Day 5 at the Family Circle Cup

The weather has been splendid so far at the Family Circle Cup, with the exception of the rain that soaked the courts the night before qualifying began. There may be some drizzle tomorrow, and there is likely to outright rain on Sunday, when the finals are played.

Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova beat Marina Erakovic and Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals in today's first match.

This morning, I took a stroll around Daniel Island and overheard two women who had just driven here from somewhere or other and who were discussing whether they should cross the street and watch the quarterfinals or--just go drink. Ladies, wherever you are, please don't attend the night match.

A couple of days ago, someone here to cover the tournament asked me why a military publication would cover a tennis tournament. I actually had to make a service motion while saying "You know, tennis--serve" before the light came on. A few years ago, I was watching a match on the Club Court, and a volunteer asked me what part of the media I represented. I told her I published Women Who Serve, and she asked me what branch of the military I was in. "Women who serve--you know, tennis," I said, gesturing that a play on words was involved, and she gave me a blank look. Then the other volunteers started yelling at her, "you know, serve--tennis!" but she just continued to stare blankly at us while we walked away.

There are no former champions left in the draw. 6th seed Genie Bouchard took Jelena Jankovic out in three sets a while ago (more on that later) in a match in which Jankovic was the clear crowd favorite.