Archive for: May 2009

Tennis cutie pie, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, made it into round three of the 2009 French Open. The 17-year-old from Russia ws doing well until she ran ino the world’s No. 1, Dinara Safina.

In round one, Pavlyuchenkova defeated No. 88 ranked, Raluca Olaru of Romaina, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Round two went to a 2nd set tie-break, but Pavlyuchenkova again was the victor in straight sets over No. 70 ranked Julie Coin of France, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).

The 3rd round proved to be too tough as Pavlyuchenkova was pitted against the current world’s No. 1, Dinara Safina. Pavlyuchenkova lost this match in straight sets, 2-6, 0-6.

Serbian cutie pie, Ana Ivanovic, is through to the 3rd round of the 2009 French Open after a decisive 6-1, 6-2 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Ivanovic started off with a somewhat close match against No. 44 ranked Sara Errani of Italy. Errani took the 1st set to a tie-break, which Ivanovic won 7-3. Ivanovic then settled down to business, closing out the final set 6-3. Final score: 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Ivanovic then faced No. 52 ranked Tamarine Tanasugarn of the USA. Ivanovic was all business in this match, winning easily in two sets, 6-1, 6-2.

It appears that Russian tennis cutie pie, Maria Sharapova, is back. After her first round 3-set victory over No. 64 ranked Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, it was questionable how well she would do against her 2nd round opponent, fellow Russian No. 11 ranked Nadia Petrova.

However, Sharapova proved to be up to the task, and after a hard-fought 3-set match, Sharapova came out on top 6-2, 1-6, 8-6. She was a break down in the 3rd set, but obviously she still has the will to win. She fought back, and as Petrova’s final shot went out in the corner of the court, there was a brief tear of disbelief in Sharapova’s eyes as she realized she had just won the match.

Serena Williams of the USA jumps for joy after the final shot from her opponent goes out in the opening round of the French Open on Tuesday. It was a tough struggle to get that win, with Williams seeing eight match points go down the drain and being broken several times while serving for the match. Finally, on the ninth match point, her opponent, little-known Klara Zakopalova, hit it out. Zakopalova, from the Czech Republic, is ranked only 100 in the world and has never made it past the 2nd round of a Grand Slam in the past five years. Final score: 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, and a big scare for Williams, who claims she is the real No 1 in the world, despite what the computers say. She’s going to have to play better than this to convince the tennis-world she is No. 1!

Russian cutie pie, Maria Sharapova, is back in Grand Slam action playing in the 2009 French Open. Sharapova passed her first test, defeating No. 64 ranked Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus. Sharapova got off to a slow start resulting in a 3-set match, but came out on top 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Sharapova is just 2-1 in singles action this year. She won two rounds of the Warsaw Open just recently, then lost in the Quarterfinals. This is only the second tournament in which she has played singles this year due to a shoulder injury she has been nursing since about mid-season last year.

The seeding has been done for the French Open Tennis Tournament which begins May 24, 2009 in Paris, France. Coming in at the No. 1 spot is Dinara Safina from Russia. She is followed on the seeding chart by Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, and Jelena Jankovic, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka, and Caroline Wozniacki to fill out the first 10 seeds.

My predictions for the French Open women’s draw are that the following will reach the semifinals: Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic, and Ana Ivanovic, with Dinara Safina getting all the way through to win her first Grand Slam title.

Tennis cutie pie, Ashley Harkleroad, celebrated her 24th birthday on May 2, 2009. She was born May 2, 1985 in Rossville, GA, USA and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, USA. So what has Ashley been up to since her last birthday?

Well, on March 25, 2009 she had her first child, a boy named Charles Hooper Adams the 4th. That took her out of tennis for a while, but according to Ashley Harkleroad’s website, she is now getting ready for her comeback and the US Open by the end of August. Harkleroad’s fitness trainer says Ashley will follow a strict workout program that will take her “from having a baby to serving aces in 91 days.” Part of this plan includes lots of vegetables and fruits, workouts with weights that target biceps and triceps, cardio, core exercises, and getting on the court at least five times a week for 1 1/2 hours a day.