Modest Achievements (and Immodest Failings)

In the grand old tradition (which I started yesterday) of talking about TWO WHOLE PLAYERS in one post, today I'm... going to talk about two players. Wow, really ruined that surprise. Oops.

The two lucky dudes on whom the glorious honour of my educated opinion are being bestowed today are Richard Gasquet and Nikolay Davydenko. I don't think their careers are directly comparable in the long run - Gasquet, as we both know, is quite a bit younger than Kolya and if talent was the only ingredient in the sundae that is a tennis player, then he would blow Kolya off the court - but they both have been around for a while, both have been in the top ten, and both are dudes on whom I have a little something something to say today. So there.

I don't think it's a secret to say that Richard Gasquet is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in tennis today. He is a typical French player - talented to the point of absurdity, capable of incredible - almost alien - tennis, and yet so inconsistent it can make you want to scratch your eyes out. I always think about Gasquet in the same box as Berdych - or at least Berdych prior to 2010. Gasquet made a run to the Wimbledon semis once, I think, but that's about it. I think that Berdych's one final is the one final he'll ever make at Slam level. Sketchy and inconsistent and... yeah, all those things.

But I actually want to say nice things about Richou today. I think he has actually played really well this year. He hasn't had a single first round exit - which for someone as skittish as him, is really something. He hasn't beaten anyone EPIC AND MAJOR OMG, but he's put together some nice streaks of matches - his run to the semis in Dubai, for example, where he beat Gilles Simon, or his run to the quarters in Indian Wells, where he came up against the blisteringly hot Novak Djokovic.

I'm not saying that he's going to go on and win Wimbledon or anything like that. But this is nice stuff to see from someone as traditionally inconsistent as Richou. Modest accomplishments, but solid ones. They're the ones that will earn you points. He just won over Denis Istomin in Monte Carlo, making another tournament where he hasn't lost in the first round. Well done, Richou.

And then we come to Kolya.

He's the opposite of Gasquet - a player who has made the most of talents that are a little bit limited. We know that he's challenged the great ones. We know he's done amazing things. But right now, he is having the most godawful year, poor thing. He just lost to Robin Haase in Monte Carlo, and his ranking is falling and falling. He's lost more times than he's won this year. He probably won't be seeded in Roland Garros, and I'd call him a dangerous floater, but who knows how dangerous he'll really be?

Haase is only the last of the players this year who've beaten Kolya who shouldn't have. After getting all the way to the final in Doha, Kolya has had a shocker of a year. What's he going to do to turn things round? I don't know. People are shouting 'retire', but I think there's more tennis in Kolya yet. We just need to find a way to winkle it out somehow.

Clean Slate

There is something magical about walking through the gates on the first day of the Slam. It is a clean slate. There is tennis to be played, stories to be told, portraits to be painted, hearts to broken, tears and laughter and incredible sadness and joy ahead, but on that first day, everything is clean and new. Anything is possible. And you are there to witness it.

I made a decision this year that unlike previous years, where I have flitted from court to court to court (usually in an effort to make sure I don't miss any Federer practice sessions, because I am a fangirl like that), I was going to try and watch some real proper tennis on the outside courts (ie. more than one change of ends). I also wanted to make sure I watched at least one player a day I had never seen before, preferably one I'd barely/never heard of. So, without further ado, here is my story of Australian Open - Day One.

I'd decided to begin my day on Court 6 with what looked like a tasty match up between Julien Benneteau and Juan Monaco, but then when the players walked on court... hey, THAT's not Benneteau, quoth I to myself. No, it was Simon Greul, whom I presume is a lucky loser. I have no idea what's happened to Benneteau, but he wasn't on that court when he was supposed to be. I hope it's nothing bad... particularly as he is doubles partners with Mahut and I want them to be awesome! (More on Mahut later.)

So I upped and left after two changes of ends (see, I watched some of it! I gave it a chance!) and wandered round to the back courts. For some reason, it is so difficult to get there now that you practically have to answer three riddles of increasing difficulty then fight a troll, but when I did manage to fight my way to Court 16 through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I was treated with Federer practice goodness. I feel like it was the tennis gods rewarding me for being good. La la la.

Then I went to Court 19 (the original aim of my trek to the back courts) and caught a set and a half of Carlos Berlocq against Robin Haase, which was a very interesting match indeed. I've been watching Haase for a while - actually, no, that's a lie. I picked up on a him a number of years ago when he took Hewitt to five at Wimbledon, thought he was cool, then forgot about him (apart from a few 'hey, where's Haase these days? I thought he was going to be good and stuff!). But I've found him now, and I'm glad I have.

I feel like Haase is sort of the thinking tennis fan's Ernests Gulbis. He has big power off both wings, is practically exploding with talent but suffers a little from inconsistency and... well, he has hair that could rival Ernie's. But I feel like he has a better mindset on court - he got down in sets to Berlocq a couple of times and fought his way back every time. One thing I did think was unusual was the frequency with which he played the squash shot - he played it a LOT - but it seemed to be working for him, so no complaints.

After some serious time spent with Haase, I wandered back over the other side with the intention of catching some of Nishikori's match. However, Court 8 was UBER-packed, so I opted for a match that was just beginning instead - Tobias Kamke and Philipp Kohlschreiber. And boy, was this a surprise.

I only caught the first set, in which Kamke TOTALLY dominated Kohli. I mean, SCARY dominance here. I'd never seen Kamke play before (tick!) nor did I know anything about him other than that he won newcomer of the year last year, so this was a real treat. Looking at the scores now, I see that Kohli came back from two sets to love down to win (after a third set breaker), and as all I have to go off is that first set, I was very surprised. Kamke was painting the lines left, right and centre. He was eating Kohli alive out there. But I guess he came back down to earth after I left or something.

Sorry, Tobias, but Federer called. I didn't have a day ticket into Rod Laver Arena, so I caught the first set of his match on the big screen in Garden Square. To say that Federer had things under control is an understatement. (He'll face a bigger test in round two with Gilles Simon - FRAZZLE!) He was powering ahead, so I wasn't nervous at all when I left after the first set to go and spend some quality time with my new best friend, Nicolas Mahut.

Watching this match was my favourite thing of the whole day. I didn't expect Nico to win going into this match. I didn't expect him to lose either. I was very careful to have no expectations. And one of the expectations that I did not have was that Mahut would win the match in FREAKING STRAIGHT SETS!

Seriously, I was cheering my lungs out out there. (Anyone who was there - I was the one yelling 'Allez!' A LOT.) Watching Nico serve, you can understand why he managed to hold serve 68 times in a row - he has one hell of a serve on him. When Dabul started getting a read on it and cracking some returns, he just kept changing it up. He is RIDICULOUSLY talented. I totally understand how he won junior Wimbledon. And it is SO NICE to watch serve and volley tennis. Especially done so well.

But my favourite thing about Mahut was how, even when he was down (like in the third set), he didn't break down about it. He just gritted his teeth, came back, and GOT IT DONE. He did this in qualies as well, but I somehow wasn't expecting to see it in front of me. (Another side effect of 'no expectations'.)

Dabul was ranked higher than Mahut - not much higher, but enough to qualify for direct entry - and he was overwhelmingly outplayed. Considering Mahut didn't play the Australian Open last year, a second round result will definitely boost him up a bit - here's hoping he doesn't need to rely on my 0-from-1 #wildcardformahut campaign at Roland Garros and Wimbledon!

After Mahut kindly took a photo with me (!) it was off to catch a bit of Stan Wawrinka, who had a bit of an up and down match with Gabashvili. To clarify - it was Gabashvili who was up and down, Stan was pretty solid throughout. This is the best I've seen Stan play in a while - he was cranking it against an opponent who was alternately on fire and in the gutter - so clearly that whole 'leaving his wife' thing worked for him. To each their own.

I tried to get in to see Gilles Simon and Rendy Lu after this, but it was packed out, so I went and watched a little bit of Benoit Paire, the French wildcard, against Flavio Cipolla. I have previously bitched about how Mahut should have got the wildcard and who is this Paire kid anyway, and that is ALL STILL TRUE (Mahut should have got a wildcard, even if he didn't end up needing one), but I was seriously impressed with Paire. That kid has got some strokes on him and no mistake. But he needs to stop playing with his necklace in his mouth. That seems silly.

And then it was time for my night on Rod Laver Arena.

I was spectacularly disappointed with the scheduling, but Groth and Wickmayer almost made a decent match of it - or would have, if Groth wasn't doing exactly what Gabashvili had done earlier and alternating between extreme awesome and extreme awful. She started off very poorly, sacrificing the first set to Wickmayer with barely a whimper and then getting down a break in the second, but then flipped the switch and reeled off six straight games to win the set. But then it all came crashing down in the third set...

Jarmila Groth is a player of the type I like. She's aggressive, she goes for her shots, it's great when it works, sometimes it's awful. But she needs to find some chill - or at least direct her frustration in a more productive direction. Gesturing up to your player's box ultimately achieves nothing. If she could harness that energy, well... watch out world.

And then Djokovic came on and totally owned Granollers. It was... not that interesting. Nole is looking very good, though. I will say this.

In a nutshell, here is what I thought of Day One of the Australian Open:

Win of the Day: I'm sentimental. Mahut. It was awesome. I loved it.
Loss of the Day: Davydenko, who lost to Florian Mayer. I didn't see it, but seriously, Kolya? I know Mayer's in form, but remember how you were the one everyone feared last year...? Also Sam Querrey. Baaaaaaaaaad.
Players in dangerous form: Federer. Djokovic. The usual suspects. Wawrinka also looking great guns.
Players to watch in the future: Haase. Kamke. Paire.
Things for Jodi to do tomorrow: Maybe catch a WTA match or two - looking back over this, it was a total sausagefest!

Day of the Disappointing Dudes

Wow. Tomas Berdych. I know you've been disappointing ever since your run to the final of Wimbledon, but I couldn't have realised this level of disappointment.

I've sort of vaguely maybe heard of Tobias Kamke, but I couldn't tell you one thing about him. And yet he put an absolute beatdown on Berdych. I didn't see the match, so I don't know if it was closer than the scoreline or whatever, but dude, DUDE. 6-4 6-1? That is craziness.

Berdych is in the running to claim one of the last three spots for the world tour finals, and this must have hurt his chances big time. Well, at least medium time. Time is running out and he's not the only one after a spot.

...though considering one of the other people after a spot is Fernando Verdasco, who also took an utterly miserable loss, maybe Berdych doesn't need to try so hard. I know Gilles Simon is having some of Awesomeness Renaissance, but 6-1 6-3, Nando? Yowza.

Speaking of miserable losses in Valencia - oh hiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Andy Murray. I know you've already made the WTF so you don't need to try so hard, but dude, come on, Juan Monaco? Really?

But you know who's not disappointing? Roger Federer. That was a nice win over Tipsarevic. It maketh me smile. And also Robin Haase! He beat John Isner. You keep on with your bad self, Robin.

Basel O'Clock

You know who hasn't been around for a while? Robin Haase, that Dutch dude. I think of this, of course, because he suddenly is around again, beating Stephane Bohli in Basel, and he's popped his head up a couple of times this year, but mostly... not so much with the being around.

He was one of those young guns a few years ago who was supposed to be heading big places - I remember him taking Lleyton Hewitt to five in the first round of Wimbledon in an awesome match. He reminds me a bit of Gulbis, but I think he just looks like him more than actually being like him.

Anyway. That's all I have to say about that. I hope we see a bit more of Haase playing. I remember really liking his game.

And we cannot talk about Basel without talking about the Basel guy himself, one R Federer. He spent less than an hour on court dismissing Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr and he was smoking. And then Dolgopolov retired one game away from the finish line, which I thought was pretty poor form - how hard is it to play one extra game and give your opponent the win proper? - but it was still all sunshine for Roger. Keep it coming.

...oh, and why is Stan Wawrinka playing in Valencia and not Basel? Are he and some Swiss tennis figure or organisation or something having a fight?

A Fairy Tale That Wasn't

Farewell America and hello Europe, farewell purple hardcourts - welcome to the red stuff. It seems like just yesterday we were all worried about these two big hardcourt Masters titles - well, it was yesterday, but whatevs. Today, it is all about the clay.

Suddenly, my friends, we are in the lead up to Roland Garros - where, for the first time ever, Roger Federer will be returning as defending champion. Here we have a very interesting few months of tennis. Oh yes we do.

But today let's forget all that. I want to write a little bit about one particular player - a player that opened his clay account (and, indeed, his account for the year, as far as I can tell) with a loss in Casablanca. (So much for 'hello Europe' - we're actually still in America and in Africa this week. Oops). That player is Robin Haase.

A couple of years back, when Haase played Hewitt in the first round of Wimbledon and played him so, so tight (five sets) I seriously thought this Dutch kid was the real deal. He was about twenty at the time, I think, and he played tennis pretty damn spectacularly. He was to me about two, three years back what Ernests Gulbis is now - one of the faces of the future of tennis.

And then he pretty much fell off the face of the planet. And I have no idea what happened to him.

This is the case sometimes, I suppose - when a player with so much promise and talent just never makes it happen. We always hear about the ones that do - I mean, Roger Federer, hello - but there are so, so many that don't. Just take a tour through the winners of junior Slams. For every Federer, even every Monfils, you have a Todd Reid. Who is that? Good question. I only know because he's Australian - he won junior Wimbledon and then did nothing else of note ever, as far as I can tell.

Robin Haase is, I am sad to say, might just be a Todd Reid. He didn't lose badly today - he went down in straights in breakers to Marcel Granollers - but even just playing a match on the tour level is a big thing for him now. I thought he'd have a huge stack of titles by now.

For every fairy tale, there is the one that didn't quite happen. And Robin Haase is one of those stories.

Good Behaviour

Wasn't that match between Roger Federer and Dominik Hrbaty just the loveliest thing you ever saw? I don't know if I've ever seen a tennis match that was... well, nicer. And not because Federer won and won so easily - though that was, of course, very nice! What was the loveliest was the way that Federer and Hrbaty clearly respected and liked each other. At the risk of sounding stereotypically Australian, it was a match between mates, and it was wonderful to watch.

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I've never seen a match where the players sat next to each other on the changeover like that. I mean, sure, in Davis Cup you've got the bench, but that's different, because you sit with your teammates. These were opponents, in Wimbledon - the holy grail of tennis. And yet they could still remain friends, even though they were competing for such a prize.

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Just another one of the things I like about Federer (and now Hrbaty!) Sportsmanship. The world of sport would be a better place if more people would take his example. Which is why it's so good that Federer has been elected to the new Player's Council (along with Nadal and Djokovic.) I hope his influence can become even more pervasive.

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On the actual match - how good was Hrbaty's hot dog shot?! And Federer's insane backhand smash volley?! Grass is so so good for producing a highlights reel, I tell you!

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Speaking of great tennis statesmen, I'd just like to devote a few sentences to the oldest player in the field, who has just announced that he will retire this season. Jonas Bjorkman, I salute you. He has played and played well for his whole career. His singles and doubles careers are both very distinguished. But more than that, Bjorkman has always been a gentleman tennis player. He has always been a great sport, he has won with humility and lost with grace, and there is little in sport more important than a good attitude. So, vale Jonas. You will be missed.

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There were some other great matches yesterday. The one I saw the most of (inevitably, being in Australia) was the Hewitt-Haase match, and wasn't it a barnburner?! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like the way Haase plays. He's only young, so he has lots of time to improve. If he can stop panicking on his forehand he will be something else. He has beautiful hands at the net, which is unusual for a player as tall as he is. He gets down to the ball really well - and he is not afraid to come in, which is great to see. Pat Rafter was on the tennis last night bemoaning the lack of true serve-and-volley players, and I agree with him. There will always be some room in tennis, especially in grass court tennis, for serve-and-volley. And net play in grass is just so lovely to watch, from an aesthetic perspective... yeah, this was a great match.

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Hewitt played pretty well too. He's not the Hewitt that once he was, but he played pretty respectably. His hip seemed to be holding up okay, and he has much better run now that he's got passed this Haase test. (But give Haase a few years... yeah, you've heard it before.) I don't think he'll have too many problems with Montanes, Montanes being pretty much a claycourter. That'd give him either Bolelli or Gonzalez in the next round... Gonzalez could be a stumbling block. I've never seen Gonzalez play on grass, though, so it could be a tight match.

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One of the commentators said something intelligent last night (shock horror!) They pointed out that Hewitt's game is based around counterpunching, and now that people don't come to the net so much, it's much harder for him to enforce his game. I thought that was a really interesting point. The game has evolved, and to an extent, Lleyton Hewitt has been left behind.

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Only two major upsets yesterday - much as I wish it had been three, Djokovic got through, though he looked a bit scratchy. Ivo Karlovic went out - is this an object lesson in not playing a tournament the week before Wimbledon? Who can tell? (Ferru won, so this thesis is obviously flawed... though his opponent did retire. Hmmm...) More shockingly, David Nalbandian (Headbandian) went out. That's two early exits now - second round to Chardy at Roland Garros, and now first round to Frank Dancevic. Now, Dancevic isn't a bad player, but he's no Headbandian. It looks like LameDave has been back in action. Not being a Headbandian fan, I find it difficult to be sad, but it is disappointing. That opens this little section of the draw right up, though, because Karlovic was in it too... the next highest seed is Baghdatis. Hmmm. That could be veeeeeery interesting. I'd like to see Baghdatis get through to a semi against Federer. Obviously Djokovic stands in the way... but I have a tiny, baby feeling that his next opponent might give him a run for his money. Who is it, you asked?

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Marat Safin.

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If Marat plays his true Maratski tennis, he is going to blow Djokovic away. Unfortunately, Marat hates grass. So this could be... um... interesting. That's a safe assessment.

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I was glad to see Mario Ancic get through as well, though his match against Llodra did not quite go the six hours I predicted, as Llodra retired. Oh well. Some of the other matches I said would be interesting totally were! Hewitt/Haase, for one, Berdych/Korolev, for another. And the Bellucci/Kunitsyn clash was definitely intriguing - I was very glad to see Bellucci win. I'm keeping my eye on him. I really like his game. He's up against Simon Stadler next, who upset Karlovic, and I think Thomaz stands a good chance.

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It struck me after writing that monstrous preview yesterday that I did that thing I do wherein I totally forget the existence of women's tennis. Oops. Let's have a quick look at it now. There were a couple of upsets yesterday, the biggest one being Patty Schnyder, who got beaten by that wonderful little Aussie giant-killer Casey Dellacqua. I'm not, as you know if you've read me blog before, very patriotic when it comes to tennis, but I think Casey is the bee's knees. She has really risen to the occasion in Slams this year. Actually, she beat Schnyder before, didn't she? Australian Open, second round, if memory serves. So well done, Casey.

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My French favourite, Alize Cornet, also went out - though the player she went out to, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, is pretty intriguing. They were juniors together, and they were both up there at the top. Cornet has actualised it better in the WTA draw than Pavlyuchenkova has so far - but is that about to change?

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Virginie Razzano, Maria Kirilenko and Dominika Cibulkova also went out. Interestingly, not long after Cibulkova lost, her boyfriend Gael Monfils held a press conference withdrawing from the tournament. Draw your own conclusions from that. Meanwhile, has anyone else noticed how Gael Monfils looks sort of possessed all the time? It's very bizarre.

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Other than that, it was pretty standard. Ivanovic was impressive. Agnes Szavay was also - I think her time might be coming to make a big run at a Slam. Kuznetsova was scratchy, much as she was in Eastbourne last week. She'd better pick up her game if she wants to go deep. Sam Stosur also had a great win, and I think she stands a good chance of taking out Vaidisova in the next round - which might give her a third round clash with Dellacqua, which would be intriguing.

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So, if I had to pick my semifinalists from the women, I would say Ivanovic (dead cert), Serena Williams (with Agnieszka Radwanska also a possibility,) Sharapova (or Safina) and either Venus Williams or Jankovic, depending on how well Venus plays. There are, of course, some dark horses lurking about - Agnes Szavay for one, and even Dellacqua could make a good run, but those are the four... or seven, I guess! that I'd be looking for.

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Wimbledon Results - Day #1

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Dominik Hrbaty, 6-3 6-2 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Michael Berrer, 7-5 2-6 6-3 6-0

Lleyton Hewitt def. Robin Haase, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-2

Frank Dancevic def. David Nalbandian, 6-4 6-2 6-4

David Ferrer def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 1-3 retired

Marcos Baghdatis def. Steve Darcis, 6-3 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Fernando Gonzalez def. Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 7-5

Mario Ancic def. Michael Llodra, 6-4 7-6 (9-7) 2-0 retired

Igor Andreev def. Jiri Vanek, 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 6-2

Thomaz Bellucci def. Igor Kunitsyn, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-2

Olivier Rochus def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 7-5 6-4

Marc Gicquel def. Kei Nishikori, 4-6 7-5 retired

Thomas Johansson def. Vince Spadea, 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-3

Florent Serra def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-4 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3

Feliciano Lopez def. Brian Dabul, 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-3 6-4

Albert Montanes def. Carlos Berlocq, 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4

Victor Hanescu def. Alejandro Falla, 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-0 6-4

Philipp Petzschner def. Hyung-taik Lee, 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-4 retired

Roko Karanusic def. Luis Horna, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1

Simone Bolelli def. Alex Bogdanovic, 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

Marat Safin def. Fabio Fognini, 6-1 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

Tomas Berdych def. Evgeny Korolev, 4-6 6-1 6-4 3-6 7-5

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Marcos Daniel, 6-3 6-2 7-5

Bobby Reynolds def. Filippo Volandri, 6-2 6-2 retired

Andreas Seppi def. Tobias Kamke, 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-4

Juan Martin del Potro def. Pavel Snobel, 6-4 6-2 6-3

Robin Soderling def. Kevin Kim, 7-5 0-6 6-3 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4 6-3 6-2

Ilia Bozoljac def. Chris Guccione, 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Sam Querrey, 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-4

Mischa Zverev def. Alexander Peya, 6-3 6-4 6-4

Simon Stadler def. Ivo Karlovic, 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-5

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Rossana de los Rios, 6-1 6-2

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Iveta Benesova, 6-3 6-0

Marion Bartoli def. Sabine Lisicki, 6-2 6-4

Serena Williams def. Kaia Kanepi, 7-5 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Mathilde Johansson, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3

Amelie Mauresmo def. Ashley Harkleroad, 6-4 6-3

Samantha Stosur def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-2 6-2

Anna Chakvetadze def. Stephanie Dubois, 2-6 6-1 8-6

Elena Vesnina def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4

Pauline Parmentier def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 7-5 6-4

Evgeniya Rodina def. Virginie Razzano, 0-6 6-2 6-4

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Yan Zi, 6-3 6-0

Casey Dellacqua def. Patty Schnyder, 6-4 3-6 6-1

Virginia Ruano Pascual def. Milagros Seguera, 6-1 6-4

Tatiana Perebiynis def. Petra Kvitova, 6-4 0-6 6-4

Urszula Radwanska def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-1 6-4

Edina Gallovits def. Yvonne Meusburger, 6-1 6-2

Li Na def. Anastasia Rodionova, 3-6 6-0 6-1

Elena Baltacha def. Angelique Kerber, 6-3 2-6 7-5

Nathalie Dechy def. Yuan Meng, 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 6-0

Jie Zheng def. Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4 6-3

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Alize Cornet, 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4)

Marta Domachowska def. Jill Craybas, 6-1 3-6 6-4

Bethanie Mattek def. Severine Bremond, 5-7 6-0 6-1

Agnes Szavay def. Tathiana Garbin, 6-1 6-3

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Rika Fujiwara, 1-6 6-4 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Melanie South, 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

Vera Dushevina def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-3 6-3

Nicole Vaidisova def. Zuzana Ondraskova, 6-2 6-2

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Camille Pin, 7-5 4-6 7-5