Bethanie Mattek-Sands had Kim Clijsters on the ropes at 6-4, 1-4 before the Belgian former Rogers Cup Champion could turn the tide in Montreal.

Two of the leggiest and loudest blondes on the professional circuit will be squaring off today in the finals of the Bank of The West Classic in Stanford.

Saturday was the women’s tour at its best with tight matches and stirring comebacks in just about every quarterfinal match.

When Samantha Stosur plays tennis, it is poetry in motion. There’s a beautiful, confident competitor with all the snappy trimmings, an up and down storyline with an ending that is inconclusive but on the horizon.

Francesca Schiavone won the only set she needed and then Samantha Stosur crushed Jalena Jankovic to complete the championship pairing nobody expected.

In a stunning reversal, Samantha Stosur outplayed Serena Williams in the clutch and joins fourth seed Jalena Jankovic in the semifinals at Roland Garros.

Francesca Schiavone brought her A game out against Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva overcame powerful Russian Nadia Petrova to seal semifinal berths at Roland Garros.

In a weekend of startling upsets, the final French player retired after just one set while 3rd seeded Andy Murray was eliminated and 2nd seeded Venus Williams suffered an unexpected setback in the women’s division.

On Monday, challenges came from unlikely sources on the men’s side but heat management may have saved Andy Murray and helped Novak Djokovic as the 3 and 4 seeds lived to see another day.

It is safe, even easy, to say that Svetlana Kuznetsova is not a good frontrunner. She is not one of those athletes that relishes in carrying the number one bulls eye seed through an event. Svetlana is comfortable a bit down in the draw, say spots 6 – 10 and picking off higher seeds as they falter, just as unlikely candidates are now doing to her.