Now or Never

The first balls of this year's BNP Paribas Open have been struck, with the ladies kicking off their main draw today while the men wrap up their qualifying matches. And while the seeded players all get byes for their first rounds, there's nevertheless a lot of pressure on everyone to perform from the start.

With just a handful of matches in the books, we've already seen a couple of disappointing results. Iveta Benesova, who's beaten Sabine Lisicki and Sam Stosur already this year, won her first set but dropped the next two to comeback kid Sorana Cirstea, and Memphis runner-up Marina Erakovic, looking for her first win in Indian Wells, was defeated in a two-and-a-half hour battle with Galina Voskoboeva. Meanwhile Sara Errani, fresh off singles and doubles crowns in Acapulco, surrendered a break lead to Vania King and lost in straights. But others hope to avoid similar fates.

Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki has amassed a mediocre 7-4 record so far this year, and will fall out of the top five if she doesn't make at least the semis here. She comes to the desert as the #4 seed, but has more than a few potential spoilers in her part of the bracket. Her first opponent will either be Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who put up a fight at the Hopman Cup, or Ekaterina Makarova, who stunned Serena Williams in Melbourne. And if she survives those early tests, Caro may face a rematch of last year's final with Marion Bartoli just to make the final four. She'll need to raise her game if she's going to survive deep into this draw.

Jelena Jankovic, winner her two years ago, doesn't have quite so many points to defend this time around but may have as much on the line. She's been pretty busy this year, already playing six events in addition to Fed Cup, and marked some big wins -- Stosur in Dubai -- and some not-so-big losses -- Petra Martic in Kuala Lumpur. To her credit, she's hung around most draws, but she hasn't won a title since she lifted the trophy here. Ranked out of the top ten this year, JJ will first face American wildcard Julie Hampton, but is slated to meet Aggie Radwanska, who beat her in Dubai, in the fourth round and current #1 Victoria Azarenka in the quarters. It's going to be a tough fight if the Serb plans on using this to launch her comeback campaign.

There are a couple men with just as much on the line over the next ten days too. Fernando Verdasco had struggled over the past two years or so, declining to defend points in San Jose and failing to make any headway against the sport's top players -- he'd only beaten one top ten player since the spring of 2010. But his run to the Acapulco final last week might have come at the perfect time -- now back at #19 in the world, he comes to Indian Wells with more confidence than he's had in a while. He'll meet either Ryan Sweeting or Challenger champion Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in his opener, but will likely face a much tougher challenge in Juan Martin Del Potro a round later. If he can score a win there we'll really know he's back.

Andy Roddick, runner-up here in 2010 -- and doubles champ the year before -- is also out to claw his way back to the top. Now ranked #31, his lowest position in an astounding eleven years, he's logged a 4-4 record in 2012. Injury forced him out of the Australian Open, and he hasn't been able to hold onto leads in matches since then. He did score an impressive win against Roger Federer in an exhibition match at MSG on Monday night, so things aren't completely bleak. He'll be challenged from the start, though, facing either big-serving Ivo Karlovic or dangerous Pole Lukas Kubot in the second round, and should meet back-in-form Tomas Berdych after that. It'll be a long road for Roddick, but a couple big wins here would be a good start.

There's a lot riding on the results in Indian Wells this week -- sure some players may not have a lot of ranking points at stake here while may have plenty of time left in their careers to make up for any disappointing results. But if they're going to silence the naysayers and prove they're still real contenders in the sport, they'll all have to put up a fight in the California desert. And there's never been a better time for them to show us what they've got.

Fed Cup Round Up

Sure, most of the U.S. will have its eyes glued to the Super Bowl tonight -- go Giants! -- but there was plenty of other action on fields of a much smaller size this weekend. And the ladies who contested the first set of 2012 Fed Cup rubbers put up an effort that just might rival what the big boys are doing in Indianapolis -- and while some favorites thrived, a couple underdogs came out shining.

The defending champion Czech team had what looks like the easiest weekend of the bunch, despite a quarterfinal match-up with a tough German team. But Iveta Benesova, who's already beaten Sam Stosur and Shaui Peng this year, seems to be suddenly coming to her own on the singles circuit -- she opened the tie with a solid comeback against world #14 Sabine Lisicki. Then 2011 WTA player of the year Petra Kvitova gave the Czechs the lead after surviving a seventy-two minute, 10-8 third set against Julia Goerges. Angelique Kerber gave the Germans their only point of the tie, beating Lucie Hradecka in straight sets, but it was the Czechs who easily clinched their spot in the semis again.

The Russians, in a rematch of the 2008 final, also had an easy start against Spain as they looked to improve on their runner-up showing from last year. Maria Sharapova easily handled Silvia Soler-Espinoza in their first rubber and Svetlana Kuznetsova added to the lead by taking out one-time Melbourne quarterfinalist Carla Suarez Navarro in just over an hour. But the Spaniard rebounded nicely to upset Nadia Petrova in the first reverse singles match on Sunday, and in was left to Kuznetsova to secure the win. The veteran Russian was pushed to three sets by Soler-Espinoza, but was able to convert her only break opportunity in the decider, winning the match and rendering the doubles rubber moot. That marks the sixth straight year the Russians made the Fed Cup semis.

The other two quarterfinals came right down to the wire -- some surprising performances, both bad and good, made things a little tougher than you'd expect. The Italians, Fed Cup champions in 2009 and 2010, should have had a much easier time of things, though. But one-time French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was dismantled by world #121 Lesia Tsurenko in the second rubber, keeping the seeds even with the upstart Ukraine going into Day Two. Schiavone battled back after losing the first set tiebreak to Kateryna Bondarenko on Sunday though -- a good thing, too, since surprise Melbourne quarterfinalist Sara Errani retired a set and a break down to Tsurenko later in the day. But with Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci -- both currently ranked better in doubles than singles -- headlining the final rubber, the Italians finally clinched the win after a surprisingly long decider. They'll face the Czechs in April, and will certainly need to be more consistent if they're going to make another run to the final.

But perhaps the biggest shock came from unseeded, unheralded Serbia, facing 2001 champions Belgium on their home court. Sure, the Belgians were without their biggest star in Kim Clijsters, but with some recent spotty performances by Jelena Jankovic and no follow-through from up-and-comer Bojana Jovanovski, their prospects looked grim. JJ survived a tough two sets against veteran Kirsten Flipkens on Saturday, but pulled out of reverse singles with a thigh injury. Yanina Wickmayer evened the score for the Belgians and ran over eighteen-year-old Aleksandra Krunic in the third rubber, giving her team the lead. But BoJo came through to force a deciding rubber and teamed with the same youngster in doubles to stun Wickmayer and Alison Van Uytvanck in a three-set, two and a half hour battle. The win gave Serbia their first ticket to a Fed Cup semi and the right to face the much more experienced Russians in the spring. They might be the underdogs there too, but a few big plays could give them another big win.

Whether the long shots will continue their run toward the Fed Cup trophy, or the favorites will ultimately triumph, is still unknown. But if they keep up their level of play, it sure looks like anything can happen through the rest of the year. And with halftime about to end, now's the perfect time for them to show us what they've got.

Best. Week. Ever.

Two young ladies went home from tournaments in Europe today without the trophies they were ultimately after, but that certainly doesn't mean they were unsuccessful.

Russia's Anna Lapushchenkova is not the most familiar name on the circuit. The current world #140 once broke into double digits in 2008, but didn't play any more that year and finished at #106. Though she has earned trophies at a number of ITF events, Anna had never advanced past the second round of the main draw in a Tour-level event. That all changed this week in Stuttgart though -- after battling through three qualifying rounds, she stunned Victoria Azarenka in her second match and didn't allow herself to get flustered in the quarters when Lucie Safarova came back in the second to even the score with a 6-1 set.

In the semis she met red-hot player Sam Stosur, who was running on a ten-match win streak. The twenty-three year old actually got up a break in the first and had the opportunity to serve out the set, but Sam rallied to earn the early lead. Lapushchenkova even started out ahead in the second, but continued to struggle on serve. She got less than half of her first attempts in and dealt out twice as many doubles as Stosur had aces. After about eighty minutes, Anna's Cinderella run in Germany came to and end, and she was sent home.

It's by no means an inglorious end to the week though -- the youngster had never won back-to-back matches at an event like this, and a semifinal appearance is nothing to scoff at.

Neither was Simona Halep's showing in Fes. The 2008 French Open juniors champion is clearly comfortable on clay, but the eighteen-year-old is better known for certain other assets. She's only been pro for a short time, but shocked us all when she made the quarters in Marbella -- her first tournament on the main Tour.

This week in Fes, Halep also had to fight through qualifying rounds, but she really started taking names when she hit the main draw. Simona opened with an upset of eighth seed Lucie Hradecka and then defeated world #47 Patty Schnyder in straight sets. On Saturday she played the first final of her nascent career, impressively in only her third big-girl event.

I had high hopes for the Romanian, as she'd already defeated opponent Iveta Benesova this year, but it seems the pressure might have gotten to her a bit. While she did dole out the only two aces of the match, she had trouble winning points on her serve and ultimately fell to the Czech, 6-4, 6-2. But you have to give her credit for putting on a show all week.

It certainly seems that these ladies are beginning to show the skills that will make them threats to the top players. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them -- and Halep, especially -- become a real force at the Majors in the coming years. And while I'm sure there are many more victories awaiting them, I hope they can both be happy with the performances they put on in the last few days.

They've certainly been their best results so far -- until next time!

The New Mexico

This year ushered in a brand new tournament in Monterrey, Mexico, and while many of the top women athletes took the week off to prepare for Indian Wells, some bright stars were still showcasing their stuff.

Polish teenager Aggie Radwanska claimed the top seed, but she continued to struggle, losing in the first round of her third contest this year -- fifty-third ranked Na Li swept the third set 6-0, for the right to advance.

Other seeds saw better luck in Monterrey, though -- #2 Marion Bartoli continued her comeback, flying over qualifier Michaella Krajicek in straight sets, while last week's runner-up in Acapulco, Flavia Pennetta, only dropped one game to the U.S.'s Jill Craybas.

But there were some new standouts on display in Mexico as well. Argentine Gisela Dulko isn't exactly new to the tennis scene, and actually had been ranked as high as #26 in 2005 -- but she made her splash at this year's Australian Open, when Serena Williams gave herself a "D-" score in her match against Gisela. Since then Gisela posted wins in both of her Fed Cup matches against the U.S. and made it to the finals at the Colsanitas Cup in Bogota. In Monterrey Dulko was given the seventh seed, and won her first round match against veteran Natalie Dechy. We'll see if she's able to follow through and win her first title of the year.

On the other side of the draw, sixth-seeded Iveta Benesova is having her best year ever, climbing to a career-high #31 ranking. The Czech star did lose her one Fed Cup match even as her team advanced to the semifinals, but she did make it to the finals in Hobart -- where she eliminated Dulko in the quarters -- and the semis in Acapulco. In her first round in Mexico this week she faced Shahar Peer, who's recently been in the news more for her country's politics than for her tennis prowess. Iveta took out the former top-twenty player in straight sets and next faces Italy's Roberta Vinci for the third round.

These new tournaments could prove to be a great opportunity for young stars to make their names known in the tennis world -- and I hope to see a lot more success for these girls in the weeks and months to come!

¡Olé!