It was rough out on the courts this weekend at the Sony Ericsson Open. Maybe it’s good that Fox Sports Network aired BMX world, instead. Yikes!
The wreckage on the WTA side was especially graphic:
Jelena Jankovic crashed out to Gisela Dulko (who then went out to Benesova)
Dinara Safina was crushed 6-1, 6-4 by Sam Stosur in what she memorably called a “disaster match.” (And due to WTA insanity – or is is inanity – Dinara could still make it to No. 1 at the end of the tournament! Don’t ask me to do the math, but it’s true.)
9th seed Nadia Petrova out to Makarova
Cibulkova out to Medina Garrigues (Dominika retired with muscle cramps)
Cornet destroyed by Jie Zheng, 6-4, 6-0
Dokic out to Wozniacki (not quite an upset, but too bad.)
The Indian Wells hangover:
Ana Ivanovic (IW runner up) went out in three to Agnes Szavay, 6-4,4-6,6-1.
Vera Zvonareva (IW champ) was ousted to Na Li
Victoria Azarenka (IW semifinalist) was the lone survivor of the four IW semifinalists after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (IW semifinalist) and then Chakvetadze (not really an upset, but impressive considering the fate of her desert cohorts.)
Joining Azarenka in the second week are both Williams sisters, Dementieva, Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo (over Pennetta!) So not all is lost.
On the ATP side it was the B and C list Americans who suffered en masse:
Blake is not really B list, but went out to Berdych
Kendrick out to Tsonga (Allez!!)
Isner out to Ferrer
Delic out to Cilic
Reynolds out to Stepanek
Fish out to Massu
Querrey out to Feliciano Lopez
The good news for team USA: Qualifier Taylor Dent made up for his countrymen’s disappointing results by defeating two seeded players this weekend: Robredo (15) and Almagro (19). But can he keep the upset mojo going against Federer in the fourth round?
And some minor issues on the men’s side:
Richard Gasquet withdrew from the tournament – blahhhhh – I’m so over him, anyway.
Andy Murray almost got upset by hottie Juan Monaco – hope we see more of Juan on clay
As a Safin fan, I’m sad he didn’t get past Monfils, especially considering he had two match points. It’s also too bad (but typical) that Nalbandian went out Troicki 6-3, 6-1.
Hewitt’s gotta be “this” much closer to retirement after going out 6-1, 6-2 to Simon
When you see the results laid out like this in one big, bloody pile, you realize how brutal our sport really is. MMA has nothing on tennis!
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
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