Rybarikova wins Memphis championship

It was a pleasure to watch Magdalena Rybarikova dip into her considerable bag of tricks during the Memphis final tonight. What wasn't a pleasure was watching the match end after the first set. 6th seed Rebecca Marino, who suffered a left abdominal strain in the semifinals, just wasn't herself, and had to retire at 2-6 because of the pain. (Tennis Channel commentators said they didn't know anything about the injury. I did, as I'm sure many fans did. Business as usual with commentators.) It was too bad for Marino, for fans--and for Rybarikova.

The good part is that Rybarikova, having fallen out of the top 100, really needed this career boost. This is her second WTA Tour title: She won the Birmingham tournament in 2009.

Between them, Rybarikova and Marino hit 63 aces during the tournament, with Marino hitting 40 of those. Both women have really fine serves, and I look forward to watching both of them throughout the season.

The doubles title was won by 2nd seeds Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva, who defeated 4th seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-3, 4-6, 10-8.

Melbourne miscellany

Tennis Australia's Louise Pleming is acting as Jelena Dokic's temporary coach at the Australian Open. I reported recently that Dokic had hired Glenn Schapp to be her coach, but apparently, that didn't work out. Dokic said she "didn't feel that click" with Schapp.

The Tennis Channel commentating team waited until Agnieszka Radwanska was down 1-4 in the third set of the first round before casually mentioning that she had had foot surgery in October and wasn't sure, until the last minute, that she would play in Melbourne. Radwanska hadn't played since September, and not discussing her injury and surgery felt like a major omission. (She did win the match, but that's another story.

One more time: Alla Kudryavtseva did not make a disparaging remark about Maria Sharapova's tennis dress when she upset her in the 2008 Wimbledon tournament. She made a sarcastic little joke as a response to what she thought was a less-than-intelligent question from a member of the sports media. It shocked her that dozens of journalists didn't get that she was being ironic. It didn't exactly shock me.

While I'm on the subject of the tennis media....ESPN's Australian Open commentators' discussion of the "great cloud" concerning Serena Williams' foot is beyond tiresome. A drunken, irresponsible person threw a bottle and cut Williams' foot. It was a significant injury. She had to have two surgeries. Great cloud.

Vania King is walking, shopping in Melbourne's Chinatown, singing, and preparing to play Australian Open number 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki.

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen occur in a professional tennis match:

Kudryavtseva wins Tashkent title

Alla Kudryavtseva won her first tour title today. The 7-seeded Kudryavtseva defeated 4th seed Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-4 at the Tashkent Open. This is the fourth time that Vesnina has played in a final, and the fourth time she has lost one.

The doubles title was won by Alexandra Panova and Tatiana Poutchek, who defeated Alexandra Dulgheru and Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-4.

Groth wins Guangzhou title

Jarmila Groth won her first tour title today. Groth defeated Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 6-4 to claim the Guangzhou International Women's Open championship. Groth was the top seed at the tournament.

Edina Gallovits and Sania Mirza won the doubles championship. They defeated Han Xin Yun and Liu Wanting 7-5, 6-3.

Matttek-Sands and Paszek to contend for Quebec City title

Qualifier Tamira Paszek advanced to the Bell Challenge final today, with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Christina McHale. In the final, she will play Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who defeated 3rd seed Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1. Mattek-Sands was the runner-up in 2008. Mattek-Sands and her partner, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, are also in the doubles final.

In Guangzhou, 1st seed Jarmila Groth clinched her spot in the final by defeating Edina Gallovits 6-0, 6-1. Her opponent will be Alla Kudryavtseva, who defeated Zhang Shuai 6-0, 6-4.

Raymond & Stubbs upset in 1st round of Pilot Pen

Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs were upset in the first round in New Haven today by the ad hoc team of Raquel Kops-Jones and Alla Kudryavtseva. Kops-Jones and Kudryavtseva defeated the 2nd seeds 5-7, 6-2, 10-5.

Kuzzy may have lost the match...

But she's a winner with me:

You see I'm closing up, because sometimes your comments‑‑normally I'm open person. I learned. I was still similar example. She did win Wimbledon, but this girl could win Wimbledon. She beat Maria Sharapova, and she came to this press conference, she so open, she wanted to say so much to the press, and it's like I won the US Open and I wanted to share myself, to share happiness when I won it. And also people started telling her, so you happy you won? She says, yes, I am. So were you angry with‑‑were you motivated? What did bring you motivation to beat Maria? Well, I was just motivated to be here. She's great player. And then, do you like her dress? And she says, no really. So can we say you're more motivated her beating her you did not like her dress? She says, well, whatever. Next morning it was in the press, "She hated her dress, that's why she beat her." This is why players close up, because we don't really mean it. I'm just trying to be open to show how the players feel.

I think through the press, Billie Jean King was saying about this, she was saying this, because through press it's not about our work, it's our job, but we communicate to the kids, to the world, you know. So many kids and people looking up for you. Looking at what you're going to do, to learn something from players.

So I prefer to give them the real message, how it is.

Right on, Sveta.

Add Kudryavtseva to the injury list

Alla Kudryavtseva had to retire in Montreal today during her match with Svetlana Kuznetsova. She has some type of shoulder injury, which I hope is not serious. More Alla!

How do you solve a problem like Maria? No big deal for Alla...

It has now been four years since Maria Sharapova won the Wimbledon championship. I had a strong feeling that she was finally going to repeat her win this year, and today, that feeling was proven to be, well...just a feeling. Sharapova went out in the second round in straight sets to the talented but inconsistent--and mostly unsuccessful--Alla Kudyravtseva. Kudryavtseva said that in her practice session, "everything worked." Conversely, the world number 2 said that it "just wasn't my day."

Kudyravtseva, who is ranked number 154 in the world, and whose highest ranking so far has been 59, saw vulnerability in Sharapova and went after it. The former champion double-faulted eight times and made more than twice as many unforced errors as her opponent, who played a very clean match. Sharapova's second serve, which used to be the best in women's tennis, failed her miserably. She was able to break Kudyravtseva only twice. Sharapova did outplay Kudyravtseva at the net, and she did hit three aces, but her good moments were too few to get her even a third set. She looked befuddled and out of sorts, and was simply not able to string together enough winning shots to take away her opponent's momentum.

Some of you may recall Kudyravtseva's performance at Wimbledon last year, when she did some deadly free swinging and went after Venus Williams' shaky forehand during a Court 2 first round match. Kudyravtseva pushed Williams to three tough sets, and--had she been just a bit more consistent with her shot-making--would have once again proven why Court 2 is called the graveyard court. This year, the young Russian was given Centre Court to show off in, but as far as Sharapova is concerned, it might just as well have been the graveyard court.

Don't miss Kudyravtseva's droll interview; pity only part of it is on video.

Kudyravtseva def. Sharapova, 6-2, 6-4.

Kuznetsova out, Kudryavtseva in

I learned a few days ago that Svetlana Kuznetsova had hurt her shoulder and would not be playing in the Fed cup semifinal against the U.S. this coming weekend, but I wanted to wait until I knew who her replacement was before I said anything. Now I know--it is Alla Kudryavtseva, the player who gave Venus Williams so much trouble in the first round of Wimbledon.

Wimbledon, Day 2

Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine lost her nerve and missed a chance to eliminate Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round

Today was "Close Call Day" at Wimbledon, when two important players teetered at the edge of upset. The first was Venus Williams, who faced Russian upstart Alla Kudryavtseva in the Graveyard Court of Champions, and almost left with a Round 1 burial. Kudryavtseva was up and down, and given to a lot of court emotion (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but when she was up, she was deadly. Kudryavtseva had several episodes of free-swinging success, and she was also able to take advantage of the errant Williams forehand and the fact that the ball coming off of the Williams racquet was often flying all over the place.

Williams' sister, Serena, was yelling encouragement at her, and Williams said that was what got her through. It didn't hurt that the young Russion was so inconsistent. With a bit of maturity, though, she could become dangerous. Final score: 2-6, 6-3, 7-5

Number 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had her own problems in an injured Julia Vakulenko, who took the first set and looked poised to take the second until things turned around with a break at 4-all. Vakulenko's service game--both first and second serve--was outstanding, and she often stood in the middle of the court and pulled Kuznetsova back and forth repeatedly as though she were on a string. In the end, though, she caved, presumably from nerves, and Kuznetsova used her athleticism and experience to take the match. This was a clean, exciting, very well-played match--they should all be this good. Final score: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3

Player of the day: Julia Vakulenko, who should have stood her ground and taken Kuznetsova out, but who nevertheless put on yet another display of wonderful tennis.