Tennis

[Dajana]

TENNIS

Hamburg Masters

Almagro - Robredo 6-7, 6-2, 6-4

Melzer - Waske 6-3, 6-4

Ljubicic - Serra 4-6, 6-2, 6-2

Mayer - Youzhny 6-4, 2-6, 7-6

Ferrer - Soderling 1-6, 6-3, 6-2

Benneteau - Schuettler 7-6, 6-2

Acasuso - García-Lopez 6-3, 6-4

Volandri - Murray 1-5

Nieminen - Summerer 6-1, 7-6

Moyà - Fish 6-0, 6-3

Hernandez - Becker 6-3, 6-7, 6-3

[ninanina19]

How come only 2 second round matches were played today?

[Chaky]

[1]R Federer (SUI) def [Q]J Monaco (ARG) 6-3 2-6 6-4

Roger had to save five break points in his opening service game of the third set to avoid going down a break. If he doesn't start to improve soon I can see Roland Garros being a one-man show. You've gotta win Hamburg Roger so there's the prospect of a competition!

Sounds like the men are suffering the same sort of problems with rain in Germany as the women had last week.

[ninanina19]

I remember back in January I though Federer was going to win the French for sure because well he was unstoppable and then Nadal wasn't playing so well. And no the tables have def. turned. I would like Federer to win the French because he really is a great player and deserves the career grand slam.

[Dajana]

Today

TENNIS

Hamburg Masters

Hewitt - Davydenko 6-4, 2-4, 6-4

Federer - Ferrero 6-2, 6-3

Djokovic - Nieminen 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

Almagro - Acasuso 6-2, 6-3

Nadal - Andreev 6-4, 6-1

Moyà - Blake 1-6, 6-3, 6-3

Gonzalez - Mathieu 7-5, 6-4

Melzer - Gasquet 6-3, 6-4

Ferrer - Ljubicic 6-3, 6-2

Davydenko - Simon 6-7, 6-4, 7-5

Djokovic - Benneteau 7-6, 6-3

Acasuso - Volandri 3-6, 7-6, 6-3

Nieminen - Mayer 6-2, 6-4

[Chaky]

Today

TENNIS

Hamburg Masters

Hewitt - Davydenko 6-4, 2-4, 6-4

Federer - Ferrero 6-2, 6-3

That's a better result for Federer. He needs to be in the final here. No in fact he needs to take the title.

Good result for Hewitt also. I think that's his first Top Ten win of the year.

In Rome, my two faves on the WTA Tour played each other today: Hantuchova bt Chakvetadze 6-2 6-3. I downloaded some video of this match. Not a great spectacle. Anna had a horrible time today. But Daniela, who normally sucks on clay, has now posted a couple of really good results. Could do wonders for her ranking if she can carry it on. (Y)

[Frederick]

In other tennis news, I'm playing a doubles match tomorrow afternoon. I've never even met our opponents but apparently one of them is really, really good. I'd like to think we'll win and I'll play like a champion but my incredibly inferior serve will almost certainly be exposed.

[Chaky]

In other tennis news, I'm playing a doubles match tomorrow afternoon. I've never even met our opponents but apparently one of them is really, really good. I'd like to think we'll win and I'll play like a champion but my incredibly inferior serve will almost certainly be exposed.

Good luck!

I don't play much doubles myself but it's usually a lot of fun. My own weakness is my serve but it's getting better. Anyway a serve isn't everything, good net play and communication with your partner is important too.

[ninanina19]

My serve is pretty bad too. Very inconsistent. My forehand has improved greatly as of recent. I used to play with a very eastern grip and I had trouble getting spin onto the ball and now I have a more modern eastern or semi-western grip and I can hit it with power and with spin. It felt great to be able to whack at the ball and see it go in easily. I haven't felt that way since January. I feel like I just need to practice my serve more.

[ninanina19]

In other tennis news, I'm playing a doubles match tomorrow afternoon. I've never even met our opponents but apparently one of them is really, really good. I'd like to think we'll win and I'll play like a champion but my incredibly inferior serve will almost certainly be exposed.

I've never been much of a doubles player. I'm not good at the net and I basically rely on my ground strokes to get me anywhere. It's too boring for me. I'm too competitive and I'm mainly into tennis to win, not to have fun. Over the winter I played doubles with older people every Friday night for several hours. I could never play doubles competitively but I'm going to see if I can enter in a league with my dad. He's good at the net and I'm well not.

[Dajana]

Hewitt - Almagro 6-3, 6-4

Nadal - Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4

Moyà - Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 7-5

Federer - Ferrer 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

[Chaky]

Hewitt - Almagro 6-3, 6-4

Nadal - Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4

Moyà - Djokovic 7-6, 4-6, 7-5

Federer - Ferrer 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Another tough time for Federer. Too many unforced errors creeping in again. I think that's the first time Ferrer has taken a set off him. And as much as I'd like to see Hewitt defeat Nadal I'm not sure he can. As long as Roger wins the title I don't care.

Announced this morning, Andy Murray will definitely miss Roland Garros.

WTA Rome QF:

(3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (10) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 6-2 6-1

(14) Patty Schnyder (SUI) d. (8) Serena Williams (USA) 6-3 2-6 7-6(5)

(2) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (6) Dinara Safina (RUS) 6-1 6-3

(9) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 7-6(8) 7-5

Gotta say well done to Daniela for reaching her first ever Tier I clay court semi-final. In the past she's been fairly useless on clay but since she switched coaches I think she's got a little faster and added some better defensive shots. However that was two and a half hours last night for a straight sets win so I don't know how she'll fare against Kuzzie.

Schnyder vs Williams was the match of the tournament. Really great shot-making and intense action. A huge win for Patty and only Serena's second loss this year.

[Frederick]

I've never been much of a doubles player. I'm not good at the net and I basically rely on my ground strokes to get me anywhere. It's too boring for me. I'm too competitive and I'm mainly into tennis to win, not to have fun. Over the winter I played doubles with older people every Friday night for several hours. I could never play doubles competitively but I'm going to see if I can enter in a league with my dad. He's good at the net and I'm well not.

Well we played and we lost: 6-4, 6-2. I managed to serve okay but like you, my net play is very weak. My partner is a much more aggressive player than me and has a pretty decent serve but unfortunately it was all over the place today. The other guys were pretty good but I think it was more a case of us getting beaten because we really aren't doubles players. I'm ultra competitive but this was very much a sociable jaunt, I can't really see doubles as anything more.

Great to see Moya still competing.

[ninanina19]

I've never been much of a doubles player. I'm not good at the net and I basically rely on my ground strokes to get me anywhere. It's too boring for me. I'm too competitive and I'm mainly into tennis to win, not to have fun. Over the winter I played doubles with older people every Friday night for several hours. I could never play doubles competitively but I'm going to see if I can enter in a league with my dad. He's good at the net and I'm well not.

Well we played and we lost: 6-4, 6-2. I managed to serve okay but like you, my net play is very weak. My partner is a much more aggressive player than me and has a pretty decent serve but unfortunately it was all over the place today. The other guys were pretty good but I think it was more a case of us getting beaten because we really aren't doubles players. I'm ultra competitive but this was very much a sociable jaunt, I can't really see doubles as anything more.

Great to see Moya still competing.

Yeah. I played today for 3 or 4 hours. I wanted to play more but my dad was tired. My forehand has improved. I have much more spin on it and I can still get it deep. I also am trying to get back into shape. I did some conditioning, but it's really baby conditioning to get myself into shape. I warmed up with a mile jog. Then I ran like 6 200 yards. Then I jogged a bit to cool down and did a bit of a sretch. Hopefully I stretched enough so that I'm not sore tomorrow.

[ninanina19]

I like Kuznetsova. Nice to see she got this far. She's got a lot of potential really. She needs to lose weight and get into better shape. I remember before she used to be fast and now her weight is weighing her down. I like Jankovic too. I want Federer to win as well. I want him to win Roland Garros because he deserves a career grand slam. I'm getting tired of Nadal winning everything.

[Chaky]

Hamburg semis:

[1] R Federer (SUI) d C Moya (ESP) 4-6 6-4 6-2

[2] R Nadal (ESP) d [16] L Hewitt (AUS) 2-6 6-3 7-5

Lleyton had Rafa on the ropes for a while. Nadal was having an off day for sure but Hewitt's unforced errors let him back in. Another difficult match for Roger but he's through. So it's another Roger v Rafa dust-up on the cards. Kick some ass Fed-ex!

Rome semis:

(2) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. (9) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 6-4 6-2

(3) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (14) Patty Schnyder (SUI) 6-1 6-3

Sucky matches today. After her heroics beating Serena yesterday, Patty didn't hold serve once in this match. She complained of breathing problems preventing her from playing 100%. Sveta had an easy time against Danka. And I disagree with what you say about her Nina, Sveta is a really good mover, particularly on clay. She has quite a stocky frame but she's very athletic. I wouldn't say she's overweight.

[ninanina19]

Yes I was actually surprised at how well she could move when I first noticed her in the 2004 USO. But I was watching a bit of a match maybe 6 weeks ago (when she had black hair still) and I noticed she was a LOT more sluggish than before. My dad commented that this was because of her weight gain and I mean looking at her she did seem a bit out of shape. I mean yes I know her frame, she is naturally big boned and massive but still. But you know it could be just the day. Actually I gained weight too and my movement is a lot worse now too. My dad tells me today "Nina, you have to lose like 4 pounds."Time to get back into shape heh. Either way this is her 4th final this year, hopefully she'll win. I think she will. I'm not sure how well Jankovic moves on clay but I know it's def. one of Svetlana's stronger surfaces. Her and Justine are probably among the few women who really excell on clay. When it comes to the men's game you don't see the all of the usual players getting far in tournaments because there are so many clay court specialists. But with the women it seems like it's not really anyone's favorite surface and the ones like Henin and Kuznetsova that move the best often take the titles. You usually see a much more predictable outcome in the women's French Open draw than in the men's. With the exception of like Sharapova and others with similar style not going so far.

[ninanina19]

I would like to see Kuznetsova be the number 1 Russian. Petrova was for a bit last year. What happened to Nadia anyway? I remember around this time she had won several titles. About Murray not playing Roland Garros, I don't think he would've gotten very far anyway. He's still growing into his body and his movement would probably not be in top form. As long as he gets to Wimbledon and keeps the Brits happy. Btw are you a big Murray fan? You're from the UK so I was just wondering is he really famous there? He's ALWAYS mentioned on BBC.com.

[Dajana]

Nadal lost 2:6 6:2 6:0

:cry2:

[Chaky]

Nadal lost 2:6 6:2 6:0

:hell yea!: Go Roger!!!

That ends Rafa's clay winning streak at 81 consecutive matches! I think Lleyton did Roger's preparation yesterday - Nadal was tired by the end of this.