Unlucky Loser

Well, it's official - Kim Clijsters is on the comeback trail. And I think I'm excited. It'll be nice to see someone new - well, 'new' - back in the mix. But if she comes back and wins, like, twelve tournaments on the trot, we'll know for sure whether or not the WTA is in a state. And if Kimmie can't have an effect... we'll just have to hope that Roger and Mirka have a baby girl who grows up to dominate like her daddy.

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Now, to actual tennis, not the tennis of the future. It was a good day for the Australians yesterday, with a quality win for Lleyton Hewitt (after a struggle) and good wins for Sam Stosur and Jelena Dokic. Man, I would love to see Dokic do well this tournament - she has admitted herself that she screwed up her scheduling a bit after the craziness of the Aussie Open, but hopefully she's settled herself down. A couple of rounds here would do wonders for her confidence (and also her ranking!)

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There were no huge upsets on either side today, though there are a couple of players that I like the look of that lost. Not quite Stars, but players I like to keep a bit of an eye on because they're sort of interesting. Gilles Muller for Luxembourg is one - I saw him defeat Bernard Tomic in the second round of the Aussie Open at Rod Laver Arena this year, and you cannot tell from television just how booming his serve is. And he's quick, and has some serious shots. I like watching him a lot - but still he lost today, to Sam Querrey. Querrey is definitely the higher ranked player, but I would like to see Muller do well one of these days.

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And in the women's side, I've always liked the look of Marina Erakovic from New Zealand, but she has totally seemed to go off the boil lately over the past few months. She's got some great weapons, but... I don't know what's happening, whether they're misfiring or what, but she's losing where she once won, and it's a bit disappointing. It'd be nice to see her pick herself back up again - our friends across the pond have no other tennis players at all, really! Actually, therein might lie the problem...

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Today's Results

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Sony Ericsson Open (Miami)

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Men's Draw

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Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Potito Starace, 7-6 (11-9) 6-4

Nicolas Massu def. Ryan Sweeting, 6-4 7-6 (7-2)

Teimuraz Gabashvili def. Simone Bolelli, 6-4 4-6 6-4

John Isner def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-4 6-4

Amer Delic def. Steve Darcis, 6-4 7-6 (7-2)

Sam Querrey def. Gilles Muller, 6-4 6-3

Benjamin Becker def. Jesse Levine, 6-4 6-3

Andreas Seppi def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 7-6 (8-6) 6-1

Frederico Gil def. Mischa Zverev, 7-6 (9-7) 6-2

Bobby Reynolds def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 0-6 7-5 6-4

Yen-hsun Lu def. Eduardo Schwank, 6-2 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Gisela Dulko def. Lourdes Domínguez Lino, 6-2 6-4

Li Na def. Urszula Radwanska, 6-4 5-7 6-1

María José Martínez Sánchez def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-0 6-4

Ekaterina Makarova def. Chan Yung-Jan, 3-6 6-2 6-3

Anna-Lena Groenefeld def. Jill Craybas, 6-4 6-1

Tathiana Garbin def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 6-4

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Karin Knapp, 7-6 (7-2) 6-3

Alla Kudryavtseva def. Mariana Duque Marino, 6-4 7-6 (8-6)

Karolina Sprem def. Marina Erakovic, 6-0 6-2

Alexa Glatch def. Timea Bacsinszky, 6-4 6-1

Big Kev Said It Best...

I have to say it - I'm excited about our Fed Cup team. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Australian women's tennis has got a spring in its step again. I think Sam Stosur puts it best:

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"Right from when we first got here we thought we had a good team ... three of us in the top 100 and Rennae in the doubles and Casey or myself able to play with Stubbsy in the doubles matches. It's a really good combination. Obviously the next tie is going to be tough depending who it's against and where it is, but I think we've got a great chance."

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And she's pretty much right. Three women in the top hundred - when did that happen? Actually, come to think of it, we did have that before, but - well, it's all about Jelena Dokic, really. I think it would be fair to say that this clean sweepage that's been going on this week has been her triumph. I mean, it belongs to Stosur and Dellacqua and Stubbs, but this whole resurgence, this newfound confidence in women's tennis in Oz can almost wholly be credited to Dokic, I think, and that amazing showing she put in at the Aussie Open.

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Now, I don't want to leave Sam Stosur out of this. She has had a fabulous week all week - and she certainly defeated the better player on the New Zealand squad today when she took out Marina Erakovic easily, while Dokic had more of a struggle against unranked Dianne Hollands. And she had that amazing comeback victory against Tamarine Tanasugarn, and she's just come back from that bizarre disease she had last year, and... yeah, this belongs to Sam too. But I think just as far as actual confidence goes, the notion that Australia actually has some real quality strength in women's tennis - I think that one's all Dokic.

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It's not that we weren't strong before. Stosur and Dellacqua are both world class players. But just the injection of the energy that Dokic has brought... it's something special. Dokic mk. 1 was a fabulous player - she got to #4 in the world, the semis of Wimbledon, all kinds of things. But Dokic mk. 2 is a better model, methinks. I don't know whether she'll get to #4 in the world again, but as a tennis player and as a person, I think she is more complete now. And her meteoric rise out of nowhere... that is really, really good for Australian tennis. To use the immortal words of Big Kev, I'm excited!

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Today's Results

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SA Tennis Open (Johannesburg)

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Frederico Gil, 6-3 6-4

Jeremy Chardy def. David Ferrer, 1-6 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-4)

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Movistar Open (Vina del Mar)

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Fernando Gonzalez def. Juan Monaco, 6-0 6-2

Jose Acasuso def. Tommy Robredo, 5-7 6-2 6-4

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PBZ Zagreb Indoors (Zagreb)

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Marin Cilic def. Viktor Troicki, 6-2 7-5

Mario Ancic def. Jan Hernych, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 7-6 (11-9)

Argentina Changes It Up

For the first time ever, Argentina is not playing a home Davis Cup tie on clay. Which is very, very smart, though you don't need to be a genius to work that out. They've proposed the indoor stadium at Cordoba, with their alternate offering being another indoor stadium. It's certainly the best way to give themselves a fighting chance.

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Rafa, in past years, has kind of disappeared after Wimbledon, and by the indoor season he's pretty much gone altogether. He certainly didn't disappear after this year's Wimbledon, what with that Olympic gold medal and suchlike, so it will be interesting to see how he handles the indoor season - the season that was absolutely owned by David Nalbandian last year. That is how Headbandian is still in the top ten, yesno - those carryover points from Paris and Madrid last year?

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Nadal has never beaten Nalbandian (I think) and so it will be veeeeeery interesting to see how this tie plays out, on Nalbandian's preferred surface. You still wouldn't bet against Nadal - the guy beat Federer on grass, so you'd think he can do just about anything - but this is a pretty big challenge, at any rate. I suppose it'll be contingent on which Nalbandian shows up. GoodDave usually appears at Davis Cup, but you never know when LameDave will rear his ugly head...

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We have several tournaments going on this week - the ATP is in Metz, the WTA in Stuttgart and Tashkent, and there's a joint tournament in Tokyo. One of my Stars is active in Metz, and he's making a very good account of himself - that would be Ernests Gulbis, who took out Mario Ancic, the eighth seed. All portents of good things - well, maybe not for Ancic, but for Gulbis certainly. Ancic is not necessarily in the best shape ever right now, but a victory is a victory and it's nothing to sneeze at! I would dearly love to see Gulbis make an assault on the title here. Marin Cilic has won his first title - it's Ernests's turn!

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Meanwhile, how rude was it of Andy Roddick not to go to Mardy Fish's wedding? I mean, sure he's a tennis player and he has to play and stuff, but didn't they, like, grow up together? I hope Mardy Fish refuses to attend Roddick's wedding. I would. What I found particularly ironic is that the tournament Roddick played which caused him to miss the wedding was in Beijing. Should have gone to China when everyone else was there for the Olympics, Andy!

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And finally, does anyone know what's going on with Marina Erakovic? She was sailing beautifully for a while there, and now she's losing all the time. What's going on?

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Today's Results

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Open de Moselle (Metz)

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Ernests Gulbis def. Mario Ancic, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Jose Acasuso def. Guillermo Canas, 6-3 2-6 6-3

Janko Tipsarevic def. Jeremy Chardy, 7-6 (7-5) 7-5

Carlos Moya def. Albert Montanes, 6-1 4-6 6-4

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AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships (Tokyo)

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Men's Draw

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Ivo Minar def. Mischa Zverev, 7-6 (11-9) 2-6 6-2

Amer Delic def. Go Soeda, 6-4 6-2

Hyung-taik Lee def. Satoshi Iwabuchi, 6-1 6-4

Takao Suzuki def. Yuichi Sugita, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

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Women's Draw

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Kaia Kanepi def. Lucie Safarova, 4-6 6-3 6-4

Marta Domachowska def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-4 7-5

Ayumi Morita def. Marina Erakovic, 6-1 6-4

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Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart)

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Sybille Bammer def. Tatjana Malek, 4-6 6-2 7-5

Li Na def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-1 6-2

Alona Bondarenko def. Eleni Daniilidou, 7-6 (7-5) 6-1

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Tashkent Open (Tashkent)

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Sabine Lisicki def. Dilyara Saidkhodjaeva, 6-0 6-1

Magdalena Rybarikova def. Kathrin Woerle, 6-4 6-4

Sofia Shapatava def. Kinnie Laisne, 6-3 4-6 6-4