of the Aussies, Olivia Rogowska also went out in a tough three setter to Kateryna Bondarenko - she has a lot to be proud of there! - but Sam Stosur and Jarmila Groth are both through. With Hewitt, that means we have three Aussies in the third round. That isn't too shabby at all - it still means one sixteenth of the women's draw is Australian!

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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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Roger Federer def. Jose Acasuso, 7-6 (10-8) 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-2

Gael Monfils def. Victor Crivoi, 6-4 6-3 6-3

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Juan Monaco, 7-5 2-6 6-1 7-6 (10-8)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Diego Junqueira, 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-2

Jeremy Chardy def. Simone Bolelli, 6-2 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-1

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Pablo Andujar, 6-2 6-3 6-4

Christophe Rochus def. Arnaud Clement, 6-1 7-5 4-6 6-3

Andy Roddick def. Ivo Minar, 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-2)

Tommy Robredo def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-4 6-4 6-3

Jurgen Melzer def. Guillaume Rufin, 6-2 7-5 6-4

Igor Andreev def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 1-6 7-5 5-7 6-3 6-4

Maximo Gonzalez def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 6-3

Tommy Haas def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 4-6 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Viktor Troicki, 6-3 7-5 6-0

Marc Gicquel def. Andreas Beck, 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

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Women's Draw

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Tathiana Garbin def. Marion Bartoli, 6-3 7-5

Serena Williams def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, 6-2 6-0

Venus Williams def. Lucie Safarova, 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 7-5

Jelena Jankovic def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1 6-2

Sorana Cirstea def. Alize Cornet, 6-3 6-2

Virginie Razzano def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-2 6-2

Elena Dementieva def. Jelena Dokic, 2-6 4-3 retired

Caroline Wozniacki def. Jill Craybas, 6-1 6-4

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-0 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Viktoriya Kutuzova, 3-6 6-3 6-3

Jarmila Groth def. Mariana Duque Marino, 6-2 7-6 (11-9)

Samantha Stosur def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3 4-6 6-4

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-1 6-4

Lourdes Dominguez Lino def. Alexa Glatch, 7-6 (7-0) 7-5

Melinda Czink def. Sybille Bammer, 4-6 6-3 10-8

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Olivia Rogowska, 4-6 7-5 7-5

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Petra Martic, 6-3 6-3

Farewell, Russians (With Love)

Well, we had no huuuuuuuuge upsets today, but we certainly had some close shaves in there - and we lost some of my favourite Russians. We said goodbye to Tursunov, Petrova and Safin, and I was saddened by all three.

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The match I really want to talk about was the Safin match, because it was massive - 10-8 in the fifth. Josselin Ouanna played out of his skin to take that one - and then Safin played better than I've seen for a while to get back into it, and then it was such a close thing... wow. There has been some major excitement already this tournament, but this has to be one of the best matches of the lot. You rarely think of early round matches being great ones, but they stay with you sometimes: like Kendrick/Nadal at Wimbledon a few years back. Was early on, but oh how I remember it!

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Anyway, the very slim chance there was at the Safin siblings both winning the title was annihilated, but Dinara is still cruising along... well, cruising is the wrong word. She's like a missile. She allowed Vitalia Diatchenko a measly two games today - positively generous after what she did to Anne Keothavong. She is looking so nasty it's not even funny. I hope there's some serious quaking going on out there.

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The other world number #1, King Rafa of the Land of Clay, was very impressive in his win over Teimuraz Gabashvili - looked like he changed up a gear since he played Marcos Daniel in the opener. But the other major contender in his side, Andy Murray, was a hair's breadth from gong out. Kudos to him for staging a massive comeback from a set and 5-1 down and coming back to win in four, but he should never have put himself in that position to begin with. If Starace hadn't totally choked, things could have turned out much differently. We could have seen our first major upset.

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Does Sharapova beating Petrova count as an upset? Nice as it is to see Maria back, I was pulling for Nadia on this one - and given as there is little love lost between the two, I bet Nadia is furious with herself. It was a real battle - 8-6 in the third - and one has got to now worry about whether this has taken too much out of Maria for her to be effective in her third round. Only time will tell, I guess - I have no idea what her fitness is like.

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We also farewelled Ernests Gulbis, who will surely take a hit in rankings points after making it to the quarters last year, alas - but other Stars Cilic and Pavlyuchenkova won, so that was good. And Lleyton Hewitt won! He now has the fun task of playing Rafa in the third round... um, yeah, have fun with that one, Lleyton. And one last shout out to an up and comer - Michelle Larcher de Brito, I've got my eye on you. The Portuguese teenager knocked out Jie Zheng... she could be one to watch!
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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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Andy Murray def. Potito Starace, 6-3 2-6 7-5 6-4

Josselin Ouanna def. Marat Safin, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 3-6 10-8

Christophe Rochus def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-3 6-1 3-6 6-3

Rafael Nadal def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-1 6-4 6-2

Gilles Simon def. Robert Kendrick, 7-5 6-0 6-1

Radek Stepanek def. Mathieu Montcourt, 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Nicolas Massu, 6-1 6-1 6-2

Fernando Verdasco def. Philipp Petzchner, 6-1 6-2 6-3

Lleyton Hewitt def. Andrey Golubev, 6-4 6-3 6-1

Marin Cilic def. Dudi sela, 6-0 6-3 6-1

Fernando Gonzalez def. Rui Machado, 6-3 6-2 6-3

Victor Hanescu def. Mikhail Youzhny, 7-5 7-5 7-5

Robin Soderling def. Denis Istomin, 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

Janko Tipsarevic def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Arnaud Clement def. Dmitry Tursunov, 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-1

David Ferrer def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3 5-7 6-4 3-6 6-2

Nicolas Almagro def. Ernests Gulbis, 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Alize Cornet def. Maret Ani, 6-4 7-5

Ana Ivanovic def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-1 6-2

Dinara Safina def. Vitalia Diatchenko, 6-1 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Nadia Petrova, 6-2 1-6 8-6

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Julie Coin, 6-2 7-6 (7-2)

Aravane Rezai def. Polona Hercog, 3-6 6-4 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Kristina Barrois, 7-6 (7-1) 7-5

Iveta Benesova def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 6-2

Agnes Szavay def. Elena Vesnina, 6-2 6-0

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Arantxa Rus, 6-0 6-2

Olga Govortsova def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 7-5

Dominika Cibulkova def. Kirsten Flipkens, 6-1 6-0

Gisela Dulko def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 7-6 (7-5) 0-6 6-2

Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Jie Zheng, 6-4 6-3

Na Li def. Timea Bacsinszky, 6-1 6-4

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Lucie Hradecka, 6-2 6-4

One Sixteenth

The first round is complete - well, mostly: there are a few matches that were suspended because of rain, but we're largely there. All of the big guns in both men and women's matches have come through safely to the last 64 - which is a good thing - but we've lost a few of the secondary characters (the medium guns?) which always livens things up a little. We've farewelled Karlovic, Mauresmo and Berdych, among others - today we said goodbye to Schuettler, Blake and Fish from the men, and Peng from the women.

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I'll tell you who nearly screwed around with this, though, and that was Serena Williams. She won her first match of the year on clay, beating Klara Zakopalova (does memory serve - she lost to Zakopalova on clay already this year, yesno? At Marbella, maybe?) but it was a near run thing. Three sets, 6-4 in the third. I am not liking the look of her at all at the moment. She's clearly injured and if she makes it to the second week I will be very surprised.

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But that's not to say it's impossible. She's Serena, after all.

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While we're still on women's tennis I would like to take this moment to point out something I find quite remarkable. Australia had six entrants in the main draw of Roland Garros - two men and four women (I don't think I've left anyone out - apologies if I have!) This is unremarkable in and of itself, but five of them made it through to the second round. Now that is something pretty special for Australian tennis. Bernard Tomic went down to Philipp Kohlschreiber, but Hewitt is through, and all four of our women: Stosur, Dokic, Groth and Rogowska. That would be four Aussies of the final 64 in the women's draw. That means a sixteenth of the draw is Australian. Now that has not happened for a LONG time. Nice work, girls!

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I was particularly impressed with Stosur, who overcame Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone in straights. Schiavone is wily and good on clay - that's a good victory. Dokic took a set to warm up but then she breezed past Karolina Sprem. I was very impressed with both of them.

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Over to the blokes, and the woes of the Americans continue - Blake and Fish, both American seeds, crashed out to random Argentines: Leonardo Mayer and Maximo Gonzalez respectively. But hey, at least Andy Roddick is into the second round. That's a victory in and of itself. And Alexa Glatch is someone to cheer for.

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The match of the day over there was a battle between unseeded old-school veterans, and it was a titanic struggle - the five set epic between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Ivan Ljubicic. Now that was a match. Ferrero came out on top, but that was one to remember for both players, I think. There have been a few five set encounters in this first round, but that is one of the best of them. I was sad they couldn't both win!

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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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Jo-Wilfried Rsonga def. Julien Benneteau, 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4

Novak Djokovic def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3 3-1 retired

Gael Monfils def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-2 6-3 6-1

Juan Martin del Potro def. Michael Llodra, 6-3 6-3 6-1

Leonardo Mayer def. James Blake, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 6-2

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Ivan Ljubici, 2-6 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-3

Maximo Gonzalez def. Mardy Fish, 6-3 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Marc Gicquel def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-0 6-0 6-4

Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Brian Dabul, 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Daniel Gimeno-Traver def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-4 retired

Tommy Robredo def. Adrian Mannarino, 6-2 6-1 6-2

Tommy Haas def. Andrei Pavel, 6-1 6-4 6-4

Juan Monaco def. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3 6-2 6-4

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Bernard Tomic, 6-1 6-2 6-2

Andreas Beck def. Ivan Navarro, 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 6-1

Viktor Troicki def. Lukasz Kubot, 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-3

Victor Crivoi def. Simon Greul, 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-2

Andreas Seppi def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3 6-3 6-1

*

*

Women's Draw

*

Jelena Jankovic def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-2 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Claire Feuerstein, 6-1 6-4

Serena Williams def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4

Virginie Razzano def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3 6-3

Elena Demetieva def. Chanelle Scheepers, 6-4 6-3

Caroline Wozniacki def. Vera Dushevina, 4-6 7-5 6-1

Sybille Bammer def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-3 7-6 (7-1)

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-2 5-7 6-0

Melinda Czaink def. Anastasija Sevastova, 3-6 6-4 6-1

Viktoriya Kutuzova def. Zuzanna Ondraskova, 6-2 6-4

Sorana Cirstea def. Carly Gullickson, 6-4 6-2

Yanina Wickmayer def. Urszula Radwanska, 4-6 6-3 6-0

Petra Martic def. Mara Santangelo, 6-4 6-2

Jelena Dokic def. Karolina Sprem, 3-6 6-1 6-2

Galina Voskoboeva def. Sania Mirza, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

Magdalena Rybarikova def. Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1 2-6 8-6

Samantha Stosur def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-4 6-2

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Shuai Peng, 1-6 6-2 6-4

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Monica Niculescu, 6-4 4-6 6-3

Virginia Ruano Pascual def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-4 6-3

Dangerwoman

So, um, Dinara. I bet Anne Keothavong is not so keen on you right now. This isn't a bakery. You don't need to go round hanging out bagels to everyone.
*

...though it was very nice that you did.

*

Seriously, here's looking at you, kid. If anyone doubted Dinara Safina - including me, because I had some serious reservations about her without the oncourt coaching facility in play - I think she just delivered the smackdown. Unfortunately poor ol' Anne Keothavong got in the way. This is dangerous looking form. The only worry I have for her now is that she's peaked too soon. If she keeps on this way... I can't see anyone beating her.

*

Speaking of dangerous, Rafa Nadal looked quite nice in his first round match - though his shirt is dreadful. Fuschia, Rafa? What were you thinking? But the real story of the match for me was his opponent - you have to applaud the effort that Marcos Daniel put in. He broke Rafa a couple of times. That's a small victory in and of itself.

*

But we all know where my focus was today, and it was firmly on the Federer match. I was listening to it via Radio Roland Garros, where one of the commentators said that Martin made the perfect first round opponent for Federer, and I have to degree. He's little and scrappy and got a lot of balls back... which Federer duly hit for winners. This is what I like to see and although the match didn't exactly start off to my taste, with the Mighty Fed losing his opening service game, he pulled the lead back quickly and set about the business of winning pretty methodically. Nice one, Roger man!

*

We saw no major upsets on the male side - though Stan Wawrinka came close! He was in a huge hole there against Nicolas Devilder, being two sets and a double break down in the fourth. Luckily he seemed to pull himself together, but that Houdini act isn't going to work against the big guys, so he should have a stern talking to himself. Tomas Berdych did go out to wily Italian Simone Bolelli, making he and Karlovic the biggest seeds to fall.

*

On the women's side, though, my semi final pick Schnyder crashed out to Bondarenko, so I'm what's colloquially known as 'wrong' there - and my finals pick Wozniacki is at one set apiece with play suspended, so I could be on my way there as well. At least Dinara's looking good...

*

...and how about Alexa Glatch putting an absolute beatdown on Flavia Pennetta? I certainly didn't see that one coming. Bet Flavia didn't either! But my favourite women's result of today was Olivia Rogowska beating Maria Kirilenko. That is some excellent Aussie action right there! And Jarmila Groth won as well - so excellent work, girls!

*
*

Today's Results

*

Men's Draw

*
Rafael Nadal def. Marcos Daniel, 7-5 6-4 6-4

Roger Federer def. Alberto Martin, 6-4 6-3 6-2

Andy Roddicl def. Romain Jouan, 6-2 6-4 6-2
Nikolay Davydenko def. Stefan Koubek, 6-2 6-1 6-4

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Nicolas Devilder, 6-3 5-7 2-6 6-4 6-4
Guillaume Rufin def. Eduardo Schwank, 6-1 6-3 6-3
Jeremy Chardy def. Thiago Alves, 6-2 7-6 (12-10) 6-3

Igor Andreev def. Fabio Fognini, 1-6 6-3 6-1 3-6 7-5
Feliciano Lopez def. Franco Ferreiro, 6-7 (3-7) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 6-2

Potito Starace def. Mischa Zverev, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 1-0 retired

Fernando Gonzalez def. Jiri Vanek, 6-3 6-2 6-3
Nicolas Massu def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-3 6-4 1-6 2-6 6-3
Janko Tipsarevic def. Albert Montanes, 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4
Robin Soderling def. Kevin Kim, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Rui Machado def. Kristof Vliegen, 6-2 6-4 4-6 2-6 6-3
Mikhail Youzhny def. Gilles Muller, 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 6-4

Pablo Andujar def. Robby Ginepri, 6-4 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3)
Nicolas Kiefer def. Ilia Bozoljac, 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 7-5 6-4

Simone Bolelli def. Tomas Berdych, 6-4 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-2
Victor Hanescu def. Steve Darcis, 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3)

Diego Junqueira def. Paul Capdeville, 3-6 7-5 6-1 6-3
Denis Istomin def. Santiago Giraldo, 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Ivo Minar def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3
Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Laurent Recourderc, 6-4 6-4 6-1

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-1

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Thomaz Bellucci, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 5-5 retired

Jose Acasuso def. Santiago Ventura, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0 6-3

Jurgen Melzer def. Sergio Roitman

*

*

Women's Draw

**
Dinara Safina def. Anne Keothavong, 6-0 6-0

Venus Williams def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-1 4-6 6-2
Marion Bartoli def. Pauline Parmentier, 3-6 6-1 6-3
Aravane Rezai def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-3 6-2

Lucie Safarova def. Sabine Lisicki, 6-2 1-6 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Anastasiya Yakimova, 3-6 6-1 6-2

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Patty Schnyder, 6-4 6-3
Jie Zheng def. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 6-1 6-3

Alexa Glatch def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-1 6-1

Polona Hercog def. Alisa Kleybanova, 6-2 4-6 6-1

Lucie Hradecka def. Yvonne Meusberger, 6-1 6-2
Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Melanie South, 0-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5
Agnieszka Radwanska def. Rossana de los Rios, 6-3 6-1
Kirsten Flipkens def. Stephanie Foretz, 6-1 4-6 6-4

Carla Suarez Navarro def. Edina Gallovits, 6-1 6-4
Jill Craybas def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-5 6-2
Agnes Szavay def. Corinna Dentoni, 6-3 6-4

Mariya Koryttseva def. Patricia Mayr, 6-1 6-1
Jie Zheng def. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 6-1 6-3

Jarmila Groth def. Kinnie Laisne, 6-4 6-3
Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Camille Pin, 6-3 5-7 7-5

Tathiana Garbin def. Ayumi Morita, 7-5 7-5

Akgul Amanmuradova def. Irena Pavlovic, 6-3 6-4

Lourdes Dominquez Lino def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-1 4-6 8-7

Olivia Rogowska def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-4 6-4

Olga Govortsova def. Katie O'Brien, 6-1 6-1

Mariana Dugue Marino def. Anna Chakvetadze, 3-6 6-4 6-4

Dominika Cibulkova def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-4 2-6 6-4

Bulldog

Well, well, play has begun in gay Paris, and already we are not without our share of upsets, almost-upsets and stories in general. I love Grand Slam tennis!

*

The match which I was probably following more closely than the rest was Karlovic against Hewitt, which was a damn exciting match, even if it did involve Karlovic, arguably one of the most boring players on tour. I bet Dr Ivo is not going to be too happy about being taken out first round - though I suppose it's better to be taken out by Hewitt, who is still a name in the tennis world, than some total random.

*

Karlovic did not necessarily play a bad match - he did very well in the breakers and until the fade set in in the fourth, could have won the match pretty much at any moment. But you have to give credit to Hewitt. Even though his tennis sure ain't what it used to be, he is so damn dogged. You can see shades of it in Nadal - that grit and determination never, ever to give up, to make each point a war. Hewitt totally sunk his teeth in after being two points from the brink of defeat - I think he can be pretty proud.

*

Marat Safin also pulled off a reasonable win, though his opponent was no one to speak of - but I don't think we're going to be seeing too much more of Gilles Simon this tournament, somehow. Five sets in the first round against Wayne Odesnik? Shudder.

*

Ernests Gulbis also had a nice win - please please please break your slump at Roland Garros, Ernests! - and Marin Cilic gave Jan Hernych an absolute clinic, so we're looking good from a Stars perspective... though potential Star Frederico Gil did go out to David Ferrer, but that wasn't wholly unexpected.

*

Over to the ladies, and if Ana Ivanovic makes it to the quarters to meet Dinara Safina, I will eat an item of my own clothing. She played pathetically and if Errani had been able to push it just that little bit further, Ivanovic could have been going home. Someone who did actually go home was Amelie Mauresmo, which was terribly sad - once again, not her year in Paris. But the Stars kept shining - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had a nice win.

*

Bring on Day 2!

*

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Today's Results

*

French Open (Roland Garros)

*

Men's Draw

*

Marat Safin def. Alexandre Sidorenko, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Gilles Simon def. Wayne Odesnik, 3-6 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-3

Andy Murray def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-2 6-2 6-1

Lleyton Hewitt def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (1-7) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Florent Serra, 6-2 6-1 6-4

Radek Stepanek def. Gaston Gaudio, 6-3 6-4 6-1

Ernests Gulbis def. Sam Querrey, 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 3-6 6-1

Josselin Ouanna def. Marcel Granollers, 7-5 2-6 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1

David Ferrer def. Frederico Gil, 6-2 6-4 6-4

Nicolas Almagro def. Agustin Calleri, 6-4 6-1 6-3

Andrey Golubev def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-3 6-3 6-2

Marin Cilic def. Jan Hernych, 6-0 6-4 6-3

Mathieu Montcourt def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-2 retired

Robert Kendrick def. Daniel Brands, 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 7-6 (13-11) 4-6 6-1

Philipp Petzschner def. Peter Polansky, 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3

Dudi Sela def. Jean-Rene Lisnard, 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-3

*

*

Women's Draw

*

Ana Ivanovic def. Sara Errani, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Anna-Lene Groenefeld def. Amelie Mauresmo, 6-4 6-3

Vitalia Diatchenko def. Mathilde Johansson, 2-6 6-2 10-8

Nadia Petrova def. Lauren Embree, 6-1 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Roberta Vinci, 6-4 6-2

Elena Vesnina def. Severine Bremond Beltrame, 6-3 6-3

Arantxa Rus def. Olivia Sanchez, 6-1 6-1

Timea Bacsinszky def. Emilie Loit, 4-6 6-4 6-1

Julie Coin def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 7-5 6-2

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-3 6-2

Alla Kudryavsteva def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3 6-3

Kristina Barrois def. Maria-Emilia Salerni, 3-6 6-1 6-2

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Kaia Kanepi, 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-2

Iveta Benesova def. Julia Goerges, 7-5 4-1 retired

Li Na def. Marta Domachowska, 6-4 6-2

Gisela Dulko def. Tamira Paszek, 6-1 6-3

All Dinara, All The Way

I've promised a preview of the women's draw and I intend to deliver, but first up - whoa, whoa, whoa, Alexandra Dulgheru! Where did you come from? What are you doing, going and winning titles while ranked #201 in the world? The little blurb on the WTA website said that she nearly lost in the first round of qualifying, and here she is winning the whole tournament! Good on you, girl - may your rise up the rankings be speedy!

*

Now, over to the women's draw at the biggest, reddest event of the year - Roland Garros. In the top quarter of the draw we have Dinara Safina, who has to go into Roland Garros - the favourite - I don't think anone would gainsay me on that one. She's won two whatever-you-now-call-Tier-I tournaments in a row and is looking as determined as I've ever seen her: while Serena 'the real #1' Williams hasn't won a match on the red stuff all year. (More on Serena later). Dinara is both my sentimental and actual pick for Roland Garros, but let's check out her competition in this quarter.

*

Ana Ivanovic is in there - she and Dinara could potentially meet in the quarters - but I wouldn't put any money on seeing a rematch of last year's final, what with Ana being injured and, you know, a headcase. Much more likely, in my opinion, is Victoria Azarenka, though she hasn't been extremely impressive on clay thus far. Or there is last year's surprise package, Carla Suarez Navarro, who also came good at the Aussie Open. Her back hand has been compared to Henin, who triumped so much and so often at Roland Garros - could Carla do the same? Maybe. But in reality, I don't think any of the girls are going past the quarters. All Dinara, all the way here, if you ask me.

*

The second quarter is spear-headed by #3 seed Venus Williams who, if you ask me, stands a much better chance of winning the title than her sister does, even though she'd definitely have to go through Safina to get there. A Dinara/Venus semi could well turn out to be the match of the tournament, just like that slugfest they had a few weeks back. But Venus is not the only big name in this section - an absolute dark horse pick could be Sabine Lisicki, who has a tough opener against Lucie Safarova. Zvonareva is in there, and the eternally unlucky-in-Paris Amelie Mauresmo. Oh, and Sharapova, but I don't think we're quite at Slam-winning level yet with ol' Maria. But I've got to be conventional and pick Venus to come through this section, I think - even if it's just for the hope of seeing that throwdown semi.

*

The third quarter, by my reckoning, might be the weakest - the two major seeds are Jankovic and Dementieva, and if Jankovic can't come through this quarter, then I absolutely despair of her. Sure, Elegant Elena might give her a run for it, but she's been pretty unremarkable on clay thus far. I'm not picking either of them to come through, though - this is Caroline Wozniacki's chance to make a big splash, and I reckon she's got the game to do it.

*

And then we have the fourth quarter, and the problem of Serena. Any sane person would pick against her, because, hello, hasn't won a match on clay all year, lost in the third round to Katarina Srebotnik last year, yada yada yada. But it goes against the grain to pick an early exit for Serena, because... well, because she's Serena. Can you imagine anyone else claiming to be the real #1, then not winning a match while the actual #1 wins a couple of big tournaments... and still being disposed to believe her? She's a strange phenomenon.

*

Kuznetsova is in this quarter as well, and Flavia Pennetta, who could be a real chance, but I'm going to go out on a limb and pick Patty Schnyder. I like what I've seen out of her lately, and she has a recent win over Serena in her hand of cards... and I think she can do it.

*

My finals pick? Safina vs. Wozniacki. I'm fully prepared to be wrong on the Wozniacki front, but not on the Safina one. My girl Dinara is going all the way!

*

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Viktor Troicki def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-4 7-6 (7-5)

Janko Tipsarevic def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-2 6-4

*

*

Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

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Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Julien Benneteau, 3-7 7-6 (7-1) 6-3

*

*

Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Alexandra Dulgheru def. Alona Bondarenko, 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-0

*

*

Internationaux de Strasbourg (Strasbourg)

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Aravane Rezai def. Lucie Hradecka, 7-6 (7-2) 6-1

Full of Surprises

The big day is upon us. One of my favourite things about Roland Garros is that there is no boring Sunday - that day before a Slam starts when there is no tennis and you're not quite sure what to talk about, because you've talked through most of that week's actual tennis with predictions. Or maybe this is something only suffered by me. Who knows.

*

Anyway, Roland Garros does indeed start tomorrow, with its Sunday start so beloved by me and so loathed by the players, as I understand, and the draw came out yesterday. The player to watch closely here was Djokovic, and - much to the dismay of Roger Federer, I would imagine, though he'd never admit it - he landed in the Federer half. This means that Rafa has world number #3 Andy Murray to negotiate, but on clay, you wouldn't like Andy's chances. Not that you'd really like anyone's chances much against Rafa on clay.

*

This means that we're going to be deprived of a rerun of Madrid, where Rafa played that excellent semi against Djokovic before backing up to play a close one with Federer. It's a shame that the King of Clay won't meet both his close rivals in this tournaments - from a viewing perspective - but I think we can safely say he'll meet one of them. And I'm of the opinion that will be Federer, though others might think differently.

*

Not that Rafa's got a cakewalk. Oh no indeed. He's got potential match ups with Dr Ivo Karlovic and David Ferrer before what could be an absolute blockbuster against Fernando Verdasco. After the fantastic semi at the Aussie Open, I would love to see a rerun there! Then there's the possibility of Murray in the semis, with Cilic, Gonzalez, Simon and Safin also in contention. (Yes, I put Safin in there. I'm determined. After Wimbledon last year, Marat can do anything.)

*

Now to the other half, beginning with the Djokovic quarter. This one looks the easiest of the quarters to my mind, though you never know - a real test, I think, will be Tommy Robredo in the fourth round. I picked Tommy to make the semis a while back, and while I'm not exactly sure whether I still think that, Tommy's got the game to give Novak a run for his money. One never knows what's going to happen with Novak, after all... though he's already got the Roland Garros jewel in his quest to win the retirement Slam.

*

Also lurking in that Djokovic quarter is Juan Monaco, and we know what a surprise package he's been over the claycourt season. He could be a dark horse contender to go deep. Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also hanging out in this quarter, and both are capable of doing well.

*

Then we come to the Federer quarter, where all the Americans seem to be hanging out. Blake and Roddick are both in this quarter, as is Berdych, which could be interesting after the way the fourth round at the Aussie Open almost turned out. Gael Monfils is also hanging out in this quarter. I think this'll be a relatively all right draw for Fed until the semis - but who knows what will happen in the world of tennis?

*

Still, I would like to re-affirm that I do believe in the Mighty Fed. Will Rafa win Roland Garros? Probably. But can Federer do it? Absolutely.

*

We'll take a look at the women's draw tomorrow. Early impressions? The Williams sisters are in opposite halves, but I still don't like their chances of meeting in the final!

*

Meanwhile, brief detour to the world of tennis actually happening now - who on earth is Alexandra Dulgheru? What is she doing in the final of Warsaw? And is she playing Roland Garros? Should I be keeping my eye on her? Where in the world did she pop up from? And it looks like my Mikhail prediction has gone south - Youzhny went out to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who'll now face lucky loser Julien Benneteau in the final in Kitzbuhel.

*

Tennis. Full of surprises.

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andreas Vinciguerra, 6-1 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic def. Francesco Piccari, 6-2 6-3

Maximo Gonzalez def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-3 3-6 6-3

*

*

Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

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Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 1-6 7-6 (7-5)

Julien Benneteau def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-3 6-4

*

*

Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Alexandra Dulgheru def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-1

Alona Bondarenko def. Anne Keothavong, 6-2 7-5

*

*

Internationaux de Strabourg (Strasbourg)

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Aravane Rezai def. Viktoriya Kutuzova, 6-4 6-2

Lucie Hradecka def. Ayumi Morita, 6-0 1-0 retired

Not Too Bad

Well, the comeback of Maria Sharapova had to end somewhere, and for her first time out, quarterfinals is not too bad. I'd still bet you anything that she's not going to be too thrilled to herself - she lost very tamely to Alona Bondarenko in Warsaw. This is something that you'd never, ever see with her pre-injury - but I don't think it's too much cause for concern. Coming off a nine-month layoff and making quarters is perfectly acceptable.

*

Though, like I said, I bet she's not going to be too happy.

*

There's been a major exodus of seeds in Kitzbuhel - sorry, I just made a bit of a jump-cut over to the men's tour there without too much explanation! Remember how I was going on about Mikhail Youzhny yesterday? Well, I reckon he might actually win the tournament. He's the highest -and only! - seed left. I'm not quite sure what went on there to leave the tournament with the #7 seed, two randoms and a lucky loser left standing, but I guess it's just another one of those overlooked tournaments, being right before the French...

*

Meanwhile, over at the cute little exo that's running in Paris - the Guinot Mary Cohr Masters - both our big boys had some good wins. Rafa Nadal beat Arnaud Clement in cruise-tastic straight sets - would one expect anything less from the Rafinator? - and my man Rog avenged his loss to Stan Wawrinka by taking him out pretty easily in straights as well. This'll be good for both of them going into Roland Garros next week - good luck, boys! Andy Murray, on the other hand, will have to go in with a loss under his belt after going down to Paul-Henri Mathieu... but I don't know how much it'll worry him.

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Robin Soderling def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-0 6-0

Sam Querrey def. Gilles Simon, 7-5 6-3

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Robby Ginepri, 3-6 6-2 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

Andreas Seppi def. Viktor Troicki, 6-1 6-4

*

*

Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

*

Mikhail Youzhny def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 6-4

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Victor Hanescu, 6-2 6-2

Oscar Hernandez def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-4 6-4

Julien Benneteau def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-0

*

*

Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

*

Daniela Hantuchova def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 4-6 6-4

Alona Bondarenko def. Maria Sharapova, 6-2 6-2

Anne Keothavong def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-0 6-1

Alexandra Dulgheru def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-1 7-5

*

*

Internationaux de Strasbourg (Strasbourg)

*

Ayumi Morita def. Peng Shuai, 7-5 6-2

Aravane Rezai def. Monica Niculescu, -0 6-1 6-2

Lucie Hradecka def. Kristina Barrois, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

Viktoriya Kutusova def. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 7-5 6-1

Supporting Characters

I wrote - oh, it must have been a couple of months back now - about the mysterious disappearance and re-appearance of Mikhail Youzhny. He went totally AWOL from about the US Open season last year until about Indian Wells-ish, when he began posting all right results again.

*

I say all right - it's been pretty quiet for Youzhny, really, when you consider that this is a man who has made a Grand Slam semi and has a couple of victories over Rafa Nadal under his belt. But every so often you see him creeping up through the draw, and - and I don't know where I'm really going with this, but although I can't confess I really noticed when he was gone, I certainly am glad he's back.

*

He's like Davydenko in that regard, I suppose - how many people missed Kolya when he was gone? Considering he has the personality of a boiled potato, I'd venture to say not many. But when he came back, it was great to have him. Both he and Youzhny bring a certain sort of... well, it's je ne sais quoi, really. From Kolya it's his dogged consistency. Youshny has a sort of militaristic determination not unlike that of Dinara Safina (though I think Dinara's better at it.) They're not essential to the game - not like, say, Federer is, or Nadal, without whom the game would definitely be less enjoyable - but they're good supporting characters, and it's nice to have them back (even if they could be edited out).

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Speaking of Russians, let us flick over to the women's channel for a while and check on the progress of Maria Sharapova. I'd say she's doing quite well - though that tape on her shoulder is pretty frightening. She totally demolished Darya Kustova in Warsaw - sure, I mean, who on earth is that? but any win is a good win when you're in Maria's position. I've never been a huge Sharapova fan, but she is (unlike Youzhny and Davydenko) a little more than a supporting character, and the game has been a lesser place without her.

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-3

Maximo Gonzalez def. Simone Bolelli, 6-3 5-7 6-4

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Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

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Jurgen Melzer def. Agustin Calleri, 6-4 7-5

Victor Hanescu def. Marcel Granollers, 6-1 7-6 (7-2)

Mikhail Youzhny def. Stefan Koubek, 6-2 6-4

Oscar Hernandez def. Andreas Beck, 7-5 6-4

Daniel Koellerer def. Diego Junqueira, 6-1 6-2

Juan Ignacio Chela def. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-3 6-2

Julien Benneteau def. Nicolas Massu, 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (9-7)

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Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Klara Zakopalova def. Zheng Jie, 6-0 6-4

Alexandra Dulgheru def. Sara Errani, 6-4 6-3

Daniela Hantuchova def. Urszula Radwanska, 6-3 6-1

Alona Bondarenko def. Marta Domachowska, 6-3 6-1

Anne Keothavong def. Jill Craybas, 3-6 6-3 6-1

Galina Voskoboeva def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4 7-6 (7-5)

Ioana Raluca Olaru def. Julia Goerges, 6-3 -6 7-6 (7-3)

Maria Sharapova def. Darya Kustova, 6-2 6-0

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Internationaux de Strasbourg (Strasbourg)

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Kristina Barrois def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-4 retired

Peng Shuai def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Steohani Cohen-Aloro def. Gisela Dulko, 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Ayumi Morita def. Julie Coin, 4-6 6-0 6-4

Aravane Rezai def. Anastastiya Yakimova, 6-4 6-1

Lucie Hradecki def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 7-5 6-0

Monica Niculescu def. Yuliya Beygelzimer, 5-7 6-0 6-4

Viktoriya Kutuzova def. Stephani Foretz, 3-6 6-3 6-2

One of a Kind

Well, I suppose we'd better move on from Madrid before the week is completely out and Roland Garros is upon us. There are, in fact, tournaments going on this week, so we should probably check them out.

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The one that always catches my attention is World Team Tennis in Dusseldorf. It's sort of a pity that it's in the week before Roland Garros when none of the big boys are really very keen on playing, because it's a fascinating concept. It's a good way of getting matches in, what with the round robin aspect, and you also get to play for your country as well, which is pretty rare in the individualistic world of tennis.

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The eight countries taking part this year are France, Germany, USA, Sweden, Serbia, Argentina, Russia and Italy - and you know who's been surprising? Sweden. They're being represented by Robin Soderling and Andreas Vinciguerra, and they totally beat the USA overnight, which is a bit surprising. Haven't been following it closely enough to tell you who is in what position, but that was certainly something I found unusual... Sweden isn't exactly a tennis powerhouse these days.

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It is, as far as I know, the only tournament of its type in the calendar year, and I wish it was in a more prominent place - because it's a fascinating concept. I don't know what its history is like - whether it is a survivor from that failed era of round robin or whether it's just unique - but it's a great concept. So why, Dusseldorf? Why is your tournament like this?

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Rainer Schuettler def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-4

Robin Soderling def. Sam Querrey, 6-2 6-2

Andreas Vinciguerra def. Robby Ginepri, 7-5 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 6-4

Viktor Troicki def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-2 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic def. Stanislav Vovk, 6-2 6-4

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Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

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Jurgen Melzer def. Frederico Gil, 6-3 6-0

Oscar Hernandez def. Fabrice Santoro, 6-2 6-3

Juan Ignacio Chela def. Marc Gicquel, 5-7 6-3 6-0

Julien Benneteau def. Dudi Sela, 7-5 6-1

Stefan Koubek def. Philipp Petzschner, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4

Diego Junqueira def. Paul Capdeville, 6-3 6-2

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo def. Mario Ancic, 6-4 6-3

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Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Sara Errani def. Greta Arn, 6-2 1-6 7-6 (7-2)

Daniel Hantuchova def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 3-6 6-3 6-3

Urszula Radwanska def. Mariya Koryttseva, 6-3 3-6 6-3

Jill Craybas def. Edina Gallovits, 3-6 7-5 6-3

Galina Voskoboeva def. Patrica Mayr, 6-4 6-1

Klara Zakopalova def. Melinda Czink, 3-6 6-4 6-3

Ioana Raluca Olaru def. Jelena Dokic, 6-4 6-3

Alexandra Dulgheru def. Agnes Szatmari, 6-3 6-4

Darya Kustova def. Lenka Tvaroskova, 6-4 6-1

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Internationaux de Strasbourg (Strasbourg)

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Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Yanina Wickmayer, 1-6 6-3 6-3

Viktoriya Kutuzova def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-3 6-0

Julie Coin def. Elena Vesnina, 6-4 6-2

Monica Niculescu def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 4-6 6-2 6-2

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-0 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Anastasiya Yakimova def. Maret Ani, 6-3 7-5

Pauline Parmentier def. Varvara Lepchenko, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2)

Lucie Hradecka def. Jasmin Woehr, 3-6 6-1 6-2

Stephanie Foretzdef. Kirtsen Flipkens, 6-1 2-6 6-2

Stephanie Cohen-Aloro def. Mathilde Johansson, 4-6 6-4 6-1

Yuliya Beygelzimer def. Claire Feuerstein, 0-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Chutzpah

I talked so much about the men's final of Madrid yesterday (Federer won! Federer won!) that I totally neglected to talk about the women - so let's devote a bit of space to that now.

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If anyone doubted Dinara Safina's abilities, I think they would be sitting down to a great big slice of humble pie right now. She's made three finals in a row, including two back-to-back whatever-you-call-Tier-I-now tournaments, which is pretty massive. Her run to the final last year came off the back off one such tournament - Berlin - and this year she's brought home the bacon in back to back weeks. She has played, frankly, like the #1 player in the world.

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She has got to be up there in the favourites reckoning for Roland Garros - if not the favourite, because she's certainly pulled the results on clay better than anyone else. That said, you can never count the Sisters Williams, but on clay Serena has been far from impressive. Venus has been much better and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her go deep, but I'm liking Dinara at the moment. She's got the chutzpah to do it, if nothing else.

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My only worry is the lack of oncourt coaching for Dinara. That has been something she has used really well - even if it is an abomination on the sport, spit spit. When Dinara gets in a funk, all it seems to take is Zeljko shouting at her for a bit for her to pull herself together. Maybe she'll just have to create an inner Zeljko to shout at her. But I'm liking her chances. She's looking very, very good!

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I'd dearly love to see the results of Roland Garros mimic Madrid - Federer and Safina. I realise that this is not very likely, but I would love to see it, nonetheless.

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Oh, and guess what happened today? In a very quiet way in Warsaw, Maria Sharapova walked out on court, ranked about #125, and won her first match back. Tathiana Garbin was her first victim, and let us hope there will be more - women's tennis has needed Sharapova (though possibly not her shrieks).

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Come to think of it... she will be a very, very dangerous floater in the Roland Garros draw. Can you imagine being, oh, I don't know, Jelena Jankovic or someone, and realising that in the first round you have to come out and face Maria? It would be like a strange and unusual nightmare.

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Today's Results

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ARAG ATP World Team Championships (Dusseldorf)

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Robby Ginepri, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-0
Viktor Troicki def. Maximo Gonzalez, 6-4 6-1
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Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbuhel (Kitzbuhel)

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Victor Hanescu def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-7 (6-8) 683 785
Mikhail Youzhny def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-6 (9-7)
Marcel Granollers def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 7-6 (13-11) 6-3
Nicolas Massu def. Robin Vik, 6-4 6-2
Andreas Beck def. Jan Hernych, 5-7 6-3 7-5
Daniel Koellerer def. Thomaz Bellucci, 6-4 6-4
Agustin Calleri def. Yen-hsun Lu, 3-6 7-5 0-1 retired

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Warsaw Open (Warsaw)

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Zheng Jie def. Olga Govortsova, 4-6 7-6 (7-0) 6-3
Julia Goerges def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Anne Keothavong def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-2 7-6 (7-4)
Alona Bondarenko def. Katarzyna Piter, 6-0 6-0
Kateryna Bondarenko def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-5 6-2
Marta Domachowska def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-2 6-1
Maria Sharapova def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-1 6-7 (6-8) 6-3
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Internationaux de Strasbourg (Strasbourg)

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Aravane Rezai def. Sybille Bammer, 6-2 6-2
Peng Shuai def. Alexa Glatch, 3-6 6-2 6-0
Gisela Dulko def. Mara Santangelo, 6-1 7-6 (7-3)
Ayumi Morita def. Kinnie Laisne, 6-1 6-3
Kristina Barrois def. Irena Pavlovic, 6-3 6-3

I Know, But

Okay, I know that Rafa has played about a million hours of tennis in the last few weeks. I know he had an absolute thriller of a grinding match against Djokovic. I know that he's tired and exhausted and wasn't really himself out there today. I know that we can't get carried away.

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But Federer won!

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This will obviously have no ill-effect on Rafa whatsoever. That's the way he's wired. He's a cyborg, a machine, a total unit. He refused to make excuses for himself in his presser - he is a very good sport, that boy - but he must know how fatigued he is. That was Shmafa out there, not Rafa. However, I think it will be very good for Federer and his confidence. In his own words:

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"It's not the moment to get carried away but it's definitely good for my confidence, especially beating Rafa in the final so it definitely proves that I am doing the right things and I am working extremely hard and it is paying off so it's a nice feeling. I am very excited about going to Paris, whereas a couple of weeks ago I was still a little bit unsure about my game and not sure if I could win the French Open."

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Federer only really ever admits his wobbles after the fact, but I think we all knew this was true. It was going to be a disaster for him if he didn't win this match - it meant much more for him than for Rafa, I think. But now that he has, he'll keep on rolling. He's done exactly what he's asked for in all the clay tournaments - he saw how it went in Monte Carlo, made the semis in Rome and won Madrid. Now all he has to do is set his mind on winning Roland Garros and the game is over, yes?

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We can hope.

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Today's Results

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal, 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Caroline Wozniacki, 6-2 6-4

A Grudging Admission

I don't like Novak Djokovic. We all know this. But putting this aside, he put in a damn fine performance in Madrid overnight.

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Sure, he lost. But he went toe to toe with the best claycourter in history and came damn close to beating him too. I still don't like him. He still needs a personality transplant. But that is some damn fine tennis right there. He should be proud of himself... but not too proud. That might make him worse than he already is.

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So, for the first time, we're going to have a Federer/Nadal final on clay this year. This will be their first meeting since the Australian Open final and it really could be interesting. Nadal has to be tired - he's won approximately 400 straight matches in the last five weeks and that has got to tell on you, even when you are potentially half-cyborg, like he is. He had a very, very tough semi against Djokovic where he had to save three match points (it had shades of the Rome final in 2006, where Nadal and Federer went head to head in that epic five-set thriller.) But can he do it? Absolutely.

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Federer is comparatively fresh, and we all know he has the game to beat anyone, ever. This match will be more in his head than anything else. A victory over Nadal here would be huge to take into Roland Garros - even though I think Federer was sort of looking forward to not playing Nadal before the big one. A loss - a bad loss - could be hugely detrimental. A close loss could go either way - it could be heartbreaking or else vaguely encouraging. He's had, as we all know, longstanding issues playing Nadal. But can he do it? Absolutely.

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So one way or the other, this is going to be a very, very interesting final.

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Today's Results

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (11-9)

Roger Federer def. Juan Martin del Potro, 6-3 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Patty Schnyder, 6-4 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki def. Amelie Mauresmo, 7-6 (7-1) 6-3

Merry Murray

I bet Andy Murray is really happy right now. It was his birthday yesterday, I do believe, and as a special treat, he got to play his bestest friend EVAH, Juan Martin del Potro, almost exactly a year after Juan M made some, ahem, very interesting comments about Andy's mum. And to make it even better, Andy lost. In straight sets.

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Yep. Bet he's beaming.

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That said, Andy Murray has really exceeded my expectations on the red stuff (or the almost blue stuff, in Madrid) this year. He's not a claycourt player and it's evident - he certainly doesn't look comfortable out there. But he's been winning matches on the stuff, and that is something. That is certainly something.

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I'm certainly not going to go and proclaim him the uber-favourite for Roland Garros or anything - I mean, please, everyone knows who that is! - nor am I prepared to elevate him to the arena of serious contender on claycourts just yet, but give him a little time, and... Andy's working at it. He has done much better than I thought he would - even with the whole loss to Juan Martin del Potro thing.

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This means we have the #1, #2, #3 and #5 seeds through to the semis in the men - and what have we got in the women? Well, we have #1. And... oh look, there's #9! Caro Wozniacki made it through. But our other two semi-finalists are unseeded - veterans Patty Schnyder and Amelie Mauresmo. Schnyder has been on a hot run of late, taking out Serena last week and now Jelena Jankovic, and Mauresmo has been very impressive as well. But where are the big guns there? No one is delivering except Dinara at the moment - and right now, because of that, I'm thinking she deserves to be #1.

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Today's Results

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-4 7-5

Roger Federer def. Andy Roddick, 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-1

Novak Djokovic def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-4 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Andy Murray, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-4 6-3

Patty Schnyder def. Jelena Jankovic, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3

Caroline Wozniacki def. Vera Dushevina, 6-0 6-4

Amelie Mauresmo def. Agnes Szavay, 5-7 6-1 6-1

Intact/Shattered

So we're down to the final eight in the men's draw at Madrid, and the draw has fallen exactly to plan for the top seven seeds, who are all through. The one guy screwing it all up is the once-again underwhelming Gilles Simon, who lost to Ivan Ljubicic. So there we have it - the top seven... and Ivan.

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I'm pretty pleased with that, I think - it's a good indication of form going into Roland Garros and the big guys seem to be on song. The only one of the top seven that went to three sets was Juan Martin del Potro, who faced a pretty stern test against Stan Wawrinka, so they're all looking quite comfortable. And I'm pretty pleased with Ljubicic being through as well - he has had a real resurgence of form in the last few months and it's really great. He is one of the great statesmen and sportsmen of the game, and it'll be a shame when he finally retires.

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Over in the women's, on the other hand, we have total decimation of seeds, pretty much. Top seed, the recently impressive Dinara Safina, is still standing (and standing in style, even though she was pushed to three sets by Lucie Safarova), and Jelena Jankovic has kept her head in the game with a solid victory over Elena Vesnina, but teen queen Victoria Azarenka has crashed out to Agnes Szavay, and most of the other seeds went out earlier this week. Most disappointing, really.

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For the tournament's sake, you've got to hope that we get a Safina/Jankovic match -I hope they're not in the same half of the draw! I haven't checked. But even if they meet in the semis, that's the match you want to see. They're the two that really need a Slam to validate their positions (it might be too little too late for Jankovic, but she really is overdue) and it'll be interesting to see which one is hungrier. Personally, my money's on Safina, but Jankovic has shown some reasonable form in the past few weeks, so we shall see...

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Today's Results

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Philipp Kohschreiber, walkover

Roger Federer def. James Blake, 6-2 6-4

Novak Djokovic def. Andreas Seppi, 6-4 6-4

Andy Murray def. Tommy Robredo, 7-5 6-1

Juan Martin del Potro def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 4-6 6-4 6-4

Andy Roddick def. Nikolay Davydenko, walkover

Ivan Ljubicic def. Gilles Simon, 3-6 6-4 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Juan Monaco, 7-5 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Lucie Safarova, 6-0 4-6 6-3

Jelena Jankovic def. Elena Vesnina, 6-2 6-2

Agnes Szavay def. Victoria Azarenka, 4-6 6-2 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki def. Alisa Kleybanova, 6-2 6-2

Alona Bondarenko def. Anna Chakvetadze, 6-0 2-6 6-3

Monaco in Madrid

Where on earth did Juan Monaco spring up from?

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This is about the third or fourth tournament where he has upset a player ranked about a billion places higher than him and got through to a round in a big tournament where he does not belong. I remember back in the day him being ranked about #13 or #14 or something, and wondering what on earth he did to deserve it. Now I'm wondering why he isn't ranked higher. He's in as a wildcard in this tournament, and he's just knocked out David Ferrer.

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So what's going to happen with Juan Monaco at Roland Garros now? He is definitely in form heading into the tournament - he could be a surprise quarter finalist. He is looking very comfortable.

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Speaking of comfortable, how about Dinara Safina steamrolling through the draw over in Madrid? Both Williamses are out and Dinara is just bulldozing her way through. I can't think of any more heavy earthmoving equipment to which to compare her so I might have to stop, but she is looking very dangerous heading into the big one!

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Today's Results

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Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (Madrid)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-3 6-1

Novak Djokovic def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-3 6-3

Juan Martin del Potro def. Tomas Berdych, 6-2 4-1 retired

Gilles Simon def. Fabio Fognini, 6-3 6-2

Nikolay Davydenko def. Florent Serra, 7-5 6-3

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Jeremy Chardy, 6-4 7-5

Juan Monaco def. David Ferrer, 6-4 6-4

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Marin Cilic, 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-2)

James Blake def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Andreas Seppi def. Sam Querrey, 6-3 4-6 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Li Na, 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

Amelie Mauresmo def. Elena Dementieva, 1-6 6-4 6-2

Patty Schnyder def. Nadia Petrova, 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5)

Vera Dushevina def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-3 4-6 6-2

Alona Bondarenko def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Peng Shuai, 6-4 6-1