You Cannot Escape Auto-Update

Having a life still occurring. But Mahut and Clement are in the semis in doubles, so pretend I wrote something about how awesome that was and continue with your day.

Serbia Gets Slapped

Okay. Now we have some action. A fightback from two sets down? That is what I'm talking about.

I bet Obradovic is fiercely glad he didn't play Djokovic here, even though the Serbs didn't get the point, because if Djokovic had gone five sets today? No way he'd be up to it against Monfils tomorrow. That just wouldn't be happening.

Troicki and Zimonjic put up a good match here - they won the first two sets, after all - but they're both going to be bitterly disappointed. To lead two sets and then go down, in front of a home crowd? Geez. That is like a slap in the face with a fish and no mistake. And if I'm Nenad 'I love doubles' Zimonjic, I am a bit annoyed about being let down by the weak serving of my partner. Because that, at the end of the day, was the clincher. So in that sense, maybe Obradovic is regretting he didn't play Djokovic. I doubt he would have got as yippy as Troicki did.

But let's talk about the dudes that really pulled it out. Clement. Llodra. I love these dudes. They might be one of my favourite doubles teams ever. They are GOOD TIMES. I don't really have a side I'm pulling for in this tie, but in terms of this match? I was pulling for these two all the way. Forget did a really good job putting these two together - though I doubt it was a rocket science decision.

What I always admire in a comeback like the one they pulled is the ability to not panic and to not give in. It must be so easy to fold when you're two sets down - the way back seems insurmountable. But for Arnaud and Michael? Not so much. They rocked it. And I bet that Serbian crowd was NOT happy.

This leaves us in a very interesting place for tomorrow. The long and short of it is that if Djokovic loses, Serbia are screwed. But let's assume that rankings hold and Djokovic beats Monfils (even though I have a sneaky suspicion Gael might pull that one out). The fifth rubber is due to be contested by Tipsarevic and Simon. But will it actually be these two?

If I'm Forget, I'm definitely considering picking Llodra, even though he played five sets today. Simon was overwhelmingly disappointing in the first singles rubber... but then, he was playing Djokovic. Llodra has had a great time of it lately and should be high on adrenaline, if on nothing else. So despite the five sets, I'm going Llodra.

But if I'm Obradovic, I'm sort of between a rock and a hard place. Troicki was definitely the weak link in the doubles, and he's coming off five sets. But then Tipsarevic was terribly disappointing in the first singles match. Neither option is particularly attractive. Yesterday, I would have got Troicki in a second. But today, I think I'm leaning towards Tipsarevic. Maybe he can make something happen through talent alone...

French Flair, French Fail

So I had another thought about Davis Cup. I've already covered the wondrousness of the Spanish team in general, for being wonderful individual players and for being a great team with a second string almost as strong as the first. We've covered this. Spain = good, no?

But... France has nearly the same amount of men in the top hundred - Spain has a few more, but not many. They've got some really excellent singles players, even if they don't have anyone quite as spesh as Rafa Nadal. They've got a pretty dedicated tennis federation.

So why isn't France doing anywhere near as well?

Spain is better. End of story. They're just awesome. But France really, really should be making it to the semis and finals. I mean, look at them! They've got Tsonga, Simon, Monfils, Gasquet - and then they've got tough doubles dudes (as in Slam-winning) like Llodra and Clement to add to their singles string. This shouldn't be a weak team at all. And yet they keep freaking losing.

This isn't the most coherent ramble, so I'm sorry if this next bit doesn't make any sense, but I have a notion that this might have been fostered at the talent development stage. What do we know about French players? They're full of flair, they're spectacular to watch when they're on but almost painful when they're off, due to the fact that they're largely enormous headcases and tend to implode.

Surely this isn't some kind of national trait...? You can't be born this way, surely? Somewhere along the line, the French guys are trained to be this way.

Don't get me wrong - I love French tennis. But the headcase aspect of it (and the habit they have of being easily injured) is spectacularly trainwreck-y.

So that's my thesis, I guess. France should be good at Davis Cup and isn't. Make them so.

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

The French Question

And the big story of today is... nothing. It's one of those uniquely boring weeks before a big tournament, where everyone is waiting round with bated breath for it to start. The schleps are playing little schlep tournaments, but that's about it.

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Normally, I might rabbit on about one of my Stars of the Future, but even they've been pretty quiet. Marin Cilic had a win, but it was a retirement after three games, so that's not so exciting. Eduardo Schwank lost to Ivo Minar. I've gone off Eduardo a bit, actually. He has yet to prove himself to me outside the clay arena. Though I suppose there was that tight match with Roddick the other day... if he won, then we'd be talking. But alas - match points, and couldn't convert. He's not being dropped from the fold or anything, but he's certainly not up there with my favourites right now.

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Another player I touted as a Star of the Future was Jeremy Chardy, but I haven't seen him about at all for a few months. Is he injured? Playing Challengers? What's the story? French tennis, Clement and Llodra aside, put up a very poor account of itself at the Olympics. Gasquet whimpering under the bed somewhere, Tsonga injured - actually, is he going to be better soon? I thought I heard US Open as his likely return date. No medals, which for a country with that many great players is a bit of a shame.

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And where were the French women? I know Golovin was injured, but why wasn't Bartoli there? Mauresmo? Did Parmentier play? Women's tennis doesn't have quite the same level of depth for the French, but surely they could have fielded a few. I don't remember seeing any. That is thoroughly disappointing.

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A little bit like today's blog, I guess...!

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Today's Results

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Pilot Pen Tennis (New Haven)

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Men's Draw

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Igor Andreev def. Olivier Rochus, 6-3 6-4

Mischa Zverev def. Juan Monaco, 6-3 6-3

Marin Cilic def. Viktor Troicki, 2-1 retired

Andreas Seppi def. Potito Starace, 4-6 6-4 6-4

Marc Gicquel def. Albert Montanes, 7-5 6-3

Fabio Fognini def. Simone Bolelli, 6-2 5-7 6-4

Jurgen Melzer def. Arnaud Clement, 7-6 (7-1) 7-5

Robby Ginepri def. Agustin Calleri, 6-2 4-6 6-2

Steve Darcis def. Marcel Granollers, 6-2 6-2

Luka Gregorc def. Jose Acasuso, 6-4 6-4

Ivo Minar def. Eduardo Schwank, 7-5 6-3

Victor Hanescu def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Jesse Levine def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-0 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Flavia Pennetta def. Gisela Dulko, 6-3 6-1

Amélie Mauresmo def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-2

Monica Niculescu def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-7 (7-9) 6-2 6-1

Marion Bartoli def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 2-6 6-4 7-5

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Forest Hills Tennis Classic (Forest Hills)

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Iveta Benesova def. Elena Vesnina, 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 7-5

Ekaterina Makarova def. Gail Brodsky, 7-5 6-2

Vera Dushevina def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2 6-2

Martina Müller def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-2 6-3

Flying the Gulbis Flag

Well, Arnaud Clement, who somehow accidentally became my pick for the final due to Stan withdrawing and me not realising, has lost. Surprise, surprise. So looks like I won't be winning the bracket challenge this time. I'm still doing pretty well, though - 139th out of 11,000 odd. Go me.

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Of course, the boy Arnaud lost to is one of my favourite Stars of the Future, Ernests Gulbis. I was flying my Cilic flag all last week, but Ernests is getting raised up the Stars flagpole this week, I think. It was a tight match - third set tiebreaker - but Clement is a wily old fox and I'm very proud of Ernests for winning. Even if my bracket is now dead in the water.

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Ernests will meet the winner of the Blake/Simon match... which has been played, and is Blake. So the Simon Streak (tm) has faded away a bit. That should be an interesting match... actually, didn't Gulbis beat Blake at the French Open? That's over five sets, which makes it a bit different, but if the kid can do it once...

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Another player who has been impressive lately is Mr Maria Kirilenko, Igor Andreev. He beat John Isner today - and with the Isner serve, that's not exactly a cakewalk. Andreev has made, what, two finals in the recent future? My bracket has him reaching the semis, and though I got the other half of the draw wrong - Wawrinka/Cilic, which somehow became Clement/Cilic without me noticing - I could get this one right, because I picked Federer/Andreev, and that's a real possibility. Igor will play the winner of Davydenko/Moya, which you'd probably guess would be Davydenko... but Kolya hasn't been that great lately. If Carlos can't take him, I bet Igor will.

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Meanwhile, Dmitry Tursunov just put a major beatdown on Richard Gasquet. The first set was tight - a breaker, in fact - but the second set was a bagel blowout. I guess Richou will have to go back to whimpering under the bed... for the duration of the whole Olympics, because he's too cool to go.

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And what is with Gael Monfils retiring? Does he ever play even half of the tournaments he enters? Blink and you miss him, but not because he loses - because he freaking retires. I hate that. Do you know how many times Roger Federer has retired in his career on the ATP circuit? Zero. Not once. That is because he is an EXCELLENT SPORT.

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Speaking of people that retire all the time, Djokovic won his match in two breakers. Ugh.

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Today's Results

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Western and Southern Financial Group Masters (Cincinatti)

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Igor Andreev def. Radek Stepanek, 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3)

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Woong-Sun Jun, 6-2 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Simone Bolelli, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2)

Nicolas Lapentti def. David Ferrer, 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3

James Blake def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-3

Andy Murray def. Sam Querrey, 7-6 (7-3) 6-1

Ernests Gulbis def. Arnaud Clement, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5)

Tommy Haas def. Gael Monfils, 5-1 retired

Andreas Seppi def. Tomas Berdych, 5-7 7-5 7-5

Igor Andreev def. John Isner, 3-6 7-6 (10-8) 7-5

Dmitry Tursunov def. Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (10-8) 6-0

Fernando Verdasco def. Chris Guccione, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4)

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Rogers Cup (Montreal)

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Ana Ivanovic def. Petra Kvitova, 6-3 4-6 6-3

Anna Chakvetadze def. Jill Craybas, 6-2 7-5

Dinara Safina def. Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2 6-4

Patty Schnyder def. Monica Niculescu, 6-1 7-5

Marion Bartoli def. Alisa Kleybanova, walkover

Victoria Azarenka def. Sybille Bammer, 6-2 6-2

Nadia Petrova def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-3 6-2

Stéphanie Dubois def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-2 2-6 7-6 (7-4)

Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-3 0-6 6-3

Ai Sugiyama def. Shahar Peer, 6-2 6-2

Tamira Paszek def. Melinda Czink, 6-4 7-5

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Nordea Nordic Light Open (Stockholm)

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

Vera Dushevina def. Agnes Szavay, 6-4 7-6 (8-6)

Katarina Srebotnik def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3 6-4

Sania Mirza def. Emilie Loit, 6-3 6-2

Gear Shift

I am very, very glad that I wasn't around watching the scores when Federer played Ginepri. I think I might just have exploded. Roger Federer does NOT lose three times in a row.

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Luckily, he didn't, for anyone who might not have seen the result yet. The first two sets were tie-breakers, Ginepri winning the first, Federer the second, with a big ol' bagel in the third. So the real Roger, the awesome Roger, is clearly still there. The talent hasn't gone away, nor the ability, nor the fitness, nor the anything. He's just having a few issues with his gear shift. And I'm pretty confident he can sort that out.

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And to tell the truth, I'd be worried if he were playing Supreme Almighty God Tennis in the first round anyway. That would be a sure sign of peaking too early.

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He's facing Karlovic in the next round, which I think should be a really good match for him. Karlovic has that huge serve, but otherwise plays reasonably predictable percentage tennis. I think it'll give R-Fed a bit of a chance to work himself out and settle down a bit - before the inevitable glorious future.

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Meanwhile, my bracket is totally shot... as I somehow now seem to have picked Clement to reach the final, as Stan has disappeared mysteriously from the draw. I have this vague sensation that that... oh, I don't know, maybe won't happen? I'm still doing all right at the moment, but Cilic lost, and I picked him to reach the semis. I hope Stan is all right... he is important to Roger and the doubles and Switzerland and stuff! And also he is a nice boy in his own right.

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But seriously, Clement/Cilic disaster aside, I am still doing pretty all right on this bracket thing. I have 22 points - the leaders have 26. That's not too bad. I really am getting better at it! Though I will inevitably lose 90,000 million points when Clement loses. Though it would be pretty neat if he made it to the final. I would look really smart, and it wouldn't even have anything to do with me!

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A good win for our Mr Moya as well, taking out ever-dangerous Tipsarevic - also picked in the Jodi Bracket of Excellence, though perhaps more from wishful thinking than anything else. Still, sometimes wishful thinking does the job done. Carlos doesn't seem to have been doing that well this year, but he's still hanging about in the top thirty, so he must be doing something right. Good on him. I like Carlos. He's my poster boy for thirty-something tennis.

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And Dmitry beat Marat, which was always going to be bittersweet. I had picked Marat, but no one can say Dima didn't deserve it. I would really like to see him make a big run for it at this year's US Open. He is so talented and so good on hard courts that it's almost surprising he hasn't gone hugely deep at the US or the Australian before. But I have a wee feeling... and we know my feelings aren't always to be trusted, as they get mixed up with wishful thinking, but sometimes they're right on the money.

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Oh, and meanwhile, I SO don't believe this. Roddick has just pulled out, to be replaced with Woong-Sun Jun. I bet that American crowd watching those two warm up is super thrilled about that. What's wrong now, Andy? Is this all about US Open preparation too?

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And on a nicer note, congrats to Chris Guccione. I didn't know he was even in the draw, but he totally won his match today. Though speaking of Australians... where's Lleyton? Is he doing that thing he does where he doesn't play any tournaments except Slams? Because I don't like that thing at all.

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Today's Results

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Western and Southern Financial Group Masters (Cincinatti)

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Roger Federer def. Robby Ginepri, 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-0

Jose Acasuso def. Paul Capdeville, 5-7 6-2 6-2

Dmitry Tursunov def. Marat Safin, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Donald Young, 6-1 6-1

Carlos Moya def. Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6 (7-5)

John Isner def. Andrea Stoppini, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Richard Gasquet def. Michael Llodra, 3-6 6-1 1-0 retired

Gilles Simon def. Rajeev Ram, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Arnaud Clement def. Thomas Johansson, 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Simone Bolelli def. Kevin Anderson, 6-3 7-6 (7-1)

Nicolas Lapentti def. Marin Cilic, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Chris Guccione def. Jesse Levine, 6-3 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Victor Estrella, 6-3 7-5

Florent Serra def. Benjamin Becker, 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

Ivo Karlovic def. Jose Acasuso, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

Robin Soderling def. Tommy Robredo, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

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Rogers Cup (Montreal)

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Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 1-0 retired

Victoria Azarenka def. Jamea Jackson, 6-1 6-1

Nadia Petrova def. Marie-Ève Pelletier, 6-0 6-1

Maria Kirilenko def. Anne Keothavong, 6-1 7-5

Flavia Pennetta def. Olga Savchuk, 1-6 7-5 6-3

Ai Sugiyama def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-3 3-6 6-2

Sybille Bammer def. Monique Adamczak, 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-2

Alisa Kleybanova def. Ahsha Rolle, 6-4 6-2

Jill Craybas def. Sharon Fichman, 6-4 6-3

Marta Domachowska def. Bethanie Mattek, 7-5 6-2

Melinda Czink def. Julie Ditty, 7-6 (7-4) 6-0

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Nordea Nordic Light Open (Stockholm)

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Agnieszka Radwanska def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-2 6-3

Katarina Srebotnik def. Anna Lapushchenkova, 6-2 6-1

Caroline Wozniacki def. Angelique Kerber, 6-3 6-4

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Sandra Roma, 6-3 6-1

Maria Elena Camerin def. Marina Erakovic, 6-3 6-4

Mariya Koryttseva def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3 6-4

Vera Dushevina def. Lucie Safarova, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Virginia Ruano Pascual def. María José Martínez Sánchez, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-4

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-4 3-6 6-1

Johanna Larsson def. Julia Goerges, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Double Speed

Well, I guess we all know where I'm going to start, because Federer was in action yesterday. He and Stan Wawrinka look like they're getting their groove on with the doubles - they made pretty light work of Julien Benneteau and Frederic Niemeyer. That said, Benneteau and Niemeyer aren't exactly the Bryans... but this is Roger and Stan's first team win! Obviously it is cause for bigtime celebration!

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It will be interesting to see how they go against a 'proper' doubles team - they meet Paes and Dlouhy in the next round. But I have faith in the Rog/Stan combo. They will be AWESOME!

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Oh yeah. Roddick and Fish won too. Against Clement and Llodra. I think Clement and Llodra are awesome, so I was sad.

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I don't know if you'd call Clement and Llodra a specialist doubles team, as they both have pretty successful singles careers, but they've won a Slam and they're pretty decent. And Roddick and Fish beat them in straight sets. Would the realm of doubles be a lot different if the top guys played more often? I'm not sure if singles success always translates onto the doubles court - I mean, tennis is tennis, but there are different skills involved. Like sharing. And knowing when to let something go for your partner. The really good doubles teams you see develop a sort of psychic connection. That's part of why the Bryans are so good - quite apart from being twins, they have played together so long that they know exactly what the other one is doing.

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But I like doubles, even if I don't usually give it the kudos it deserves. I saw the men's doubles final at the Medibank International in Sydney, where Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated the Bryans - henceforth known as BryanBryan, because that is what the umpire called them.It was a great match - went the whole distance in the match tiebreak. I probably have a post about it somewhere back in January - but knowing me, I probably focused on the singles match... not least because Tursunov won. But the doubles was awesome fun. There's something about it that's not quite as serious as singles. I know I'm always like, 'yeah, tennis is great because it's so gladiatorial, ra ra ra, mental struggle, one on one, no one to blame but yourself, etc etc' but doubles isn't like that. It's a little more light hearted. I mean, sure, when it's a Slam final and you have the Bryans against Bhupathi and Knowles or something, it's serious then, but on the whole, you just get the feeling the guys are having a total blast.

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Which is why it's so much fun when the top guys play. Seven of the top ten are playing this week - one team which I thought was interesting which I didn't talk about yesterday was David Ferrer and Jarkko Nieminen. I'm not quite sure WHY they're playing together - it can't be for Olympic reasons, why with the one being Spanish and the other Finnish - but I think it will be a really fun team nonetheless. It's always interesting to see who plays together... because you'd want to play with your mates, wouldn't you? And it's interesting to see who's friends with who.

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And, oh yeah, there were some singles matches yesterday too. I picked a few... which apparently places me 9439th in the bracket challenge. So looks like I'm not going to be doing too well... again. But it might pick up. Gasquet won - I predicted he would lose, but that's a good sign for Richou. I also picked Benneteau over Gonzalez... yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either. And then Dancevic had to go and beat Ancic... I thought Super Mario would win that easy, but I suppose Dancevic has home town advantage, for what that's worth. And Ginepri beat Mathieu, and Mahut beat Tipsarevic, and Acasuso beat Gulbis... but Kiefer won! And Wawrinka! And Youzhny! I got those ones right!

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Yeah, so I suck at the bracket challenge. So sue me.

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Today's Results

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Rogers Cup (Toronto)

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Stanislas Wawrinka def. Simone Bolelli, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Richard Gasquet def. Michael Llodra, 6-2 4-6 6-3

Tommy Robredo def. Frederic Niemeyer, 7-6 (7-4) 6-1

Fernando Gonzalez def. Julien Benneteau, 6-2 6-1

Mikhail Youzhny def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6 (7-1) 6-2

Nicolas Kiefer def. Mardy Fish, 7-5 7-6 (7-4)

Robby Ginepri def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-3 4-6 6-4

Nicolas Mahut def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-2

Frank Dancevic def. Mario Ancic, 6-3 6-4

Jose Acasuso def. Ernests Gulbis, 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 7-5

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East West Bank Classic (Los Angeles)

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Sybille Bammer def. Ahsha Rolle, 6-0 6-4

Chan Yung-Jan def. Aravane Rezai, 6-1 6-4

Tamira Paszek def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-4 6-2

Olga Savchuk def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-3

Jill Craybas def. Anne Keothavong, 6-3 6-2

Olga Govortsova def. Darya Kustova, 6-3 6-4

Marta Domachowska def. Coco Vandeweghe, 6-3 6-3

Petra Kvitova def. Alisa Kleybanova, 6-4 1-6 7-5

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Banka Koper Slovenia Open (Portoroz)

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Andreja Klepac, 7-5 6-0

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-1 6-3

Katie O'Brien def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-2

Klara Zakopalova def. Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-4 6-4

Vera Dushevina def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, 6-3 6-3

Julia Vakulenko def. Polona Hercog, 5-7 6-4 6-4

Petra Martic def. Angelique Kerber, 7-5 6-2

Bethanie Mattek def. Abigail Spears (USA) 62 64

Sister Act

First of all, I would like to apologise for the title of today's post. It was, like the results of the women's semi finals, an exercise in inevitability.

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But let's talk about boys. I don't know if Rainer Schuettler is quite the player (or Man) that Federer, Nadal and Safin are, but he certainly put in a very Man-like performance. Odd, isn't it, that the least anticipated of the four quarter finals is the one that was the best match, in the end? Who on earth would have picked Arnaud Clement and Rainer Schuettler to get to a quarter final? Both sort of one-Slam wonders, in their way. One Grand Slam final each between them, one loss to Agassi apiece. What a great result for the thirtysomethings!

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It was an awesome match - a real classic. 8-6 in the third... Clement had a match point, which Schuettler saved. As far as nailbiting tennis goes, this was it. I love a good five set match, especially when I don't really mind who wins. If it's Federer going to five sets, I'm a nervous wreck - I much prefer a three set blowout, for the sake of my nerves, if nothing else! (The one exception to this rule is the Federer/Safin semi from the Australian Open in 2005 - because both players played such amazing tennis than winning was pretty much irrelevant.) But when I'm not particularly bothered about the result, I love the challenge of it, the gladiatorial struggle of it all. And this was a real gladiatorial match - and Schuettler was the gladiator that came out on top.

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As a Classics student, I just wounded myself mortally with the historical inaccuracy of that metaphor.

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Gladiatorial as Schuettler might have been, I don't think he stands much chance against Rafa, however... that one might just be a massive blowout. Schuettler has got to be tired from that marathon match, and Rafa is just playing so well... Rafa in three easy ones. Likewise Federer... though slightly more difficult ones. You can never count Marat out. But judging by his presser yesterday, I think Marat has counted himself out. He said that to beat Federer you need to run round like a rabbit and get everything back... like Rafa. If Marat believed he could do it, I think he's totally capable of giving Federer a run for it - though I think Roger would still come out on top. But it might be tighter...

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This match is wonderful and difficult all at the same time... because Federer is my favourite, he's The Man, he's the best thing ever. But Marat is... well, he's Marat. And I love him very dearly. But Roger is Roger! And of course I'm going for Roger. But I want Marat to do well too... why, oh why, wasn't he in the other side of the draw?

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Of course, then he wouldn't have beaten Djokovic... if only those two quarters had just been switched! Then Safin could play Nadal, though I'm really fond of Rafa, I could feel free to go for Marat. And then Roger could play Schuettler and all my loyalties would be solved!

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Sigh.

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The story of yesterday, of course, was the Williams sisters. Gee, I was shocked. Their run to the final was in no way a story of tedious inevitability. Cough cough.

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I was glad to see that Zheng Jie at least gave Serena a bit of a run for it in the second set, and she should be very proud of how she played. I don't think she was ever going to be any threat to Serena on grass, but she tried, and she acquitted herself very well.

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Now, I don't want to say that Dementieva didn't try, because she was clearly trying her hardest. But I would like to point out that she was in fact seeded above both Venus and Serena here - and this isn't a seeding based purely on ranking, but also on past grass court results. But Venus totally wiped the floor with her. I have no idea how she managed to stay with Venus through that second set. How has she got to #5 in the world with a serve like that? And that's the improved version... honestly, all she does is tap the ball into play. I lost count of how many return winners Venus cracked. Even on the first set, Venus was almost standing on the service line to receive. How does Dementieva ever manage to win a match when she has no serve? It reminds me of Camille Pin, actually, who totally would have beaten Sharapova in the first round of last year's Aussie Open if she'd had anything that even resembled a serve.

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Dementieva does have a good return game, I will grant you, and she had break points on a number of Venus's service games in that blowout first set, so it's not like she was totally out of it the whole time. It's not like serve = tennis. You need to have more than that. But surely you should have something that's at least a tiny bit of a weapon. Look at Rafa Nadal. His service is excellent now, but even in previous years, when it was one of the lesser weapons in his arsenal, it was still not something to be taken lightly. Sometimes I wondered why Dementieva just didn't dink the ball over the net to begin the point. It might have had the same effect. It's fluff. Her serve is the fairy floss of the WTA. There was a great line in Alix Ramsay's article about the match:

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'Dementieva won the toss and elected to serve, which did seem a little like a lemming booking a trip to the white cliffs of Dover for its summer holidays.'

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Too true. Ramsay also made reference to Dementieva's infamous comment before her final at the US Open against Kuznetsova, where she said that her serve was her secret weapon. Why? 'Sveta will think it's a drop shot.' Not too much has changed, really.

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Venus, to her credit, played well - not her best, but solidly. Compared to her sister, her tennis fashion has had relatively little press this tournament - in fact, the only publicity it really has had is through Nadia Petrova wearing EleVen designs - but I really like her tennis dress. Simple, but kind of interesting, too. And isn't it terrible that I've just started about tennis fashion instead of her tennis game? Shame on me.

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I think there's a litmus test for a lot of players where you can gauge how hard they're trying in a match. For Rafa Nadal, it's the sweatiness of his hair. For both Venus and Serena, it's how much they shriek... and both were pretty quiet today. Venus especially.

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So it'll be an interesting couple of days at chez Williams. People have been asking them constantly if playing in a final damages their relationship or whatever. I can see why they ask it, but really, it's pretty self evident. They're sisters. Of course they both want to win for themselves, but they're still sisters... and they're still in the doubles together. They don't exactly need to scout each others' game. They know each other so well... and that'll make the final very interesting. They're mirrors of each other, in many ways. Overall, I might give Serena a slight edge as a player all round, but I like Venus to win this one... in three sets. Tight sets. Possibly two tiebreaks and a marathon third. But I would not really put any money on the match either way.

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What I would put money on is them winning the doubles. The Channel 9 commentators consistently say that if the Williams girls played more tournaments they would be #1 and #2 in singles. This, I think, is unfair, but I don't think it's unfair at all to say that if they played more doubles, that would be the top team in the women's game. They're seeded #11. That's a bit of a joke, really. Shows that the Wimbledon seeding system isn't totally infallible.

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But the really interesting question, and the note on which I'll leave you... are the Williams parents going to go for Venus or Serena?

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Wimbledon Results - Day #10

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Men's Draw

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Rainer Schuettler def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (7-9) 8-6

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Women's Draw

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Venus Williams def. Elena Dementieva, 6-1 7-6 (7-3)

Serena Williams def. Zheng Jie, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)