ATP & WTA Pro Update

Serena won. Oh well. She played well, so I can't take that from her. Although, I can't say I was necessarily say I was pulling for her. My girl Sharapova had the best chance against her, almost taking the first set. But oh well, worse things have happen.

Of course, with Fed out, Nadal is the favorite. And of course, as always, pressure wasn't even an afterthought for Nadal, winning in straight sets over the Federer Killer, Thomas Berdych. That makes 8 grand slam titles for Nadal, tieing him with Andre Agassi.

Other Wimbledon news, of course, if you keep up with tennis to any degree, 70-68 makes sense. John Isner and Nicholas Mahut. Every record imaginable broke. 112 aces for Isner. the bad part is, ZERO ACES IN HIS SECOND ROUND MATCH. I've said it before, and here it is again: oh well.

Roddick. Gone. As to be expected. Though he did last longer than I figured. Beaten by a qualifier. Gabashvilli, heard of him? Neither have I, but I do bet this isnt the last time we hear the name. Venus? Gone. Petrova took her over in straight sets. Turns out, when you aren't afraid of who you play, you beat them in straights.

I do hate that Serena isn't going to win this year. Wait, what? No I don't, i'm friggin thrilled. There's no way she will beat Henin OR Stosur, and if one of them loses a leg and she makes it thru, Wozniacki is all smiles amid Serena's grunts. Either Henin wins her 5th French Open, or there will be a first time Grand Slam winner.

IN dubs, the Bryans didnt make it thru, so they won't set the record yet. Soon, Mikey and Bobbo, soon.

As for Nadal, I seem to remember saying he'll play either Verdasco or Almagro in the quarters. In Nadals round of 16, Thomaz Bellucci. If Nadal wins? He plays either Almagro or Verdasco in the quarters. Sure, he beat Fernando, losing only one game, in a recent final. Verdasco just didnt have the right hair gel that day.

Predictions for the quarters? Verdasco in 5 sets.

Oh wait, Fed update. Who was the last person to beat Robin Soderling at the French Open? Yup, Fed. I do predict a hard fought match, but Fed makes the semis and plays a 4 set win over the Berdych.

Sorry to my loyal ......3 fans, but this one may be short. Its a slightly off week, with the French Open starting, but it's prediction seasons. I can't ever predict anyone but Roger Federer to hoist the hardware, but I want to give some off predictions.

Simona Halep. Even though she's ....ahem....lost some weight, I can't predict her over Sam Stosur, and I think Samantha will reach at least the quarters. She just has too much game to leave Paris this early. Sorry Simona. Serena "I think i'm a model" Williams will reach the quarters where she will lose to some Belgian woman. Oh, yeah, her. Justine Henin. Rafael "I have a massive left arm and smaller, more average right arm" Nadal(i'm actually a fan) will have a TOUGH match in Lleyton Hewitt in the 3rd round, but, and here we go with the nay-sayers, won't get out of his quarter. Why?..you ask? He either faces Fernando, the Hair, Verdasco, or Nicolas, insert cute nickname here, Almagro. Remember my last post? Of course you don't, but I said he lost a set. It was to Mr. Insert cute nickname here himself.

In doubles, of course, since he gave me tickets to a match in Memphis when I was 15, I can't root againt Mike Bryan and his dubs partner that looks kinda like him(Bob Bryan). If they win, its history. The Woodies won 61 titles together in dubs, and the Bryans tied them weeks ago. I predict they win the final 7-6, 6-3. If thats the case, i'm calling Mike for tickets to his next tourney.

Stay tuned trend setters.

Girlfriend has Blue Mountains on Nadal.

As the subject implies, it was an eventful and action packed tournament in Madrid, Spain. Nadal ACTUALLY DROPPED A SET in the semi's, before beating Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5) in the final. Nadal losing a set this close to Roland Garros? Granted, when he is on clay, he is kinda like the Predator, but, as the movie says, "if it bleeds we can kill it." Not that i'm not a huge fan of Rafa, but I do want to witness a calendar year "Grand Slam", and of course Fed is the only one that can do it this year. Congrats to a beastly Nadal.

In doubles news, Mike Bryan and that guy that looks like him named Bob won their 61'st team title in Madrid, equaling the "Woodies".

In WTA Tour news, Aravane Rezai won her third title WTA Tour title in Madrid. Pretty big stage for the 23 year old Frenchwoman to win. The player she defeated was none other than America's Venus Williams, who has, I guess, had a decent career thus far :-)

This week's Madrid Masters 1000 is shaping up to be an exciting tourney in both men's and women's action.

Nadal is looking to break the Open Era record of 17 Masters titles, held as of now by some guy name Agassi(favorite player ever.). There are, however, obstacles for him on the Spanish dirt. One of them is a man, dunno if you've heard of him or not, but that Federer guy thats done so-so these past few years. AKA defending champion and best player of all time. Sorry, Mr Sampras.

On the women's side, Henin and Sharapova both saw exits recently, with Venus and Serena still in it. It turns out, when Serena isn't offering to force feed a line judge a tennis ball, she can actually play.

Also, in career-high news, John Isner, the little fella out of USA has now cracked the top 20 for the first time in his career, with a ranking of 19th in the world. He is also ranked 30th worldwide in doubles, which, if you're a fun fact guy like me, and have a brain like me(God help you), makes him the third ranked player in the world in what I call an all around ranking(singles averaged in with doubles). He is only behind Sam Querrey, whose singles ranking of 22 and doubles ranking of 24 make his average 23, and Tommy Robredo, whose singles ranking of 24 and doubles ranking of 21 give him an average of 22.5. Isner's rankings of 30 in dubs and 19 in singles give him an average of 24.5.

Rafael Nadal has just won Rome despite a great effort from the rain and from David Ferrer, winning the final 7-5, 6-2. It seems that not even nature can defeat this man. Coupe des Mousquetaires, here he comes.

Also in ATP news, the Bryan Brothers won their 60th ATP men's doubles title in Rome. IN an all-American final, the brothers defeated John Isner and Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-3.

In WTA news, Belgium's Justine Henin won her first title since her comeback in January. She defeated an on fire Sam Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-2.

Spain's Fernando Verdasco took this weeks Barcelona Open in a straight sets victory over French Open Finals Robin Soderling. Verdasco, who couldn't find form against Nadal,(who can) stepped it up a notch or dos and had an impressive showing over the second seeded Soderling. Nadal was scheduled to play as the one seed, but withdrew, probably from a hurt foot due to too much butt kicking in such a short time.

In WTA news, Melanie Oudin reached her career high of 31 in the world due to her recent results. PREDICTION ALERT:If she goes without major injury to the end of the year, she will be top 15 by years end. Also from America, world 128 Bethanie Mattek-sands kept USA Fed Cup hopes alive with a 3 set win over Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in singles. Before the match, the U S of A was down 2 matches to 1. Then, Mattek-sands hopped right back on the court and helped Liezel Huber win the doubles match to clince the tie.

Nadal just cannot be stopped on clay. Sure, Soderling can do it, but he is a freak of nature. Nadal won his sixth straight Monte Carlo Masters title. Why, you ask, do I say he cannot be stopped? He didnt just beat a punk in the final. He beat Fernando "coolest mohawk ever" Verdasco 6-0, 6-1. That lucky game in the second set was one of only 14 games Nadal lost in Monte Carlo, a Masters Series event. That, ladies and gentlemen is why Rafael Nadal simply cannot be stopped on dirt.

In WTA news, Aussie Samantha Stosur defeated Vera Zvonereva in the finals of the Family Circle Cup 6-0, 6-3. The tourney was in Charleston, SC, a stone's throw away for Georgia's Melanie Oudin compared to the trip made by Stosur. Melanie had an impressive showing, making it thru to the Quarters before falling to Zvonereva.

This week's ATP tour saw the start of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters tournament. 3 of the top 4 players in the world, including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. Nadal, 29-1 at this tournament is the 2 seed, but of course since he is on the mud he is favored to win it all. His last loss at this tournament was in 2003 to Guillermo Coria.

Also on the men's side, the US Men's Claycourt Championships concluded today with Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina taking home hardware, along with the US team of Mike and Bob Bryan.

In the WTA tour, #2 Caroline Wozniacki defended her MPS Group Championships title against Belarussian #51Olga Govortsova.

In our own River Hills Club, Marjana Lucic of Croatia won her first title since Bol in 1998 withher win over Jamie Hampton of the USA in straight sets. . Marjana, ranked at one time as highly as  32 in singles, was the 1998 Australian Open doubles finalist alongside Martina Hingis. Lucic was also the third player to win 2 grandslam singles junior titles by the age of 14(Capriati and Hingis).

Jackson's Ellie Yates and Agnes Gee also played this week at River Hills, losing to the eventual champions. Yates was also in the singles draw, losing in 3 long sets to an eventual semifinalist in Laura Siegmund.

This week on the ATP tour, Andy Roddick moved up one spot in the world rankings to number 7 with his championship performance at the ATP Masters event in Miami, FL. Roddick overcame world number 4 Rafael Nadal in the semis, and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4 in the finals. This is Roddick's 39th title, and he is 26-4 on the year. Jackson's Devin Britton is currently ranked 1279 in the world.
 
This week's WTA tour, Kim Clijsters of Belgium needed only 58 minutes to dismantle Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1. With her performance, Kim moved from world number 16 to world number 10, and Venus moved from world number 5 to world number 4.US Open phenom Melanie Oudin also moved up one spot to world number 41.