NEW YORK – The Wimbledon women’s singles final is coming early at the US Open.
As expected, sisters Venus and Serena Williams have booked a match against each other. But instead of a title being on the line, as it usually has been when these two face each other on a court, a spot in the semifinals will be the prize this time.
“Even the semis would have been better than the quarterfinals, but at least one of us will make it to the semis,” Serena said. “I’ve got probably the toughest match of the tournament coming up next, so I’ve got to be ready.”
Both sisters easily brushed aside fourth-round opponents Monday, seventh-seeded Venus knocking off ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1 6-3 before fourth-seeded Serena ended the fairy-tale run through the draw of French wild-card entrant Severine Bremond, 6-2 6-2.
In her four victories so far, Venus has allowed her opponents 15 games, one more than baby sister Serena.
In the men’s singles, Rafael Nadal, seeking his third consecutive Grand Slam tournament title, survived the power game of American Sam Querrey to gain a place in the quarterfinals.
“It was very tough,” Nadal said of the 6-2 5-7 7-6 (2) 6-3 win that took 3 hours, 15 minutes. “Sam is a big player, big server.”
Nadal next will meet yet another American, surprising Mardy Fish, a 7-5 6-2 6-2 winner over Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, riding a four-tournament winning streak, stopped unseeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3 6-4 6-3 in a meeting of 19-year-olds, while Great Britain’s Andy Murray beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-1 6-3 6-3.
Joining the Williams sisters in the women’s quarterfinals were sixth-seeded Dinara Safina, a 7-5 6-0 winner over Anna-Lena Groenefeld, while 16th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy eliminated Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-3 6-0.
The Sisters Williams, who have split their 16 meetings on the WTA Tour, have clashed nine times with a championship trophy on the line. They twice met for the US Open crown, Venus winning in 2001 and Serena the following year.
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They produced their best tennis against each other in their last meeting, the Wimbledon final, where Venus won in straight sets.
“It’s tough to play her because she is so good,” Venus said of Serena. “That’s hard.”
Nadal had his toughest match of the tournament by far in getting past the hard-hitting Querrey. The seventh game of the fourth and final set was a perfect example of the extended drama.
The two battled to deuce six times, with Querrey matching Nadal point for point, usually with a rifle-shot forehand deep into the corners that Nadal couldn’t track down. Yet Querrey never was able to break the world’s number one-ranked player and put the set back on serve. Each time Querrey had break point, Nadal would come up with a sizzling winner or Querrey would make an unforced error.
On the 18th point of the game, Nadal reached game point for the first time. He didn’t waste any time, holding to 5-2, just one game away from victory, when Querrey smacked a forehand into the net.
Querrey then held serve, capping the game with his 20th ace of the match, before Nadal was finally able to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
“I was taking some chances and ripping my forehand as hard as I could,” said Querrey, who had won only one match in his previous two US Opens. “I was a little nervous to begin the match, but after an hour I started hitting my shots.”
Nadal is seeking to become only the fourth men’s player in the Open Era to win three consecutive Grand Slam tournament titles – joining Rod Laver, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer – as well as becoming just the fifth man to win three Grand Slam titles in the same year after Laver, Federer, Jimmy Connors and Mats Wilander.
Querrey, on the other hand, was playing in the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. After a shaky first set, in which he had only two aces to go with his one double-fault, Querrey picked up his game, pushing Nadal all over the court, forcing the Spaniard to come up with sharply angled winners or screaming ground strokes that peppered the baselines. And that Nadal did.
“He had to earn his way that third set, or that fourth set,” Querrey said. “He had to earn it. I didn’t just give it to him. … I mean it’s nice to know he actually had to go out there and fight for it rather than me kind of handing it to him.”
Severine Bremond
US Open Day 4: Ana Ivanovic Loss Is Biggest Upset In History Of Women's Tennis
NEW YORK – Maybe the number one ranking was too heavy. If so, top-seeded Ana Ivanovic doesn’t have to worry any more. Her US Open is over in what is being called the biggest upset in the history of women’s tennis.
Julie Coin of France, ranked 188th in the world and playing in her first WTA Tour event, calmly kept her poise as she overpowered Ivanovic 6-3 4-6 6-3 in a second-round match on the hard courts of the year’s final Grand Slam tournament.
It was the earliest exit for the top-seeded woman in US Open history since 1973 and the first time the number one seed has lost in the second round of a major tournament since Justine Henin fell to Tathiana Garbin at Roland Garros four years ago. It also was the worst loss by a top-ranked player since Ivanovic lost to 133rd-ranked Zheng Jie at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
While Ivanovic struggled in her first-round victory, Thursday’s loss came as a huge shock. After all, Coin had never played in a WTA Tour event before and had failed to even qualify at the other three Grand Slam tournaments this year: the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She didn’t do any better at the smaller tournaments, losing in qualifying at Estoril, Birmingham, Stanford and Los Angeles.
On Thursday, though, Coin was more than Ivanovic could handle.
“She made a lot of errors, so I got a lot of free points,” Coin said. “I thought maybe she was nervous, more than I was.”
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It wasn’t all errors, however.
Coin powered five aces and finished with 19 winners and only 27 unforced errors, seven fewer than her opponent. But it was her nerves – actually the lack of them – that carried the Clemson University graduate to victory.
“Today I felt nervous at the beginning. Then it went away,” Coin said. “I was just playing on the court in a normal match for me. At match point, it (the nerves) came back. To win the last point a lot of pressure came back.”
Ivanovic has been hobbled by injuries since winning the French Open and gaining the number one ranking earlier this year. A right thumb injury caused her to withdraw from the tennis event at the Beijing Olympics earlier this month and she was unable to practice until just before the Open began.
Time and again it was Coin coming out a winner on their baseline battles. The 25-year-old showed a quickness that was more than a match for the top seed, and a power game that produced winners throughout the battle.
Coin double-faulted on her first match point. Two points later, Ivanovic saved the next match point when her cross-court forehand skipped off the sideline. Victory was Coins when, on the third match point, Ivanovic sailed a forehand wide.
“Today was just, like, perfect,” Coin said.
Closer to perfection were the Williams sisters as they both grabbed spots in the third round. Venus routed Rossana De Los Rios 6-0 6-3 before Serena opened the night session with a 6-1 6-1 romp over Elena Vesnina.
Venus needed just 28 minutes to rip through the opening set, and she never faced a break point on her serve. In fact, she was taken to deuce just twice in the match, both times as she was serving out the victory.
“I think I just had a lot more power than she did today,” Venus said. “She plays a game where she hits a lot of high balls, which at my height doesn’t, you know – I think it would be effective against a lot of players, but with my height and my reach, it doesn’t phase me as much. I think that helped me.”
Serena also was much too powerful for her Russian opponent, who tried unsuccessfully to trade ground strokes with the two-time US Open winner. Serena pounded out six aces and won 57 points to just 32 for Vesnina.
“I was disappointed I lost my serve,” Serena said. It was the lone game Vesnina won in the second set.
Two other seeded players in the women’s draw were eliminated Thursday. Italy’s Tathiana Garbin upset 13th-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary 5-7 6-2 6-3, and Severine Bremond of France ousted 20th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 7-5 6-3.
In the men’s second round, American Mardy Fish upset 24th-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-4. In the next round, Fish will play his best friend on the tour, ninth-seeded James Blake, who advanced when Belgium’s Steve Darcis retired while trailing 4-6 6-3 1-0.
None of the upsets had the impact of the one by Coin, a former college All-American.
“I was nervous going onto the court because I never saw her play before so I didn’t know what to expect,” Ivanovic said. “I thought I can slowly get into the match, and she played completely different than I expected. She was serving extremely well and hitting very powerful shots.
“I really struggled and made too many unforced errors, and my serve was not working really well. Obviously, it’s very frustrating, because I know I can play so much better.
“This was very, very disappointing loss for me.”
Dokic and Massu Take First Steps to Former Glory
Last week on the challenger circuit, two former top 10 players struggling with injuries and motivation took their first real steps to reclaiming their former glory, while two players on the men’s side continued their hot streaks on the circuit.
Jelena Dokic of Australia has had more than her share of personal problems. The former world No. 4 has defected from her family, switched nationalities several times, and attempted multiple half-hearted comeback attempts. However, it looks like that Dokic is serious this time around after winning her first event in six years at the $25,000 event in Florence, Italy, dominating Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3 in the final. The win moves Dokic up to No. 325 in the rankings (after just four tournaments) and she has contacted the All England Club for a qualifying wild card into Wimbledon.
At the $75,000 event in Zagreb, Croatia, Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden won her first title of the year by beating former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Severine Bremond of France 7-6, 6-2. The 24-year-old Swede, who has recorded high-profile scalps over Anna Chakvetadze and Marion Bartoli this year, used her aggressive groundstrokes to wear Bremond down throughout the match. Despite the loss, Bremond has been on a hot streak as of late with a 10-4 record on the challenger circuit in her last four events.
At the $50,000 tournament in Jounieh, Lebanon, players had to endure the fighting that has plagued the country, confining them to their hotel rooms and the tennis courts for the week. Anne Keothavong of Great Britain weathered her surroundings and won the first clay court of her career, defeating Lourdes Dominguez-Lino of Spain 6-4, 6-1. The win moved Keothavong up to a career high ranking of No. 102 and allows her direct entry into Wimbledon this summer. The last British player to get direct entry into Wimbledon was Samantha Smith in 1999.
In other results on the women’s side, Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium won the $50,000 event in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida. Petra Cetkovska of Czech Republic prevailed at the $50,000 challenger in Bucharest, Romania, and Tomoko Yonemura of Japan won at the $50,000 challenger in Fukuoka, Japan. Ksenia Milevskaya of Belarus won at the $25,000 challenger in Antalya, Turkey, Yan Ze-Xie of China took home the winners trophy at the $25,000 event in Changwon, Korea, and Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia prevailed at the $25,000 event in Irapuato, Mexico.
On the men’s side, it’s been a while since we heard from Nicolas Massu. The former top 10 player and reigning Olympic gold medalist has been struggling with injuries, but took a step in the right direction by winning the $30,000 event in Rijeka, Croatia. His 6-2, 6-2 win in the final over Christophe Rochus of Belgium gives the Chilean his first title in over two years.
Ivan Miranda of Peru is continuing to ride his hot streak on the challenger circuit with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Carsten Ball of Australia at the $50,000 challenger in Tunica, Mississippi. Miranda has now reached the championship round in three of the last four challengers he has played. His experience clearly was a factor against Ball, who was competing in the first challenger final of his career.
Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil is a name that has repeatedly come up in this column, but it’s only a matter of time before he moves to the ATP Tour on a full-time basis. He won his fourth challenger title of the year (and third in a row) at the $42,500 challenger in Rabat, Morocco, rolling over Martin Vasallo-Arguello of Argentina 6-2, 6-2. Expect Bellucci to potentially do some damage at Roland Garros in just a few weeks.
In other results on the men’s side, Andreas Beck won the $42,500 challenger in Dresden, Germany, while Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia won the $30,000 event in Telde, Spain. Jiri Vanek also won the $42,500 event in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Fabrice Santoro of France highlights the challenger circuit this week as the top seed at the $75,000 event in Bordeaux, France, while Gael Monfis of France leads the way at the $75,000 challenger in Marrakech, Morocco. Several $50,000 events will also be contested this week; Robert Kendrick of the United States is the top seed at the one in Bradenton, Florida, Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei will lead the way in New Delhi, India, and Denis Gremelmayr of Germany takes top billing in Zagreb, Croatia. Oscar Hernandez of Spain is top seed at the $42,500 event in Aarhus, Denmark, while Santiago Ventura of Spain is the top seed at the $30,000 challenger in San Remo, Italy.
On the women’s side, Petra Cetkovska of Czech Republic is top seed at the $50,000 event in Saint Gaudens, France. Melanie South of Great Britain leads the way at the $50,000 challenger in Kurume, Japan, Tetiana Luzhanska of Ukraine is the top seed at the $25,000 challenger in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Jorgelina Cravero of Argentina takes top billing at the $25,000 event in Caserta, Italy. Finally, Renata Voracova of Czech Republic is top seed at the $25,000 event in Szczecin, Poland.