Ball Bounced

I don't think anyone's surprised that Ball got bounced by Querrey - it had to happen sooner or later. The possibility of Carsten Ball being in an ATP final is possible in this universe, but him actually winning would catapult us into a new one where fish rode bicycles and stuff.

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That said, kudos to Carsten for taking up those miniscule odds to make the final and for playing Querrey tight. I've liked a lot of what I've seen off the Querrey racquet lately - as I'll discuss in a moment - and Ball, little Carsten Ball of whom no one has really heard, took him to three sets. Sure, the third set was a bit of a blow out, but Carsten hung tough there for quite some time. I don't think he's ever going to be a worldbeater, but onya Carsten.

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On to Querrey. Now, I used to think he was spectacularly overrated - a sort of middle ground between Karlovic and Guccione. I'm still no Samurai, but you have to have kudos for what he's brought of late... and for finally winning a final, even if it was against Carsten Ball. He says he thinks he can win the US Open... I think that might be optimistic, mate. But there's no reason he can't pull a Juan and make quarters or so before going out to a Murray or a Djokovic or, hell, a del Potro. Actually, depending on where he is in the draw, I'm calling it now. Quarters for Sam Querrey... unless he's in the Federer quarter. Or possibly the Nadal quarter, depending on the state of Rafa's knees.

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And Marion Bartoli, eh? What was she doing winning Stanford when there were the Williams sisters there? And Demetieva and other folks that are, like, all good and stuff? I do not understand...

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...more on our final weekend winner, Nikolay Davydenko, tomorrow... unless you count the winner of Istanbul, but I know nothing about her, so no counting will be done.

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Today's Results

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LA Tennis Open (Los Angeles)

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Sam Querrey def. Carsten Ball, 6-4 3-6 6-1

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Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington)

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Wayne Odesnik def. Paul Capdeville, 4-6 6-2 6-4

Ernests Gulbis def. Kevin Kim, 7-5 3-6 6-3

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LA Women's Tennis Championships (Los Angeles)

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Lucie Safarova def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Alisa Kleybanova def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 6-3

Ai Sugiyama def. Carly Gullickson, 6-3 6-1

Vania King def. Sybille Bammer, 6-3 6-2