My Youngster

I figured I'd wait till week two began for the entire draw before confirming her identity.

pompelmo said...

It was Azarenka, and she lost! LOL.

I told you. It is Cirstea. Craig is not much of a fan of Wozniacki. Melanie would be a very long shot.

Sat Sep 05, 04:01:00 AM

I must say I'm surprised pompelmo was the only one who was certain and also the only one who stated aloud that I don't have a whole lot of good to say about Wozniacki. Agnes Szavay? Please. I got over her a long time ago. While I like Gisela Dulko and would have no problem with her in the final, she doesn't exactly qualify as a youngster, so I was surprised she was even suggested.

Ironically, I didn't get to see Sorana play a single point at this event. Ironically, she lost to Wozniacki. But while my youngster is out of the tournament, the spirit of my desire is still alive.

Petra Kvitova, Melanie Oudin, Wozniacki, and Yanina Wickmayer are still around. Are all in the Tier III half of the draw. And given that Nadia Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova are such headcases, any one of the youngsters could make her first Slam final.

Wimbledon Draws

Reuters

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) Juan Martín Del Potro ARG (5) v Arnaud Clement FRA
Lleyton Hewitt AUS v Robby Ginepri USA
Rajeev Ram USA v Philipp Petzschner GER
Mischa Zverev GER v Dmitry Tursunov RUS (25)

Radek Stepanek CZE (23) v Alejandro Falla COL
Potito Starace ITA v Jose Acasuso ARG
Fabio Fognini ITA v Denis Istomin UZB
Kevin Kim USA v David Ferrer ESP (16)

Nikolay Davydenko RUS (12) v Daniel Evans GBR
Victor Crivoi ROU v Bjorn Phau GER
Frederico Gil POR v Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA
Alex Bogdanovic GBR v Tomas Berdych CZE (20)

Jurgen Melzer AUT (26) v Wayne Odesnik USA
Benjamin Becker GER v Roko Karanusic CRO
Grigor Dimitrov BUL v Igor Kunitsyn RUS
Jeremy Chardy FRA v Andy Roddick USA (6)

This is an interesting quarter. If Rafa doesn't play, which we should know today, I would imagine Raja would get his spot and once again, Andy would be in Raja's quarter at a Slam. As it is, Rafa would have to be on point out of the gate because Lleyton Hewitt will provide much more resistance on grass than he did on clay a few weeks ago. As it is, he just beat him in straight sets in the Hurlington exo. Other than Davydenko, all the seeds in this quarter enjoy the grass and while I wouldn't go so far as to say they can all beat one other on this surface, whoever emerges from this quarter is anybody's guess. I'll go with the defending champion just because.

Very interesting. With Rafa's withdrawal, will Andy Roddick take advantage to get back to his first Wimbledon semifinal since 2005? How is is ankle feeling? Will Radek Stepanek, who loves grass, serve and volley his way to the quarter? Will del Potro advance as far as I pegged him before he moved to the top spot? Wildcard: Paul-Henri Mathieu?



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Andy Murray GBR (3) v Robert Kendrick USA
Riccardo Ghedin ITA v Ernests Gulbis LAT
Taylor Dent USA v Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP
Brian Dabul ARG v Viktor Troicki SRB (30)

Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (19) v Eduardo Schwank ARG
Pablo Andujar ESP v Martin Vassallo Arguello ARG
Christophe Rochus BEL v Pablo Cuevas URU
Jesse Levine USA v Marat Safin RUS (14)

Fernando Gonzalez CHI (10) v Teimuraz Gabashvili RUS
Oscar Hernandez ESP v Leonardo Mayer ARG
Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP v Mikhail Youzhny RUS
Fabrice Santoro FRA v James Blake USA (17) Nicolas Kiefer GER (33)

Victor Hanescu ROU (31) v Ivan Navarro ESP
Nicolas Devilder FRA v Nicolas Lapentti ECU
Nicolas Kiefer GER Thiago Alves BRA v Andrei Pavel ROU
Bobby Reynolds USA v Gilles Simon FRA (8)

This quarter is chock full of headcases and the British Hope. If a particular headcase shows the desire to win big that he showed in Paris, I'll go out on a limb and predict he takes this quarter. Wildcard: Taylor Dent (just because it's grass)


Getty

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Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (5) James Blake USA (17) v Andreas Seppi ITA
Adrian Mannarino FRA v Marc Gicquel FRA
Paul Capdeville CHI v Vincent Spadea USA
Evgeny Korolev RUS v Igor Andreev RUS (29)

Tommy Haas GER (24) v Alexander Peya AUT
Michael Llodra FRA v Joshua Goodall GBR
Sam Querrey USA v Ivan Ljubicic CRO
Alberto Martin ESP v Marin Cilic CRO (11)

Tommy Robredo ESP (15) v Luka Gregorc SLO
Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA v Stefan Koubek AUT
Dudi Sela ISR v Santiago Gonzalez MEX
Xavier Malisse BEL v Rainer Schuettler GER (18)

Mardy Fish USA (28) v Sergio Roitman ARG
Jan Hernych CZE v Janko Tipsarevic SRB
Simon Greul GER v Michael Yani USA
Julien Benneteau FRA v Novak Djokovic SRB (4)

Like the first quarter, most of the seeds in this quarter enjoy the grass, though the top seed tends to slip and slide and fall down a bit too much for my liking. He could face Haas in a rematch of the Halle semifinal, but there are a few players standing in their path to the quarters. Fish, Malisse, Schuettler, Cilic, Llodra, Tipsarevic, Seppi can all turn into monsters on the grass. Del Potro certainly has the game and his run to the Roland Garros semifinals suggests that his stamina has improved. I'm giving him the nod. With del Potro moving to Rafa's spot in the main draw, I'll now give Haas the nod, provided the old man hasn't played too much tennis recently. Wildcard: Sam Querrey


Reuters

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Fernando Verdasco ESP (7) v James Ward GBR
Nicolas Mahut FRA v Kristof Vliegen BEL
Diego Junqueira ARG v Guillermo Canas ARG
Grega Zemlja SLO v Albert Montanes ESP (32)

Ivo Karlovic CRO (22) v Lukas Lacko SVK
Steve Darcis BEL v Frank Dancevic CAN
Simone Bolelli ITA v Daniel Koellerer AUT
Andrey Golubev KAZ v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (9)

Robin Soderling SWE (13) v Gilles Muller LUX
Marcel Granollers ESP v Andreas Beck GER
Nicolas Almagro ESP v Juan Monaco ARG
Marcos Baghdatis CYP Karol Beck (SVK) (LL) v Feliciano Lopez ESP (21)

Philipp Kohlschreiber GER (27) v Florent Serra FRA
Ivo Minar CZE v Maximo Gonzalez ARG
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP v Agustin Calleri ARG
Yen-Hsun Lu TPE v Roger Federer SUI (2)

If Raja stays put, he'll win this quarter unless a German a Spaniard or a Frenchman step up to the plate and finish the job started by a few Argentines and a German in Paris. I don't see Soderling being a giant killer this go around. He'll likely be satisfied with getting another tennis lesson from the man he admires, provided he doesn't lose his opening round encounter with the unpredictable but always dangerous on fast courts mojo killer. Wildcard: Gilles Muller


Reuters

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Dinara Safina RUS (1) v Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP
Nicole Vaidisova CZE v Rossana De Los Rios PAR
Elena Baltacha GBR v Alona Bondarenko UKR
Kirsten Flipkens BEL v Agnes Szavay HUN (30)

Amelie Mauresmo FRA (17) v Melinda Czink HUN
Katarina Srebotnik SLO v Aiko Nakamura JPN
Vania King USA v Mariya Koryttseva UKR
Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP v Flavia Pennetta ITA (15)

Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9) v Kimiko Date Krumm JPN
Petra Kvitova CZE v Maria Kirilenko RUS
Alberta Brianti ITA v Tathiana Garbin ITA
Marta Domachowska POL v Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP (20)

Anna Chakvetadze RUS (32) v Sabine Lisicki GER
Patricia Mayr AUT v Anne Keothavong GBR
Pauline Parmentier FRA v Akgul Amanmuradova UZB
Akiko Morigami JPN v Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (5)

What I would give to see Amélie make another deep run in London, but she seems mentally fried of late. Sveta may still be too high in Roland Garros heaven to get her feet firmly situated on the lawns, so who knows if she'll even get past her first opponent who likes grass as well. Pennetta is always a threat on this surface, provided she's not still injured. I'm not yet sold on anything about Wozniacki, even if she manages to rally from a set down in the semifinals to win the Eastbourne title. And the No. 1 seed will probably be asking herself why she's such a chicken if she manages to fall behind to anybody in her section. Too many headcases, too many question marks. You tell me who takes this quarter.



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Venus Williams USA (3) v Stefanie Voegele SUI
Anastasija Sevastova LAT v Kateryna Bondarenko UKR
Ekaterina Makarova RUS v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE
Carla Suarez Navarro ESP v Kaia Kanepi EST (25)

Samantha Stosur AUS (18) v Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA
Jelena Dokic AUS v Tatjana Malek GER
Sara Errani ITA v Stephanie Dubois CAN
Lucie Hradecka CZE v Ana Ivanovic SRB (13)

Agnieszka Radwanska POL (11) v Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP
Alexa Glatch USA v Shuai Peng CHN
Olga Govortsova BLR v Tatiana Perebiynis UKR
Galina Voskoboeva KAZ v Na Li CHN (19)

Sybille Bammer AUT (29) v Melanie Oudin USA
Monica Niculescu ROU v Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ
Katie O'Brien GBR v Iveta Benesova CZE
Julia Goerges GER v Jelena Jankovic SRB (6)

It's Wimbledon and so it's all about Venus until some other woman says it's not. I don't see one in this quarter. Wildcards need not apply.

Getty

:: :: ::

Vera Zvonareva RUS (7) v Georgie Stoop GBR
Melanie South GBR v Mathilde Johansson FRA
Jill Craybas USA v Tsvetana Pironkova BUL
Tamira Paszek AUT v Virginie Razzano FRA (26)

Aleksandra Wozniak CAN (23) v Francesca Schiavone ITA
Michelle Larcher De Brito POR v Klara Zakopalova CZE
Timea Bacsinszky SUI v Vesna Manasieva RUS
Yung-Jan Chan TPEv Marion Bartoli FRA (12)

Dominika Cibulkova SVK (14) v Julie Coin FRA
Masa Zec Peskiric SLO v Urszula Radwanska POL
Yanina Wickmayer BEL v Elena Vesnina RUS
Vera Dushevina RUS v Alize Cornet FRA (22)

Alisa Kleybanova RUS (27) v Sesil Karatantcheva KAZ
Karolina Sprem CRO v Regina Kulikova RUS
Aravane Rezai FRA v Ayumi Morita JPN
Alla Kudryavtseva RUS v Elena Dementieva RUS (4)

Soft, soft, soft. The top seeds couldn't have picked their own foes any better, and the bottom seeds couldn't have asked for better top seeds. I have no clue who will take this quarter. But one question mark is more than enough, so I'll take the easy way out and go with the top seed. Wildcard: Francesca Schiavone

(Update): I missed Bartoli in this section. I'm getting old. She's injured, so nothing I previously wrote changes.

AP

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Victoria Azarenka BLR (8) v Severine Bremond Beltrame FRA
Nathalie Dechy FRA v Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU
Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER v Sania Mirza IND
Edina Gallovits ROU v Sorana Cirstea ROU (28)

Maria Sharapova RUS (24) v Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR
Gisela Dulko ARG v Stephanie Foretz FRA
Maria Elena Camerin ITA v Shahar Peer ISR
Anastasiya Yakimova BLR v Nadia Petrova RUS (10)

Jie Zheng CHN (16) v Kristina Barrois GER
Daniela Hantuchova SVK v Laura Robson GBR
Tamarine Tanasugarn THA v Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP
Ai Sugiyama JPN v Patty Schnyder SUI (21)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (31) v Petra Cetkovska CZE
Roberta Vinci ITA v Magdalena Rybarikova SVK
Lucie Safarova CZE v Jarmila Groth AUS
Neuza Silva POR v Serena Williams USA (2)

Serena is the favorite, but she could face a fierce player with no regard for her stature in the second round. If Serena is interested in exacting revenge for her sister, though, it won't matter. I can't wait to see how Cirstea's current game holds up on grass. She probably has the best shot to derail Maria's Wimbledon return, though I believe the Siberian Siren will shriek her way to the quarters. Wildcard: Anna-Lena Groenefeld


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Roland Garros 2009 Women's Semifinals Preview

by Mad Professah

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at Roland Garros this year. I went 3 out of 4 in my predictions of the men's quarters but sadly predicted only 1 out of 4 in the women's quarters correctly.

Dinara Safina RUS (1) vs. Maria Sharapova RUS Dominika Cibulkova SVK (20). "Marat's little sister" no more, Dinara Safina is playing like she is a woman on a mission to win her first major title. Although she finally lost a set (to a Victoria Azarenka playing out of her mind) in the quarterfinals, she should have no difficulty getting past giant-killer Dominika Cibulkova to get to the Roland Garros final for the second consecutive year, and her second consecutive Grand Slam final of 2009. Cibulkova was lucky to face a Maria Sharapova who had completely run out of gas but the diminutive youngster took advantage of her opportunity and is in her first Grand Slam semifinal. When you're 5 foot, 3 inches taking out one 6-foot-plus Russian is a surprise, but taking out two in a row is an impossibility.

PREDICTION: Safina in 2 sets.

Serena Williams USA (2) Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (7) vs. Sorana Cirstea ROU Samantha Stosur AUS (30). This is the semifinal I did not see coming at all. After seeing how well Cirstea dealt with the pressure against Jelena Jankovic to reach this point I picked her to take out doubles specialist Samantha Stosur however, instead experience bested youthful exuberance.

In one of the best matches of the tournament, Sveta finally won one of those heart-breakingly close matches that she has been losing for years. She beat Serena Williams for only the second time in 8 meetings despite the fact that Serena had come back from facing imminent defeat in the second set to be up a break in the final set. Sveta finally hung tough and was able to claw back to even and surprisingly, Serena was the first to crack under the pressure at 4-all and 5-all in the final set.

Against Stosur, I am confident that Sveta will find a way to make it to the final for the second time in four years, where the 2006 Finalist and 2008 Finalist will face each other for the 2009 title.

PREDICTION: Kuznetsova in 2 sets.

Roland Garros 2009: Women's Quarterfinal Preview

by Mad Professah

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at Roland Garros this year.

Dinara Safina RUS (1) vs. Victoria Azarenka BLR (9) Ana Ivanovic SRB (8) . Dinara Safina has been playing like she is the best player in the world. Oh, wait, she IS the No. 1 ranked player in the world! Safina has been improving in every round, losing a mere 5, then 3, then 2, then 1 games in her first four straight-set victories. However, I don't think Victoria Azarenka is (or even should be) scared of being double bageled in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. The talented and fearless Belarussian took out Serena Williams in the 5th slam in Miami in straight sets earlier this year and thrives on big matches. However, although the youngster is indomitable she is not unbeatable. This will be a prototypical Big Babe tennis match--Mary Carillo should be ecstatic and, as she says, "the better athlete will win." PREDICTION: Safina in 2 (close) sets.

Dominika Cibulkova SVK (20) vs Maria Sharapova RUS. Cibulkova is a deceptively difficult opponent to beat, but Sharapova has done it twice in their only two meetings, last year, both on clay. Sharapova (listed at 6'2" but probably taller) has nearly a foot on the diminutive Dominika (listed at 5'3" but probably shorter) and this may very well turn out to be a straight set rout. However, Sharapova is nowhere near match tough, having had to go the distance in her first four matches (including choking on a middle set bagel served by hard hitting Li Na in her previous match) and I expect the Drama Queen will not advance without more drama, but advance she will, right into the buzz saw that is Dinara Safina. PREDICTION: Sharapova in 3 sets.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (5) Sorana Cirstea ROU vs. Virginie Razzano FRA Samantha Stosur AUS (30). The surprise quarterfinalists. Cirstea was two points away from losing against former World N. 1 Jelena Jankovic multiple times in the third set and kept on bashing away at the ball, painting the lines in a manner reminiscent of a young Monica Seles. Jankovic "served" for the match at 5-4 and was promptly broken, eventually going down 3-6 6-0 9-7. Stosur is more well-known as an excellent doubles player and so I had put my money on the French veteran Razzano getting to the quarterfinals in front of her countrymen. This one is really a toss-up which is likely to include some truly horrendous tennis as the two fight to see who really wants to stand on the big stage of a Grand Slam semifinal more. In these cases it is often the veteran who comes out the loser because they more firmly understand the significance of the moment and I expect this case to be no different. Youth will be served. PREDICTION: Cirstea in 3 sets.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (7) vs. Serena Williams USA (2). This should be the best match of the tournament to date. But "How do you solve a problem like Sveta?" Sigh. Long famous for being singled out as "the most talented" of the Russians by none-other than Living Legend Martina Navratilova Kuznetsova (Sveta to her friends, which includes basically everyone on the Tour) has been in three major finals but has started to garner a reputation for being mentally weak deep in the final deciding set when it really counts. These two champions have looked at the draw and know they are really playing for a slot in the 2009 Roland Garros final; Serena Williams is very cognizant of her place in tennis history books and would like to add another unique entry with a win in Paris for a "Williams slam" and maintain the possibility of a calendar grand slam sweep. Serena has only lost once to Kuznetsova in 6 previous meetings and actually beat the Russian in the Quarters of the first Grand Slam event of 2009. I suspect history will be repeated, and made, here. PREDICTION: Williams in 3 sets.

Quote For The Day

"I mean, of course it wasn't easy at the end. I was getting tight, and I started to feel it in my hamstring. I was just trying to jump around. I was looking on the other side, and I saw she was tired, also. So I knew it was also a little bit mental who is going to stay stronger,and I was just trying, you know, to keep the energy coming and just try to hit and keep the points shorter.

"I grew up in Romania, and I started tennis when I was four. That was a new thing for Romania, because it never happened before. I started playing because of Steffi Graf. I saw her on TV all the time. I mean, I always wanted to be professional. I always wanted to be like her since I was really young. I remember always like focusing and trying to take tennis serious. Now I'm at a level that honestly I was hoping one day, and I mean, it's good to be here."--Sorana Cirstea

She was a Daily Discovery at the 2008 Australian Open:

Feisty, fearless, fearsome, ferocious. Sorana Cirstea showed all of it in her straight set loss to Ana Ivanovic. And after bludgeoning her way to serving for the first set with backhands straight outta hell, Ivanovic had to hope for a crack in the Romanian's armor to avoid a three-set battle. Ana got her wish as the inexperienced 17-year-old playing her first Slam couldn't make a first serve and found herself on her back foot from the brute force of Ana's returns. If Sorana develops some mental toughness, and from the poise she exhibited in her Slam debut that's almost certain, she'll become a firecracker no one will want to play.

Didn't take long.