Today's Results

Monday, June 30, 2008

Singles - Fourth Round
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) d. (2) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 63 62
(14) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 64 16 75
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (24) Shahar Peer (ISR) 62 61
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. Bethanie Mattek (USA) 63 63
(7) Venus Williams (USA) d. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 63 64
(18) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) d. (8) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 46 76(0) 63
(WC) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (15) Agnes Szavay (HUN) 63 64
(21) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 61 64

Top four seeds out, no new No. 1; Kuznetsova fails to win, Williams sisters succeed

With Ana Ivanovic an Maria Sharapova out of the tournament, Jelena Jankovic could have become the new World No. 1. But it wasn't Jelena's day, as she fell to Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn in straight sets, 63 62.

For 1 hour and 15 minutes Jankovic battled her opponent, but couldn't come up with the right shots, ending the match with 19 unforced, being broken four times, and making five double faults.

"I was really happy just to be on the court, especially because after the MRI I had two days ago the doctors told me I'm questionable to even play," said Jankovic, who injured her knee during a third round win over Caroline Wozniacki. "I was late on every shot. I was always a step behind. I did the best I could though, and she was just too solid. She didn't make any mistakes. All the credit to her."

She made quite a lot of double faults at the end of the second set and I noticed she was struggling with her movement," Tanasugarn said. "If she was 100% it would have been a much, much tougher match. But today I just went out there and played my game, played aggressively, and it worked out for me."

Jankovic admitted to frustration for not being able to play her best, and discussed what's in store for her in the near future: "It was hard because I couldn't compete at my best. When you're not 100% healthy, it's very hard, especially on grass, where you have to move well and be behind the ball. But now I'm finished here I don't risk making it worse, so I can rest for a while and start getting ready for the hardcourt tournaments coming up in the summer."

This is the second time in the Open Era that the top 3 seeds haven't reached the quarterfinals together, the first in 1997, when No. 4 Martina Hingis won the title when No. 1 Steffi Graf and No. 3 Conchita Martinez fell in the fourth round and No. 2 seed Aranxta Sanchez Vacario fell in the third round.

"Can I say wow wow wow? Being in the fourth round so many years and to make it into the quarterfinals this year is a really good feeling," Tanasugarn declared. "Every year my goal was to be in the quarterfinals and I never made it. I was very disappointed the other times. But this year I've just been concentrating on my matches. I was even happy to reach the fourth round again."

Two years ago, at the age of 29, Tanasugarn was contemplating retirement from the Tour, but an impressive run at Wimbledon - go figure - revitalized her career, and her goals and motivations completely changed.

"During that time I was thinking of stopping. I had to play qualies that year, then just started trying to have fun and just go out and play my matches. Suddenly I qualified and got back to the third round again. I could feel it coming back. I was probably just burnt out around that time but now I've learned how to take care of my body and plan my schedule. Now I'm just trying to try hard and have fun."

Next up for Tanasugarn is No.7 seed and defending champion Venus Williams, against whom she is 0-6 - and 0-12 in sets, having only even taken her to a 6-4 set twice (two 6-3 sets, five 6-2 sets and three 6-1 sets). This is their first time playing on grass, but Williams is also somewhat of a grass court specialist.

"I've played her so many times and she has kicked my butt," Tanasugarn said. "I'm just happy to be in the quarterfinals. No pressure at all for me. I'll just go out there, have fun and do my best."

Kuznetsova crushed; Williams sisters advance

Svetlana Kuznetsova could have gotten the chance to be the new No . 1 because Jankovic had been beaten, but it didn't happen. Kuznetsova failed to advance to the quarterfinals after falling to Polish rising star Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets, 64 16 75.

"In the first set I was playing more aggressively, then from the second set until 4-1 in the third, she was the boss on the court," Radwanska said. "I was just trying to fight and play like I did in the first set, because that was the way to win the match. It was 50-50 in the end, and I'm really happy I was able to win."

I don't know why, but I stopped doing whatever I did that was bringing me success," Kuznetsova said. "I'm pretty surprised I changed that. You can never change the tactics when you're winning. Suddenly I started playing on the baseline, and it goes quickly on grass. I lost my serve on an easy forehand into the net. I lost my chance there."

Serena and Venus Williams advanced, as they won their matches in straight sets. Serena beat American Bethanie Mattek, 63 63, to get one step closer to the final possibly with her sister Venus. Venus crushed Russian Alisa Kleybanova also in straight sets, 63 64.

We're just really trying to stay focused," Serena stated. "We both have some tough opponents coming into the quarterfinals. I'm just trying to keep winning, to be honest. There's a lot of depth in women's tennis. Everyone is playing so well. You can't underestimate anyone, whether it's the first round or the finals. You have to play everyone with that same tenacity."

"I'm extremely focused at this point on the doubles and on my quarterfinal," Venus said. "I realize that nothing is a given. If it was, then every single seed would be lined up ready to play each other now, but it's not. I'm happy with the progression. Every player is challenging. I'm very happy to have gotten through."

Next to face Serena is Agnieszka Radwanska, who rallied back from from 4-1 down in the third to win to Svetlana Kuznetsova, 64 16 75.

Next up for Venus is Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn, who stunned No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic easily in straight 63 62.

Dementieva to face Petrova; Zheng to face Vaidisova

There will be an all-Russian quarterfinal between Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova, as they both won their matches in straight sets. Dementieva, the No. 5 seed, crushed Shahar Peer easily, 62 61. Petrova prevailed against Alla Kudryavtseva, who won to one of the Russian favorites, Maria Sharapova, in the second round, 61 64.

"It's an opportunity for me, and Nadia as well, to move into the semifinals," said Dementieva, who is 4-7 lifetime against Petrova, and 0-2 on grass. "I'm sure it's going to be difficult match. I know Nadia likes to play here, and she always had great results playing on grass. It's going to be tough."

"I'm very excited to be through the second week of Wimbledon," said Petrova, who had a solid grass court warm-up season, reaching the final of Eastbourne before falling to Radwanska in a marathon three-setter. "I realize I have a good draw to be in the quarters, and all I need to do is just stay there, have my head focused and play the right tactics, play smart."

Jie Zheng, who got a wildcard into Wimbledon, is going to play Czech Nicole Vaidisova. Zheng beat top seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round easily; and Nicole Vaidisova beat No. 8 seed Anna Chakvetadze in a thrilling three-setter to get into the quarterfinals.

"I'm definitely very, very excited," Vaidisova said. "Playing here in the quarters last year and being back here just feels very good. Zheng is a great player. I saw her playing last week a little bit. It's the quarterfinals, so it's definitely be tough."

I don't want to think about the semifinals because I want to concentrate on my next match," said Zheng, who is the second Chinese player ever to reach this round of a Grand Slam, following Li Na at this event two years ago. "I just want to keep going, try my best and not think about it too much. It's my first quarterfinal."

Players ready for second week

The first week is over, and the top seed Ana Ivanovic and the 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova crashed out early, Ivanovic in the third round and Sharapova in the second round. But No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic survived her last match of the week and is into the second week, not for the first time.

The seeds involved in the fourth round on the top half are former US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, two-time champion Serena Williams, Russian Anna Chakvetadze, Polish Agnieszka Radwanska, Hungarian Agnes Szavay, and Czech Nicole Vaidisova. In the bottom half there is four-time champion Venus Williams, surviver Jelena Jankovic, former French Open and US Open finalist Elena Dementieva, last year's Australian Open quarterfinalist Shahar Peer, and former French Open semifinalist Nadia Petrova.

The unseeded players in the top half are wildcard Jie Zheng, who knocked out the top seeded Ana Ivanovic, and American Bethanie Mattek. The unseeded players in the bottom half are Russian Alisa Kleybanova, Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn, and another Russian, Alla Kudryavtseva, who won to Maria Sharapova in the second.

On Monday, all the players will play, and the ones who win will advance to the quarterfinals of the third Grand Slam of the year.

Good luck to all the players.

Today's Results

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Singles - Third Round
(2) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (31) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 26 64 62
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 76(2) 75
(7) Venus Williams (USA) d. (Q) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 61 75
(24) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (9) Dinara Safina (RUS) 75 67(4) 86
(21) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (16) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 76(11) 76(4)
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 64 64
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) d. Marina Erakovic (NZL) 46 64 64
Alla Kurdyavtseva (RUS) d. Peng Shuai (CHN) 63 16 64

Jankovic survives thrilling three-setter; Peer ruins all-Russian quarter

Jelena Jankovic didn't have a upset bug like fellow countrywoman Ana Ivanovic and Russian Maria Sharapova. Jankovic kept focused even if she lost the first set to youngster Caroline Wozniacki, and still won the match in a breathe-taking three setter, 26 64 62. Jankovic's play wasn't clean and clear, as she hit 39 unforced errors throughout the match, and won less than half the break point chances she had.

"I was really not happy with the way I was playing, especially in the first set," Jankovic said. "I made so many unforced errors. It was very windy out there and hard for me to find my rhythm. I was disappointed with my performance throughout the whole match. But it's also very important to somehow find a way to win when you're not playing your best. Nobody goes out there and puts up the white flag. She's very young and very motivated, and she wanted to win."

This isn't the first time that Jankovic has reached the second week here at Wimbledon. Despite fellow Serbian Ivanovic exiting early, Jankovic didn't want that to happen to her.

I thought maybe I was the next one," Jankovic joked. "The top seeds, when they're not playing so well, usually get through these rounds and start playing better and better the rest of the tournament. But the conditions are quite tough here and the players they played were really swinging freely. It's very tough to get out of that and they couldn't somehow. Today I was lucky I could."

Next, Jankovic will face Tamarine Tanasugarn, who won to New Zealander Marina Erakovic in three sets, 46 64 64, and before that, Russian Vera Zvonareva. Tanasugarn pushed Jankovic to the limits at their last meeting, on clay, which Jankovic won.

"She must be playing very well on grass and most of the players say that this is where she plays her best," Jankovic said on Tanasugarn. "She plays very flat and stays very low. She likes to play on this surface. It's going to be a tough one."

Venus continues winning streak; Peer ruins all-Russian quarterfinal

Venus Williams, Jankovic's possible quarterfinal opponent, continued to advance as she got past Spanish qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 61 75.

"I was happy with that one," Williams said. "The first set was pretty clean. The second set she just changed her strategy, started playing better and much more aggressively, and got that break back. She started putting some pressure on me, but I was pretty happy because I had some good answers."

Williams will next face Alisa Kleybanova, who was victorious against unseeded player Ai Sugiyama, 64 64. In Kleybanova's second round match, she won to Daniela Hantuchova. It was her third Top 20 win. She has never won to a Top 10 player.

In the bottom half of the draw, Shahar Peer won to Dinara Safina, who was a French Open finalist this year, in a thrilling three-setter, 75 67(4) 86. Peer will play fifth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, who won to Gisela Dulko in a tight two-setter, 76(2) 75.

In the quarterfinals, the winner of Peer and Dementieva will face either No.21 seed Nadia Petrova or Alla Kudryavtseva, after Petrova beat No.16 seed Victoria Azarenka, 76(11) 76(4), and Kudryavtseva beat Peng Shuai, 63 16 64.

"She had a very good win against Maria, and even today she really proved she's a tough player to beat on grass," said Petrova on Kudryavtseva. "She really enjoys this surface. This is the best she's ever done in a Grand Slam. When we play I'm sure I can just expect anything from her. She will be playing free."

Today's Results

Friday, June 27, 2008

Singles - Third Round
(WC) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (1) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 61 64
(4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (Q) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 62 64
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (29) Amélie Mauresmo (FRA) 76(5) 61
(8) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) d. Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 64 63
Bethanie Mattek (USA) d. (11) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 64 61
(14) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (Q) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 63 62
(15) Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 76(5) 26 62
(18) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) d. Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 62 64

Top seed stunned; former champions through

It didn't seem like the top seed recovered from yesterday's match, as Ana Ivanovic was stunned by Chinese Zheng Jie in straight sets, 61 64.

Ivanovic followed Sharapova into the sidelines as she made an early exit at Wimbledon. Her last match was with Nathalie Dechy, who she nearly lost to, surviving two match points and winning the third set 10-8. Ana's game was even worse at the third round match, when she smacked errors in every direction, especially off her pinpoint forehand.

"I felt it was a tough match because she has the big serve and big forehand; but I just kept telling myself I needed to be 100% because she's the better player," Zheng said. "I tried to put the ball to her backhand more. I also felt she was serving so-so today, so I could go after my returns more."

I'm definitely disappointed but I look at it as a learning experience, and she did play very well today," Ivanovic said. "She's a good player and plays well on grass. She has power and stays very low, so the balls are coming much faster. I had a tough time adjusting to the timing and it was also a little bit windy."

"On grass, everything is happening so fast," Ivanovic said. "You really have to be there from the first point on, and that's something I found hard. She was hitting fast and flat. I didn't have time to get into my game. On clay if you have a slow start it's okay, because you have more time in the points to find your rhythm."

This is Zheng's best result in the Tour, as she is the first Chinese player to beat the reigning World No. 1. Jie had never beaten a Top 10 player, her best win was to No. 11 ranked Anastasia Myskina in the championship match of Stockholm in 2006. It is remarkable, as Zheng missed the first half of the last year's season with a left ankle injury, and needed a wildcard to compete here.

"It's even more exciting because last year I was injured and missed Wimbledon," Zheng added. "I've only been back half a year and I'm playing like this, so it's a nice surprise. I'll just try my best and hope to keep going in the tournament."

Next up for Zheng will be No.15 seed Agnes Szavay, who beat Anabel Medina Garrigues, 76(5) 26 62, to reach the fourth round here for the first time.

Svetlana, Serena determined to win; last year's finalist crushed

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Serena Williams came one step closer to a quarterfinal clash, as No. 4 seed Sveta won to qualifier Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in straight sets, and the sixth seeded American champion ended the run of Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo, also in straight sets, 62 64.

"I was ready to go; she was too, especially in that first set," Williams said on Mauresmo. "I was trying to be aggressive. I've been working on coming into the net in general. I was trying to come to the net because I've been hitting my volleys well. I tightened up a little bit at the end of the first set but was able to relax a bit and close it out, then I won the second set pretty quickly."

For Kuznetsova, her win was a birthday present from herself: the russian, who currently is ranked No. 4, behind Ivanovic, Sharapova, and Jankovic, turned 23 this year.

"It's special. You want always to have a win, otherwise your birthday is a bit bad," Kuznetsova said. "It was hard, because I woke up in the morning and I got so many messages, but I really wanted to focus on my match. I almost switched off all my phones, but then it's nice because I appreciate people writing me and thinking about me. So I was trying to reply to people but also stayed focused on my game. I think I dealt with it pretty well."

Kuznetsova will next face No. 14 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat russian qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets, 62 63. Next up for Serena is unseeded Bethanie Mattek, who demolished No. 11 seed and last year's finalist Marion Bartoli.

"It was pretty cool being able to beat last year's finalist today; she's a good player and she's tough on grass, so I'm really excited," said Mattek, whose win over the world No.10 was her career-first Top 10 win. "I haven't played Serena in a couple years. She's a tough competitor. I'll have to be on my A-game, for sure. I think it will come down to serving big and then seeing who can break."

Today's Results

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Singles - Second Round
(2) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (WC) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 61 63
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. (3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) 62 64
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 46 63 63
(7) Venus Williams (USA) d. Anne Keothavong (GBR) 75 62
(9) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) 63 62
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. (10) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 63 46 61
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) d. (13) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 76(10) 46 63
(16) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 61 63
(21) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Mara Santangelo (ITA) 64 75
Ai Sugiyama (JPN) d. (22) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 76(5) 26 62
(24) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Emilie Loit (FRA) 63 64
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (25) Lindsay Davenport (USA) w/o (right knee injury)
Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (26) Sybille Bammer (AUT) 76(7) 46 63
(31) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 61 61
(Q) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. (32) Sania Mirza (IND) 60 46 97
Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 62 76(5)

Sharapova crushed; Venus, Jankovic continue dream run

The bottom half of the ladies draw lost two former Wimbledon champions as day 4 finished. Maria Sharapova met her fate when she crashed out to fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in straight sets, 62 64. Lindsay Davenport didn't have to play a point. She just retired with a right knee injury she suffered from in Eastbourne, and gave an easy win to Gisela Dulko.

Alla Kudryavtseva is currently ranked No. 154, reached a high rank of No. 59 last year, and certainly will rise in rankings from the win to the No. 3 in the world. Alla was aggressive from the very start, demolishing her countrywomen in 1 hour and 24 minutes.

"Maybe it will sound a little too much for me, but I did expect to win; I didn't just think about going and playing," Kudryavtseva said. "I realized Maria wasn't playing that great when she double faulted three times - I don't know what score that was - but it was the first time I broke her. She picked it up towards the end of the match and started playing some really good, aggressive tennis, putting more balls in the court, not overplaying the shots. I did a good job dealing with that. I knew she'd pick it up at some point. She always does. Thank God that last forehand went in!"

"I guess it wasn't my day," Sharapova said. "She just did everything better than I did. She hit the ball harder, served and returned better... On grass, those are two important elements. When you don't have a lot on the ball, your opponent can take advantage of that. Obviously she had nothing to lose. She went for her shots. I wasn't playing my game. I let her take control of the majority of points."

"For sure my first match with Maria helped, but I think what helped more was last year's match with Venus," Kudryavtseva said. "I was so close to winning, and then I played a little too passive in the end. So today I thought, 'There's no way I'm going to do the same mistake again.' So I went for my shots."

"I'm experienced enough to know that life goes on and that there are a lot worse things in life than losing a tennis match, even if it's at Wimbledon and even if it means a lot to me."Maria said. "I still have the desire, even 30 minutes after the match, to get better. That's the only thing that's gonna get me to hold that plate again."

Davenport suffers injury, retires

Davenport won here at Wimbledon in 1999, was a finalist here in 2000 and 2005, and a semifinalist in 2001 and 2004.

"After my first match I went to the hospital and had an MRI," said Davenport, the champion here in 1999. "It came out looking good. The cartilage looks good, the structure, the ligaments, the tendons all look fine. It just showed I had some inflammation and some fluid behind the kneecap. My first thought was major relief - it had nothing to do with the previous surgery on my knee. No immediate danger, it was just really inflamed and painful. I wanted to give it a rest all day yesterday. I had treatment twice and wanted to see how it felt today in warm-up, and I felt about 25, 30 percent. It's just not good enough. It's not going to get better the more I play. So, prescribed rest."

Sharapova and Davenport weren't the only seeds out on Thursday. No.10 seed Daniela Hantuchova was ousted by Alisa Kleybanova, 63 46 61; No.13 seed Vera Zvonareva lost to last week's 's-Hertogenbosch champion Tamarine Tanasugarn, 76(10) 46 63; No.22 seed Flavia Pennetta lost to Ai Sugiyama, 76(5) 26 62; No.26 seed Sybille Bammer lost to Peng Shuai, 76(7) 46 63; and No.32 seed Sania Mirza fell to qualifier María José Martínez Sánchez in a nail-biter, 60 46 97.


Jelena, Venus continue dream run

No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic and No. 7 seed Venus Williams both moved safely through to the next round. Venus, Wimbledon champion in 2000, 2001, 2005, and 2007. Jankovic, trying to win the first major of her career, crushed breakthrough story Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets, 61 63. Next she is going to play Caroline Wozniacki, who beat a player with a similar last name, Aleksandra Wozniak. Wozniacki has three top ten wins this year already.

"She's a nice girl," said Jankovic of Wozniacki. "I'll go out there and try to do what I do best. I don't know how far she'll go in her career - I can't predict the future - but she's a great player and has lots of talent and potential."

Williams, who had a tough first set in her first match of the tournament, had a tough first set in this match, but anyway won the match in straight sets to British wildcard Anne Keothavong, 75 62.

"I played two really great girls in the first two rounds," said Williams, who beat Naomi Cavaday on Tuesday, 76(5) 61. "They were very challenging. I think it will be great for Wimbledon and great for British tennis if they would continue playing as they did here. The future looks really bright for British women's tennis."

If they keep winning, Jankovic and Williams could meet in the quarterfinals. Only one seed is standing in Jankovic's way, Wozniacki, and she is the only seed in Jankovic's quarter.

Today's Results

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Singles - Second Round
(1) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Nathalie Dechy (FRA) 67(2) 76(3) 108
(4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 62 63
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. (WC) Urszula Radwanska (POL) 64 64
(8) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) d. Edina Gallovits (ROU) 64 62
(11) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Tatiana Perebiynis (UKR) 62 75
(14) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Marta Domachowska (POL) 61 63
(15) Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. Monica Niculescu (ROU) 57 75 62
(18) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) d. (WC) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 62 06 64
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. (20) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 36 75 97
(Q) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. (28) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 63 30 ret. (right knee injury)
(29) Amélie Mauresmo (FRA) d. Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 46 61 61
Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 16 62 63
Bethanie Mattek (USA) d. Vera Dushevina (RUS) 76(6) 64
Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) d. Elena Vesnina (RUS) 61 76(0)
(Q) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Li Na (CHN) 62 64
(WC) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (WC) Elena Baltacha (GBR) 62 75

Singles - First Round
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (Q) Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 63 67(7) 63

Top seed survives thriller

Ana Ivanovic was nearly out of Wimbledon as she overcame two match points against Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy to win the 3 hour 24 minute match.

No. 1 ranked Ivanovic almost lost to Dechy in straight sets, as Nathalie won the first set and held two match points at 5-4 in the second set, but that wasn't the end as Ana fought until the end to defeat her inspired opponent 67(2) 76(3) 108.

"I feel very lucky," Ivanovic declared. "It was a tough match. She played very well. At times I thought I wasn't serving so well; my percentage was so low. And she was serving well and her balls were so deep. She put lots of pressure on me. I felt like I wasn't doing enough, and she was playing so well. Like I said, I feel lucky just to have a chance to play again."

On Dechy's second match point, Ivanovic hit a forehand that clipped the net, and luckily went into Dechy's court, saving the last chance Dechy would get for a match point.

"I thought the match was over," Ivanovic added. "I felt like time stopped for a moment. The ball hit the net then stayed in the air for a couple of seconds. It was moving away so I thought even if it went over it would go out. Just so many thoughts at same moment. But then I got so, so lucky. I had to think of it as new match after that, a new opportunity. At that point I felt like I had nothing to lose, because I felt like I'd lost the match already."

Other winners of today are Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ousted Birmingham champion Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets, 62 63; two-time champion Serena Williams, who crushed Urszula Radwanska also in straight sets, 64 64; and Anna Chakvetadze recovered from her ugly first round match to defeat Edina Gallovits, 64 62.

"I was playing more like you should play on grass, unlike my first match, where I was playing more like on clay," said Kuznetsova, who was down 3-1 in the third set of her first round victory over Mathilde Johansson. "Today I was inside the baseline and hit the ball early. On Monday I was playing better on the important points, but today I played my best from the start."

Williams, the champion here in 2002 and 2003, will next face No.29 seed and 2006 champion Amélie Mauresmo, who beat Virginia Ruano Pascual, 46 61 61. Williams and Mauresmo have a lengthy rivalry, having played 11 times before. Although Williams leads 9-2, Mauresmo did win their most recent meeting, in the fourth round of the US Open two years ago, 6-2 in the third set.


"I haven't played her in a while," Williams said. "I look forward to it. I'm excited, I had no idea I was going to play her next. She's been struggling a lot this year but you can only hope she does well, especially being a past champion here, and a past champion in general. It will be a good match."

"It's definitely going to be tough," Mauresmo said. "I haven't seen her play here yet, but I know her game pretty well, what she's going to do and what to expect. I hope I'll be ready in a couple days for this match. One big key will be serving well, because she serves very well."

Today's Results

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Singles - First Round
(2) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Olga Savchuk (UKR) 63 62
(3) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (Q) Stéphanie Foretz (FRA) 61 64
(7) Venus Williams (USA) d. (WC) Naomi Cavaday (GBR) 76(5) 61
(9) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 76(8) 62
(10) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Sara Errani (ITA) 76(5) 64
(13) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Aiko Nakamura (JPN) 61 67(3) 61
(16) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 61 61
(20) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Tamira Paszek (AUT) 63 57 108
(21) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 64 64
(22) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Julia Vakulenko (UKR) 63 64
Julia Goerges (GER) d. (23) Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 46 76(6) 1614
(24) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (WC) Katie O'Brien (GBR) 63 75
(25) Lindsay Davenport (USA) d. Renata Voracova (CZE) 63 57 63
(26) Sybille Bammer (AUT) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 46 41 ret (right knee injury)
(31) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (Q) Eva Hrdinova (CZE) 62 75
(32) Sania Mirza (IND) d. Catalina Castaño (COL) 76(3) 36 64
Ai Sugiyama (JPN) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 64 62
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. Aravane Rezai (FRA) 16 60 62
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. Tzipora Obziler (ISR) 64 60
Marina Erakovic (NZL) d. Michaella Krajicek (NED) 76(3) 76
(6)Peng Shuai (CHN) d. (Q) Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) 63 64
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) d. Petra Cetkovska (CZE) 64 63
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) 64 64
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) d. Julie Ditty (USA) 75 63
Emilie Loit (FRA) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 63 76(4)
Monica Niculescu (ROU) d. (Q) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 16 63 64
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) 75 64
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) d. Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro (FRA) 63 62
Anne Keothavong (GBR) d. Vania King (USA) 46 62 63
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 60 64
Mara Santangelo (ITA) d. Maret Ani (EST) 75 63
(Q) María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d. Martina Müller (GER) 61 61
(WC) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Galina Voskoboeva (RUS) 62 64

Suspended due to darkness
(5) Elena Dementieva (RUS) leads (Q) Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 63 33

Past champions through

It was a tough day for the seeds at Wimbledon, with champions Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova beating their first opponents and going to the next round easily.

The first to step on court was four-time champion Venus Williams against Naomi Cavaday, a British wildcard. In the first set at 6-5 on serve, Cavaday had a chance to serve out the set, but Venus immediately broke back to make it a tiebreak. Venus then demolished the Brit and too the first set. In the second set, Venus took full control of the match and quickly won the match, 76(5) 61.

"I thought she played excellent," said Williams, who fell behind 3-1 in the first set before finding her groove. "She really took advantage of her opportunities and played with poise on this occasion, which is Centre Court in front of a home crowd. She served well, returned with force and ran a lot of balls down, so I was impressed with her game. I think it's nice to have a really challenging opponent early on."

"Obviously it was a great experience for me," Cavaday said. "I got off to a great start. I really just went at her. I had to give it everything I had, my best crack. I got the lead in the first set and it was a shame I lost it. Then the second set got away from me a little bit. I think she started to relax and I didn't make enough first serves. I didn't go at her as much. She definitely upped it in the second."

Sharapova took the first set easily 6-1, and in the second set took a quick 5-2 lead but lost her serve and her opponent won her serve to make it 5-4, but Sharapova closed it out in the end, to defeat her opponent Stephanie Foretz of France, 61 64.

"It was definitely a good start, considering I didn't have a warm-up tournament like I usually do," Sharapova said. "Obviously it's important to start off the tournament on good form. I knew my opponent had already played a couple of matches. My goal was just to go out there, get a feel for it as fast as I could and get the job done."

Lindsay Davenport, also a past Wimbledon champion, was playing Czech Renata Voracova. Davenport had a knee injury in Eastbourne, and her at Wimbledon, had it heavily strapped with tape. She won the first set, but dropped the second, and eventually won the third to defeat her opponent in her opening match.

"It's not ideal," Davenport said. "You've got to stay in the present. For me, right now it's about getting my knee better to play again on Thursday. So it would be impossible for me to speculate about how this will affect me, because right now it's Wimbledon. I'm here, and I'm just kind of focusing on that."

Jelena Jankovic also played her opener today, against Ukrainian Olga Savchuk. She was leading 63 50, but lost two games in a row to finally close it out 63 62.

"Overall I thought I played a pretty good match for the first round, because first rounds are the toughest for me," Jankovic said. "I had a slow start in the beginning, I couldn't find my rhythm. But after that I started feeling the ball really well. I was hitting my backhand quite solid, quite clean. I found my game. I was attacking a lot and didn't allow the other girl to play her game."

Today's Results

Monday, June 23, 2008
Singles - First Round
(1) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. Rossana de los Ríos (PAR) 61 62
(4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (Q) Mathilde Johansson (FRA) 67(5) 75 63
(6) Serena Williams (USA) d. Kaia Kanepi (EST) 75 63
(8) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) d. Stéphanie Dubois (CAN) 26 61 86
(11) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Sabine Lisicki (GER) 62 64
Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. (12) Patty Schnyder (SUI) 64 36 61
(14) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 63 60
(15) Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 61 63
(Q) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (17) Alizé Cornet (FRA) 76(6) 76(4)
(18) Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) d. (Q) Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) 62 62
Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. (19) Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 63 63
Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) d. (27) Virginie Razzano (FRA) 06 62 64
(28) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (WC) Melanie South (GBR) 63 67(1) 64
(29) Amélie Mauresmo (FRA) d. Ashley Harkleroad (USA) 64 63
(WC) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (30) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 64 63
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Yan Zi (CHN) 63 60
Li Na (CHN) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 36 60 61
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 67(6) 64 64
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. (Q) Rika Fujiwara (JPN) 16 64 63
Pauline Parmentier (FRA) d. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 75 64
Marta Domachowska (POL) d. Jill Craybas (USA) 61 36 64
Tatiana Perebiynis (UKR) d. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 64 06 64
Bethanie Mattek (USA) d. (Q) Severine Brémond (FRA) 57 60 61
Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) d. Milagros Sequera (VEN) 61 64
Edina Gallovits (ROU) d. Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) 61 62
Nathalie Dechy (FRA) d. Yuan Meng (CHN) 67(7) 63 60
(Q) Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) d. Camille Pin (FRA) 75 46 75
(WC) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Ioana Raluca Olaru (ROU) 62 62
(WC) Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. Angelique Kerber (GER) 63 26 75
(WC) Urszula Radwanska (POL) d. Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 61 64

Postponed due to darkness(20) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) leads Tamira Paszek (AUT) 63 44
(Q) Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) leads Monica Niculescu (ROU) 61 36 42

Tough first day at Wimbledon

It was a good day for some seeds, bad for the others. Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze had a tough day and were pushed to the limits by their opponents on day one on the third Grand Slam of the year. Kuznetsova, seed 4th, was down 1-3 in the third set but eventually won to qualifier Mathilde Johansson 67(5) 75 63. Chakvetadze saved to match points against Stephanie Dubois (two at 5-3 in the third, one at 5-4) to win 26 61 86. Both Russians had a heap of unforced errors, Kuznetsova with 30, and Chakvetadze with a whooping 55 mainly off the backhand side.

No. 1 seed and rank Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams the No. 6 seed, had fewer worries in their opening matches, Ivanovic slaying veteran Rossana de los Rios from Paraguay 61 62, and the younger Williams sister crushing Estonian Kaia Kanepi who was in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros this year, 75 63.

"I played quite well today, especially considering it's my first match of the year on grass," Ivanovic said. "Today was a tough one. She started hitting the ball really well right from the start, so I had to stay focused. I served really well and played quite aggressively, and I was pleased with how the match turned out."

"I kept thinking, I can't lose serve," said Williams on the 5-5 game of her first set, where Kanepi had a break point. "She was playing unbelievable to me. I felt like she wasn't making any errors, like I just had to hang in there and stay positive."

Other seeds winning were Marion Bartoli, Agnieszka Radwanska, Agnes Szavay, Nicole Vaidisova, Francesca Schiavone, Alona Bondarenko and Amélie Mauresmo. No.11 seed Bartoli made a winning return to the site of her greatest career result; she made a Cinderella run to her first Grand Slam final here a year ago before falling to Venus Williams, and on Monday beat Sabine Lisicki in straight sets to advance to the second round. No.29 seed Mauresmo, the champion here in 2006 and a former No.1 looking to regain some lost confidence after a relatively disappointing season, also moved on in straight sets, against Ashley Harkleroad.

Wimbledon trophy up for grabs tomorrow

There are four Russians, two Serbs, and the Willams sisters who will be the favorites on the lawns of Wimbledon, but they won't be the only ones who have a Grand Slam win in mind.

Last year at Wimbledon, there was a new finalist, Marion Bartoli, who unluckily lost to the American 4-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in straight sets. This year Bartoli, who lost in the key-Wimbledon Eastbourne tournament in the semifinals, hopes she can repeat her success from last year to get to the final rounds of Wimbledon.

It seems like no one can crush the Williams sisters. While Serena won her titles in 2002-03 seeded No. 2 and No. 1, Venus won her titles in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2007, seeded No. 5, No.2, No. 14 and No. 23. They are on separate halves in the draw, so they may make up a sister to sister final this year.

Russians Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze and Elena Dementieva are among the top 8 seeds at Wimbledon. Sharapova is the most accomplished player out of the four. She had previously won Wimbledon in 2004 to champion Serena Williams in straight sets, as well as the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008.

Kuznetsova and Dementieva have both reached the quarterfinals before, and Chakvetadze is still trying to reach the second week here for the first time.

Going into last year's Wimbledon fortnight they were two of the new faces in the Top 10, but Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic were No.1 and No.2 in the world the week before Wimbledon, making Serbia the third country in Sony Ericsson WTA Tour history to hold the Top 2 spots in the rankings, following the United States and Belgium. They have both done exceptionally well at the majors this year - Ivanovic finishing runner-up in Australia and winning in Paris, and Jankovic reaching the semifinals at both - and both have recorded impressive finishes here before, most notably a semifinal from Ivanovic in 2007.

Radwanska gains Eastbourne crown

Neither finalist had reached a grass court final before. That certainly didn't show today, with Agnieszka Radwanska prevailing over her more experienced opponent Nadia Petrova in a thrilling three setter, 64 67(11) 64. In the second set, Radwanska held for 3 match points, but Petrova's serve and volley technique made her get into a third set. In the third set, each player held their serve until 4-4 when Radwanska broke Petrova's serve and held her own to win the championship.

Only one of the tournament's Top 3 seeds, No.2 Marion Bartoli, reached their projected semifinal berths (Bartoli fell to Radwanska). Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.3 seed Vera Zvonareva were both surprised in their opening matches, Kuznetsova to Caroline Wozniacki and Zvonareva to Ekaterina Makarova. Petrova emerged from Zvonareva's quarter, beating Makarova; Samantha Stosur emerged from Kuznetsova's quarter, beating Wozniacki.

Tanasugarn takes title

Thai qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn had an amazing week, winning The Ordina Open to Roland Garros finalist Dinara Safina, who was the No. 3 seed at the tournament. Safina took the first break of the match to serve for the set at 5-4, but the Thai immediately broke back, winning the last 10 of 12 points to take the set 7-5. The second set was more simpler. Tanasugarm earned the break in the seventh game, and after surviving a 16-point game - in which Safina had five chances to hold serve - Tamarine finally close the second set out with a 75 63 win.

"Maybe it was more difficult for Dinara, as she was seeded and playing really well lately, and I was coming out of the qualies; that could have put some pressure on her today," Tanasugarn said. "After she had the chance to serve out the first set I think her level fell a bit, and once I got to the second set I felt great, and that I could really win this match."

"I have to forget this match because I played some pretty good matches earlier this week and today was just not my day," Safina said. "I want to give lots of credit to Tamarine, I think she played a solid match - but I want to forget this match as soon as I can. I'm leaving for London today, I'll have today and tomorrow off and then Wimbledon starts. So I will have to get ready for that."

Thai veteran in final with russian

It was a big day for the Tamarine Tanasugarn as she gained victory over No. 8 seed Alona Bondarenko 62 64 in the semifinals of The Ordina Open. Earlier in the tournament, Tanasugarn met the other Bondarenko sister, Kateryna, and obvouisly won.

"They're both very good players," said Tanasugarn of the Bondarenko sisters. "It's not easy to have two sisters in the Top 50. They are both tough opponents and both played very well."

But unlike many players on the Tour, Tanasugarn enjoys grass court tennis: "The grass courts really suit my game. For me, the game got interesting – we were hitting lots of balls and rallying – especially near the end. I just tried to hang in and go for it."

Roland Garros finalist Dinara Safina will be playing Tanasugarn in the final, after winning to No. 5 compatriot Elena Dementieva, 63 62.

I had a really good match today and I was focused," said Safina. "Dementieva is a tough opponent but I'm really happy with the way I played today."

Despite her obviously good form - this is the Russian's third straight final - Safina still worries about playing on grass courts: "I haven't had a lot of time to adjust to the grass. This week I've been able to get some practice in and these matches have helped. I think I'm really getting adjusted and this tournament will help me get ready for Wimbledon."

Highest seed standing falls to the ground

The finalists have been revealed in Eastbourne. No.2 seed Marion Bartoli was the highest seed standing before the semifinals. Unfortunately, she crashed out to Agnieszka Radwanska easily, 75 63.

The first to take the court was Nadia Petrova, who took the court against Australian Samantha Stosur. In both sets, at the beginning it was 3-3, and in both sets Petrova finished the last three games and took the match 63 63, being the first one to reach the finals in the UK.

In the other semifinal match, there was Bartoli and Radwanska. Radwanska got raced out to 4-1 in the second set, but it seemed like Bartoli was coming back, making it 4-3. Bartoli had a chance to make it 4-4, but Radwanska held her serve and won th rest of the games to win the match to go into the finals.

Petrova will be playing her 16th career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles final, going 7-8 in her first 15; the Russian, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 2005, will be playing her first ever grass court final. Radwanska will be playing her fourth career Tour singles final, going 3-0 in her first three; the Pole, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon on debut in 2006, is playing her first final on grass.

Favorite exits at Ordina, top seed through

The quarterfinals at the Ordina Open are over. Top seed Elena Dementieva prevailed over Sorana Cirstea 62 64, saving 9 out of 11 break points against her. In Roland Garros, Dementieva had a match point against Dinara Safina, but lost the match in a three-setter. Now she will face Safina in her semifinal match on the lead-up tournament to Wimbledon.

"It was tough conditions to play in today and it is always difficult when you have to wait around like we did. She was a tough opponent and I'm happy that I won," Dementieva said.

Safina, another previous Ordina Open runner-up (2006), was given a free pass into the semifinals after a left ankle injury forced No.7 seed Katarina Srebotnik to withdraw on Wednesday. Dementieva contemplates facing the fellow Russian: "I think it's going to be a tough match. Dinara is in great shape and she is having a great season, and but I'm looking forward to it."

In the bottom half of the draw, favorite Michaella Krajicek exited the tournament, being defeated by Tamarine Tanasugarn 63 36 64.

"I was happy with the way I played today but it could have gone either way," Tanasugarn said. "I had good luck with my game early in the third set. That helped a lot because Michaella started playing unbelievably well in the third set after 4-1. In the end I was just trying to play good tennis, play smart and go for the right shots at the right time."

The last player to reach the semifinals was No.8 seed Alona Bondarenko, who surprised No.2 seed and defending champion Anna Chakvetadze, 62 36 62.

"It felt good to get this win," said Bondarenko, whose win over the No.8-ranked Russian was her third career Top 10 win, following a pair of wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova. "I just concentrated on my game. I knew it would not be easy."

Bartoli wins opener, Kuznetsova and Zvonareva out

The second round is complete and only 1 out of three players who played won, that one being Marion Bartoli.

Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova came off an impressive clay-court season. Zvonareva fell to Ekaterina Makarova 63 63, while Sveta fell to another youngster, Caroline Wozniacki, 62 62.

No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska split sets with Virginie Razzano in the last match of the day, dropping the first 6-3 and winning the second 6-3, before darkness fell and the conclusion was pushed to Thursday.

In other matches, Gisela Dulko got past Olga Govortovsa, 61 67(3) 62; qualifier Alisa Kleybanova beat Aravane Rezai, 63 57 63; and Samantha Stosur advanced when Amélie Mauresmo retired up 2-1 in the first set due to a left thigh injury.

"I felt something on the last point of my first service game; during the return game, I couldn't really move that well or push off of my left leg anymore," Mauresmo said. "With this happening at the beginning of the match, I didn't feel like taking any risks before Wimbledon next week. I am of course disappointed but I felt I had to make the decision to stop it here."

Dementieva, Krajicek advance

Ordina Open top seed Elena Dementieva won her opening match to Italian Sara Errani in a straight-setter, 63 75. Dutch No. 1 Michaella Krajicek continued her season well with a straight set win against Indian Sania Mirza, 62 62.

"I think I played solidly," Krajicek said. "I've played against her a few times already and every time I seem to be the winner of the match, and that gave me a lot of confidence. It was pretty windy and I think I handled the conditions a little bit better and served well. There weren't many long rallies, but I was able to break her a few times and finish in two sets."

Krajicek could be looking at becoming the Ordina Open champion, after she held the title in 2006. Krajicek has needed a bit of Dutch courage for this tournament, which holds history for her. In 2006 she faced stiff opposition, beating Jankovic, Dementieva and then finally Safina to hold the trophy. Last year Krajicek was defeated in the second round by a revengeful Safina, but she is hopeful after Wednesday's win against India's Mirza.

Vaidisova continues losing streak, Petrova advances

On Tuesday, the seeds went 1-1, with No. 7 seed Nicole Vaidisova falling, but No. 8 seed Nadia Petrova advancing by winning a three-setter.

Vaidisova was ousted by Russian Olga Govortsova in straight sets, 64 62. Before advancing all the way to the quarterfinals in Birmingham, Vaidisova had a six-match losing streak, and has now lost eight out of her last ten matches.

Other first round match winners were Sybille Bammer, Virginie Razzano, Caroline Wozniacki, and qualifiers Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova.

Petrova, seeded No.8 at the Tier II event, became the first player to reach the quarterfinals, beating newly-returned Li Na of China in a tight three-setter, 62 67(5) 63. Petrova actually had a chance to serve out the match at 62 54 and even led 3-0 in the tie-break before Li rallied to take the second set; but the Russian regrouped to take the third set and improve to 5-0 lifetime against the Chinese, who hadn't played since mid-February and has fallen to No.2 in the Chinese rankings, after Yan Zi (ranked No.48, compared to Yan's No.43).

Barcelona, Birmingham winners ousted

It was a day of surprises at the Ordina Open, starting with No. 6 seed Maria Kirilenko, last week's Barcelona winner, being ousted by Romanian wildcard Sorana Cirstea 75 64.

"It feels very good," Cirstea said. "I always like playing against the top players because you can see where you are and what you have to do. If I lose it's okay, so I always have to learn something. If I win, it gives me confidence and it's good to play these tough matches to help me get ready for Wimbledon."

"It's my second tournament of the year on grass and I really enjoy it. My game fits really well on grass and I had lots of confidence. I knew going into the match that if I played my game I had a chance to beat her. That was the main thing. I played pretty well and I am happy about that."

No. 3 seed Dinara Safina had a good day in Holland. The Roland Garros runner-up eased through day 2 with a win over Camille Pin, 61 63.

But the world of women's tennis continues to be, as ever, unpredictable, as last week's Birmingham stars were showing signs of fading, if only temporarily. This time it was Marina Erakovic's defeat to previous rival Ukrainian, Alona Bondarenko. The two had faced each other in the quarterfinals of the DFS Classic where Erakovic was on a winning streak and beat Alona only to face her sister, eventual champion Kateryna, in the semis. Bondarenko, who was down 63 20, managed to pull back to get her revenge, winning in three sets to beat the Croatian-born New Zealander, 36 64 63.

No. 2 seed Anna Chakvetadze was victorious over German qualifier Angelique Kerber, 63 36 76(1) .

"It was a tough match," explained Chakvetadze, "but for me it was my first grass court match this season. For her, maybe it was a little easier, because she has played a few matches already. I felt like I was playing a little bit about myself especially in the third set when I was up 5-2. I think it is good though that I had such a tough fight. I was actually pleased with the tie-breaker. I played much better in the end."

Schiavone, Pennetta crash out; other seeds advance

Seeded players Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone had a hard time in their first grass court matches; Schiavone fell to American Ashley Harkleroad 63 64, while Pennetta crashed out to Sania Mirza with a similar score 64 63. Harkleroad's win over the world No.20 was the ninth Top 20 win of her career, and second of the year after beating Dinara Safina at Indian Wells; Mirza's win was her first since returning to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour from a near-three month lay-off due to a right wrist injury.

Other seeds that took action on day 2 were No. 7 seed Katarina Srebotnik, who got revenge from a loss in the Strasbourg final, winning 62 46 63 to Anabel Medina Garrigues; No. 8 seed Alona Bondarenko, who breezed through with a win over qualifier Iveta Benesova, 64 46 64; and No. 3 seed Dinara Safina, who was lately in the Roland Garros final, won handily to Pauline Parmentier, 64 61.

Also advancing to the second round were Sara Errani, a 76(5) 62 winner over Anne Keothavong; qualifier Marina Erakovic, who beat Alexis Gordon, 61 61; and another qualifier, Angelique Kerber, who took out Klara Zakopalova, 64 36 64.

Mauresmo cruises, Azarenka doesn't

The first round matches of the key Wimbledon warm-up went into play on Monday on grass of Eastbourne. Former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Nadia Petrova won her opener and moved onto the second round, while No. 5 seed Victoria Arazenka and No. 6 seed Alize Cornet went crashing out.

Alize Cornet was the first of three seeds to go out on the grass, and had arguably the toughest match for the entire seeded contingent, facing Amelie Mauresmo, one of the strongest grass court players of the last decade. Mauresmo has had dry results of late, not getting past the quarterfinals since this very tournament a year ago, when she made it all the way to the final before finishing runner-up to Justine Henin; but her experience on this surface far outweighs her young compatriot's and it showed, as she defied her recent form in notching a 61 46 75 upset win.

Mauresmo, a former world No.1 player, has been to the semifinals or better at Wimbledon four times, including winning the title in 2006 (one of her two career Grand Slam titles, alongside her Australian Open triumph earlier that season); Cornet was contesting just her second grass court event on the Tour, having reached the second round of Wimbledon last year as a lucky loser.

No. 8 seed Nadia Petrova showed better playing than Cornet, cruising to the second round with a victory over Shahar Peer 62 62.

Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova and Russians Alisa Kleybanova, Ekaterina Makarova and Alla Kudryavtseva all earned main draw berths with wins in the final round of qualifying.

Kateryna wins Birmingham title

Before the tournament, Kateryna Bondarenko had a 0-6 record in quarterfianls. And facing a player in that round who had just notched her first Top 10 win earlier in the week, many would have guessed that trend to continue. But she wasn't intimidated, and after prevailing in that match in straight sets she went all the way to the title, capturing the DFS Classic with a riveting championship win over newcomer Yanina Wickmayer on Sunday.

Kateryna played her first Sony Ericsson main draw in 2003, and has been in twice in quarterfinals in 2005, once in 2006, twice in 2007, and once earlier this year.

After a pair of easy victories in the first and second round here, Bondarenko - the No.12 seed at the Tier III event - was pushed to the limit in the third round but reached her seventh career quarterfinal anyway with a 46 64 75 win against Melinda Czink.

The final, which lasted two hours and 48 minutes, went to Bondarenko in a third set tie-break, 76(7) 36 76(4). The two held tightly to their service games in the first set, with four of four break points slipping by; the tie-break was a see-saw affair with Bondarenko going up 6-4, Wickmayer going up 7-6, then Bondarenko eventually closing it out, 9-7. Wickmayer earned a routine second set win and, after a few exchanges of breaks early on, the match reverted to a first set pattern again, with six straight holds leading to the deciding tie-break, where the more experienced Ukrainian prevailed.

Kirilenko wins Barcelona title

Maria Kirilenko had some struggles in earlier rounds at Barcelona, but still was capable of winning her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title of the year in straight sets to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 60 62.

While No.1 seed Shahar Peer and No. 3 seed Dominika Cibulkova went flying out in the first round, No. 2 seed Maria Kirilenko was the one who was alive throughout the entire tournament, needing just over two hours to stop Roland Garros breakthrough story Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round and rallying back from two set points down in the first set to beat last year's finalist Edina Gallovits, in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
She was even pushed to a tight two-setter in the semifinals against another unseeded player, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro.

But Kirilenko was dynamic in the final against Martínez Sánchez, winning almost two thirds of the Spanish wildcard's service points but taking nearly two thirds of her own as well, dictating play for an hour and 18 minutes to notch a 60 62 victory. Martínez Sánchez seemed to gain a little life in the second set after losing nine games in a row to commence the title match, closing from 60 30 to 60 32, but Kirilenko regained momentum and finished her off three games later.

Kirilenko won another Tier IV clay court title about two months ago in nearby Estoril, Portugal, and now has four Tour singles titles to her name, following a Tier II triumph at Beijing in 2005 and a Tier III win at Kolkata last fall. She improved her finals record to 4-2 with her win in Barcelona.

Kirilenko will meet wildcard in final

Maria Kirilenko is a win away from her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title after winning her semifinal match to Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 75 63. She will face wildcard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who won to Nuria Llagostera Vives 26 63 61.

Despite squandering a 5-2 first set lead and allowing it to go to 5-all, the Russian regrouped at that critical juncture, winning the last two games of the set then rallying back from a break down twice in the early stages of the second to beat the crafty Frenchwoman in straights.

The left-hander dropped the first set easily but ground out the second in just under 50 minutes to even the match at one apiece; in the third she cruised, winning 16 of the last 17 points from 2-1 to beat Llagostera Vives for the first time in three meetings.

Kirilenko will be playing her sixth career Tour singles final.

Martínez Sánchez is playing her first career Tour singles final

Finalists of Birmingham are revealed

Two rising stars have reached their first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final. Kateryna Bondarenko and Yanina Wickmayer won their semifinal matches in sraight sets to have a chance to win the Birmingham title.

Bondarenko was the only seed going into the semifinals, and is now the only seed to going into the final. She won to Marina Erakovic in straight sets, 63 62.

"I'm always sad when she loses but that's tennis, one day you win and one day you lose," Kateryna Bondarenko said on her sister's loss the day before. "I wasn't really thinking of revenge, but I guess that's what happened today. But it's always nice to play here. It's easier for me to play on grass, because if you serve well you have a better chance to win, and I've been serving well."

Wickmayer also won her semifianl match against Bethanie Mattek, 75 62. It was a see-saw affair with Wickmayer coming out on top both times: in the first set she was up 5-1 before Mattek closed the gap, but she closed it out anyway; in the second set it was Mattek's turn to take the early lead, going ahead 4-1, but the Belgian rebounded to clinch it in straight sets.

"I've been playing better every day; this is a special surface, and the more you play on it the better you get," Wickmayer said. "I pulled back a little bit when I was ahead and she played aggressively to get back into it. We've had matches like this before. She can come back from behind by playing like this, but I know when things get close I just have to hang in there to close it out."

Both Bondarenko and Wickmayer will be playing in their first ever Tour singles finals, but for Bondarenko it may have been a longer time coming. She has been playing on the Tour for a few years now and had reached six quarterfinals previously but never went further; Wickmayer is playing in just her fourth career Tour main draw and had never reached a quarterfinal.

"I'm excited to play in the final against Yanina," Bondarenko said. "I think it'll be a different match to Fed Cup. I'll treat it just like any other match. That was on clay and this is on grass. And although I still don't feel like it's my best surface, I feel like I've been playing better on grass than I did in the years before. It's hard to get used to it because it's such a short season."

"It's my first final on the Tour and I'm so excited," Wickmayer said. "It's a big match, but we have big matches throughout our careers. A few years ago the final of a $10,000 event was a big match. You grow. I'm one of the youngest players here and so I'm really excited about having a chance to win the title."

Kateryna in, Alona out

Three seeds were still alive before the quarterfinals started, but after, only one, Kateryna Bondarenko, survived.

Third seed Nicole Vaidisova started her losing streak (again), after being ousted by unseeded American Bethanie Mattek in only 52 minutes, 63 60. After top seed Marion Bartoli's second round loss and Dinara Safina - who was to be the No.2 seed - pulling out of the event before it even started due to a low back injury, Vaidisova was hoping to go all the way as the highest seed remaining as of the third round.

"I know she hasn't had a lot of wins recently, so I really just wanted to make her play every point, and on my end stay aggressive," Mattek said. "I was standing pretty close to the baseline and putting pressure on her, so even when I wasn't hitting it as hard as she was, she was forced into some mistakes. I came out with a game plan and I'm happy it worked today."

"I think Bethanie played a great match, but I didn't," said Vaidisova, who had lost six matches in a row prior to her first two wins this week in Birmingham. "It has been a good week, though. I think I just played a better player today than the ones I played earlier in the week, and I wasn't able to have the same result."


Alona Bondarenko was sent home by Croatian-born New Zealander Marina Erakovic, 64 75.
Erakovic was taking an easy 64 42 lead, but it seemed as the Ukrainian was fighting back, making it 5-4. But Erakovic still ended up clinching the victory.

It was a tough day today, but I think it was the best match I've played so far this week," Erakovic said. "It was up and down for us both, but I was able to win the crucial games. Tomorrow I'll be playing her sister and I know her well from the juniors, so it'll be another tough match."

Erakovic is now through to her third semifinal of the year, having gone this far at her home event of Auckland and at Memphis.

In the other two quarterfinals, No.12 seed Kateryna Bondarenko came back from 4-2 down to win a tight first set then cruised against Petra Cetkovska, 76(3) 62, to reach her first career Tour singles semifinal; Yanina Wickmayer sent the last British player standing home, beating wildcard Melanie South, 64 63.

"I had a lot of obstacles to overcome today: it's my first tournament on my own as my dad had to go home sick, and it was the first time on Centre Court here," Wickmayer said. "I had a crowd that wasn't cheering for me; I dealt with it well."

Krajicek crashes, Bondarenko advances

Two of the eight seeds remain in Birmingham. Michaella Krajicek was the last seed to fall, crashing out to belgium's Yanina Wickmayer, 63 64. Wickmayer now moves into her first career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour quarterfinal.

Nicole Vaidisova, the No. 3 seed, snapped her six-match losing streak earlier this week, moving into the quarterfinals with a hard fought 67(5) 62 64 victory over No. 15 seed Ekaterina Makarova, who gave Vaidisova a loss in her losing streak.

No. 5 seed Bondarenko was in all sorts of trouble against Indian qualifier Sunitha Rao, going down 63 32 and facing two points for a 63 42 deficit, but battled back to win in a see-saw three-setter, 36 75 61.

One seed in, two seeds out

Sixth seeded Sara Errani was the only victorious seed on Wednesday, beating American- Uzbek Varvara Lepchenko 64 75. Errani was leading 5-1 in the first set, but Lepchenko rallied back and made it 5-4, before Errani finaly won the game to close out the set. In the second set, it was 5-2 to Errani, but Lepchenko again battled it back to 5-5. Errani worked hard to close out the last two games to close out the match.

Fifth seed Pauline Parmentier wasn't so lucky as Sara Errani. She fell to wildcard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez easily, 62 64. Martinez was strong on her serve, winning 73% of first serve points and 61% of second serve points. She was even stronger on break points winning 3 out of 4 (75%).

In matches between unseeded players, Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro beat Magdalena Rybarikova, 76(3) 60, and Nuria Llagostera Vives crushed Spanish wildcard Eloisa Compostizo de Andrés, 63 60.

Bartoli crashes out of Birmingham

The remaining 11 second round matches took play on the grass in Birmingham. Four seeds advanced, while the other four seeds - including top seed Marion Bartoli - fell, as the round of 16 was finalized.
No. 1 seed Marion Bartoli was hoping to get back from a first round Roland Garros loss, but on the surface where she was most successful last year, she fell in the second round to Czech Petra Cetkovska, who embarassed the frenchwoman with a 6-0 third set.
Bartoli took the first set, and at 4-4 in the second, she had two point to hold serve 5-4, but she crumbled from there, losing 9 out of eleven last points in the second set, and won just 9 points in the ugly third set. Game set and match Cetkovska, 57 64 60.

First round is over in Birmingham

Some struggled and some rose to victory on a mixed day at DFS Classic. The first round came to an end and the second round kicked of on Tuesday at the Tier III grass tournament.
The last 10 first round matches were all on the day's schedule and of three seeds only two came through to the next round. No. 11 seed Casey Dellacqua had just played her best two weeks at Roland Garros, and beat Julie Ditty in her opening round at Birmingham 76(5) 62, and No. 12 seed Kateryna Bondarenko defeated British Anne Keothavong, 63 62. But No. 16 seed Anastasia Rodionova fell quietly to frenchwoman Camille Pin 75 76(2).
The other first round winners were Petra Cetkovska, Marta Domachowska, Virginia Ruano Pascual, Marina Erakovic, Nathalie Dechy, Samantha Stosur and Melinda Czink. Czink, a lucky loser into the draw, was down double set point at 6-5 down in the second set to Vania King but managed to close it out, 62 76(4).

Bartoli is back on grass, top seeded

Marion Bartoli, 2007's Wimbledon finalist, will make her debut on grass at DFS Classic, hoping to find her best footing on the slick lawns of the Edgbaston Priory Club.Last year at Wimbledon, she made a breakthrough to the final, on the way beating Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Shahar Peer and others, but losing to Venus William in the final.
This week the No. 10 ranked frenchwoman will, has a bye in the first round, and in the second round will play either Chinese Yuan Meng or Czech Petra Cetkovska.Bartoli's biggest competitor will be Nicole Vaidisova, the No. 3 seeded, who was being replaced for Dinara Safina because she was forced to withdraw due to a low back injury.
After a first round bye, the Czech teenager will kick off her campaign against one of two talented Frenchwomen, either Nathalie Dechy or Severine Bremond.
This is the 27th year Birmingham has been a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour stop, after its inaugural staging in 1982. Former champions at the event include Billie Jean King, Pam Shriver, Martina Navratilova, Nathalie Tauziat, Lisa Raymond, Jelena Dokic, Magdalena Maleeva (2003), Maria Sharapova (2004, 2005), Vera Zvonareva (2006) and Jelena Jankovic (2007).

The clay court season hasn't ended yet

It isn't time to move onto another surface yet. Coming up next week is one more clay court tournament in Barcelona, Spain, but there will be the first grass tournament in Birmingham, UK. Wimbledon will finish the grass season off. Good luck to everyone on grass and at Barcelona.

A new French Open Champion

We have crowned the French Open Champion of 2008. Ana Ivanovic was the one who received the French Open title this year, congratulations to her. Dinara just didn't produce enough strong tennis to win it. This year, Justine Henin, a former No 1 and 4-time French Open champion, will be presenting the trophies to the champion and the runner-up.

I hope Ana and Dinara will keep up the good work, and I hope they will be in many more finals together.

Today's Results

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Singles - Final
(2) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (13) Dinara Safina (RUS) 64 63

The Final Match

The final match will be held tomorrow. It is Ana Ivanovic, the 20-year-old Serb, who is experienced on clay because she was in the final last year, against Dinara Safina, the 22-year-old Russian, who is more experienced by age, and has won to many big players before getting to the final. It is going to be a tough match, because both players worked so hard to get to the final to have a chance to win their first Grand Slam.

Good Luck to both of the players!!!

Safina Continues Dream Run

Dinara Safina, seeded No 13, was far from unlucky, was the first to move into the final French Open, on the way winning to Maria Sharapova, the top seed, with two match points against Dinara, Elena Dementieva, seeded No 7, being down 2-5 in the second set, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No 4 seed, easily winning 63 62.

After playing Kuznestova, Dinara said:
"The first set was really important, because I got the early break then lost my serve, then she was 3-2 up... it was important to get through it, because once I won that set, I felt like there was no pressure," she said. "After yesterday's match, I thought there was a chance my level would go a bit down. But when I was a set up the fire came and I really started to fly."

"Being a point away from losing two times already, I was thinking, 'God kept me in this tournament,'" Safina said. "I couldn't be passive anymore. I knew I had to play aggressive, because there would be no third time. After losing these fears, there were no more emotions inside. You just know what you have to do."

Kuznetsova wasn't so pleased with her performance, which ended up giving her a -3 differential in winners-unforced errors (20-23). This was her first loss in four career major semifinals (having won the 2004 US Open and finishing runner-up here in 2006 and at the US Open last year), and it wasn't even that competitive.

"It was pretty horrible," Kuznetsova said. "First of all, I want to give her lots of credit. She has been playing very well. She was pushing me away from the court, so I was pretty far behind the baseline. And I couldn't fight her because I was also fighting against myself. I couldn't serve, I couldn't hit my forehand, I was probably playing my worst. I just wasn't comfortable out there and it showed."

Today's Results

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Singles - Semifinals
(2) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 64 36 64
(13) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 63 62

And the new Number 1 is...

The thrilling match between Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic has come to an end. It ended with three sets and has crowned our new world No 1 in women's tennis. Ana Ivanovic was leading 5-1 in the first set but then lost 3 games in a row. At 5-4, Jankovic has her head in her hand as she makes yet another error to give Ivanovic a 30-0 lead. A mistake off the backhand hands Ivanovic the set.

In the second set, neither Jankovic or Ivanovic are broken until 3-3, when Ivanovic was broken to give Jankovic a 4-3 lead. Jankovic holds her serve to make it 5-3. The last game of the second set gets wild when Jankovic blows her first set point with a sloppy backhand, the second set point is blown with a double fault, and the third flies out with a mis-timed forehand from Jankovic. Ivanovic slaps the fourth set point out on a return and gives Jankovic the set.

Jankovic gets a good start in the third set, with a 2-0 lead. Unfortunatly that not enough to win the match. At 3-3, Ivanovic gets broken after serving a double fault to give Jankovic a 4-3 lead on serve. Ivanovic breaks back and makes it 4-4. Jankovic is broken to give Ivanovic the chance to serve out the match at 5-4.
It's 0-30 Ivanovic, but she recovers to get back to 30-30 with a drop shot. A stunning inside-out forehand takes her to match point. Ivanovic serves the ball in, Jankovic returns it, and Ivanovic makes a perfect winner to win the match and the No 1 spot.

Today's Results

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Singles - Quarterfinals
(4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Kaia Kanepi (EST) 75 62
(13) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. (7) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 46 75 60

Who will be the new Number 1?

Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic won their quarterfinal matches on Tuesday while Svetlana Kuznetsova finished her opponent off with an easy win. One of the three will take the No 1 spot from Maria Sharapova next Monday.

It is guaranteed that there will be a new No 1 after Roland Garros. Because Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic both won their quarterfinal matches, there will be an all-serbian semifinal, and that will take the No 1 spot away from Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic, the No. 2 seed, was the first player to head to the semifinlas with an easy 63 62 win over Patty Schnyder. After losing her first four meeting with the swiss, Ana has now won four in a row to get even.

"We had lots of tough matches in the past, and going out on the court I knew I had to work hard for every point because she doesn't give you any free points," Ivanovic said. "The score indicates a little bit easier match than it actually was. I was just very happy to close the match out in that last game because it started to rain a bit and I started to rush, as well."

"It was tough conditions, and she's such a good player," Schnyder said. "She's so tall and has much more power than me. In those conditions, and against that type of player, it's really tough for me to win. She also played smart and did not go for too much. She was really patient. And my spin wasn't disturbing her at all. She played a good match, and that's just how she won today."

Jelena Jankovic, the No. 3 seed, followed Ana Ivanovic into the semifinals with an identical 63 62 win over Carla Suarez Navarro. Suarez Navarro, the spaniard, stormed through into the last eight in the first Grand Slam main draw in her career.

"I didn't know my opponent really well, so I had to be really ready and really focused out there today," Jankovic said. "She has come a long way from the qualifying. Getting into quarterfinals is great achievement for her. I wanted to do the best job I could, and I'm happy to get to the semifinals."

On the inevitable handing over of the No.1 ranking - albeit not known to who - Ivanovic maintained she is focused on results first and foremost.

"That's something that comes naturally with the way you play, with the results you're making," the 20-year-old said. "I just want to play each match. I don't really want to think about rankings. At the end of the day, rankings take care of themselves. If you play well, if you're winning, the rankings come."

"It's more motivation; my dream is to become No.1 in the world, and now I'm very close, so I will try my best and hopefully I can do it," Jankovic said. "We're at the end of this tournament. We're coming to the finish line. Just a few more matches left. Hopefully I can fight very hard to achieve one of my dreams."

Kuznetsova will become No 1 if she wins the title, no matter who she plays in the final.

Ivanovic has a 5-1 record against Jankovic, but all matches turned out to be tough ones.

"We played many times before, and we always have tough matches," Ivanovic said. "It's going to be an interesting match. At least we'll have one Serbian in the final. Every match is a new match and I just hope to keep playing like I have."

"It's hard to read her shots, because she likes to play short points and just goes for broke most of the time," Jankovic said. "I've had troubles in the past against her, but I don't think we played on clay many times, so it's a different game and different circumstances. I think it will be a completely different match."


Kuznetsova demolishes Kanepi in easy quarterfinal match

After an easy 75 62 win over Kaia Kanepi from Estonia, the russian will play countrywoman Dinara Safina, who survived two match points against Elena Dementieva in the second set when it was 5-2, but won the match 46 75 60. Kuznetsova was down 2-4 in the first set, but broke back. The second set was closed out in 35 minutes.

Today's Results

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

French Open Grand Slam, Paris, France - 2008

Singles - Quarterfinals
(2) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (10) Patty Schnyder (SUI) 63 62
(3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (Q) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 63 62

Singles - Fourth Round
(4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (16) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 62 63
Kaia Kanepi (EST) d. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 63 36 61

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