Quote of the day

"I know what to do on the big points, I know what my strengths are, and I improved my weaknesses as well. I've also improved my movement a lot, and physically, to be able to hang in there against these types of players--it's important to me mentally."

Marion Bartoli

Williams sisters win Stanford doubles title

Venus and Serena Williams won the Stanford doubles championship today, defeating unseeded Chan Yung-Jan and Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-1. The Williams team was seeded number 2.

Update on Paszek

The Austrian anti-doping agency has requested that its disciplinary committee sanction Tamira Paszek with a temporary ban because of a treatment she received involving extracting, enriching and replacing her blood. Paszek's defense was that she did not know she had broken any rule by having the treatment. She now has seven days to respond to the committee.

Bartoli avoids 6-0, 6-1--defeats Venus to win Stanford

Last night, after her semifinal victory over Samantha Stosur, Marion Bartoli--when asked what she planned for the final against Venus Williams--said her first goal was "to avoid 6-0, 6-1," the scoreline of Williams' semifinal match against Elena Dementieva. No worries. Bartoli played the kind of tennis of which she is capable, but which she does not always create. The 3-hour match was everything a final should be--exciting, exhausting, filled with brilliant shot-making, and filled with some odd detours.

One struggled with her serves, the other struggled with her nerves.

2nd seed Venus Williams, whose first serve is one of the best on the tour, had two problems: She was not getting her first serve in nearly as much as she needed to, and she was playing Bartoli, who really doesn't care how good her opponent's first serve is. To some extent, today's match was a repeat of Bartoli's semifinal match: The 8th seed was content to let her opponent hit a multitude of winners while she went about the business of running down every imaginable shot, over and over, until her opponent made an error. The error-prone Williams was happy to oblige--way too many times.

But Bartoli, who was last year's finalist, had her own problems. After handily winning the first set 6-2, it looked as though she might cruise through the second, but Williams would not let her do that. When Bartoli served for the match at 5-3 in the second, she was visibly a bundle of nerves (ESPN commentators said she had told her coach, during the break, that she was excessively anxious), and was easily broken. Williams brought it to 5-all, held easily, then broke the still-unnerved Bartoli when she served to force a tiebreak.

Perhaps to the surprise of some, Bartoli opened the third round by breaking Williams, and then the final round see-saw was in place, with momentum going back and forth. Williams broke Bartoli to even the score at 3-all, but Bartoli broke again. Once again, it looked as though Bartoli might be able to win the match by breaking Williams when she served at 3-5, but again she was forced to serve for the match. With nerves intact this time around, she used her solid and inventive serve to seal the 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory.

From my viewer's standpoint, it appeared that Bartoli could have gone out to celebrate a lot sooner if she had used her down-the-line shot more often. When she did use it, she was successful, but there were several times in this match when she could have used it to win valuable points. The rallies became shorter as the match went on, but in the first two sets, some of them were long and outstanding. Bartoli is an expert returner of serve, and her own serve can be very good, as it was today.

I wish Bartoli would utilize her father, Walter, as a coach only, and hire a trainer who could keep her in shape without over-training her. I have always suspected that some of her injuries and fatigue are direct results of excessive and inappropriate training. Getting the Stanford title, however, should do wonders for her confidence. I hope so. I'm one fan who has waited a long time for a Bartoli victory of this caliber, in a final against someone as formidable as Williams.

Dushevina wins Istanbul Cup

It took Vera Dushevina less than 42 minutes to defeat Lucie Hradecka in today's Istanbul Cup final. Dushevina, who was seeded 5th, defeated the the number 8 seed 6-0, 6-1. On her way to the title, the champion upset world number 21, Anabel Medina Garrigues.

This is Dushevina's first tour singles title; she has been a finalist in three other tournaments.

Stanford: Bartoli defeats Stosur, Venus runs over Dementieva

It was satisfying to hear a commentator say that Marion Bartoli's court movement is deceptively good, because it is. Her defense against semifinal opponent Sam Stosur--much of it done on the run--was very impressive tonight. Bartoli broke Stosur twice in the first set and won it handily, but in the second set, she lost control of her serve. To make matters worse for her, Stosur became more aggressive and totally dominated her.

Momentum can swing so much in a tennis match, and for reaons I cannot really explain, I had a feeling that the third set would once again be the Marion Bartoli Show, and I was right. Breaking Stosur immedinately, Bartoli again found her own serve, and dominated Stosur as she herself had been dominated in the previous set. Stosur had to have a medical break for her back, which certainly must have contributed to her third set downfall, but Bartoli made a solid contribution, also, defeating Stosur 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. It should be noted that Stosur hit 43 winners to Bartoli's 16, but Bartoli's defense was just too good, and when things got tense, it was she who held her nerve.

This is the second year in a row that Bartoli has reached the Stanford finals. Her first goal for the final, she told and interviewer, is to "avoid 6-0, 6-1." That would be a reference to the score of Venus Williams' semifinal match against Elena Dementieva. It was a bit scary to watch the formidable and talented Dementieva stand helpless as Williams completely dominated her. This looked like the Venus Williams of several years ago, and one cannot help but wonder what the queen of grass courts has up her ELEVEN sleeve for the U.S. Open Series this year. Bartoli is wise to set a goal of not being obliterated by her 2007 Wimbledon final opponent.

Black & Huber upset in Stanford

Top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber, the number 1 doubles team in the world, were upset in the Stanford quarterfinals last night by Chan Yung-Jan and Monica Niculescu. Chan and Niculescu will play Venus and Serena Williams in the final. The Williams sisters defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova, the team who took them out of the French Open.