Well, in regards to my last post, Andy Roddick did indeed “step up.”  Even though he lost to the first Russian ever to win the Sony Ericsson Open (this includes all 76 different names the tournament has been called), Nikolay Davydenko, Roddick has to come away from this tournament with a huge sense of accomplishment.  Beating Federer, while might not sound as grand as it did six months ago, is a huge weight off Roddick’s shoulders, after having lost 11 times in a row.  Now, when he sees Federer in the same part of the draw, there will no longer be the same feeling of dread he once had. (more…)

UPDATE: Roddick officially announced he intends on playing this weekend. 

So I did ok on my final round picks for the Sony, better than my NCAA bracket ended up anyway.  I did pick Djokavic to take home the title, even though I thought he would beat Ljubicic in the finals, not Canas.  I was also 100% correct on my Women’s final, “look for Serena to take down Henin in an epic final match,” is what I wrote last week.  Wouldn’t you know it, Serena beat Henin in three sets after losing the first 6-0, and coming within a mere inch of losing the match.  Djokavic has firmly established himself as one of the players to beat after a successful first quarter of 2007, during which his ranking has climbed to an all time high of 7th.  His coming out party was really last year at the French, when he made it all the way to the Quarters, so look for him to continue his climb up the rankings during the European claycourt season.  Serena, after bottoming out last year due to injury, finds herself on the brink of the top 10 (no. 11) after her win this week.  She will struggle to win as much on clay, but if she does not finish the season in the top 5, barring any injuries, I will be shocked. (more…)

Sorry I missed out on posting yesterday, but I actually got to watch a whole lot of tennis yesterday, as well as play some Beach Tennis, loads of fun. It was kids day yesterday as well, so my head was pounding. Some great matches yesterday, capped off by the Canas/Federer match. I guess my prediction was wrong, as Canas took Federer out for a second straight time. Federer had this match won, when he had two break points to go up two breaks in the third set, but ended up falling in a thrilling tiebreaker. The much talked about Sharapova/Serena Williams match turned out to be a dud, as Serena took Sharapova to school 6-1, 6-1 in under an hour. Here are the rest of the results: (more…)

The first set of matches are ending today, and qualifier Amer Delic just upset Davydenko in straight sets. No real major upsets yesterday, and the match of the day belonged to Sharapova/Venus Williams. It wasn’t exactly pretty at times, with 91 total unforced errors (55 for Williams) and 25 double faults, but it was exciting and Sharapova prevailed 7-5 in the 3rd. Hingis fell in 3 sets a young Polish girl, Agnieszka Radwanska. Here are the rest of the results: (more…)

UPDATE: 2:30 PM - Just returned from watching a few matches. Kendrick started off pretty even with Andy Murray, but ended up getting decimated 3 and 1. Murray’s change of pace, along with the wind, was not a good matchup for Kendrick. Hingis also fell in a three setter. The highlight of my day was sitting at court 10 for 20 minutes after Sharapova finished practicing on a tip that Federer might be up next. Sure enough, he was and I was right next to the court. I watched him for about 20 minutes before I realized he is a pretty talented individual. (more…)