American teen, Melanie Oudin, shocked former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic by eliminating her 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2 to pull off what might be the biggest upset at the 2009 Wimbledon championships so far.  I’m not sure if the 82F/28C degree heat played a factor, though, since the pair took a 12 minute break after Jankovic called for a medical timeout.  The sixth seeded Serbian star had to lay on the court for a little while with a blood pressure cuff on her arm.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, she called another timeout later for her left foot.  Basically, it was a nightmare for Jankovic but a dream come true for Oudin who had never one a Grand Slam match.

image: Zuma Press

Venus Williams beat her opponent, Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-4.  The straight-set victory has brought her a little closer to winning her third consecutive Wimbledon title.  Williams played like she was seeking to avenge herself after losing to Suarez in the second round at this year’s Australian Open.  Williams will next battle 13th-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic in a fourth-round match.

Here’s a rundown of the other women’s results from Wimbledon:

• Fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova was knocked out by unseeded German Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.
• Ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki reached the fourth round for the first time by beating No. 20 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.
• Former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo beat 15th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-3.

Svetlana Kuznetsova was many things as she went into the 2009 French Open finals this morning but, most importantly, she was calm and determined.  Having only won a single Grand Slam title before, I’m sure she was nervous but she never let it show.

Instead, she beat a shaky-looking Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 Saturday and won the French Open.  You would have thought that Safina was the underdog by the way she played – she double-faulted seven times and seemed to struggle through the match.

While Safina faltered (and eventually slammed her racket down on the court), Kuznetsova soared and played a varied game and ultimately came out victorious. 

The French Open action continues tomorrow as Roger Federer and Robin Soderling face off in the Roland Garros final. 

image: TSN

The women’s semifinals are over and, on Saturday, top-ranked Dinara Safina will face off against seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 2009 French Open final which will take place on Saturday at Roland Garros.

image: Zuma Press

Safina defeated 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova yesterday 6-3, 6-3.  This is the second consecutive time that she has made it to the French Open final but, if she is victorious on Saturday, it would be her first Grand Slam title since she lost last year to Ana Ivanovic in last year’s tournament.

Meanwhile, Kuznetsova had to really fight for her win, beating 30th-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 .  This is also her second French Open title match (she was the runner-up in 2006).  Last year, Kuznetsova faced Safina in the semifinals and lost in straight sets.

It is interesting to note that Safina has a 20-1 record on the clay this year but her lone loss came at the hands of her fellow Russian, Kuznetsova, against who she has played 13 times in their careers.

I think Saturday’s match up could be extremely intense if both women are on their games.  It will be exciting to see who wins it!

Oh the carnage! Opening day at Wimbledon has come and gone, and half of those who took the court today are disappointed. The other half are not. (Deep - I know…)

I got home from work today and flipped through the draw to see who was still alive and kickin’. This morning I mentioned that Lleyton Hewitt and Svetlana Kuznetsova both dropped their first sets in tiebreakers. Kuznetsova bounced back with a 7-5 second set and 6-3 third set to move on to the second round.

Hewitt had to go five rounds with Robin Haase before finally getting the go-ahead into the second round. The Aussie won the next two sets at 6-3 each before losing the fourth in another tiebreak. With everything leveled at 2 sets apiece, Hewitt came out smoking and won the decider at 6-2. Glad to see the ole backwards hat wearing man from Down Under still has a little fire left.

As Wimbledon always brings, the intensity is often balanced out with laughables on the other side of the scale. Today’s biggest goof was *drum roll* David Nalbandian! The man’s streaky to say the least (and also a bit chubby-ish), but his crash-out in the first round of Wimbledon made me laugh. I’m not sure if that is really the correct response I should have had, but when I saw it - all I could do was sit there and try to hold in my laughter. ‘Bandy only had three sets worth of time during 2008 Wimbledon before Frank Dancevic dismissed him 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Other interesting things on the men’s side? Novak Djokovic needed four sets to get past Michael Berrer (although granted, Djokovic handed Berrer a big fat zero in the fourth set). That’s trips the interest wire a little bit. But what sends up red flares is who Djokovic is set to slug it out with in the second round: Marat Safin. It’s true. Safin is very close to the ultimate has-been, but I think somewhere, deep-down Dinara Safina’s older brother has just a little bit more awesome to give.

Not gonna lie though…Nole is a pretty tall order for the best of the best, let alone for a past-his-glory-days Safin.

(Image: Newscom)
Steeeetch! David Nalbandian tried and failed to get past the first round of Wimbledon. Shucky-darn.

And it’s here! The countdown is over, the waiting is past - now it’s time to just kick back and watch the drama unfold.

Roger Federer sailed through the first round in straight sets (6-3, 6-2, 6-2) over Dominik Hrbaty and will be squaring off against Robin Soderling in the second round. The experts say that’s a potential upset, but Soderling took four sets to win his first match - including a bagel performance in the second set against Kevin Kim of the United States before ripping off the third and fourth sets for the victory.

Good news for Roger - and any one else who would have been in his way - Gael Monfils withdrew from competition earlier today due to an inflamed right shoulder.

Lleyton Hewitt also just dropped his first set to Robin Haase in a tiebreak. If Hewitt moves through, the possibility for a meeting with Federer exists but the Aussie’s start isn’t the most superb.

Despite a slow start, Serena Williams won her first round match 7-5, 6-3 Kaia Kanepi. Williams will take on Urszula Radwanska in the second round.

World number one Ana Ivanovic (it sounds so weird to call her top dog!) had no trouble in her opening match and will face Nathalie Dechy in the second.

Svetlana Kuznetsova just choked big time. In her first set of the day against Mathilde Johansson, Kuznetsova had a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak. She should have been able to close it out, but Johansson reeled off the next five points to win the first set 7-6 and take a one-set lead. *Shakes head*

It’s during times like these I wish I had access to the internet so I could watch live scores…or I could just take off work for two weeks :)

(Image: Newscom)
Serena Williams got off to a slow start, but she’s still around at Wimbledon after winning in the first round.

The drama of the previous two matches wasn’t there for Dinara Safina in her semifinal match against fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova. Safina toppled the highly-ranked Russian in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Safina was playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, and the big story is the possibility of a brother-sister combo Grand Slam winners. Marat Safin won the 2000 U.S. Open and the 2005 Australian Open.

Should Safina win her first Grand Slam title, it’d be the first time for brother and sister to win a Grand Slam.

(Image: Newscom)
Dinara Safina wins her way into the French Open finals against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

I think rankings can really get in the way sometimes. As a player, if you get too caught up in where you sit in the top 10 - or the fact that you’re sitting outside the top 10 - it can take your focus off of where it really needs to be.

After the Australian Open, the men’s tennis rankings aren’t too shook up except for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s 20-place move to No. 18 in the world. Roger Federer still owns the top spot with 6630 points and Rafael Nadal still sits in second with 5980. Novak Djokovic solidified his hold on the No. 3 slot with 5165 points. After that, talking points is directionless discussion. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko has 2725 points. He - and the rest of the ranked tennis crew - won’t be challenging the top three for awhile.

Mikhail Youzhny and James Blake each jumped six spots to eighth and ninth, respectively. Andy Murray dropped out of the top 10 to No. 12 and Fernando Gonzalez got drop-kicked out of the top 10 to No. 24.

In the men’s top 20, a quarter of them are representing Spain: No. 2 Nadal, No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 15 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 16 Carlos Moya and No. 17 Tommy Robredo. Interesting.

Justine Henin still has about a 2500 point lead in the women’s tennis rankings. Ana Ivanovic moved into the No. 2 spot with 4126 and Svetlana Kuznetsova dropped to third in the world. Maria Sharapova still trails No. 4 Jelena Jankovic by 450 points to keep her No. 5 ranking.

The rest of the women’s rankings really weren’t shook up to much. Venus Williams bumped up two spots to sixth and Serena fell to 10th in the world but as far as earth-shattering 20-place jumpers, it was a no-go on the women’s side.

Effortless.

That is the only way to describe Roger Federer’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 win over Fabrice Santoro. Santoro had his charm, especially on the last two points of the match, but Federer - wow. The man is just liquid motion on the end of a racket.

Someone who was in motion but not very great motion was Venus Williams. The No. 8 seed made it through but she didn’t look good in the 7-5, 6-4 victory over Camille Pin. In fact, she was really sluggish and lacked her characteristic vocalness.

And someone who looks like she doesn’t have any kind of motion besides awkwardness is Svetlana Kuznetsova in her 7-6, 6-2 win over Tsvetana Pironkova.

With play for the Australian Open title set to kick off next week, every tennis fan worth his or her weight in garbanzo beans has looked over the draws for the tournament and drawn conclusions. Here’s mine for the women.

To get to the quarters, Justine Henin has to get through No. 5 Maria Sharapova. Also in the mix along is a host of other players who can step up and hit the ball (Lindsay Davenport, Tatiana Golovin, Elena Dementieva, Shahar Peer and Nicole Vaidisova should all put up a battle) but I like Henin’s chances. If she rolls Sharapova, you know one certain blogger who will pump a fist to the sky.

Provided both Jelena Jankovic (3) and Serena Williams (7) win through the first three rounds, they’ll meet up in the fourth round for the right to a ticket to the quarters. If Jankovic gets back on her feet, it should be a good match - who can forget Serena’s victory slam a year ago?

I like Venus Williams’ chances at making it to the quarters. If she’s on her game (sometimes a big “if”), she should dispatch No. 4 Ana Ivanovic.

No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova has a pretty easy round into the quarters, but I’ll be honest. I don’t know a whole heckuva lot about her potential opponents, not even No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze. I know, I know, I’m dropping the ball.

From the quarters on, well, it could be a lot of player’s tournament to win or lose. I like Henin’s chances but I’m also a little biased. I like her style. I can be realistic about her though and sometimes, she gets a drop in concentration and BAM, she’s out.

I think there is a realistic chance for either of the Williams’ sisters to make a deep run. I like Jankovic, but I don’t know that she’s quite on top of her game enough to make it much farther than the quarters.

Who knows? Tomorrow when I talk about the men’s draw, it’ll be much the same cup o’ tea. That’s the fun of sports and talking about who’s going to win and lose before getting shown up when the competitions actually take place. I’d be a little irked if Sharapova with her frilly dress took the gold but it’s tennis, it could happen…

On the heels of Andy Murray’s announcement that he may forego future Great Britain team play to focus on his goals as a singles player, women’s world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova has basically pronounced the same thing. Only a little more final.

Reportedly, Kuznetsova told Russian team captain Shamil Tarpischev she will not be playing against Israel in the first round of the Federation Cup. It doesn’t fit into her goals as a singles player.

And those goals? Gunnin’ for No. 1 Justine Henin.