Taking Stock of Stockholm

Sigh. Marat went to all the trouble of beating Kolya only to go down tamely to Evgeny Korolev.

Pout.

Oh well. Marat will be Marat, and we should treasure the last few matches we have with him, even if he does fizzle out.

Let's talk Stockholm, because that's an interesting little tournament. I'm really pulling for the Yoker to win this one - is he still in with a chance of qualifying for the end of year championships? He was coming ninth, last time I looked... because he DESERVES THAT SPOT. I think it's a three way tussle at the mo between him, Verdasco and Kolya... and much as Nando's had a career year, it really wouldn't be fair to see all that hard work that the Yoker's put in go to waste. French Open final? It seems fair and just that it should be Soderling. So I'm cheering for him bigtime this week.

But the guy I'm really watching - for interest's sake more than anything else - is Marcos Baghdatis. He's been out for what seems like a thousand years, and it is good to see him playing - and winning! - again. He beat Kendrick two and two today, which is a pretty decent result. I mean, sure, Kendrick isn't exactly Federer, but he's played some tough tennis in his time (fade into the far away, so close match he played with Rafa at Wimbledon a few years back). So that was a good win for Marcos, and, damn it, he's just so happy and smiley! He deserves to win stuff!

So I'm keeping an eye on his comeback - as well as Pim-Pim's. I was talking a while back about him as a 'where are they now?' candidate, and suddenly BAM! he's coming back again. I don't think there's any way he'll ever reach his former glory, but he's been winning a match or two and that's pretty awesome.

Now if we could only get Sebastien Grosjean back on court...


Today's Results

Kremlin Cup (Moscow)

Men's Draw

Janko Tipsarevic def. Christophe Rochus, 6-4 2-1 retired
Robby Ginepri def. Marcel Granollers, 7-6 (7-5) 6-0
Mikhail Kukushkin def. Wayne Odesnik, 6-3 6-4
Illya Marchenko def. Andrey Golubev, 6-1 1-6 6-4
Evgeny Korolev def. Marat Safin, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)


Women's Draw

Tsvetana Pironkova def. Vera Zvonareva, 6-0 6-2
Jelena Jankovic def. Lucie Safarova, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Francesca Schiavone def. Monica Niculescu, 6-2 7-5
Alisa Kleybanova def. Evgeniya Rodina, 6-1 6-2
Vera Dushevina def. Agnes Szavay, 3-6 6-4 6-3
Maria Kirilenko def. Aleksandra Wozniak


If Stockholm Open (Stockholm)

Robin Soderling def. Andreas Seppi, 6-1 6-3
Jarkko Nieminen def. Tommy Haas, walkover
Olivier Rochus def. Feliciano Lopez, 4-6 6-4 6-1
Marcos Baghdatis def. Robert Kendrick, 6-2 6-2
Arnaud Clement def. Michael Berrer, 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-1


BGL Luxembourg Open (Luxembourg)

Daniela Hantuchova def. Lucie Hradecka, 7-5 3-6 6-2
Yanina Wickmayer def. Alize Cornet, 7-5 7-6 (8-6)
Shahar Peer def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 3-6 6-3 6-1

Mini-Rafa

The real story of the men's draw so far really has to be Yen-hsun Lu, who is now into the third round. No one would have picked that one - especially as he drew Murray in the first round! He beat Calleri in the second, who isn't exactly a Murray, but is pretty handy and is ranked a lot higher than Lu, so it was an awesome win! (Though why was Calleri even there? Why didn't they take Juan Martin del Potro? WHY?)

*

Rafael Arevalo has to be a pretty good story as well! To be ranked where he is and make it to the second round of an ATP level tournament is pretty good, so well done to the boy from El Salvador. I would like to make it clear that I was in no way cheering for him, though - Roger all the way! (And yes, I confess, it was nice to see Roger beat Rafa, even it wasn't Rafa Rafa!) He seemed to look pretty good in this match, judging by reports... it obviously wasn't shown on Australian TV. Even Rafa vs. Lleyton only got about five points. Stupid swimming. But back to Roger. Mini-Rafa broke his serve in the first game of the second, but Roger broke right back and ran away with the set, so that was pretty sweet. There seems to be some minor trouble with the gear shift still - maybe Roger couldn't quite find cruise control in the beginning of that set! But he got there, and niftily too.

*

He'll play Berdych in the next round. One word: vengeance! Served cold, with a side of arse-kicking.

*

Rafa was utterly dominant in his match over Hewitt - surprise surprise. I wish the Australian media would get over this notion of Hewitt as their great white hope, because he really is going under, and fast. Unless he gives it time to heal, this hip injury is never going to better. And even if he goes away and comes back, it's going to be like Safin's knee - a chronic pain that flares up at the worst possible moments. (Thus saith Jodi, the highly qualified sports doctor, who knows all things.)

*

We saw another couple of top ten guys get knocked out today. Paul-Henri Mathieu knocked out Davydenko, but we all know how Davydenko is whinging about motivation and how he hates the sight of his tennis racquets and stuff, which really takes the victory away from Paulo, in a respect. I am very cross with Kolya at the moment. That attitude is really, really disrespectful to his opponents.

*

And, unfortunately, we lost Stan Wawrinka to Jurgen Melzer. By Stan's newly lofty standards, it was a pretty poor loss - but according to reports, he's having some problems adjusting to the humidity, poor Swiss boy that he is, used to the cold mountain air! Here's hoping this will leave him a bit fresher for the doubles - Team Fedrinka for gold!

*

Djokovic and Nalbandian both had pretty good wins, though it was a bit sad to see Massu go... still, he was never, ever going to defend that gold medal. It was likewise sad to see Tipsarevic retire, as he was looking quite good, and I was personally sad to see Marin Cilic go, as he was the last one left flying my Stars of the Future flag: none of the rest of them made a splash at all. Oh well. London.

*

Pretty standard day on the women's side - I suppose the major upset was Schiavone taking out Radwanska. That'll learn Radwanska for playing that Tier IV tournament when there was a Tier I tournament on! The Williams sisters had a bit of a struggle in the doubles but pulled through, as did Safina and Kuznetsova - and speaking of Safina, she is still looking veeery cruisy in the singles. Dinara and Roger for gold!

*

And before I sign off, a shout out to the forgotten tournament in Washington. A great victory for Robert Kendrick, who is probably best remembered for almost but not quite beating Rafa at Wimbledon a couple of years back. He took out third seed Feliciano Lopez. Good work Robert!

*

*

Today's Results

*

Games of the XXIX Olympiad (Beijing)

*

Men's Draw - Singles

*

Roger Federer def. Rafael Arevalo, 6-2 6-4

Rafael Nadal def. Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-4 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Nikolay Davydenko, 7-5 6-3

David Nalbandian def. Nicolas Massu, 7-6 (7-0) 6-1

James Blake def. Dominik Hrbaty, 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-3

Jurgen Melzer def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4 6-0

Gilles Simon def. Guillermo Canas, 7-5 6-1

Fernando Gonzalez def. Marin Cilic, 6-4 6-2

Mikhail Youzhny def. Thomas Johansson, 7-5 6-2

Nicolas Kiefer def. Kevin Anderson, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-4

Tomas Berdych def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Gael Monfils def. Victor Hanescu, 6-4 7-6 (7-5)

Lu Yen-Hsun def. Agustin Calleri, 6-4 6-4

Igor Andreev def. Michael Llodra, 6-4 3-6 6-1

Olivier Rochus def. Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6 (7-5) 2-3 retired

*

*

Women's Draw - Singles

*

Jelena Jankovic def. Alona Bondarenko, 7-5 6-1

Serena Williams def. Samantha Stosur, 6-2 6-0

Elena Dementieva def. Sofia Arvidsson, 6-3 6-4

Dinara Safina def. María José Martínez Sánchez, 7-6 (7-3) 6-1

Venus Williams def. Iveta Benesova, 6-1 6-4

Francesca Schiavone def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Vera Zvonareva def. Shahar Peer, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Caroline Wozniacki def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-1 6-3

Victoria Azarenka def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-2 6-2

Sybille Bammer def. Patty Schnyder, 6-4 6-4

Alizé Cornet def. Peng Shuai, 6-2 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-2 6-2

Zheng Jie def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 6-4

Li Na def. Ayumi Morita, 6-2 7-5

Kaia Kanepi def. Virginie Razzano, 6-4 7-5

Lucie Safarova def. Mariya Koryttseva, 2-6 6-1 7-5

*

*

Men's Draw - Doubles

*

Bryan/Bryan def. Knowles/Mullings, 6-2 6-1

Clement/Llodra def. Erlich/Ram, 6-4 6-4

Bhupathi/Paes def. Monfils/Simon, 6-3 6-3

Melo/Sa def. Berdych/Stepanek, 5-7 6-2 8-6

Fyrstenberg/Matkowski def. Yu/Zeng, 6-3 6-4

Knowle/Melzer def. Kiefer/Schuettler, 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-1

*

*

Women's Draw - Doubles

*

Kuznetsova/Safina def. Santangelo/Vinci, 6-1 3-6 7-5

Williams/Williams def. Benesova/Vaidisova, 4-6 7-5 6-1

Chan/Chuang def. Cornet/Razzano, 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 (7-5)

Davenport/Huber def. Jans/Rosolska, 6-2 6-1

Bondarenko/Bondarenko def. Domachowska/Radwanska, 6-3 6-2

Vesnina/Zvonareva def. Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez, 2-6 6-1 6-3

Yan/Zheng def. Hantuchova/Husarova, 6-1 7-6

Govortsova/Kustova def. Peng/Sun, 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-3)

Azarenka/Poutchek def. Ani/Kanepi, 6-2 6-2

Gagliardi/Schnyder def. Daniilidou/Gerasimou, 6-0 6-4

Pennetta/Schiavone def. Dellacqua/Molik, 6-4 6-4

Dulko/Jozami def. Obziler/Peer, 6-3 6-2

Mirza/Rao def. Golovin/Parmentier, walkover

*

*

Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington)

*

Robert Kendrick def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-3 7-5

Alejandro Falla def. Mardy Fish, 5-7 6-4 6-2

Viktor Troicki def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-4 6-2

Igor Kunitsyn def. Mischa Zverev, 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-2

Fabio Fognini def. Marat Safin, 7-5 retired

Donald Young def. Luis Horna, 6-3 6-1

*

*

Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open (Cincinatti)

*

Nadia Petrova def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-3 6-0

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Aiko Nakamura, 6-3 6-2

Yanina Wickmayer def. Vasilisa Bardina, 7-5 3-6 6-3

Julia Vakulenko def. Monica Niculescu, 6-2 2-6 6-4

Vania King def. Tathiana Garbin, 4-6 6-3 7-5