Monte Carlo DAY 2

A bunch of good matches occurred today. One of which was David Nalbandian's victory over Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu. Nalbandian started off strong, but then fell in the second set, but he retained his game from the first set to close out the match, 64 36 63.

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic floated through there second round matches. Murray admits that clay isn't his favorite, but he played well enough to take down Romanian, Victor Hanescu, 63 62. And Novak Djokovic defeated qualifier, Oscar Hernandez, 61 62.

The surprises of the day consisted of Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, and Tommy Robredo. Gael Monfils was incredibly out of sorts today as he faced off against Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic dismantled Monfils, 63 61. Gilles Simon went against Germany's Andreas Beck. Beck came from behind big time to stun Nicolas Kiefer in the first round. This time, Andreas didn't need to come back. Beck struggled in the first set, but took control in the second. In the end, Beck pulled off another upset, 75 61. And Tommy Robredo has been on tour for many years. He has always been very comfortable on the clay, but Argentinian, Juan Monaco was playing beautiful tennis to easily eliminate Robredo, 62 64.

The most hyped up match of the day was the mouthwatering encounter between Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt came from a great run in Houston. But Hewitt arrived in Monte Carlo the night before he had to play. So the lack of sleep/jetlag could have affected Hewitt's movement. But credit to Safin, he played consistently and won the match, 64 75.

Other Scores of Day 2:
(Q) Fabio Fognini(ITA) def. Tomas Berdych(CZE) 16 63 63
Ivo Karlovic(CRO) def. Florent Serra(FRA) 64 64
(10) David Ferrer(ESP) def. Feliciano Lopez(ESP) 62 63
Albert Montañes(ESP) def. (16) Nicolas Almagro(ESP) 76(6) 46 76(5)
(WC) Jean Rene Lisnard(MON) def. Christophe Rochus(BEL) 62 62
Martin Vassallo Arguello(ESP) def. Igor Andreev(RUS) 26 76(5) 62


Who I Want to Win: DAVID NALBANDIAN

Who I Think Will Win: ANDY MURRAY

Barcelona DAY 2

The Barcelona Ladies Open in Spain kicked off yesterday. Not too many seeds were in action today, but yesterday there were some surprises. Although Flavia Pennetta eased through her first round match, the number one seed, Alize Cornet was demolished by Stephanie Cohen-Aloro. It was surprising because Alize Cornet played unbelievable tennis during last year's clay court season.

Carla Suarez Navarro and Maria Kirilenko had no problem with their first round matches against wildcard, Estrella Cabeza Candela and Camille Pin. They both won their matches, 62 60. But the surprises of the day involved fourth seed, Kaia Kanepi and eighth seed, Sorana Cirstea. Kanepi was knocked out by Slovenian lucky loser, Masa Zec Peskiric after being up a set, 36 62 64. Romanian, Sorana Cirstea has been showing promise on the clay, but she was outplayed by Belarusian qualifier, Anastasiya Yakimova, 76(2) 76(5).

My favorite player in the draw is Nicole Vaidisova. Vaidisova has been struggling for the past year. Her game has fallen. Vaidisova was once ranked as high as 8 in the world. But she is slowly getting into good form. It may take her a few more years to retain a top ten ranking, but hopefully I'm wrong. But Nicole defeated Ukrainian qualifier, Yevgeniya Savranska today, 62 64.

Other Scores of Day 2:
(Q) Tatjana Malek(GER) def. (WC) Nuria Llagostera Vives(ESP) 63 36 61
(LL) Emilie Loit(FRA) def. (Q) Mervana Jugic-Salkic(BIH) 76(3) 36 62
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez(ESP) def. Kirsten Flipkens(BEL) 62 62
Severine Bremond(FRA) def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld(GER) 76(4) 62
Francesca Schiavone(ITA) def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino(ESP) 76(4) 64


Who I Want to Win: NICOLE VAIDISOVA

Who I Think Will Win: CARLA SUAREZ NAVARRO

Alexandra's Quest For a Comeback

Another American player you made not have heard of, Alexandra Stevenson has endured much struggle to get back in the form she is in now. I immediately started to like her after I saw a story on her on ESPN. She was once a top 20 player and she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1999 as a qualifier, but then suffered back injuries that strayed her away from the game. Since then she could not afford sponsors, but recently, her father, "Dr. J" Julius Erving came into the picture and helped her out with sponsorships. And thanks to their newly found relationship, Stevenson has been playing in tournaments this year. In Charleston, Alexandra got a wildcard entry. Her first opponent was Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova. Amanmuradova is only effective when it comes to her serve, but today, Alexandra tried her best, but her game still needs more tweeking. Amanmuradova won the match, 62 64. Although Stevenson lost the match, she should not give up and there is no doubt that she will be back in the form she was in when she was 18 in the world.

Charleston DAY 2

I'm very excited for the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina this week!!! I love it because I love the green clay and this tournament is actually on TV! (At least the semis and final). But Day two consisted of a bunch of my favorite players. The matches I looked forward to consisted of Sania Mirza, Marion Bartoli, Alexandra Stevenson, Shenay Perry, Dominika Cibulkova, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The seeds that played other than Bartoli and Cibulkova were Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, and Elena Dementieva.

The first matches of the day that ran simultaneously consisted of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Shenay Perry. Bethanie Mattek-Sands came to Charleston after a defeat against number 13 in the world, Marion Bartoli. And she continued her solid clay court play against Colombia's Mariana Duque Marino with a 76(3) 75 win. Now many of you may not have heard of America's Shenay Perry. But I've always been intrigued by her unusual forehand and her one-handed backhand. She got through the qualifying rounds pretty easily and it looked as if she wouldn't be able to pass the Czech 15th seed, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. But to Zahlavova Strycova's surprise, Perry has come back on tour with a more refined game and after a first set struggle, Perry dominated her Czech opponent, 75 61.

Vera Zvonareva and Sania Mirza were next up. Zvonareva followed Mattek-Sands on Stadium Court. Her opponent was Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios. De Los Rios could have made a match against Zvonareva, but Vera wouldn't let Rossana in and took her out in just over an hour, 63 62. One of my favorite players, Sania Mirza faced Kazakhstan's Sesil Karatantcheva on Court three today. I've never seen Mirza have a great clay court season. But her wrist problems have usually taken her out of most of her clay court tournaments. Sania is more comfortable on the fast hard court because of the massive damage her forehand can do. And the only other time i've heard of Sesil Karatantcheva was when she shocked Venus Williams in Roland Garros a couple years back. But Sania played consistent tennis today to defeat Karatantcheva, 64 64.

The sixth seed from France Marion Bartoli was up next on stadium court. Her opponent was qualifier from Latvia, Anastasija Sevastova. Bartoli can produce good tennis on all surfaces, but after her appearance at the finals of Wimbledon in 2007, 2008 was an inconsistent year to say the least. Bartoli gained weight and lost some horrible matches. But Marion has brought her game back in 2009. And she asserted her improvement by reaching the finals at Auckland and beating Jelena Jankovic en route to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. And Bartoli showed promise on the clay today by dismantling her Latvian opponent, 61 63.

The other seeds on court today were Nadia Petrova, Dominika Cibulkova, and Elena Demtieva. Nadia Petrova faced off against Austria's Patricia Mayr. But Mayr put up a good fight. Ultimately though, Petrova overcame Mayr with a 61 26 62 win. Cibulkova had a potentially tough encounter with another Austrian, Tamira Paszek. But Dominika was a finalist here last year and she was not willing to fall early this time around. She had very little problems with her game and took Paszek out, 64 60. And the last match of the day was between the number one seed, Elena Dementieva and American lefty, Julie Ditty. Dementieva almost embarrassed Ditty winning the first 10 games of the match. After Ditty squeezed in a few games, Elena overall smashed her, 60 62.

Other Scores of Day 2:
Stephanie Dubois(CAN) def. Katie O'Brien(GBR) 46 62 61
Alla Kudryavtseva(RUS) def. (Q) Angela Haynes(USA) 64 57 60
(9) Aleksandra Wozniak(CAN) def. (Q) Abigail Spears(USA) 63 46 60
Elena Vesnina(RUS) def. Evgeniya Rodina(RUS) 60 62
Viktoriya Kutuzova(UKR) def. Mariya Koryttseva(UKR) 61 61
(16) Sabine Lisicki(GER) def. (Q) Marie-Eve Pelletier(CAN) 75 64


Who I Want to Win: MARION BARTOLI

Who I Think Will Win: VENUS WILLIAMS

Casablanca SFs

The semifinal matches began yesterday at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Morocco. And the four semifinalists were the first seed, Igor Andreev, the third seed, Albert Montanes, the fifth seed, Florent Serra, and unseeded, Juan Carlos Ferrero. The first match was between unseeded Juan Carlos Ferrero and the first seed, Igor Andreev. It was difficult to say who was going to win the first set because it was very tight. But Juan Carlos edged Andreev in a tiebreak, 11-9. And the momentum stayed with Ferrero until he closed out the match, 76(9) 63.

The other semifinal was a bit of a surprise. I was expecting Ferrero's opponent in the final to be Albert Montañes because he did pretty well on the clay last year and he took a set from Federer at Roland Garros. But Florent Serra has been coming out of his shell and proving himself as a threat. And he kept the good tennis coming with a straight set win over Montañes, 64 64.

Who I Want to Win: Juan Carlos Ferrero
Who I Think Will Win: Juan Carlos Ferrero

Marbella QFs

Quarterfinals day in Marbella. And all of the matches excpet for one lasted longer than two and a half hours. Three out of the four matches ended in either a third set tiebreak or a third set, 7-5. The match that lasted only fifty minutes was the Carla Suarez Navarro, Klara Zakopalova match. Zakopalova came into the match after beating number one in the world, Serena Williams. But Suarez Navarro's clay court prowess was too much for Klara. Suarez Navarro smased Klara, 61 62.

The seventh seeded Romanian, Sorana Cirstea was expected to lose against third seeded Kaia Kanepi. But Cirstea is another underrated player on the clay. Although it was a titanic struggle for Cirstea, she grabbed a spot in he semifinals with a 64 26 75 win.

One of the matches lasted an amazing three hours and five minutes. The match was a fight between the Spanish fourth seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Italy's Sara Errani. At the beginning of the match, it seemed that Medina Garrigues would have an easy passage into the semifinals after she won the first set, 6-2. But Errani fought to get to a second set tiebreak. And Errani grabbed the second set, 7-6(4). The third set was an immense struggle for both players. But Medina Garrigues outplayed Errani in the final stages of the match to clinch a 62 67(4) 75 win.

And the main event of the day was the match between Jelena Jankovic and Roberta Vinci. I thought, before the match started, that Jelena wouldn't have a problem dismantling Vinci, but to my surprise, Roberta won the first set, 6-3. But I wasn't surprised thatjelena used her experience to come back with the second set, 6-3. The third set on the other hand was a real tussle. They both broke each other twice. And ultimately, the match led into a final set tiebreaker. And the tiebreaker was even difficult for both players, but Jelena came out on top with an 8-6 tiebreak win.

Who I Want to Win: Carla Suarez Navarro

Who I Think Will Win: Jelena Jankovic

Ponte Vedra Beach QFs

Not a good day for my favorites at the MPS Group Championships at Ponte Vedra Beach. I like four out of the eight quarterfinalists. And all of them lost. Alona Bondarenko, Dominika Cibulkova, Tamira Paszek, and especially Daniela Hantuchova!!! Firstly, I was hoping that Alona Bondarenko was finally back on top of her game, and I'm not saying she's been improving, but it was very sad that she got so close to beating the first seed, Nadia Petrova. Petrova took out Bondarenko, 46 63 76(5).

Another dissappointing result was when Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak defeated Austria's Tamira Paszek. This match also resulted in a final set tiebreaker. Wozniak unfortunately was the victor with the score at 63 36 76(7).

I was fond of both Dominika Cibulkova and Elena Vesnina, but I was leaning more towards Cibulkova. Vesnina won it in a very strenuous couple of hours, 75 67(5) 63.

The worst part of the night was when Hantuchova lost to tough Dane Caroline Wozniacki. The only match of the day that lasted less than two hours. Wozniacki won comfortably 62 62. Hopefully hantuchova can recover and play better in the next tournament.

Who I Want to Win: Elena Vesnina

Who I Think Will Win: Caroline Wozniacki