Not good news for Lindsay Davenport who retired in the first set of her opening match yesterday at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, with lower back strain, the same injury which hampered her at Wimbledon. May you heal soon Lindsay! Gosh I hope she makes it to and through the U.S.Open.

She said the injury is moody ... it flare up at times and she can't play while other times she feels just fine. That's got to be frustrating. Clijsters can't be too disappointed about Lindsay dropping out, though, considering their recent history. Kim is now the favorite to meet Venus in the final.

I went to Kim's match last night and she played pretty well, though admittedly Ai play just ghastly. What happened to her? She used to be a decent player and she was just horrible. I'd say retirement couldn't be far off for her. It is interesting sometimes to see how a long time on the tour affects some people and not others. Ai looks completely terrified the entire time and each shot is chokier than the last. Reminds me so much of the way Gabriella ended up and a few others. While players like Lindsay and Steffi seem to find a second wind and seem to relish trying to really go for it at the very end. Granted they are better than Ai ever was, but she was always used to be a fighter at least.

Kim looks to be in great physical shape, very trim and fast and ballsy. We'll have to see how Venus' mental state holds up if they meet in the final.

Kind of a sloppy final. Too many unforced errors. I'm sure that Kim's glad to win it, but neither of them played too spectacularly. Venus seemed to fade away in the second set, I think the long match with Schnyder might have contributed to that.

It did. In th einterview after her match yesterday against Schnyder, Venus said she was tired, and after the first set loss against Kim today, she just let go, it was clear to see. Too bad.

Yeah, sort of a snoozer final, but was very happy to see Kim win her fourth tourney since returning to the tour. And 3 of the 4 have been on hardcourts. Kim really should be quite a factor at the US Open. Her defensive game is amazing. Some of those shots she'd run down and then throw up the killer lobs ... stunning!

The Venus/Schnyder semi was great fun. I know ol' crazy Patty Schnyder was a goner once that serve that she thought was an ace on match point was ruled wide.