Close Encounters of the Female Kind

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

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

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

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

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

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Today's Results

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Harry Hopman Cup (Perth)

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Germany 2, USA 1

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

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

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

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Russia 2, Chinese Taipei 1

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

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

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

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Brisbane International (Brisbane)

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Men's Draw

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Women's Draw

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

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

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

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

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Chennai Open (Chennai)

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Lukas Dlouhy def. Nikolay Davydenko, walkover

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Qatar Exxonmobil Open (Doha)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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ASB Classic (Auckland)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Hopman Privilege

It is so, so good to have tennis back on television - it almost makes you forget how much you love the sport when you don't see it for so long. And for the tennis viewing year to start off with such a tournament as the Hopman Cup... it is truly a privilege, not a chore, to be a blogger then.

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Yesterday we had the first tie of the tournament, France versus Chinese Taipei. France, as one might expect, won the tie - it was a 3-0 whitewash - but Chinese Taipei did not shame themselves. It was the same team as they had last year, and, like last year, I found both of their players very intriguing.

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Let's start with Hsieh Su-Wei, their female player. She is seriously one of the most unusual players to watch, because she plays with two hands off both sides. Seriously, who has a two-handed forehand? I can't think of anyone apart from Seles, and that's going back a while. But that's not to say that Hsieh's game is somehow stunted. Her serve isn't exactly going to rock anyone's world, but one thing I really like is the way she plays at net - she has reactions of steel. She copped a few massive bodyshots from Gilles Simon during the mixed doubles yesterday, and she gave as good as she got. I also really like the way she can just chuck a dropshot into a rally at any given moment... she may not have beaten Alize Cornet yesterday, but she sure made her run - poor Alize, straight off the plane from France, had some thinking to do!

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And Lu Yen-Hsun really gave an excellent account of himself to Gilles Simon, especially in the second set - he is just a lovely player to watch. He had a victory over Andy Murray last year and you can see why: kid's got some serious flair. Simon was just a bit too much for him yesterday, but I think we're definitely going to see Lu come up the rankings a bit more this year. I'm calling top fifty - anyone going to gainsay me?

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But all credit must go to the French team - especially in the mixed doubles, where it was pretty clear they had no idea what they were doing at the beginning, especially Gilles Simon, but they picked it up quick smart. I've always enjoyed watching Alize Cornet play, but despite Simon cracking the top ten, I can't remember ever seeing him play before, and it was a joy. You can see why he posted victories over the three big boys last year - he has a really stylish game. He is really, really quick round the court - he got to some fabulous droppers from Lu Yen-Hsun - and he can crack that ball as well as anyone. I look forward to seeing him play again this week - it was really a pleasure.

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And how 'bout that Andy Murray taking out Rafa in Abu Dhabi? I had my doubts about the whole Big Four thing, but I am seriously coming round. Actually, I'm going to stick to Big Three - I reckon Murray could take Djokovic's spot, and I think the Australian Open is thus going to be very interesting, because Murray has everything to gain (he lost first round last year) whereas Djokovic has everything to lose...

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Today's Results

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Capitala World Tennis Championships (Abu Dhabi)

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Andy Murray def. Rafael Nadal, 6-4 5-7 6-3

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Harry Hopman Cup (Perth)

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France 3, Chinese Taipei 0

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Alize Cornet def. Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-4 6-4

Gilles Simon def. Lu Yen-Hsun, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Cornet/Simon def. Hsieh/Lu, 6-4 7-6 (11-9)

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Josh's Tennis Tips

Focus: Forehand

Today's Tip: Following Through and Angling

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When you hit a shot do you hit it as quick as you can? or do follow through and take it slow and calm? Well, you should take it calm and slow: step into the shot, and make the most of it.

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When you hit a shot, you should you angle your shot so you can hit just over the net but not too high. If you are hitting it high and lobbing the ball all the time, you're probably angling your racquet too much. Or you may be coming under the ball too much. To lift the ball, you should follow through as straight as possible.

This Year's Marcos

Like I've said about four billion times, I'm not very nationalistic when it comes to tennis. I go for the personalities, not the Aussies. But damn if I wasn't cheering my lungs out for Casey Dellacqua last night!

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I love a good underdog. Maybe Casey is this tournament's Marcos...? (Though I have another contender for the position, who I'll talk about later.) She played a fabulous match last night against Amelie Mauresmo - really, really fabulous. One of the things people say about Federer (and I'd imagine they say it about Justine Henin as well) is that he often defeats opponents before they come onto the court, because they're afraid of him. I think that might be one of the keys to his game, actually - he's said before that he respects everyone, but fears no one.

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Well, Casey Dellacqua played with no fear last night, and that's what won her the match. It must be a bit overwhelming, when you know your opponent is expected to pound you into the ground, but at the same time, I can see how it gives you a certain level of freedom. No pressure. No expectations. You can just give it your all and see how you go.

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I really like her game, especially when she goes for the lines. She hit some sweet shots last night, some awesome winners. But her real strength was that she just didn't go away mentally. A lot of low-ranked players, coming up against a Mauresmo and losing the first set, might give up. But she didn't. Maybe it was the strength of her first two matches that kept her going - they both went three sets, and both times she won 8-6 in the third. The match against Schnyder must have been especially heartening - she lost the first set, but won the match.

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What I really like about her is that she has an 'I can do it' mentality. You could see it - she steeled herself, went for her shots, and came up with the goods.

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She plays Jelena Jankovic next. Jankovic is one of the best players in the world, but she is carrying that hamstring injury from the Hopman Cup and she hasn't been playing spectacularly well here - her first round match against Paszek went to 12-10 in the third. So can Casey do it again? We'll see...

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Meanwhile, what a great match from Philipp Kohlschreiber! He is my other contender for the role of Marcos this year. It wasn't necessarily a poor match from Roddick - not one of his best, but not awful - but Kohlschreiber played awesomely. He's started off this year great, with that win in Auckland, and I think he might shoot up the rankings a bit this year. Top twenty for sure, if not top ten. His backhand is gorgeous. It's not the driving weapon that Safin's is - which is probably my favourite backhand in the game after Federer's - but he places it so well, and knows how to spread out the court... at this rate, he's scheduled to meet Rafa in the quarters, and if Kohlschreiber keeps playing like this, I think he's a real chance of taking him out - which I confess I would like to see! I have a soft spot for Rafa, but it's nothing compared to my one for Federer, and I don't want him gaining any more ranking points here, thank you very much!

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And go Hsieh Su-wei! A qualifier, into the round of sixteen! Didn't I pick her weeks ago? Didn't I? How good am I?

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Australian Open Results - Day 5

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Men's Draw

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andy Roddick, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-7 (3-7) 8-6

Rafael Nadal def. Gilles Simon, 7-5 6-2 6-3

Richard Gasquet def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-2 4-6 6-4

Nikolay Davydenko def. Marc Gicquel, 6-3 6-2 6-3

Jarkko Nieminen def. Mardy Fish, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3 6-4 6-2

Mikhail Youzhny def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-2 6-4 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Stefan Koubek, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 5-7 8-6

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Women's Draw

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Justine Henin def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-5 6-4

Jelena Jankovic def. Virginie Razzano, 6-2 4-6 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Elena Vesnina, 6-3 6-0

Serena Williams def. Victoria Azarenka, 6-3 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Shahar Peer, 6-2 6-0

Nicole Vaidisova def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-3 6-4

Casey Dellacqua def. Amélie Mauresmo, 3-6 6-4 6-4

Hsieh Su-Wei def. Aravane Rezai, 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-4

Playing on one leg is quite tricky

Jelena Jankovic, I salute you

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I have a lot of respect for someone willing to play on one leg. Yeah, I know it's stupid on one level, because you can hurt yourself more and put yourself out for ages, but I think it shows a can-do attitude. If there's even the smallest possibility you can play, you should at least give it a try.

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The best example of 'one leg playing' that I can think of is the Masters Cup final in 2005, that epic match between Nalbandian and Federer that went to five sets, even though Federer was effectively playing on one leg. A few weeks before? Crutches. And then he comes back from 4-0 down in the fifth set. He didn't win the match, but I reckon R-Fed probably won a lot of fans that day.

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Same deal with Jankovic today. No one expected her to come back out on the court after she had to retire in her singles match. But there she was in the mixed doubles, and she certainly held her own. She was fearsome at the net, and damn if she can't whack the ball hard... there was one moment when she lined up, took a shot at Clement at the other side of the net, and he fell over trying to get out of the way. So full cred to Jankovic today.

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That's one of the big differences between the sports and the arts, I find. Your body can get injured so easily. In arts, it's largely mental, and it's pretty hard to come down with something that renders you unable to think. It must be so frustrating for sportspeople. Their minds are fine. They can think up game plans till they're blue in the face, but their body lets them down. I can't imagine how utterly useless that could make you feel.

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Meanwhile, Hsieh Su-wei, blogging subject of a few days back, just won her match against Gisela Dulko, and I'm cheering!

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Today's Results

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Hopman Cup (Perth)

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Serbia def. France 2-1

Tatiana Golovin def. Jelena Jankovic, 0-1 ret.

Novak Djokovic def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-3

Jankovic/Djokovic def. Golovin/Clement, 5-7 6-4 10-4 (match tie break)

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Chinese Taipei leads Argentina 1-0

Hsieh Su-wei def. Gisela Dulko, 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 7-5

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Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts

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Nicole Vaidisova def. Tatjana Malek, 6-4 6-2

Dinara Safina def. Flavia Pennetta, 6-4 2-6 6-4

Patty Schnyder def. Francesca Schiavone, 2-6 6-3 6-4

Shahar Peer def. Julia Schruff, 6-0 ret.

Amélie Mauresmo def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-3 6-4

Li Na def. Monique Adamczak, 6-3 6-2

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ASB Classic (Auckland)

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Vera Zvonareva def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2 6-3

Maria Kirilenko def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-4 6-1

Katarina Srebotnik def. Yvonne Meusburger, 6-0 6-1

Lindsay Davenport def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1 4-6 6-0

Tamira Paszek def. Camille Pin, 6-2 6-3

Aravane Rezai def. Eleni Daniilidou, 7-5 6-4

Sara Errani def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-1 6-2

Marina Erakovic def. Ashley Harkleroad, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5

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Next Generation Adelaide International (Adelaide)

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Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Chris Guccione, 4-6 6-3 6-4

Benjamin Becker def. Michael Russell, 6-4 6-4

Michael Llodra def. Evgeny Korolev, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Joseph Sirianni def. Sam Querrey, 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3

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Qatar Exxonmobil Open (Doha)

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Nikolay Davydenko def. Benedikt Dorsch, 6-3 6-0

Agustin Calleri def. Tommy Robredo, 6-4 6-4

Andy Murray def. Olivier Rochus, 6-0 6-2

Christophe Rochus def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-2) 6-2

Dmitry Tursunov def. Albert Montanes, 6-2 7-5

Janko Tipsarevic def. Santiago Ventura, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Rainer Schuettler def. Andrei Pavel, 1-6 6-2 6-0

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Alberto Martin, 6-2 6-2

Nicholas Kiefer def. Sebastien de Chaunac, 6-4 6-3

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Chennai Open (Chennai)

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Rafael Nadal def. Mathieu Montcourt, 6-2 6-4

Robin Haase def. Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3 6-4

Carlos Moya def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-4 6-1

Nicolas Mahut def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-3 6-3

Werner Eschauer def. Bartolome Salva-Vidal, 7-6 (7-3) 5-7 6-4

Kristof Vliegen def. Marc Gicquel, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Alexander Peya, 6-4 6-4

Rajeev Ram def. Yuri Schukin, 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-2)

Lovro Zovko def. Thierry Ascione, 6-4 6-0

Alexandre Kudryavtsev def. Prakash Amritraj, 6-3 4-6 7-6 (10-8)

Marin Cilic def. Viktor Troicki, 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1

Power play

My righteous anger over the Serena Williams/Meghann Shaughnessy debacle has abated a little - a bit of research shows that Shaughnessy is off to play the tournament in the Gold Coast next week, and dropped in to cover for Serena as a favour. But still, I think it's extremely poor form of Serena. Mild illness... forgive me, but that's hardly an impressive excuse.
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I actually sat down and watched a match from beginning to end today - the first for the '08 season! Jelena Jankovic versus Hsieh Su-Wei... it was actually really interesting. I like Jankovic and I like the way she plays but I was gunning for Hsieh from the start - not because she's an underdog and I'm wired to go for her (like all good Australians are supposed to be) but because she had this really unusual game that I found really appealing.
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Jankovic is 3 in the world. Hsieh is 157. Hsieh had nothing to lose - and she was really going for it, especially in the first couple of games. She was actually up an early break in the first, but then it was like she got all nervous when she was ahead. I don't think she was the strongest player mentally, but she had some great shots. She went for the corners and created some beautiful angles. And she had a few Clijsters/Jankovic-esque splits moments as well... though I have to say that I always wince whenever I see players doing that. It's like you can almost hear the muscles tearing. Actually, Djokovic did a couple of times in his match and it made my skin crawl. I'm not Djokovic's biggest fan, but it'd be really sad if he were to injure himself and put himself out of the Australian Open.
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But back to Hsieh Su-Wei. She's a tiny person - the commentators were discussing how much bigger and heavier that her Jankovic was, and how it must make such a huge difference in terms of power - and her serve had nothing on it. But she still hung in there really well. It reminded me of a first round match Maria Sharapova played last year - it might have been at the Australian Open, actually. She was playing this tiny little Frenchwoman, Camille Pin, and got taken to something like 8-6 or 9-7 in the third, and it was so obvious that Pin would have won if she had anything even vaguely resembling a serve. If Hsieh had a bigger serve... Jankovic still would have won, I think, but Hsieh would have been able to put her under much more pressure. A great serve combined with that ability to scramble... and she clearly has a decent strategic mind as well. At set point in the first (I think) she was serving, and she just randomly pulled out this serve and volley. It was great - and it caught Jankovic totally off guard. She changed it up really well - she had really soft hands for the finesse shots... a bit of a strange playing style though. Effectively, she had no forehand - her 'forehand' was a really a left-handed backhand. Considering the forehand is generally one of the biggest shots in the arsenal, that's got to be crippling.
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But you don't need to have the most power to be a great tennis player. Look at Martina Hingis.
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I didn't watch the men's match as closely, but it was great to see Lu Yen-hsun take Djokovic to three sets. Good on Chinese Taipei - they did themselves proud. Meanwhile, is it just me, or is Djokovic always injuring himself? I don't think I've ever seen a match where he hasn't called a medical timeout. I wonder if he's a) a hypochondriac, b) accident prone or c) faking it... he wouldn't be the first to do it.
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Today's Results
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Australia def. Czech Republic 2-1

Tomas Berdych def. Peter Luczak, 7-6 (9-7) 6-4
Molik/Luczak def. Safarova/Berdych, 7-5 6-3
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Serbia def. Chinese Taipei 3-0
Jelena Jankovic def. Hsieh Su-wei, 6-4 6-4
Novak Djokovic def. Lu Yen-hsun, 7-5 2-6 6-3
Jankovic/Djokovic def. Hsieh/Lu, 3-6 6-2 7-6 (10-8)
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France vs. Argentina 1-1
Tatiana Golovin def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-3
Juan Ignacio Chela def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-1