TENNIS THURSDAY: Medvedev Wins Shanghai; Coco Wins 1st WTA Title At Age 15; Federer Reveals 2020 Tokyo Plans; Rafa Gets Married 10/19

MEDVEDEV CONTINUES HOT STREAK WITH SHANGHAI TITLE
Daniel Medvedev continued his streak of extremely-hot tennis which began over the summer by winning his second Masters series event of the year, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters Open 6-4 6-1. It is Medvedev's sixth consecutive final appearance and third title of the year. Earlier in the tournament, Zverev had beaten Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Novak Djokovic to open up the draw for the 23-year-old Russian.

GAUFF MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST TITLE AT AGE 15

CoCo Gauff again made good use of one of her limited opportunities to compete in a WTA professional tournament due to her age (15 years old) and became the youngest player since 2004 (the year she was born!) to win a tour title. Gauff defeated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 1-6 6-2 to the Linz, Austria tournament. With her win CoCo will rise to #71 in the WTA rankings and will be guaranteed direct entry into the 2020 Australian Open.

FEDERER CONFIRMS HE WILL PLAY OLYMPICS AND ROLAND GARROS
Although not a huge surprise, Roger Federer finally confirmed that between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open next year he will participate in the 2020 Olympics, hoping to finally win a singles Gold medal. He has Gold medal in Doubles (from Beijing 2008) and a silver medal in singles (from London 2012) and did not play the Rio 2016 Olympics due to injury.

RAFA WILL MARRY LONGTIME GIRLFRIEND ON OCTOBER 19 IN MALLORCA
Finally! After 12 years of dating, Rafael Nadal will marry his girlfriend Xisca Perrello on October 19. The World #2 is the last of the Big 4 (Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Nadal) to get married. The others have 8 children between them and Murray is expecting his 3rd child any day now.

Kvitova Beats Kerber To Win WTA Tokyo Title

Petra Kvitova had a very good week in Tokyo, Japan, winning the Pan Pacific Open by defeating Angelique Kerber 6-2 0-6 6-3 in the final, the first WTA title decided between two left-handed players in over 20 years. Kvitova outlasted Venus Williams in the semifinals, winning 6-3 3-6 7-6(2) while Kerber beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. It was Venus' best showing at a tournament all year, and she hit a serve at 129.9 mph (209.0 kph) that will not be documented by the WTA as a record due to a technicality.

Kvitova, 23, who is reportedly dating 34-year-old fellow Czech Radek Stepanek, will rise to World #7, making her atleast the third WTA champion the ATP champion has dated in his career. Stepanek married former WTA star Nicole Vaidisova in 2010 but they announced they were getting divorced in June 2013.

WIMBLEDON 2008: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

The 2008 Wimbledon Women's Quarterfinals are now set. After correctly predicting all four of the 2008 French Open Women's quarterfinals here are my predictions for the second summer slam's women's quarterfinals. Note, that this post was begun before the 4th Round of play was completed on Monday.

Ana Ivanovic SRB (1) Agnes Szavay HUN (15) Jie Zheng CHN vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (18). This was supposed to be the new World #1's easy road to her second consecutive Wimbledon semi-final. Unfortunately for her, after barely surviving a second round clash against determined Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 6-7, 7-6, 10-8, Ivanovic easily lost to doubles specialist Jie Zheng in the next round. Nicole Vaidisova has had a horrible year but getting through to the Wimbledon quarterfinals (and possibly the semifinals) should resurrect her year, and career. However, the achievement of Zheng to make her first quarterfinal (and possibly semifinal). This is a player ranked #133 in the World in singles (#22 in doubles, but been as high as #3) who could possibly make her country's first major semifinal! She is very consistent, plays low to the ground and is comfortable on grass. But Vaidisova is more powerful and has the bigger game. PREDICTION: Vaidisova in 2 sets.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (4) Agnieszka Radwanska POL (14) vs. Serena Williams USA (6). This should be the best quarterfinal of the four. As you can see, I had expected Kuznetsova to get through to be Serena's opponent here. Kuznetsova was up 4-2 in the third set but somehow managed to lose that match. Surprisingly Aggie Rawdwanska won the grass court warm up in Eastbourne, beating last year's Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli and Nadia Petrova. Serena has been playing well and has actually been coming to the net more than Venus. She faced down a spirited challenge from fellow American Bethanie Mattek who impressed many with her serve and volley game. Radwanska plays similarly to the recently departed but rarely lamented Martina Hingis, absorbing power and redirecting it with ease and possesses an uncanny ability to anticipate where her opponent is going to hit the ball. However, she really has no single dangerous weapon except her mind. She can get over-powered, and Serena Williams is used to out-hitting her opponents. If you see Serena starting to play slice and dice cat-and-mouse points it will be a long afternoon. PREDICTION: Serena Williams in 2 sets.

Elena Dementieva RUS (5) vs. Maria Sharapova RUS (3) Nadia Petrova RUS (21).This will probably be the ugliest quarterfinal of the four. Remember that horrendous 2007 Kuznetsova vs Chakvetadze semifinal? I think that this could rival that in nervous tennis. Matches between fellow Russians are often not very pretty affairs and when the stakes (and prizemoney) gets bigger the quality of the tennis gets worse. That being said, Dementieva has been playing reasonably well. She still has some of the best groundstrokes of anyone on tour and her serve has significantly improved from the one-time laughingstock it was. Petrova leads their head-to-head rivalry 7-4 and has never lost to Dementieva on grass. In fact, Petrova got to the Eastbourne final, losing to Radwanska in a tough 3-setter. But Petrova is widely known as the least mentally strong of the top Russian players, so if anyone can find a way to lose a match she should win, it's Nadia. PREDICTION: Petrova in 3 sets.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (2) Tamarine Tanasugarn THA vs. Venus Williams USA (7). Why was 4-time (and defending) champion seeded #7 this year? When getting this far in the tournament Venus has never lost before the final, and she has been in 6 out of the 8 played this decade. Tamarine Tanasugarn is a good grass court player and won a grass court warm up last week. Six times the unseeded Tanasugarn has played well above her seeding to play in the round of 16 and 6 times she has lost. In the seventh attempt she played the highest remaining seed in Jankovic and took her out easily 6-2 6-3. Jankovic was injured and facing the mental pressure of becoming #1 if she outperforms Kuznetsova in this tournament. Now she won't have to worry about that and will have to listen to the whispers of why she is the top Serbian player who hasn't one a major yet. In fact, Jankovic is the most current occupant of the "Best Player Not To Have Won A Major." Venus has played Tanasugarn 6 times and never lost. Will the seventh time be a charm for the Thai player? Doubftul. But I hope they don't schedule the match on Court #2. PREDICTION: Venus Williams in 2 sets.

Best Women's Tennis Matches of 2007

1. S. Williams USA d. M. Sharapova RUS, 6-1 6-2, Australian Open final, Melbourne.

After a horrible 2006 where her ranking had fallen out of the Top 100, Serena Williams was completely disregarded as a possible factor in the 2007 Australian Open, even moreso after she lost in the quarterfinals of a Tier III tournament in Hobart, Australia to little-known Sybille Bammer less than 2 weeks before the start of the year's first Grand Slam in Melbourne. In the early rounds, she looked scrappy and won easily before running into the #5 seed Nadia Petrova. She was down a 6-1 set and a break before she came back to win the middle set and cruise through the deciding set to win that match. She easily dispatched hard-hitting Jelena Jankovic in the next round and few people were expecting the fierce battle that occurred in the quarterfinal between Serena and Sha'har Peer, who served for the match twice before succumbing 8-6 in the 3rd set. After every hard-fought match Serena's game looked stronger and stronger and her powerfully effective serve never abandoned her. However, the final against Maria Sharapova, the #1 player in the world and winner of the previous Grand Slam was one of the most powerful displays of tennis by Serena Williams ever--and this from a woman who 4 years before had won 4 consecutive Grand Slams! The performance completely stunned the tennis establishment and sent a devastating signal to the woman who had replaced her as the most highly paid female athlete in the world. There was never any doubt who would win the title from the end of the first two games of the match: Serena was hitting winners from every part of the court and serving aces at will. It immediately set the bar for the best match of the year, which was never surpassed.

2. J. Henin BEL d. M. Sharapova RUS, 5-7 7-5 6-3, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships final, Madrid.

The last match of the year often ends up on Best Matches of the Year lists because it is still fresh in the memory when the entire year's matches are being re-evaluated and compared. In addition, the final of the year-end championships also provide a $1 million prize to the victor. However, this year, like last year (and the year before that) a match from the tour championships has landed in the Top 5 Matches of the Year. This time it was the 3 hour, 24 minute slugfest between the new #1 Player in the World and reigning 2007 U.S. Open champ, Justine Henin, and last year's U.S. Open champ, Maria Sharapova. Both players wanted desperately to defeat the other and played some of their best tennis of the year in an attempt to blast their opponent off the court. There were incredible rallies and unbelievable shotmaking from both sides of the net. Sharapova was attempting to salvage a horrible 2007 where she had won only one title during the entire year. Henin was trying to put an exclamation point on a year in which she had won two Grand Slam titles and maintained her #1 ranking for the entire year, winning 10 titles in the process. In the end, Henin won the battle, but Sharapova made the statement that the 5-years younger player would be a factor to be dealt with in 2008 and beyond.

3. S. Williams USA d. J. Henin BEL, 0-6 7-5 6-3, Sony Ericsson Open final, Miami.

After skipping the Australian Open to "recover from her collapsed marriage," this was the first opportunity the current #1 player in the world had to play against the resurgent Serena who had early in the tournament again dismantled Maria Sharapova in straight sets to prove her Australian Open beatdown was no fluke. The entire tennis world was curious to see how the two fierce competitors would match up, especially since it had been nearly 4 years since they had played a WTA tour match against each other. Serena started the match atrociously and before long she was not only bagelled (0-6) but was fast approaching elimination as Henin earned two match points in the second set on Serena's serve (3-5). After saving those match points (one with a service winner and the other with a forced error) Serena went on to win a string of 6 consecutive games and easily won the match. However, although Serena was victorious in the first meeting of many these two combatants had in 2007, the 3 others occurred in the quarterfinals of the three remaining Grand Slam tournaments of the year and all went Henin's way, with only the Wimbledon quarterfinal providing a fraction of the drama on display in this Miami final. It will be interesting to see if the two players meet in 2008 and now that Serena's ranking is back in the Top 10, it should occur a bit deeper in the tournament, possibly even on the final Sunday of a Slam.

4. M. Bartoli FRA d. J. Henin BEL, 1-6 7-5 6-1, Wimbledon Championships semifinal, London.

Of course tennis fans were unsurprised to see Henin losing to a French player at Wimbledon, since the defending champion Amelie Mauresmo had beaten the Belgian in the 2006 final. However, the Frecnchwoman the #1 player in the world lost to at Wimbledon in 2007 was Marion Bartoli, a relative unknown more widely recognized for her coach/father's unorthodox training regimens. Mauresmo underwent an appendectomy in early Spring and was never much of a factor on tour for the rest of the year. In this match, Bartoli was down a set and 5-3 against the fearsome Belgian when she stormed back to claim the 2nd set and continued her momentum to take the deciding set easily. The result was easily the most astonishing upset of 2007 and I would argue was the biggest upset of the current decade. Bartoli went on to become firmly ensconced in the Top 10 for the rest of the year to confirm that this result was no fluke. However, Henin got her revenge at the year-end championships in Madrid, refusing to let the Frenchwoman win a single game (double bagel).

5. V. Williams USA d. J. Jankovic SRB, 4-6 6-1 7-6(4), U.S. Open Quarterfinal, New York.

It's not often the Wimbledon final doesn't make into the Top 5 Best Matches of the Year but 2007 was that kinda year. Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams both played several excellent matches during the year but this showdown at the final Slam was I think the best of their meetings in 2007. Unfortunately for Venus, I think she peaked in this quarterfinal match and thus was not at 100% against Henin in the semifinals. Jankovic also was simply outlasted here but this match could have gone either way, and was Venus' revenge for losing another incredibly tight match to Jankovic earlier in the year at the Charleston semifinals in a 3rd set tiebreak. Venus had demolished the other "Serbian sister" Ana Ivanovic in straight sets the previous round and thus earned the rare distinction of beating both Serbians in the same Grand Slam. However, Henin earned the even rarer distinction of beating both Williams sisters in a tournament and winning it. After this match it was revealed by her mother and coach Oracene Price that Venus had been complaining of tiredness and anemia was suspected. Hopefully the condition will be treated and Venus will be 100% and fully committed to the tour in 2008.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
V. Williams USA d. M. Bartoli, 6-4 6-1, Wimbledon Championships final.
J. Henin BEL d. A. Mauresmo, 7-5 6-7(4) 7-6(2), Eastbourne Open final.
A. Ivanovic SRB d. N. Vaidisova CZE, 4-6 6-2 7-5, Wimbledon Championships quarterfinal.
M. Sharapova RUS d. V. Williams USA, 2-6 6-2 7-5, Sony Ericsson Open 3rd Round.
V. Williams USA d. M. Sharapova RUS, 6-1 6-3, Wimbledon Championships 4th Round.
S. Kuznetsova RUS d. J. Henin BEL, 6-4 5-7 6-4, Qatar Telecom German Open semi-final
A. Chakvetadze RUS d. V. Williams USA, 6-7(5) 7-6(3) 6-2, Acura Classic quarterfinal.
A. Ivanovic SRC d. S. Kuznetsova RUS, 3-6 6-4 7-6(4) , Qatar Telecom German Open final.
J. Jankovic SRB d. M. Sharapova RUS, 4-6 6-3 7-5, Birmingham DFS Classic final.
E. Dementieva RUS d. S. Williams USA 5-7 6-1 6-1, Kremlin Cup fina
A. Mauresmo FRA d. K. Clijsters BEL, 6-4 7-6(4), Diamond Proximus Games final.
K. Clijsters BEL d. J. Jankovic SRB, 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4, Medibank Sydney International final.

Wimbledon 2007: Ladies' Semifinals Preview

The 2007 Wimbledon Ladies' semifinals are now set.

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Marion Bartoli FRA (18).
Unfortunately, the Serena Williams-Justine Henin quarterfinal did not live up to the breathless hype for the second Grand Slam in a row. This time Serena was clearly injured and in her press conference describe herself at being "40 to 50 percent" due to a strained thumb which occurred in the third set of an amazingly dramatic three-set victory over Daniela Hantuchova on Monday. Even so, Justine was barely able to pull out a tight win 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 after losing serve the first time she served for her first non-clay surface victory over Serena Williams. MadProfessah was pretty sure that Marion Bartoli would not be able to last against the genetically gifted Michaella Krajicek in the quarterfinals, but I was wrong and the Frenchwoman won 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. This was not the French player that commentators expected to make the semi-finals of Wimbledon this year, although Bartoli did make the semi-finals of the grass-court warmup Eastbourne, losing easily to Henin 6-1, 6-3 in a match which was not as close as the score appears. There's no reason why the Belgian will not repeat the deed to make a Federerian sixth consecutive Grand Slam final. PREDICTION: Henin in 2 sets.

Ana Ivanovic SRB (6) vs. Venus Williams USA (23). The Serbian beauty is in her second consecutive Grand Slam final thanks to an epic collapse by Czech teen phenom Nicole Vaidisova who served for the match at 5-3 in the third set and blew three match points before succumbing 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 with a double fault on Ivanovic's second match point. Ouch. After playing one of her best tennis matches in years to demolish reigning U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 on July 4th, Venus Williams is clearly on her way to her 6th Wimbledon final (and possibly 4th title) in nine years. Venus had 22 winners to 14 unforced errors, +8(!), with 6 in the first set and 8 in the second. I have never seen Venus averaging less than one unforced error per game, ever. This was an even more dominating performance over Sharapova than her Wimbledon semifinal 7-6(2), 6-1 win which MadProfessah labelled the 3rd best WTA Tour match of 2005. Her average first serve speed was 115 miles per hour, which matches Sharapova's fastest serve (Venus hit several serves over 120 mph, peaking at 126 mph). Clearly the Williams sister bring a special focus to matches against the Russian "It" girl who supplanted them as the most prominent female athlete in the world in 2004. Sharapova is 0-3 against Williams sisters this years and has won a combined nine games in six sets of tennis! Venus followed up that performance by defeating 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4 with 23 winners and 20 errors. A Williams sister with more winners than errors is not going to lose to any other player on the WTA tour, especially not on Centre Court at Wimbledon. And not one whom she holds a 2-0 career head-to-head edge over. PREDICTION: Williams in 3 sets.

Sony Ericsson Open: Women's Semifinal Preview

This post is cross-posted to Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog:

Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) [9] vs Justine Henin (BEL) [2]

Justine Henin-Hardenne does not usually play well at this "fifth Slam" in Miami; in fact, this the first time she has made it past the quarterfinals. She was very lucky to get through a very close match in the previous round versus 6th seeded Nadia Petrova 7-6(4) 7-6(4). Chakvetadze is the "forgotten Russian" who has been having some good results lately (2007 Australian Open quarters) but she hasn't had to play a Top 10 player to get to this stage of the tournament. Chakvetadze and Henin have only played once before with Henin winning at last year's Wimbledon 3rd round Henin has two much variety and forepower for the young Russian to handle. Henin has had a very nice draw at this year's tournament and should have no problem getting to the final and cementing her grip on the #1 spot before she goes off to Europe to defend all her clay court titles from last year.
Mad Professah's pick: Henin.

Serena Williams (USA) [13] vs Shahar Peer (ISR) [14]

Bizarrely, Serena is repeating her 2007 Australian Open draw at this tournament, only in reverse. There, in subsequent rounds she played Shahar Peer (who served for the match), Nicole Vaidisova and Maria Sharapova. Here, she has taken out Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 in a stunning display of power and aggression, followed by her dismissal of Vaidisova and her last obstacle before the final is Henin (who skipped Melbourne because she was going through her divorce at the time). The Israeli player is a very good retriever of the ball and has great stamina but really has no weapon with which she can harm Serena. Serena's sister Venus demolished Peer on her way to winning a Tier III title in Memphis a little less than a month ago 6-1 6-1. If the current #18 ranked player in the world has already demolished the #2 and #8 ranked players why would she have a problem with the #16? These results should indicate to the rest of the women's tour and the "tennis mafia" that winning her 8th grand slam title in January 2007 after a 2-year gap was not a fluke, and that it's possible that Serena Williams may be be the best tennis competitor of all time.
Mad Professah's pick: Williams.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2007: Women's Semifinals Predictions

The 2007 Australian Open Women's semifinals are now set for 1:30pm Thursday afternoon in Australia which is 6:30 pm PDT Wednesday broadcast live on ESPN 2.

Maria Sharapova (RUS) [1] vs. Kim Clijsters (BEL) [4]. The 2-time Russian grand slam champion (and Sports Illustrated "Most Attractive Female Athlete) played a "scratchy match" to take out Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) [12] in two close sets, 7-6(5), 7-5. "Aussie Kim" Clijsters had an even closer match against the wily veteran Swiss Miss, Martina Hingis (SUI)[6], which was a three set battle: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. This is the Belgian's final year on the tour and her desire to put a bigger stamp on the tennis record books is clearly conflicting with her mnixed emotions at leaving the sport she has been playing since she was just a very little girl in a very little country. Intense desire to win is an integral component of Sharapova's game plan. However, head to head Clijsters leads 4-2 and beat Sharapova in a thrilling US Open semifinal in 2005 on the way to winning her only major title. Clijsters had 62 unforced errors against Hingis (and 46 winners), while Sharapova had 41 errors to 32 winners in 2 sets, which is only a marginally better performance. Sharapova served better (69% first serves in but only won 56% of first serve points and 42% of second serve points) than Clijsters did in her quarterfinal (61% first serves in and but won 58% of first serve points and 48% of second serve points). Going by the numbers and their head-to-head, I think Clijsters will make her seventh Grand Slam final, though Sharapova will not go down without a fight.
PREDICTION: Clijsters in 3 sets.

Serena Williams vs. Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) [10]. When Nicole Vaidisova was a little girl, oh, four or five years ago, she used to idolize the powerful, athletic play of 7-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams. Now the Czech teenager has to beat her idol to get to her first Grand Slam final. The two have never played, although Vaidisova has played Serena's sister, taking Venus Williams out in three sets at the 2006 French Open, where she eventually reached her first Grand Slam semifinal. This is the semifinal that no-one predicted (defending champion Amélie Mauresmo (FRA)[2] was in this half, as was the ailing Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[3], which would have been a delightful all-lesbian semifinal). This semifinal is equally impossible to predict. I thought Serena was gone in the previous round when Shahar Peer (ISR)[16] served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd. But Serena did something I have not seen in a while. She got quite, stopped grunting or shrieking on her shots and calmly played high percentage tennis, allowing Peer to break herself and even the match. Then, still remaining (relatively) quiet she started hitting with power and precision and won 3 of thenext 4 games, and the match. If THAT Serena shows up, she will reach her 3rd Australian Open final. Howeverm if the Serena who played the first set of that match shows up, she'll be gone in straight sets. The other question is how will Vaidisova do playing against her idol for the first time in such an important match? She has a history of starting off matches slowly (all her breakthrough matches at Roland Garros were 3 set wins where she lost the first set easily) and Serena Williams is not someone you want to give licence to swing freely with a one-set lead. But who knows which player will show up to play? PREDICTION: TOSSUP.