Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Radwanska, Bartoli and Stosur say goodbye

14th seed Marion Bartoli won her first set against wild card Kim Clijsters today at the U.S. Open, but after that, it was all Clijsters, who upset Bartoli 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

Given Clijsters' stature, the more surprising upset was the defeat of 15th seed Samantha Stosur by the unseeded Vania King. Stosur has had an excellent hard court season, but King--who had considerably more going for her on her second serve--took the match 7-5, 6-4.

12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, whose injured hand was heavily wrapped, had to contend with a very in-form Maria Kirilenko. Kirilenko made more unforced errors than Radwanska, but she hit more than twice as many winners. This was the best Kirilenko has played in a long time; she served well, volleyed well, hit the ball hard, and impressed at almost every turn, winning 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Aleksandra Wozniak upset 17th seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-0, and Kirsten Flipkens upset 20th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-3.

Bagels are very popular in New York, and 10th seed Flavia Pennetta delivered a pair to Sania Mirza. Vera Zvonareva won an all-Russian match against Anna Chakvetadze, Jill Craybas played a great first set against Elena Vesnina (Vesnina won the match), and Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka cruised through, and Venus Williams--despite her injury--looked sharp in her victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

No one, however, put on a display of tennis to match that of Li Na, who stunned Michelle Larcher De Brito, 6-1, 6-3, with a virtual tennis clinic.

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