Dropping Like Flies

It's not often that any tournament ever plays out like you'd expect and that the competitors at the end were all expected to make it that far. Take, for example, Louisville's loss to Michigan State last weekend, or Villanova's devastation of Pitt.

Tennis is no exception. And with a few rounds left before the finals at the Sony-Ericsson Open, it's somewhat shocking that all four of the top men's seeds are still in contention for the title.

The same is not true for the women, however.

Jelena Jankovic, who lost her first match in Indian Wells last week, followed it up with another early upset as Argentina's Gisela Dulko scored her first victory over the former #1. Dinara Safina made it one round further, but was stopped by a surging Samantha Stosur. And just yesterday Elena Dementieva, who began the year with two championship titles and an amazing 15-0 record, became the third top-four player to pack her bags and head home.



As it stands only Serena and Venus Williams and eighth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, have made it as far as their Elite Eight standing suggested they should. And even then, Serena struggled through her fourth round match against Jie Zheng, dropping the second set before pulling out the victory.

With so many upsets that only means that we're seeing a few new faces in the quarterfinals.

Of course, the term "new" is subject to interpretation -- Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka have certainly become prominent forces on the tour in recent months. Neither have even reached their twentieth birtdays yet, but Caroline ended last year with three titles and Victoria, already a two-time titlist in 2009, is a stone's throw away from the top ten. With Svetlana and Stosur both in their half of the draw, either one could make a big run for the finals here.



The top half looks a little tougher, with both Williams sisters potentially meeting in the semis. But Na Li, who's scored big wins over Aggie Radwanska and Amelie Mauresmo this year, and Iveta Benesova, who made it to the semis in two tournaments in Mexico, are sure to work hard to prevent that match-up from occurring.

And all of this week's winners are sure to put a little fear into the hearts of the best players -- both newcomers and not-so-newcomers are making themselves heard, and it's only a matter of time before they stake their claim to the top spot.

I Admit When I'm Wrong...Sort Of

I'm getting used to a trend where I post an article applauding the triumph of some underdog or other only to be immediately discounted by their loss in the next round.

Sure that happened again in Miami -- John Isner and Amer Delic both lost their second round matches, and Mardy Fish was upset by Nicolas Massu. But on the other hand, I did get a few right.

Taylor Dent was impressive in his third round win over Tommy Robredo, a man who's won two titles already this year and has brought his ranking from #22 in January to #16 now. And Samantha Stosur simply crushed second-seeded Dinara Safina in straight sets, the first time she's ever scored a victory against the Australian Open runner-up.

There will be plenty more upsets in Miami, I predict. But this could be the tournament for Taylor and Samantha to really shine.

I'll be rooting for them -- hopefully for more than one more round.

¡Bienvenidos a Miami!

Some were greeted with open arms while others were asked to pack their bags almost as soon as they touched down.

The second ATP World Tour 1000 event of the season is off to a strong start in southern Florida, with most of the top seeds -- both men and women -- in action. There were, as always, plenty of upsets, and more than a few qualifiers made it to past the first match of the draw -- some, even further.

American men had a strong start -- the seeded players, Andy Roddick, James Blake and Mardy Fish, all received byes in the first round. But beyond that, four men who had to win two qualifying rounds just to make the main bracket showed up strong. John Isner and Amer Delic are both playing their second round matches today, while Taylor Dent and Robert Kendrick followed up their first round victories with triumphs over #19 Nicolas Almagro and #23 Robin Soderling respectively.



It wasn't all good news, of course. Lleyton Hewitt, who is desperately trying to launch a comeback, has had some success this year. He made it to the quarterfinals in Sydney and the semis in Memphis, even taking the first set from eventual champion Roddick. But he also lost a tough first round match at the Australian Open to Fernando Gonzalez and a Davis Cup match to Thailand's Danai Udomchoke, then ranked 155th in the world.

Lleyton had received a wildcard entry to Miami and showed signs of the old, #1 player he once was in the first round against a sprightly Dudi Sela. But he was stopped short by Gilles Simon in his next game -- he won less than forty percent of the points on his serve and committed six double faults. If this performance is any indication, it may be a while before we see him become a real force again.



On the women's side there was also plenty of drama. Elena Dementieva gave me another scare, almost losing her second round match for the second straight week, but she she pulled through to make it past Anastasia Pivovarova in the third set. Caroline Wozniacki also dropped a set to Australia's comeback kid Jelena Dokic, before she earned the right to meet Patty Schnyder later this weekend.

But it was smoother sailing for some names you may have forgotten -- or not even known. Nicole Vaidisova was once ranked seventh in the world, but a tough end to 2008, in which she lost five first round matches after making the quarters at Wimbledon, dropped her down to #71. So far in Miami, though, she hasn't lost a set, and only gave up one game to twenty-eighth seed Alona Bondarenko.



Samantha Stosur is out to make a name for herself this year. Once a top-ranked doubles player, she's had some success on the singles court this year. She beat ninth-seed Ai Sugiyama in Brisbane and took Aggie Radwanska to three sets in Indian Wells last week. In Miami she took advantage of a weak service game from Sybille Bammer and won, 6-1, 6-1, in just over an hour.



You may not have heard of Anastasia Yakimova -- I certainly hadn't. But the Spanish-born Belarusian is ranked #84 in the world and has seven ITF titles to her name. She's only made it past the first round in one WTA tournament this year, but this week she took out a resurgent Marion Bartoli in straight sets. We'll see if she can keep the momentum going further into the draw.

Sure there's still a long road ahead, but it already looks like Miami is off to an exciting start! Stay tuned!

Where Retirement Means Squat

I suppose when most people hit sixty-five and look forward to their retirement, they have some idea of how they're going to pass the time -- maybe travel around the world, take up knitting, finish reading War and Peace, improve their serve-and-volley game.

It's supposed to be leisure time.

But when you're a professional tennis player -- and retire before you're twenty-five -- you may realize that leisure is a lot like work. And that might be why so few are able to stick to the plan.

Just about nine years ago, a nineteen-year-old Venus Williams, ranked #3 in the world, said she was considering leaving the sport to focus on her education and her investments. At that point in her life, she hadn't yet won a Grand Slam singles title, though she had made it to the finals at the U.S. Open in 1997 -- her sister Serena, a year younger, won at Flushing Meadows the following year.

Well we all know how long that retirement lasted. Venus swept the championships at Wimbledon in 2000 and also took home the trophy in New York -- her first two of seven major titles she's now won in her career.

Of course, her "retirement" was only rumored, suggested by some -- much like that of Marat Safin who, just last fall, intimated the same. But this year his face is all over the tour -- he's playing Davis Cup, appeared at top-tier tournaments in Melbourne and Indian Wells, and has brought his ranking back from #90 a year ago to #23 now.

The most recent rumors of a comeback swirl around another former world #1, Kim Clijsters. The Belgian also-ran took the top position in 2003, but was largely outshone by countrywoman Justine Henin, who'd already won her first of four French Open titles. Kim, on the other hand, didn't bring home her own -- and only -- Slam for two years, when she defeated Mary Pierce in the U.S. Open finals.

Clijsters never returned to defend her title -- she was sidelined in 2006 with a wrist injury and decided to leave the game in 2007, at the ripe old age of twenty-three. But tomorrow Kim returns to the public eye. She's holding a press conference and is expected to ask for a wild card entry to this year's Open.

So much for "So long!"

Kim's return to the sport will certainly be appreciated. Like Justine Henin, who retired last year while still ranked #1 in the world, Clijsters was near the top of her game when she chose to bow out. And in a world where the top spot is being tossed around like a hot potato, another strong contender will surely be welcome.

But my real reason for wanting Kim to come back is that, deep down, I feel seeing her face on the court, may just spur Henin to rethink her choice. The two had a superb competition over the years, with Justine holding a slim 12-10 lead over Kim. Sure there are plenty of new names in the mix that could spawn the next big rivalry, but won't it be fun to watch these two try?



Hope to see y'all soon!

Take That!

Indian Wells seemed to be the venue for tennis players to make a statement over the past week and a half.

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic fought her way to the finals, showing that it wasn't quite time to erase her name from the ranks of elite women, while Andy Murray posted his fourth straight win over former world #1 Roger Federer to further prove that the once-infallible King is, in fact, human.

But there were others who were prepared to make even bolder assertions in the desert of California. Vera Zvonareva had climbed to a career-high ranking of #5 early last month and yesterday paired with her semifinal opponent Victoria Azarenka to claim the women's doubles title in Indian Wells. This afternoon she took on Ivanovic in an attempt to sweep the tournament.



The match started out close, in extremely windy conditions -- the two women traded breaks of serve in the first set and took over an hour before forcing a tiebreak. Even then they remained tight, but Vera took the set, 7-5, in just under ninety minutes. In the second set, though, Ivanovic's serve seemed to fall apart -- she won only forty percent of her first attempts, and was actually slightly better on her second serve at 43%. Zvonareva took advantage of her opponent's weakness and won six games in a row, claiming the second set, and her second title of 2009, 6-2, and Ana remained trophy-less for the year.



The men's championship match had the potential to be a shocker. Rafael Nadal was going for his thirteenth ATP World Tour 1000 title -- Murray for his third title of the year and his third professional win against Rafa. The Scot was running on momentum from beating Federer again while the Spaniard was amped from stopping Andy Roddick's roll in the semis.

But tonight Nadal was just too much for Murray to handle. Proving that he is indeed the best tennis player in the world, Rafa didn't allow a single break opportunity. He won a monstrous 81% of his first serves and another 65% on his second try, and in less than ninety minutes -- as long as just the first set of the women's final -- he sent Murray packing, avenging his loss at the finals in Rotterdam.



It wasn't a total loss for the American men, though. Immediately after his semifinal loss to Rafa Saturday night, Andy Roddick had to regroup and get back on the courts for the doubles final with partner Mardy Fish. Though they lost the first set to veteran Max Mirnyi and relative newcomer Andy Ram, Fish took the reigns in the second and helped save three match points in the third to win the title. It was only Roddick's fourth career doubles championship, but I'm sure no one would scoff at placing one more trophy on the mantle.



Congratulations to all this week's winners!

Who'da Thunk It?!

This weekend was sure to be full of upsets -- if you weren't already wincing from Wake Forest's loss to Cleveland or cheering Maryland's defeat of Cal, there were plenty of surprises on the tennis courts in Indian Wells to keep your heart pounding.

On the women's side, top seeds were eliminated early which paved the way for some others that had been struggling so far this year. Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was able to make it to her second straight final here after Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva were eliminated from her half of the draw, and Vera Zvonareva took out her doubles partner and co-titlist Victoria Azarenka in straight sets for the chance at her second tournament win this year.



The men's draw seemed to go much more smoothly -- at least until this weekend. All four top seeds made it to the quarterfinals with little drama. But then a surging Andy Roddick trampled over defending champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets, proving that his upset of the world #3 in Melbourne, acheived when Nole withdrew in the fourth set, was more than just a technical win.



And then there was today's first semifinal, where Andy Murray took on Roger Federer. This was Roger's first tournament since the Australian Open, while Murray has already won two titles this year -- even before today's matchup it seemed clear that Federer was a little rusty. But even still, I didn't expect this semi to be quite as one-sided as it was.

Murray took the first set, winning more than eighty percent of his first serves, and though Roger evened the match in the second, he seemed to fall apart in set three. He won less than one out of every two second serves, was broken five times, and served half the number of aces as Murray. It didn't take two hours for Andy to advance to the final, and record his fourth consecutive win over the former #1 player in the world.



The other semifinal is going on right now -- Roddick and Rafael Nadal are on serve in the first set. Sure the advantage is with the Spaniard, but Andy has beaten Rafa twice in their careers, most recently in Dubai last year. It's more than conceivable that he pulls off another victory to set up his second championship match with Murray this year, even if Nadal is still playing at the top of his game.

But whoever wins in Indian Wells this weekend, it could certainly be a coup -- and provide the boost someone needs to power through the spring and on to France.

Good luck to everyone!

March Madness

The term may be reserved for basketball, but there's plenty of crazy action in tennis this week too.

And while few office pools are likely to follow the bracket in Indian Wells quite as closely as they do other matches this weekend, some people have a lot riding on the results in California.

Yesterday Belarusian teenager Victoria Azarenka scored her first defeat of top-seeded Dinara Safina as she advanced to the semifinals and today, seventeen-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who'd dismissed #2 Jelena Jankovic in the second round, pulled off another upset of Aggie Radwanska. Victoria's already won two titles this year, but this will be Anastasia's first trip to a WTA Tour semifinal (she's won a handful of ITF crowns in her short career).



But there's also potential for some shake-ups in the men's draw. Last night -- or more appropriately, very early this morning -- world #1 Rafael Nadal secured his spot in the quarterfinals, but just barely. David Nalbandian, who's won the pair's previous two meetings, had five match points in the second set, but failed to convert. The frustration must have gotten to him in the deciding set, and Nadal swept through the deciding set, 6-0.



He'll next face Juan Martin Del Potro, who needed two tiebreaks before dismissing American John Isner. Isner had already pulled off upsets over Gael Monfils and Marat Safin, and he did his best against DelPot, but eventually fell to the more-experienced player.

Roger Federer also struggled though his fourth round match, dropping the middle set to Fernando Gonzalez. Tonight he faces Fernando Verdasco, the man who'd taken Nadal to a five-set, five-hour semifinal at the Australian Open in January. Roger won their last match in May, but Verdasco was clearly a different player and has vastly improved since then.



With top players having to fight for their berths, we could certainly see some upsets in the next round. I'm hoping players like Verdasco and Andy Roddick, who's looking for his second straight win over Novak Djokovic tomorrow, will be able to capitalize on the opportunities they have -- and maybe bring home the championship trophy.

In the meantime, root for UNC -- I've got them winning it all!