Drive By

by Craig Hickman

David Ferrer defended a title. Novak Djokovic, too. Juan Martin del Potro returned to the winner's circle for the first time in his comeback.

Vera Zvonareva toppled the computer's top-ranked player to win her 11th title and Gisela Dulko took a singles title for the first time since 2008.

I don't typically watch any of the events on the calendar this week, finals included. Not even the one in the United States. The timing is all wrong. Not to mention sanctions.

Next up: Davis Cup.

Day 1: Hot & Dry

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The sun hung high in the sky. The courts played like they do in Rome. Or, better yet, on the imported red clay of Houston in years past. Fast and slick.

I didn't see an awful lot of tennis, though I enjoyed thoroughly the Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 5-set victory over Daniel Brands.

KarenFed provides today's recap.

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Today was the first day of play in the 2010 French Open. There were not many upsets today. The only top seed to go out was No. 8 Victoria Azarenka who was taken out in straight sets by Gisela Dulko. All other seeds held to move on to the second round round.

The Women

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Venus Williams looked good in her straight-set win over veteran Patty Schnyder. A little shaky on serve but her ground strokes seemed to be holding up well and her net game as always was impeccable. Liked her outfit as it was different from the usual stuff the women wear.

Svetlana Kutznetsova started off slowly losing the first 3 games in the first set but steadied the ship and reeled off 9 straight games before Sorana Cirstea was able to get on the board again. That would be it as far as Sorana was concerned as Sveta took the match in straights. I just have to say that I think that Sven Gronefeld is way over rated as a coach as is the Adidas Player Development Program. Sorana has been slumping since last year and looking at her this morning she has no Plan B. This one is going back to the ITF circuit faster than you can say Sorana who?

Aravane Rezai v. Heidi El Bhaki was a one sided affair between the Madrid champion and the qualifier. Heidi is a Canadian player by way of Egypt. First time I saw her play. She has a good game but as with most young players she needs to work on her serve as well as her groundies. Solid forehand and good movement. Hope to see more of her as she is stunningly beautiful with a wonderful mocha complexion and a body that is reminiscent of Serena Williams circa 2001-2002. Slamming.

Maria Kirilenko v. Karolina Sprem was a looker. For some reason every time I see Kirilenko I am struck by how ineffective her game is yet she seems to get so much out of it. I also wonder about her supposed beauty until I do a double take and I am like, Whoa, she is really beautiful. She beat Sprem today in straights but the match was a lot closer than the score suggests.

There were a few women’s matches I would have loved to see: Andrea Petovic v. Elena Vesnina, Agnes Szavay v. Stephanie Foretz (there was a live stream but the camera was all the way on another planet), and Nadia Petrova v. Shuai Zhang (too busy to watch).

Another upset occurred today when Rome champion María José Martínez Sánchez (she of the ball did not hit my hand but my racquet gate) was ousted by Akgul Amanmuradova in straight sets. Didn't see one point of that match.

The Men

Robin Soderling looked good today. Let me say that another way. Robin Söderling looked damned good today. He was playing within himself and I can see how he took out Rafael Nadal last year. He played controlled, aggressive tennis. Very good effort by him today. His opponent was a French wildcard that I had never heard of. The French really need to stop giving wild cards to these players.

Marin Cilic - I am slowly but surely coming off the side car on this one. I just do not see him winning a major, not with the personality that he now has. He has to step it up if he wants to make me a believer. He beat Ricardo Mello in 4 sets. Most tennis fans thought Mello had retired.

The big upset of the day on the men’s side was clay court wunderkind Ernest Gulbis who had to retire in his match against Julien Benneteau. The fact that he retired had no bearing on the match. He would have been beaten regardless. Like Mike Tyson said, to be a champion you have to be able to do it day in and day out.

The last men’s match I watched was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Daniel Brands. Very good match that Tsonga won in 5 sets. There is something to be said for Tsonga who having never played a 5 setter before this year’s AO, has now won all 3 5 set matches that he has played. Good on you, Jo.


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Roland Garros 2010 Day 1 Open Thread

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Worn out from a convention yesterday, I overslept and then had to head right out to the field when I got up and take care of some important things.

Victoria Azarenka aka Nicole Vaidisova 2.0 was sent packing by Gisela Dulko, Julien Benneateau is having his way with Ernests Gulbis. So far. And Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is down a set to the unheralded Daniel Brands from Germany.

Fill us in on the other juicy details of the day.

Faces Of The Day

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Casey Dellacqua of Australia celebrates winning her second round match against Karolina Sprem of Croatia during day four of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.


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Australia's Lleyton Hewitt celebrates match point over Donald Young of the U.S. at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 21, 2010.


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Bec Hewitt watches her husband Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in his second round match against Donald Young of the USA during day four of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.


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Australia's Samantha Stosur waves after defeating Kristina Barrois of Germany at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 21, 2010.


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Argentina's Juan Monaco reacts after winning the third set against Michael Liodra of France during their Men's singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010.


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Gisela Dulko of Argentina reacts after defeating Serbia's Ana Ivanovic at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 21, 2010.


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Columbia's Alejandro Falla gives a thumb's up to the crowd after winning his match against Marcel Granollers of Spain at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 21, 2010.

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Italy's Alberta Brianti celebrates a point won against Germany's Sabine Lisicki. during their Women's singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010.


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Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus celebrates after winning his second round match against David Ferrer of Spain during day four of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.

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Men's Singles - Second Round

[1] R Federer (SUI) d V Hanescu (ROU) 62 63 62
[3] N Djokovic(SRB) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) 36 61 61 63
[6] N Davydenko(RUS) d [Q] I Marchenko (UKR) 63 63 60
[9] F Verdasco (ESP) d [Q] I Sergeyev (UKR) 61 62 62
[10] J Tsonga (FRA) d T Dent (USA) 64 63 63
M Baghdatis (CYP) d [17] D Ferrer (ESP) 46 36 76(4) 63 61
[18] T Haas (GER) d J Tipsarevic (SRB) 46 64 63 16 63
[20] M Youzhny (RUS) d J Hajek (CZE) 62 61 61
[22] L Hewitt (AUS) d [Q] D Young (USA) 76(3) 64 61
[26] N Almagro (ESP) d B Becker (GER) 64 62 36 46 63
[30] J Monaco (ARG) d M Llodra (FRA) 36 36 76(5) 61 63
[31] A Montanes (ESP) d S Robert (FRA) 46 67(3) 62 63 62
A Falla (COL) d M Granollers (ESP) 64 61 63
L Kubot (POL) d S Giraldo (COL) 64 36 63 61
[Q] S Koubek (AUT) d [Q] I Dodig (CRO) 76(4) 61 62
D Istomin (UZB) d M Berrer (GER) 75 63 64

Women's Singles - Second Round

(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 62 61
(4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 63 61
(6) Venus Williams (USA) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 62 75
(7) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 64 60
(9) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Iveta Benesova (CZE) 60 63
(10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 60 62
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Kristina Barrois (GER) 75 63
(16) Li Na (CHN) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 36 75 62
(17) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Julie Coin (FRA) 63 64
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 67(6) 75 64
Alberta Brianti (ITA) d. (21) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 26 64 64
(22) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (Q) Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 64 61
(29) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 61 64
(32) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 61 64
Tathiana Garbin (ITA) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 67(5) 62 60
(WC) Casey Dellacqua (AUS) d. Karolina Sprem (CRO) 76(4) 76(6)

Men's Doubles - First Round

[3] L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) d L Friedl (CZE) / D Skoch (CZE) 63 61
M Kohlmann (GER) / J Nieminen (FIN) d [4] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) 64 64
F Gonzalez (CHI) / I Ljubicic (CRO) d [6] F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) 63 76(7)
I Karlovic (CRO) / D Vemic (SRB) d [9] C Kas (GER) / D Norman (BEL) 64 36 64
[11] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) d M Daniel (BRA) / D Koellerer (AUT) 61 62
J Benneteau (FRA) / S Darcis (BEL) d [13] M Llodra (FRA) / A Ram (ISR) 75 36 75
[14] M Damm (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) d [WC] M Matosevic (AUS) / B Tomic (AUS) 62 61
J Isner (USA) / S Querrey (USA) d J Coetzee (RSA) / R Wassen (NED) 64 61
C Ball (AUS) / S Huss (AUS) d B Becker (GER) / F Mayer (GER) 76(6) 76(3)
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d T Bellucci (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 63 64
I Andreev (RUS) / E Korolev (KAZ) d S Stakhovsky (UKR) / M Zverev (GER) 61 76(6)
F Lopez (ESP) / R Schuettler (GER) d F Gil (POR) / K Vliegen (BEL) 63 62
F Fognini (ITA) / P Starace (ITA) d J Chardy (FRA) / M Gicquel (FRA) 51 ret. (Chardy - wrist)
S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) d L Lacko (SVK) / M Russell (USA) 64 62
I Kunitsyn (RUS) / D Sela (ISR) d M Chiudinelli (SUI) / V Troicki (SRB) 64 62

Women's Doubles - First Round

Dushevina/Rodionova (RUS/AUS) d. (5) Petrova/Stosur (RUS/AUS) 36 64 61
(7) Kleybanova/Schiavone (RUS/ITA) d. Brianti/U.Radwanska (ITA/POL) 46 75 76(3)
(9) Vesnina/Zheng (RUS/CHN) d. Cornet/Fichman (FRA/CAN) 75 63
(10) Mirza/Ruano Pascual (IND/ESP) d. (WC) Basuki/Date Krumm (INA/JPN) 64 62
(12) Chuang/Peschke (TPE/CZE) d. Senoglu/Shvedova (TUR/KAZ) 60 75
(13) Dulko/Pennetta (ARG/ITA) d. Bondarenko/Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) 64 26 63
(14) Groenefeld/King (GER/USA) d. (WC) Golds/Mirkovic (AUS/AUS) 60 61
(15) Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL) d. Cirstea/Pavlyuchenkova (ROU/RUS) 60 67(4) 62
(16) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Errani/Suárez Navarro (ITA/ESP) 62 61
Azarenka/Kuznetsova (BLR/RUS) d. Kanepi/Woehr (EST/GER) 76(5) 64
Olaru/Savchuk (ROU/UKR) d. Amanmuradova/Tanasugarn (UZB/THA) 46 61 62
Peer/Voskoboeva (ISR/KAZ) d. Rybarikova/Voracova (SVK/CZE) 62 75
Szavay/Vinci (HUN/ITA) d. Govortsova/Poutchek (BLR/BLR) 75 64
Jankovic/Perry (SRB/USA) d. Cibulkova/Krajicek (SVK/NED) 61 64
Czink/Grandin (HUN/RSA) d. Lisicki/Rezai (GER/FRA) 63 62
Razzano/Wickmayer (FRA/BEL) d. Kondratieva/Sevastova (RUS/LAT) 75 36 62
Gullickson/Uhlirova (USA/CZE) d. Dulgheru/Gallovits (ROU/ROU) 63 36 63
Borwell/Kops-Jones (GBR/USA) d. Hercog/Martic (SLO/CRO) 64 76(3)
Baltacha/Dekmeijere (GBR/LAT) d. Safarova/Wozniak (CZE/CAN) 75 62
(WC) Peers/Robson (AUS/GBR) d. Craybas/Spears (USA/USA) 63 75