Okay, it looks like everybody here on the Board has given about as much thought to this tournament as the top seeds did. Serena pulled out before it even began and now Dinara, Venus, Elena, Caroline, Svetlana and Vera are all out -- losing second round matches. That's the entire Top 6 seeds and 6 of the Top 7 in the world! I guess one can go on again but how mentally weak the top women's tennis players are, but I still think it speaks more to the quality of the field and how much more demanding the sport has become. The victors -- Chang, Pavlyuchenkova, K. Bondarenko, Wozniak, Petkovic, and Kleybanova -- are all relatively young (acutally I don't know that much about Petkovic) and hungry and, seemingly, laying in wait for a worn out top seed to come stumbling by. Now, it's no longer the sisters who don't show up for non-slams, nobody does.

That said, Sharapova, Jankovic, Bartoli, Azarenka, and Radwanska are all alive and can definitely look at this tournament as an opportunity to get something good out of the year post-slams. I think all the top seeds came to this because the tournament is still worth a lot of points and it's good prep for next week's mandatory Beijing tournament.

I think it also speaks to the never-ending nature of the tennis circuit. All the top players build for, and plan around, the Slams. It's human nature that after the US Open there is going to be a big mental letdown from the top players. Even as a fan, after the US Open ends I don't really give tennis much thought until after Christmas, when I start thinking about the Oz warmup tournaments. Tennis needs a real off-season. If there were an off-season I think you'd see a lot more of the top players playing more, and you'd see better play from them.

I'm inclined to agree with Munson on most points. Still, I do get a bit of a jones for tennis even after the Slams have wrapped up so it's nice for some of the indoor events to be big ones - on paper at least. Also, the year-end trophies (Masters Cup for the men, Year-End Championships for the women) still remain prestigious ones to pick up, and in fact neither Venus nor Djoko would be firmly within the Top 5 right now without them given their mediocre (by their high standard) seasons.

But yeah, it just adds to the head-shaking to have all these top women collapse like a house of cards in their opening matches. Even the usual tournament overachiever Wozniacki went out, albeit due to illness. Despite the upsets, there should be some decent-looking semis ... what should be Sharapova v Radwanska in the top half, and Azarenka or Li against either Jankovic or Bartoli. The latter quarterfinal is enticing, given the stormy history between them - I tried without success to find a live stream for the match. Jelena picked up the first set 6-4 (after 7 breaks of serve, par for the course when these two battle it out), but as we know with her lately, even match points don't mean it's a done deal.

Well, Li just took out Azarenka. I think this is her 14th victory over a top ten player in her career -- a career during which her own ranking has never been higher than 15. She's had a win over every top player of note who is still active (except Henin). Now that she is in the semis I hope she can finally make that break through and win a big tournament. She has a winning record in the head-to-head versus Jankovic and she just beat Sharapova for the first time the last time they met. I really believe she is a top ten player who would have been in the top ten by now if she had played in America rather than China.

Wonder why they don't do a "Final Lap" set of 3 or 4 tournaments before the year end championship. Give a definite 3 week break after the US Open...a little recovery from the hard court season....then blast to the end. Take a page from the USOpen series....at least it could focus the fall tournaments a little. Perhaps give some bonus points or money for performances...and then have November and December off (recognizing that players already are training by the end of December to go Down Under at the beginning of January.)

Tokyo was the last tournament of her career for Ai Sugiyama

They organized a nice and tearful tribute to her
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/video/a...2256670_1816139

Well, this thread was for Tokyo, but I'll recycle it for another women's event in Japan (Osaka) because of a quirkily noteworthy final: Stosur v Schiavone. Combined both ladies are 1-14 in tournament finals. If there were a way for there to be two runners-up it'd be here. Heh. I'd like to see Sam win it since she hasn't lifted a singles trophy yet, and I guess she's on quasi-home turf (Asia Pacific).