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Serena Loses, Nadal Tops Blake to Advance to Quarters

Posted: Oct 8th 2009 11:41AM by FanHouse Newswire (author feed)
Filed under: WTA, ATP

BEIJING (AP) -- Serena Williams was knocked out of the China Open on Thursday, losing to Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) only days before regaining the No. 1 ranking.

Williams, who will take over the top spot in the rankings from Dinara Safina on Monday, looked sluggish in the first set before recovering in the second. Neither player was able to earn a break in the third set.

"I don't feel like I ever got into high gear," Williams said. "I ran into a girl today who has never played so good in her life."

Continue Reading Serena Loses, Nadal Tops Blake to Advance to Quarters

Andy Murray Latest Top Seed to Fall at Australian Open

Posted: Jan 26th 2009 11:53AM by Mark Hasty (author feed)
Filed under: Grand Slam, Australian Open

0 COMMENTS

Andy Murray will have time to contemplate the pie floater this week. The No. 4-seeded Brit lost a five-set match to Spain's Fernando Verdasco (right) on Monday at the Australian Open, becoming the latest seeded player to get beat at a tournament that hasn't been kind to the "over-dogs."

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Wimbledon Update: Pfffft! Go U.S. Men, Maria Sharapova

Posted: Jul 4th 2007 12:36PM by D-Wil (author feed)
Filed under: Tennis

82 COMMENTS

Pfffft! That's the sound of American men's tennis going up in a final, feeble puff of smoke. It's also the sound of Maria Sharapova's relevance to tennis.

Wait until we get to the grass was all the American men could say after their 0-for performance on the terre batu of Paris at the French Open. Well, it's the second week of Wimbledon and only Andy Roddick is left to rep the world's #9 James Blake went down feebly to Juan

Carlos Ferrero in the 3^rd round. Mardy Fish was weak in his first round effort against Rafael Nadal. Robbie Ginepri folded against Fernando Gonzalez, and alleged rising star Sam Querry basically disappeared.

American men's tennis is on the decline and more trouble is on the winds as there are no young talented players appearing on the horizon. The powers that be in the United States Tennis Association hem and haw and hand-wring, but they seem comfortable with Roddick carrying the torch into the inevitable butt-kicking he faces against Roger Federer. And the sad thing is, beyond A-Rod, we don't even seem to care.

Now to Maria. The fist-pumping and "Vamos" screaming after routine points and the "oh my god, did I just win that match" fake surprise after 6-2, 6-4 second and third round wins has made her a near-pariah to her peers. The act plays nowhere but in the minds of fans that have no understanding of the game and a weak-willed, fawning television and print press.

Continue Reading Wimbledon Update: Pfffft! Go U.S. Men, Maria Sharapova

Is This Year Time for Wimbledon Upsets?

Posted: Jun 25th 2007 1:53AM by D-Wil (author feed)
Filed under: Tennis, Outdoor Sports

1 COMMENT

Wimbledon is upon us. As Roger Federer begins his quest for his fifth straight Wimbledon title, Justine Henin seeks her first.

Federer is an odds on favorite on the fast grass. Henin, on the other hand, must contend with women with powerful groundstrokes and big serves like Serena and Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova.

Federer's first tough match will come in the third round against 6'4" Marat Safin. Though Safin has had an off year so far, he is always dangerous on the grass courts. Also down the road for Federer might be #13-ranked Tommy Haas or #9 James Blake.

World's #3 Andy Roddick is coming off a fourth straight victory at the Queen's Club, a warm up tournament for Wimbledon. Roddick's road to the quarterfinals appears easier than Federer's in that his main competition are player's whose games are more suited to clay than grass.

Rafael Nadal, #2-seed has an incredibly tough opening match against American Mardy Fish. Though Fish has been injured, this surface fits his serve-and-volley game to a tee. Should Fish return Nadal's serve and force his way to the net, an upset can happen. Should he get by Fish, in the third round Nadal is likely to face the huge-hitting Robin Soderling from Sweden. All-in-all I do not see Nadal reaching the final weekend this year.

On the women's side, Henin and Serena Williams appear to both have clear paths to a quarterfinal meeting. French Open finalist Jelena Jankovic must make her way through Israeli Shahar Peer or Martina Hingis, and possibly meet Anna Chakvetadze in the quarters. In Maria Sharapova's quarter of the draw it looks for all the world that she will face Venus Williams in a round-of-16 matchup worthy of the finals.

My predictions? It remains to be seen what the effect are of Federer losing to Nadal in the French Open finals. However, I feel Federer will pull through and win his fifth Winbledon. On the women's side I'm looking for Venus Williams to upset #2 Sharapova and Serena to defeat Henin in the quarterfinals. And I feel Serena takes the women's trophy.

Serena, Venus Our Only French Open Hopes

Posted: May 31st 2007 9:07PM by D-Wil (author feed)
Filed under: Tennis

6 COMMENTS

Venus won yesterday; Serena won today at the French Open. Big news? No, they should win - for now. Tomorrow #26-seed Venus must play #4-seed Jelena Jankovic and Williams will be a heavy underdog to the hard-hitting Serb. Should #8-seed Serena get by her next match against by Michaella Krajicek tomorrow she then has the unenviable task of facing #10-seed Dinara Safin, sister of two-time Grand Slam tournament winner, Marat Safin.

Should both the sisters lose in the next two days, there will be no Americans left on either side of the French Open draw - no men, no women. The American men went an astounding 0-9 in the first round of the tournament. That's zero wins with two men, Andy Roddick and James Blake, ranked in the top ten in the world. And by Sunday there may be no women left, either.

Sure, there's been a decline in the popularity of American tennis. And I bet if I lay blame it on all most Americans for turning our backs on the sport, people would say, who cares. But then we all complain when we don't have Americans to watch in the Grand Slam tournaments.

With Roddick turning 25 this year and Blake turning 28 and the rest of the men's contingent around the same age, there's not much to look forward to in the coming years. At best, we'll see Roddick in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon or the U.S. Open for the next couple of years. Maybe Blake will make a string run in a few more Slams, but that's not good enough.

For the women, since Lindsey Davenport retired to start a family, the Williams sisters are the only two American women left to carry the torch. And yes, they can certainly win major tourneys for the next few years, but there's no one coming up behind them; no young American girls thought to be on the cusp of greatness.

So what do we do? Enjoy the Williams sisters while we can and be pleasantly surprised when Roddick or Blake does the unexpected and make a deep run in a major. And soon enough, since we don't care, the players probably won't as much, either. Is that good with you?

Au Revior to All But One American at the French Open

Posted: May 30th 2007 6:02AM by D-Wil (author feed)
Filed under: Tennis

1 COMMENT

The red cay of Roland Garros rose up and swallowed both the front line and nearly all the rear guard of American tennis in one fell swoop yesterday at the French Open.

Early in the French evening world's #3 Andy Roddick, after a promising first set, fell meekly to Russian Igor Andreev 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Then in the last match of the day #8-seed American James Blake mirrored Roddick's play and was upset by big-serving, but generally one-dimensional Croatian Ivo Karlovic, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

Between those two monumental collapses the U.S. lost six more players in the dust of Paris. Michael Russell lost to world's #1 Roger Federer, but hey, almost everybody loses to Club Fed. But then at 5:18 p.m., Justin Gimelstob lost. At 5:53 p.m. Amer Delic lost, at 7:09 p.m. Robert Kendrick lost. At 9:05 p.m. Sam Querrey lost and a scant five minutes later Vince Spadea exited the Open.

Au revoir to all but on American men's player.

So, wha- happened?!

The last U.S. men's player to win the battle against the world's best dirtballers was Andre Agassi in 1999. Before him it was Michael Chang in 1989. Must we wait until 2009 for the next American to conquer France?

"It's frustrating, but we'll hopefully get it back on grass," Blake said. "I promise we won't have all eight guys losing in the first round at Wimbledon."

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