The three and four seeds, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka, lead the march toward the crown in the $2 million Dubai Open but they have some work to do before claiming the title. Two formidable roadblocks stand in the way. In a tournament of upsets, only Azarenka and Williams have played consistently. Top seeds Caroline [...]
Lucie Safarova showed why she is a player to be reckoned with in her final match with Elena Dementieva.
Melanie Oudin is up to her old tricks. The spunky American mounted an unlikely rally and surged past veteran Agnes Szavay in the quarterfinals of the $700,000 Open GDF Suez in Paris on Friday. An enthusiastic crowd wildly encouraged the underdog who at one point trailed 2-6, 1-3 against the savvy and seemingly dominant competitor. [...]
The city of love is falling for Melanie Oudin and the feeling is mutual. Oudin, who captured the hearts of tennis fans with her stirring play at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, has found her game on the Paris stage. 2010 has been a fairly rude wake-up call for the young American. After first round [...]
Now that the first week – and the opening three rounds – of the 2010 Australian Open are over, it’s time to examine what seasoned hands call the “business end” of the tournament, a time when the summer charms of Australia take a back seat to the pursuit of a major championship and some hefty [...]
Justine Henin is evidently a magnet for two things at the 2010 Australian Open: the best efforts of worthy challengers, and great tennis theater. Ever since she escaped a routine first-round match against a tomato can opponent, Henin’s had to spill every ounce of energy in her small but willful frame in order to progress [...]
In the bottom half of the women’s draw at the 2010 Australian Open, two clear storylines are emerging after a fateful Friday in Melbourne. While Serena Williams and Venus Williams do battle in the top half of the draw, en route to a potential semifinal showdown, the bottom half of the women’s field has proven [...]
Real sadness, the kind of heartbreak which defines the human condition in its deepest vulnerabilities and its most profound moments of loss, exists in Haiti, where a nation screams in agony and wails in lamentation. Real hardship consists of buildings flattened, lives ended, dreams shattered amidst rubble and wreckage. There’s no question that sportswriters – [...]
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. But oh, did it exceed the considerable hype. If the International Tennis Federation had the good sense to seed the four major tournaments 1 through 128, Justine Henin and Elena Dementieva wouldn’t have played each other in the second round of the 2010 Australian Open. But since the two [...]
The Belgians – both of them – are back. Dinara Safina’s not the top-ranked female tennis player in the world. Serena Williams hasn’t promised to shove a ball down the throat of a linesperson… yet. Intrigue and anticipation are coursing through Melbourne in the final 30 hours before the start of the new year’s first [...]
