It's been a somewhat entertaining first few days of the tournaments in Toronto and Cincinatti, especially in Cincinatti where the upset theme continues in the WTA tour. Only 1 single-digit seed remains (Clijsters) while only 3 remaining men's players are outside the top 7.
Rogers Cup (Toronto)
Here are your eight quarterfinalists, then some commentary:
1) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
2) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
3) Roger Federer (SUI), that still looks weird, the 3 I mean
4) Andy Murray (GBR)
7) Tomas Berdych (CZE)
Philipp Kohschreiber (GER)
David Nalbandian (ARG)
Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
A couple of these are not like the others but who's to fault Chardy, he beat Baghdatis, Verdasco, and Davydenko so he's earned his spot in the quarters and likely a drubbing from Djokovic. We got one of the quarterfinal matches we wanted to see (Federer/Berdych) but not the other (Murray/Soderling) thanks to the tour's hottest player (Nalbandian with 11 straight wins). Roddick's withdraw will drop him to #13, oh how the mighty have fallen. Del Potro also drops #9 with the no-show. And BTW, Nadal played his longest ever tiebraker in his second round win over Wawrinka, besting the Swiss no. 2 14-12.
Half of 2009's quarterfinal field is still alive led by defending champion Murray. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have all successfully defended quarterfinals. Murray still needs another win or two to stay ahead of Soderling for the critical 4th seed in Flushing Meadows. A potential Federer/Djokovic semi would be huge in the race #2.
Tomorrow's quarters:
Nadal vs Kohlschreiber
Murray vs Nalbandian (could be an excellent match)
Federer vs Berdych (far and away the best tussle here)
Djokovic vs Chardy
Cincinatti
In the eight matches today, 7 ended in upsets, at least according to seed, and yes, Ivanovic was ranked lower than Vesnina. So here is our surprising quarterfinal field, though it really shouldn't be surprising anymore:
4) Kim Clijsters (BEL)
10) Maria Sharapova (RUS)
11) Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
12) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)
16) Marion Bartoli (FRA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) (who???)
Quite a bit of ramifications from the day's events will play out in the next rankings. Jankovic fails to defend her title from last year, inexplicably falling to a qualifier ranked outside the top 100, and will drop to #4 while Wozniacki regains #2 despite failing to defend her quarterfinal from 2009. Safina was a finalist last year and her second round loss to Clijsters will drop her to around #75 (ouch!), the free fall continues. Dementieva was a semifinalist last year and it looks like she'll drop to #8 which will leave her in danger of getting a double digit seed at the US Open since has the title to defend next week in Canada. Only Pennetta (SF) and Clijsters (QF) remain from last year's last eight with Bammer and Hantuchova suffering second and first round losses, respectively.
On the bright side, what a tournament it's been for Pavlyuchenkova, knocking off defending quarterfinalist Hantuchova, then world #6, Russian #1, and defending semifinalist Dementieva, and finally one of 2010's more successfully players, Peer. Also Bartoli continues some very steady results under the radar. What does the Rogers Cup think now of snubbing Ivanovic? She will likely still be playing in Cincy unable to go try and qualify there, but these wins (Azarenka, Shvedova, and Vesnina) should be huge for her confidence and she can had boatloads of points at the US Open will a few wins.
Finally, the matchup I expected to be the best of the round of 16, turned out to be, Wickmayer's 3rd set tiebreak win over Na Li.
Tomorrow's quarters:
Ivanovic vs. Amanmuradova
Clijsters vs. Pennetta
Wickmayer vs. Pavlyuchenkova
Sharapova vs. Bartoli
Enjoy the tennis!!!
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