Pacific Life Open is now BNP Paribas Open

The Pacific Life Open tournament in Indian Wells has been renamed the BNP Parisbas Open. BNP Parisbas will be the sponsor of one of tennis's largest tournaments for the next ten years.

Indian Wells loses its sponsor

The Pacific Life Open is no more. Having sponsored the prestigious tournament in Indian Wells, California for seven years, Pacific Life is out. According to the tournament director, it was the tournament who showed Pacific Life the door, and not the other way around. The reason for doing so, however, has not been announced, making it sound rather mysterious, despite talk of "parting on very good terms, blah-blah-blah."

Ivanovic wins Indian Wells

I did not get to see the final because FSN Southwest did not broadcast it. At any rate, Ana Ivanovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 6-3. Kuznetsova has developed the Patty Schnyder syndrome: Get into plenty of finals and lose them. I hope she turns that around soon. (I hope Patty does, too.)

Safina and Vesnina win Indian Wells

Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina have defeated Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, 6-1, 1-6, 10-8 to take the doubles title at the Pacific Life Open. Unseeded Safina and Vesnina beat the sixth, fourth and eighth seeds to get to the final. Yan and Zheng were seeded third.

Kuznetsova and Ivanovic victorious in Indian Wells semis

I didn't get to see the entire match, but the 19-shot rally in the Sharapova-Kuznetsova semifinal match was not only breathtaking, but it showed a side of Kuznetsova we haven't seen for a while--the fighting side. It didn't matter what Sharapova gave her--Kuznetsova got it back. Sharapova apparently was off her game in the first set, got more on track in the second, and helped turn the third into one I was glad I saw.

Kuznetsova def. Sharapova, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2

In the other semifinal, Jelena Jankovic's first set service game was better than usual, and she was able to bring the first set to a tiebreak, but her performance in it was filled with uncharacteristic errors. She is usually able to shake off negative things like that, but the bad feeling clearly followed her into the second set, which Ana Ivanovic dominated.

Ivanovic def. Jankovic, 7-6, 6-3

I'm a bit behind here...

But this is the first time I've seen Vania King's Indian Wells dress. I like it.

All-Russian, all-Serbian semifinals to be played at Pacific Life Open

It's down to four. Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play one semifinal, and Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic will play the other. Sharapova and Kuznetsova have played each other seven times, and Sharapova has won four of those matches, including the last two. Sharapova leads 3-2 on hard courts.

Jankovic and Ivanovic have played each other six times, and Ivanovic has won five of those matches. She leads 3-1 on hard courts.

Possible interfering factors:

Ivanovic appeared to be bothered by the heat in her quarterfinal match against Vera Zvonareva. I say "appeared" because I'm not totally convinced she wasn't more bothered by Zvonareva's backhand. At 4-all int he second set, Ivanovic insisted (the umpire suggested she wait until the changeover) on taking a time-out to see the trainer, who felt her pulse while she had a drink and a bite to eat. She then returned to the court and broke Zvonareva.

Jankovic has been suffering with a cold since she arrived in Indian Wells. Having Wednesday off and having her quarterfinal opponent retire certainly helps, but illness lurks.

Chan and Chuang upset in Indian Wells

The Pacific Life Open's number 2 seeds, Chan Jung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, were upset today by Bethanie Mattek and Sania Mirza, who defeated them 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. Number 1 seeds, Peshke and Stubbs, have already been eliminated from competition.

So unpretty

First it was Marion Bartoli and Angelique Kerber. I didn't see their first set in Indian Wells, but the second was not a pretty sight, with Bartoli losing a 5-1 lead, and Kerber looking like she was trying to figure out a way for Bartoli to win, anyway. I have been watching Kerber for a while and I think she has talent, but that set was painful to watch. Bartoli finally won it, and won the match, 6-3, 7-6.

This evening, it was Maria Sharapova and Alona Bondarenko. Each had moments of brilliance, but the overall match (or at least the first two sets) was fraught with errors and inconsistency. Both players had major service problems, and Bondarenko tended to follow a winner with an error. Sharapova, for her part, had trouble keeping the ball in the court. She finally prevailed, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, after an entertaining final set.

Barry Tompkins, one of the commentators for FSN, talked about Bondarenko's negative body language. Obviously, he has not watched her before. Alona Bondarenko is restrained at her best moments, and somewhat dour at others, but that's just her court personality.

Notable in today's play was Ashley Harkleroad, who took Agnieszka Radwanska to three sets before being defeated, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Everyone--it's time to write a letter

Please, everyone--write a letter to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and express your disapproval of Indian Wells television "coverage." As I and others have written, FSN is a loosely connected series of regional networks. If you get FSN West or North, you get to see a lot of the Pacific Life Open. If you get some of the other FSNs, like the one I get, you get to see almost nothing.

In the old days, you would have as much luck getting an answer back from the Sony Ericsson WTA tour as you would getting an answer back from Santa Claus, but these days, you can actually get a reply--if you are willing to wait several weeks. They need to hear from hundreds of us (so does the ATP) about this so that it will not happen again.

Number 1 doubles seeds out in 2nd round of Pacific Life Open

The number 1 seeds at Indian Wells, Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs, have been defeated in the second round by the team of Mariya Koryttseva and Vladmira Uhlirova, 1-6, 6-4, 10-8. Don't you just love the super-tiebreak?...

Nicole Vaidisova out of Indian Wells

Casey Dellacqua, who showed a big improvement in form at the Australian Open, whacked twelve aces tonight, and won a slot in the third round of the Pacific Life Open, upsetting Nicole Vaidisova, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Dellacqua will have her work cut out for her in the next round, when she plays Tamira Paszek.

What has happened to Sybille Bammer?

During the last part of the 2007 season, Sybille Bammer raised her game to a higher level, and gave us all a look at what we thought would be a great 2008 season for her. But so far this season, with the exception of her win over Svetlana Kuznetsova in Doha, she has had a bad time of it. Just last week, Anastasia Rodionova defeated Bammer in the second round of the Bangalore Open, and today, Chan Yung-Jan defeated her 6-1, 6-3 in the second round of the Pacific Life Open.

Bammer will now drop out of the top 20, which isn't something I expected to happen.

Insult to injury

It's bad enough that FSN Southwest is showing very little of Indian Wells. I waited all day to see coverage that isn't even live.

Dulko injured

Gisela Dulko retired after her first set against Lindsay Davenport at the Pacific Life Open today. She has had a lot of injury problems lately; this time it was a right quadriceps strain.

ESPN and FSN can both go to hell

ESPN has dumped Indian Wells coverage, of course, and FSN is not a network, but a series of regional networks. If you get FSN West, you get to see lots of the Pacific Life Open, and I think you get to see a lot of it if you have FSN North, too. I have FSN Southwest, and the coverage is terrible. And I've heard that some people have FSN channels with even worse coverage than FSN Southwest.

Thanks, ESPN.

Wozniacki upsets Kirilenko

The unpredictable Maria Kirilenko was emphatically eliminated from the Pacific Life Open today by the talented Caroline Wozniacki, 6-2, 6-0. Wozniacki's serve was definitely on, giving her high first serve percentages and a second service point win record of 80%. She never gave Kirilenko a break point.

Another big winner was Ashley Harkleroad, who beat Lucie Safarova, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. Both women had trouble with their second serves, and each woman double-faulted ten times.

In doubles, sixth-seeded Peng Shuai and Sun Tiantian were upset by Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina, 4-6, 6-1, 10-4, in the first round. Peng and Sun won the Bangalore Open last week.

Jankovic's luggage lost in Dubai

So she asked her mother to pack some things for her in Miami and bring them to Indian Wells. Only her luggage was lost, too. Read about it in Jankovic's Indian Wells blog.

Li withdraws from Indian Wells

Li Na has withdrawn from the Pacific Life Open because of a right knee injury. She withdrew from Dubai because of a leg injury, also.

Also withdrawing from Indian Wells is Laura Granville, who is reported to have a left wrist injury.

Angela Haynes pulls off upset in first round

I didn't pay any attention to the Pacific Life Open first round match between the talented Sara Errani and Angela Haynes; I just assumed Errani would move on. Surprise! Haynes beat her, 7-5, 6-2. I didn't see that one coming.

Zheng Jie beat down Emelie Loit, 6-0, 6-1, and Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Marta Domachowska, 6-4, 6-2. This also surprised me. Though Pironkova can sometimes put in a good performance, I thought the resurgent veteran would do better.

Also out is Nathalie Dechy, defeated by Mariya Koryttseva, 6-1, 6-4.