Starting off with the one I got right. Almost.
Venus d. Shaza 6-2, 6-2
Well how about that. No great surprises. Except I didn't maybe expect it to be that one sided.
Sharapova's serve was off by a long way, but to be honest it wasn't a great serving day for Queen Bee V either. Not that it mattered very much.
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)I guess this underlines that a Maria on the recovery trail is not going to cut it against a Venus anywhere near the top of her game, and that there's still much work to be done if Maria is ever to recapture anything close to her form of a couple of years back.
I do have some reservations about that serve however, given what a big part of her game it used to be.
But not very much. Lesser mortals than Maria have survived changes to their service motions. And the top twenty right now is largely composed of lesser mortals.
Stosur d. Serena 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
Another result I keep telling myself shouldn't surprise me. 'cept it never fails to.
Maybe I'll never get to grips with the paradox of Serena's performances outside of the majors. Maybe we're not meant to. Maybe it's not a paradox at all, but rather more symptomatic of the way in which she's managed to prolong her career, as peeps keep telling us. I just don't find it particularly world #1-like s'all - 'real' or imagined.
In any event, I'm more interested in what this'll do for Stosur's confidence. She continues to mesmerise me with the wins she's now scored over both those number ones, and with her new found 'me-too' attitude to singles.
'Can she kick it?' I thought you'd never ask.
Yes she can.
Down the T, three feet over you, out of your reach and way out wide, at little more than 87 miles an hour.
I'll have two please.
Bartoli d. Jankovic 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
I've got nothing to say here except that tennis holds few distinctions more entertaining and more worthy of my time than Jelena and her dramedies.
(Photo: AP)I've yet to figure out however, why Bartoli proves to be such a thorn in her side.
Dementieva d. Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2
For the sake of completeness and told-ya-so-ness.
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