Vinci goes on Toronto upset tear

Roberta Vinci and her doubles partner, Sara Errani upset 5th seeds Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina in Toronto today, beating them 2-6, 6-0, 10-7. But that upset was more like the icing on the cake because the "cake" was Vinci's upset of top seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in the second round of singles play. Vinci came back from being 1-5 down in the second set--saving three set points--to defeat the world number 1 6-4, 7-5.

Vinci likes to use the backhand slice, and she used it effectively today against Wozniacki, keeping the ball low and then coming in with winning forehand shots. The two had never played against each other before, and afterwards, Wozniacki said of the Italian: "She breaks her opponent's rhythm. She slices the ball. It's tough to get under it, and then she really goes for it on the forehand."

Today marked the first time Vinci, who is number 22 in the world, has ever beaten a top-5 player; she lost in her previous 17 attempts.

The so-called "clever" players--to me, they are players with complete games--have gotten themselves noticed in the past several days. Agnieszka Radwanska won the championsip in Carlsbad, Vinci took out Woniacki, and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (who has a variety of skills but doesn't always execute them well enough) defeated Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 6-2 in today's second round. Martinez Sanchez is a qualifier in Toronto.

Another qualifier who did really well today was Galina Voskoboeva, the player who upset Marion Bartoli in the first round. Today, Voskoboeva defeated Flavia Pennetta in three sets. Peng Shuai, again suffering with a hip injury, gave a walkover to Li Na, and--though she needed six match points in an exciting tiebreak--Serena Williams defeated Julia Goerges 6-1, 7-6 (9-7). Also advancing were 3rd seed Vera Zvonareva (def. Nadia Petrova), 4th seed Victoria Azarenka (def. Stephanie Dubois 6-0, 6-0), 5th seed Maria Sharapova (def. Bojana Jovanovski), 7th seed Petra Kvitova (def. Anabel Medina Garrigues), 8th seed Francesca Schiavone (def. Ekaterina Makarova), and 10th seed Sam Stosur (def. Aleksandra Wozniak).