Serena's usually feisty opponent put minimal effort into the match and in the end it essentially turned into a training drill for the former world number one. Williams dropped just nine points in the opening set but took the foot of the pedal in the second set ultimately dropping four games.
Williams now sets her sights on something much, much bigger and lets face it, impossible even for Serena;
"It's great. I haven't even thought about it. It's like the ultimate. It's really, really cool. The first thing I asked, of course, Is there anyone that achieved a thousand? I guess not. I never will get there either. But it's really cool. 500 is a lot of matches to play, let alone to win, so it's pretty cool."
The 13 times slam champion was initially scheduled to play mixed doubles with her good friend Andy Roddick in preparation for the Olympics and an attempt to complete the trifecta of Grand Slams, only the Australian Open and French Open mixed doubles trophies elude her trophy cabinet. Unfortunately due to an injury Andy sustained in December and provoked during his second round match with Lleyton Hewitt, Williams and Roddick have been forced to withdraw from the competition.
Other top seeds continue to advance with out much trouble with Wozniacki and Azarenka storming into the round of 16 today dropping 12 games between them.
World number two Petra Kvitova so far is the only title favorite to drop a set, battling past Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 2-6 6-4
27 comments:
Good news and bad news:
Good news: Aggie made Voskoboeva do a belly flop.
Bad news: McHale got punked out.
I only saw what ESPN2 had on but it was obvious JJ took advantage of McHale's backhand in the corner.... Also her court position was crap. Not sure what happened in the second set she lost 0-6 but I can only imagine. Perhaps she was nervous or just got outplayed by the veteran.
I think its going to be Clijsters vs. Angry Bird in the semifinals. And of course Kimmie is going to have Bird out there huffing and puffing and maybe even drop kicking the umpire's chair!
Aggie vs. Julia will be interesting but I don't see either of them beating that Bird.
I also think its going to be Serena vs. her worse nightmare aka the big bad Ostrich and of course the aforementioned Ostrich is going to squwak her off the court!
On to the final.. Guess it'll have to be Kimmie vs. Ostrich which is going to be a nerve racking for me since both of 'em are my favorites. However, its plainly old vs. new guard and I'd be happy with even of them winning.
Now, if something doesn't go as planned.. And Serena beats Ostrich then Kimmie will take her out with no problem. Serena might have a winning record against Kimmie but if you look at the dates she hasn't beat her since 2003. Well, Kimmie is a much better player (mentally) than she was back then.
19:00 Cirstea - Errani (Show Court 2)
19:00 Cibulkova / Craybas - Gajdosova / Mattek-Sands (Show Court 3)
19:00 Mirza / Vesnina - Birnerova / Brianti (Court 6)
19:00 Kirilenko - Kvitova (Rod Laver Arena)
20:30 Kerber - Sharapova (Rod Laver Arena)
20:30 Zvonareva - Makarova (Margaret Court Arena)
20:30 Zheng - Bartoli (Show Court 3)
20:30 Benesova / Zahlavova Strycova - Fujiwara / Morita (Court 6)
21:00 King - Ivanovic (Hisense Arena)
22:30 Lisicki - Kuznetsova (Hisense Arena)
00:30 Pavlyuchenkova / Mirnyi - Vesnina / Paes (Show Court 2)
00:30 Mattek-Sands / Tecau - Hradecka / Cermak (Show Court 3)
03:00 Arn - S. Williams (Rod Laver Arena)
03:00 Rodionova / Kas - Shvedova / Ram (Margaret Court Arena)
500th victory for Serena and I wonder how the Captain celebrated that feat, did she get drunk? Thrashed her hotel room? Threw tennis balls from her hotel balcony into the streets? Did she ran around the hotel lobby yelling "WoooHooo"? Maybe all but in not that particular order. :P
The Princess is going to get pummel to a pulp today.
My other woman Licki Bean will show why Kuznetsova is over the hill.
I never liked King but she better beat The Fist Pumping Imbecile.
I have Mrs. Angry in a time out, hope it works haha.
Makaruchi will beat Vera Z.
Errani vs. Chipmunk voiced Do I really have to pick one?...pass!
Caps I saw parts of the second set of the McHale match. McHale simply ran out gas the three hour plus match took its told. At the end she gave up. She needs to learn to hit the ball to both sides of the court, she was slow in her shots so JJ knew where McHale's shots where heading. McHale is beginning to learn how to deal with power, I say watch for her at the U.S. hard court season.
BTW JJ has lost a lot of weight. I'm glad she left out all the on court glamor crap.
A message to clefairy: Booooooo to Deliciano for taking out Big John hahaha. :P
Carlos, her tongue isn't very long compared to Bird but it might work out in a pinch, no?
http://tinyurl.com/7qbesyt
That is a nice tongue from Julia G. Caps, however your stable of women are better known for their "bouncing boobies" than for their wicked tongues.
I think Julia plays better when she lets her jugs hang a bit..
One hour and 11 minutes until Ostrich time!
Ostrich is up 5-0 in the first set, Princess called for the trainer...
Ostrich wins via retirement, Divapova wins, Errani wins, Miraz/Vesnina also win...
Vera is in big trouble. Lost the first set 7-6 and already down 2-0 in the second against Makarova!
My other woman (the one that I rather spend most of my time with) Licki Bean won in three sets. Yeaaaaaaaaaah!
Licki Bean is the opposite of Mrs. Angry Bird.
I'm 100% positive the Mrs. will say "I'm pissed off" again in her next interview.
Question for Clefairy, which dude will you be drooling for Deliciano or Nadal?
What is up with you Aussie women and Spaniards?
All I know is that after the Nadal/Feliciano match lot of women are going to need to change their underwear.
Deliciano. By far.
Hahah, I think AB has said that in all of her interviews now.
Cheer on! :)
I have JJ over the Bunny.
Just watched Julia vs Aggie. W O W !
Aggie didn't even have to break a sweat or pull any tricks out of her bag.
Julia clearly beat herself because she's the poor womans Davenport without the consistency and when her big serve isn't working she has NO GAME.
But, that's a little simplistic.. Just about EVERYTHING Julia hit was in the net, long or wide. Not sure if she had an injury or if she needs to meet with Zvonareva's shrink.
That said, I still think she looks great but this was an absolute disgusting display.
I missed Aggie match as well as the Mrs.
Caps, at least you wil sleep warm and cozy knowing you got to see your hotties out there.
Julia G. To me is still a dirt baller she has improved in hard courts from last year but there is a lot of work to be done.
Li Na/Kookie Monster I'll take Kookie.
Most of the opponents of the big name players are punking out giving the matches away.
I'm awake and waiting on Kimmie Clijsters to arrive! Nadal is up 6-5, 6-4, 4-2 so it won't be long now. (11:14pm)
Kimmie went down in a heap with a gimpy ankle but hopped back up. Getting treatment now, so this one is up in the air.....
When the score got 5-1 in the tie break in favor of Li, I knew she would choke and Kimmie would tie Li. Well, Kookie win the tie break 8-6. On to the third set. Maybe is me because I'm streaming on my cell from work, but this match is not a classic one, too many unforced errors from both players. A lot of drama though.
Kookie/Na match was a choker vs choker match, with Kookie Monster winning.
Waiting for JJ to kick some cotton tail butt.
I think Na Li's tie break action was a monumental choke-a-thon. Clearly, Kimmie wasn't playing at 100% and Na Li still couldn't close it out with all those match points.
Plus, Kimmie was up 5-1 in the third set but ended up winning it 6-4.
I think Kimmie will still beat Bunny but one has to wonder if she can get past Azarenka now. I guess it depends on her ankle.. I know she slid a total of 'twice' after the injury and 'sliding' is a BIG part of Kim's game.
IMO, her ankle will be fine because she would've had slid otherwise.
Now we got Bunny talking a little trash:
---
Wozniacki says she's not scared of taking on Clijsters - a player who has beaten her twice in finals - at such a critical stage of the tournament.
"I don't think I have to play better, I just have to play the same way as I did today," Wozniacki said.
"If I do, Kim really needs to play well to beat me."
---
We'll see about that Ms. Not-going-to-be-#1-for-much-longer!
19:00 Ivanovic - Kvitova (Rod Laver Arena)
20:30 Errani - Zheng (Margaret Court Arena)
20:30 Kirilenko / Petrova - Begu / Niculescu (Show Court 2)
22:00 Mirza / Vesnina - Gajdosova / Mattek-Sands (Margaret Court Arena)
23:00 Makarova - S. Williams (Rod Laver Arena)
23:30 Errani / Vinci - Hantuchova / Radwanska (Show Court 2)
01:00 Mirza / Bhupathi - Benesova / Melzer (Show Court 3)
03:30 Lisicki - Sharapova (Rod Laver Arena)
Bunny won because JJ crap on herself. Allow me to repeat myself, the top names are winning because their opponents are crapping in their tennis shorts.
Remember Caps, Bunny will pull cheap stunts if she finds herself down in the scoreboard.
I think Kim will be fine ice, tape, ankle support, will do the trick.
Pennetta/Dulko lost, I think is time for Pennetta to dump Dulko. She should team up with Julia G.
Dulko looked unhealthily thin, is she sick? I heard she was coming out an injury. That embarrassing performance against Divapova was quite pathetic.
I have to stay late again to watch my other woman Licki Bean beat a former woman of mine Divapova.
Divapova and the Bunny have benefited in this tournament from their opponents lack of play.
Caps, Na choke is going to be legendary like Hantuchova's.
Carlos, have you seen the 'open drive' videos? Its a candid Q&A in a car with some of the following: Ostrich, Aggie, Angry Bird.. If you follow this link you'll have to click on the arrow (on right) for page 2 and 3. Very good stuff, IMO.
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/video/index.html?tabName=open_drive
---
Agnieszka Radwanska is now being coached by Borna Bikic, who is the brother of Jelena Dokic’s longtime boyfriend, Tin, and was once Dokic's coach. Borna Bikic also once coached Croatian player Karolina Sprem, and was also her boyfriend.
Radwanksa has also retained Polish Fed Cup coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. Both Bikic and Wiktorowski are also coaching her younger sister, Usrzula. Both coaches are with her at the Australian Open. Her father Robert, who coached her from the time she was a child, still works with her at home in Poland but no longer travels with her.
"It was a little bit better for me," she told reporters. "I have some very good results since [her father stopped traveling with her last summer]. I think feel more relaxed. It doesn't matter if it's some changes, sometimes it's for the good. So I think, going to keep that way, because I feel good and I'm playing good. So I think I'm not going to change that."
---
I don't know who this Borna Bikic is but he can FORGET about 'dating' Aggie OR Ula!
Personally, I think Na Li should give her husband the boot again for coaching purposes. And leave him at home or the hotel.. Because she seems to look at him in the crowd when things don't go well and it doesn't seem to help. Also didn't I hear something about a coaching violation? Sounds to me like the distraction of him being there is bad for her game.
Caps I'll check the videos later I'm in the middle of the Ostrich?Imbecile match.
Ostrich took the frisrt set 6-2. Yessssssssssssss!!
Ostrich wins! Ostrich wins! Ostrich wins!
Whomever thought the Imbecile had a chance don't know anything about tennis.
I love it when Petra lets out that bark! WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO
Thanks for the link Caps.
The Aggie car video was the best, Aggie was lively. From that video she received the "Angry" nomination for the quote "I play tennis to look sexy".
Petra's video was done this year. I loved when she said that she preferred blonds over brunettes, obviously.
The most boring, no spark, and lifeless, was Mrs. Angry Bird. I got to give her credit for the Aussie weather bit. The video was from a previous year too.
Caps probably you already watched this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-COdTXhCSQ
Serena lost to Makaruchi in straight sets. 6-2, 6-3.
A message to the Captain: I'll fax you a box of Kleenex for the long cry. :P
According to the dimwits of ESPN Wozniacki is the best player on tour.
Licki Bean lost. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! She is still in my good graces.
For some reason I don't trust Divapova's shoulder.
Past 3am local time, I still have the flu, and posting tennis comments.
Thanks for the link, Carlos. I hadn't seen that one.
Tell me something. Is there anything better than waking up and watching my DVR recording in HD of Serena Williams getting spanked by the lovely Ms. Makarova?
Right. Serena sorta beat herself with crap serving and unforced errors. But, Makarova has been on my radar for sometime and she isn't that bad of a player. IMO, she is way more consistent than Goerges who is ranked #23 and Makarova is #56. And beating Vera/Serena isn't a bad run at the AO. Now, will she get past Sharapova? Probably not.
Switching to newer thread.
Post a Comment