Wow! That might be the most surprising match of the year. What the hell happened to Venus? I agree that that was Kim's biggest win, but that must be one of Venus's worst losses. Congratulations, Kim! That sigh of relief you hear is coming from Sharapova, Davenport, and the others.

I really didn't need to see P-Mac in that Hrbaty shirt.

Wow, what a meltdown for Venus! Credit to Clijsters for tightening up her game and letting Venus self-destruct. Did anyone get a flashback to the Oz Open in 2003 when Clijsters blew a 5-1 lead? I'm happy the same thing didn't happen. Now let's hope she can follow through and finally win the big one.

I was thinking the same thing. Obviously, I'm disappointed there wasn't any reserve. With Venus out, although I like Davenport, I'd love to see a Clijsters/Mauresmo final. The Battle of the Chokers: someone would have to win!

I know this won't happen, but it would be hilarious if it turned out to be a Mauresmo-Clijsters final.

If Davenport has such a good offense compared to Clijsters, then why does Kim own her overall?

And go James! I won't be able to watch that one tomorrow-too tense.

ETA: Jinx, Distant Sun!

Way to shaft your opponent, Maria.

I'm referring to her CBS interview.

I hope Clijsters sends her packing in the semis.

I'd love to see the Mauresmo Clijsters final, which would have to end in a third set tiebreaker. At this point as long as Sharapova doesn't make it to the final, I'll be happy with any outcome on the women's side.

I have to agree with John. I think this win could be a big turning point for Kim.

She came back and fought hard when it looked like she was down and out. Maybe this will help undo the mental block that she has had.

Blake has finally been able to do that this summer (he had quite the reputation for never being able to solidfy and win the tough matches) and he has been in the zone the past month. Maybe that will happen to Kim as well.

Actually Maria has never beat Kim; and Lindsay has a losing record against her as well. I think the win against Venus and the way she came back after being this close to losing in two sets will give Kim a huge mental and confidence boost. Kim totally choked against Lindsay at Wimbledon, I don't see that happening this year. (Fingers crossed)

I realize that, but I still doubt either of them would think they had a better chance against Venus. Obviously, I'm not talking about that Venus we saw at the end of the match tonight. I'm sure Davenport is dying to get to one more slam final where she doesn't have to beat a Williams.

Even despite showing she can comeback, I do think the remaining players would rather play Kim than Venus.

ghetto hood rat- Because Lindsay's one of the weakest movers among the top ten. She certainly hasn't gotten to the number one spot on the basis of her defensive skills.;-) Her offense is just that good that she's largely been able to overcome her lack of mobility.

Venus isn't the threat she used to be, as witnessed by her performance in the third set. I think whatever problems Lindsay had with the William sisters were primarily mental. (She could beat them pretty much anywhere except in a Grand Slam) Quite frankly as arrogant as Sharapova is, I don't see her caring who she faces and Lindsay isn't mobile enough to keep up with Kim.

Venus won the last slam (#5). The last time those two played her, she put them out of Wimbledon even though they both played well (Lindsay even had a match point). Lindsay is 2-0 in slams this year against Kim and 0-2 against the Williamses. Like Mac and company said, this is only Kim's second victory over a top player in a slam—that's worse than even Mauresmo. Kim's excellent at the smaller events, but she hasn't proven she can do it on the big stage (although tonight was a huge step in the right direction). If you're Davenport or Sharapova, she's a much better opponent when you're going for another slam title, records be damned.

Well yeah she won, but all I'm saying is Venus isn't the same player she used to be. And I know Venus won Wimbledon but is it that big of deal. All three women who won Grand slams this year are now out of the tournament.

Yes Venus did beat both Sharapova and Davenport at Wimbledon, and she was playing fantastic tennis, I just don't think she was playing all that well at the US Open. And the fact that she is out of the tournament backs up my point.

Truthfully, I don't think Maria or Lindsay probably give two shakes about who they play, I don't even know why I care. For all we know Davenport cuold lose against Elena D.--stranger things have happened.

I was very happy that USA didn't cut away from coverage like they did last night, I'm still pissed about that.

Indeed. All I'm saying is time is running out for Lindsay. She's lost 3 slam finals to Venus, so I can't help but think she'll enjoy seeing someone else if she can get there.


She seemed to be getting better each match, just like at Wimbledon (the Serena match excepted for obvious reasons). That's what made this meltdown so strange. She was in total control and, even when she'd give Kim an opportunity to break, Kim would give it right back. That really was a strange finish to the second set and the match.


Yep. We'll have 4 different winners for the second straight year. Men's tennis is deeper, but women's tennis is more competitive at the top.


I think we hit the nail on the head last night: it was all about status. They certainly weren't going to cut away from a match with two of the top women. Even though Gasquet's going to be in the top 10 now, he and Robby don't have the same network appeal. It's sad.

Venus certainly made some errors that let Kim back in the match but Kim flat out outplayed Venus for the rest of the time. Venus was huffing and puffing, her hair was disheveled, and her eye make-up appeared to be runny. Clijsters moved her around the court and Venus couldn't handle it. I've grown to like Venus but I'm really happy that Kim won (and she better win against Sharapova on Friday).

It seemed to me like Tracey and JMac both had their favorites tonight, with Tracey in Venus' camp and JMac pulling for Kim.

Also: Clijsters' mom is really attractive and really young looking. If they hadn't told me she was her mother I would've had no clue.

That doesn't sound like Venus to me at all. That sounds like Serena.

Yeah, and who can blame her. What the heck were they doing STARTING the match at 10 p.m.? I know that the men do this with some regularity, but the women? Not so much. Tonight I kept thinking that the whole thing was past everyone's bedtime.

Their match was not supposed to start until 9 pm at the earliest- no matter how long the Sharapova/Petrova match went on and no one was counting on that match being that long. That match started at 7 or so, went on for over two hours, then there can be around a half hour break between matches. The US Open is famous for going on insanely late into the night. I mean, come on, it's New York.

I am starting to think I don't want Lindsay to make it to the final-I don't want her to even risk losing three Grand Slam finals in one year-just the thought of that hurts.

I am getting so sick of these cheesy ass songs about tennis players on the CBS late night wrap-up. They make me cringe. I thought Maria was funny on the show today, with her reaction to finally hearing the song and spritzing some of her perfume on because she said she needed it after that match. Her dad's a tool though.

Exactly. Clijsters was looking like she has in other big matches in her career. She was about to totally give it away, but she steadied herself and made Venus try to win it on her own and Venus couldn't do it. It was pretty surpising that Venus really did look tired, even as early as the second set. I wonder why? Did the sister matchup take a lot away from her emotionally? I'm very proud of Kim. If she can win this tournament, then it will be clear what a big match this was. I can totally see her winning a lot more if she can get this monkey off her back.

From a few pages back:


I noticed this too. I started to wonder if he does it on purpose in an attempt to throw off the other guy (sorta like "hey batter batter batter...").


During the V. Williams Clijster match I kept wondering if Tracey and JMac hate each other or love each other.

Man, it was so weird to see Venus look so exhausted. It makes me think she must have been extremely sick this summer. Perhaps she even had mono or something as debilitating as that. I've never, EVER seen her look that exhausted. And I'm no Williams apologist. I loathe them.

So true. Lindsay is my favourite player on the tour and nothing would make me happier than to see her get the slam she totally deserves but after the horror that was unleashed on my heart at Wimbledon I don't know if I can live through another near miss.

I think Lindsay will beat Dementieva. Have you seen the half assed excuse for a serve Elena coughs up? As the best returner in the game Davenport will really punish her.

I hope. God, it's so unbelievably awful when your emotionally invested in a player.

I think Lindsey's gonna beat Elena too but I know I'll be sad about it, cos I can't help but love Dementieva, her complete and utter inability to serve and the girl is still top 10, plus theres just something sweet about her, I hope one day she'l fix her serve and win a major tournament.

A perfect example of why she's so cool- she can actually laugh at herself.

Dominik Hrbaty is actually one of my tennis crushes, but I had to laugh at that one headline: "Fashion victim sent packing". That shirt is hideous!

Olivier Rochus is another of my boys, even before Jon Wertheim declared his love. But poor, overlooked, somewhat less cute Christophe!

Another unconventional crush of mine: Younes El-Aynaoui. Too bad I didn't get to see him play. I miss him!

I am shocked and stunned at the live doubles action we've been getting lately. I didn't know TV programmers knew there was such a thing as a doubles match.

Please indulge my Maria hate. What idiocy came out of her mouth?

I'm so rooting for Clijsters in that semi.

Remember, it's the SECOND serve that's awful - Elena D's 1st serve is actually OK - although her 1st serve percentages can be pretty bad as well.

It almost was if Venus was surprised that Kim defended so well throughout the match - and Venus' game ended up breaking down as a result.

At least the commentators had the presence of mind to quit the chatter at times and let the tennis speak of itself.

I haven't seen Dementieva in a while, but both of her serves are pretty bad. She can hit a decent first serve, but those seem to be few and far between. She can slice it so it stays really low (like Conchita Martinez), but she doesn't put very much on it.

Well, now that my favorite is out, the women's side has lost a lot of luster. The only player left I actively hate is Sharapova; I'd be happy with anyone else winning. If I can't see Clijsters/Mauresmo, I'd like to see Lindsay win it. Since neither "upset" happened yesterday, someone has to go down today. All signs point to Amelie, but I can't pick against her. Maybe we'll get a least one repeat semifinal match from Wimbledon.

Good for Kim. I'm very happy. Kim ran Venus ragged.


Where are you seeing doubles? I'm missing it all on TV!

I stand very corrected about why USA left the Ginepri/Gasquet match. I obviously gave USA too much benefit of the doubt. Damn USA--send all complaints to them.

I don't have anything to add about the matches last night. I am just so pissed that Sharapova won. I seriously hate her. I think she is the most overrated tennis player. I don't think she is as good as people think she is. For some reason, her opponents just kind of crumble. I don't know if it's nerves or what, but they just start making terrible mistakes.

As for Kim, I'm glad she won. I wasn't rooting for anyone in particular, but I've always liked Kim's game and I think she's due.

jimena- Maria pretty much abandoned the false modesty she attempted in the on-court interview. During the CBS interview, she said how she was surprised when it "became a match," and how she let Nadia back in. Sharapova basically made it sound like she gave Petrova the second set, when really, Petrova simply outplayed her. Bleh. It wasn't any single comment per se, really just (as others have pointed out), her inflated ego and superiority over other players. Petrova was right in the thick of things, the only difference being Sharapova's ability to capitalize on a few key points.

I can't wait for the Agassi/Blake match to be over. Yes, I think it will be good, but the pre-match hype surrounding it is nauseating. And the thought of J-Mac bringing up Roddick at every point... Yuck.

Anyone care to weigh in on Pierce/Mauresmo? I think it's in Mary's hands if she can keep it together. And as much as I'd like to see Amelie make a breakthrough, I'm rooting for Pierce, preening and all.

I was so torn last night because I like both Venus and Kim. It's too bad they met in the quarters instead of the finals. Venus did look exhausted, and I think losing the second set took everything out of her. I thought she was in such great shape. They talked about how she spends so much time in the gym. But she was so so so sweaty. That darker purple in the front of her dress, was that sweat stains or just lighting/design? If it was sweat, that thing was soaked through. Kim looked like she wasn't even sweating or breathing hard. I know Kim isn't overweight by everyday standards, but she seems to be one of the heavier women on the tour, and she's definitely not the stick that some of the other girls are. She moved and played great.

As much as I like mmmmmmmMaria, I hope Kim wins. She's had a great year, winning the US Open series and capping a comeback. She has the confidence and the skills. I like Pierce against Mauresmo. Mauresmo is a huge choker and never gets it done. It's a wonder she's still #3 in the world. I'd like to see Mary Pierce beat Lindsay in the semis and Kim beat Mary in the finals.

I can't get behind Lindsay Davenport. She's a good player, but I've never been a big fan. Too slow, too gigantic giantess. She just doesn't seem to win majors. #1 player in the world for most of the year and has only won one major. Has anyone else ever been #1 for so long with so little slams behind her name? (I know that Clijsters and Mauresmo were briefly #1 with no majors, but Lindsay has had it for a long time now.)

I have to say, when I saw the NY Times article this morning, my first thought was: but how could LT be wrong?

According to the article they only got 30 phone calls of complaint, so get going people. I'll be writing my letter today.

Have I mentioned before how much I loathe her? Yuk.

Go Kim all the way!

I have no idea who I want in the finals from the other side of the draw. I can't help liking Dementieva, it would be great if Lindsay finally won another GS title, Mary should've won more than two and she's playing the best tennis of her life and I just adore Amelie's game. That's a tough one. I can't pick. I guess I'm in the "anyone but Sharapova" mode.

Bleh.

I'm rooting for Coria to take out Ginepri today, though I think Ginepri is a better hard court player right now. I can't help liking Guille. I know he's an idiot some times but he's just so little and cute! And he bawled in the FO press conference when he lost the final to Gaudio. I'm a sucker for the South American players.

And I have to admit I'm kind of rooting for Blake tonight, though his idiotic fan section make that choice kind of difficult for me.

Looking forward to the Roger/Nalbandian match tomorrow. Go Roger!

ETA:


She's won three majors not one. If you think about it, for the past year, none of the #1's held any major titles while they were #1. That's what you get when the W's and JHH are missing at the same time.

Did they say how many emails?

Because I would imagine more people emailed than called.

I had to laugh yesterday when Jim Courier said that one of the reasons why he thought Ginepri would beat Coria today is because of better fitness. Unless he was talking about Coria's shoulder- which I don't think he was- even though Robby is very fit, Guillermo is one of the fittest on tour. He has to have the lowest percentage of body fat of anyone on tour. I saw him during a practice session in Miami last year where he was shirtless and a group of us bystanders were just amazed at how he is all muscle- it is crazy.

I'm hoping Mauresmo beats Pierce (I love Mary but I'm being selfish because Amelie is a much better match up for Lindsay). Obviously, then, I want Lindsay to take out Dimentieva, though no player worries me more than Elena for Lindsay simply because of the way she gets to every ball and turns defense into offense so well. Her serve is a liability, but her ground game is so good she compensates for it. I'm thrilled for Kim, even though I'm not really a fan. I'd love to see her give Sharapova a beat down. God I hate her. But that would mean Lindsay and Kim in the finals. On hard courts. Where Kim tends to do better. Lindsay handled her at Wimbledon, and Kim imploded at the French, but she really gives Lindsay fits on hard courts because of her movement.

And as for Lindsay and #1, she has definitely benefitted from the injuries to other players for sure. But let's not knock her record. True she has only 3 grand slam titles, but she's 8th in the Open Era with 48 total single titles, only Evert, Navratilova, Graf, King, Goolagong, Wade and Seles have more. Since '98, she's made it to the SF or better in 17 out of the 27 grand slams she has played, holds a gold medal in Olympic play, is 6th all time in terms of length of stay at #1, and has a career winning percentage of 80%. She's also one of the only players in history to be ranked #1 in the world in singles and doubles. Not too shabby.

I think the calls were more to indicate how many people were watching and dismayed enough at the time to call and say, "put the match back on!" But you're right, here's hoping there were a lot of e-mails.


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Oops, my bad. I had forgotten about that... I now recall she has won one each of all but the French, her worst surface. But she hasn't won a major since around 2000 or so.

Is she still talking about retiring? I know that at the end of last year she was going to retire, but then she reclaimed the #1 ranking and has had a successful year. I thought she wanted to start a family. If she wins the tournament, do you think she will retire on a high note?

I read in the paper today that Federer said he preferred Nalbandian over the other guy because "I have a bad record against Nalbandian" or something like that. Now did he mean bad as in bad, or bad as in badass? Or did he mean he'd rather challenge himself against a better player? Whatever it means, I still hope he loses.

Agassi/Blake, the hype is getting nauseating. Looking forward to seeing the match tonight and getting it over with.

I saw him say it and his implication was that he preferred the challenge of someone against whom he had a losing record.

Bad as in bad. Federer is 2-5 against Nalbandian, but he's won the last two rather convincingly. I think he's looking for the challenge to turn the series around like he did against Hewitt and Agassi.

I'm rooting for Mauresmo. I don't hate Pierce, but I've never really liked her. I think 2 majors is more than she should've won (I really wanted Martinez to win the French in 2000). Am I the only one who wonders why they call Mauresmo a power player? She doesn't hit anywhere near as hard off the ground as the other top players do.


Judging by last night, this might be the tournament for chokers to finally get it done. Besides, Amelie's chokes usually come in the semis. Again, she's beaten more top players in slams than Clijsters has. She owned J-Cap for a while there.

blackwing, I'll agree with some of your sentiments about Lindsay. I like her, but she's effectively turned into Hingis. She will continue to be ranked highly because she dominates all of the players who aren't at the top, but it's looking less and less likely that she'll ever win a major again. How many times can she stand losing after being up a set and a break? It's painful to watch even as a casual fan.

Yes. That's what he meant. He loves to beat the players that used to beat him early in his career. Last year, I could tell he really enjoyed bageling Hewitt on a regular basis.

I'm going to have to agree with Jim on this one. I've seen a lot of Coria matches where he has come up lame. Besides the RG final, he had to default the Miami (I think) final to Roddick last year. Yes, he's fit, but all that running around has caused him to wilt a few times. I think Ginepri has an advantage if it goes five sets. For reasons that have nothing to do with patriotism, I'm hoping for a Blake/Ginepri semifinal match. That would be a fantastic match.

It was dramatic tennis last night...not necessarily great tennis. The mmmmmMaria match was predictable. She's not a great player but she always seems to find a way to get it done. I don't hate her, don't love her but she's got the ego of a #1.
As for Venus/Clijsters. Better match to watch and some thrilling shot-making and gets. Venus was whipped though. She was struggling for air midway through the second set and never seemed to regain her wind. Clijsters overweight? Surely you jest? She's muscular and fit and not a stick. If you saw her in person you'd probably think she looked on the slimmer side of "normal weight."
As for class? Sharapova doesn't have a lot and Venus occasionally does but last night's press conference?
Venus: "I was playing decent and then she started playing really bad and it totally threw me off...She started hitting these really weird shots...weird stuff. And the next thing, I was playing as bad as she was."
There you have it! Venus lost because Kim Clijsters hit weird shit and made her play bad.
Get real.

... and then she said, "At the end of the day, the best player usually wins and she definitely played the best today." Grammatical mistakes aside, that's the perfect answer.

Since I don't care about being called a Williams apologist, I'll go ahead and say there's some truth to her first statement. Venus thrives on pace. Besides being exhausted, she did seem to be confused when Clijsters stopped trying to hit with her. Shades of the days when she couldn't beat Hingis? Assuming Clijsters was trying to throw in junk, that was an excellent tactical move.

Word to Clijsters not being overweight. She looks fine.

Go Kimmy! Im so happy she won. Venus did sound bitter afterwards, What happened to giving credit where its due? Sure Venus pretty much folded at the end but she wasnt helped by the way Kim was running circles around her. Venus was completely out of breath towards the end.

But anyway, my dream final is Mauresmo v.s Clijsters, not cos Im a Mauresmo fan but just so I know at least one of them will have a slam.

They would hype that up for other reasons besides patriotism: Ginepri was the guy playing Blake when Blake broke his neck. They talked to Ginepri about it and he expressed guilt about drop shotting Blake and causing him to run into the net post.

Well to be fair, Coria was actually passing a kidney stone during that match and I think he played a lot longer than most would have. Kidney stones are really painful and he was peeing blood after the match. And as for RG- I tend to think that the cramps were more a nerves issue than a fitness issue. Maybe I am being a Coria apologist but I don’t think he tends to gimp out of matches really as much as those two instances would imply.

I was incredibly impressed by Coria’s fitness this year during his loss to Nadal at the 5 hour 14 minute final for the Rome Masters.

I tend to think that Coria’s issue is nerves, not fitness.

Yeah. They'd also hype it as a match to decide who gets to play Davis Cup.


Oh, I wasn't saying he isn't fit. I just think Ginepri has the edge in that department. I've never seen or heard of him getting tired. Remember how fresh he looked in the ridiculously hot Indy final?

I love Lindsay Davenport, even despite her questionable competitive mettle.

Tennis magazine had her write some diary entries when she was first starting out on the tour, circa '93/'94ish, and I still remember how refreshing she was. I like the "normal" quality about her and her everyman story. It's interesting how she hit #6 in the world while she was still in high school. And it wasn't one of those magnet schools, it was your standard-issue public high school.

Maybe overweight is not the right word... but she definitely looks a lot thicker and heavier than some of the sticks she plays against. But she moves great. She moves a lot better than some of those sticks. Those near splits she does as she lunges for a crosscourt shot look positively painful.

When I see Kim, I think "soft." Definitely not out of shape or fat at all, but she does seem to have a naturally softer body shape.

I was trying to think- since the next tie will be on clay who would be the best to play? I can’t recall how Dent, Ginepri and Blake have done on red clay in the past.

I’m not sure if Agassi will even play- although he is the best of the Americans on clay. Roddick does pretty good on the green clay at Houston but his track record on the red stuff in Europe is not good.

If Ginepri and Blake do play I would be very interested to hear the analysis about which Americans should be on the DC team.