Some interesting stuff already at Dubai.

In their first official WTA matchup, Urszula Radwanska actually beat her big sister, Aggie, in the first round. I wonder if Aggie's still reeling from the Paris pummeling or if something's amiss physically.

Looks like Bartoli and Sugiyama had a barn-burning 3rd set, Bartoli won it 10-8 in the tiebreak.

And surprise, surprise! Chakvetadze and Szavay lost in their first round matches, to a lucky loser and a wildcard, respectively. The Kuz also lost in three to Vesnina in her opening round. How underwhelming.

Kind of sucks that Venus and Serena are in the same quarter. I really wish Venus could get her ranking within the top 4 so we wouldn't have to see them playing each other before the finals of smaller tournaments or semis of the slams or tier 1's.

Ivanovic is taking on Kleybanova right now, up 3-0. Interesting matchup, and could be a barometer for Ana's game.


The men in Paris have some good stuff, too.

Quitovic has to face Chardy in the first round, you know the crowd will be behind the frenchman. And Chardy actually just made the finals of Johannesburg, so he could be confident. In Nole's half he's got Tsonga, Safin, and Lopez as names of interest. I think Tsonga's the most dangerous in that half.

And Malcolm In The Middle Simon has a very interesting matchup with the explosive up'n'comer, Dimitrov in his first round matchup. Berdych, Le Monf and Gasquet are other names of interest in that half. Definitely the half that's loaded with talented Frenchies.

The elder Radwanska has had a pretty miserable year to start. First-round exit at the AO against the younger Bondarenko, who virtually never troubled the top players before that, when she was defending quarterfinal points (and had a streak of being the only player besides Jankovic to reach at least the fourth round in every major last year). The Paris drubbing and now a loss to her younger sister (a fairly straightforward one, no less) suggests that all is not well in Agnieszka-land. It's a shame because I think I like having her in the lower rungs of the Top 10; she's given the top Russians a lot of headaches and when on form, her tennis is very intelligent, all-court stuff.

Anyhow the men are actually in Marseilles this week, all the way in the south of France rather than in the north. Murray took a pass on defending his title because of his ankle complaint. Getting a little bored with Tsonga showing up everywhere, although can hardly blame him for playing in his home country, and I thought it was very cool that Jo Willy won in Jo-burg (where he would not have been allowed to play probably just 15 years ago) on his ancestral continent. But I guess after missing half of last season he wants to build a good buffer of points just in case.

There are a couple of second-string tournies on the clay as the Latin American swing continues, the women in Colombia and the men in Buenos Aires. Not really compelling but the latter event tends to draw some of the more notable names. Interestingly Del Potro took a pass on his home tourney in favour of Memphis, showing his preference for faster surfaces. Oh, right. There's also a Memphis event, with most of the usual suspects present.

Interesting that Ivanovic took revenge on Kleybanova convincingly just a couple of weeks later. I think maybe she will be a female Nalby for a while, doing well at run-of-the-mill events but flaming out spectacularly at the Slams.

Ooops...you're right, Urban...my bad...I titled the thread "Paris" instead of "Marseille," where the ATP really is this week, thanks for the correction.

Je me suis trompé, pardonnez-moi, je suis désolé pour ça.

You're right, Memphis does seem a little like an afterthought. Yet it's the one that's worth the most points....it seems rather arbitrary to me which tourneys are now ATP 250 or ATP 500 events. We haven't really talked about the adjusted ranking system here yet. Most tourneys (including Grand Slams, I believe) are worth less points than last year, and some remain the same or even go up a little in value.

Right now, the rankings seem to favor players who performed better in 2008 than thus far in 2009. I'm going by casual observation btw....I havent analyzed it in depth or anything. If anyone knows more about the changes, please feel free to share.

How about Virginie Razzano beating Dinara? Razzano always seems to be able to get some big wins, but never seems to string them along. Maybe she'll be able to do just that this week.

Looks like the Venus that won the year-end championships has resurfaced. She pummeled Pavlyuchenkova 60 61 and won over 80% first serve (7 aces; 1 df) and over 70% second serve points. I'm used to seeing Venus taking matches while only winning 30% on her second serves, so this is a great sign. She may be the freshest of all the big stars at this tournament, because of her early exit in Australia and preference not to play in fed cup or Paris the last two weekends.

while serena looks shaky losing first set to sara errani. im guessing she'll find a way to pull it out though.

Well given the following equation, I'm not surprised if she loses early in this tournament:

recent injury (bum knee) + potential Venus in the semis + No. 1 relatively secure with Dinara's loss + this is not a Slam = early Serena exit.

LOL exactly...if its not a slam expect any kind of Serena to show up....LazyRena, SluggishRena, Gangstarena.....whoever she decides to be that day. I'm not denying she didn't have knee pain last week but she's not risking long term injury for something that isn't a grand slam. At this point in her career its wise. Another surgery, especially another knee surgery could send her into retirement. By the time she would fully heal it would be over a year so no...I think she's going to play it safe in anything thats not a slam.

As for Venus, she needs to play well. I was disappointed in her AO result and was wondering where she has been.

Wow, Simon was down 5-2 in the third set to young Dimitrov, and won the next 5 games! Wish I could have seen it. Simon never gives up, eh?

Sorry ballcrusher and Grigor fans, but felicitation a Mssr. Simon....Allez!!!! Down 5-2 in the 3rd, Gilles clawed back and won the next 5 games. Clearly Grigor has game, but I hope he does not abandon the challenger circuit if these wild cards continue. While experience against players like Nadal and Simon is pricless, so is winning for the confidence it breeds. Let's at least hope he gets some lucky draws where he doesnt have to play a Top 10 player in the first round or two. We wouldnt want Grigor to become the next Donald Young. Too soon?

And since we're in Marseille, we may as well reflect on where some of our love affairs for Gilles begun just a year ago....

Masseur, Messieur?

Oh Bulgaria! How disappointing for Grigor to lose such tight matches vs Nadal, and esp tight vs Simon.

Clearly, he is a super talent to be sooo close to beating these top players. Donald Young was CRUSHED by much lesser players in multiple 1st rounds, so it's only a matter of time for him and he knows the draw will be kinder, hopefully, in the near future!

I agree he is a super talent, but I just think he should probably take it a little slower. Grigor hasnt even won one round in a challenger yet. Why give the pros a peek at your game anyway? He's giving away his major edge of being the unknown for future tourneys. He needs to build confidence....as well as amass ranking points....taking sets off top players doesnt help his ranking, but I do hope he's taking confidence from these past two weeks. After losing to Gilles, he looked pretty solid....disappointed, yes but not crushed. I think that's a good sign actually.

I also see three more Dimitrov boys from Bulgaria on the ATP site. Any inside scoop, bc?

So JJ goes out in straight sets to Kanepi. With the Kuz and Jankovic out, Z++ must be really happy about how that half has opened up. She looks good to make the final now. JJ's just going to drop points on this one, but the good news for her is that Elena has a lot to defend.

The other half is really interesting. If Serena beats Zheng, she'll play Ivanovic. Interesting that after all this time she and Ana have only played once before, back in '06 when Serena beat her in straight sets at the USO. Also interesting is that Venus now plays Elena. Elena's been playing a lot better this year, but so has Venus (with the exception of the AO hiccup) and Venus enjoys a 7-2 record, with the last win for Elena coming back in '04.

About that "AO hiccup," I didn't get to see that match, but my friend said the Aussie Open courts were really slow. To be honest, I can never tell the difference between a fast and a slow hard court. Maybe Venus's game has remained consistent and the hiccup had to do with a change in speed of the court. I assume Dubai is a fast surface. If her game is still at a high level, I would expect Venus to win Dubai, because Serena has been looking shaky as of late. And then I would think Venus would have an awesome shot at one of her favorite tournaments in Miami. After that, her results will tail off as she is forced to play slow.

I don't know. Once Serena got going against Serrani yesterday there was no beating her. And even though it was tougher than the scoreline indicated, Serena's win against Zheng was one of the more high quality matches I've seen all year. 30 winners to 18 unforced for Serena. She hit some amazing angles. Zheng's movement is great and she hit some amazing returns and winners herself. Serena's power was just too much for little Jie. But the last 4 sets Serena has played have been the reason why she's the #1 right now. I am looking forward to the Serena/Ivanovic matchup as well as Venus/Demented. I was robbed of Venus/Demented at the Aussie Open, and Serena/Ivanovic haven't played in awhile. Based on the way those two have been playing, Serena should win that in 2. Based on the way Venus has been playing, Venus should beat Elena. Elena has been everywhere. Is she trying to be the new Jelena playing like a damn Egyptian slave?

mdterp01,

I agree. Serena vs Ivanovic and Venus vs Dementieva should be really good matches.

I am curious as to how you are seeing these matches? The Tennis Channel was scheduled to start covering the Dubai tournament in the semifinals, but apparently now they will not out of protest to the Peer incident.

Now I'm thinking I may have to catch the matches in livestreaming online video or from www.tennistv.com.

It is a treat to get to see Serena play in any tournament that is not in Miami or one of the 4 major tournaments and it is even more of a treat to see Serena play Venus at any time or any where.

Unfortunately, getting the opportunity to see them in this tournament just got more difficult due to the Tennis Channel's protest.

I think Grigor has a couple of brothers but I am not sure about their names or playing status. I know he did begin playing at his father's tennis club in Haskova in southern Bulgaria. Dimitrov is a very common name in Bulgaria as he was the long time leader of Communist party and many families adopted this name.

http://cornedbeefhash.wordpress.com/2009/0...-but-not-quite/

You can also watch it on www.channelsurfing.net I can't fault The Tennis Channel for deciding not to air the tournament. The WTA as a whole and anything affiliated with them have to send a message that what the UAE did is not right. Again, the tournament itself is in conflict with UAE policy so thats something they have to work out. If the same issue is around next year, bye bye Dubai.

Man, Venus is playing mad tennis. She faced only 1 bp against Dementieva and won 63% on her second serve! My new theory is that Venus (like Pacman) consumed a power pellet that got her through Zurich, Year-End and even the Hong Kong exhibition. Then the power pellet effect wore off during the Australian Open. In the past two weeks she managed to snake her way down to the bottom right corner of the board to consume another power pellet, so the rest of the tour is now blue with fear.

I guess I get the bonehead prediction award for this one, I thought for sure Z++ would be the one coming from that half, but, like the rest of the world, I didn't see Razzano coming. Did anyone see the match? Did Vera start crying on the court again?

Venus straight-setting Elena. Wow, that AO hiccup really is proving to be even more of a hiccup, and Venus seems determined to prove it. As much as I love both sisters, I rooting for Venus here. If she can beat Serena and take this title and boost her confidence even more and get her ranking higher, we won't have to see Venus/Serena quarters.

Wow! I watched the last 4 games of Serena/Ana, and was that some amazing tennis!!

The commentators couldn't get over how both players were blasting winners everywhere and on almost every point. High quality stuff. Ana looks like Ana of old, in fact, both commentators said they can't remember her ever playing any better, and yet, she was losing. They were in awe of how Serena turned her game around when she was down 1-4 in the second, to rattle off the next five games. They were close games with amazing points, but Serena was on a mission!!

*oops...edit...wrong thread*

Dammit Dammit Dammit!!!! I missed both of these matches but watched it on livescore. Venus and Serena's results were not in doubt for me. Venus is a bad matchup for Elena...always has been. Elena hasn't beaten Venus in awhile and Elena tries to go outside her comfort level to try and do things that just won't work against Venus. As for Ana, I heard that Ana hasn't played that well in a long time. That goes to what Serena said about girls really stepping up to play her. Nice of Serena to harness her game though down 1-4 and win the next 5 games. Again, she can make life so much easier for herself by just playing that way throughout a match instead of these lapses where she has to fire herself up to make it more difficult than it needs to be. She decided that she was not going to a 3rd set with Ana and took it to her in the end. Whoever wins should be a favorite for the final. I'm actually hoping for Venus. She needs a big tournament win like Dubai to add to her confidence going into the clay season.

BTW...Venus now enters the top 5 for the first time since...wait for it....wait for it....2003. Now keep it up!!!

When I saw this on the atp site, I had to share this with all my friends here. But I see ball crusher and tennisservedfresh.com has already broken the "story". Dmitry + Dimitrov = It's Still a Felony!

Lawd jesus his abs are the truth!! He is a cutie. So gossipy but I would really love to know which of these tennis players are gettin it in with each other. Cuz ya know that some of em are. A little rap on the mic here, a little stick stick there, a little kissin kissin thats what I been missin. I mean come on.

I was a bit shocked when I saw that pic, what with the whole cradle-robbing homoerotic thing going on. Then again, (favorite quote from the Torah) we do not see things as they are, we see them as we are -- and your average ATP website viewer isn't as pervy as I am. Unfortunately, the Tursonator strikes me as very straight, but nonetheless (zoinks!) the sexy Russian and Jailbait make a very cute couple.

OK, now I feel obliged to say something that is actually tennis-related. Don't want to jump the gun, but there are two possible matchups in Marseille that could be very interesting. Hopefully Novak and Jo-Wilfried meet up in the semis. Theirs is a brief but interesting rivalry -- Novak winning their biggest match in the AO final but JW coming back and winning their last three matches. It's also a good contrast in playing styles -- JW with the more offensive style against backboardish Novak's defense. As Novak is likely still smarting from his Aussie Open humiliation, I'm thinking this match will mean a helluva lot more to him than your typical Little Sisters of the Poor semifinal.

As much as I like Tsonga and his game, Novak's my boy and I want to see him through to the final. But either or, I love the matchup against Simon. You look at Simon against another top player and think Simon has no business winning that match, yet so often he finds a way. Same thing with Gilles vs. Novak/JW -- both Novak and JW are so much bigger and stronger than wispy little Gilles, yet I give Gilles at least a 50/50 chance against either player. The only problem is Gilles has to face at least one and maybe two fellow Frenchmen to get to the final, and you know how weird things get when les garçons play each other.

Looks like the elder sister beatdown of the younger sister continues, at least in the first set. After a breadstick and bagel at the end of last year, another breadstick already? This has got to be one of the best sets Venus has ever played. She didn't lose a single point on her serve (neither first nor second). Serena didn't help matters by double faulting 6 times, though. I wish I could watch this match.

And kid sister comes back in the second! Third set tiebreaker maybe??

How prescient you are! The 3rd Set did go to a tiebreak - and just watching the scoreboard was tense enough. But in the end, Venus looks like she's back to having the upper hand over Serena again. This one should be airing at some point on Tennis Channel, and it's one that looks worth seeing even though you already know what happened.

Bummer, I had to stop watching online after the second set. Those first two sets were some of the lamest tennis I've seen in a while. In the first set, Serena was playing horribly. The second set, Venus went away. Figures, the third set, the one I couldn't watch, went to a tiebreak.

Anyone who saw it, was it at least some good tennis, unlike the first two sets?

Glad Venus won, it'll help her confidence, which in turn will get her ranking back up. The reborn Venus and Serena should never have to play each other until the finals of any tournament now, the way they've been playing...well, except when they play each other, of course. And when they do have to play each other, it should have the quality of last year's Big W and USO matches.

Serena needs to rest up that knee. She'll have enough time now until Miami. You could tell she was in discomfort in that third set but usually I expect her to grit out tight 3rd sets against Venus. I was pulling for Venus though. This should do wonders for her confidence and I think she has gotten over feeling bad for beating little sis. Did you see that handshake at net? Cold. Serena was a bit pissed. But, it happens. Clutch serving from Venus at 5-5. First two sets were horrid, but that third set was pretty damn good. At the end of the day they are still sisters and I don't expect it to be high quality all the time. Now it is time to get revenge on Razzano and win the title Venus!!

Hold on, does anyone really think Venus and Serena see this tournament as anything other than an exhibition? That it's really a coincidence that they also played to a third-set tiebreak a year ago in Bangalore?

Have you been channeling the Demented one with her match fixing conspiracy theories?

Okay, there's one person. Anyone else?

I mean, come on. They've only *ever* met each other at a major, or Miami, in the past 8 years. But now all of a sudden they meet each other in these two random tour destinations, and both *happen* to go to third-set tiebreaks? It's an exhibition for them, although the result may not be cooked up in advance, I have a feeling they both agree to set it up for three sets and then perhaps bring it at the end.

But the fact that Venus both times has needed the ranking points more probably shouldn't go unnoticed.

Um...which "both times" are you referring to? What are the two "random tour destinations?" If it's this and Bangalore '08, Serena actually won that match and was ranked higher at the time...unless of course, you believe the '08 year ending championship was just some "random tour destination."

I don't think it's possible to stage a competitive match without it being obvious to everyone there. I enjoy watching the NBA All-Star game, but it's rare that I think of the game as actually being interesting because of the good sound basketball being played.

Serena having an awful first set was hardly shocking. She was down 0-4 to Sara Errani in her second round match! I mean c'mon. If that Serena showed up in the semis you don't think Venus wouldn't crush her? Serena appeared to be struggling more than Venus leading up to this match. Venus losing the second set isn't surprising, because no one has been able to match her level until this match. And once both players were dialed in to the level they needed to play at, you get a third set tiebreaker.

Also, Dubai isn't a random tour destination under the new system, it's one of the premier events that top players are pressured to appear at.

Lastly, by all accounts, Serena's knee appeared to be bothering her in the third set. Why would she push herself that hard to get to a third set tiebreaker and risk injury, if it was just an exhibition for her? At this stage in her career she would rather drop out of the draw in order to avoid any real injury, rather than try to win at a non-slam event.

Serena sees Venus as her greatest competition. You know she wants to win these matches. I actually think Serena wants to play her sister these days, in the same way she would want to play Justine. Serena's greatness is defined by who she beats. Beating Dinara at the Aussie Open isn't as meaningful to her as it would be to beat Justine or Sharapova or Venus. Venus still acknowledges that she still wants the best for her sister, but I think she's doing a better job of putting that aside during these matches. That said, I don't think Venus likes to play her sister, because she feels conflicting emotions. I think she views playing Serena as a necessary evil that's in the nature of the sport where one of the best players happens to be her baby sister.

Two entirely different things. You absolutely can make a match look impressive without the final result being in doubt. Anyway, Serena's also a professional actress - "My Wife and Kids" anyone?!

My bad about who won Bangalore last year - faulty memory. But Venus & Serena don't get "pressured" to play anywhere. I'll bet a bazillion dirhams that they get far more money in appearance fees than prize money for Dubai. We can armchair psychoanalyze all we want - and I believe their major clashes are probably 100% authentic - but I think you're all pretty naive on this one.

I never understand why tournaments don't put Venus and Serena in opposite sides of the bracket. If they're both playing well then you have a chance to have them both in the finals. If they're not then they wouldn't even get the opportunity to get to the finals so nothing is lost.

Tennis tournaments aren't like the NCAA's where 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14, etc. There really seems to be little rhyme or reason with the seedings in tennis tournaments beyond 1 and 2 being in opposite sides of the bracket.

The third set was definitely top-notch stuff. These two bring a lot of suspense to their matches lately. Serena was kind of in Murray mode; a lot of moping and agitation between points, but lightning-fast movement out of nowhere during rallies. But it was the right result for Venus, who picked up her level again just in time, needs the points more, and needs the time off less. I'm not thrilled that Virginie Jessica Parker will be in the final - she has been a headache for top players every so often in the past but not for an entire event - but I guess it lends a little spice that she actually toppled Venus the last time they played in a final (in Korea, I believe).

If the first few events of the year are any indication, it seems the sisters (and, to a lesser extent, Dementieva) are poised to take advantage of the sheer flakiness of the rest of the top women. I don't see Ivanovic defending her IW title (although in the self-imposed absence of the sisters it's possible) and Je-lame-a has a whole lot of points to defend in the IW/Miami swing herself, which considering her excuses are better than her groundstrokes this season I don't see happening either. Zvonareva has been looking strong for some time now but as we saw this week, even she is vulnerable to the shock upset.

Yes, Urban, Venus did lose to Olive Oyl Razzy in three sets the last time they played in '07, it was in the Japan Open. The other two times they played though, Venus beat her in straight sets.

Ivanovic actually played quite well against Serena. She looked a lot like the Ivanovic who won events around this time last year, and the Ivanovic who won the FO. Winners were screaming off her racket. Unfortunately for her, Serena was even better and shifted gears with frightening efficiency when she needed to. If that Ivanovic is truly back, she just may climb back up the rankings that she's been sliding down. Maybe the coaching change is bringing her back, only time will tell. But if Dubai is a true indicator and not just a "new-coach-honeymoon," then I wouldn't write Ivanovic off quite as quickly as I did during the second half of last year and the beginning of this year.

LOL @ Virginie Jessica Parker.

YES VENUS!!!! She's actually won I believe 3 of her last 4 tournaments entered which is SHOCKING considering she was lucky to win 1 tournament all year the past few years. 40th title!! Tier 1 Dubai and she had very nice words for Shahar Peer at the end of the match. Razzano actually made the first set interesting but was clearly trying to do something she wasn't used to. She played that well and still lost and still caused herself a back injury. Second set was cruise control for Venus. Should've been a bagel and she had a little walkabout but closed it out with another break. CONGRATS VEE!!! I really hope this builds her confidence going forward.

I had to go hunting to find a good feed for the match. It really looked like Venus was going to bagel the Virginie Olive Oyl in that second set, but she had some scratchy service games. Still, it wasn't as much of a match as that first set. Picking on Venus's forehand should be a good tactic, provided she's misfiring on it. If not, well, you get a result like today.

Go Venus...get back to #1 or #2!!!

Nice comments from Venus in the awards presentation re: Peer and the controversy...and she did it so effortlessly without offending anyone and while still supporting her friend and fellow player. She is really a class act.

Wooo hooo...Tsgona beats da Djoke (Tsonga's h2h now 4-1 over Novak ) to set up a final with Llodra who beat Simon

Tsonga's athleticism, aggressive style of play, and defensive skills make him very entertaining to watch.

He also obviously enjoys playing tennis because he always looks like he is having so much fun.

Oh, Gilles. Once you inexplicably flamed out to Llodra, I knew the title was Tsonga's, since (despite his debonair appeal) Llodra's style of play would never trouble him. Tsonga keeps a winning streak on home soil going after his Paris Masters win. I think he will be the first to fall victim to 500 event results pushing out 250 title points, however. Can't say I'm entirely disappointed about that since I seem immune to the love affair everyone seems to have with him, including Tsonga with himself.