Hello everyone! I’ve been on a bit of a tennis break mostly due to going on vacation, but I’m back in full this week and am looking forward to a ton of great tennis this week. Let’s do this.

Stanford – WTA (Premier)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Vika, Masha, Marion, Sam, A-Rad, Julia, Ana, Domi (oh, and Serena)

As per usual, Stanford plays host to a jam packed, exciting draw. Keeping in mind the top seeds, Serena, and the fact that it’s a 28 player draw, we are going to have some juicy early round matches. Oh, did I mention Sabine (possible second round match with Sam), Rebecca Marino (possible second round match with Marion) and Dani (possible second round match with Masha) are playing too? Delicious. This tournament should be fantastic by Wednesday, I can’t wait. And if for some reason you don’t already know, there is going to be excellent coverage over at Forty Deuce as well.

College Park – WTA (International)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Shahar, Petrova, Paszek, Dokic

The inaugural Citi Open in Maryland, while not boasting the same star power as Stanford, should prove to be an exciting one. Highlighted by big hitting veterans Shahar, Petrova, and Dokic, there are also a ton of intriguing up-and-coming young players, such as Bojana, Sloane Stephens, Genie Bouchard, Heather Watson, and the list goes on. Even if it is a veteran who ends up winning the tournament, this could be a great chance for a couple of young guns to rake in some much needed points and squeeze them into US Open qualifying or main draw contention.

Gstaad – ATP (250)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Nico, Stan, The Youz, FeVer

The clay season: yes it goes on and on my friends. What guys like Youz and Feli are doing in Switzerland instead of preparing for the hard court season, a surface they should prefer, is beyond me. But hey, it sure is pretty there, no?

Regardless, Gstaad has one squeaky clean looking draw. All eight seeds are in the top 50, and six of them are from Spain. Have fun, you silly clay rats.

Umag – ATP (250)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Chela, Dolgopolov, Ljubs, Marin

The most surprising thing about this tournament? Mr. Clean Ljubicic is ranked above Marin Cilic. Dude. Get it together.

Otherwise, it’s similar to the above, minus some of the bigger, more recognizable names. Still, there’s some solid clay players and others of intrigue (JCF, Haase) that make this tournament worth watching.

Los Angeles – ATP (250)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: The Fishy One, Delpo, Baggy, Thomaz

Unfortunately there isn’t quite the depth to the Los Angeles tournament that we might be used to, but there sure are some sweet match-ups. First round? Dimitrov/Haas. Gonzo is here too, after a pretty fantastic Wimbledon, all things considered. The Tryin’ Ryan American combo of Sweeting/Harrison is also here, taking on Somdev and Berankis in the first round respectively.

That my friends, is what we call a statement.

Blasting through Morita, Mel, Wicky, Sam and Masha while only dropping one set on the way (to Wicky Bartoli), Vika picks up her fourth title, and first of 2010.

While the first set was a serious tug-of-war and battle for momentum, it was pretty clear that Vika was winning the longer rallies and staying unfazed by Maria’s big hitting or huge winners. I wasn’t quite sure if she was going to be able to close it out, but she did deserve it, and took it 6-4.

Masha pretty well disappeared in the second set, and Vika didn’t drop off for one second. It was over in a flash (though that might have been because I slept through a couple of the games…) 6-1.

Super cute trophy presentation, where Maria said that she was sure they would play “many more times, and I will get my revenge”. Vika, all choked up from her win, thanked Maria and said she was sure they would play many more matches, in which Maria let out a cheeky laugh. Not only super cute, but super classy. I think most people would be down for more clashes between the two, there was some damn good tennis in that first set.

Really fantastic tournaments for both ladies to kick off the 2010 hard court and US Open Series, and I think it’s safe to say that both are big favourites to pick up lots of points pre-USO, and possibly make a run at the big time. Both are in good shape (where did those Vika guns come from?) and fully capable. Show me what ya got.

It’s been a slow process for Masha, climbing back near the top of the mountain that is the WTA. Inactivity and a new service motion will do that do a person. Despite the double faults and bouts of inconsistency, Maria has shown that she’s belonged, dismantling lesser players and simply crushing and hitting through others. She was beating the players she was supposed to beat. The problem was the players that were going to stand more of an opposition. One thinks of Birmingham, where Maria cruised to the final, seemed to be a lock for the championship… until she ran into a consistent and tough Nails and was overwhelmed.

Now with her first wins over top 20 opponents this year (Lena and A-Rad) Masha is showing that she belongs once again, and will be dangerous against any opponent.

I think slowly she’s figuring out that serve, and the confidence is falling into all other parts of her game. The aggressive play she showed in last night’s third set was pretty freaking crazy, and she’s definitely finding the right moments to pull the trigger. Am pretty damn excited for the final today, not going to lie. Should be a good one.

Solid win today for Vika, who took out Sam in straights today. The stats show pretty obviously that Vika brought her A game, and Sam did not, and it was enough to make the difference. Both these players are too good for another to not show up, and have things be close. Vika served at 74%, Sam at 55% with only 2 aces. Vika was only broken once in her 6-2, 6-3 victory.

The real impressive thing for the birthday girl (who turned 21 today) was her match yesterday versus Bartoli. Down a break in the first set, she remained positive, fist pumping, tapping herself, and urging herself on. Unfortunately for her, she dropped the set and got broken early in the second. Things totally unraveled, with her yelling at herself and whacking balls against the backstop. I figured it was over, usual Vika was out being herself again. But slowly things shifted, Vika pushed on, upped her game, Bartoli’s game dropped a bit, and before you knew it, Vika had the match in three. While it wasn’t a total mental display, the end of the first set, and the eventual win showed real signs of Vika staying calm, positive, and reassuring of herself. Those are the wins that are important for big time players, because more often then not, you find your A game the next day and before you know it, you’re in the final.

I can’t say I’m a huge Vika fan. Hate her for the “wooo” sound (once drove my sister out of an adjacent room because the sound alone was driving her mad) or the temper, but the fact of the matter is that Vika has one of the hardest hitting games out there, and isn’t afraid to take it to opponents. Not to mention some good defensive skills and above average volleying. The temper and consistency are what has been hurting her, but with an improvement in the headcasiness (I can only assume that’s a word) and a proper control on aggression, she should be a serious contender for a ton of hard court points this season. Which along with other big hitters like Sam, Masha, and Elena, you’ve got to like as a fan of the WTA.

It’s tough being a huge tennis fan, having massive interest in a tournament… and not being able to watch it. Luckily the coverage around the net for Stanford has been outstanding (massive understatement) but the one key part missing has been that the rest of us haven’t actually seen anything on the courts. And we won’t be able to until tomorrow. It’s kind of the reason this blog has been a little quiet over the past couple of days. So I thought I’d just sum up a whole bunch of random thoughts in a big post. Y’all know where the sweet coverage is this week.

• Fantastic win for Ana against the big hitting Kleybs. Ana has been a near guaranteed loss against big hitters of late (sorry girl, tis true) and to come through is pretty huge. Also hearing her acknowledge that she’s clearly had troubles in closing out matches late, and she’s working on it, is great. And of course her new fitness. Girl looks good physically, hope her game looks just as good. Don’t count her out against Mono tonight.
• Muzz is done with Miles. Apparently the two drifted so far apart it was a pretty easy decision. Rumours are flying that he’ll begin start working with Killer Cahill soon. In my honest opinion, and as a Muzz fan, that would be a pretty brilliant move. While Cahill worked with Agassi just like BG, Killer has a more calming, cerebral approach that I think would really work with Muzz’s personality. Personally, I’d love to see that happen.
• Lindsay Davenport and partner Liezel won their first dubs match together yesterday in Stanford over Believe Oudin and Krajicek. I had a dream two nights ago that Davenport won the French Open over Agi Radwanska, 6-0, 6-1, and I was really confused because I seemed to have remember one of the semifinals being Kim/Justine and I didn’t understand why one of them wasn’t in the final. I wish I was making this up.
• Great to see Baggy looking more fit as ever (again, it seems) and getting into the quarters in LA. On a side note, what is Muzz doing playing his opening match, as the top seed, on Thursday night? How does a tournament wait until Thursday to get their top seed in action? I know Sammy Q played yesterday, but yeesh.
• Gulbis and Tursunov are playing dubs in LA. And they won their first match. Just throwing it out there, ladies.
• Sorana Banana beat Akgul in her opening match in straights, and beat Portoroz finalist Larsson today 6-4, 6-4. Come back to me, girl. She served at 67% and won 63% of points off her first serve. Goooood.
• There still isn’t anything remotely exciting happening in Gstaad or Umag.

Now you know! Hoping to catch whatever matches TTV decides to play tomorrow from Stanford, and hopefully the rest of the tournament after, so should be lots of postage this weekend.

Thanks to Love All from your home of the best Stanford coverage in all the land, Forty Deuce, for the Dani pic.

WTA – Stanford (Premier)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Superhero, Elena, A-Rad, Mono, Masha

Pretty fun draw in Stanford to kick off the US Open Series for the ladies. While it does have a few holes and a lot of qualifiers, there’s some big names that are going to throw down some serious competition later in the tournament. There’s some pretty fun first round matches too, with a wee bit of history. Dinara/Kimiko, Ana/Kleybs, Shahar/Dani, CanWoz/Mel (please win, Aleks) and Mono/Harkleroad. Yes, you read that last one correctly. Winner of Dinara/Kimiko gets Elena in the second round. You’ve also got Sam, Masha, A-Rad, Wicky and Vika. That’s some seriously big hitting right there (well, except for you A-Rad, but that’s ok, you’ll still win some matches somehow anyway). Looking forward to it.

Oh, and if for some reason you were born on the moon and missed that Forty Deuce has a press pass and is blogging from Stanford this week, make sure to bookmark that shit and check it. Often. She’s already got some epic stories from the draw and practice courts, as well as some kickass pics and videos of Masha, Sam, and others practicing. And that’s just day 1. Get on it.

ATP – Los Angeles (250)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here

Top Seeds: Muzz, Q-Man, Marcos, Feli
Pretty dece draw, no? Curious to see how Muzz kicks off his hard court swing, and nice to see Baggy back in action. Some solid floaters (mostly Americans), and of course Muzz/The Power of Curls possible quarterfinal is mega juicy for a 250 event. Sweet. A tournament to keep an eye on.

ATP – Gstaad (250)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Youz, Nico, Thomaz, Montanes

Why must these tournaments happen? A 250 clay event in Switzerland at the end of July? I mean come on. WTF are you doing, Youz? Playing on clay when you could start your hard court swing in America? Silly pants. I get that there’s the clay guys and the journeymen and all that but… bah. Moving on.

ATP – Umag (250)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Kolya, Melzer, Ljubs, JCF

Did I mention that I have a shorter attention span, and asking me to keep track of 5 tournaments in one week is kind of a bit too much to ask?

WTA – Istanbul (International)

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Franny, Kvitova, Pavs, Slava

A new hard court event in Istanbul that was supposed to be featuring Serena? Right. Though Sorana is playing. Please just win a match girl. Maybe two. You’ve got some big time points to defend over the next month.

Well, safe to say no one saw that coming. Mono blew serving for it in the second set at 54, then got broken at 56 and we were headed to three sets. She got the early break, and managed to hold and take the final set 64.

While Venus made over 50 UEs by the end, and a hell of a lot more winners than Mono, Bartty played a solid game, very JJ like, and it was effective. I’m still always surprised at how quickly she can move the two handed forehand through the zone, and generate power off it. It always seems like she’s going to be behind on low balls, but she was pulling them out and with serious authority. She was hitting balls deep and taking risks when she needed to, and it made for an entertaining match with some long and intense rallies. She’s also now windrawn from LA, but more on that in a minute.

Oh, and before I forget, Richard Williams was wearing a “Jehovah My God” shirt in the stands. This was noticed very early in the match, and Mono went up a break very early in the match. Needless to say, Sven was not impressed. Captain Gilbert also gave tips to my TTV commie on what Mono needed to do, so there’s no doubt that the trickster god had something to do in this messed up plotting of a match.

Look who won a final! Q-Man! Didn’t see the match, but its great to see him win his first final after making three in a row. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be seeded for the USO too, so it would be awesome to see him crack the fourth round or something, as he always seems to have trouble taking it to the next level in slams and what not. And hey! An actual trophy! The thing is badass.

Sorry this post is late. My internet died last night for no reason around 12:30, taking out most of my (what was longer) post on Q-Man, so that is the revised crap version. Stuff like that makes me want to devour the soul of my internet sometimes. Just sayin’

Aww, what a cutie. He’s done it again! Second Third final in a row for the Q-Man. Unlike Indy, this wasn’t really his tourney to win, necessarily, with Old Man Haas being a pretty solid top seed, but this is definitely his final to win now against qualifier Ball, who beat out Mayer (who had a pretty impressive run really). Didn’t see the match, but a straight sets win over Tommy aint bad, aint bad at all. Just close the deal this time man. In other news:

That happened. Tough loss for Superhero Sam, the first set was hella close, and pretty damn long. And entertaining as hell. She came out flying in the second set and was totally bashing, taking it quickly 61. I missed the third, but there are pics of an injury problem, and I’m guessing that might have had something to do with it. Which blows. She lost the last set and the match 61. So you’ve got yourself a Venus/Mono final… yeah… fun…

Speaking of which, Venus completely gutted, devoured, and buried the remains of Lena, a bagel and a breadstick in an hour and 4 minutes. The stats were surprisingly close, save for one stat: winners (and Lena’s 44% serving). I think it ended with Lena having 3, Vee having 14. Just not gonna get it done. Also gives some support to Masha, who might not have as far to go as we thought. She killed Nads, and lost to Vee, though made it competitive at points. And then Vee just completely killed Lena, who obviously can be inconsistent, but come on. Will be some serious epic hilarity if Mono somehow wins.

The LA draw was also earlier, but the peeps don’t have it up on the site yet. Oh, US and your tennis, where to start? It should be up by tomorrow though, and with the women in LA, and the men in Washington, serious shit starts getting thrown down this week, so I’ll have a typical big look ahead and breakdown of the draws.

I wasn’t hoping for a miracle. I was just hoping she would make a match out of it, after her absolute thrashing of Nads. At points, she did, but overall, not so much at 62 62.

Other than the obvious serving problems and double faults, I think she was just pressing way to hard, and it was leading to overly aggressive UEs, and just overall a lot of them. Its kind of understandable, you don’t ever beat a Williams by just sitting back and not taking risks, they simply don’t beat themselves. Unfortunately the error count was just far too high, and Vee was playing a pretty solid game overall. Masha’s mental game is completely fine, she came to play and I’m pretty sure she had a pretty good idea of what she needed to do, she’s just a ways away from being able to do that. (She’s 3-2 against Vee, and 3-0 on hard courts, until now, which should tell you something).

Regardless, welcome back. Masha will continue to be a huge thorn in the side of whichever 1/8th or 1/4 she lands in the draw until her ranking climbs within the top 20 or so, or 32 for slams. Right now its tough to know exactly what kind of Masha is going to show up, or in all honesty, how exactly to play her right now. Its definitely going to make things interesting for the next bit, and VERY interesting for the USO. Just keep her out of Caro or Ana’s way please, thanks. Also:

Vee unveiled a new yellow Eleven dress, which totally owns her previous “wtf 1980s” one.

JJ takes first set. Blows two match points, second set goes to a tiebreak. Goes 0-2 in TBs against Mono. And loses again in three sets against her.

Its not rocket science to usually figure out what players are doing wrong. JJ WAS making more errors than she could have been, but she really wasn’t playing that badly. And I wonder what happened, because she isn’t being very successfuly, and she’s definitely not beating players she should be. Which is weird, because Caro has a very similar game, and is having trouble with players ranked higher than her, or very close to her, but seems to have little trouble doing what JJ seemingly can no longer do: beat those players in later rounds that she should be.

Not to take anything away from Mono, she hit some big shots and took a huge risk on an angle on match point, painted the line and rabbed the winner, and then eventually held serve. But JJ simply isn’t getting things done, and she looks incredibly vulnerable for a top 10 player. Have the other players figured her out? Is her fitness worse? Is she simply making too many errors? It could very well be that. She needs to be able to stick around in long points and pound the ball side to side until the opponent makes the error, she’s been great at in the past. But it seems like Mono was doing that for most of the time, and it worked out pretty well. Its strange to see.

On a side note, I’d just like to comment on what I saw when I got home and turned the stream on. It was when JJ attempted to challenge the call of a ball, and freaked when she couldn’t. The ball just (appeared) to miss the baseline (when it was actually in) and then ding off JJ’s racket, which was incredibly close to where the ball was going to bounce, because of her positioning. The ball got over the net, JJ went to call, Mono returned it for a winner. Rules say that if the player hits the ball, they’ve committed, and can’t challenge, so they can’t hit the ball for UE, and then challenge the call after they screwed up, for example. Thing is, JJ had no choice whether or not to hit the ball because of where she was positioned, and clearly didn’t want to, but it didn’t matter. Kind of a crap rule, regardless of the fact that it was actually in. I think if you stop after the second you hit it, especially when you’re clearly in the position where you can’t get out of the way of knocking it back, you should be allowed. Its a sticky situation.

Regardless, we’ve got Superhero/Mono in the semis tomorrow. I’ll for sure be watching. Bring on Masha/V.