US Open 2011

Oh, might as well get it going.

Also because this NYT Magazine story is already up and is clearly a tie-in.

my friend becky, my boyfriend and i have created a holiday called "open." for the holiday, becky comes to brooklyn to visit, we watch the us open and celebrate. becky and i met during the us open in 2001, so.

i'm excited.

i assumed this was abt golf

i thought so too but then i clicked the link

have u been doing the "open" holiday for 10 years? that's p cool

this is only the 2nd year that it has officially been called "open" but we have gotten together for the tournament a number of times before. decided to finally put a name on it!

do you go? or just watch johnny mac

golf's US open was 2 months ago!

obv very excited about this, #teammurray

i would be cool with djokovic winning too though - and while i love guys like monfils and gasquet i don't see anyone other than one of the big 4 taking this

ugh murray

i mean, i feel for the brits, but do not necessarily appreciate goofy dudes yelling COME ON

shattered by the absence of st. kim tho (seriously)

yeah that is a let-down.

to answer your question, mooks, no we did not go last year. i have a thing about watching the us open from home. it's better to me. they want to go though -- one of these opens, we will make it out there.

draws are out shortly! hyped!

Qualies have been interesting so far - 15-year-old US junior called Taylor Townsend has sprung the biggest surprise, beating Parra Santonja - she plays Robson next. There is another US junior who goes by the amazing name of Anne-Liz Jeukeng-Nkamgouo, but she lost in Q1 ;_; "Future World No 1" Caroline Garcia has lost already but the dread screamer Larcher de Brito is back and actually won her first match. In the men's, luckily that druggie cheat Odesnik lost his opener - kudos to Greg Jones, whoever that is, for taking the trash out.

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/interactive/radio/radio.html?ts=1314288175052&db=false&ref=www.usopen.org/en_US/news/media/radio.html&lang=en_US&stream=undefined&syn=

Draw being made. Exciting~~~~~~~~~~~~

My wish is for Serena not be in the same section as Li because Li scares me for some reason.

Maria got Serena in the 3rd round then. I laugh and laugh and laugh and irl fistpump on behalf of Petra K, Na and Bepa

Djokovic/Fed and Murray/Nadal

Ugh I wanted it the other way round.

Oh wait a fucking minute.

The womens draw has already been done? Haha! FUCK I NEED TO GO LOOK THEN

SHARAPOVA SERENA THIRD ROUND YOU BETTER BE FUCKING KIDDING ME LEX

@neilharmantimes - "the draw has been done before the draw"

uhhh maybe hold off on the Maria/Serena thing, why am I trusting tennisforum on this

Will fucking murder if that's the case.

Wait they're doing the womens draw now!

OK they've decided to talk about boring people like Roddick instead.

I see Raonic's skipped in the men's seeds. Bummer. Was looking forward to seeing more of him.

I think if his shoulder's recovered from Cincinnati, Berdych has semis potential this year.

Neil Harman is tweeting that the USO twitter has got the draw completely wrong. Still laughing!

Seriously lol @ this

Grand slam draw ceremonies never fail to fail

"James Blake certainly among those not seeded this year"

This made me laugh hard for some reason

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_Singles

Um if this is real I will cry. Serena with Li

And Venus/JJ first round, if that draw were to be trusted lol

it's not real, the Baltacha/Venus 1Rs don't tally with what Neil Harman tweeted

Such a goddamn mess.

Next year you guys should do the draw.

Really, doing a draw is...not a hard thing to do! Tennis is such a badly run sport.

Official US Open twitter has Fed/Nadal semifinal wtf

xps I could totes do this draw. Just go on www.random.org and do that shit. I might rig it for a Serena/Woz 3rd round tho.

Woz could hardly have drawn an easier first two rounds. Llagostera Vives and then Rus or Vesnina lol.

Wozniacki/Li/Schiavone/Azarenka

Sharapova/Kvitova/Bartoli/Zvonareva

Think I got that right.

Serena in the top quarter I think. FUCK.

Oh wait it's the second quarter. That's much better~~

OMG Azarenka/Serena 3rd round lol.

Serena got Azarenka? That's good. Not hilarious like getting Maria/Caroline would be, but still welcome.

Heh, Azarenka tweeting something cheerful. She hasn't seen the draw yet then

No fluke semifinal for you two slams in a row!

Lisicki/Venus round 2

Giant Killer Dulko might take out Vika before Serena gets the chance.

well let's hope Vika doesn't get another concussion before her rematch w/ Dulko, that was pretty scary (also scary: having to play Serena in the 3rd rd, hilarious)

Official US Open twitter has Fed/Nadal semifinal wtf

2 vs 3 is not really that surprising

i can't believe you guys are actually talking about womens tennis, why do you do this to yourselves

cuz many of them are hot

http://static.tennis24seven.com/wp-content/gallery/marion-bartoli/marion-bartoli6.jpg

didn't say "all"

eh there's like 3 legit hotties in the top 20

i mean don't get me wrong if you wanna talk about women's tennis THIS is the conversation i'd like to be having /frogbs

oh come on

Woz, Sharapova, Azarenka, Petko, Cibu Matto, Ivanovic, Goerges: all top 20

tbh i can't picture any of those in my head other than woz, maria, & ivanovic

dude, tone it the fuck down Kevin. women are NOT objects for you to "rank" and assign degrees of "legit". so gross because now I have to imagine your penis forcefully entering these women. how have you not been banned for this shit?

Are you still here?

yeah k3v, tone it down

The fuck just happened?
Ned I'm going to need 5eps updates every slam please.

Well now. (Actually they'll be released the Tuesday after the Open ends, so there you go.)

assuming djp was joking

anyway i'm really looking forward to the men's tournament!

I BET YOU ARE!!!!

2 vs 3 is not really that surprising

i can't believe you guys are actually talking about womens tennis, why do you do this to yourselves

thanks dude, i do know that. i was talking about the fact that the us open radio contradicted the us open twitter by saying it was fed/djok and murray/nadal semis. and the radio turned out to be correct anyway.

ha my bad i didn't mean for that to sound so snarky

i forgive you this once :)

I was too busy SQUEEING over Serena/Azarenka to notice that this thread had become reality. Could Serena please unleash FinalsSerena! on her? And for Wozniacki to lose comedically early?

wozniacki is an angel fuq all u guyz

also lol @ watching women's tennis

So you just watch Wozniacki's... twitter?

yeah p much

last women's match i watched in earnest was... idk mb li vs sharapova @ the french? & even then i didnt really care who won

I talk more about women's tennis cuz of habit, partly - when I first got into tennis the women's game was more exciting. To an extent it's still more fun to talk about, there's not a great deal to really say about the men's draw, evidenced by the fact that if you do you have to eventually talk up some loser like Berdych as a potential threat. (Thought Wertheim's characterisation of him as basically Safin but boring was otm.)

Also when men's tennis is bad, it's dull; when women's tennis is bad, it's hilarious. And I thought the women have actually brought it at the last couple of Slams - of course they both ended with champions I love, too.

w/r/t the men's draw, I'd really love to see the Dimitrov/Monfils 1R for sheer entertainment value. Harrison/Cilic for a potential 1R upset? I think that'll happen. Funny to see Roddick seeded so low but he "lucked" into a cushy draw anyway, kmt. Marcel Granollers in Slam seeding range is a fucking disgrace!

Qualies have been good to shitty juniors that I'd already written off - Lertcheewakarn, Larcher de Brito and one of the Pliskova twins all in the final qualy round. Assuming Voskoboeva and Erakovic qualify, those two could actually do damage in the main draw.

To an extent it's still more fun to talk about, there's not a great deal to really say about the men's draw

well, I say this, but I think for the first time in 9230209922 years I'm gonna end up NOT predicting Nadal/Djokovic/Federer/Murray SFs!

And for Wozniacki to lose comedically early?

sadly the glee I'd feel at this will be tempered by the annoyance at its likely corollary, ie a deep Hantuchova run

Li Na needs to kill whoever comes out of the Woz section in the QF

assuming djp was joking

Oh come on, of course I was joking! I thought the display name change made it obvious.

Women's tennis is on its way 'back' - at least if you judge from Wimbledon and The French.

Men's is not going to be so easy to predict - Djoko injured, Nadal (for the mo) shot, Fed in terminal natural decline, Del Porto still on his way back - but is Murray any kind of opportunist?

(Thought Wertheim's characterisation of him as basically Safin but boring was otm.)

oh wow i haven't read wertheim in years, i should read that

lex are you posting from a phone or something?

oh it was just from the seeding reports

(tho safin was obv much more talented & accomplished)

I sometimes post from a phone but not in this thread?

I don't think women's tennis is gonna rediscover its turn-of-the-century glory days any time soon - every time I look at our "promising" juniors I weep inside, they're ALL SO BAD - but at least the madness and the mess has been giving us quality tennis of late, which is the main thing, so maybe we can eke out a few good years before everyone retires

may as well do these predictions I guess.

GIRLS

4R:

Hantuchova d. Wozniacki
Li d. Zheng
S.Williams d. Cetkovska
Pavlyuchenkova d. Schiavone
A.Radwanska d. Kvitova
Sharapova d. Peng
Stosur d. Bartoli
V.Williams d. Zvonareva

Li d. Hantuchova
S.Williams d. Pavlyuchenkova
Sharapova d. A.Radwanska
V.Williams d. Stosur

S.Williams d. Li
Sharapova d. V.Williams

S.Williams d. Sharapova (6-1 6-3 or something)

BOYS

Djokovic d. Gasquet
Monfils d. Tipsarevic
Federer d. Stepanek
Tsonga d. Fish
Del Potro d. Isner
Murray d. Tursunov
Roddick d. Ferrer
Nadal d. Muller

Djokovic d. Monfils
Tsonga d. Federer
Del Potro d. Murray
Nadal d. Roddick

Djokovic d. Tsonga
Del Potro d. Nadal

Djokovic d. Del Potro

PENDING QUALIFIERS! the right qualifier into some of the weaker brackets could change everything.

PENDING QUALIFIERS! the right qualifier into some of the weaker brackets could change everything.

(what I'm saying is, please can Voskoboeva land near Sharapova)

ha lex i just noticed you were capitalizing properly, i think i'm used to reading your posts on ilm

tennis players' names look weird and wrong all l/c so I switch things up here

recently transitioned to abandoning all l/c on twitter to look, um, more professional. I kind of like it!

ha maybe some day when i have to get a real job i'll do the same, but it's a big step!

ahahahaahahahahaahahaha

Urszula Radwanska qualified!

And drew...Agnieszka in the 1st round, lololololol. Amazing.

Poor Schiavone got both toughest qualifiers, Voskoboeva and Erakovic. Tempted to pick Voskoboeva instead of her, tbh. Maybe Voskoboeva to reach the quarters, in fact, it's not like Pav is in form.

Two Irishmen, a Monégasque and a Tunisian qualified on the men's side. Diversity! As well as Sergei Bubka (son of the more famous pole vaulter, bf of Azarenka HOW DOES HE PUT UP WITH HER).

John Isner after beating Roddick yesterday: "I wanted to keep the points short - you can't win a 10 or 15-shot rally with Andy, he's just too good."

WHAT. I am fairly sure no one has even thought that sentence before.

Seriously, Isner should be banned for it. It's effectively saying "I can't play tennis"

seriously?

seems a little harsh imo

oi i was half looking forward to that wozniacki/li final. fuck u cetkovska!!! somebody take this New Haven Slam away from Woz please.

Only saw Cetkovska/Li from 5-5 in the third onwards but I can confidently say those last few games constituted the worst tennis I have seen this year, possibly ever. Shambolic stuff.

Aw, taking Woz's minnie mouse tournaments away from her is like taking paintboxes away from toddlers. Let her have Brussels and Copenhagen and Bastad and New Haven for the Woz Slam, lol. The big girls can focus on the big girl events.

4R

Hantuchova def Wozniacki
Li def Zheng
S. Williams def Cetkovska
Jankovic def Martinez Sanchez

A. Radwanska def Safarova
Sharapova def Goerges
Stosur def Kirilenko
V. Williams def Medina Garrigues

QF

Li def Hantuchova
S. Williams def Jankovic
A. Radwanska def Sharapova
V. Williams def Stosur

SF

S. Williams def Li
A. Radwanska def V. Williams

F

S. Williams def A. Radwanska

um, lol.

So some things that happen:
Lisicki's preparation of playing in the blazing heat of Dallas a week before USO startlingly is not very helpful. Plays awful and crashes out to rusty Venus.
Kateryna Bondarenko beats Zvonareva for some reason.
Dulko has a good day and beats Azarenka
Goerges' run to the 4r has her beating Barrois, Doi and Lepchenko.
Cetkovska is fatigued and suffering a letdown after her New Haven run but gets to the 4r because she gets to play the shittiest players in existence (Rodina, Ivanovic, Peer)
Sharapova and Venus both play their erratic hot mess best/worst against Radwanska and lose in ugly 3 setters. Absurd amounts of double faults are hit.
Jankovic coasts to the QFs playing really badly and then plays wonderfully and has some match points or something against Serena.

Mens BOMBSHELL: Nadal def Djokovic final. Nadal wins first 2 sets with Djokovic being really nervous and playing awfully, and eventually wins in 5.

Woz wins New Haven for fourth year in a row? GOAT.

http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2010/08/real-life-haters-gonna-hate.jpg

Djokovic d. Gasquet
Berdych d. Monfils
Federer d. Troicki
Tsonga d. Fish
Soderling d. Del Potro
Murray d. Wawrinka
Ferrer d. Roddick
Nadal d. Gulbis

Djokovic d. Berdych
Federer d. Tsonga
Murray d. Soderling
Ferrer d. Nadal

Djokovic d. Federer
Murray d. Ferrer

Djokovic d. Murray 6-4 7-5 6-1

I will probably be missing most of the first day's action (or at least will only catch up with it much, much later) since it's Eid tomorrow, but am looking forward to reading this thread! keep it going, tennis ilxors. :)

I am watching Harrison vs Cilic :)

Oh the US Open's started already!

Harrison 1-4 down already. Great start. :(

Oh his attitude is like this now.

Harrison = new Hewitt? Terrier-like game, terrier-like face, bitchy attitude.

Cilic may be winning easily but he plays so dumb.

I swear Harrison was fucking awesome at last year's Open :( I'm handing in my fan membership card.

The DFs are funny.

Anime Eyes is too stupid to live. What was that game.

lol @ Ryan pushing and pushing and pushing and then indignantly throwing his racket when Cilic hits a winner against him.

Nishikori retires :( :( :( :( That poor guy

JESUS CHRIST RYAN YOU ARE PATHETIC

not watching this but I am kind of ecstatic that Ryan is going down in flames here, one thing pro tennis doesn't need is another Hewitt

Nishikori ;_;

LOLOLOLOLOL at the final game of that set from Harrison. Has he thrown more tantrums than he's hit winners so far?

Monica Niculescu is the first winner on the women's side :D

i kind of wish i could watch Doi vs Pous Tio

lol I was just thinking that! this is some epic TB they're playing, 10-10

lots on the line for both, too (maybe hence no one able to close it out?) - Doi needs it to break the top 100, Pous Tio needs it for her first Slam win EVER

So many MPs saved! CMON MISAKI GIRL

YES! Misaki takes it 14-12. How many MPs saved?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

At the very least 5 match points saved. I only started closely following the live score at 6-6 in the TB.

Time to watch Robson for the first time in ages. Wimbledon 2010 vs Jankovic maybe.

you didn't see her this year? she hits the ball more impressively than ever but has the court speed of a slug. it's quite alarming to me how few female juniors coming through are able to both hit winners and run fast.

And now Fish gets broken right off the bat in his match. Wonderful start, USTA.

No, I remember having an A level exam during her match with Sharapova and not being impressed about it.

I joined at 2-0 Robson and since then Robson has hit a couple of stunning winners and 8 unforced errors.

A Fish 1R loss would GIVE ME LIFE

i can barely contain myself at the thought of Fish losing 1R. BITTE KAMKE :)

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2011/08/29/2011-08-29_us_open_melanie_oudin_the_2009_tourney_darling_ aims_to_embrace_pressure_not_shri.html

Says Melanie, "I need to pretend that I'm the underdog again and just go for it."

...

......

........ "pretend"?

ahahahahahahaha @ that attempt to serve out the 3rd set by Harrison

it is amazing how annoying most of the American players are now

the only ones I really like at this point are Blake, Fish, King and Mattek-Sands

(and Blake obv is about to have retirement forced upon him)

Mattek-Sands is practically the most annoying of them all

And by "practically", I mean there's always Roddick.

bye ryan lol u suck

Mattek-Sands is annoying just from the standpoint of her style/substance ratio; fortunately her style is hilarious so that earns points from me, also lol go MN (btw also a large part of my Fish fandom)

ewww Pous Tio you were supposed to give up in a fit of frustration in the 3rd set :(

hahaha what, after all that Doi retires a game away from defeat?! o_0

I hate players who do that. Ugh Misaki.

Robson!!! :D Fought back from a break a couple of times. This + her 3 wins in qualifying are making me think she's starting to become a good match player with a proper fighting attitude. C'mon :D

Another loser retires. Bye Morita. Laura :D

Not a good day for the Japanese it seems

Three Japanese contestants so far, three retirements.

Stakhovsky just gagged horribly from *4-2 in the second against Gasquet. Gagging against Gasquet, that's a new one.

Williams played coy at first during a pre-tournament news conference Monday when she was asked what she remembers most from the way her last U.S. Open ended and how “that controversial episode” might have affected the public’s perception of her.

“You mean in the singles or doubles?” Williams asked.

Then she added: “I just remember I lost, and that was that. I got really popular. A lot of people were telling me they thought I was super cool, that they never saw me so intense. So, yeah, it was awesome.”

Asked whether she learned anything from what happened in 2009, Williams replied: “I don’t know. I don’t think about it. Are you still thinking about it?”

She rolled her eyes as she continued: “Oh, my God. That was, like, two years ago. This is, like, two years later.”

NNNNGHHHHHH she is the worst.

Like...it's a bit rich of her to say that when she still brings up a) The Hand b) all those times she's been victimised or wronged by the entire world over the years, given the tiniest chance. Such a fucking whining baby.

yeah that is not doing her any favors in the "resembles a decent human being" stakes

although tbh the Indian Wells shit she and Venus had to endure was also unforgivable

oh IW was appalling, I only saw what happened there years later (it was pre-Youtube! whoa) and was totally shocked. The WTA never publicly apologised to them for it either.

she always brings up the USO '04 line calls though, and it's like...yeah they were bad but there are bad calls in every pro tennis match I've watched, get over it and stop believing this shit only happens to you.

Kvitova is playing REALLY BADLY incidentally

First two points of this TB = a DF from each. God.

Watching Madison Keys kill Craybas now. Craybas is no opposition at all but Keys hits HUGE.

oh IW was appalling, I only saw what happened there years later (it was pre-Youtube! whoa) and was totally shocked. The WTA never publicly apologised to them for it either.

she always brings up the USO '04 line calls though, and it's like...yeah they were bad but there are bad calls in every pro tennis match I've watched, get over it and stop believing this shit only happens to you.

I agree, but I can't discount the filter someone who has had to suffer through IW is going to view events that go against them

Not saying it's valid or that Serena is right, just that I understand

Wow, just switched over for the end of Kvitova. And there I was thinking she'd drawn one of the few players in worse form than herself.

I agree, but I can't discount the filter someone who has had to suffer through IW is going to view events that go against them

oh I get you, I guess. Venus hasn't been like that at all, though (admittedly she wasn't on court for that match, but she was in the audience).

Keys survived what looked like it was on the verge of becoming a meltdown to go through comfortably in the end. Impressed.

OMG Watson is 5-2 up on Sharapova!

ha well I don't think anyone would ever argue that Serena was a nicer person than Venus!

btw: http://espn.go.com/sports/tennis/picks/_/tournament/7

Shriver and Wilansky are pretty psyched right about now

also I like Maria again but I gotta say GO WATSON (ps who r u)

(also in those "expert" picks, lol @ "Roddick is a dangerous sleeper, no honest")

Sorry, she's brought up the hand when? Once on twitter after Henin finally admitted to it and called it the proudest moment of her career? I'm not here for Serena's niceness anyway. Give me her dramatic bitchy hilariousness <3

Lol at Sharapova. Always has to struggle against these young'uns. I love Heather tho so whatever. Maria's never going to be winning this tournament anyway.

Yes Heather! Takes first set, opens second set by winning a point by smacking the ball straight at Maria <3

Sorry, she's brought up the hand when?

that time vs Jankovic out of nowhere!

so... twice?

(I am not disputing that she's talked about it, just that I don't have the impression that she goes on about it nonstop)

also lol @ not quoting her entire statement:

"I became unplugged," she says. "What I did was totally uncalled for and unnecessary and you know, bratty and whatever. I apologized. But I told her I need an apology, too, because I didn't foot fault."

Not that I am cheering the use of "whatever" there but there's a good bit more self-awareness about her behavior than is being credited.

is wozniacki out yet? she is the only reason why i would ever watch tennis accept wimbledon

Oh I didn't see her full statement! it wasn't in the article I c/ped. The "whatever" is whatever but KMFT at "I told her I need an apology, too, because I didn't foot fault". There isn't actually any evidence either way on that, and she CANNOT know for certain!

Meanwhile

@NeilHarmanTimes Neil Harman
Come on Lynn Welch. Make a real name for yourself. Call Sharapova for 'interference' because that is precisely what this din is.
1 minute ago via web

^^^YES

that time vs Jankovic out of nowhere!

Yes but that was so completely fucking hilariously amazing <3 Why do you want people to be boring?

Am I stupid or what does "din" mean?

Yay for Madison Keys!

And I am so torn in this Sharapova match ughhhhhhhh. I want her to win but I don't want Heather to have lost from a set and a break up :( A well-played 7-5 7-6 for Maria would've suited me nicely.

"din" = "noise" (aka Maria's shrieking)

Maria is in full-on hysterical fighting mode and it's as intolerable as ever. I don't get how it's intimidatory, it makes her seem like a total clown.

Oh. Grunting complaints. Topical.

speaking of which, Larcher de Brito didn't make it out of qualifiers, di she

nope, MLDB fell in the last qualifying round to Karin Knapp, who's a former top 40 player, but MLDB's career is not heading in the right direction at all (not that I'm not v grateful for that)

LOL. Maria DF to give up her break lead in the second :D

Why do the BBC not cover the US? Every year I get my hopes dashed.

Watson looking really good here. How far do the womenstennis experts think she could go?

That was a very, very impressive hold at *4-5, 0-30 down for Watson. The epic rallies at 0-30 and 15-30, then the FH winner at 30-30

UGH WHY DOES ONE OF THEM HAVE TO LOSE :(

Fruit: Well, she's like a poorer version of Azarenka/Zvonareva. Not much variety. When she faces opponents who are In The Zone she'll be helpless because they can get in a groove against her and whack her away. I see her going consistently deep in lower level tournaments with her good mentality/fighting attitude which can count for so much. Maybe top 30-ish.

Ugh, can't support an Azarenka-lite.

Well personality-wise she's much better.

I think I saw an interview with her where she seemed okay but listened to terrible music.

She interviewed Trey Songz. Not that bad.

Okay lol.

http://www.treysongz.com/news/a735aa-tennis-player-heather-watson-interviews-trey/

The fans. They make it all worth it. Just knowing that my music is affecting someone's life, that's very gratifying.

http://www.heatherwatson.co.uk/ipod/

Could be worse. Just about ha. "Te Amo" and "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" <<<3

Not everybody can be a Svetlana Kuznetsova with her amazing and flawless taste.

He gives her a signed poster of himself. Naked. HAHA.
What does Kuznetsova listen to?

Oh I see what you mean. Flawless indeed.

Oh Kvitovapaws. This is the worst to wake up to. Still, I stuck with Dementieva for 10 years so I'll forgive you just this once Petra.

I want to make a player out of Robson's serve and firepower and Watson's anticipation, attitude and speed.

and yeah ikr I'm SO PISSED OFF with Petra. I knew she wasn't going to last long but even I didn't expect her to lose to Dullgheru.

Dulgheru is really talented but the reason I was surprised is because she herself has been in awful form. Well I guess she didn't exactly play well though.

I want to make a player out of Robson's serve and firepower and Watson's anticipation, attitude and speed.

Good luck finding a young player like this!

Ewww Dulgheru isn't talented

She played really badly against Kvitova as well. Can't remember what Petra's winner to error ratio was but it was lolworthy. Nobody should be playing tiebreaks against that.

Um, Dulgheru is fucking brilliant at her best. Why can Sharapova fans never appreciate variety and finesse players ;_;

Omg this wozniaki airline advert.

I can appreciate variety and finesse but Dulgheru has none. Like, completely flat out pusher.

But maybe we saw different matches of hers. Like, I never saw PeakDulgheru in her dizzying heights of winning Warsaw.

(I appreciate Date Krumm A LOT for instance. Now that is variety. Variety doesn't have to equal being hopelessly underpowered but willing to scramble for everything)

Dulgheru's leaping BH is an amazing shot to watch, she's great at drop shots and net play too.

I never heard the term "pusher" bandied around so much until a few years ago, ie when a generation of tennis fans emerged who knew nothing except the power game ;_;

Well I saw none of those great dropshots today.

Nothing except the power game? The top 2 players in the world are Wozniacki and Zvonareva.

Well as I said, Dulgheru played poorly today, and has been playing poorly for most of the year. You obviously didn't see her at the USO last year or during her various clay runs.

Also give me an underpowered player who can keep the ball in court over some stupid basher like Sharapova who habitually commits 984430202 errors per match. Yes, I know Kvitova fits into this as well.

Nah I admit I didn't see her in her US Open run last year beating Coin and Arvidsson ;)

Meh pre-shoulder injury Maria didn't make that many errors. It was clean and gorgeous. And I'd still take her sporadic brilliance over somebody who is consistently unspectacular.

Pretty sure Kvitova has at least as much variety as Dulgheru. Slices, drop shots, volleys and the ability to hit through a tennis ball.

The match against Bepa.

Maria's ugly lasso FH = not a thing I'd ever call clean or brilliant. Bashy first-strike tennis, I just don't see the appeal at all unless it's as extreme as Kvitova.

@feliciano_lopez feliciano lopez
Its a fact that i can hear Sharapova from 45th street!!!OMG
16 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

:D

Kvitova does have variety!

I mean, how many Dulgheru matches have you even seen?

vs Sharapova in Miami
vs Zvonareva in Brussels
vs Safina in Rome

Maybe others idk

And today's horror show obvs

Do we know if Urszula Radwanska is still being coached by her dad? That would add some extra spice to this match.

tommy haas has won a match

obligatory "omg Venus' dress is fugly" comment

holy SHIT at that backhand pass

ha well I don't think anyone would ever argue that Serena was a nicer person than Venus!

Well from my experience - and I think most tennis fans - Serena is much nicer, more down to earth and appreciative of her fans. Venus ignores everyone all the time lolz.

just misheard "lost to roddick" as "lost erotic."

I just don't see the appeal at all unless it's as extreme as Kvitova.

You don't see the appeal unless it's a player you like, just like you can't condone grunting unless it's a player you like. Fess up to your double standards!

Surprise, surprise, Watson said she didn't notice Maria's grunts -- turns out it really IS only sexist male journalists who think and talk about it.

turns out it really IS only sexist male journalists who think and talk about it.

this is ridiculous

They're the only ones who centre their entire slam coverage around it, anyway.

turns out it really IS only sexist male journalists who think and talk about it.
yeah this is pretty crazy

1) it is definitely not just sexist male journalists who notice the screaming, it's at ridiculous levels now compared to even 10 years ago and it REALLY turns off casual fans
2) live streaming. why does it suck so much? why does it keep FUCKING BUFFERING? why can things just not work properly? is this too much to ask?
3) Mrs Krumm is the WORST player for juuuuust missing crucial points when I watch her :(
4) Nadezhda Petrova, what the actual fuck are you wearing

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/ap/b2/fullj.5509ed83a9de4ff2b90aefa68e114e6b/ap-201108291803650027871.jpg

if you can hit her with the tennis ball, your racket will gain lasers

lol. lest we forget:

http://www.womenstennisblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/b_08312010_Don__Petrova_059.jpg

yes, Nadia, I am making that exact gesture as well

hahaha

at least the Williams/Sands trainwreck outfits are bad because of the whimsey/silliness factor, those are just "I let my blind friend pick the fabric"

OK I did not expect Amanmuradova and Lucic to have won on my return, those results are huge shockers. I'd have put actual money on Erakovic not only beating but thrashing Lucic. Happy for them both!

Not so happy for Krumm. How can the woman who gave us The Year's Best Match (or a contender for such, anyway) fail to win a single thing against the easiest opposition elsewhere? Time to retire, I fear. Also time to retire for Tammy T, if she can't beat a Kanepi just coming off an extended injury break.

Vandeweghe finally wins a Slam match after 9493934803 attempts, lol.

I love that McHale has pretty much completely supplanted her (and Oudin, lol) as the Next Great Hope for American Women's Tennis

LOL, Oudin. No one could even be bothered to mock her loss to a qualifier, complete with bagel.

McHale should be a decent tour player but I was really impressed with Keys yesterday, albeit that was only against Craybas - she might be the real Next Great Hope. Disturbing resemblance to Alexandra Stevenson facially but that impression is wiped out when you see her, like, winning points.

Gulbis's first Slam win since Wimbledon 2009. Straight-sets over the #16 seed and former SFist here. Of course.

also is McHale half Cuban? half something, anyway - I thought it was my imagination earlier in the year when I saw someone with the surname McHale exhorting herself in Spanish.

yes, her mom is Cuban

wonder if Keys is also Doctor J's love child, lol

looks like in the last week McHale got rid of the habit she had of tapping the back wall with her racket in between every point. I like to think a friend pointed at Bartoli and said 'that's where you're headed if you don't quit that shit.' scared straight.

hahaha

Galina Voskoboeva looks like a porcelain doll. A giant porcelain doll who smacks the shit out of a tennis ball.

Wow, Fran just won an incredible point. Commentators were already praising Voskoboeva for winning it halfway through.

Wow. That was just...

Fran spends the whole third set playing superb clutch tennis on key points to maintain her break lead over Voskoboeva. Then she serves for it...and four DFs :o :o :o I did not see that coming.

LOL. Four straight moronic errors from Galina on her serve and Fran wins anyway. Way to take advantage of your lifeline, idiot porcelain doll.

gah wish I could have watched that

if it had ended at 5-3 I'd have been all like, wow, fantastic match. As it is I can only think of how much of a mess of stupidity the ending was.

Peer/Mirza is so bad. Why are KING KOLYA and I Do Dig not on a TV court :(

OMG LI NA

um why is fromsport not working for me wtf aaaargh does anybody have links to streaming sites

is court 10 televised? hantuchova is losing to parmentier 2-6 1-5 lollll

Well done on backing your Slams up, Kvitova and Li! God, women's tennis is in such a state.

I watched the second set of Reka-Luca Jani/Sloane Stephens then fell asleep, and woke up handily at 5-5 in the third. Jani struck me as the way more resourceful and talented player at all times...her BH is a real weapon, she can switch up the pace and angles on her groundstrokes well, she's fond of sneaking into the net, and she was the one looking to set up virtually every rally. That was a real missed opportunity for her, and not just because she served for it.

First time watching Stephens and I'm underwhelmed. There just didn't seem to be much to her game...just kinda passive and blah.

i've been using the streams at http://www.lshunter.tv/tennis-live-streaming-video.html

omg li na lost. what the actual fuck. woz's draw to the semis is TOO FUCKING EASY NOW.

thx lex

that site is'nt working for me either actually :( nooo. if a stream isn't here for serena i will cry

the streams have been dodgy all week, I'm going to bed - Hanturexia's loss will ensure that I can do that happily (though another obstacle cleared from the Woz path - do we really have to rely on moron Sweta to do this? I'm shocked she won her opener)

us open coverage is literally horrifying

and all streaming sites seem to be taken down. GREAT.

i have a stream for keothavong-scheepers and that's it. um, great. watching keothavong choke against even the most harmless of players really isn't v entertaining

good streaming link if anybody cares: http://www2.aoso.ru/2011/04/23.html

i'm ashamed on golubev's behalf. really pathetic

Serena is not losing to anyone serving as well as she has so far. Jovanovski is even playing quite well, she's only really one point going the other way from 2-2.

awful serve + movement

literally lmao @ that smash dropshot attempt. WTF this girl is SO BAD

45-0. Yes girl.

what channel is this on in the states? just got power back

Retire, Keothavong. Choking to the most useless player in the top 100. (Apart from YOUR STUPID SELF, that is.)

And whyyyyyy is the 1R not done yet, the USO's stupid scheduling pains me every year and despite this they never change it ;_;

Also I'm not sure if "winning a Slam" isn't becoming as devalued as "being No 1" on the WTA, what with Li and Kvitova continuing to chump it up.

Lex, I assume you saw the end of the Dimitrov/Monfils match, eh.

Wouldn't it be lovely if Michael Russell knocked out Roddick tonight? He's just the sort of player I love - 33yo, five-eight, counter-puncher, forever on the fringes of the main tour, never higher than #60 (he's #96 right now), never beyond the first round of his home Slam, known mostly for throwing away match-points (up two sets and 5-3, losing the first on a 26-shot rally) at Roland Garros vs Kuerten the last year Guga won there.

Madison Keys is crushing Safarova right now. Hope I get to actually see her play some time.

Soderling withdrew

Madison <3

Sticking with my Kateryna Bondarenko beating Zvonareva pick!

finally getting to see some tennis! Just turned on Keys-Safarova. Wish I could say something about Keys' game but stupid shaky stream means I'm not really getting to see much at all.

edwardo, re: Monfils/Dimitrov, I assume you're talking about this? ^_^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbALVTsxqDQ

I think Dimitrov and Monfils need to recreate that. Do it properly next time.

God, it's been said before but Robson just cannot play defense at all. I can't watch this. Over to Keys and Safarova...

Oh god Keys' brain literally just evaporated before my eyes.

Oh dear. Bone-headed drop shot into the net to give Safarova the set. Let's see what Keys is made of mentally, I guess.

If she can regroup and take the third, this could be a big break-out tournament for her. Looks like it'd be Niculescu next, and she's def beatable for someone with Keys' weapons...

Safarova's return game must be one of the worst on tour.

That last game in the second set with all the DFs was pure nerves - Keys had been serving lights out until then.

Switched over momentarily in time to see Bepa broken. :/ playing terribly, seems kind of unfocused.

Keys gets the first break thanks to Safarova idiocy.

Safarova functioning as a bit of a warning here: sure, Keys has a big game, but so does the woman she's playing, and while there's no shame in ending up with a career like Safarova's, it's hardly that of a top player.

And keys DFs to give the break back. :/

Keys can't maintain her leads and she's hitting far fewer winners now. Safarova looks way more in control of the match than she did at the end of the second, albeit at times she's controlling it into a tree at 100mph.

Well...Keys just completely disappeared after going up *4-3. Weird; she'd fought well til that point. Lucie didn't even have to try at the end.

And LOL, two Irishmen qualified for the MD...and both those stories came to an end with a bagel and a retirement.

big lol when Monfils nearly left Dimitrov hanging there. Nice recovery pecks tho.

Somdev Devvarman is so much fun to watch. So fast.

lol @ the missed smash point

bartoli wtf come on now

omg go go McHale!

McHale's pink leopard print skirt is fabulously tacky.

oh wait it's not leopard print but a pattern that actually looks better in close-up. Still kinda fug though.

this is the first time I'm seeing her play, and uh, she reminds me of Woz. No firepower, just really, really solid, would probably have gotten blown off the court if Bartoli wasn't hitting everything five miles out today.

I suspected this might happen to CAKE :(

playing like Woz is fine if you aren't #1 in the world!

Bartoli's come ons are scaring me :(

the one time i put money on bartoli...

don't worry she'll still win

i hope :(

McHale is a lot more proactive than Wozniacki, she's great at changing the direction of the ball

yes she's more zvonareva than wozniacki. and we know how bartoli struggles against vera. i'm not surprised about this really. FIGHT MARION THOUGH :)

if McHale closes this out she'd better not lose to fucking Kirilenko

ugh oh god Stosur in that section too, way to open it up for a deep run by a player I dislike

um wtf

VENUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS UGHHHH

Venus is in the section below w/Bepa and Domi

not anymore she isn't

she withdrew

just retire, woman :(

WHAAAAAAT

fuck's sake

damn

wtf Venus

otoh YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS MCHALE

haha and I totally missed McHale's Moment of Glory because of that, oh well

what the fuck is wrong with her though? the same illness that caused her to pull out of all the summer events? even though she looked fine when she showed up to them for media stuff, and in her 1R match here? hang on - isn't she anaemic? maybe that's it, I have no idea how anaemia works.

shame about Venus - she had a viral illness throughout the summer stretch, but it's not clear what's currently ailing her now. It must be pretty bad for her to withdraw. I mean, this is the same woman who tried to play with an abdominal injury at the AO even though she couldn't move...

Q. Was it a cold kind of illness? And energy sucking illness?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was just energy sucking and I just couldn't play pro tennis. It was disappointing, because I had huge plans for this summer, of course, to improve my ranking. To miss out on all those points was definitely devastating. Just to miss so much time off tour was just disheartening. But I'm just really excited to be back.

Q. Was there an official diagnosis or a name for it?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, there was.

Q. Which is?

VENUS WILLIAMS: It's outside of the press room, that name. But it's good to be here.

Q. If this were any other tournament but a major would you be here?

VENUS WILLIAMS: At this point I'd be at the 50,000 challenger where I live at. I'd be at any tournament that I could play. I just want to play tennis. It doesn't matter what the tournament is, I just want to play. Obviously the Open is huge, but I just want to play.

(from after her 1R match. so weird, this.)

"energy sucking" sounds like anemia

day 1 - (5) kvitova
day 2 - (6) li
day 3 - (8) bartoli

goodbye (7) schiavone tomorrow! lucic can be dangerous

@NeilHarmanTimes Neil Harman
Venus has Sjogren's Syndrome, which affects energy levels and causes fatigue and joint pain. An autoimmune disease, she says
2 minutes ago via web

I'm shocked we know what it is this soon, I'd never heard of it, and going by Wikipedia it doesn't sound good at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sjögren%27s_syndrome

Poor woman :( Hope she gets at least one more moment of glory in 2012 and doesn't just peter out. Let's get a Sampras-like last hurrah girl!

Coco Vandeweghe please do this for me.

Bryan Bros out!

ewww Vandeweghe, you idiot.

I find the idea that Lucic might beat Schiavone far-fetched. Lucic is mostly dangerous if you happen to be standing five feet from the baseline because that's where most of her shots go. If she were playing most other seeds I might even be cheering for the outcome.

Instead I am going to hope Dokic upsets Jankovic which is probably even less likely.

Jack Sock is gonna be really good, huh?

Sock is impressing me more than Harrison did

backfattis is having fun out there

Cool tiebreak here. Baghdatis' 2nd serve ace on set point down <3

FUCK. Stupid wayward backhand from Baghdatis followed by an Isner letcord winner = Isner up 2 sets to love.

Kerber schooling Radwanska is very welcome.

Yay :) LOL @ Radwanska's handshake. Pathetic

"backfattis" !!!!!!!!

i cannot support Bulldog Russell's sleeveless look

Congratulations Maria Sharapova on your second consecutive Slam final.

WTF, A-Rad. Massive opportunity blown. So frustrating! She seemed to be in such good form just a few weeks ago. Maria has had her path cleared of threats even more than Wozniacki.

I think I need Nadezhda to finally prove her worth in just this small way and take out Stosur. If Stosur is Bepa's QF opponent...we know how that goes.

I guess Safarova is the favourite for the QF in the section vacated by Kvitova and A-Rad, but...there's a reason she hasn't done squat at Slams since that AO/Mauresmo breakthrough. Even against Keys she just played so stupidly, and I swear her return game gets worse as time goes on. C'mon Niculescu! It'd be hilarious if Niculescu managed to junk Sharapova to death in the QF. So not gonna happen though :(

Ugh at Roddick's soft-ass draw. Though I guess he might not even get past Almagro in his current form.

It's randomly occurred to me that I'd quite like to see a Watson/Robson match, just for the ridiculous contrasts involved.

Ugh at Roddick's soft-ass draw. Though I guess he might not even get past Almagro in his current form.

Almagro lost in straights to Benneteau! Right in the sweet spot between "eh that's a surprise" and "who cares, really" isn't it. But he's been losing to everyone going. Next, out of the top 30!

i remember seeing yakimova play henin in roland garros 2006. she had a 5-4 40-0 lead in the 2nd set iirc. i was really impressed with her. i don't think she's done anything of any note whatsoever since then.

Oh I remember that match, the Yak was the only player to even take 5 games off Henin in any one set at RG this year. I didn't see it but she's always been terrible otherwise, she gets whomped like this in challengers regularly.

Cetkovska w/d against Ivanovic. Ugh. Forever in my bad books for that. Ivanovic is so damn lucky.

LOL at the Fogs/Berdman score. 5-7 0-6 0-6...think someone stopped trying there.

What was the weirdness at the end of the Petzschner/Tipsarevic match about? Petzschner looked pissed off about something, they had words and took ages to shake hands, but they did so in the hand and hugged, so they must have made up. Was watching one of the blessed commentator-free feeds and couldn't hear exactly what was said.

Zheng is playing really well - some of her winners have so little margin for error! But Petkorazzi concluded the set with a FH into the net, a FH long and a DF.

Glad the hole in the draw vacated by stupid Li Na is benefiting Carla Suárez Navarro. She should be at least a top 50 player but she's been injured so much over the years.

Petkorazzi in trouble v Zheng.

I type that and she gets back on serve hah.

Zheng is such a good player. Can set up smart points, smack fantastic winners, volley well (though her tiny wingspan can hinder her), runs runs runs down everything. If only she had a damn serve!

Ferrero-La Monf has been a real scrapper. pretty much every one of the past few games has gone to deuce - a combination of brilliant shotmaking and boneheaded errors (the latter mostly Monfils, natch).

Juanqui and Haas Been both on their way to the 3rd round? In 2011? I genuinely thought both of them had retired.

JCF is playing really well actually! This match is a lot of fun - didn't think he still had it in him.

oh and i thought Haas had retired too lol.

AAARGH, Zheng lost. Just wasn't making her shots by the end. Is it too much to ask for a player I like to be on the winning end of that type of match one day? :(

I thought you liked Petkovic too?

I do, I'm happy for her, I like Zheng more though and it's like the 949439th close match like this I've watched her lose. Like Mrs Krumm she just has so little margin for error so it's extra frustrating if you're actually watching it.

LOL, Serena won the first set in 23 minutes against Krajicek. I can get behind this particular destruction.

Q. What's it like to play a player whose serve just unravels? Dokic said that off the ground she felt she played better than you, but her serve killed her.

JELENA JANKOVIC: That's what she said? She played better than me off the ground?

Q. Yes, she did.

JELENA JANKOVIC: Okay. I think her serve was, you know, very inconsistent. You know, she would give me a lot of free points on that stroke. So I really, you know, felt comfortable, you know, on the ground playing my shots. When I was able to dictate, especially when I kind of lift up my level of play up, I would kind of be on a roll and kind of control the whole game.But then like I said, you know, I had some problems, and then I was kind of I would kind of stop and I wouldn't move as much. Then my serve, I started double faults as well because I couldn't push off. As far as for the game, you know, I felt, you know, good. I didn't feel that I felt comfortable and in control, even though at times I was down 3 1 and 4 2 in the second. It was just a matter of me, you know, focusing a little more and kind of lifting a little, you know, my game of play. Because especially in the beginning of the first set I thought I made a lot of mistakes and I kind of gave it to her, you know, and she took the lead. As soon as I started playing more solid and started dictating the points a lot more, then it was all me out there. So I'm happy with my win, and I look forward to my next round.

That TB was alternately brilliant and bone-headed from Gael Force and Juanqui.

C'mon Ferrero!

wow, Juanqui is a break up in the 5th? I thought losing the 3rd set TB would be the end of him. Vamos!

(I was watching Amanmuradova beat Parmentier, mostly out of sheer amusement that it was somehow on a televised court. Happy for the Big Friendly Giant!)

Turning back the years to the Mosquito days, that point!

Monfils just saved two BPs that would have put him down a double break in the 5th, one with a second serve ace and the other by serve-and-volleying on a second serve. So crazy.

Ferrero don't be injured plz.

um tomic wtfffffff

Got a lot to thank Anime Eyes for this tournament. Making Harrison look like a fool then thrashing Tomic. A job well done.

Juanqui :D

really pathetic effort from Tomic.

Maybe Dr. Ivo will be inspired by the doubles win over the Bryans and beat Dickie Gaskets here?

i like tomic because of his feud with hewitt

Sloane!!!! :D

great win for karlovic!

Ugh. Monfils you are a probably a big dummy even though I was asleep.

Ivanovic, Azarenka, Wozniacki and Jankovic in the third round = gigantic ugh. At least Azarenka is going to get pwned by Silliams.

Monfils was definitely a gigantic dummy towards the end of that. Looked like he was exhausted and trying to keep points short? Even though his opponent was 97 years old and had played a five-setter the round before. Speaking of which, Ferrero had better not succumb to fatigue himself - his next opponent is Granola, who MUST NOT ever make a Slam second week ugh ugh ugh.

I woke up to lots of bagels! So many bagels, for the men especially. 19 so far (three of those courtesy of Nole) compared to just 11 for the women, who are a round ahead to boot. And lol @ a Wussquet loss, getting broken 4 times by Karlovic is quite special.

Can't imagine how brainlessly Gajdosova must have bashed to only win two games off King. Hey, the plus side of Wozniacki's draw falling apart is that a SF against Silliams might actually happen. That will be funny, with Serena in her current mood.

Another Slam run by Jeepers Scheepers? Really? The WTA is so bad.

Dolgopolov and Davydenko winning :D

Can't imagine how brainlessly Gajdosova must have bashed to only win two games off King.

Looked up the stats. 45 unforced errors in 14 games. I CAN'T EVEN.

Seriously. I can't get over that stat. THAT'S OVER THREE UNFORCED ERRORS PER GAME.

Can Gajdosova play Lucic next? Put the ballboys in the stands for that one.

Nice blog post on Monfils: http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2011/09/extra-moutarde.html

With their shot-making and sportsmanship and knuckleheaded ways, they'll bring a smile to your face, and a palm to your forehead. How can you not like that?

Really good link, thanks.

Yeah love Tignor. looool at the 81 winners to 81 unforced errors stat.

also, I hadn't seen this: http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/after-fleeing-tunisia-sunny-days-at-the-open/?ref=tennis

^^a piece on Malek Jaziri, the Tunisian player who escaped the Arab Spring to play tennis. :) Lost to Fish.

Tomic's loss (and Harrison and Dimitrov's) kinda underscores the fact that the men's game is having just as much trouble as the women's in finding promising new blood - all of them are pretty talented, at least on paper, but none have really shown that they can perform against higher-seeded or more experienced players.

it could be that the men's game is so strong now that the younger ones are finding it tougher to break through, but I'm thinking of their immediate predecessors and guys like Cilic, Del Potro and even Gulbis had already scored more than a few notable wins while they were still teenagers. I mean, at Dimitrov's age, Delpo had already won 4 titles (beating the likes of Roddick and Ferrer along the way) and made the USO QFs.

safarova saw her draw and her brain exploded. NID. on her way to being bagelled by niculescu

that's interesting - certainly Dimitrov has disappointed this year, and the strength at the top of the men's game is such that it could easily disguise paucity of talent coming up. But I think that the top players are still young enough that we don't have to worry if the current crop of 18-year-olds end up disappointing.

First point I see today = fabulous Niculescu FH dropshot that just DIED on court. Love watching her and her bag of tricks.

5 games. 15 errors from safarova.

LOL. Niculescu is coming up with some awesome points though.

That Niculescu FH bounced SIDEWAYS <3 <3 <3 Obv Safarova netted it.

has zvonareva won a single match this year that can't be described as "winning ugly"?

I can't believe Bepa has won 43 matches this year. I love her, but other than her Doha win over Woz, she's been AWFUL every time I've watched her, not playing to her strengths at all. A mark of how bad the WTA is that she's still winning so much, I guess.

But I think that the top players are still young enough that we don't have to worry if the current crop of 18-year-olds end up disappointing.

yeah that's true. Just would be nice to see at least one kid showing some extra moxie. Dimitrov seems like the best bet for now but he seems to be cut from the Monfils mold - so many close sets and matches lost because he was too busy being flashy.

jesus, lucie.

LOL Safarova can be so so awful when she puts her mind to it. Cannot cope with a single one of Niculescu's tricks. Whenever Niculescu is in trouble she just throws up a moonball and Lucie smacks it out lolllll. I love this match.

6-0 3-0.

No double bagel :(

I swear Niculescu hit an even softer serve than usual on game point just because Lucie would obviously smack it a mile out

lol @ niculescu's grunts whilst 90% of her shots aren't clearing the service line.

Niculescu is the first player into the second week! Not a sentence I envisaged writing, well, ever. And a Spirlea mention from the commentators <3 <3 <3 Loved Irina, such a bad bitch <3

looooool

Meanwhile Niculescu has lost four games over her last two matches :o

any player who goes through an entire match against niculescu without breaking should be forced to retire immediately

the fact that those two matches were against dullgheru and safarova rather lessens the impact of that, lex

yeah that's true. Just would be nice to see at least one kid showing some extra moxie. Dimitrov seems like the best bet for now but he seems to be cut from the Monfils mold - so many close sets and matches lost because he was too busy being flashy.

would've been nice to see how Berankis developed but he's been struck down by injury this year, I think.

Harrison has moxie, I guess. But no game.

Monica Niculescu vs Angelique Kerber. The last 16 match-up we were all anticipating is ON.

WTA!

xpost Harrison has petulance not moxie. He's basically a mini-Roddick - comes across as charming and sensible during pressers but there hasn't been a single match I've seen where he hasn't been an entitled little twerp, smashing rackets, chucking balls into the stands, going off at umpires...

WTA rankings are determined by rounds of pin the tail on the donkey, aren't they

a consequence of which WTA players play well in any given tournament being determined via lucky dip, I guess

This draw is completely women's tennis. The order on the men's side, far from seeming boring, is a reassurance in these rocky moments. I really am hoping against odds for a one-year-late Del Pony defense!

Meanwhile, Bepa what are you doing. That scared of playing Stosur again next round? Idiot woman, Petrova might very well win that!

Zvonareva's playing no worse than she always does.

That might have been the worst attempt to serve out a set I've ever seen, Stan.

Young could definitely win this. He probably should have won the first set already.

Young looks pretty good. Never seen him before. Is he touted as an up-and-comer?

lol...well, yes. Several years ago. And now he's touted mostly as a cautionary tale and/or a joke player, depending on how mean you want to be. NWAPANWBAP, as Dokic would put it.

Watching Sharapova play day session matches at the US Open is never a good thing. So bad.

so is Stosur going to be making the final or something. is that how this shit is going to go down

Even there...that set was about the best I've ever seen Young play, and about the worst for Wawrinka. And yet Young only barely won it.

Pennetta of a few years ago would have had a real shot at Sharapova ;_;

lol okay. American pundits' clambering for A New US Tennis Star has reached British-levels of desperation, so I've been taking their plaudits with several pinches of salt. xposts

Oh wait I sent that before I noticed the score! lolllll

xp

Sharapova of a few years ago would have had a real shot against Pennetta more like

C'mon Flavietta!

FORZA!

Peng beating Gorgeous too :)

at least this means maybe peng can make the semis :)

Peng has missed 4 MPs over two Goerges service games, two of them should have been makeable winners. Goerges is an irritant who needs to go away swiftly. Can you imagine Steffi Graf pumping her fist after EVERY POINT SHE WINS?

Peng holds on and sweeps the TB 7-1 :) Mostly due to killing Goerges' second serve, and Goerges' groundstrokes being horrible awkward bashy crap that inevitably break down against anyone vaguely consistent.

Come on, Flavia!

Sharapova fighting to hold back a total collapse.

Maria hasn't lost a 3rd set all year.

oh god she's down 2 holds of serve. fuck :( bye maria

Young/Wawrinka looking like it's going to go to a fifth.

Forza Flavietta. This bottom half could be pretty sweet if Ma$ha goes away.

if Ma$ha goes away shanksur is good as guaranteed a spot in the final.

Ugh, every stream is so horrendous. At least one of them has a Katy B advert. I won't be annoyed by that.

xp not if Nadezhda beats her :)

also Ma$ha vs Stosur is literally a "do not care which of these horrendous outcomes happens" thing

i'm not even going to bother placing any hope in petrova doing something useful

maria don't give me false hope please

check their h2h...

i HATE Maria and her fucking fighting spirit so much.

If she does get to the final PLEASE can Silliams double bagel her

what's so fascinating about their h2h? sharapova leads 2-1

don't worry lex pennetta will win this :/ sharapova in the day session is just no. this is reminding me of the radwanska and oudin matches

DFs please :)

Ah yes!

last game starts with a double fault. NID. too much pressure

xp the Stosur/Petrova h2h!

a player who can't play in the day is pretty useless imo, is that really an excuse?

another DF! allez c'mon!

FLAVIA! Yes!

SERIOUSLY I AM GOING TO JUST KILL MYSELF BYE

YESSSSSS

well maria IS pretty useless lex so yeah

petrova defies statistics

every time the commentators say the tournament organisers will be unhappy that gives me EVEN MORE LIFE

fuck the idiots who run tennis and their narrow-minded definitions of marketability and their belief that only those players who fit it are worthwhile

Niculescu! Kerber! Peng! Pennetta! One of you will be a debut Slam SFist! This is excellent, I love 3 of them (literally know nothing about Kerber, never even seen her play).

Murray dropped the first set in a tie-break. Classic choking unforced errors there. Never change, Andy.

already down a break in the second

Donald Young just got a break-back in the 5th set to bring things back on serve. This would be a hilarious win.

lex kerber is a moany bitch. but you like niculescu so... kerber is also a lefty with flat groundstrokes but she hit a lot of winning dropshot/lob combos against radwanker

GO PENG <<<<<<<3

irina "i have 5 more matches to win" falconi is out :(

Does anybody understand what the "momentum" tracker in the PointStream is? Seems to make no sense. (e.g. Wawrinka's momentum just went up after he got broken to allow D.Young to serve for the match)

irina "i have 5 more matches to win" falconi is out :(

heh you noticed this too. the antics with the US flag were a warning sign, then the news that she carried the thing around with her everywhere in a fit of obnoxiously OTT Huberesque ~patriotism~, then all those choice quotes from her presser. Irina Falconi is a piece of work.

Young broke Wawrinka to serve for set, then was broken back after some bad errors/unfortunate run-ins with the top of the net.

to serve for match, i should have said.

LOL tuned back in just in time to see Young fail to serve out the match

Just saw the Murray match score. gulp.

wtf is going on w/ murray?

Young actually had broken Wawrinka 2 straight times to set himself up for that particular choke. Good work.

lol I just saw the murray score as well. why is he such a loser

They're not showing the match, but I imagine "Classic Murray" is what's going on. xpost

5th set tiebreak between young & wawrinka :D I am so ready for this source of comedy.

Manislas still playing at the dizzy heights he was in set one, I see.

time to choke 6 match points please

Losing to Young. Unbelievable. He may as well just retire.

Really embarrassing from Wawrinka. Did he play like that for the whole match?

no idea. i can't take either of them in large doses. i watched the last 4 games.

first set was dreadful from both. so were the last few games tbh. Still the best I've seen Young play!

Time to laugh at Murray now.

No laughing to be had :( Murray looks in control.

why don't you like murray?

Bepa vs Boom Boom Bine. I'd think Lisicki would be a shoe-in to beat an underwhelming Bepa, but I've thought that twice this summer and it's still gone Bepa's way.

xp I do like Murray, I just like laughing at top players and I don't ~care~ whether he wins or loses like I do with Mrs Krumm or Bepa.

Melzer lost a 5th set TB to KUNITSYN?! I guess his spell as a "top player" is over. Lookin' like my Gilles Muller 4R prediction will be otm.

(thank christ)

Man, after the Watson match I thought "oh great another one of Sharapova's squealing grinding bs deep runs," thinking the first in-form player would stop her but it would probably have to be Serena in the finals, thanks to this horrid group of ladies. I thought Flavia could pull it off, but considering her perplexing level of play this year, wasn't so sure. Hopefully this is a turning point to finishing the year in good form, she's such a fantastic personality.

Though now this means Stosur will probably come through this stupid lower half. Maybe Petrova can pull off her annual good result out of nowhere. Or at least blind Stosur with whatever godawful fabric she's wearing this year.

Haase Never Was has had game points in every game this set, is 0-3 and a double break down.

Haase meltdown :D

would've been nice to see how Berankis developed but he's been struck down by injury this year, I think.

also he is cute

Harrison has moxie, I guess. But no game.

Harrison has a lot of potential for game, and I think if he can fill out physically he should be dangerous considering some of his instincts. Backhand is ridic terrible tho, and I just hate that he's Roddickian in temperament. Speaking of, tonight's Roddick-Jack Sock match should be a NY Post headline writer's dream, regardless of outcome. Would <3 it if Sock could pull it off.

Haase loses 10th straight game, smashes racquet. What the hell happened in the first two sets, lol.

Berankis:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/harry64/summerbay/3a9774d016e448a1bf05e3549f266d48.jpg

Yes please.

FAKE DROP SHOT by Murray! Only ever seen that play from Nishikori and Radwanska <3

Murray retrieves two smashes and a volley putaway. Amazing stuff. Haase wants to kill himself.

Murray is just trolling now

whoa I've never seen Berankis w/ his hair that long! I think I like it better short

http://i1.cdnds.net/11/04/550w_gs_richard_berankis.jpg

sorry for gay perv derailing, straights.

i was so close to turning off the boring murray match but omg that rally :o

I like Berankis's hair shorter as well but really with that body I wouldn't say I'd mind either way.

Haase really, really wants to die. 12 straight games.

Bahaha. Haase just stands there and lets 4 aces go by. 13 straight games.

...Haase suddenly playing well again?!

LOL @ this

always nice to see somebody with personality

totes rooting for haase right now.

LOL at Murray's massive grin when he got that let cord.

these 2 hate each other right now and it is GIVING. ME. LIFE.

OH MY GOD

TOO MUCH DRAMA~~

Ahahaha Haase's desperate MP challenge actually works. This match has everything

oh :(

What a ridiculous match. Between that and Monfils/Ferrero, this tournament has been good for insane matches.

Maybe if Haase hadn't tanked the last 2 and a half sets before 4-0 in the 5th.

petrova!!!!! :) brilliant last 3 games

Sam Stosur just hit a second serve that went straight into the stands.

Lisicki run to the final? I can live with the idea of this.

Hopefully Peng to be the SF from that ridiculous quarter now.

Wow, not a bad second tie-break in Petrova/Stosur. Nadezhda's serve down the T was really great.

Petrova!!!!! Stosur losing is really something I need in life.

It feels weird to cheer on Nadezhda and to have her actually repay me with good play. Two MPs saved! Bed now though.

Peng has a 0-4 h2h with Pennetta. Not looking good :(

Oh she saved MPs? WTF!!! I only rejoined at like 5-3 in the TB. Niiiice

I want an Amanmuradova/Niculescu final. Nothing less will suffice

xp Stosur served for it at 5-4 lol. Women's tennis happened!

Stosur hit a backhand winner in that game. That was a surprise, guess the courts are playing a bit slow.

and the ONLY explanation for Nadezhda wearing that thing is that she lost a bet.

I have a packet of choc-mud biscuits next to me and I eat one every time Stosur totally mishits a ball. Mm, won't be around much longer.

Stosur is such an incompetent net player.

sock looks like a guy with top 5 potential to me.

Stosur forehand winner at 3-2 40-30 to Nadia was Kvitova-worthy. Nadia serving too well to lose from here surely.

Gorgeous FH from Petrova at 30-30 next service game. Right on the middle of the line.

Wow, break back for Stosur even though Nadezhda's serve was right in the back corner in the ad-court. This is a really high quality set.

shaking my head so much

nadia i want to sleep, you awful woman

oh. my. GOD @ that MP save! Nadia you BEAST!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COME ON NADIA YOU MENTAL GIANT

That match point was ridiculous and incredible.

Could whoever wins this please annihilate Kirilenko please.

ughhh

of course it's too good to be true :/

fuck my life. stosur a step closer to the final. DO NOT WANT.

If Lisicki beats Zvonareva you prob won't have to worry about that.
(though if Bepa pulls that out then yes, we probably are looking at Stosur or Peng in the final. And I'm a lot happier with either of those than Sharapova so nerrrrrr).

Of course if Kirilenko goes too many more rounds, then the only acceptable thing is for someone to phone in a bomb threat.

Jack Sock was full of spunk tonight (sorry).

Very impressed by his game though, with some seasoning he could really turn into a player

Whaaaaat I thought Nadezhda had that when I went to bed! Useless player. What the fuck are we going to do about Stosur now. I guess I should cheer for Lisicki to beat Bepa now?

Who plays first, Bepa/Bine or Discount Maria/Stosur? If Kirilenko beats Stosur you can cheer for Bepa, right?

Discount Maria

Ma¢ha!

lololololololol

Watching King/Wozniacki now. King's looking pretty impressive. Surprised she's still outside the top 100.

'Cept she just got broken again.

I'm watching Tipsy/Berdman obv.

Jeepers Scheepers is going to serve for the first against Fransexa.

I can't even.

Right after I wrote that she has totally fallen apart.

Schiavone just completely missed a smash. LOOOOOL :) Go Scheepers.

I lasted one game of Wozniacki/King. She grinds audiences down as well as opponents. Just nothing nothing nothing endless nothing and then the opponent misses.

Jeepers Scheepers suddenly having a viable WTA career and multiple deep Slam runs after a DECADE of doing NOTHING in challengers, and without having visibly improved a single thing about her awful game, really is Exhibit A of the WTA's decline. See also Alberta Brianti's career.

there's something immensely satisfying about seeing the draws just completely disintegrate.

These matches are kind of a nightmare. Big Berd has tweaked his shoulder and isn't going to last much longer I think.

Oh, Berdman/Tipsy was the only one I had an interest in watching - if it's like that, at least I can get on with packing :(

rip berd

and yep there he goes. Boo. xp

Oh well, it just means Tipsarevic will have to wait another round to CHOKE MASSIVELY.

If Granollers gets to a Slam QF courtesy of Ferrero fatigue and Tipsarevic idiocy I shall RAMPAGE. This must not happen! Men's tennis!

Sound the air-horns! King is back on serve in the second.

What, she barely wins half the points on her serve? Oh.

OK. Scheepers a break up in the second. After Serena liquefies Azarenka, only two of the top eight will be in the fourth round if this actually happens. (No, I'm not contemplating that Azarenka might win.)

oh scheepers with a big double fault

GROSS

Surely this match should end 5-7 7-5 6-0 to Fran now or something.

I am now putting all my hopes (not very large, it must be stated) on Sveta not being a complete moron and beating Woz next round. Losing to Big Akgul this round would be lol and quite a nice story though.

KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana (RUS) Versus Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN)

Year Tournament Round Surface Winner Score

2008 Indian Wells 16 Hard (O) S.KUZNETSOVA 6-2 6-3
2008 Eastbourne 16 Grass (O) C.WOZNIACKI 2-6 2-6
2009 Miami QF Hard (O) S.KUZNETSOVA 6-4 6-7(5) 6-1
2009 U.S. Open 16 Hard (O) C.WOZNIACKI 6-2 6-7(5) 6-7(3)
2010 Canadian Open SF Hard (O) C.WOZNIACKI 2-6 3-6
2011 Dubai Open FR Hard (O) C.WOZNIACKI 1-6 3-6

Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN) Leads Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS) : 4 to 2 *

Just look at those last three scorelines!

is schiavone grunting "muad'dib"?

Must reiterate Lex's double-taking at Granollers being seeded, even if only 31. I'm trying to think of a worse player to actually get seeded right now and literally can't.

Maybe Paul-Henri Matthieu.

Martina Muller and Olga Puchkova on the women's side. Montanes is in the running, too.

Maybe Jeepers this time next year!

Oh wait, Agustín Calleri and Kristof Vliegen are pretty shit in terms of GS results as former seeds.

Muller definitely for women. Reminded recently that Alize Cornet was once ranked #11. Maybe things right now aren't that bad?

I think Scheepers' 2nd serve at 6-4 was the worst serve I've ever seen anybody get jammed on.

Reminded recently that Alize Cornet was once ranked #11

oh maaaaayne, so funny in retrospect. She reached the Italian Open final! w.t.f.

I always remember that Cornet and Morita were the first girls born in the '90s to get world rankings (can't remember who came first). Youngest ranked player right now was born in 1997 :/

Cornet, you remarked at the time.

Oh just remember.. Mariano Puerta having top ten seedings... ahem, ahem.

Cilic's colors are straight outta '89. Kinda like.

What are the odds Dog can find a way to get past 6'10" Ivo? What are the odds they'll show a fuckin minute of it on tv? Rooting for Dog and Tsonga today.

What with the court colour and Rog's shirt, Cilic's getup is a bit primary colour hell, but y'know, not everyone looks good in yellow so why not...

18 retirements/walkovers now. wtf

it's a us open record apparently

A-Pav up a set on Jankovic! SO MUCH LIFE!

yay ferrero gets a rest after the moronfils epic

Liking how early Fed seems to be taking the ball, very aggressive... sort of thing he did really well v Hobak at the French.

Well done Fran. Though hang your head in shame for being match point down at one point!

What are the odds Dog can find a way to get past 6'10" Ivo?
― andrew m., Saturday, 3 September 2011 17:35 (34 minutes ago)

20% I'd say. I would say more but Karlovic is playing really well right now.

Marin, you dumbass - that missed smash was such a fail.

pavlyuchenkova's stroke production is so pretty <3

Marin, you dumbass - that missed smash was such a fail.

― Roz, Saturday, September 3, 2011 6:11 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

eh, that was a pretty tough shot for a stiff like Cilic.

Good riddance Jankovic!

Also: PETKOTIME!

xposts dude is six foot six, come on. But he gets a set anyway. :)

pavly!!!! :D please get revenge over schiavone

I swear Pavlyuchenkova gets fatter every time I see her. Can't stand players who obviously don't work on their fitness. I don't think it ever crossed my mind that Jankovic would win that, though, and Fran is playing so poorly right now that I assume it'll be a second Slam QF for Chunkova :(

petkovic and vinci both depress me. how are these people in the top 20 ugh they're both so average

Rooting for Fran but really, the job's done! Can't stay up any longer but hoping to wake up to the news that Azarenka has either lost or suffered permanent vocal cord damage, or both and that Dolgopolov wins, even if he has to do it in three tie-breakers.

x-post Petko if you lose to Vinci we are through. Though how could I hate someone who has such great abs? 99% of men would kill for those.

You guys this Cilic-Fed match is really good. Neither are at their absolute best but Cilic is zoning at the moment, and Fed is having to work really hard to get anything past him.

Petkovic would have so few fans if not for her personality. I love her but I also tend to avoid actually watching her play tennis.

Vinci shouldn't be top 20 and her results are underwhelming (hogging all the lower-tier tournaments à la AMG), but unlike AMG she at least does it with variety.

otm re petko: I love her but workmanlike game + annoying tendency to fistpump at every won point including opponent's errors means I hardly ever watch her play. I'm happy for her when she pulls off a big win tho!

Time violation and Cilic DF on BP :o

annoying tendency to fistpump at every won point including opponent's errors

this is so prevalent now - even among players I like - but watching youtube clips of old matches really makes plain how things have changed. It's a really fine line, I don't begrudge fistpumping an opponent's error if it's a big point, but so many are in full-on hysterical fighting mode at, like, an opponent's routine missed groundstroke at 2-2 in the first set and IT IS GROSS.

(I blame Sharapova and Silliams. As ever. For everything. Come back Steffi.)

Yeah I don't mind fist-pumping generally but doing it when going up 5-0 as Petkovic just did is just kinda obnoxious. I guess she has that in common with her BFF Ana.

Got the stream for court 17 to finally go. Dog just took 2nd set easily, and up to a minute ago had as many aces as Ivo! If the ball is in play, Karlovic is going down. He's looking useless out there

Go go go Dog.

this is how Dog repays my enthusiasm?! jeez

by immediately breaking down after a bit of sunshine, i mean

last set of Cilic-Fed was closer than the scoreline indicates, Roger was extremely lucky in some of those games. That said, dude looks like he could easily play top level for another decade - even with the shanks and misses, still so fast and fit. <3

Boo. Silliams missed the bagel.

Dog has been hitting some wondrous shots.

Dog! He'll scare the shit out of you all the way home, though.

I need a Dolgopolov/Niculescu mixed doubles team in my life

valiant effort put up there by azerenka

FUCKING HELL I NEARLY DIED IN THAT SET

6-1 6-3 would have been better but WELL DONE ANYWAY :D

2nd set was one of the better sets of 2011. definitely beaten by 1st set of venus/date krumm but can't think of much else.

(just recalled the schiavone-kuznetsova 3rd set)

It's kind of funny how far ahead of the field Serena is. I think she's rallying and striking the ball better than she has since...before 2009, at any rate. When she's calm and controlled like that, and not hamming up the shrieks and dramatics (and when she's doing it against someone I don't care for), she's so great to watch. And she's certainly one of the best point constructers on tour. That was about as good and as aggressively as Azarenka could play and it should still have been 1 and 3. The fightback was funny, for a minute I thought the score would be 6-1 5-7 6-1.

Ivanovic's constant AJDEEEEs are unbearable and she will just never go away. So lucky to still be here.

Women's last 16 set:

(1) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (15) Svetlana Kuznetsova
(10) Andrea Petkovic vs. Carla Suarez Navarro
(28) Serena Williams vs. (16) Ana Ivanovic
(17) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. (7) Francesca Schiavone
Monica Niculescu vs. Angelique Kerber
(13) Shuai Peng vs. (26) Flavia Pennetta
(25) Maria Kirilenko vs. (9) Samantha Stosur
(22) Sabine Lisicki vs. (2) Vera Zvonareva

Predictions: Wozniacki, Petkovic, Williams, Pavlyuchenkova, Kerber, Pennetta, Stosur, Lisicki

yeah, it's funny how some people (including some television commentators who should know better) still consider her to be a simple, pure power player. Sure she has that, but it's set up with some great tactics and construction. You don't get 13 Grand Slams by just smacking the crap out of the ball; you can maybe get three, but not 13. Watching her play makes watching the other women just kind of depressing, because yeesh, no one's even close to her level.

Looking forward to seeing her demolish Ivanovic.

I'm going to tip Schiavone and Zvonareva.

Schiavone played badly but I'm guessing she can raise her game and win moderately ugly against someone as unfit as Pavlyuchenkova.. beating Jankovic doesn't point to the sort of form that would get a generic basher over the line vs Fran, who showed she can "come back" last time they played.

Lisicki is great and I love her but she lays a goose egg every few matches and I reckon Zvonareva's solid enough to take it in three.

It would be better for the tournament for Sveta to not be a FUCKING IDIOT and beat Woz. But it would be far better for tennis generally if Woz were to either lose again to Petkorazzi or, even better, lose like 6-1 6-1 to Silliams.

So far in the "4th round? Really" stakes, both Kerber and Flava Flav have surrendered early breaks. I keep wanting to type Angelique Kerber as Angelique Kidjo.

Actually no Flava Flav still has her break over Peng. Spoke too soon!

Okay so Nadal just went down a break on a double fault! Dubious game, that, Rafa should not be serving straight to Nalbandian's backhand, surely.

Nadal is so much sexier when he looks upset. Nalbanian is so much sexier when it's 2002.

lol! Nalbandian failed to serve for the test, and what happened? Well, a poor drop-shot attempt at 15-15, and then a double-fault at 15-40. You know what that is. Women's tennis!

Fortunately, a double-fault aside, the tiebreaker was mercifully bereft of Women's Tennis and featured some quite good points.

sigh

rip bandyman

hate nalbandian but want nadal to lose early

really fucking sick of these ads with future selves encouraging ppl to "invest and grow their money" (/usa)

PENG! Great comeback to force the TB.

flavia! great comeback to win the tb

fuck off flavia

this result has pissed me off IMMENSELY. pennetta in the semis of a slam NO THANK YOU. such an opportunity for peng ughhh

I can't believe that only Care Bear stands in the way of this.

Wtf Nadal didn't serve out the match! Back on, TV!

stupid stream froze at the end there but zomgs Flavs - looked ready to keel over, somehow managed to come back and win despite going down 6-2 in the TB.

I love them both so I'm pretty happy with this result, I just wanted Peng to win that little bit more.

also lol Rafa! wtf are you doing?

Typical that Nalbandian would lose it on a double-fault! Mm, looks like Muller up again next for Nadal... then probably Ferrer! Maybe he isn't making the final... (of course, one says that....)

this dude chela just folded up

huh so I missed nothing of note in my house move/Beyoncé bday celebration. Would've rather Peng and Niculescu made the QF but love Flavia Flav anyway, think she's a worthy SFist, wasn't expecting anything different. Pretty surprised at Simon beating Pony but happy for him, he's so underrated and one of my favourite players to watch.

more about the beyonce bday celebration

pony looked like he was gonna die -- flavia too

it's pretty humid

a bunch of us went round to the house of a nine months pregnant friend and watched 5 hours of beyoncé videos and danced around and ate rosewater sorbet and maryam's mother's eid biryani

wow

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/sep/04/us-open-2011-serena-williams?INTCMP=SRCH

embarrassing amount of errors in this article

the far more entertaining player heartbreakingly loses the TB in the isner-bogomolov jr match :(

God, even a couple of awful TYPOS in that, wtf.

Only against someone as bloody awful as Kirilenko could you be serving at 30% and still be up 5-2.

This Kirilenko/Stosur tiebreak is nuts. Two match-winners for Stosur challenged and overturned.

I'm at work so only watching it on the scoreboard and saw the points go up and then vanish. Bepa must be feeling slightly better!

Finally! To a third set! And they've only got 30 minutes because of Breaking Bad.

THAT WAS THE MOTHERFUCKING BEST THING IVE EVER SEEN OMFGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

THANK YOU HAWKEYE!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO much drama and SO much high quality. a-ma-zing. kirilenko i had no idea you had it in you. her bravery in coming forwards to the net on match points down!!!

Bepa is going to beat Sabine and probably Stosur. I mean I don't LOVE Bepa like Lex does but damn it if I can't appreciate her game and her determination to keep a low profile and not give a shit what anyone says.

like she's determined to keep a low profile. just nobody gives a fuck. stosur will probably demolish her as usual

Does anyone actually give a fuck about anyone other than Serena, Clijsters, Venus and Maria and for some, Li?

lex cares about bepa, and i am willing to be converted unless she's facing st. kim

Anyway the point I'm making is that there are players people in general give a shit about, then there are ones who the casual watcher doesn't, and within that there are those who don't care what their profile is, and others who do - i.e. Wozniacki wants to be high profile but isn't, Zvonareva seems completely indifferent.

I don't see how anyone could ever prefer Peng over Pennetta, and this match is a perfect example: Peng being a total bonehead when her opponent is basically about to collapse, and Pennetta going balls-out when her back's to the wall. Remember that she did this exact same thing against Bepa in that epic match in 09; people talk about Bepa's breakdown because obv it was amazing, but Pennetta really won those points when she was match point down, and she did the same against Peng. Would love to see a Flavia-Bepa rematch, and Flavia Pennetta as US Open finalist would be a hilariously awesome and appropriate result for the disaster that was the bottom half of the 2011 US Open women's draw.

Can't believe I missed an epic between two players I do not give a shit about at all, but it kinda makes me like Kirilenko a lot more.

I have too much long-standing contempt for Discount Ma¢ha (and her fans) to ever come round on her. These are the people who nicknamed her "Makiri" because they thought "Masha" was a portmanteau of Sharapova's first and surnames. Face actual desk. And that is the player who always tries shrieking like Ma$ha while hitting mid-court fluffballs.

I'm not even going to get my hopes up that Bepa can reverse the awful h2h against Stosur. Stosur is such a match-up player. Either players can deal with her topspin (usually the tall ones) and aren't bothered by her, or they can't deal and lose every time, end. Go Flavia Flav for the final. She could so easily pull a Schiavone, she has the same fighting qualities.

lulz @ the Young hype going into overdrive because of wins over a terrible Manislas and ever-useless elderly Chela. Tennis journalists act like such fucking n00bs at times. These are the people who never, ever give players like Davydenko any credit at all.

edward, What about Fran?!

I don't think enough people give a shit about Fran other than Italians, and People Like Us. Lex's description of her RG as lion-hearted was spot on, she's the bravest player in the top 10 and dare I say it, the only player left I can see taking a set off Serena other than maybe Bepa if she has a really hot day.

Men's last 16!

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (22) Alexandr Dolgopolov
(20) Janko Tipsarevic vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero
(3) Roger Federer vs. Juan Monaco
(11) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (8) Mardy Fish
(28) John Isner vs. (12) Gilles Simon
(WC) Donald Young vs. (4) Andy Murray
(5) David Ferrer vs. (21) Andy Roddick
Gilles Muller vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

Predictions: Djokovic, Tipsarevic, Federer, Tsonga, Isner, Murray, Ferrer, Nadal

Really hope I'm wrong about Isner...the thought of him in a Slam QF is gross. Prove me wrong again Gilles!

Tsonga really should beat Fish if he's healthy. Really.

I got 7/16 4th rounders right on the women's side (terrible nothing impressive), 11/16 on the men's (better but it was easier, the litmus tst is whether I get them right going forward - though at least I got Tipsarevic and Muller)

Players who can take a set off Serena: Wozniacki (laugh if you want but remember when she gave Justine a battle when everyone was expecting her to be annihilated, remember how no-pace retrievers annoy the hell out of Silliams and remember their last actual match), Kuznetsova (if she reaches the SF she's got to be playing fairly well), Pennetta (that fighting spirit, and she's played Serena hard before). Not Schiavone, not now: just not playing well enough and no amount of fight can overcome that.

Players who can beat Serena: ...

And that is the player who always tries shrieking like Ma$ha while hitting mid-court fluffballs.

you are a fan of monica niculescu

there is a difference betwen fun junk shots and nothing fluffballs, I'd like to see Discount Ma¢ha hit a shot that bounces sideways

why would one require grunting and not the other? anyway 95% of niculescu's groundstrokes are nothing fluffballs. and 100% of her serves

watched a bit of king/shvedova vs townsend/pegula to see what taylor's like. the answer is woefully unfit with a pitiful serve (like, no rackethead acceleration whatsoever), poor volleys and an impatient mentality (can't rally crosscourt more than twice in a row without going for a DTL winner which king or shvedova easily put away)

agree with yr men's assessment all the way, lex. and i want you to be wrong about Isner too.

There should be a whole other tour where guys like Isner and Karlovic play each other all day long and none of us have to sit through it.

jesus christ, nastya.

Pavlyuchenkova's use of the angles <<<<3

lol @ how much schiavone looks like bon jovi in her press photo

OMG YESSSS!!!!

how could anyone be happy about that

Somebody who isn't a fan of Schiavone and is a fan of Pavlyuchenkova. OMG I know it's hard to believe such a person exists.

smh at the idea of rooting for Pavlyuchenkova

as I saw tweeted multiple times on my way home, if she's the future of the WTA, we are in deep deep shit

OMG I know it's hard to believe such a person exists.

the thing is it genuinely is! it's like that one ardent Petrova fan who pops up at Wimbledon every year. I don't even dislike Nadezhda but it's just BAFFLING.

OK, home now, I want a BEATDOWN Serena. Think about golden sets and double bagels and end BAG's career right here

i like pavly's game, sorry

generic and unspectacular basher with poor fitness, lumpen movement and a shitty serve? okaaaaay.

absolutely gorgeous groundstrokes to my eyes. so smooth. like her fighting skills. not some sort of OMG HUGE fan but i like her. + serena would have more trouble with schiavone in the QF. if she even makes it there with how shit she's playing right now

+ serena would have more trouble with schiavone in the QF

oh this makes sense as a reason to root for A-Pav, lol. Silliams is going to feast on her serve.

I have to leave the house in 20 minutes, it's not worth me switching on a stream is it :/

kinda impressed by ivanovic here

First thing I see = Ana DF on BP. Ajdeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

After she'd just fought off 2 bps lol

Serena looks lovely <3

serena almost NEVER challenged before her year out, and i liked that :( i think she uses it tactically as a breather now.

i don't want either djokovic or dolgopolov to lose :( my two faves left in the mens side after del potro's loss. 5 set epic please.

Djoko/Dolgo tiebreak guys

epic

this match could go a long time

fucking hell

fucking HELLLLLLL
rooting SO hard for dolgpolov right now. he needs it more. that point with the letcord!!!!!!