Just checked out the draw and Venus has to be happy. The three major threats, Dementieva, Zvonareva and Wozniacki, are on the other half of the draw. Her potential quarter is Schnyder and potential semi could be Bartoli or Petrova. All 3 of them are having an uneven year at best, so far. Her first match could be against Sesil K., who had that famous win over her at the French which then led to her infamous 2-year ban from the tour.

Yes, the draw does look good for Venus. I'd love to see Venus get a clay court title heading into the FO, even if it's the green stuff, instead of the red stuff.

Schnyder's loopy stuff could be tricky and of the nine times they've played (all of which Venus won) the clay matches were the toughest for Venus, with all of them going to three sets. Venus has never lost to Petrova (4-0) but they haven't met on clay yet, and it's really weird to think that after all this time, she's only met Bartoli once, and it was in the Big W final. Another surprising stat for me, is that Venus is 8-2 with Dementieva, and those two losses were on hard courts, but the two times they played on clay, Venus actually won in straight sets...I wouldn't have expected that.

Come on Venus, it's time to add a FO trophy to your trophy case!

Technically speaking, her Acupulco win earlier this year was on red clay. Granted it wasn't that big, but she has been working on her clay game.

ah, good point, I forgot about that tournament. And in typical Williams fashion, even in that small event, she needed three 3-set matches before blowing out the competition in the semis and finals. I want her to have more comfortable wins in the early rounds at the FO, it's the one event she and Serena have a hard time "playing through" their typical early round nerves and/or sloppiness.

Anyone see the Venus loss? Not what I had hoped for her when this was definitely a time for her to grab points and gain confidence for the FO.

I watched it. Lisicki played a nice and tidy match. She was sharp and aggressive. She even had 8 or 9 double faults. Venus was just flat, not sure how else to say it. I saw Venus play the same match on same court a few years ago vs. Golovin I think.

Hmm... Well at least she still has Rome and Madrid to make an impression going into the French. This loss surprised me considering her form since the U.S. Open last year. But, she hasn't really done anything from the March to May time frame since, what, like 2004. I think she snuck in a claycourt title in Turkey one year, but that's about it.

If she can get her best form back, she has the potential of getting back to number 1, even without having to win the French.

Airrunner, I need to learn from your dedication to the Venus cause. You've been calling the WTA on a deeper level in general.

Vera Zvonareva suffered a pretty terrible injury yesterday in Charleston. About the last thing the WTA needs right now is one of their most solid players getting hurt that way on court. Plus it's rough after Zvonareva has worked so hard on herself to get where she is.

Clay season seems pretty wide open right now. I guess a lot will be revealed next week, when Safina, Jankovic (yet curiously, not Ivanovic), and Azarenka return.

Thanks for the complimen Two-hander. I think my enthusiasm waxes and wanes with how well the Williams sisters are doing. Since last summer it seems like they've back to their best tennis, so I've been posting more frequently. But I always follow women's tennis closely and read the boards here. I just haven't posted that much.

The French is totally wide open. If the Williams sisters can't win it, I'm sure hoping Dementieva can pull it off. Matt Cronin has a great interview with her here:

http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/9455...ne-elusive-goal

She is pretty respectful of the Williams sisters during the interview, as I think she has been throughout her career despite a few notorious comments she made early on.

A good thing with Elena is that when she hasn't been respectful or reverent, she's been gangsta about it. It's probably why Venus gets so heated.

And the way she phrased things the most recent time it came up ("family decision") was worth a . I'll take it over Henin's "hand" any day.

Also, I wanted to note that it's nice to see yet another young up-and-comer teen have a breakthrough, even if it is at Venus's expense. This Lisicki looks like she can really serve.

Looks like last year's teen sensation was swept aside pretty handily by the new teen sensation, as Lisicki takes her first title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Wozniacki in Charleston. (Wozniacki is having some lookalike name fu with her finals lately: it was Wozniak last week in Ponte Vedra, and another -cki today.) I only saw the final game, which was a bit epic as Lisicki needed six or seven match points (starting from triple match point she tightened up noticeably) and fended off about two or three break points. Well done to her for pulling through, as it would've have been extremely disappointing to have lost from such a winning position.

I suppose Venus was retroactively vindicated, and the presence of No 12-ranked (now No 11) Wozniacki in the final gave a smattering of credibility to the supposed Tier I/Premier event. Still, I've always been a staunch WTA enthusiast and even my eyes have been glazing over lately. Venus needs to quit with her fluke losses and Serena her injuries-du-jour until Clijsters and Sharapova hit the ground running. Can't believe how much the Serbian duo's stars have faded, and the Russians are in shambles, even the new 'number one.'

And yeah, Lisicki has an unreal serve. She hit nine aces (a third of those coming in the final game it seemed), quite a haul considering maybe half of the 18 games or so were her service games, and even her service winners were regularly in the low 120 mph. That puts her in the company of the Williams sisters, and really Stosur and Ivanovic (when she can track down her errant ball toss) are the only other consistently powerful servers I can think of out there right now among the women. Sharapova used to be but I think that's a thing of the past for her now.

Lisicki was def in the zone. Hopefully, she can back it up with some more strong play in the future. Great teen players.

Reminded me of Sharapova (Lisicki) vs Clijsters (Wozniacki) in terms of playing styles. Fun match too watch.

Poor Caroline looked worn out from the epic battle vs Dementieva in the semi.