2019 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) vs Ash Barty (AUS) [8]

This is my prediction post for the 2019 French Open women's final. Last year I correctly predicted that Simona Halep would defeat Sloane Stephens.  This year I predicted 1 of 1 men's semifinals correctly, 2 of 2 women's semifinals correctly, 0 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. 

 WOMEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Ashleigh Barty (AUS) [8] d. Ananda Anisimova (USA) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3. Barty lost the first set to the teen phenom Amanda Anisimova but then was able to remain calm and simply outlast and outplay her opponent to win the last two sets relatively easily to reach her first major final and prevent an all-teen major final, the first since the 1999 US Open with Serena Williams and Martina Hingis.

Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) d. Johanna Konta (GBR) [26] 7-5 7-6(2).  As I predicted, Vondrousova was able to use the complexity of her game to outlast her more experienced and more powerful opponent to win, although it was a rather close match the winner depended on being better on just a few very important points. Surprisingly, the younger player was able to be that player.

 WOMEN'S FINALS PREVIEW

The 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova has reached her first major final without losing a set over 6 rounds at this year's French Open. In fact, the Czech lefty is playing in her 3rd final of the year (she lost the first two) and has reached the quarterfinal or better of every tournament she played this year. She is the first teenager in a major final since Ana Ivanovic did it in 2007. Vondrousova has a 28-6 record for the year (27-5 since the Australian Open), which is the best on tour. She will face 23-year-old Ash Barty, whom she has played twice before (on grass in 2017 and hard court on 2018) and lost both times without winning a set. Barty will reach World #3 by reaching the final and can get as high as World #2 by winning the tournament, which would make her the highest rated Aussie female player in over 40 years(!) What's nice about the match is that it should be entertaining, since both Barty and Vondousova have crafty, smart games and tend not to overwhelm their opponents with power. Barty in particular is one of the few players who is in the Top 10 in doubles and singles, which shows in her comfort in all portions of the court. That, and the extra experience she has give Barty the edge. PREDICTION: Barty.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Venus,Serena,Sharapova,Ivanovic,Halep,Kvitova Start 2016 Badly

The tennis year begins down under and 2016 is not starting well for many of the WTA's top stars. Defending champion Venus Williams lost her first round match against Russian teenager Daria Kasatkina (no I have never heard of her either!) in Auckland, New Zealand. Following the loss of the tournament's #1 seed, it also lost the #2 seed when Ana Ivanovic was upset.

In Perth, after withdrawing from her first tie in the Hopman Cup, World #1 Serena Williams retired after losing the first set against Jarmila Wolfe, citing a left knee injury. Serena insists that she is ready to defend her Australian Open title, however.

In Brisbane, Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova both withdrew, citing injuries, with Halep expressing doubt about being able to play in Sydney and Melbourne later this month.

Petra Kvitova started her year in Shenzhen but she also withdrew (with an illness).

Strangely enough, the men's side of the game is not being impacted as much by withdrawals and injuries.

Roger Federer will begin his 2016 season in Brisbane later today.

TENNIS TUESDAY: U.S. Open Draw Devastated By Exit Of 13 Seeded Players (10 Female, 3 Male)

The Women's Draw at the 2015 U.S. Open has been devastated by the loss of 10 seeds in the first two days: Maria Sharapova(3) (withdrew with injury before playing), Lucie Safarova(6), Ana Ivanovic(7), Karolina Pliskova(8), Carla Suarez Navarro(10), Timea Bascinsky(14), Jelena Jankovic(21), Alize Cornet(27), Irina-Camelia Begu(28), Sloane Stephens(29) and Svetlana Kuznetsova(30)!

On the men's side there have only been three upsets: Kei Nishikori(4) by Benoit Paire of France, Gael Monfils(16) (forced to retire due to an injury) and Gilles Simon(11) by American Donald Young (coming back from 2-6 4-6 0-3 to win in 5 sets!)

2015 US OPEN Day 1: Seeds Fall Like Rain! Nishikori(4), Ivanovic(7), Pliskova(8), CSN (10) Are Out!

Wowsa! After one day my U.S. Open bracket is already busted! (You can see my WTA and ATP picks here and here.)  THREE Top 10 seeds (all in 3-time defending champion Serena Williams half of the draw) fell in the first round. And this was after the news came late last night that #3 seed Maria Sharapova (also in Serena's half) was withdrawing from the tournament with a leg injury! Ana Ivanovic(7), Karolina Pliskova(8), Carla Suarez Navarro(10) all fell to lower ranked opponents, thus clearing the path for Serena to win her 7th major title. Other notable losses were Sloane Stephens (losing to fellow American Coco Vandeweghe), 2-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and former World #1 Jelena Jankovic. Venus Williams barely escaped being included in the carnage when she blew two match points in the 3nd set tiebreaker but thanks to an early break in the 3rd set, she was able to keep her nose in front and get a 6-4 6-7(7) 6-3 win over Monica Puig.

The biggest upset was on the men's side with #4 seed (and 2014 US Open finalist) Kei Nishikori falling to talented Frenchman Benoit Paire after failing to win two match points in the 4th set and then losing a tight 5th set. The other finalist, defending champion Marin Cilic won his first round match rather easily, and World #1 Novak Djokovic put on a frightening display by dispatching Joao Sousa of Brasil in 71 minutes while losing only 3 games in the process.

2015 US OPEN: Men's and Women's Draw Analysed

The last major tennis tournament of the year starts on Monday August 31. I'll be at the U.S. Open next weekend (Sunday and Monday) to watch the tennis live and maybe run into Serena Williams on her quest to win the first calendar slam since 1988. The draw was released on Thursday and in this post I will analyze the highlights.

Men's Draw
The potential men's quarterfinal match ups are:

Novak Djokovic (1) versus Rafael Nadal (8) or Milos Raonic (10)
Kei Nishikori (4) versus David Ferrer (7) or Marin Cilic (9)
Andy Murray (3)  versus Stan Wawrinka (5)
Roger Federer (2) versus Tomas Berdych (6)

There are basically three main contenders to win the title (Djokovic, Federer and Murray) and although he has Murray and Wawrinka in his half Federer generally has a pretty gentle draw in the early going while Djokovic has both 2014 finalists in his half, although he will likely only have to face one of them (in the semifinals). If Federer and Djokovic do make the final, I like Federer's chances to win his record 18th major.

Women's Draw
The potential women's quarterfinal match ups are:

Serena Williams (1) versus Karolina Pliskova (8) or Venus Williams (23)
Maria Sharapova (3) or Ekaterina Makarova (13) versus Ana Ivanovic (7)
Petra Kvitova (5) or Garbine Muguruza (9) versus Carolina Wozniacki (4)
Simona Halep (2) versus Lucie Safarova (6) or Angelique Kerber (11)

The entire tournament is revolving around whether Serena can win her record 7th U.S. Open (4th in a row) and clinch the calendar Grand Slam. She does have a pretty rough draw, potentially facing Sloane Stephens (or Coco Vandweghe) in the 3rd round, Madison Keys (or Aga Radwanska) in the 4th round and her sister Venus or Karolina Pliskova in the quarters, Sharapova, Makarova or Ivanovic in the semifinals and Halep, Safarova, Kvitova, Kerber or Muguruza in the final! Despite all that, O am fairly confident she will get through. The danger is in those 3rd and 4th round matches versus the young Americans. If she gets past those, I'm very certain she won't crack later in the tournament. And if not, she can always go for Steffi Graf's 22-major record in 2016!

First Round Matches To Watch
Dominika Cibulkova vs Ana Ivanovic
Coco VandeWedghe vs Sloane Stephens
Andy Murray vs Nick Kyrgios
Fernando Verdasco vs Tommy Haas
Jarkko Nieminen vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

2015 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Serena Williams [1] (USA) vs Lucie Safarova [13] (CZE)

The 2015 women's singles championship of the French Open at Roland Garros will be played between Serena Williams of the United States and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. 

Last year I correctly predicted that Maria Sharapova would defeat Simona Halep in the final.  This year I correctly predicted 1 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 0 of 1 men's semifinals. 

Women's Semifinals Review
Serena Williams [1] d. Timea Bacsinszky [23] 4-6 6-3 6-0. After a quick quarterfinal win against Sara Errani many observers (yours truly included) believed that Serena would make quick work of the remaining obstacles to her 3rd career French Open title. However, for the fourth time in six matches Serena surrendered the first set of the match, thus forcing herself to make a dramatic comeback to remain in the tournament. This time it was down a set and a break (6-4 3-2) when Serena finally got animated and started breaking her opponent's serve and going for broke on her own shots. Serena was clearly ailing during this match, walking lethargically around the court, coughing repeatedly and appearing wan and forlorn on change-overs. The strategy worked and Serena won the last 10 games of the match to earn  a 4-6 6-3 6-0 win that she claimed was as surprising to her as it was unremarkable to everyone else.

Lucie Safarova [13] d Ana Ivanovic [8] 7-5 7-5. Ivanovic began the match displaying all the qualities that led her to win this title 7 years ago at the tender age of 20: powerful forehand and aggressive hitting on the backhand wing which helped her storm out to a 4-1 lead quickly. But then things slowly got away from her. Safarova started putting more spin on her lefty forehand and exploited Ivanovic's peculiar service toss to begin most of the Serb's service points with tactical advantages and won 6 of the last 7 games of the first, taking it 7-5. Things did not get much better for Ivanovic in the second set as her forehand started losing its potency and her backhand started finding the net instead of the court. However, after squandering numerous opportunities to break back as Safarova buckled under the strain of closing out the match to reach her first ever major final, Ivanovic did manage to even the score at 5-all, only to fail to capitalize on this momentum and lost her serve again. The second time she served for the match Safarova did much better and ended the match on a positive note.

Women's Final Preview

Serena Williams is now 24-3 in major semifinals and is currently 19-4 in major finals. She has only lost to her sister Venus Williams (2000 U.S. Open and 2008 Wimbledon), Maria Sharapova (2004 Wimbledon) and Samantha Stosur (2011 U.S. Open) at the historic stage of a grand slam tournament and has won the last two major tournaments contested (2014 U.S. Open and 2015 Australian Open). She is playing for historic stakes, to reach 20 major titles, only the 3rd player ever to amass such a gaudy total and maintain the possibility of a second "Serena slam" by winning this year's Wimbledon. Can Lucie Safarova, a player whom has never beaten Serena in 8 previous attempts prevent this from happening? Well, technically, yes, she can. Safarova has the game and at age 28, the maturity, to win this match, in a similar way that Stosur won the 2011 U.S. Open final. But for that to happen, she would have to get a lot of assistance from Serena, which we also know is possible, because so far in this tournament Serena has played four 3-set matches whereas Safarova has yet to drop a set despite playing a very strong list of players Sabine Lisicki, Sharapova, Garbine Muguruza, Ivanovic. Safarova has been playing the important points better than all of these opponents, having been in 5 tiebreaks and won them all. Serena is 30-1 in all matches played this year (although somewhat significantly, her one loss has come to hard-hitting Czech lefty who resembles her opponent on Saturday). If Serena is off her game (which given that she has confirmed that she does have the flu) this could become an exciting match. That being said, it's incredibly difficult for first-time finalists to be successful and I find it hard to believe that Serena will not find a way to win her 20th major title on Saturday.

MadProfessah's pick: Serena.

2015 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the 2015 women's semifinals at the French Open. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I will try to predict the men's semifinals in a separate post.

Serena Williams [1] vs Timea Bacsinszky [23]. After surviving three consecutive three-set matches because she lost the first set, the World #1 finally had an easy straight sets win  (as expected) against Sara Errani  in the quarterfinals.

In fact, many believe that the hardest work of winning her third title at Roland Garros since she is an overwhelming 18-1 combined against the three other semifinalists (2-0 against Timea Bacsinzky, 8-0 against Lucie Safarova and 8-1 against Ana Ivanovic). However she still has to get there and complete the task at hand. This should be a relatively easy affair playing someone who is in their first major semifinal when you are playing in your twenty-seventh semifinal, having only ever lost three of those in her career. Serena is just so determined at the latter stages of a grand slam tournament that she basically steamrolls her opponents on her way to collect the trophy. Mad Professah's pick: Williams.

Ana Ivanovic [8] vs Lucie Safarova [13]. Ivanovic is in her first major semifinal in seven years while her opponent is in her second major semifinal in the last year. One of these two players will be competing for a major championship.

Ivanovic has been there three times before while Safarova has never reached that point before. This would usually indicate a clear advantage to Ivanovic but in addition to the occasion you have to deal with your opponent. Safarova has a 5-3 career head-to-head edge overall while the two have split their two clay court meetings to date. More importantly Safarova beat Ivanovic last year at Roland Garros in straight sets. The two have been on tour for a long time so they both know how important (and rare) these moments can be  during a career. However, I think that the fact that Ivanovic is the player who has previously experienced more success at this level makes it more likely that she will end up on top again. That being said, I would not be surprised that if Safarova plays with the same fearless abandon that allowed her to dismiss the defending French Open champion in straight sets she will indeed reach her first major final. But I think the occasion will prevent her from doing so. Mad Professah's pick: Ivanovic.

2015 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the 2015 women's quarterfinals at the French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I will try to predict the men's quarterfinals in a separate post.

Serena Williams [1] vs Sara Errani [14].  For the third round in a row, Serena lost the first set and had to make a dramatic comeback  to keep her hopes of winning her 3rd French Open alive. She had nearly twice as many unforced errors in her 1-6 7-5 6-3 win in the 4th round over Sloane Stephens. Happily, she will play Sara Errani whom she has only lost one set against in 7 matches, but Errani did win a non-tour match on clay in Federation Cup competition during the Spring on home turf in Italy. Errani has reached the French Open final herself and is averaging an astonishing 15 unforced errors per match in the first four rounds, including a mere 3 unforced errors in her fourth round win (forty less than Serena at the same stage of the tournament). Regardless, this tournament is clearly now Serena's to lose and  I find it impossible to believe that Sara Errani is going to be the player to prevent that from happening. Mad Professah's Pick: Williams.

Timea Bacsinszky [23] Petra Kvitova [4] vs Alison Van Uytvanck. What can you do with a problem like P3tra? No one expected these two players in the quarterfinals, probably not even their own coaches! After winning the first set Kvitova lost the second set 0-6 and while most observers just thought "Oh there she goes again!" no one really expected the 2-time major champion to lose that match against someone who had never advanced past the 3rd round of a major despite being on the tour for more than seven years. One of these two players will be in the semifinals and probably win more money by losing that match then they made all last year on tour. Mad Professah's pick: Bacinszky.

Ana Ivanovic [8] vs Elina Svitolina [23] Simona Halep [3]. The only remaining major champion in the draw other than Serena is Ivanovic and she won her major here at Roland Garros exactly 7 years ago. She has never lost to the young Svitolina in 7 meetings and I don't expect her to do so in a match that will return her to the Final Four in a major for the first time since she won the whole thing seven years ago. However, I'm sure nerves will be an issue since she has lost the last two quarterfinals she has played in during this long barren period (2012 U.S. Open and 2014 Australian Open). Mad Professah's pick: Ivanovic.

Garbine Muguruza [21] vs Lucie Safarova [13] Maria Sharapova [2].  These two hard-hitting players have never met on tour before. This should probably be the best match of the four quarterfinals, although the Ivanovic-Svitolina match-up will be fun to watch as well. Muguruza upset the defending champion Serena Williams in the 2nd round last year on her way to reaching her first major quarterfinal here at Roland Garros. Safarova is playing some of the best tennis of her career and thanks to her stunning upset of defending champion Maria Sharapova, the Czech player will finally break through into the WTA Top 10. I do expect to reach major semifinals and possibly finals in the near future, but not this week. Mad Professah's pick: Safarova.

2015 AUS OPEN Day 1: Ivanovic(5),Kerber(9),Gulbis(11) Upset; Rafa,Raja,Andy,Masha,Halep,Genie Win 1st Round

The Happy Slam has begun! The 2015 Australian Open, with defending champions Stanislas Wawrinka on the men's side and no defending champion on the women's side (due to Li Na's retirement) began yesterday.

On Day 1, there were a slew of upsets on the women's side with two of the Top 10 seeds exiting in pretty shocking upsets when Ana Ivanovic (who reached the final here in 2008) and Angelique Kerber (who has been underperforming in the majors since she entered the Top 10) both lost. Other seeded players who wasted the long flight Down Under were: Svetlana Kuznetsova(27), Sabine Lisicki(28), Carla Suarez Navarro(17) and Lucie Safarova(16).

On the men's side #11 seed Ernests Gulbis lost a match to Aussie youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis while the other Aussie phenom Nick Kyrgios did well to win a five-setter. The only other seeded player to fall was #15 seed Tommy Robredo.

So, who did win? The usual suspects: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych all won their 1st round matches, as did Grigor Dimitrov, in a much-0hyped showdown with flashy Dustin Brown. On the women's side Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, and Genie Bouchard all won their first round matches.

On day 2 both Williams sisters will be in action, along with Novak Djokovic. One popcorn match is Victoria Azarenka versus Sloane Stephenes while another is Caroline Wozniacki versus Taylor Townsend--I think it's gonna be a rough day for the Americans!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena, Federer, Murray Win Titles; Ivanovic To Rise To World #5

Long May She Reign
Serena Williams ended her 2014 like she did the last three years: she won the last major of the year (the US Open) and also won the season-ending championships. This year she beat Simona Halep 6-3 6-0 to confirm her status as the #1 player in the world for 2014, surprisingly, she has only achieved the year-end #1 ranking three times before: 2002, 2009 and 2013. It's pretty incredible that at age 33 Serena is playing some of her best tennis and 2015 look like it could be a great year. (I expect her to win at least two majors).

Ivanovic Ends Year Ranked World #5; Most Wins On Tour With 58
While Serena is not exactly dominating the WTA Tour one thing that makes the women's tennis interesting to watch is the changing cast of characters who keep trying to challenge for the top of the game: Victoria Azarenka (injured), Li Na (retired), Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Genie Bouchard, Simona Halep and now Ana Ivanovic. Ivanovic had a fantastic 2014, winning more matches on tour than anyone else (58), six more than Serena. She will be rewarded by ending the year at #5 in the World, her first time in the true elite of women's tennis since 2009. If she has solved her issues with mental toughness then Ivanovic has the game to challenge for majors in 2015.

Federer Wins Basel For 6th Time And Has World #1 In Sight
Federer played in his 11th final in his home town of Basel Switzerland this weekend and won his 6th title there, easily beating David Goffin 6-2 6-2. It was only Goffin's 3rd loss in his last 46 matches played (generally at smaller events on tour). The title was Federer's 82nd tour title, placing him 3rd on the all time list, behind Ivan Lendl's 94 (which I think Federer has a pretty good chance of reaching if he retires in 2016) and Jimmy Connors' incredible 109. He has an overall record of 82-41 in tour finals. More importantly, Djokovic is defending 2500 points in the next two tournaments. Federer has to earn 500 more points than Djokovic to become #1, that would probably entail beating him in atleast one of those finals, or Djokovic failing to reach one of the finals.

Murray Wins Match After Saving 5 Match Points Against Robredo. Again!
Andy Murray basically secured his place at the ATP World Tour Finals in London by winning his second title in as many weeks by defeating a Spanish dirtballer. The Scot won his 31st career titles (out of 45 finals) by coming back from 5 match points down to beat Tommy Robredo in one of the best matches of the year 3-6 7-6(7) 7-6(8). With Nadal's season over and Murray currently at #5 on the list he is almost certain to qualify for London as long as he wins a match at the Paris Masters this week. This was Robredo's reaction at the net when the match was over:

2014 WTA YEC: SHOCK! Serena Loses 8th Bagel Set Of Career To Halep In 6-0 6-2 Defeat

Well, well, well! The question of how Serena Williams would do at this year's WTA Tour Championships were front and center when she was put in the same round-robin section as the three "It" girls of 2014 (Ana Ivanovic, Simona Halep and Genie Bouchard) was answered on Wednesday. The 18-time major champion won the fewest number of games in a professional match in 16 years, i.e. since she was just starting on the tour. Against Halep, every part of Serena's game was off and she quickly lost the first set 0-6, only the 8th bagel set of her career (managing to win only 7 points). She then lost the second set 6-2, ending her 16 match winning streak at the Year-Ending Championships.

The loss by Serena means that it is very likely that Sharapova could end the year at #1. If Serena fails to make it out of the round-robin group (in order to do so she needs to beat Genie Bouchard in straight sets) then Sharapova will only need to reach the final to become the new #1 ranked player in the world.

2014 WTA YEC: Serena and Sharapova Drawn Into Separate Groups

The Year-End Championships of the WTA tour is starting Monday in Singapore. World #1 Serena Williams won the title the last two years (d. Li Na in 2013 and d. Maria Sharapova in 2012). In order for Serena to end 2014 as #1 she will need to win at least 460 points more than Sharapova, which means that she either has to win the tournament for the fourth consecutive time she has played it, or Sharapova has to not reach the semifinal stage.

The draw has Serena in the Red Group which also includes Simona Halep, Genie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic. Sharapova is in the White Group, which includes: Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova and Agnieska Radwanska.

The tournament should be very compelling, because it will feature match-ups for the first time this year between Serena and the two breakout stars of 2014: Wimbledon finalist Bouchard and Roland Garros finalist Halep. On the other side of the draw, Sharapova will definitely play 2-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova and US Open finalist Wozniacki.

2014 CHINA OPEN: Serena, Venus Withdraw; Djokovic-Berdych, Kvitova-Sharapova Finals Set

The Asian swing of the tennis tour is in full effect as the tennis season draws to a close and some of the first casualties of the long year are the Williams sisters. Both Venus Williams and Serena Williams pulled out of their matches at this week's China Open in Beijing against Petra Kvitova (3rd round) and Samantha Stosur (quarterfinal), respectively. The finals on the women's side will be betweeen Maria Sharapova who got revenge against Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals, and Petra Kvitova, who won a seesaw 3-set match against Stosur. Kvitova won last week's Wuhan Open and if she wins this tournament she will reclaim her career high ranking of World #2. Serena's withdrawal was for a left knee injury which puts her participation in the year-end championships in Singapore greatly in doubt, since it starts two weeks from Monday.

The final between Kvitova and Sharapova should be very interesting. Since Kvitova routed her in the 2011 Wimbledon final, Sharapova has won their last four meetings decisively, the most important being their 3-set 2012 Australian Open semifinal showdown. Sharapova now has an overall head-to-head advantage of 5-2 but is 0-1 in finals. However, if Kvitova is on, she should be able to outhit (but probably not outlast) her rival. MadProfessah's pick: Kvitova in 2 sets, Sharapova in 3.

On the men's side of the draw Novak Djokovic continued his streak of unbeaten play in China by defeating Andy Murray in the semifinals 6-3 6-4. Djokovic will be facing Tomas Berdych in his 5th consecutive final of the China Open. Berdych beat Martin Klizan in the semifinals after Klizan had pulled off a stunning upset against Rafael Nadal on Friday 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3 by winning the last four games of the match. Djokovic leads Berdych 15-2 in their career head-to-head and has not lost in China since the 2010 Shanghai Masters (against Federer) 23 matches ago.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic

TENNIS TUESDAY: Li Na Retires, Ivanovic Wins 4th 2014 Title, Davis Cup Final Set For Lille

Li Na Retires

The big news this week (confirms the rumors from last week) is the official retirement of China's Li Na, which somewhat bizarrely, happened on the eve of the WTA holding a  $2-million tournament in her hometown of Wuhan with almost the entirety of the Top 20 making an appearance, including both Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova and many more top WTA stars.

Ivanovic Keeps Winning
Ana Ivanovic won her biggest (and fourth)  title of the year by defeating 2014 US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 7-6(2) to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Ivanovic has now won 52 matches in 2014, the most of her career and one of the best records on tour this year.

Location Of Davis Cup Final
The location of the Davis Cup Final showdown between Switzerland (featuring ATP Top 5 players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka) and France (featuring Gael Monfils, J-Wilfried Tsonga Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon) will happen in Lille, France November 21-23 in a stadium that holds 27,000 fans. The record for a Davis Cup match is the 2004 final between Spain and United States in 2004 (27,200). I suspect that record may fall!

2014 US OPEN: Radwanska(4), Ivanovic(8), Cibulkova(12) and Kuznetsova(20) Lose Early

Agnieska Radwanska is the highest seed on either
side of the draw to lose in the first four days of competition

The early rounds of the 2014 US Open are coming to an end and so far all the upsets have been on the women's side of the draw. The #4, #8, #12 and #20 seeds, all very good hard-court players, have been ousted from the tournament. The biggest upset in terms of seeding and popularity is probably officially the straight-sets ouster of former World #2 Agnieska Radwanska at the hands of Peng Shuai, one of the best doubles players in the world.

To my mind, the biggest upset was Ana Ivanovic losing in the 2nd round to Karolina Pliskova despite having won the most matches on tour of any active player and playing quite well during the American hard court summer season, losing the finals of Cincinnati to Serena Williams.
Another surprising loss by a player who was playing well coming into Flushing Meadows was Svetlana Kuznetsova's departure in the first round.

The upset that is getting probably the most press is 15-year-old CiCi Bellis 3-set victory over 2014 Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova. Bellis is more than 2 years younger than any other competitor in the main draw of either the men's or women's singles competition at this year's U.S. Open. She won her right to play by winning the Under-18 championships, the youngest payer to do so since Lindsay Davenport.

Serena and Venus Williams are safely through to the 3rd round. Also, 2014 French Open champion Maria Sharapova and 2014 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova did not get upset in their first two matches. Sharapova faces Sabine Lisicki in the 3rd round while Venus faces Sara Errani.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Ivanovic #9 Leapfrogs Jankovic #10; Azarenka Plummets to #17; Berdych Slumps To #7

Ana Ivanovic's gutsy 3-set win over Maria Sharapova on Saturday night in the Cincinnati semfinals allowed her to leapfrog her countrywoman Jelena Jankovic to reach World #9 on the WTA rankings this week, which means she will be seeded in the Top 8 of the U.S. Open next week due to Li Na's withdrawal from the tournament.

Simona Halep continues at World #2 in the rankings after losing a tight 3-set match to Sharapova in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati tournament despite being up a break in the last two sets.

2-time major champion Victoria Azarenka plummeted to World #17 in the rankings after failing to defend her championship points in Cincinnati. She's trying to get her game back after being off the tour for several months with an injury.

Tomas Berdych's slump continues, although being at World #7 in the rankings is still an impressive achievement.

Rafael Nadal's withdrawal yesterday from the US Open means that he will lose the 2000 points from his 2013 win, but in order for Roger Federer to leapfrog his arch-nemesis and reach World #2  immediately the 17-time major champion would need to win his record 18th major in New York.

2014 CINCINNATI: Serena Defeats Ivanovic To Win 5th Title of 2014

As expected, World #1 Serena Williams defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-1 to win the final of the Western & Southern Open, her 5th title of 2014, the 62nd WTA tour title of her career but her first in Cincinnati after 6 appearances. Just by reaching the final, Serena clinched the title of the 2014 US Open Series and will have the opportunity to win a record $4 million if she defends her 2013 US Open championship.

2014 CINCINNATI: Ivanovic Defeats Sharapova In 3-Set Drama; Faces Serena In Final

Ana Ivanovic dominated Maria Sharapova for the first 12 games of their semifinal match at the Western & Southern Financial Open, racing out to a 6-2 4-0 lead when a controversial call came at 30-all which robbed the Serb of a point. Sharapova was able to grab the momentum by breaking and holding serve and eventually stole the second set despite being down 2-5 by winning 5 consecutive games while Ivanovic got more tentative as the Russian hit with more authority. After a quick break early in the 3rd set almost everyone was expecting Sharapova's 8-3 head-to-head record to be decisive. Especially after Ivanovic stopped play soon afterwards in the 3rd set to have her blood pressure checked after she complained of intense nausea and pain.  Ivanovic was able to break back to even the match at 2-all but Sharapova went up a break again to lead 4-2 and 5-4. However, amazingly Ivanovic was able to save two match points on Sharapova's serve at down 4-5 and eventually the Russian double-faulted to even the third set at 5-all. Sharapova was not happy by this turn of events and mouthed clearly "Check her blood pressure!"

However, Ivanovic showed why she leads the WTA tour with the most wins on tour this year by holding serve and hanging touch in Sharapova's service game to go up 4-12 for double match point. Ivanovic squandered the first when she challenged a line skipper that was clearly in but on her second she hit a powerful crosscourt backhand that Sharapova could not handle to end the year's most dramatic contest 6-2 5-7 7-5.

Ivanovic will face Serena Williams in the final. Serena came back to beat her good friend Caroline Wozniacki  in 3-sets for the second consecutive week. This time it was 2-6 6-2 6-4.

Serena leads Ivanovic 6-1 in their career head to head but the sole loss came earlier this year at the Australian Open and the two have played 3 times so far in 2014, with all three meetings going to three sets. The two are playing in their 5th tour final of the year on Sunday, with Serena sporting a 4-0 record and Ana a 3-1 record. If Ana plays on Sunday the way she started the match with Sharapova it will be  a rough match at the office for the World #1. However, I doubt that she ca come back from such an emotional win and put up a similar level of play two days running.

MadProfessah's pick: Serena!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena,Sveta,Raonic Win Titles; Ivanovic Returns To Top 10

Serena Williams came back from 1-5 down in the first set of the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University against Angelique Kerber, saved two set points and won the match 7-6(1) 6-3 to win her 4th title of 2014. It was both competitors fourth final appearance of the year but Serena has not lost a final and Kerber is yet to win one. Serena, playing in her first tournament back after her disastrous French Open and Wimbledon results, confirmed her #1 ranking, which she has now held for an astonishing 200 weeks in her career. Only Steffi Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Chris Evert (260) and Martina Hingis (209) have held the top spot longer. Serena now has 61 career titles, having won earlier this year in Rome (d. Errani), Miami (d. Na) and Brisbane (d. Azarenka).

Also wining titles this weekend were Sveta Kuznetova, who won her first title in four years by outlasting tough competitor Karumi Nara 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the final of the Citi Open in Washington, DC. It was vindication for the 2-time major champion, who led 3-0 in the second set. It was just Kuznetsova's 14th career title. Last year, I attended the men's final of the D.C. tournament, seeing John Isner lose to Juan Martin del Potro in three sets. This year it was an all-Canadian affair, with Milos Raonic defeating Vasek Pospisil 6-1 6-4.

Raonic is now at #6 in the world, just two slots above fellow "Young Gun" Grigor Dimitrov who moves up to World #8. The Top 5 was unchanged with injured del Potro making his way out of the Top10.

For the women, Ana Ivanovic returns to the Top 10 after a 4-year absence, while Serena celebrates her  200th week at #1. Next week, 2014 French Open finalist Simona Halep will rise to #2 because Li Na has withdrawn from the entire summer hard court season (Canada, Cincinnati and New York) with an injury.

2014 STANFORD: Serena Faces Kerber In Final

Serena Williams reached the final of her first tournament back on the WTA tour, beating Andrea Petkovic 7-5 6-0 on Saturday at the Bank of the West Classic on the campus of Stanford University. She will face Angelique Kerber in the final on Sunday afternoon after the German saved match point to win 4-6 7-6(4) 6-2 late Saturday night.

Serena had a tough battle with former World #1 Ana Ivanovic on Friday night, coming back herself from 2-6 down in the first set to win the last two sets 6-3 7-5. This was an important victory for Serena, facing a player with the most wins on tour this year, who had beaten her at the 2014 Australian Open. Ivanovic played very well, at times out-hitting Serena and showing none of the mental lapses that have plagued her game in the past; she will be rewarded by entering the Top 10 on Monday.

Earlier in the week Venus Williams surprised many by putting on a vintage display of power and will to defeat Victoria Azarenka 6-4 7-6(1). Petkovic managed to defeat her in one of the best matches of the year, 6-1 3-6 7-5. Venus fought hard, coming back from a break down in both the second and third sets, eventually evening the match out at 5-all in the final set but lost the two last games and the match.