The draw comes out tomorrow so who emerges as the women's champion here? Safina is playing the best of anyone right now. Sharapova has been out; the Serbian Sisters are nowhere near the form they were last year; The Williams Sisters...well Serena is injured and clay just is not her surface. Venus may do better but she can be exposed as well. I think this may be one of the years that Venus does better at the French though. Of course I picked her to do well at the Australian Open and we all know how that ended. Could there be a dark horse or a fresh face who puts it together over the two weeks? Kuznetsova? Can she step it up? Dementieva? Azarenka?

RG Main Draw Les Femmes

(1) Dinara Safina vs. Anne Keothavong
Q vs. Mathilde Johansson
Nuria Llagostera Vives vs. Julie Coin
Ioana Raluca Olaru vs. (27) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
(23) Alisa Kleybanova vs. Q
Ai Sugiyama vs. Aravane Rezai
Q vs. Melanie South
Stephanie Cohen-Aloro vs. (15) Jie Zheng

(9) Victoria Azarenka vs. Roberta Vinci
Maria-Emilia Salerni vs. Kristina Barrois
Q vs. Lucie Hradecka
Edina Gallovits vs. (22) Carla Suarez Navarro
(32) Iveta Benesova vs. Julia Goerges
Varvara Lepchenko vs. Alla Kudryavtseva
Tamarine Tanasugarn vs. Camille Pin
Sara Errani vs. (8) Ana Ivanovic

(3) Venus Williams vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Lucie Safarova vs. Sabine Lisicki
Elena Vesnina vs. Severine Bremond
Q vs. (29) Agnes Szavay
(20) Dominika Cibulkova vs. Alona Bondarenko
Stephanie Foretz vs. Kirsten Flipkens
Tamira Paszek vs. Gisela Dulko
Anna-Lena Groenefeld vs. (16) Amelie Mauresmo

(11) Nadia Petrova vs. (WC) Lauren Embree
Anastasiya Yakimova vs. Maria Sharapova
(WC) Olivia Sanchez vs. Q
Q vs. (19) Kaia Kanepi
(25) Na Li vs. Marta Domachowska
(WC) Emilie Loit vs. Timea Bacsinszky
(WC) Irena Pavlovic vs. Akgul Amanmuradova
Olga Govortsova vs. (6) Vera Zvonareva

________________________________________

(5) Jelena Jankovic vs. Petra Cetkovska
Magdalena Rybarikova vs. (WC) Kristina Mladenovic
Jarmila Groth vs. (WC) Kinnie Laisne
Q vs. (26) Anna Chakvetadze
(21) Alize Cornet vs. Maret Ani
Q vs. Sorana Cirstea
Tsvetana Pironkova vs. Jill Craybas
Vera Dushevina vs. (10) Caroline Wozniacki

(13) Marion Bartoli vs. Pauline Parmentier
Tathiana Garbin vs. Ayumi Morita
Virginie Razzano vs. Daniela Hantuchova
Ekaterina Makarova vs. (18) Anabel Medina Garrigues
(30) Samantha Stosur vs. Francesca Schiavone
Yanina Wickmayer vs. Urszula Radwanska
Jelena Dokic vs. Karolina Sprem
Q vs. (4) Elena Dementieva

(7) Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. (WC) Claire Feuerstein
Galina Voskoboeva vs. Sania Mirza
Q vs. Melinda Czink
Nathalie Dechy vs. (28) Sybille Bammer
(17) Patty Schnyder vs. Kateryna Bondarenko
(WC) Olivia Rogowska vs. Maria Kirilenko
Patricia Mayr vs. Mariya Koryttseva
Rossana De los Rios vs. (12) Agnieszka Radwanska

(14) Flavia Pennetta vs. Alexa Glatch
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova vs. Lourdes Dominguez Lino
Mara Santangelo vs. Q
Monica Niculescu vs. (24) Aleksandra Wozniak
(31) Shuai Peng vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez
Viktoriya Kutuzova vs. Q
Virginia Ruano Pascual vs. Nicole Vaidisova
Klara Zakopalova vs. (2) Serena Williams
__________________

Safina got a pretty easy draw. I'd say she wins with this draw.

Serena on the other hand:
1st rd -Zakopalova who recently beat her
2nd rd -Vaidisova or dirtballer veteran Ruano-Pascual
3rd rd -Peng/Martinez-Sanchez (playing the best tennis of her life)
4th rd -Pennetta
QF -Kuznetsova/Radwanska
SF -Jankovic/Dementieva
Yikes!!!!

Venus doesn't exactly have it easy either.

Here's the whole Draw:

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/draws/ws/index.html

My immediate impression is yikes for Venus. Lisicki in the 2nd round? Potential match-up with Mauresmo in the 4th? Quarters won't be too bad though. Serena's path looks decent, assuming she has recovered from her injury. Flavia in the 4th would be a concern if this were Venus, but I'm not sure if she has the same success against Serena. Dinara looks set all the way up until the semis.

This draw has drama written all over it. The women's draw is more interesting than the men's to me. But I don't like it that much!

Venus has a really rough draw, and some of my biggest non-Vee faves (Safarova; Szavay) are her potential second and third round opponents. That is if Lucie can even get by Sabine Lisicki. Finally Safarova has been showing extended solid form and she gets a first round and second round (if she's lucky) from hell.

Indeed, things look quite light for Dinara Safina if she doesn't feel the pressure of being the top seed and favorite with no slam to her name yet. Her quarter isn't very strong.

Ivanovic has cause for worry from the first round, against the Italian Errani. Ana is playing the kind of tennis that even makes me worry about her facing Camille "Powder Puff Backboard" Pin. Ana is the big ? of the tournament. She could still be a factor, and if she makes it to the quarters, the sequel to last year's final has potential. But she could easily go out early.

The second quarter could bring a surprise semifinalist. Venus and Zvonareva both are hardly rock solid seeds, though of course I want Vee to have a great French for once. There are a lot of tricky players -- Szavay, Cibulkova, Alona Bondarenko, Mauresmo, Petrova, Kanepi -- in the section. If Vee doesn't make it, I'd really love it Agi Szavay or Mauresmo did.

The third quarter is sort of my 'Meh, not a fan' quarter, aside from Dementieva, who hasn't been impressive of late. I like it that Wozniacki and Jankovic have to face it off in a Pusher Battle Supremo. Will be rooting for Wozniacki, whose game is craftier in my opinion.

As for the final quarter: what Terp said.

Some thoughts on the draw:

SAFINA looks like she should coast through to the quarters pretty easily. Others in this section include Jie Zheng who's quietly having a career year, Arevane Rezai who just won in Strasbourg and some interesting youngsters (Larcherde Brito, Pavlyuchenkova). But I don't see any of them threatening Dinara.

Can IVANOVIC recover her winning form here? Her draw is quite soft through the first few rounds, but I don't expect her to get past Azarenka (or maybe Suarez-Navarro). Azarenka is not a natural on clay, however. Ivanovic is probably a bigger threat if she can somehow find her game.

VENUS is the relatively in-form sister here--she did at least push Safina to three sets, but as everyone has noted, VENUS' draw is absolutely horrible, which will make it difficult for her to work her way into a draw the way she likes to at the slams. A bad day against Safarova, Lisicki or Szavay and she's in big trouble. There's lots of good players on the other side of that section too--MoMo and Alona Bondarenko and some iffy but potentially tricky players like Dulko and the off-form Paszek.

If everybody in the next eighth were in peak form, I would pick ZVONAREVA to win (yes, even over Maria on red clay). But Vera hasn't played since hurting her ankle more than a month ago, making her questionable. This is pretty weak section and if Maria can get anywhere close to her peak she's in the quarters. But based on last week, I think it could be Na Li or Kaia Kanepi. Petrova's here too, but her form coming in isn't great.

JANKOVIC has had a crummy start to the year, but here early draw is pretty benign, except maybe for Chakvetadze who seems to be creeping back into form. But the rising Dane, Wozniacki is playing very well and will have a good shot at the semis here.

Yet another top WTA player with a case of the blahs, DEMENTIEVA has cooled off considerably since the start of the year and this isn't really Bartoli's surface. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the veteran claycourters like Garrigues or Schiavone get into the quarters.

KUZNETSOVA started the clay court season very strongly but fizzled in Madrid. She's certainly the best player in this section, and the first few rounds should be easy, but erratic (in both tennis and other respects )Patty Schnyder could be dangerous in the 4th round. Radwanska hasn't impressed lately.

SERENA WILLIAMS is actually John Wertheim's pick to win and I know the drill on her, but this ain't Australia. She's actually been pretty consistent at the French--except for 2002 & 2003 she's fallen somewhere between the 3rd round and the quarters every year. Granted, she always seems to be nursing an injury at this time of year, but that seems to be true again. That said, I don't think her draws that bad at all--if she's even remotely healthy, I say she gets to the 4th round. But Flavia Pennnetta is a tough customer on clay.

Would be nice for Safina to win it. Back-up her ranking, and her consistency. Plus giving her that extra boost of confidence to carry over as the year progresses. If not, either Serena or Venus.

Have to say, the women's game and competition is now so lackluster it's hard to believe. So many inconsistent players. The game lacking power house stars who are always a threat. But....if Safina, Serena, and Venus play into the semis, and then do it again at Wimby, maybe it won't seem so bereft.

I don't love making predictions but I am going with the Safina/Kuznetsova final and Safina winning. Kind of hard not to go there based on the last month of play.

Don't see Serena past the 4th round here. Cmon ReRe prove us wrong!

Amelie has a tough first round opponent in Anna Lena Groenfeld. Yikes. Holding breath....

It is indeed turing out to be tough. AM lost the first set. She drives me nuts at the French. Me and about 10 million others, I'm sure....
B^}

Groenefeld has a big game when she is on and healty. That was tough first rounder for Amelie.

What is me or was that a lackluster line up for day one? Very little real star power to speak of...

If Lauren Embree was the best young female the USA could send over, we are in some deep do-do, compared to the youngers coming out of the Eastern Europe countries. I guess that's not a big surprise.

Well color me somewhat surprised that Kleybanova went out in the first round to a qualifier. Not having seen any of Safarova/Lisicki, I'm not sure if I should be surprised by Safarova winning or not. Lisicki was certainly on a tear before the FO started, and Safarova is impossible to predict, despite the obvious plethora of talent.

Venus did the usual obligatory initial phase of Williams-at-a-Slam routine...play yourself slowly into it....dropping the second set to Bethanie Mattek-Sands (who's no slouch, BTW) ... let's hope it doesn't cause her or Serena to lose before the second week.

I'm glad Safarova won, though, because I'd rather Venus faced her instead of Lisicki after Venus recently lost to her.

Venus and Serena must love the current conditions. If they continue to play fast because of the warmth, it would definitely give them the edge. But a few cool or rainy days, that are almost a certainty in Paris this time of year, will slow things down to the usual Parisian grind-conditions that are detrimental to almost all American players.

Thank god for Alexa Glatch. The USA has a pulse! Nice win over Penetta.

I thought Maria looked good in her match, the movement and serving was pretty average, but she can still pound off the ground!

Venus looked pretty Venus like, she had to drop the middle set just to keep things consistent. But I think she will do well here.

Which Serena will show up? Just hoping for a healthy Serena for pure entertainment values.

Why are the men still playing best of 5? It's so whatever, I can't even stand watching 4 to 5 hour matches and it's unfair vs the women. Aren't we all equal now? Sure don't want to see the women going 5! I never hear much complaining from the men about it, so I guess they like it.

This is way too long. Do all the majors have best of 5 in all rounds?

Yeah, I didn't see the match but Glatch must have had a really good day, or Flavia a really bad one, or some combination of both. Glatch taking out the #14 seed is pretty impressive, and Craybas took out Pironkova in straight sets, something I wasn't expecting, either. Too bad Mattek-Sands drew Venus in the first round, she might have made it through a couple or few rounds here, too.

Roddick actually won in straight sets, and Kendrick won his first ever match in the main draw at the FO, and third match ever at a slam in his ten year career.

We all know better than to get too excited about Americans winning early round matches in Paris. Even when they do, the euphoria is usually pretty short-lived....see: last year.

Alexa Glatch has got game. A unique power game, at that. And a tough tomboy attitude. But Pennetta was ailing -- her left leg was wrapped and she was netting a lot of shots.

Still, the severity of the scoreline shows Alexis is playing ball. A lot of the other players in the WTA right now have trouble putting away injured opponents. Alexis hasn't just been beating opponents like Pennetta (and Kvitova and Benesova in Fed Cup), she's been putting the smackdown on them.

I'm not expecting big things from Glatch at the French. But I think her game could really yield dividends on grass. Her slice really seems to draw errors because it's so different from when she really strikes the ball.

Venus vs. Safarova pits my two sentimental faves against each other. I'm just pleased that Lucie has been having such a solid year. It's a shame she's playing Venus again so early here and so soon after taking her to three sets in Rome. Along with Venus and Kuzy (and Pennetta), Lucie has played Dinara the hardest during clay season.

Is Safina the real #? She had a double bagel answer for doubters today. We'll see what kind of answer she gives in the latter stages.

Lots of small-scale upsets today. Petrova vs. Sharapova is likely going to be wild.

I love Venus's dress.

Petrova/Sharapova is a good one. But will Nadia just put the smackdown on her like Alona did??? Maria's groundies looked really good today, but Yakimova was dumping them pretty short in the box. Nadia is much stronger and there is more than a second round win on the line when two Russians divas play.

Pironkova going out was no surprise. Her confidence has been destroyed this year by quali and 1st round matches. She should go back to Tier 3 and 4 and ITF's to get some wins under her belt and build her game back up. Not sure who is advising her, must be her dad or some loser agent. Too bad when she can't beat Craybas on clay.

What's up with Golovin these days, was it injuries? I guess she's done for good and works as a commentator now. That was a brief career.

Glatch was always the most promising up and comer but broke her arm doing something like skateboarding and that was a long comeback. She has a huge serve and real crafty game, the style the men play, rather than the women. hmmm.

One more comment for those who give a damn about the clothes. Maria's two tone blue number is just BAD. The Venus print ijob is OK, but not great. Poor Ana doesnt even get her own outfit as Keothevong was wearing the same assym blue dress. Horror! And oh Serena.... we will see tomorrow.

ALSO....Look out for Rezai! Kleybanova is out and that just opened her draw. Of course Dinara would await her and she is looking just awesome and unbeatable. Just like she looked at Australia till Serena took her to the woodshed.


Yes, they do, except in the qualies. It's too long unless its a blow out. I guess the fans get caught up in the 5-6 hour testosterone filled men's marathons, flags waving, blah, blah... a 3 hr 3 set thriller is plenty to satisfy me personally...

Serena losts a tight 2nd set. Geez, I wish I could see it. What IS she wearing? I have to admit I liked Venus' unusual outfit. Lots of colors, stylish.
They have Serena listed as 150 lbs. Um. Sorry. That's incorrect. The woman is large and muscular. That means weight. Plus, I believe she is about 5'9".

Didn't get to see the match yet, Glad Serena won though.

From the Yahoo pictures, the outfit looks flattering on her. The cap sleeves and deep neck line is good on her and NO RUFFLES around the skirt, thank god. That's like an innertube on a big girl. Plus the dark color thru the middle is slimming. Good choice Serena!

It's good to see the sisters playing doubles in Paris again. The williams team is kinda like Nadal in that it is undefeated at the French, since the only other time the sisters played was when they won the slam in 1999. Any time the sisters enter the doubles draw, particularly on a grueling surface like clay, I think that's a good sign they are feeling fine physically. In fact I read somewhere that the sisters are really trying to make the year-end championships. Certainly, they have the ability to win all four slams this year, but they basically don't play at other event. That means, at year's end we could have a situation where the team that has won the four biggest prizes in tennis is still ranked only second. That would add a new wrinkle into the debate on rankings legitimacy.

The Serena-Zakopalova match was pretty great viewing. Some excellent points. In general I think the women's game is best to watch on clay. On hard courts aside from Serena and Venus there's way too much ball-spraying and way too few rallies.

Near the end of the second set, McEnroe and motormouth Martina were going off about Zakopalova's bad attitude and (rightfully) about how too much of the current WTA simply throws in the towel when down.

Then Zakopalova proceeds to fight off 5 match points and take the second set.

Zakopalova was up 2-1 40-0 in the third and failed to convert, and from there Serena took charge and Zakopalova's compact smart groundies started going haywire. Zakopalova's weak serve is a big block for her.

That said, Zakopalova played yet more ferocious match points in the third. Some great backhand winners. She fought off 3 more match points and looked to be on her way to another comeback when Serena just feasted on her weak serve and took the match.

Serena got a dose of her own medicine, facing someone who fought off so many match points. But now that she's through, I think this win might do her a world of good. Zakopalova was her most dangerous opponent in these early rounds in my opinion. And we know how Serena can feed off winning close hard-fought matches. In majors, they seem to give her more momentum than easy wins in the early rounds.

That said, Serena's movement on clay isn't good. That is could be problematic should she reach the later stages.

Serena's outfit was fine. Solids instead of Venus's prints. Now, Oracene's look -- she's the best of the three. I LOVE the jacket and the bookworm glasses. She is freaking adorable in the reaction shots they show, too. She'll even laugh her ass off when Serena loses a great point.

Seriously, how boring will women's tennis be when Serena retires? She is so dramatic and bigger than life out there.

I like her game on clay as long as the ball comes right to her. Not the greatest mover on clay anymore, even though she won the french many moons ago, she was about a middle weight at that time, now she's a heavyweight headliner and the knockouts come alot easier on the hard court.

Would love to see Serena make a run this year, if her body can hold up.

I don't know why all the commentators were so shocked by the tight serena match. It's par for the course. She plays a close, hard fought early-round match, everyone says "she'll have to step it up" ... then she wins the tournament. It's happened time and again.

Although if i was a snarky person i'd point out that she certainly didn't play like the "real" #1 today.

Safarova is on fire right now.

In the tiebreak, at least three forehand winners blazed by Venus at full stretch. Who outhits Venus like that? Whatever the outcome, it's so thrilling to watch her game when she's dialed in.

Whoever wins plays Szavay, who only let Vesnina win two games.

My three fave women are in the same bracket of 8 players. I guess at least one of them will make it out. Venus's draw is playing a lot rougher than Serena's.

I guess they just called the match for the day.

I wonder if this helps or hurts Venus. It seems Safarova is a streaky player, so she can very well lose both sets to Venus. It sucks how they scheduled the day. The sisters still haven't finished their first round double match from last night. The organizers had Venus playing fifth on center court and had her doubles match fifth on court 2.

It's tough to see how the Venus v Safarova match turns out, because both women are pretty streaky. Basically it will turn on who has the better breakfast tomorrow, I guess. There is a lot more pressure on Venus since she has to win the first set tomorrow (second set of the match) to have any chance.

If Venus does go down, I'm suddenly liking Sharapova's chances to go far. I thought she did very well today, although she partly won because--as I pointed out recently in the thread about her--some of her fellow non-Safina Russians will always be intimidated by her. I mean, Petrova could not have had more advantages going into this ... some 90 ranking spots, playing on her best surface at the Slam where she's had her best results, against Sharapova on her worst surface playing only her fourth match in ten months, and she still couldn't get the job done. I wouldn't have been surprised to see the same thing happen to Dementieva or Kuznetsova. But now that Maria has come through her first test, I'd like to see what more she can bring in Paris.

A refreshingly convincing win from Ivanovic, although the ageing veteran Tanasugarn is much trickier on grass rather than clay. With Benesova and either Azarenka or Suarez Navarro lying in wait, the road gets rather tougher from here. I hope she makes it through because I'd like a quarterfinal rematch of last year's final against Safina.

I'm curious why Sharapova didn't take advantage of or didn't qualify for the protected ranking that some players have used in the past? It seems like she was out long enough to be eligible. Anyone have any clues how this actually works?

I wouldn't be too hard on Petrova. She played a great match but for a few points. The real head-scratcher is on one of those two break points at 4-2 in the 3rd, Nadia stretched Maria out way wide to the forehand. Maria got to it, hit a pretty good but hardly unreturnable shot down the line, which Nadia then fed right back up the middle of the court when any crosscourt shot would have been a winner. Then there was Nadia's killer double-fault to give Maria a match point. If you look at the number of winners to unforced errors, Nadia played great. But she didn't play great during the most crucial points of the match, which is the big difference between Maria and and all the other 'ovas and 'enkas out there.

Also, you have to give credit to Maria. The 10 months off the tour rehabbing the shoulder have done nothing to dull her competitiveness. Like Venus and Serena, Maria has the fiery heart and cool head of a champion. I am simply amazed at how well Maria fought through this match. Maria can be a difficult player to watch, what with her high-decibel shrieking and slooooooooow serving pace. But then you see her fight like hell in a match like this, and you forget all that other stuff.

Glad to see Venus just won over Safarova. Fingers crossed for a Venus-Maria quarterfinal.

I've never really enjoyed her game that much, but it was good to see Maria fighting hard and playing good tennis. Though she could still lose to Na Li, she's looking like a quarterfinalist to me, which is a great run, all things considering. Venus should beat her (if she doesn't blow it against Szavay).

With Pennetta's unexpected exit, Serena's draw is opening up nicely for her and she really should reach the quarters even with her limited movement. I really hope it ends there, though, because the only way she makes the semis is if Kuznetsova gives it to her, and I'd hate to watch Sveta flop in another big match.

Edited to add: They don't allow protected rankings anymore.

I'm gutted for Lucie. She had the knockout punch and just failed to deliver it. She was up 0-30 on Venus's serve when Venus was serving at 4-5 and got set up for the kind of forehand winner she was hitting all match -- and knocked it long. Then she had a match point two points later.

She now has had match points against Venus and Serena, without a win to her name. It's the same woulda coulda phenom as Petrova, though I find Safarova more likable.

Now that Venus made it through I really hope she steps it up and truly contends. This draw is mean to me, making her beat my other faves. Next up is Szavay, who is looking sharp.

Lourdes Dominguez-Lino def. Alexa Glatch takes the prize for most annoying match I've seen this year. Pure pusherdom and moonballing beating shotmaking (and Alexa isn't a dumb ballbasher like a lot of aggressive US men and overall WTA players).

The way Martina called the Glatch match made me wish she could coach Glatch. Martina was also kind of bitchy and funny in her commentary on Jankovic. Every compliment was unenthusiastic and barbed. "A workmanlike win...Jelena gets the job done" etc.

Didn't get to see the Venus or Serena matches. Looks like Serena played a clean tidy match.

I am in France this week and they only show French players. No coverage of Fed, Dinara, Williams, etc., unless they were to play someone French. Kind of annoying, but they do have alot of players in the first week to fill the coverage. In the second week, I guess they are force to show players from other countries.

Now, the sisters went 3 for 3 today as they finally finished off their 1st round opponents in doubles. They seem to be having so much drama in the early part of the tournament. Hope they can make it to next week. The third round is where they were bundled out in straight sets on the same day last year by Flavia Penetta (vs. Venus) and Katarina Srebotnik (vs. Serena).

They're showing Venus-Lucie on ESPN2 now with Carillo and Shriver calling.

Well, if Lucie can start playing at this level more often she won't have to face Venus in the 2nd round of the slams. And if you want proof that there is more depth in women's tennis than there once was, this match is a good example. Venus had a hell of a time beating the #51 player in the world, and she really didn't play badly.

Poor Dokic. She looked well on her way to upsetting Dementieva and probably booking her place in the quarterfinals. But, Azarenka was in the same position in Australia and Serena capitalized. Elena D. needs to do the same thing and raise the level of her game. She does her best work at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows. She is quite capable of getting to the finals with Jankovic and Serena not necessarily at their best. And Kuznetsova knows how to lose important matches, even when she's at her best.

Szavay played solid today. She owes a thank you letter to Lucie Safarova though, and to the French Open schedulers.

Still, this is a breakthrough win for Agi. It's also an invitation to Sharapova to take advantage of the draw, though I'd love to see Agi take her down if they meet.

The stars and perhaps the schedulers themselves were against Venus. That second round match was one of the best women's matches of the year. (A lot of people say Dokic-Kleybanova was the best. I haven't seen that one.) But a match of that caliber, especially stretched over two days, can be a hindrance this early in a major. I hope Venus's first serve picks up some pop on the grass. It didn't seem to have its usual speed this week.

Safina is looking like the best player in the draw. But Ivanovic is playing her best tennis since last year's French. They're stepping closer to a quarterfinal showdown.

Interesting excuse. Lame, actually. She lost a set without winning a game. And the schedulers are to blame? wow.

I like Szavay. I've been a fan of hers since she arrived. She won the match. But I watched both the Szavay-Venus match and the Safarova-Venus one, and there was no comparison. Safarova-Venus was one of the best matches of the year, stretched out over two days. Venus came out flat today.

Venus played FIVE days in a row, and had two separate matches hanging in the balance from overnight yesterday and she's playing another one now. What part of that don't you understand?

Even Shriver, not exactly a Williams flag waver, has been going on about it.

I didn't mean it as an excuse, I was pointing out the facts. Venus could have built from the Safarova match and taken momentum from fighting off a match point. She failed. The loss is hers and the victory is Agi's. To me the frustrating thing is that Lucie was the one playing the most inspired tennis and she went out earliest.

I think it was in 2007 when Venus was forced to play four or five singles matches in a row at Wimbledon to win the title, which she did. The surface makes a big difference. As much as would love Venus to win a slam in Melbourne or Paris, the facts (3 straight 3rd round losses at the French) look clear to me, that it will take something really special from Venus to ever truly be able to contend on clay. *sniff* I'm glad the sisters were able to salvage their doubles match (again against Szavay) though.

Of course, everytime I feel down and sad and worried over a Venus French Open loss, she lands on grass and everything gets turned around. Hope it happens again. Maybe she could even match Steffi's record for slams at Wimbledon.

I hear you, and that's why the loss is Venus's. By leading off with the idea that "the stars" were against Venus, I was trying to be loose about it. I didn't know who to root for amongst Venus-Szavay-Lucie though I have some incurable sentimental fandom for Lucie.

The fact remains, though, that Venus went into Wednesday with an unfinished doubles match, and for some reason that defies logic, the schedulers placed her singles match against Safarova (one that was likely to be fiercely competitive) last on the schedule -- with the doubles match scheduled roughly the same time on another court. There's no excuse for it. But she should/could have done or said something about it.

She probably had it coming to her karmically after the Australian/Lleyton Hewitt kerfluffle. Them's the breaks.

I just wish Venus hadn't fought so hard against Lucie only to play so lamely today. I would have preferred to see Lucie get the career win and then square off against Szavay. In my book, Safarova and Szavay are the biggest underachievers (biggest talents with correspondingly weakest results) in the WTA.

Venus just doesn't have the endurance and consistency for major clay wins. That's the bottom line.

The other twist is that when Safarova plays lights-out like that early on, it can have a ripple effect. At Wimbledon in 07, she and Jankovic had that terrific three-setter. The next round Jelena came out flat and tired and lost to a then little-known player named Marion Bartoli, who went on to beat Henin and make it to the final.

Szavay has the talent to make it to the final. She and Safina used to play doubles together, and Agi used to beat Dinara in singles. But Agi does not have Bartoli's mental mettle. I'd be happily very surprised if she capitalized the same way.

Meanwhile one of my other faves, Na Li, has managed to slip through to her first 4th round appearance at the French. I never really thought of her as a claycourt player, but I'll take it. She faces off against Sharapova for a spot in the quarters. Though she has never beaten Maria before, it's not often that you get the Russian coming off a lengthy injury break and having to battle through 3 consecutive 3-setters on a surface that turns her into a cow on ice. In other words, this is Na's opportunity to get that first win against Sharapova. She hasn't really done enough to warrant a head case label, so I hope she can make the break through. If she does I would like her chances against Szavay in the quarters (not so much in the semis against Dinara).

Because the Tennis Channel stuck with the Verdasco/Almagro match, I didn't see the 1st set Szavay vs. Venus bagel. Anybody with DirecTV get to see it? What the heck happened such that Venus couldn't win even a single game?? No doubt that the 2-day singles matches and late doubles matches made things tough for Venus. But don't you remember when Martina N used to play singles, doubles, and mixed in all the Slams? She used to have to race from one match to the next, sometimes even a third, back to back (to back). She joked once that the schedulers should at least put her next match on a nearby court so she didn't have to walk so far. The "workload" didn't bother Martina because she was so amazingly fit, and all the doubles and mixed kept her net game sharp for singles. But people are wired differently, and Martina is likely the exception here. Who knows if Venus was physically tired or not, but she had to be mentally tired from all that play. From what I saw in the 2nd set, she looked to be more mentally out of the match than physically fatigued. Now that Venus is out, crappers, no QF between Venus and Maria!!

Rudy, my guess re: Venus/Martina is that the physical demands of the game have become so much more pronounced and severe than in Martina's era. Things are hyperathletic now.

To be honest, I don't like it when it comes to the women's game, except on clay. On hard courts there are so few players who can really deliver the big babe tennis that has become the model or norm. But clay seems to slow things down enough and ground the shotmaking in a way that allows for actual rallies that go on beyond 4 shots.

As for Venus-Szavay, I missed the first set as well* but watched what they showed of the second and Venus was just flat and clueless. Agi's topspin forehand, which isn't her best shot, was giving Venus fits. Navratilova was wondering if Venus was injured, but she could just be tired. I think there's a certain added mental fatigue from matches that are held over from one day to the next. (It looks like the same thing is happening with Azarenka-Suarez Navarro today.)

Whatever the case, Venus is going to have to serve stronger to right herself at Wimbledon. She only had pop on her serve here and there -- albeit at great moments -- against Safarova, and wasn't serving strong today.

For me, the women's side of the French has largely been more exciting and fun to watch than the men's this year. A lot more competitive thrillers and well-played matches. I imagine there will be a drop-off, maybe even starting tomorrow (the lineup is kind of blah). But it's been great and surprising to see.

I hope TTC shows some of Rezai beating Larcher de Brito, because I want to hear (just once) Larcher de Brito's shrieks from hell -- and in a match where the other player complained about them and emerged victorious. Plus I'd like to see Rezai. Good call on her resurgence, ballcrusher.

*McEnroe's eagerness to call every damn minute of the 5-set men's matches meant that huge amounts of Venus-Safarova (including Lucie's match point) were ignored for the first set of Federer-Acasuso, and all of the the first set bagel was ignored for a completely lackluster final set chokeathon by Verdasco against Almagro. Martina should stick up for herself more!

Thanks for the credit on Rezai's resurgence!

I saw the match because it was televised in France. Aravene complained about LDB's shrieking early in 1st set (which was very close) and an official came on to the court and spoke the the ref. I wasn't sure what was even going on except the French commentators said Monica Seles a couple of times. Then they played on....

I didnt really even notice it and Aravene was making plenty of noise of her own. The thing with LDB's shriek is that it is really longggg and continues after the ball has gone to the other side and you are making your return shot. I guess that's the annoying part, not the actual decibel level which is pretty high and loud, but not more so than Sharapova or Azarenka. I was a little disappointed in Aravene because I hate complainers. Just play your game.

LDB was outhitting Rezai in the first set with amazing shot making but Aravene served much better. I watched LDB play at US Open last year and she was terrible. I was seated near Nick Bolletieri who was coaching her and he was just groaning. She really improved but the serve is still pretty lame.

Despite the Rezai resurgence, I still see a straight setter for Dinara. Pretty hard not to call that one, unless the French crowd can get Safina rattled off her heels. It would have to be a major upset, not unheard of from Russian players in grand slams.

Stosur beats Dementieva! What a pleasant surprsie. I like Elena, but always want to root for the family women.
The muscles on her....she is reallly cut.

Looking at the Tennis Hot Stove thread at the start of the year, my picks for rising men's players couldn't have been more wrong with the exception of Cilic. (Nishikori: HELP.) But every player I noted on the women's side is bringing the results and wins over higher-ranked players in 09.

The one who hadn't, and one of the main ones I'd named, was Sorana Cirstea. Her start of the years was as wretched as that losing streak Jankovic had before she became a top player.

But now Sorana has turned it around to reach the round of 16 (beating Wozniacki) where her opponent will be...Jankovic.

Cirstea found her game again on clay, getting to the semis of one of the smaller warmup tourneys in Spain. She has a good competitive spirit and can hit hard. She's also a total knockout. Her game has some definite weaknesses, but she'll be around in the years to come.

Romanian tennis is making the WTA at least a little more interesting. Cirstea is probably the most standard player in terms of style. Dulgheru who just won in Warsaw is a real talent who I can't wait to see play more. It's a shame she isn't in the French, because she could still be around. But it might be good for her to move at her own pace. There's also Niculescu, who is like the Fabrice Santoro of the WTA. Extremely unorthodox and fun to watch.

Although Safina has been impressive (apparently--they don't seem to be televising any of the women's matches here), Kuznetsova and--somewhat surprisingly--Ivanovic have also been putting up excellent match stats. I'm now picking Ivanovic to beat Azarenka.

In the 2nd quarter--well, we knew that section was a minefield going in. A lot of people seem to be conceding it to Maria, but I'm not that convinced--every match has been a struggle for her. Szavay has been the most consistently impressive player, but I don't know if I trust her form to stay strong. Na Li isn't really a clay courter, but she's no more incompetent than Maria on the stuff and seems to be playing well. And Cibulkova seems to have found her game again and I wouldn't rule her out either. She took out Azarenka, Chakvetadze, Mauresmo and Cornet in Charleston last year, so she's capable of beating a string of good players when she's rolling.

What is it with Serena and opponents' body parts in Paris??!!?

First there was "hand-gate" with JH, and now she had "arm-gate" with Sanchez.

That ball hit Sanchez's arm, not her racket. And it was her OTHER arm, not even the arm holding the racket! And it was on game point. I thought what Serena did was funny in the next game. Right as Sanchez was about to serve, she held up her hand. The serve which was good, got called back. I thought that was a GREAT retaliation.

Serena was bitchy in the post-match press, but she had every right to be. Another sleazy opponent gets away with bad behavior. Granted, players will try to get away with whatever dumb-ass chair umps let them (Gonzalez at the Olympics, anyone?...Keiffer throwing his racket, and getting a ball back ring any bells?), but it's still VERY low rent. Sanchez figured, "hey, he called 'game'...I'll just walk back to my seat as though I earned it." Serena said to the press exactly what the rule is, if the ball hits any part of your body, you lose the point. And to not admit it is cheating. So some reporter just came right out and asked "so, you're saying your opponent cheated?" And she said "well, what would YOU call it?!??" with a pretty pissed off tone.

Unlike the other times she got screwed over (hand-gate at the FO in '03 vs JH and horrendous-line-over-rules-gate in the USO '04 QF vs Capriati), at least she won the match.

I think shot-spot and slow-motion replays should be expanded to scrutinize this kind of sleaze as well.

ball crusher,

I agree 100%.

Actually, where will United States tennis be when Venus and Serena retire? That includes the ATP as well.



I agree with Two-hander, "...Venus just doesn't have the endurance and consistency for major clay wins. That's the bottom line."

Even though she hit some really good backhands, Szavay didn't really have to do much to win that match. Venus made too many unforced errors.

I agree with whoever said that Serena's outfit was flattering. It is probably one of my most favorite Serena outfits ever.