Shock score of the week

Istambul: Agnieszka Radwanska def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-0, 6-0

I have no idea what that was about. Cirstea is a gifted player. In fact, the only other time she and Radwanska played, Cirstea won. It isn't the surface--Cirstea does fairly well on clay. Wow.

Just saying...

Davenport withdraws from French Open

Lindsay Davenport has withdrawn her name from the entry list of the 2008 French Open. I do not know the reason she gave, but the move itself is hardly a surprise. Clay is Davenport's weakest surface, and--considering her short-term return to the tour--there is no reason for her to play in Paris.

Sania Mirza has also withdrawn. She has not recovered from her wrist surgery. Tatiana Golovin, Li Na and Eleni Daniilidou had already withdrawn because of injuries and surgeries, and Daniela Hantuchova is expected to withdraw.

All of these withdrawals are sad, but the most meaningful one, in my opinion, is that of Golovin, for she is the clay specialist among the group.

Cornet consoled

During the break between sets in the Rome final, young Alize Cornet burst into tears. She was frustrated, she said, because she was so physically exhausted, her body would not permit her to play at a level at which she could really compete. And when the match was over, the young Frenchwoman was clearly distraught. But before the awards ceremony began--while Cornet toweled off her tears--she received a visitor. Winner Jelena Jankovic went to Cornet's chair, reminded her about the major players she had defeated in Rome, and what a bright future she had.

Quote of the day

"If I was 25 and I had won so many grand slams, I'd quit too."

Maria Sharapova on Justine Henin

Dokic wins another challenger

Jelena Dokic has won her second $25 challenger in a row. She won the Caserta title in a straight-set match.

Dokic also has a wild card for the Internationaux de Strasbourg this week.

Jankovic rules in Rome!

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic retained her title in Rome today by defeating Alize Cornet, 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Cornet had a lot of trouble with her serve. That is not usually the case with Cornet--in her first Tier I final, however, it appeared that nerves took over. Cornet had a 49 first serve percentage, a 48 first serve won percentage and a 13 second serve won percentage. She was broken seven times.

During the match, Cornet was obviously emotionally distraught. After the match, she said the problem was that--after going through qualifying and getting to the final--she was simply exhausted, and unable to play at her usual level. I thought Cornet played considerably below her potential in the semifinal, also, though certainly better than she played in the final. Nevertheless, she is a very talented young player, and we will be seeing a lot more of her.

Lisicki stops Karatantcheva in Strasbourg qualifying

Sesil Karatantcheva failed to make it to the main draw in Strasbourg today when she was defeated by up-and-coming German player Sabine Lisicki, 7-6, 7-5.

Chan and Chuang win in Rome

Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung have taken the title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. They defeated Iveta Benesova and Janette Husarova, 7-6, 6-3.

Chan and Chuang have now won eight career titles. They were also the finalists in both the 2007 Australian Open and the 2007 U.S. Open. The Rome win is their first Tier I title.

Ooh la la!

Alize Cornet, playing far from her best tennis, nevertheless earned a spot in tomorrow's Rome final by defeating Anna Chakvetadze, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 today. Chakvetadze, who tended to be inconsistent (think Goolagong's occasional "walkabouts") even before she suffered a trauma at the end of 2007, has now become even more so. I happen to think the Russian is very talented, and I especially enjoy watching her work the court. However, she has a tendency to fade away during matches, and she faded just enough today for Cornet to win.

In the third set, Cornet received such a bad line call that I wanted to scream "Hawkeye for clay courts now!" but no one would have heard me. The chair umpire confirmed the bad line call, and Cornet, who is a bit of a hot-head to begin with, became quite upset. She had trouble letting go of the incident, but she eventually pulled herself together.

Cornet appeared sluggish today, and her forehand was shaky. The Frenchwoman will have to strengthen it and play her usual explosive game if she is to have a chance against her final opponent, defending champion Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic received a walkover from semifinal opponent Maria Sharapova, who sustained a calf strain while practicing. It probably didn't help that she did all that stretching--as opposed to sliding--in her quarterfinal match against Patty Schnyder (those two have great matches!).

Cornet, who will now enter the top twenty, made it to the semifinals in both Amelia Island and Charleston this year. This is her first Tier I final.

It was a nice run, but it's over

Klaudia Jans and Mervana Jugic-Salkic, a last-minute substitute team at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, were defeated today by the also-unseeded team of Iveta Benesova and Janette Husarova, 5-7, 6-3, 10-2. Jans and Jugic-Salkic defeated the teams of Chakvetadze and Vaidisova, number 2 seeds Srebotnik and Sugiyama, and Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual.

Benesova and Husarova will play Chan and Chuang in the final. Benesova has also revived her singles game of late.

Doubles upsets in Rome

Unseeded Peng and Sun upset top seeds Black and Huber in Rome today, 4-6, 7-5, 10-6. But that was not the only upset. Fifth-seeded Chan and Chuang upset third-seeded Peschke and Stubbs, and Jans/Jugic-Salkic continued their out-of-nowhere run (reminiscent of Govortsova and Gallovits in Charleston) by defeating Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual. Jans and Jugic-Salkic are alternates who were put into the draw at the last minute, and they have made the most of it. In the semifinals, they play Benesova and Husarova.

The top four doubles seeds have now been eliminated.

Chan/Chuang def. Peschke/Stubbs, 7-5, 6-2
Jans/Jugic-Salkic def. Medina Garrigues/Ruano Pascual, 6-7, 6-3, 11-9

Rome semifinals set

Will Jelena Jankovic defend her title?

Alize Cornet got an unexpectedly easy passage into the Internazionali BNL d'Italia semifinals when her opponent, Serena Williams, sustained a back injury during practice and gave the Frenchwoman a walkover. Anna Chakvetadze defeated a fatigue-ridden Tsvetana Pironkova, defending champion Jelena Jankovic took out Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova turned up the volume in the third set and defeated Patty Schnyder.

I was disappointed to see Schnyder lose to Sharapova again, but the good part is that I don't have to endure two of my very favorites, Schnyder and Jankovic, competing against each other. I really hope Jankovic can defend her title, but I like all four players in the semis, and I will be pleased for anyone who wins. Of course, should Sharapova win, the French Open map changes a little.

In tomorrow's semifinals, Cornet will play Chakvetadze, and Sharapova will play Jankovic.

Cornet def. Williams, w/o
Chakvetadze def. Pironkova, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
Jankovic def. Williams, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
Sharapova def. Schnyder, 6-7, 7-5, 6-2

Hantuchova expected to miss Roland Garros

Daniela Hantuchova's foot injury is taking a long time to heal. She is still in pain and cannot even walk far, let alone practice, so it looks like the French Open is out for her. What a shame.

Serena Williams out of Rome due to injury

Serena Williams gave Alize Cornet a walkover today because of a back injury, presumably the same one she had in Charleston. Cornet will play Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals.

Friday cat blogging--now we are 2!

Some time this month, Ziggy Stardust and Tarzan will have their second birthdays. The kittens, who are half-brothers, were rescued from a feral colony. Tarzan seemed hopelessly feral at first, but Ziggy did not have a feral bone in his body. Later, Tarzan became tame, and the two were inseparable. They were supposed to have been foster kittens, but you know how those things sometimes go--they wound up living with us. Roxie, our tabby, has never totally warmed to the idea, though she seems to like them more than she lets on. Her sister Velma, the patch tortoiseshell, has a lot of fun with both of them. I still feel guilty about disrupting Roxie's life.

Ziggy and Tarzan like to fight and play chase. Ziggy likes to get anything he can think of going with the sisters. Late at night, when the others are all in bed, Tarzan--who is very large--drags his toys all around the house.

Roland Garros wild cards announced

Here are the main draw wild cards for the French Open, a couple of whom have already been announced on this blog:

FRENCH:

Olivia Sanchez
Severine Bremond
Stephanie Foretz
Mathilde Johansson
Youlia Fedossova
Violette Huck

OTHER:

Madison Brengle
Sam Stosur

Cornet to get another shot at Williams

Alize Cornet gave it everything she had against Serena Williams in the Charleston semifinals, but it wasn't enough. Cornet had already gone through Michaella Krajicek, Sara Errani, Sorana Cirstea, and Agnes Szavay (great match) to get to the semis, but then Williams defeated her, 7-5, 6-3.

Soon, Cornet will get another chance, on slower clay, to test her game against Williams' game. Today, she upset number 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-2, 6-4. I don't know much about Cornet's game on other surfaces, but on clay, she is explosive, and displays beautiful court movement.

Number 2 seed Maria Sharapova got past Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, 7-6, and Patty Schnyder defeated Marion Bartoli in what appears to have been a real thriller--4-6, 6-4, 7-6.

The other big upset today was in doubles. The team of Jans/Jugic-Salkic defeated number 2 seeds Srebotnik/Sugiyama, 1-6, 7-5, 10-4.

What they're saying about Henin

Here are some thoughts on and tributes to Justine Henin:

Steve Flink

Peter Bodo

Kamakshi Tandon

Greg Garber

Bonnie D. Ford

Aaress Lawless

Richard Pagliaro

Jon Wertheim

Steve Tignor

Women Who Serve


And Amelie Mauresmo:

I was surprised like everyone. At no moment has she expressed any kind of fatigue. The question I ask is why she didn't take a break. It's true that with her method of [play]--lot of investment in the game, but also a lot of tension and fear--you can understand that fatigue would set in.

Dokic gets wild card for Strasbourg

Jelena Dokic, who recently won her first tournament in six years, has received a wild card to the Internationaux de Strasbourg main draw.

Hantuchova withdraws from Istambul

Her foot has not recovered, so Daniela Hantuchova has withdrawn from the Istambul Cup.