When I went to bed early in the third, I had a feeling that the match drag on for bonus time, much like Fran had with Rebecca, winning 9-7 in the third. But mostly, I thought Kuz had the momentum and would be on her way.

Boy was I wrong.

The longest match in women’s history, 4 hours and 44 minutes. In contrast, the 5 set men’s 2009 Wimbledon final took 4 hours and 17 minutes and the fifth set only lasted 95 minutes. This third set took 3 hours.

Though I didn’t see the end, I can say that from the start both were up for a fight; Fran equipped with her badass snarl and Kuzonator with her laser stare. Even when trading breaks early, it hardly mattered. If the tennis is awesome, who gives a damn? Kuz took the second set relatively easily but clearly Fran was not prepared to just hand the match to her.

The hug at the net says it all. Amazing tennis and an amazing effort by both where either could have been the winner. The fact that Fran came off a 9-7 battle in the previous round just shows the true fighting spirit that she possesses, one that few ladies on the tour can claim to have.

WTA haters to the left, please. Well done, ladies. Go tennis.

Before today is over, I need to get in my love for Nalby and Kuz (sorry Caro, it was your home tournament) who took home the Washington and San Diego tournies respectively.

I can’t say enough about Nalby’s game. For me, he proved that he’s both one of the most naturally talented players on tour, and one of the best match players on tour. Sure, there’s something to be said about someone like Rafa who is balls to the wall on every point, but there’s also something to be said about guys who maybe can’t do that, but know how to play the big points.

Even at times where he wasn’t striking the ball as cleanly (like in the Gilles match) or playing his best, he adapted and found a way to win.
And yes, the variety. It makes my pants giddy. Huge returns, powerful forehands, wicked slices, defence… and yes, that disgusting backhand. The guy just invents disgusting cross court angles by using that left arm to take the ball early and rip it. Can you tell I’ve missed him?

And yes, Kuz, who seemed wickedly inspired and in the zone (maybe it was the haircut?) most of the time, and playing aggressively. Specifically, she looked to come to the net a ton and always looked comfortable when trying to do so, especially in the blowout that was the Flavs match. Kuz is much more of a solid, all-around player than she often gives herself credit for. Most definitely one to keep an eye out for over the next two weeks.

All aboard the MSS Kuzonator! Next stop: US Open!

If we all take the time to remember the last time Sveta put together a huge run, we all might remember a clay season where, well, only two players mattered. Her, and Dinara Safina. That was the clay season last year. We all know how that ended.

This isn’t exactly a huge run or anything, but it is the first final for Kuz, and if she was able to win the whole thing against a wickedly consistent A-Rad, that would be a big deal. She’s also got Masha in Cincy, which is a huge litmus test as to where her game is right now. I hope you’re all taking notes.

Some new gold from Matty C:

“I like and think Jankovic brings a lot to the tour but she has to stop whining about injuries after every loss. Here’s what Hantuchova said, with her eyes rolling, although she wouldn’t specifically comment on JJ: “If you can’t play then don’t play, but don’t complain afterward.” So true.”

And on Twitter: “Kuznetsova when asked JJ & injury excuses: ‘When I played in Miami I injured my shoulder & I saw stars in my eyes. I cannot blame that my shoulder was the reason that I lost. If you are injured you forget it and you go out there and you play. If you complain in press, that’s how people are going to judge. When fans read our press conferences they know who is who”

Love him or hate him (remember he was the one who asked Roddick how he would feel the next morning) the dude knows how to dig up the gold. It’s one thing for us non-pros to sit and debate and issue, but when fellow players are willing to comment, and are blunt about the subject, you know something is up. It’s very similar to the Serena issue; her not giving credit to opponents after a loss, etc. It’s fine to say that you didn’t play your best, but give credit where it’s due. The whole JJ thing is beyond the boy who cried wolf, really. Oh, and from what I’ve heard, Kleybs played out of her mind last night. So there’s that.

More Kuz gold!

She can’t get Momes to coach her, so she’s getting Momes’ former coach! Loic Courteau? That’s gotta be the best tennis name behind Smashnova. “Hit the court, Courteau!” Anyway… I was lucky enough to see Kuz and Momes play dubs together last year in Toronto (getting their asses kicked by the would be champions) and they were just about the cutest, most hilarious thing ever. Maybe in a couple years, Momes will miss it too much, and make a return as Kuz’s coach. That would rule the universe.

If you were looking for drama, you came to the… well, honestly, wrong place, save for the end of the day.

The match of the day was easily Aravane/Nads, who lived up to the billing. Monsterous hitting from both sides, which led to a lot of breaks due to a lot of huge shots off second serves.

The drama came at the end however, when Aravane had match points at 4-5 on Nads serve… lost them. And then consecutive service breaks got us all the way to 7-all in the third set when the match was called. Nads had three match points, blew the first one with a double fault, couldn’t capitalize on the other two, obviously, and a yelping, fistpumping Aravane and her crazy crowd tied things up.

I’ve gotta believe Aravane will have the upper hand, serving first and with the crowd behind her, that and Nads’ blown match points were at the end of the match, instead of earlier on. Should be a crazy finish.

The other dramatic but not so surprising match was the final fall of Kuz. We all knew it was going to happen sooner than later. Perhaps most fittingly, it comes at the hands of a fiesty Kiri, again, in three sets. Kiri nearly had it stolen from her grasp while serving for the match, but showed off some serious mental strength and massive forehands to eventually take it.

She’ll take on Franny next. A solid chance to make it into the quarterfinals.

Quick wrap of other stuff around the grounds. Ernie was but a fawn caught in the headlights of a raging old French man today. Jules came out big time, with the crowd behind him, Ernie did his best Serena impression with the splits, and was forced to retire down 2 sets and a break. Boo face. Yet sadly not too surprising.

All other seeds won, and other than the Jo scoreline and Janko getting his clock cleaned, no surprises.

As for the ladies, Kuz came out nervous against Sorana, and then won 12 of the next 13 games to take the match. Saw an interview with her after, she was smiling and seemed positive. Good sign. She’s also rocking the new “only God can jurge me” tat. Or “Sven”. Or “judge us”. Or something.

Vika lost to Dulko. Badly. And then skipped out on the press conference. Moving on.

Don’t look twice, but other than the injured MJMS that I already talked about, every other lady seed won. Wowza. Poor Chaky served for the match in the second set and lost anyway. Kiri had a solid win over Sprem. Aravane, Flavs, Domi, and Nads all cruised too. None lost more than 4 games.

Great order of play tomorrow.

First thing is first. I didn’t get to do this yesterday, and it must be taken care of.

Ana won a match over a player ranked higher than her. A recognizable one. In straight sets. Without dropping serve. I’m scared.

Resident MTR… er, Earth Ana Expert Curtis filled me in. She never faced break point, was nailing her serve, and was playing consistently and confidently. And Vesnina played like crap but… yeah whatever. Vika is going to be a hell of showdown later.

Well what the hell girl?! Kiri’s gotten herself a solid season so far, and makes the third round of Rome after defeating Kuz in three. Keep the Kiri train rolling!

Really got to feel for Kuz though. She can have periods in matches where she’s inconsistent, but it just seems she’s permanently inconsistent and is having a hell of a time winning points on her own serve, which isn’t like her. She’s starting to look more and more like an outside shot to repeat at the French this year.

I actually totally forgot how sweet of a clay season Kuz had last year. I remember she won the French, obviously. But she also won Stuttgart and made the Rome finals. Damn. Especially with Dinara still hurting, she’s a big favourite to clean up this clay season. Though she’s been wickedly inconsistent so far this year. Regardless, she took out Srebotnik 1 and 2 in the beginning of her title defense.

Other winners include Nails, her first win in forever, over Errani (who has been great this year, WTF?) 1 and 1. Also, Shahar, Agi Szavay, some randoms… and yes, A-Rad beat Ana 7-6, 6-4. Go play some freaking International level tournies so you can get some wins, points, and confidence. Thanks.

There’s been calls to “take a break”. To spend more time on the practice court. To get more match play in. To try crystal meth. Everything under the sun including taking a trip to the end of the rainbow has been suggested for poor Ana, and now perhaps the most crazy thing has happened, something no one figured would happen.

She’s out of the top 50. And she’s cool with it. In fact, she’s confident. Yeah, you read that all right. My main suggestion was getting a full time coach, and I think she got one just in time. Last year was a year of pain… minus Indian Wells, where she made the final, and got most of her ranking points from. A second round loss this time around means there isn’t a whole lot left lying around. Perhaps this pic best sums it up best. Ana, still being invited to players parties and big time events… yet is now somehow magically ranked lower than a struggling Sorana Banana. Oh dear.

Yet she remains confident and upbeat about her game. Good. Because now that you’re out of the top 50, you’ve seriously got shit to prove now. Here’s hoping she DOES take an Andre route, maybe not as low as the ITF stuff, but some International events, work on the ranking, and work on beating players that she can and should beat.

According to @donkeygrooming Sven (is the nicest guy ever, go figure) and was really sad about Ana. There, there Omniscient One. You have done all you can.

This also happened. The shit? A 3 sets loss to CSN, and 1-6 in the third none the less. Apparently Kuz tried to break her racquet at the end, and failed. How Marcos of you. Seriously, she never gets this angry. It must be the wind… that, or there’s something in the wind. There’s drama all around the grounds.

Whole lotta Fed Cup was going on this weekend. Due to my generally mad schedule and amount of homework, I was only able to catch arguably the most interesting tie, Russia/Serbia.

Unfortunately, it really comes down to Ana, who was unable to win a set in either of her singles matches, or in the doubles. It’s too bad really. After being blown away in the first set by fellow RG champ The Kuzonator, she played a solid second, but ended up collapsing at the end… and pretty well did the exact same thing against Kleybs. How JJ managed to win both of her matches is beyond me.

The doubles was a shit show, naturally. Ana and JJ were all smiles… and then JJ nearly laughed herself off the court after she almost served into the WRONG SERVICE BOX. The good news was that Ana and JJ probably haven’t had that much fun on a tennis court in months. And that they were almost as cute as Muzz and L-Rob at Hopman Cup. The bad news is that Kuz knew what she was doing, and Serbia’s crap serving and volleying, and JJ’s still confusing and terribly timed backhand couldn’t stand the test.

Other winners are the USA over France, who without Momes, Gypsy, Mono… or really anyone, fell prey to Mel (who actually won a tennis match?) and friends. Defending champs Italy downed the Ukraine Bond sisters, and the Czechs dinged out a Sabine-less Germany.

And for a chance to play for World Group I, World Group II winners include Australia over Spain, Belgium over Poland, Estonia over Argentina, and the Czechs Slovaks over China.