Seed Massacre

Okay, what is with this seed massacre going on in s'Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne this week? It's crazy! It's covering both the men's and women's tournaments, and it seems that no one is immune. Is it grass? Or is it just that we're having a ker-razy week?

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The only draw which seems even a little immune is the men's draw at Eastbourne, we have the #2, #4 and #8 seeds in the semis - but still, they're hardly the four seeds you'd expect! That's Tursunov, Santoro and Garcia-Lopez... and a qualifier, Frank Dancevic. What's the bet that Dancevic goes on to win the title? From memory, he's already knocked out the top seed (which was Andreev, I think). It looks like we're having a bit of a misrule hangover from Roland Garros.

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In the women at Eastbourne, the only seed left standing is #6, which is Caroline Wozniacki. (Odd, isn't it, that the women's draw seems to have attracted a lot more high-end players than the men - Dementieva as a top seed has a lot more pulling power as a name than Andreev). I really would like see Caro go on to win the tournament, and considering the rest of her opposition consists of Razzano, Bartoli and Wozniak, she should be able to do it... though Bartoli is a former Wimbledon finalist, I suppose, and has game on grass. Still, if Caroline can't pull this one off you practically have to write the tournament off as a moment of WTA insanity.

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...which is mirrored over in s'Hertogenbosch, where only top seed Dinara Safina remains standing - and only after a real battle against Daniela Hantuchova. It would be great for her to win this title to get her confidence back up after the Chernobyl incident in the Roland Garros final, and like Wozniacki, she should be able to do it: her opposition is Tanasugarn, Wickmayer and Schiavone, all players she should theoretically be able to beat with one hand tied behind her back. So here's hoping she does.

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And our last bastion of normalcy in the men's s'Hertogenbosch draw is fourth seed Rainer Schuettler - and even though he's the seed, I don't think there's any way in hell I'd pick him to win. Even if he did make the Wimbledon semis last year. Up against him is Becker, Navarro (who put an absolute pounding on defending champ Ferrer) and Sluiter. I think this one might be Becker's. It'd be nice to see him come up through qualies like that - and he really does have a great game.

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So, in conclusion, there's general madness, and I think the only thing you can really attribute it to is the miniscule amount of play that happens on this surface. And why is that? Wimbledon is probably the most important event of the year! Why does Roland Garros get two or three months of lead up clay tournaments when Wimbledon only gets two weeks?

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Today's Results

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Ordina Open (s'Hertogenbosch)

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Men's Draw

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Benjamin Becker def. Michael Llodra, 7-6 (8-6) 7-5

Rainer Schuettler def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-6 (13-11)

Ivan Navarro def. David Ferrer, 6-4 6-2

Raemon Sluiter def. Dudi Sela, 4-6 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Daniela Hantuchova, 1-6 6-4 6-3

Tamarine Tanasugarn def. Flavia Pennetta, 2-6 6-3 6-3

Yanina Wickmayer def. Kristina Barroi, 6-1 6-1

Francesca Schiavone def. Olga Govortsova, 6-1 6-3

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AEGON International (Eastbourne)

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Men's Draw

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Frank Dancevic def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5

Fabrice Santoro def. Ivan Ljubicic, 3-6 4-2 retired

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Dmitry Tursunov def. Denis Istomin, 7-6 (8-) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Virginie Razzano def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5

Marion Bartoli def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki def. Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3 6-2

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Vera Dushevina, 6-1 6-0

Feeling Sorry for Sorana

Dinara Safina doesn't seem to have let that heartbreaker of a loss to Dominika Cibulkova in Perth slow her down - if anything, it seems to have given her motivation to absolutely pound on her opponents, and poor Sorana Cirstea was today's victim. Dude, I would not have liked to be in Sorana's shoes. Dinara absolutely smashed her. If she keeps playing like this (Dinara, that is, not Sorana) she is a real shot for the Aussie Open... and I bet she was chuckling when Cibulkova went down softly to Wozniacki. I was a bit sad about that, actually - much as I'm on Team Dinara, I really like Cibulkova's pocket rocket style of play, and a rematch could have been interesting... especially if Dinara went in with the mindset she seemed to have gone in with against Cirstea!

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There were no upsets of note in either Sydney or Auckland for the blokes - though Igor Andreev was looking like he was in trouble for a while there against Frank Dancevic, who may not be very highly ranked but has proved to be a little dangerous on occasion. (I believe his power lies in his bandanna, if he still wears it - he wore it when I watched him play Nieminen at last year's Aussie Open, and it was up there with Stepanek's shirt for sheer stupidity) The only really iffy one was Juan Carlos Ferrero beating Kei Nishikori, but that was by retirement... I hope Kei is all right! I want him to go far, far, far! He's a Star!

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The women's side, by contrast, was a little more up-and-down. It seems to me like pretty much anyone who's anyone is playing in Sydney for the women this week - with the exception of the two Serbian girls. Who would pick players of the calibre of Nadia Petrova (seeded #7) and Alize Cornet (unseeded) meeting in the first round? Cornet is ranked #15 - you'd normally get a pretty decent seed based on that ranking. Petrova is #11 and Wozniacki is #8 - Cornet'd be next in line, I guess. But still, in how many tournaments are you going to see two top twenty players meeting in the first round? I bet both of them were pretty filthy with that draw... especially Petrova, coming off viral meningitis last week. You want a nice easy qualifier or something to warm up against... instead, you get Alize Cornet.

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This could have been a great match if it'd happened a little later in the week and Petrova had played her way into form a bit. As it was, Cornet pretty much snapped her in half. I am loving the look of Alize at the moment - probably not a finals run yet, but I could see her in the quarters of the Australian. And on that subject, no Sharapova! I am feeling the loss so tragically. Really. Feel my pain. I mean, sure, she's the defending champ and all, and it's sad that she can't defend her title, but we've coped just fine without her for a while now - I'm sure we'll manage somehow. (Meanwhile, does anyone else think that there must be a lot of dislike between Sharapova and Ivanovic - especially from Sharapova to Ivanovic? Ana has pretty much run off with the mantle of the glamour girl of tennis... have we moved beyond Maria?)

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And what is up with Casey Dellacqua? She went down ridiculously softly to Sara Errani, which I would not have expected. She wasn't looking that good in Perth either - is the pressure of backing up what she did last year getting to her?

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Today's Results

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Medibank International (Sydney)

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Men's Draw

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Igor Andreev def. Frank Dancevic, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Tommy Robredo def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-3 6-4

Jarkko Nieminen def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-2 7-6 (11-9)

Mario Ancic def. Xavier Malisse, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Michael Llodra def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-0 6-2

Simone Bolelli def. Potito Starace, 7-6 (7-1) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Dinara Safina def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-1

Elena Dementieva def. Ekaterina Makarova, 7-5 6-1

Alizé Cornet def. Nadia Petrova, 6-2 6-4

Caroline Wozniacki def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1 6-2

Daniela Hantuchova def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 6-0

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Anastasiya Yakimova, 6-1 3-6 6-3

Kaia Kanepi def. Angelique Kerber, 6-1 7-5

Ai Sugiyama def. Jill Craybas, 6-2 6-3

Alisa Kleybanova def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-2 6-2

Sara Errani def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-1 6-2

Vera Dushevina def. Emelyn Starr, 6-0 6-1

Melanie South def. Marion Bartoli, 1-1 retired

Jarmila Gajdosova def. Karin Knapp, 6-4 6-2

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Heineken Open (Auckland)

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Sam Querrey def. Daniel King-Turner, 6-4 7-5

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Kei Nishikori, 5-3 retired

Viktor Troicki def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-1 6-2

Robby Ginepri def. Jose Rubin Statham, 6-2 6-3

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Moorilla Hobart International (Hobart)

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Flavia Pennetta def. Shahar Peer, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Carla Suárez Navarro def. Anna Chakvetadze, 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-5

Zheng Jie def. Marina Erakovic, 6-1 4-6 6-1

Anne Keothavong def. Agnes Szavay, 6-3 7-5

Urszula Radwanska def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Olivia Rogowska, 6-3 6-1

Olga Govortsova def. Jessica Moore, 6-0 6-3

Gisela Dulko def. Stefanie Voegele, 6-2 6-3

Virginie Razzano def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-1 6-2

Mara Santangelo def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-1 6-1

Melinda Czink def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-2 1-6 7-5

To Card or Not To Card

The wildcards have just been announced for the Rogers Masters in Toronto - yes, it is in Toronto this year, I worked it out! There are three Canadians (Frank Dancevic, Peter Polansky and Frederic Niemeyer) and one really wild wildcard. And that belongs to Marat Safin.

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See, Marat is the type of person people should give wildcards to - though surely he can make it into the main draw on his own recognisance now? He's ranked #40, and it's a 64-draw tournament, I'm pretty sure. But still, he's a good person to wildcard in. Excellent player, maybe a little down on his luck over the past few seasons, but with the potential for greatness, etc, etc. And Toronto was Safin's big breakthrough tournament back in 2000, when he beat Levy in the final. So all in all, a good person to hand a wildcard to.

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But I'm not sure about these Canadians. I mean, I know it's the done thing to hand wildcards to your home tennis players. But let's face it: the only one of those three I have heard of is Frank Dancevic. So is it a good practice to hand out these wildcards to people who might not really deserve them - when there are Safins out there that do?

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Let's examine these two. Frederic Niemeyer is #225 in the rankings, and on the ATP level, he's played four matches this year, three of which were Davis Cup. The ATP site lists his highlight this year as a Challenger quarter final. Peter Polansky is #277 in the rankings, and has played five ATP matches this year, four of which were Davis Cup. He's made a Challenger semi and two quarters, as well as winning a Futures event.

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I'm not sure about this year, but last year the cut off for direct acceptance was #57. This year, that's Fabrice Santoro. If we assume that the cut off is about the same this year - let's say #60 - then let's look at who's missing out, unless they come up through qualies. At #62 we have Eduardo Schwank. Sebastien Grosjean at #64. Juan Martin del Potro, Robin Haase, Thomaz Bellucci. And we haven't even hit #70 yet. If we look a bit further down the rankings, we find Yen-hsun Lu, Arnaud Clement, John Isner, Denis Gremelmayr - and look, Frank Dancevic of Canada, sitting in there at #99.

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It's a long way down to Frederic Niemeyer and Peter Polansky.

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I suppose it all evens out in the end, because it's a universal practice. I've lost count of the amount of wildcards Peter Luczak and Chris Guccione and even Nathan Healey have been handed here in Australia. But is it really fair that players like Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Evgeny Korolev miss out because they're not Canadian?

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Like I said, I guess it evens out. But I'm not sure if it's a practice I really agree with. I suppose it's good for the little guys like Niemeyer and Polansky to get blooded on the ATP circuit, so to speak. But should it be at the expense of players who might deserve it more than they do? Because let's face it: they're first round bunnies. If they win a match, it will be nothing short of a miracle - unless they draw each other. Which would be a miracle.

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But before the wildcard system even gets thought about, there's the bye system to worry about... because if Niemeyer and Polansky are taking up valuable room, imagine what byes are doing. Actually, does Toronto have byes? I don't think it does. In which case, the wildcards are what we should be worrying about. Oh, what a dilemma.

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I don't know if I'm necessarily opposed to nationalistic wildcarding. But I don't think I'm in favour of it either. As someone who has never been a tennis patriot, having natives in the draw makes no difference to me viewing-wise. You show me an Australian playing Federer and I'm going to go for Federer every time. But I think I am in the vast minority.

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Today's Results

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Mercedes Cup (Stuttgart)

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Richard Gasquet def. Albert Montanes, 6-3 7-6 (7-5)

Juan Martin Del Potro def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Agustin Calleri def. Michael Berrer, 6-4 6-2

Eduardo Schwank def. Jan Hernych, 6-0 4-6 6-3

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Allianz Suisse Open (Gstaad)

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Stanislas Wawrinka def. Guillermo Canas, 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2)

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Mikhail Youzhny, 4-6 7-5 6-3

Igor Andreev def. Marin Cilic, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Victor Hanescu def. Jeremy Chardy, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

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Catella Swedish Open (Bastad)

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David Ferrer def. Robin Soderling, 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-1

Fernando Verdasco def. Bjorn Rehnquist, 2-6 6-1 6-0

Tommy Robredo def. Jarkko Nieminen, 6-2 7-6 (7-4)

Tomas Berdych def. Potito Starace, 6-3 6-2

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Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport)

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Fabrice Santoro def. Ivan Navarro, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Vince Spadea def. Alexander Peya, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5

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Gaz de France Grand Prix (Budapest)

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Alizé Cornet def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-2 6-3

Greta Arn def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-1 6-0

Andreja Klepac def. Petra Kvitova, 7-6 (7-2) 6-0

Karolina Sprem def. Katalin Marosi, 6-0 6-1

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Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo (Palermo)

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Flavia Pennetta def. Margalita Chaknashvili, 6-1 6-1

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-0 3-6 6-0

Sara Errani def. Carla Suárez Navarro, 4-1 retired

Mariya Koryttseva def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

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And a one week trial of a new Tennis From The Backseat feature - Stars of the Past, Stars of the Future. Today's Star: Marat Safin.

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In 2000, a nineteen year old Russian called Marat Safin won the US Open, defeating Pete Sampras (then utterly dominant) in straight sets. The world was stunned. Who was this kid? It hadn't been long since the young Safin was accused of tanking a match at the Australian Open and was fined several thousand dollars. But after this victory - which Marat described as God coming to him, patting him on the head and telling him he would 'win the glory' - he was suddenly a superstar. His charisma and dark charm had already given him a large female fan base, but this established him as a real tennis force. Sampras, in defeat, said that he believed Safin could be #1 for many years to come.

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And then came the bane of all tennis players - injury. Chronic knee problems meant that Safin, who had not yet won another Grand Slam, was out for most of the 2003 season. A dark cloud of doubt began to swirl over his head. This was staved off briefly after an excellent 2004 season, followed by a memorable victory at the Australian Open in 2005, where Safin defeated Federer in a semi final widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest matches of all time. Marat Safin, everyone believed, was back in the building.

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But he has not won another tournament since. His hotheadedness, which he used to be able to channel into brilliant tennis, seemed to take control. Safin could no longer move his tall body around the court the way he used to. Injury returned. Safin missed the 2006 Australian Open, which sent him plummeting down the rankings, and he has never been able to reestablish himself since. Marat Safin, it would seem, is a star of the past - one who blazed brightly for a while, but inevitably burned himself out.

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Until Safin proved them wrong.

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Safin has a long history of hating Wimbledon. 'Grass is for cows,' he said one year, after an embarassing early exit. 'I'm never coming back.' He hated - and perhaps still does - the speed of grass, which makes it tougher for a big man like him to get himself set in time. But then in 2008, when the world thought that his star had vanished, saw Safin reach the semi finals at SW19 - a run which saw him defeat four seeded players, including world #3 Novak Djokovic, and which was only stopped by world #1 Roger Federer. It was his best ever result at the tournament - and the first time he had won five successive matches since claiming his second Slam crown in Australia over three years ago.

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So is Marat back? Only time will tell. He lost in the second round at the Catella Swedish Open in Bastad, but considering this tournament is played on clay while virtually the rest of the year will be on hard courts, it is hard to gauge just how much effort Marat really put in. Hard courts are traditionally his best surface. In a few weeks, when Safin lines up to play in Toronto and Cincinatti, and after that at the US Open, perhaps then we will know. Was Wimbledon a blip, a last hurrah? Or is it the first sign of real Safin comeback?

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Safin is 28, and in his own words, he is a little bit tired of making comebacks. But the tennis world is not quite ready for this star to burn out just yet - and neither, it seems, is the man himself.