Saturday, April 19, 2008

Family Circle Cup day 5--not my best day

So I had a bad day. But of course, there were other things going on besides my horror at seeing both Schnyder and Jankovic taken out, one right after the other. But it is very late and I am very tired, so I will just give very quick highlights instead of reports:

If you want to see the glass as half empty, then you can say that Serena Williams beat Sharapova yet again. But if you want to see it as half full, you can say that Sharapova got more games off of Williams this time than she has in a while--and on clay, to boot. I like the half full version. Williams def. Sharapova, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1

Jelena Jankovic is finally serving well, a fact that takes some of the sting out of her loss.

Former champion Rosie Casals and Jack Jones, co-founder of the Family Circle Cup, were honored on Stadium Court today. Casals said that when she won the first Cup title, she took her $30,000 in prize money (at the time, the largest purse ever given to a man or woman in any tournament, including the majors) and bought a Mercedes Benz for $20,000. "It's still running," she said, "and so am I."

Olga Govortsova (who can play some kick-ass doubles) and Edina Gallovits took advantage of an error-prone Rennae Stubbs this morning, and took Peschke and Stubbs out of the tournament. Azarenka and Vesnina did likewise for Chan and Chuang, and Srebotnik and Sugiyama were victorious over Raymond and Likhovtseva. Black and Huber, meanwhile, got a walkover from Szavay and Safina, presumably because Szavay had to play a singles quarterfinal match.

It didn't help. Szavay was defeated, 7-5, 6-4, by the feisty and talented Alize Cornet. Cornet is very strong on both sides, and has an especially effective forehand. She's in the semifinals of a clay tournament for the second week in a row. The bad news, however, is that her opponent in this one will be Serena Williams.

Tennis outfit of the day: Maria Sharapova, in a powder blue pleated skirt and ruffled-placket top.

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