The big news out of the US Open this Friday? Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal both needed four sets to get through to the third round. They both lost their second sets – Murray beating Paul Capdeville: 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 and Nadal beating Nicolas Keifer: 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Capdeville is currently ranked 82 in the world, and before Friday, Rafa hadn’t lost a set to Kiefer in any of their four previous matches. Are these stumbles by the top seeds minor mishaps or major blows?

I like Murray’s take: “I played three, you know, very good sets and one poor one. But you’re allowed to play a bad set sometimes.“

Speaking of Andy Murray, this was the first headline that came up on my Roger Federer Google search on Friday evening: “Roger Federer admits Andy Murray is a US Open threat.” (from the Daily Mirror)

I was ready to read some big revelation, until I scanned the article and found Roger’s money quote: “Not everybody can pick me, so it’s fine (if some pick Murray to win).” HA!

Roger plays Lleyton Hewitt on Saturday at 11am Eastern. The match will be shown live on CBS in the States – if the match is delayed (ugh!) in non-Eastern timezones, click here for some live streaming options. Hopefully one will actually work!

18th seeded David Ferrer was taken out on Friday by Jose Acasuso, but most everyone else who was supposed to get through did on the men’s side. Juan Carlos Ferrero (24) and Marin Cilic (16) each needed five sets, but both found a way to win. And big props to Taylor Dent for beating Spaniard Ivan Navarro 11-9 in the fifth set tiebreak!

The women’s side lost another top seed on Friday – when Victoria Azarenka (seeded No. lost to Francesca Schiavone (seeded No. 26) in three sets. I was lucky enough to watch this match from a toasty-warm seat in the Grandstand stadium, and was taken by how enthusiastically the crowd supported Schiavone. Do NYC fans really love the underdog or really don’t like Azarenka? Or were they just won over by the Italian’s feisty, throwback game, complete with loops, lobs, sneaky volleys, and a slice-a-licious one-handed backhand?

Schiavone’s countrywoman, Flavia Pennetta, continued her impressive form on Friday with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Aleksandra Wozniak. Part of me wondered if Schiavone’s victory over Azarenka came from the need to represent for Italy. Perhaps her younger compatriot’s historic success (becoming the first Italian woman ever to make it into the Top 10) has inspired the 29 year-old Schiavone to join her? Francesca shot down my theory in her post-match presser:

Q. Do you take inspiration from the way Flavia is playing?

FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: No, but is good to have good rival at this. I learn from her, she learn from me. That’s good.

Serena Williams avoided seed-itis, advancing to the fourth round after being tested by serve-and-volley fanatic (and French Open cheater) Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. For those who complain that Serena is not always gracious towards her opponents, here’s a quote from her press conference: “She (Maria) was serving really well, and I think especially in the second set, and especially in that game she started serving really, really well.”

And here’s another one:

“Can’t spell dynasty without nasty.” Hmmmm. . .

Venus Williams did the dy-nasty proud with a third round victory over Magdalena Rybarikova. But that  mummy-wrapped knee of hers is looking more Cleopatra than Williams.

On a kind-of side note, after Daniela Hantuchova beat Vania King on Friday: 6-2, 6-2, she was asked about her recent sponsorship switch from Nike to Adidas. She confirmed that part of the deal involves going to tennis camp in Las Vegas with Darren Cahill & Co.

Q. Are you practicing with Adidas player development?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yes, also that’s part of the deal, which I’m very, very excited, obviously. The names they’ve got on there, it’s pretty overwhelming. So, you know, just having that kind of support behind me I think definitely gives me so much more confidence. Just the advantage that I can use them any time I need to and use the knowledge that those guys have. I mean, it’s just pretty amazing, so I’m very proud to be part of that team, as well.

Q. You’re working with Cahill and Sven, Gil?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, all those guys. You know, when you just talk to somebody like that that’s he’s been coaching Andre for many years. He’s been a great player, as well. It’s amazing, and I’m very, very proud to have this opportunity.

Yes, this may give Daniela the extra boost she needs to overcome her mental fragility and fulfill her considerable potential. But what about the prospect of her becoming Fernando Verdaso’s next Adidas girlfriend? We bloggers will need a good story to follow for the off season.

It was a treat to meet my fellow blogger, Van, from Tennis Talk, Anyone? on the grounds on Friday. He proved as charming and knowledgeable in person as he is on his blog. His US Open title picks: Serena and Roger. Click here to chat with Van about all things tennis.

We enjoyed a very busy (and photogenic) Day 4 at the US Open on Thursday, catching the Venus and Serena playing doubles, Shahar Peer beating down Carla Suarez Navarro, Sabine Lisicki rolling an ankle after losing her match, and Dinara Safina battling though as always. Here are some of the photos we took along the way.

*fellow bloggers are more than welcome to use our photos, please link us if you do.

 

Photos from Wednesday’s Day Session at the LA Women’s Tennis Championships.

Interesting results so far:

Safina def. Hantuchova: 6-2, 6-4
Zheng def. Vesnina: 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
Stosur def. Kirilenko: 6-2, 6-4
Chakvetadze def. Kleybanova: 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
A. Radwanska def. Sugiyama: 6-2, 6-1
U. Radwanska def. Cibulkova: 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4
Li def Wozniak: 4-6. 2-6, 6-3
Petrova def. Peer: 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
Pennetta def Vandewegh 6-2, 6-4

Sharapova vs. Azarenka and Wozniacki vs. Cirstea are up tonight. We’ll post photos later!

FYI – LA Women’s Tennis Championships is offering a crazy 3 for 1 deal for Friday’s night session!

http://www.latennischamps.com/

 

The WTA side of the Madrid Open won’t be televised in the States until the weekend, so I thought I’d post some highlights here. Tuesday’s biggest upset was the newly minted World No. 3, Venus Williams, going down to Alisa “jerky head” Kleybanova in three sets. Here are the highlights:

In the day session, Wozniacki and Jankovic both came through:

Is anyone else hoping Jelena does well here? I’ve missed seeing her on the weekends. . .

This one is for the guys. Hello magazine did a photoshoot with Daniela Hantuchova, while she was in Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open, at the Four Seasons Hotel.

 

Daniela Hantuchova was also featured in this years Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue along side Maria Kirilenko + Tatiana Golovin.

Photographer: Chris Bott

Besides the golfing, dance-offs and awards ceremonies, there is some tennis being played at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami! The top seeds join in second round action today, with Federer, Djokovic, Dementieva, Ivanovic, Roddick and Tsonga headlining (and Nadal playing doubles with Marc Lopez) but we’ve already had some first rounders worth mentioning.

Eight American men won their first round matches: Isner, Delic, Dent, Reynolds, Russell, Kendrick, Querrey and Kim (over an injured Llodra, he plays Federer next.) Also through: Monaco, Tipsarevic, Baghdatis (6-2,6-2 over Gulbis), Santoro, Youzhny and Hewitt.

I’m always shocked by Amer Delic’s uncanny resemblance to Roger Federer (click here):

The USA wasn’t so lucky on the women’s side, with Glatch the only first round winner. Mattek-Sands, Craybas, Vandeweghe and Oudin are all out. Notable first round winners include Na Li (over Urszula Radwanska), Dulko, Tanasugarn (over Dechy), Sprem (!!!), Peer, Krajicek, Safarova, Kirilenko, Vaidisova, Hantuchova and Dokic.

Shahar Peer’s win sets up a tasty second round against Venus Williams.

Looking forward to a great weekend of tennis! I hope those of us in the States will actually get to watch some of it on t.v.!

Delic photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Peer photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

In case you didn’t catch this at Down the Line a couple days ago, I’m re-posting my Indian Wells practice court report here. (Can you tell I’m missing hanging out in the desert – boo hoo!)

The highlight of my visit to Indian Wells (a.k.a. the BNP Paribas Open) this weekend was hanging out at the practice courts. Where else could a mere mortal like myself stand within arm’s length of Rafael Nadal while he soaked through his Nike t-shirt? And when Rafa, Roger or another one of my fave Top 5 players wasn’t hitting, I had fun cruising the rows of unobstructed practice courts in pursuit of quirky hitting partner combos, e.g.,  Simon/Isner, Safin/Tipsarevic and Haas/Stepanek.

Of course, the real thrill was catching Federer and Nadal’s practice sessions, which generated almost as much buzz as their matches.  The two had vastly different routines – Rafa pounded balls for an hour or two while Roger barely got around to unzipping his RF warm up jacket – but both players attracted hoards of fans. We’re talking six-person deep crowds lining the court, kids climbing on top of trashcans for better views and hundreds of faces peering down from the upper reaches of the main stadium. The amateur sociologist in me enjoyed observing the true Rafanatics and Fedophiles in their natural habitats. Fed fans brought banners (“Federer is Better-er than Chocolate”) and Rafanatics brought their libidos (lots of décolletage and lip licking.) Both groups shun irony.

And then there was the grassy practice field, my favorite spot for witnessing chance encounters between the players. A typical scene: Nalbandian and del Potro horse around with an Australian rules football while Daniela Hantuchova does jumping jacks in the background. Gasquet saunters between the Argentines, and a game of monkey-in-the-middle ensues. Then Gisela Dulko jogs by in her short shorts, distracting David. I also caught Rafa exchanging (air) kisses with a mystery WTA blonde (reportedly Kaia Kanepi) and Tsonga switching places with his trainer to get a better view of Maria Kirilenko’s stretching routine. It was like watching the Real World: Tennis Tour (I guess Maria Sharapova feels the same way).

When I needed a break from the excitement of all this practicing, I lounged on the main lawn with a beer or browsed the tennis gear for sale in the retail tents. I even watched an actual tennis match or two. But after being within sniffing distance of Rafa’s back sweat and Roger’s deluxe hair care products, everything else kind of faded in comparison.

Even with the no-shows (Williams sisters) and early upsets (Jankovic, Dementieva), GTT still managed to catch plenty of tennis babes on the grounds of this year’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Enjoy!

Hantuchova is FreakyFritter’s favorite. . .

. . .as is Maria Kirilenko

. . .and he likes Dulko, too!

[flv:http://www.gototennisblog.com/wp-content/uploads/videos/kirilenko_tsonga_warmup.flv http://www.gototennisblog.com/wp-content/uploads/kirilenko_tsonga_warmup.jpg 525 295]

Here’s Maria doing her alluring resistance band routine – there’s a hunk bonus at the end!

 

Fellow bloggers: Thanks to everyone who asked to use our photos! Please feel free to use them – we would appreciate a link back to our post, if you do.

Okay, I didn’t know that wearing a bikini and rolling around in the sand in front of a posse of middle aged photographers qualified as a sport, but it did get Maria Kirilenko, Daniela Hantuchova and Tatiana Golovin more ink than usual in this month’s Sports IllustratedSwimsuit Issue. (Love the categories of ladies, by the way: Models, NBA Dancers and Tennis Players.) Andy Roddick’s fiance, Brooklyn Decker, makes an appearance, too. As a swimsuit modeling pro, she get’s the full bodypaint treatment. Next time, Tatiana, next time.

I, for one, think that SI is missing a major opportunity by not making a Marat Safin/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Rafa Nadal in Speedos issue. Perhaps we should write to Jon Wertheim about it?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The photos are below. My husband is a big fan of the oh-so-fragile Daniela Hantuchova so I’m sure he’ll be checking those out! I prefer Tatiana Golovin, as she seems to have a real knack for the sexy poses. Practicing in her off time, perhaps?

Maria Kirilenko

 

Daniela Hantuchova

 

Tatiana Golovin

 

Click here to visit the full SI gallery, including videos.

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Features Ana Ivanovic and Daneila Hantuchova