Unbelievable. Seriously...I have no words. And I had no idea how completely invested I was in Nadal at least making the finals here until that last point. I actually feel like crying, something I've never done over a tennis match.
Rafa out so soon...and to Soderling of all people. If it had been Verdasco or someone like that, the loss wouldn't sting quite so much. But to go so soon and to such a jerk... :(
Somewhere in Paris, Andy Murray and Roger Federer are celebrating.
Upset weekend indeed. Both of the defending champions out in one day.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Oi! Upset Weekend at Roland Garros
Yesterday it was Novack Djokovic who got ousted by Kohlschreiber. Ana Ivonovic just felt to Azarenka.
And right now on Court Philippe Chatrier? Rafael Nadal is losing to Robin freaking Soderling. Vamos, Rafa! C'mon! After that debacle a couple years ago at Wimbeldon, when Soderling spent his time making fun of Rafa's wedgie-picking habit and messing with his water bottles, Nadal losing to Soderling would make me want to shoot myself.
And right now on Court Philippe Chatrier? Rafael Nadal is losing to Robin freaking Soderling. Vamos, Rafa! C'mon! After that debacle a couple years ago at Wimbeldon, when Soderling spent his time making fun of Rafa's wedgie-picking habit and messing with his water bottles, Nadal losing to Soderling would make me want to shoot myself.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Oh, Janko--you're breaking my heart
Seriously, how many set points did Janko Tipsarevic have before giving the damn thing to Murray in the tiebreak? So frustrating. He HAD him. :(
Over on Philippe Chatrier,Shriekapova Sharapova is struggling against Shvedova.
In other heartbreaking news, my favorite Frenchman, Gilles Simon, lost to Hanescu. Too bad.
Over on Philippe Chatrier,
In other heartbreaking news, my favorite Frenchman, Gilles Simon, lost to Hanescu. Too bad.
Szavay Stunner! Szavay Upsets Venus Williams
In the biggest upset at Roland Garros yet, Agnes Szavay ousted Venus Williams 6-0, 6-4. Somewhere, Maria Sharapova is is thanking the tennis gods that her half of the draw just got a lot easier.
Venus Williams...Bageled?
Szavay shocker on Suzanne Lenglen court! Amazingly, Szavay just took the first set from Venus Williams 6-0! When was the last time THAT happened? Like...never? Amazing.
Meanwhile on court 7, Davydenko won the first set but is struggling a bit in the second, with Wawrinka up 3-2 and serving. Gonzalez is serving for the first set against the plucky Ouanna, and Almagro and Verdasco are headed for a third set tiebreak. Fun stuff!
Meanwhile on court 7, Davydenko won the first set but is struggling a bit in the second, with Wawrinka up 3-2 and serving. Gonzalez is serving for the first set against the plucky Ouanna, and Almagro and Verdasco are headed for a third set tiebreak. Fun stuff!
Roland Garros, Day 6
Huge matches today at the French Open! Some highlights:
Gonzalez vs. Ouanna (since Ouanna ousted by beloved Safin, I'll let you guess who I'm rooting for)
Nadal vs. Hewitt
Sharapova vs. Shvedova
Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky
Venus Williams vs. Szavay
Hanescu vs. Simon
Murray vs. Tipsarevic (go Janko!)
Almagro vs. Verdasco
Safina vs. Pavlyuchenkova
Soderling vs. Ferrer
Davydenko vs. Wawrinka
Basically, every match-up today is amazing. Hope all of you have DirecTV! :)
Gonzalez vs. Ouanna (since Ouanna ousted by beloved Safin, I'll let you guess who I'm rooting for)
Nadal vs. Hewitt
Sharapova vs. Shvedova
Djokovic vs. Stakhovsky
Venus Williams vs. Szavay
Hanescu vs. Simon
Murray vs. Tipsarevic (go Janko!)
Almagro vs. Verdasco
Safina vs. Pavlyuchenkova
Soderling vs. Ferrer
Davydenko vs. Wawrinka
Basically, every match-up today is amazing. Hope all of you have DirecTV! :)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Federer Hangs In, Beats Acasuso 7-6(8), 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2
It was a tough battle, but Roger Federer came out on top. Go Fed!
Live-Blogging Federer vs. Acasuso
What a match (so far). Fed just took the first set 7-6, after eeking by Acasuso in a tight tiebreak.
Meanwhile, Venus and Safarova are battling it out point for point--it's currently 5-5 in the third and final set--and Del Potro is cruising past Troicki 5-3.
ETA: Venus wins, and Federer v Acasuso heads toward another tie break. Possibly. It's 6-5 with Acasuso serving for the set, but Roger isn't going own easy--they're at deuce. Nope, scratch that. Federer's got the advantage. I'm betting on a tiebreak.
Scratch that. Acasuso holds serve and takes the second set 7-5.
Meanwhile over on court 7, Del Potro is serving for the second set.
Del Potro wins the second 7-5 and Acasuso breaks Federer's serve to begin their third set. :(
*Wails, moans, gnashes teeth* No, Fed, no--Acasuso's up 2-0 and on the verge of breaking Federer's serve. And, he does it, making the score 3-0. :(
With that, I'm out. It's 9 AM Eastern, which means it's time for me to get to work. I may be a freelancer and in charge of my own hours, but I like to keep to a schedule.
I'll sign off with:
C'mon, Fed! You can't go down now--you can do it!
Meanwhile, Venus and Safarova are battling it out point for point--it's currently 5-5 in the third and final set--and Del Potro is cruising past Troicki 5-3.
ETA: Venus wins, and Federer v Acasuso heads toward another tie break. Possibly. It's 6-5 with Acasuso serving for the set, but Roger isn't going own easy--they're at deuce. Nope, scratch that. Federer's got the advantage. I'm betting on a tiebreak.
Scratch that. Acasuso holds serve and takes the second set 7-5.
Meanwhile over on court 7, Del Potro is serving for the second set.
Del Potro wins the second 7-5 and Acasuso breaks Federer's serve to begin their third set. :(
*Wails, moans, gnashes teeth* No, Fed, no--Acasuso's up 2-0 and on the verge of breaking Federer's serve. And, he does it, making the score 3-0. :(
With that, I'm out. It's 9 AM Eastern, which means it's time for me to get to work. I may be a freelancer and in charge of my own hours, but I like to keep to a schedule.
I'll sign off with:
C'mon, Fed! You can't go down now--you can do it!
Another morning at the French Open
*Yawn* Good morning, everyone. It's another bright, shiny morning at Roland Garros and there are some interesting matches up today.
My personal interests:
Federer vs Acasuso
Pascual vs Serena
Crivoi vs Monfils
Safarova vs Venus
Monaco vs. Tsonga
Roddick vs Minar
Del Potro vs Troicki
For me, Monaco v. Tsonga is the match of the day. Should be a good one, and I like both players.
My personal interests:
Federer vs Acasuso
Pascual vs Serena
Crivoi vs Monfils
Safarova vs Venus
Monaco vs. Tsonga
Roddick vs Minar
Del Potro vs Troicki
For me, Monaco v. Tsonga is the match of the day. Should be a good one, and I like both players.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
And she's on a roll...
Safina beats Diatchenko 6-1, 6-1. So close to another double-bagel. While Serena, Venus, Ana and Jalena have struggled so far at Roland Garros, Safina has made a big, bold statement that she's number one for a reason.
Safina: In It to Win It
Once again, Dinara Safina is first up at the French Open; once again, she is slaughtering her opponent. After double-bageling Britain's Anne Keothavong in her first round match, she's got Diatchenko down 5-0 in the first set of her second match.
Go Safina. She's my favorite player on the WTA tour, and if I were a betting woman (which I'm not), I'd put money on her at least making it to the final, if not winning the whole tournament outright. She'll have to make it through a couple of Williams sisters to do that, but if she keeps playing the way she is now...Venus and Serena need to watch out.
Go Safina. She's my favorite player on the WTA tour, and if I were a betting woman (which I'm not), I'd put money on her at least making it to the final, if not winning the whole tournament outright. She'll have to make it through a couple of Williams sisters to do that, but if she keeps playing the way she is now...Venus and Serena need to watch out.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Upset! Federer Nails Nadal in the Madrid Final, 6-4 6-4
That title sounded a little naughtier than I meant for it to. Oh well. Undoubtedly, people (or at least Nadal fans) will brush this loss off as Nadal being tired from yesterday's Djokovic slugfest or attribute it to his problematic knees. But Nadal has played sloppily all week while Federer has looked, more or less, in top form. It's a well-deserved win, and the implications for the upcoming French Open are very interesting.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Amazing Semifinal Match Between Nadal and Djokovic
Wow. Just wow. What an epic, intense match. I was going to write it up reporter-style, but I'm absolutely drained. Big round of applause for Novack Djokovic. He may have lost, but he played an amazing game. The level of shot-making was incredible. Take THAT, Andy Murray. Murray is good, but I don't think he could have gone toe-to-toe with Nadal like that (even with Nadal not at his best), or hit even half of those shots. Murray may be number three now, but if Djokovic keeps playing like that, he won't be for long.
Nadal vs. Djokovic in the Semi-Finals at Madrid
And the match is ready to start. Once again it's Rafa Nadal vs Novak Djokovic. Thankfully not in the finals this time, though. Give Fed a chance, will you Nole?
I considered live-blogging the match, but since my blog is brand new and nobody is reading it yet, what would be the point? It might entertain me, but it probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to someone reading it four hours from now. So I'll just post a wrap-up once the match is over. As my non-existent readership waits with baited breath.
For the first time in a long while, I'm really excited about the semis of an open. I love three of the four competitors (Nadal, Federer and Del Potro) and love to hate the fourth (Nole, obviously). So it's good times.
Rafa has the edge here, obviously, but his play has been a bit sloppy lately. He's hitting the net more than I've ever seen him and firing shots wide that he could have made in his sleep last year. Nole definitely has a chance--he's playing pretty well, but it's hard to say if it's good enough. Fed and Nadal are both a little off their games, but Djokovic hasn't really been matched up against anyone who could challenge him, not in Madrid anyway. It'll be interesting to see how he plays today.
I considered live-blogging the match, but since my blog is brand new and nobody is reading it yet, what would be the point? It might entertain me, but it probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to someone reading it four hours from now. So I'll just post a wrap-up once the match is over. As my non-existent readership waits with baited breath.
For the first time in a long while, I'm really excited about the semis of an open. I love three of the four competitors (Nadal, Federer and Del Potro) and love to hate the fourth (Nole, obviously). So it's good times.
Rafa has the edge here, obviously, but his play has been a bit sloppy lately. He's hitting the net more than I've ever seen him and firing shots wide that he could have made in his sleep last year. Nole definitely has a chance--he's playing pretty well, but it's hard to say if it's good enough. Fed and Nadal are both a little off their games, but Djokovic hasn't really been matched up against anyone who could challenge him, not in Madrid anyway. It'll be interesting to see how he plays today.
Safina Slams Past Schnyder For a Spot in the Finals of the Madrid Open
Dinara Safina had no problem defeating Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open.
Despite some ill-timed double faults and forehand miscues, Safina’s ability to make big shots when it counted the most helped her to take the first set at 6-4.
Schnyder had a chance to break Safina’s serve early in the second, but failed to capitalize on the Russian’s unforced errors. Safina held serve and went on to break Schnyder in the next game. From there it was full steam ahead as Safina overpowered Schnyder to win the second set at 6-2.
The World No.1 one took just 75 minutes to secure her spot in tomorrow’s final against No.11 seed Caroline Wozniacki.
Wozniacki beat Amelie Mauresmo of France in a nearly two hour match that went to a tiebreak in the first set and ended at 7-6 (1), 6-3. Mauresmo, who hit five double faults and won a dismal 39% of her first serves, had no answer for the soon-to-be 10th-ranked Danish teenager’s game. Mauresmo was up 5-3 in the first with two set points before Wozniacki broke back to level the score and then blaze through the tiebreak.
Wozniacki and Safina will meet Sunday, May 17th 2009 for the final.
Despite some ill-timed double faults and forehand miscues, Safina’s ability to make big shots when it counted the most helped her to take the first set at 6-4.
Schnyder had a chance to break Safina’s serve early in the second, but failed to capitalize on the Russian’s unforced errors. Safina held serve and went on to break Schnyder in the next game. From there it was full steam ahead as Safina overpowered Schnyder to win the second set at 6-2.
The World No.1 one took just 75 minutes to secure her spot in tomorrow’s final against No.11 seed Caroline Wozniacki.
Wozniacki beat Amelie Mauresmo of France in a nearly two hour match that went to a tiebreak in the first set and ended at 7-6 (1), 6-3. Mauresmo, who hit five double faults and won a dismal 39% of her first serves, had no answer for the soon-to-be 10th-ranked Danish teenager’s game. Mauresmo was up 5-3 in the first with two set points before Wozniacki broke back to level the score and then blaze through the tiebreak.
Wozniacki and Safina will meet Sunday, May 17th 2009 for the final.
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