TENNIS TUESDAY: Coric Outplays Federer In Halle; Kvitova Wins 5th Title of 2018; Cilic Outlasts Nole On Grass; ATP #1 Flips Again; France Picks Amelie

FEDERER LOSES TO CORIC IN SEARCH OF 10TH HALLE TITLE (IN 12TH FINAL)
After saving 2 match points against an inspired Benoit Paire 2 rounds before, Roger Federer's luck finally ran out when a determined 21-year-old Borna Coric outplayed the world's best grass-court player 7-6(6) 3-6 6-2 to win his first grass-court title and notch his first win over the G.O.A.T. It was Federer's 12th final in Halle and he was seeking his 10th title there, but now he is 9-3, having lost to Corci (2018), Lleyton Hewitt (2010) and Tommy Haas (2012).

FEDERER SWAPS RANKING PLACES WITH NADAL (AGAIN)
Federer's failure to defend his 2017 Halle title means that he ends up with, 8,220 ranking points, 50 less than Rafael Nadal, so the two will swap places at the top of the ATP rankings again. his has happened several times this year already. However, unlike last year, this time as the defending champion Federer has 2000 points to defend at Wimbledon while Nadal has almost none (180) so it is likely Federer wil not be able to regain #1 until the end of the summer hard court season.

CILIC OUTLASTS DJOKOVIC TO WIN SECOND QUEEN'S CLUB TITLE
Novak Djokovic is showing vastly improved form and demonstrated this by reaching the final (and earning championship point!) against 2017 Wimbledon and 2017 Queens Club finalist Marin Cilic. Despite boasting a 14-1 record against Cilic, Djokovic lost the match by being broken (for teh first time in the tournament!) i the 3rd set and his Croat opponent was able to serve out the win 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3. Cilic clearly deserves to be near the pinnacle of the men's game, having reached two major finals in the last year. Even though Djokovic is improving, this loss shows h's not back to 100% and for the first time in over a decade, he goes an entire 12 month period without winning an ATP tour title.

KVITOVA SHOWS SHE IS IN NEAR PEAK FORM WITH FIFTH 2018 WTA TITLE
The 2014 and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is demonstrating her return to form with another grass court title, this time in Birmingham over her friend Magdalena Rybarikova 4-6 6-2 6-1. Kvitova leads the tour with 5 titles in 2018.

AMELIE MAURESMO NAMED CAPTAIN OF FRANCE'S DAVIS CUP TEAM
In other good news, 2-time major champion and former World #1 Amelie Mauresmo has been named the first female captain of France's Davis Cup team. Interestingly, Julien Benneteau will take over coaching France's Fed Cup team. Both appointments go into effect for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

2017 WIMBLEDON: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Here are my predictions for the women's final at the Wimbledon Championships for 2017. Last year I correctly predicted Serena Williams would beat Angie Kerber in the women's final and Andy Murray would beat Milos Raonic. This year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals.

Women's Semifinals Review

Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [14] d. Magadalena Rybarikova (RUS) 6-1 6-1. This match ended up being more of a mismatch, as Muguruza was ruthlessly aggressive, repeatedly approaching the net to control the outcome of the point. The result of the match was also negatively impacted by the fact that Rybarikova was a bit overwhelmed by the occasion of playing in her first major semifinal and thus was unable to take advantage of her excellent return game. It was over in under an hour.

Venus Williams (USA) [10] d. Johanna Konta (GBR) [6] 6-4 6-2. This was expected to be a hard-fought, high-quality match with an uncertain outcome. For the first set it lived up to that billing, with Venus sneaking out the set after boldly saving two breakpoints (one with a 106 mph second unreturnable serve!) and an untimely Konta wobble.  Although Venus had one one ace (compared to Konta's 9) she won far more points by using well-timed body serves that Konta could not seem to handle at all. Some people said it was Venus's most impressive match of the tournament (I would argue that her straight sets dismissal of the reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinal was even more significant.) Venus is still hitting winners from every part of the court, but her error count was strikingly low, which demonstrates how well she is playing.

Women's Final Preview

The Williams sisters have won the Wimbledon title 12 of the last 17 years with only Petra Kvitova, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo and Marion Bartoli breaking up their dominance. However, Venus has not been here since 2009, while Muguruza last played in the Wimbledon final in 2015. Head-to-head, Venus leads 3-1 but lost the last time they played, on clay in Rome. This was the first match that they played after Muguruza had become a major champion in her own right. 

Most people think that this is a very hard match to predict and I agree that I believe it will be close but I still think the person who is playing in their 16th career major final  (7W-8L) has an edge over the person playing in their 3rd career major final (1W-1L record). It is true that the last time there was such a sentimental favorite playing in a surprise Wimbledon final was 1994. That was Martina Navratilova against Conchita Martinez. In a shock, the Spanish clay courter beat the 9-time Wimbledon champion, denying Martina her 19th major title. Interestingly, Martinez is now coaching Garbine as she tries to deny a 5-time Wimbledon champion her 8th major title.

Looking at the x's and o's Venus is simply playing better tennis than Garbine. She is hitting more winners and aces than her opponent in the first six rounds and her forehand, which used to be a liability is now her weapon. Look out!

MadProfessah's prediction: Venus.

2016 Fed Cup: Czech Wins 3rd Year In A Row; 5 of last 6

For the third year in a row the Czech Republic won the Federation Cup, the annual country-based tennis competition on the women's tour. Just like last year, the title came down to the fifth tie, the doubles match, and again Barbora Strycova was the Most Valuable Player, in providing the third point for her team and country.

This year, Czech faced France, and although Caroline Garcia was able to upset 2-time major champion Petra Kvitova and 2016 US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova she was unable to win the doubles tie with her partner Kiki Mladenovic when Pliskova teamed with Strycova.

Czech Republic has now won the Fed Cup title every year except 2013 since 2011.

TENNIS THURSDAY: Halep,Nole Win Madrid; Murray-Mauresmo Split; Williams Sisters Play Doubles In Rome

HALEP AND DJOKOVIC WIN MADRID MUTUA OPEN
Simona Halep and Novak Djokovic won the latest  warm-up tournament for Roland Garros, the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain. World #2 Halep defeated Dominika Cibulkova and World #1 beat World #2 (and defending champion) Andy Murray in three sets 6-2 3-6 6-3. Murray was coming off an impressive win over Rafael Nadal, becoming the first person to beat the King of Clay in the same clay tournament in consecutive years. Djokovic now has 29 ATP Masters Shields and is tied for 6th on the all-time list with Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg with 64 career ATP titles.

ANDY AND AMELIE ANNOUNCE END OF COACHING RELATIONSHIP
Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo announced a mutual agreement to end their coaching relationship after 2 years together. They are both relatively new parents (Mauresmo gave birth to a son in August, and Andy's wife gave birth to a daughter in February) and apparently the travel demands became too great for her. It was noted by several observers that Jamie Delgado was in Andy's coaching box in Madrid and this announcement was not too much of a surprise. Murray rose to #2 in the world under Mauresmo and was 7-5 in tour finals but was unable to win another major while being coached by the 2-time major champion. It will be interesting to see who Murray selects next. He was hailed for being the rare elite male athlete who had a female coach, and he should get a lot of kudos for that.

VENUS AND SERENA PLAYING DOUBLES IN ROME, PREPARING FOR RIO?
World #1 Serena Williams finally returned to the WTA tour in Rome, winning her first match over Anna-Lena Friedsam. Venus Williams won her first match in Rome as well, defeating Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets but the when the two sisters played doubles (for the first time in nearly two years!) they lost pretty easily, 1-6 5-7 against the team of Katarin Srebotnik and Andreja Klepac. The two do intend to play doubles at the Rio Olympics, where the tennis program runs from August 6-14. The Williams Sisters are the winningest tennis team in Olympics history, with each winning a singles Gold medal (Serena in London in 2012 and Venus in Sydney in 2000) and together they have three golds (Sydney, Beijing and London).

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena & Roger Defend Cincy Titles; Mauresmo A Mommy; Serena Gets SI Cover

SERENA WILLIAMS AND ROGER FEDERER DEFEND CINCINNATI TITLES
Serena Williams defeated Simona Halep 6-3 7-6(5) to defend her 2014 Cincinnati title just hours after Roger Federer defeated World #1 Novak Djokovic 7-6(1) 6-3 to win his 7th title in Cincinnati, his 87th career title and 24th ATP masters shield.

MAURESMO GIVES BIRTH TO BABY BOY
As I blogged about last Friday, Andy Murray's coach, 2-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo gave birth to her son Aaron on August 16.

AS SHE CHASES GRAND SLAM HISTORY, SERENA WILLIAMS GETS COVER OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
Serena Williams will be on next week's cover of Sports Illustrated; she was last on the cover in 1999 after winning her first major title at the precocious age of 17. Tennis players have apparently only been on the cover of the important weekly sports magazine 8 times in the last twenty years, so this cover is a big deal. The reason is another big deal: Serena's attempt at winning her 5th consecutive major, which would give her a rare calendar year slam. The last player to do this was Steffi Graf, whose career total of 22 major titles Serena would match if she won her fourth consecutive U.S. Open title.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Amélie Mauresmo Gives Birth To Baby Boy

Amélie Mauresmo, 36, gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday August 16, the same day that Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic for the first time in nine tries (and more than two years) to win the ATP Canadian Masters in Montreal.

Following his victory in Montreal, Murray mentioned his coach, saying she had given birth that morning. "I'm not sure she would have stay up to watch," he said, "but Amelie, this one's for you." 

"I don't know much detail because, yeah, we just saw a picture of her and the baby this morning when we got up. I haven't spoken to her or anything," he said. "I would imagine she's quite tired. Probably me and my tennis are the last thing on her mind just now, which is totally understandable."

 Congratulations to mother and child!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Andy Murray's Wife Kim Is Pregnant

World #3 Andy Murray has confirmed that he is "excited" that his wife Kim is expecting their first child, with a due date sometime in February. Murray, 28, married 27-year-old Kim Sears in April of this year after dating for nearly a decade. Murray's coach Amelie Mauresmo is currently pregnant and expected to give birth within the next few weeks. So right now two of the most important women in Murray's life are going through the same experience at the same time.

Murray is currently in the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters tournament in Canada, where he will face defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Montreal.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Djokovic Skips Madrid; Kerber On Clay Hot Streak; Isner Turns 30; Mauresmo On Maternity Leave

Kerber On 11-Match Winning Streak On Clay; Keys, Sharapova, Wozniacki In Her Wake
Building on her win on the green clay of Charleston a few weeks by coming back from 1-4 down in the final set to defeat Madison Keys, German Angelique Kerber has been absolutely on fire during the clay season so far. She defeated the reigning French Open champion on Thursday and then continued her winning ways by coming back from 3-5 down in the final against Caroline Wozniacki to ride the hometown crowd support to snatch the Stuttgart title. This is her 5th career title and she had to defeat two Top 5 players to do it, which she did in two 3-set thrillers.

John Isner Turns 30
John Isner had a big birthday on Sunday, turning thirty years old. The Top American has not made as much an impact in the majors as Andy Roddick but in this era of men's tennis it is very possible for 30-somethings to have success on the tour and hoping that continues with Isner in the next few years.

Djokovic Says Enough Is Enough; Gives Someone Else A Chance To Win Something!
After winning the first three Masters series titles of 2015, World #1 Novak Djokovic has decided to withdraw from next week's Madrid Masters. Since he also didn't play last year he is not losing any ranking points. I'm sure the rest of men's field thanks Nole and wishes him a peaceful week!

Mauresmo Is Pregnant And Taking Time Off From Coaching Andy Murray 
Andy Murray has made an important statement for women's equality in sports by naming former WTA #1 Amelie Mauresmo as his coach. Mauresmo, 35,  announced recently that she is expecting her first child in August, and while she is on maternity leave (an issue which has never come up before for the coach of an elite men's player) she will be replaced (temporarily) by Jonas Bjorkman.

Wawrinka Getting Divorced And Nobody's Happy
Stan Wawrinka had previously separated from his wife (ostensibly in order to focus on his tennis) but later reconciled well before he won his first Grand Slam title in Australia last year. Recently he announced that the two are definitely getting divorced and his wife issued a statement of her own clarifying her side of the story. His results have been spotty in 2015, with the former World #3 now down to #9 in the latest rankings.

Serena Officially 3rd Longest Stay At #1 (Behind Steffi and Martina)
Serena Williams has now been World #1 for 114 weeks in a row, which is third all-time, behind Martina Navratilova's 156 weeks (3 solid years!!) and Steffi Graf's 186 weeks and just 1 week ahead of Chris Evert's 113 weeks. Her current streak is exactly twice as long as her longest previous hold on the #1 ranking at 57 weeks. She has been #1 on 6 different occasions in her career. In her current #1 streak only 8 players have beaten her, but bizarrely Alize Cornet has done so three times!

TENNIS TUESDAY: UK Beats US, Serena Loses Sacha To Vika, Mayer Wins Marathon

Mayer The Marathon Man
Leonardo Mayer of Argentina needed 11 match points and 6 hours and 42 minutes to defeat Joao Souza of Brazil in the longest Davis Cup match of all time, breaking the longtime record held by John McEnroe's win over Mats Wilander in 1982. The win leveled the tie between Argentina and Brazil at 2-all and then Federico Delbonis beat Thomas Bellucci to advance Argentina to the quarterfinals of this year's Davis Cup.

Muzza Muzzles Americans With An Assist From Ward
World #3 Andy Murray powered Great Britain to a win over a favored United States team by defeating Donald Young and John Isner while somehow James Ward was able to play well above his ranking of #111 to beat Isner in five sets to and dash the Americans hopes of getting past the Brits for the second consecutive year.

Mauresmo Gets Into The Hall Of Fame
Murray's coach, 2-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame this week.

Kei Wins Battle With Raonic, Loses War As Canada Advances
World #5 Kei Nishikori beat World #6 Milos Raonic in their Davis Cup match 6-4 in the fifth set but Canada was able to eliminate Japan in Davis Cup for the year when the Canucks won the doubles point with Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor and Go Soeda was unable to win either of his singles matches.

Serena Returning To Indian Wells This Week, Loses Sascha To Vika
World #1 Serena Williams is playing her first match at Indian Wells tournament since she beat Kim Clijsters to win the title in 2001. Serena announced her return soon after her Australian Open win in January. I said then it was likely that would make me go to the tournament but it looks like that may not happen this year due to some work commitments. Serena will be playing her first tournament in many years without her hitting partner Sascha Baijin, who announced that he was joining Vika Azarenka's camp. The two sides played nice, however:

That's all for this week's Tennis Tuesday!

Andy Murray Names Amélie Mauresmo as His New Coach

Well this is a surprise! Defending Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has named former Wimbledon champion Amélie Mauresmo as his new coach, the first time in recent memory a top men's player is being coached by a former top women's player.

After spending his youth being coached by his mother, Andy Murray is turning to another woman to help him defend his Wimbledon title. 

Murray hired former top-ranked player Amelie Mauresmo as his coach on Sunday, saying the appointment is initially for the grass-court season. 

"I'm excited by the possibilities of the new partnership and Amelie is someone I have always looked up to and admired," Murray said in a statement. "She's faced adversity plenty of times in her career, but was an amazing player and won major titles, including Wimbledon."

Any excuse to see Mauresmo around major tournaments is a good one for me. I do think the practice of hiring former major champions on the men's tour (Boris Becker is coaching Novak Djokovic, Stefan Edberg is coaching Roger Federer, Michael Chang is coaching Kei Nishikori and Ivan Lendl was Murray's previous coach) is getting a bit silly and it is not clear what (if any) benefits it brings to the player.

2013 WIMBLEDON: Bartoli Overwhelms Lisicki To Win 1st Major

Unexpectedly, 28-year-old Marion Bartoli of France defeated an overwhelmed 23-year-old Sabine Lisicki to win the 2013 Wimbledon Women's singles title 6-1 6-4 in 81 minutes. Bartoli became only the third Frenchwoman in history, and the first to do so since Amelie Mauresmo won in 2006. Bartoli was playing in her 47th grand slam tournament, the most number of tournaments anyone has ever taken to win their first major.

Lisicki was widely considered the favorite to win this match, having played 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, Elena Vesnina, 2011 US Open Champion Samantha Stosur(14), 16-time major champion Serena Williams(1), Kaia Kanepi and 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieska Radwanska(4) to reach the final. Lisicki ended Serena's winning streak by coming back from 0-3 down when Serena became surprisingly tentative during the high pressure moments of their 4th round match. Amazingly, Lisicki came back again from a 0-3 deficit in her semifinal match against the wily Radwanska. In the end, the ask for her to play her best tennis in one more match was one ask too many.

Bartoli on the other hand took advantage of one of the wackiest Wimbledons of all time, when four former WTA #1's including the reigning World #3 Maria Sharapova and World #2 Victoria Azarenka went out in the same day the 2007 finalist realized she had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach another Wimbledon final. She did so without facing a Top 10 opponent, demolishing her semifinal opponent Kirsten Flipkens 6-1 6-2. Her toughest test came against fast-rising American phenom Sloane Stephens whom she outlasted 6-4 7-5 the round before. Bartoli became the first player to win the tournament without dropping a set since Serena did it in 2010.

Women's Final Review
Bartoli confidently began the match by winning the toss and choosing to serve. Although she served two double faults in the first service game, she saved two breakpoints by continuing to go for her serve the entire game, even though she lost it. Lisicki returned the favor by easily losing her serve the next game and Bartoli held easily as Lisicki started to spray balls. The nerves became apparent on Lisicki's side of the net quickly as she failed to hold serve in the first set, hitting only 2 aces (and 2 doublefaults) with only a 54% of first serves in.

She righted the ship in the first set, beginning with an ace, and although her ground strokes were still a bit wobbly, especially the backhand side, she held serve again. But then history repeated itself as Bartoli continued to go for her shots, displaying her improved movement and fitness by getting to lots of drop shots and being able to go for her laser-like bakhand crosscourt.

The key moment in the match was the 2nd game of the 2nd set where Bartoli saved 3 break points with clutch serves and ground strokes deep into the corners of the court. Once Lisicki failed to capitalize on her opportunities and win that long service game of Bartoli's the match was essentially over because the German's level of play returned to her first set's level and she found herself down 1-6 1-5 15-40. However, magically her serve reappeared and with an ace and a couple unreturnables she was able to hold serve (dismissing three Championship points in the process) and in the very next game was able to break Bartoli when she understandable got nervous and started missing serves while trying to closeout the match and win Wimbledon. Lisick finally broke serve and then went on to hold her own service game again. This was a rare string of three games in a row won by Lisicki an it looked like things might be turning around.

At 6-1 5-4, Bartoli was serving for the championship again and this time she won the first two points displaying her improved fitness, winning both on Lisicki errors after long rallies. The third point was a weak return then sailed wide and Bartoli held Triple Championship Point. She hit a serve out wide in the corner to Lisicki's backhand and it was untouched by the German. Game, set and match, Miss Bartoli!

It will be interesting to see how Bartoli takes this win going forward. She is now embraced by the French federation and this could be the beginning of a good patch in her career. At age 28 she has the mental toughness to hang with anyone on tour and she can hit the ball as hard as the the elites at the top of the game. Her mobility can only get better, and if it does, it would not be unreasonable to think she could win another major. If so, she would do something none of the recent brand new major champions (Li Na, Petra Kvitova, Stosur, or Schiavone) have been able to do.

We shall see!

2013 AUS OPEN Day 3: Venus, Nole Win, Stosur Chokes

Day 3 of the Australian Open went by with an epic choke from a hometown favorite, significant breakthroughs from young up-and-comers and most of the other major contenders moving on without much trouble.

The choke was from 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur who has the same problem playing her best tennis in her home slam in Australia like her fellow Sapphic tennis star Amelie Mauremo had playing in her home slam in France. Mauresmo never made it past a quarterfinal in Roland Garros, despite winning the 2006 Australian Open and 2006 Wimbledon. Stosur blew a 5-2 lead in the 3rd set against Zie Jheng (who also beat her last week in Sydney) to continue her troubles at the Australian Open.

The wins by the youngsters inluded Jerky Janowicz of Poland winning a tough 5-setter after losing the first two sets, 17-year-old American phenom Madison Keys dismissing Top 30 Tamira Paszek in straight sets and British #1 Heather Watson survived a tough 3-set match, saving 3 match points along the way.

Novak Djokovic, Venus Williams, Li Na, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Maria Sharapova, Agbnieska Radwanska and Angelique Kerber all advanced.

The next round will feature some interesting clashes, the most mouthwatering being 7-time major champion Venus Williams against 4 time major champion Maria Sharapova. Also fun to watch will be Ana Ivanovic versus Jelena Jankovic, Ferrer versus Marcos Baghdatis and Stanislas Wawrinka versus Sam Querrey.

AUS OPEN 2012: Serena Wins 500th Career Match

Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Serena Williams cruised through the first 45 minutes of her second round match against Barbara Zahlavova Strycova, but unfortunately for her, it lasted 68 minutes, with the American 5-time Australian Open champion eventually winning the last 5 points and the match 6-0 6-4.

Serena now has 500 career wins compared to 104 losses, while her sister Venus Williams has 598 match wins compared to 147 losses. Other players with more than 500 career wins are Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Amelie Mauresmo, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Justine Henin among others.

2011 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Semifinals Preview

AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau

Here are my predictions for the women's semifinals at Roland Garros for 2011. This year, I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 3 men's quarterfinals. Last year I was correct in 2 of 2 2010 French Open women's semifinal predictions.

Marion Bartoli FRA (11) vs. Francesca Schiavone ITA (5).  The 2010 French Open defending champion made an astonishing escape to win her quarterfinal match with hard-hitting Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova. The Italian was down 1-6 1-4 but came back to lead 5-2 in the final set and gutted out the win 7-5 in the 3rd after the youngster stormed back to even the match at 5-all in the 3rd. Bartoli is in the semifinal of her country's major, a significant feat that 2-time major champion and former World #1 Amelie Mauresmo was unable to accomplish. Bartoli's dream is to play in and win the final in Roland Garros, but that will not be happening this year.

The Frenchwoman did well while Svetlana Kuznetsova committed one of her patented meltdowns to ruin my potential 100% accuracy rate in quarterfinal predictions.

Bartoli hits two-handed on both wings with impressive power and has increased her fitness level so that she can survive long rallies but her movement is suspect and Schiavone has the shot variety to expose the gaping weaknesses in Bartoli's unorthodox game.

The two have never met on clay, which is Schiavone's best surface, but the Italian still leads the career head-to-head 6-1, including a win on Bartoli's best surface, grass. Even though the two have not played each other in over two years I suspect even the new and improved Bartoli will be no match for the new and improved Schiavone who truly believes "nothing is impossible." PREDICTION: Schiavone in 2 sets.

Maria Sharapova RUS (7) vs. Na Li CHN (6). This should be an excellent match, with the winner most likely going on to win the title. Who would have thought the only woman on the tour to be in two major semifinals this year would be Li Na from China? Head-to-head Sharapova leads 5-2 but Li has won the last two times the two have played (which were both on the relatively slow grass of Birmingham in 2009 and 2010). The one time they played on clay was in Paris two years ago and Sharapova eked out a truly bizarre 6-4 0-6 6-4 victory. Sharapova is playing the clay as if it is a hard court, blasting serves and hitting groundstrokes even harder. She demolished Andrea Petkovic 6-0 6-3, a player who took her out in the year's first major tournament to reach this point. Li was able to dismiss heavy favorite World #4 Viktoria Azarenka 7-5 6-2 to reach her first major semifinal in Paris.

However, clay rewards great movement and there's no question Li is the superior mover between the two. Sharapova does hit the ball hard, but Li also has her own firepower, with one of the best backhands in the women's game. Sharapova, however, has 3 major titles and has been in 10 major semifinals. Li has been in one major semifinal, but it was this year--Sharapova's last major semifinal was 3 years ago in Australia when she won the entire tournament in 2008. Sharapova is on a clay court winning streak, having won the Madrid title two weeks before Paris over 2010 Roland Garros finalist Samantha Stosur. If Sharapova serves well and is accurate off the ground she should win the match, but if Li is able to withstand the onslaught Sharapova's penchant for painting the lines will become a liability as those shots slowly turn into errors and Li will be in her second major final. The mental edge should favor Sharapova since she is undefeated against both Schiavone and Bartoli. For Sharapova, this match is the final, and she would desperately love to be in the panoply of great women players who have completed the career slam (like Navratilova, Evert, Graf, S.Williams, King and Court) . For Li, she makes history every time she steps on the court and may be satisfied by being the most successful Chinese player ever. PREDICTION: Sharapova in 2 sets OR Li in 3 sets.

Kvitova Beats Clijsters To Win Open Gaz de France Title

Petra Kvitova stunned new World #1 Kim Clijsters 6-3 6-4 to win the Open Gaz de France title, the third WTA Tour title of her career. Clijsters was playing in her 5th consecutive final, and won 3 of them, losing to Li Na in Sydney and Kvitova in Paris. Kvitova is the top-ranked left-handed player on the tour and will rise to #14 in the World on Tuesday; she has won 16 of 17 matches played in 2011. Kvitova, 20, was the WTA Tour's Newcomer of the Year last year and is most well-known among tennis fans for her 2010 Wimbledon semifinal loss to Serena Williams. The 13-time major champion is slated to return to the court by playing an  exhibition against Maria Sharapova on March 4.

WIMBLEDON 2010: Women's Final Preview

Serena Williams USA (1) vs Vera Zvonareva RUS (21). For the third consecutive year and sixth time in the last eight years, Serena Williams is in the Ladies' Final of the Wimbledon championships. Surprisingly, she is not facing her older sister this time, as she has four times before, winning three titles in the process. Serena did well to get past a spirited challenge from Petra Kvitova, but, as predicted, she left the court with a victory after two sets.

The 12-time major champion is playing Russian Vera Zvonareva who is in her first Grand Slam final of her career. Zvonareva has a very strong backhand and a good forehand. She has previously shown an extreme level of mental frailty (the celebrated collapse against Flavia Pennetta at the 2009 U.S. Open where she blew 6 match points in the second set and lost the third set 6-0 while in tears). However, by dispatching Kim Clijsters from a set down and outlasting a determined Tsvetlana Pironkova in their closely contested semifinal demonstrate this is a brand new Vera.

Unfortunately for her, she is playing a new Serena. This Serena has yet to lose a set in this entire Wimbledon tournament and is lapping the field in the number of aces delivered. The two have played 6 times before with Serena winning all but once. If Zvonareva can keep the game score close then perhaps Serena will get nervous and give her a chance. As Francesco Schiavone proved in the 2010 Roland Garros final, anything is possible.

Yeah, I don't think so either.

MadProfessah's PREDICTION: Serena in 2 sets.

Amélie Mauresmo Retires From Tennis

Amélie Mauresmo, openly lesbian, fomer World #1 and 2-time Grand Slam champion (Austalian Open 2006 and Wimbledon 2006) announced her retirement from professional women's tennis on Friday at age 30.

I don’t want to train anymore,” Mauresmo said after shedding tears about the decision. “I had to make a decision, which became evident in the last few months and weeks. When you grew older, it’s more difficult to stay at the top.”

Mauresmo, who won both of her Grand Slam titles in 2006, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, said she was happy to leave on a good note after winning her 25th singles title—her first in almost two years—in Paris this season. She also had seven wins over Top 10 players in her final year.

“It’s a bit sad, but this is the right decision,” Mauresmo said. “I was lucky enough to have an exceptional career and to experience very strong feelings on the court.”

We'll miss, you Amélie!!

WIMBLEDON 2009: Round of 16 Set

The weather has been lovely in London at this year's Wimbledon Championships. There are 16 men and 16 women left when play resumes on Monday.

On the men's side of the draw most of the favorites remain, as Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Roddick are all still in the hunt. Here's who plays whom in the Fourth Round:

Lleyton Hewitt AUS
versus
Radek Stepanek CZE (23)

Tomas Berdych CZE (20)
versus
Andy Roddick USA (6)

Andy Murray GBR (3)
versus
Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (19)

Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP
versus
Gilles Simon FRA (8)

Igor Andreev RUS (29)
versus
Tommy Haas GER (24)

Dudi Sela ISR
versus
Novak Djokovic SRB (4)

Fernando Verdasco ESP (7)
versus
Ivo Karlovic CRO (22)

Robin Soderling SWE (13)
versus
Roger Federer SUI (2)

I predict the quarterfinalists will be Hewitt, Roddick, Murray, Simon, Haas, Djokovic, Karlovic and Federer. I would not be surprised if Berdych, Andreev and Ferrero pull upsets.
I think there's a very good chance of a Murray-Federer final, but the 14-time major champion will have to get past the 2009 French Open finalist, the 6'10 giant and the World #4 player to make it there.

On the women's side, the Round of 16 draw looks like:

Dinara Safina RUS (1) versus Amelie Mauresmo FRA (17)

Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9) versus Sabine Lisicki GER

Venus Williams USA (3) versus Ana Ivanovic SRB (13)

Agnieszka Radwanska POL (11) versus Melanie Oudin USA

Virginie Razzano FRA (26) versus Francesca Schiavone ITA

Elena Vesnina RUS versus Elena Dementieva RUS (4)

Victoria Azarenka BLR (8) versus Nadia Petrova RUS (10)

Daniela Hantuchova SVK versus Serena Williams USA (2)

Here my predictions for the quarterfinalists are: Mauresmo, Wozniacki, V. Williams, Radwanska, Razzano, Dementieva, Azarenka and S. Williams. I would not be too surprised if Lisicki, Oudin and Petrova win instead.

I am predicting another all-Williams women's final, but I need to see more before I predict which Williams will win the title this year!

Mauresmo Wins 1st Title in 2 Years

Amélie Mauresmo defeated Elena Dementieva 7-6(7) 2-6 6-4 to win the Paris Open. It was the Frenchwoman's first title in almost exactly two years.

Serena Withdraws with Knee Injury; Mauresmo Faces Dementieva

2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open winner Serena Williams withdrew before her scheduled semifinal with 2008 Olympic singles Gold medalist Elena Dementieva at the Gaz De France Open in Paris on Saturday.

Earlier, Former #1 Amelie Mauresmo reached her first final in 18 months in front of her hometown crowd by defeating Jelena Jankovic 6-2 0-6 6-1.

Will Mauresmo be able to end her 18-month title drought over the resurgent Russian who has only lost once (to Serena Williams) all year long? We'll see!