The Majors may be over, but there’s still plenty of action on the ATP tour this season. The China Open has been especially exciting, with Rafael Nadal doing well and guys like Safin, Djokovic and Soderling still in the draw. It’s going to be a fun tennis weekend!

Here’s Rafa’s take after his tough second round win over James Blake:

And some highlights from Nadal vs. Blake and Safin vs. Gonzalez:

Safin and Nadal will face each other in the quarterfinals.

Sorry for the delay on the Day 9 Wrap – I had internet problems last night. We learned two interesting things on Tuesday:

1. Serena Williams will become No. 1 if she wins the US Open. And with her straight-set quarterfinal win over Flavia Pennetta on Tuesday she’s only two wins away. But will Kim Clijsters, who beat Li Na in the quarters, stop Serena from taking the top spot?

2. With Andy Murray’s upset to Marin Cilic and Rafael Nadal’s win over Gael Monfils in the Round of 16, Rafa will get his No. 2 ranking back.

“Is very good comeback, (to) be here in quarterfinals.” Rafa said after taking out the Flashy Frenchman in four sets: 6-7, 7-3, 6-1, 6-3.

Yeah, I’d say. It was the way Rafa won – sprinting to every ball, running his opponent from sideline to sideline, refusing to let Gael out chest thump or fist pump him – that announced his full comeback.

Credit to Monfils for playing an outrageous first set. The tennis was thrilling and brutal – like “Gladiator” meets “Blade Runner” meets some kind of torture porn where instead of Saws, the clueless victims are tied to treadmills and forced to run. Even I was sucking air during that tiebreaker.

Jo Wilfried Tsonga vs. Fernando Gonzalez was outrageous enough that I laughed out loud when Patrick McEnroe made this understatement: “There’s the potential for some shot making in this match.”

I know his nickname is Gonzo, but I still think Fernando’s craziness is completely underrated. He ducks his opponent’s overheads with his booty in the air, cracks racquets in disgust before tossing them to the crowd, hits forehands that break the sound barrier – he makes me woozy. But in a good way. Maybe his new nickname should be Gonzo the Most Crazy or something like that.

Gonzo on Gonzo: “You know, sometimes you feel like super hero, and sometimes you feel like ‑‑ I don’t have to say what you feel on court.”

Gotta love Most Crazy, but geeze, Tsonga was up a set and a break. I blame myself for wanting him to win too much. Please indulge me and vote on this poll.

Del Potro advanced over Ferrero on Tuesday’s battle of the Juans.

Wednesday sees more great action, with Federer vs. Soderling and Djokovic vs. Verdasco in the men’s quarterfinals and Wickmayer vs. Bondarenko and Oudin vs. Wozniacki in the women’s quarters.

Our last day in NYC was fairly productive – with the highlight being a three set match between Azarenka and Schiavone. Victoria joins the crew of top 20 seeds who have been booted out of the singles draw on the women’s side.

Enjoy these photos of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin Del Potro (who advanced), and Maria Kirilenko and Victoria Azarenka (who didn’t) along with some other great players.

 

Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer, Fernando Gonzalez, Vera Zvonareva, Aleksandra Wozniak, Sabine Lisicki and other tennis players attended the 10th annual Taste of Tennis event on Thursday night at the W Hotel in Manhattan. Proceeds from the event support the Food Bank for New York City. A description from the Taste of Tennis website:

The BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis presented by Rums of Puerto Rico is a feast for the senses. This is the only event in the world where you can sample sensational food prepared by world class chefs, enjoy interactive lounges, sip signature rum cocktails, groove to great music, mingle with celebrities and rub elbows with world’s greatest professional tennis players! This is not just a tasting event; the BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis is a once-in-a-lifetime food and tennis experience!

Food served included braised beef short ribs, lamb pie, heirloom tomato gazpacho  and “The Andy Roddick” rum cocktail devised by my personal fave “Real Housewife” Bethenny Frankel:

A good cause, yummy food and Jo-Wilfried in a rockin’ white suit? What’s not to love? Here are some photos from the evening:

And yes, Jo-Wilfried also looks delish in an apron!

This is Andy Roddick’s Brooklyn Decker impression:

And his evening baseball cap!

Fernando Gonzalez:

David Ferrer looking hot, maybe a little bothered:

Close up!

Nicolas Kiefer:

Onto the ladies! Both Aleksandra Wozniak and Sabine Lisicki looked FAB!

Okay, maybe Sabine’s dress is not the best, but she’s lovely, anyway:

Vera Zvonareva:

:

Whoops, almost forgot Brad Gilbert!

ROME MASTERS:

I have to say, I’m thrilled we have some qualifiers in the last eight this weekend in Rome. I’m getting a little tired of the same old top guys making it. That said, five of the six top seeds are playing the quarters on Friday.

Here’s the quarterfinal run down (stats from the ATP)

Rafael Nadal vs. Fernando Verdasco – Nadal leads 7-0
Roger Federer vs. (Q) Mischa Zverev (22 year old qualifier from Germany)  – first meeting
Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin del Potro  – Djokovic leads 2-0
Fernando Gonzalez vs. (Q) Juan Monaco (obviously, not your typical “Q”)  – Gonzalez leads 4-0

On paper these match ups don’t look that competitive (19-0!), but in reality, any one of these could be fantastic. I can’t even begin to guess which one will be the must-see. What do you think?

Click here for Rome TV schedule (U.S.)

STUTTGART/PORSCHE GRAND PRIX:

Here’s what we have in store for the Stuttgart quarterfinals:

Marion Bartoli vs. Elena Dementieva – Dementieva leads 4-2
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Gisela Dulko – tied at 2-2
Jelena Jankovic vs. Flavia Pennetta – Jankovic leads 5-1
Dinara Safina vs. Agnieszka Radwanska – first meeting

If the seedings hold, Safina should meet Jankovic and Dementieva should meet Kuznetsova in the semis. But nothing is certain. Jankovic and Kuznetsova may be fatigued after their tough quarterfinals over Lisicki and Li, respectively, and Pennetta and Dulko are playing on their favorite surface.

Stuttgart’s already had the match of the tournament with Thursday’s quarterfinal against Sabine Lisicki and Jelena Jankovic. The German stretched Jankovic to three sets and over two hours on court before going out, 5-7, 7-5, 3-6. All credit to Jelena for the win, but I was really impressed by Lisicki’s post match comments, which set just the right tone:

“My aim was to show everybody what I’m capable of. And that’s exactly what I did. I can hold my head high. The match was also fun to play. I don’t think I’m that far off the top players now. I’m looking to climb as high as possible in the rankings this year.“

Here are some highlights from Lisicki vs. Jankovic and an interview with the Serb (Safina vs. Hantuchova also included):

Hopefully I’ve spoken too soon, and we’ll have even more great action out of Stuttgart this weekend – what matches are you looking forward to?

Click here for the Stuttgart TV schedule (U.S.)

* photo via AFP and VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images

Ridiculous stat: Rafael Nadal has a 141-4 win record on clay since 2005.

Okay, back to business: here are some highlights from Saturday’s semi final matches at the Barcelona Open. Rafael Nadal defeated a back-from-injury Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 6-2, and David Ferrer took out Fernando Gonzalez in three:  2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5). David described his win as “a crazy match that could have gone either way.”

Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will face each other on Sunday in a rematch of the 2008 final, which Nadal won in three sets. Rafa’s going for his fifth straight title in Barcelona.

Ferrer’s take on the final: “Rafa is the World No. 1 and the best on clay, it’s very difficult to beat him. I’ll try to play good tennis, if not I’m dead, but I’m not thinking about whether or not I’ll beat him, I go on the court to play as well as possible.”

Rafa leads the head-to-head against Ferrer, 6 to 3.

Here’s another video from the ATP, where David Ferrer makes a half-hearted attempt to describe how to beat Nadal on clay:

141-4, people.

Source: ATP

Spaniards Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Robredo all won their third round match ups Thursday at the Barcelona Open. Take a look at the highlights, above.

All four of the top seeds will advance, with Friday’s quarterfinals as follows:

Nikolay Davydenko (3) vs. Radek Stepanek (Czech leads head-to-head 4-3), David Ferrer (4) vs. Tommy Robredo (Ferrer leads 3-2), and Fernando Verdasco (2) vs. Fernando Gonzalez (tied 2-2 with last meeting 3 years ago). Rafa advances automatically to the semis, since David Nalbandian withdrew from the tournament due to a hip injury after beating Nicolas Almagro in the third round. So sad we won’t be getting that Nalby/Nadal match.

It is fun seeing the Spanish guys succeed on thier home turf. Vamos!

Click here to visit the Barcelona Open website.

Fernando Gonzalez went Gonzo against Radek “Worm” Stepanek last night in third round play at the Sony Ericsson Open. Stepanek wasn’t playing to Fernando’s pace and Gonzo decided to light a fire under his ass. (If by “fire” you mean a 120 mph overhead.)

But Stepanek got the best revenge – a two set victory. Better to be a sore winner than a sore loser!

We are watching the match live on http://www.nbcolympics.com/tennis/
Its 1-1 in the third set!
Did anyone see the forehand Gonzo drove into Blake???
Did you see Gonzo’s reaction to James’s reaction after Gonzo apologized??