Memphis Belles

There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs at tournaments where the top seed is ranked outside the top fifty -- with even the most favored players so spotty in their day-to-day performances, virtually anyone can turn her run into a Cinderella story.

And that's exactly what's been happening this week at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, where neither of the two top seeds, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova or Sofia Arvidsson, made it out of the first round. That leaves one-time U.S. Open darling Melanie Oudin as the top-ranked player and while it certainly does give her a monster opportunity to shine, the bigger imact might be felt by those even more under-the-radar.

Qualifier Alexa Glatch has a handful of ITF titles to her name, but has only made a minor dent on Tour. She made the quarters in Quebec City last year, but maybe more impressively defeated both Iveta Benesova and a just-emerging Petra Kvitova in Fed Cup back in 2009. But this week she barreled through Beatrice Capra in her opener, and survived a close call against Michaella Krajicek. With no seeds left in her half of the draw, it might be smooth sailing for the twenty-one year old to finally break through.

Another player to watch is former Junior champ Coco Vandeweghe, one of the ladies I had my eye on back at her first U.S. Open in 2008. She's played well against in the big leagues before, beating Vera Zvonareva last year in San Diego, but now just a smidge off a double-digit ranking, this could be her best chance. Coco notched a solid win over Alexandra Stevenson on Wednesday, avenging a first round loss to the one-time Wimbledon semifinalist from just last week. With some streaky players in her path, she could make a good case for changing the meaning of "Team Coco".

Of course no one can rise to the top of the sport without consistently beating the best players out there. But with the path in Memphis relatively clear for these potential Cinderellas, it looks like they have a good chance to dance at the ball when all is done.

In Memoriam

Here in the U.S. today, Memorial Day, marks the unofficial start to summer -- but the original intent, of course, was more somber, meant to honor our fallen war heroes. So I've chosen to dedicate today's post to those competitors who've already fallen in the opening days of Roland Garros.

Of course the stakes in Paris aren't quite as high as they are on a battlefield, but for some players defeat must have been hard to swallow.

Hometown heroine Amelie Mauresmo has never made it past the quarterfinals at the French Open, but after winning her first title in two years this past February and making the semis in Madrid, she'd brought her ranking from #23 in the world to #16. In her first match she took on German Anna-Lena Groenefeld, a twenty-three year old who seems to have been around forever, but has only won one Tour title in 2006. The two had played five times before, and Amelie had only dropped one set -- she should have had an easy run to the second round. But Anne-Lena made quick work of the former #1. She served six aces, twice as many as Mauresmo, and won 87% of her first serves. In just over an hour she sent her opponent packing and earned the right to meet Gisela Dulko in the second round.

Flavia Pennetta must understand Mauresmo's frustration. She's had a decent year so far, making the finals in Acapulco and notching wins over Nadia Petrova and Jelena Jankovic at Stuttgart, she remains firmly in the top twenty. Her opening match against #116 Alexa Glatch, the surprising leading lady at the U.S.'s Fed Cup semifinal. Flavia clearly had the experience -- she's been pro since 2000 and made the fourth round here last year. Alexa on the other hand has only played in one Grand Slam event, the U.S. Open, and only won one match there, in 2005.

But the nineteen-year-old American dominated the clay court specialist. Flavia was out-served, out-hit and out-run. Though she did manage to convert one break point, Glatch never again ceded control of the match and won by an impressive 6-1, 6-1 margin.

The most remarkable upset however might not really be considered an "upset" at all. Most tennis fans are probably more familiar with Lleyton Hewitt than they are with Ivo Karlovic. The two-time Grand Slam winner was ranked #1 for almost a year and a half from 2001 to 2003, but plagued by a hip injury for the better part of 2008, he dropped to #108 earlier this year. A recent win in Houston and the defeat of James Blake in Memphis helped him gain some confidence, though -- even though he'd won their previous three meetings, Karlovic couldn't have been happy with the luck of his draw.

But the Croation was not going to go down quietly. He served an amazing fifty-five aces, a record in the Open era, and placed more than seventy percent of his first serves -- the fastest clocking in at 142 miles per hour. He played aggressively, scoring more winners and unforced errors than his opponent, and took an early lead, winning the first two sets in tiebreaks.

The one place Karlovic failed was in breaking Hewitt's serve -- in the nearly four hours and five sets they played, he only managed to convert on one opportunity. Lleyton on the other hand was able to return the favor four times and ultimately took the last set 6-3, sending the higher-ranked and twenty-sixth seeded player off.

Imagine. Being able to serve fifty-five aces and still not getting the win. My shoulder hurts just thinking about it.

And so I say good-bye to these great players -- at least for the next two weeks. At least they all have the opportunity to come back at the next tournament stronger and even more hungry for a win.

In the meantime, enjoy the start to your summer! Looks like it's gonna be a hot one!

Reaching a Milestone

I have a confession to make.

I have this really bad habit of starting something with a bang and then letting my interest fizzle out and eventually dropping the project entirely. I've started multiple novels but haven't finished one; I took up surfing after a trip to Mexico in 2005 but my board's been sitting idle in my front hallway for over a year.

But here I am, just about eight months into my latest endeavor, and I've reached my landmark 100^th posting!

Yay, me!

Don't worry, I'm not going to celebrate by running through my top 100 moments in tennis or anything crazy like that -- obviously I don't have that kind of patience. Instead I choose to look at a couple players who are poised to make their own jump over the #100 line -- though for them, the lower the number the better.

Within a stone's throw of the top hundred is Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev, who reached his first tour final in St. Petersburg last year before losing to Andy Murray. That performance brought him to a career-high ranking of eighty-ninth in the world, but some early round losses in 2009 have pushed him down again. Andrey lost trying to qualify for Rome this week, but a turnaround in the coming weeks could get him back on track.

Currently ranked #112 Victor Crivoi was slightly more successful in Italy. After reaching the quarterfinals in a challenger event here last week, he made it through the qualifying rounds of the Masters tourney and then unceremoniously outsed James Blake in his first main round match. Though he was subsequently dismissed by Robin Soderling he did put up a fight and took the second set in a tiebreak. If he keeps it up, his first week in the top hundred isn't that far away.

On the women's side the low single digits are dominated by a group of American girls who are trying to prove there are more players in the country than the Williams sisters. Julie Ditty, Alexa Glatch and Melanie Oudin are all coming off a busy Fed Cup weekend where Glatch helped secure the team's first final appearance since 2003. She and Melanie are actually both in the double digits when it comes to race points thanks to recent strong showings, but still have a ways to go in the broader rankings. As clay court season is traditionally difficult for the Americans, it may take some doing, but there's no reason these youngsters couldn't rack up some points over the summer.

Of course as some rise, others must fall and there are inevitably some names that are dangerously close to falling out of the top one hundred.

Despite the fact that former #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero broke his five-year title drought last month in Casablanca, he fell back thirty ranking points to #100 with early exits in Barcelona and Rome. Even more shocking, the eight-plus month absense of Maria Sharapova from the Tour has brought her down to #64. According to the WTA she's not planning to return for at least two weeks, which will shave almost two hundred points from her twelve-month score -- and could drop her to her lowest ranking in six years.

So good luck to all these players as they fight to retain their place or break into a whole level of talent. There are thousands of players just dying to take their spot among the tennis elite.

And just like me, a hundred articles in, once you make it this far the pressure to keep it up is that much more!

Talk About a Shocker

I feel terrible for ignoring the women all this week, but with the Fed Cup semifinals taking place over the weekend, there really wasn't a lot of action to speak of until Saturday.

But when they started, did they ever make up for an otherwise quiet week.

Defending champion Russia was the heavy favorite against the Italians. They claim five of the top ten rankings and have won four tournaments this year.

Unfortunately none of the titlists are playing on the country's Fed Cup team -- they could have used them. Instead of relying on Elena Dementieva or Vera Zvonareva, the Russians' hopes rested on Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. And these stars proved to be no match for the likes of Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone.

While Kuznetsova did manage to win one of her singles matches, the Italians capitalized on their homecourt advantage and Schiavone rolled through her matches, clinching the victory and advancing her team to just their second-ever Fed Cup final.



There they'll face another upstart team. Even though the U.S. hold two of the top five ranking positions, neither Serena nor Venus Williams are playing on the team. With up-and-comer Bethanie Mattek-Sands leading the American charge against the Czech Republic, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the U.S. went home early.

But teenager Alexa Glatch pulled together two upsets of Iveta Benesova and Petra Kvitova and Bethanie rebounded from her singles losses to seal a victory in her doubles match, sending her team to their first final since 2003.



That sets up quite an interesting final for November, and I'm not sure who the favorite will be. It'll definitely be an intense summer season as the girls gear up for the title match. It may be a challenge, but I'm rooting for my compatriots to win another title -- crazier things have happened!

Congrats to all!