Day 2: Determination

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Roger Federer is Houdini. Igor Andreev pushed and pushed and pushed but the world No. 1 never backed down. Facing several set points to go down two sets to one in his first Slam match of the decade, Raja took no risks, even with the wind at his back. He looped the ball deep and played wait and see. What he saw was a player who lost his wits and refused to seize the moment. Two forehands in the bottom of the net a few more loose errors and to a tiebreak the third set went.

From there on out, it was all Raja.

A classic choke coupled with a champion's fortitude and what do we get? Another great escape.

Don't bring no boy to do a man's job.

Enough chatter about Raja's genius. A determination deep as desire is much more impressive.

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All the other contenders on the men's side advanced without too much trouble, though Fernando Verdasco almost found himself down two sets to one against the big serving Aussie Carsten Ball.

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Young American Donald Young seems determined to prove himself. He advanced to the second round over Christophe Rochus in a match without cameras. Too bad. A ball kid peed on himself during the match, delaying play for 40 minutes. Four wins in a row Down Under. Can he win another?

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Richard Gasquet remains determined to become the biggest waste of talent of his generation. The Sydney finalist was supposed to take his second chance at a career and do something with it. Instead, he squandered a two-set-to-love lead and let Mikhail Youzhny go through. Was kind of pitiful, actually. The Frenchman really needs to grow a pair.

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Venus Williams was determined not to lose to Lucie Safarova at another Slam. She was aggressive from first point to last and never gave the poor girl a chance.


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Darkhorse Vania King squandered two match points on serve in the second set of her war with Dominika Cibulkova, fell behind 1-5 in the final set, and reeled off the last six games of the match to advance to the second round. Talk about determination. Another affair with no cameras. We'll have to imagine what transpired in final set. That section of the draw, weak to begin with, now open as a canyon.

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And in a quiet story on few people's radar, qualifier Louk Sorensen has advanced to the second round. He's the first Irishman in the main draw of a Slam in 25 years and the first ever to win a Slam match.

King Of Queens

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I know the title is over-the-top. It's not like she toppled a Slam champion. But Vania King gets major kudos for dismantling the No. 15 seed in straight sets to cause the most unexpected upset of the fortnight so far.

Who saw this coming?

Samantha Stosur didn't know what hit her. Maybe she was thrown off because the American looked better in the exact same outfit she was wearing. King read her big serves like a large print manuscript, ran down every would-be winner, and took the net away from her with opportunistic approaches and deft volleys.

Back when Alicia Molik was still playing, though I never saw their matches, King was always beating the big serving Aussie in straights.

I guess King has a thing for taking them down. Yesterday, she served and volleyed to win match point.

Badass.

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I don't have time to write a whole lot else, but suffice it to say Serena Williams should be foot faulted early in matches more often. From that point on, she was vicious. She keeps that up....

Tornadoes And Bees

Seems the Madrid Open is dealing with a few mini plagues.

Oh, my.