Where the Road Stops.

Singapore Theme song

• Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are the only former singles champions.
• Flavia won the doubles with Dulko in 2010. 
• Garbine and Lucie are in both singles and doubles the last person to win both was Hingis in 2000.
• Garbine has been placed with all three lefties that are at the Championships. 

Muguruza vs Kerber. 

The tiebreaker to decide of the match they played at Wimbledon is one of the best sets of tennis played this entire season. 

Garbine has won three of their four meetings this year. 

Halep vs Sharapova

They have not met this year and both have had injury layoffs late this season. Maria has won all five of the previous meetings but has not played a completed match since the Wimbledon Semifinals. Could the Romania vs Russia show down that we are denied with in Glasgow deliver in Singapore? 

Kivtova vs Muguruza 

WE ARE ENTERING NEW AND UNEXPLORED TERRITORY THAT CAN BE VERY AMAZING.  

Safarova vs Muguruza 

They had a first meeting in the Roland Garros Quarters.  An indoor court could suit this match up nicely. 

Semi Finalists

Pannetta, Kerber, Muguruza, Halep 

The Tokyo Towel Dance

Tokyo has a roof but during a short rain delay Tuesday during the Jankovic/Morita.  For the duration of the delay it did not seem like the roof was closed but more of a exercise in how many different ways can we try to dry the court with towels and fans. Even Shino made an appearance.

Thundering Tennis

So the weather in Monte Carlo was surely frightful with numerous rain delays through out the day and when Rafa finally arrived on court he did it to thunder literally.



Reminded me of last years Wimbledon Quarterfinals under the roof between Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli.



Whose reaction do you like better.

Passing Shots: Girl Power Edition

This is Lara Arruabarrena she won her first WTA title in Bogota this weekend. She moved up 65 spots in the rankings & is now on my radar. Hopefully a better known Spaniard will to be back to trophy biting ways soon.

Ash Barty won her first Pro title this weekend. Laura approves. 

In Doha, Vika keeps winning and Sam made a good run to get her season on track. Sometimes I still can't believe that they won the last two Slams. 

Watch more videos on Gymnastike

Rebecca Bross made her competitive comeback after being sidelined with the knee injury and subsequent surgery following National's last August. Please Valeri please get the girl a new dismount I hold my breath ever time.

Trophy Case

Let's see who picked up the hardware in this pre-Slam week. 


Auckland:

 David Ferrer defeated Olivier Rochus in the final of the Heineken Open in Auckland 6-3, 6-4. 

Hobart:

Mona Barthel of Germany defeated Yanina Wickmayer  6-1, 6-2 in Hobart. 

Sydney:

Jarkko Nieminen defeated Julien Benneteau 6-2, 7-5 in the Men's final in Sydney. 

Victoria Azerenka defeated Li Na 6-2 1-6 6-3 in the Women's Final in Sydney. 

Passing Shots

Get well soon Robin. Miss you dimples darkening quarters of the draw. 

• The draw was made for the Australian Open.  Women's & Men's
• Azerenka defeats Li for Sydney title.
• Laura Robson and James Ward advance to the final round of qualifying. 
•  Jarkko Niemin will play Julien Benneteau  for the men's title in Sydney. 
• McDonald's and the Olympics extend their partnership. 
• "Samania" grips Australia.

Passing Shots

• Bettors Beware there will be crack downs during the Olympics. 
• To be able to qualify for 6 Olympics as a gymnast is nothing short of remarkable. 
• Azerenka will meet Li for the Sydney title. 
• Brits Robson, Broady and Ward advance in qualifications in Melbourne. 
• Janet Evans and Ian Thorpe are still on the comeback trail with hopes to qualify for London.
• How Gymnasts qualified to the Olympics. It is bordering on rocket science. 
• Who qualified at the gymnastics test event. 

On Site: Sydney

@chel_ever1 shares her adventures of another day at Sydney Olympic Park:

One more tennis day in Sydney before I fly to Melbourne on Saturday, the OOP was packed! Mostly wanted to see Court 1 action but since I've got my cousins with me, I decided to sit a few sets with them on Rosewall since we have tickets there anyway.

First match on Rosewall was Wozniacki/Cibulkova, thought it was gonna be a routine win for Woz so I made my way to the outer courts after the first set. Turned out to be more than two hours of work for the world number 1. Oops.

Everyone wanted to see either the Kuznetsova/Schiavone match or the Petkovic/A. Radwanska match, so I didn't bother to queue up there, too hot and crowded, made my way to the doubles court instead.

Marcel Granollers walked past me so I said good luck, he said thanks. So polite, he was all smiles to the group of Spaniards seated to my left who were cheering quite spiritedly. Granollers and Kubot were playing well at first against Fleming and Hutchins, but then they got broken right back and everything started falling apart from then on. Out served and out volley, it was a routine straight sets win for the doubles specialists.

Kubot and Granollers

Kiri

A quick look at the practice courts: Kiri and Richard Gasquet were practicing, but I missed Delpo. I went back to centre court, I wanted to see if Petra Kvitova brought her Hopman Cup form with her or if the fatigue has caught up.... Turns out to be a bit of both. Some good hitting and then a slew of errors. Rinse and repeat. Heard that Baggy and Dima have started over on Court 1 so I made my way there, promptly greeted by a queue. Took nearly an entire set before I got in! baggy was in total control of that one, not once did I doubt that he'd win it. Dima was trying so hard, but it was just an error filled day. Best part of this match? The umpire! Mo!!! Happy I finally got to see a match that had him on the chair.

Petra Kvitova

Baggy, Dima & Mo

I wasn't about to give up my seat, JJ and Vika were up next, so I just covered up some more and tried to bear the heat as best as I could. JJ came on court first, mum right behind her. The Fila dress was... Well, so very Fila. Totally underwhelming. With a body like JJ's, they still decided to give her a potato sack. And then there came Vika, in her gold track jacket. Ick. it was practically the same shade as Rezai's infamous gold and black kit.

JJ and ump were kept waiting by Vika, Rafa style, for the coin toss. Did I mention that I love Vika? Hehe.

JJ

 That match was a total shoot out. Loved it. Much tighter than the score    suggests, but in the end Vika just out served and out gunned JJ. Bless that finger wag celebration.

Vika

Finger Twirl

After Vika won, i was back on Rosewall where the crowds, as sparse as it was was quite energetically cheering, the Serbs higher up in the stands, Aussie supporters mostly on the side near Lleyton's box. Btw, I have never seen a more blonde entourage than Lleyton's xP.

Lleyton seemed to be on cruise control after a first set struggle vs Troicki... Until the wheels came flying off. And bad! Nothing was going in, bad serving at the worst possible times... GSM Troicki in 3.

And that was it, last day at the tennis in Sydney before the much awaited trip to Melbourne. Im keeping my fingers crossed for Vika and Delpo. JUST PLEASE DON'T BREAK THEM, SYDNEY!

Passing Shots

• Andrea Petkovic withdrew from the Australian Open with a stress fracture in her lower back. She posted on her facebook

 "Dear Petkorazzis. I am very sorry to tell you that I had to withdraw from the Australian Open with a lower back stress fracture. I'll recover now to have what you can literally call a comeback!" 

•  Wozniacki loses in Sydney. 
• USA Gymnastics will name Olympic team at Olympic Trials. This is a change of practice from team choseing procedure over the last decade. 
• Canada has qualified a full Women's Gymnastics Team at the test event.
• Spanish seeds advance in Auckland. 
• Laura Robson will face Mel Oudin in the first round of Australian Open qualifications. Here is the full draw.  
• The US Womens National Soccer team is completely at training camp after Solo, Wambach and Coach Sundhage arrived after attending the FIFA Awards. 

Passing Shots

• Jim Redmond father of 1992 Olympian Derek Redmond to carry torch. 
• Venus Williams withdraws from Australian Open. Hope to see you back on court soon! 
• Upsets aplenty for the men in Auckland. 
• The qualifying tournament is about to get underway. 
• The gymnastics test event is in full swing. Photos.
• Roger Federer and Ryan Lochte headline Gilletes Olympic marketing.
• NBC will broadcast the Olympics in 3-D.
• Granny Maria. Not really but at 24 she is one of the more experienced players on tour.   
• America kills the Petko-dance. 
• Feliciano Lopez will be head to toe in Wilson gear. 

Trophy Case

I present you the winners of the first events of the season.

Brisbane: 

Andy Murray defeated Alexander Dolgopolov 6-1 6-3 in the Men's Final.

Kaia Kanepi defeated Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-1 in the Women's Final.

Zheng Jie defeated Flavia Penetta 2-6 6-3 2-0 (Ret.) in the Auckland final.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Gael Monfils 7-5 6-3 in the Doha Final. 

 Milos Raonic defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(4) in the Chennai Final. 

(pics Getty, AP)

Passing Shots

• Raonic wins Chennai in a tiebreaker fest. 
• Ana thinks that everyone has a chance to win in Melbourne. 
• You might have you eye on the wrong thing Caro. 
• How will Scotland benefit from the Olympics?
• Possible Denver 2022 Winter Olympics bid has a very large price tag. 

Passing Shots

• Stosur meets Schiavone on Australian soil for the second time since their French Open final in the first round of Sydney. 
• The WTA number one ranking is a stake in Sydney. 
• Kaia Kanepi tops off her stellar week with the title in Brisbane.
• Raonic advances to the final in Chennai.  
• The organizer of the 1980 Winter Olympics dies.  
• Tsonga defeats Monfils in a foggy Doha final. 
• The Czech Republic wins Hopman Cup Final over France. 
• Zheng Jie won the delayed by rain then forced indoors by more rain Auckland final over Penetta when Flavia retired down a break in the third set. 
• Ivanovic lost to Safarova in the first round of Sydney. 
• Sabine Lisicki withdraws from Sydney. 
• Madrid's bid for the 2020 Olympics gain support from the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities. 

Quotable

“It’s always better to qualify. I’ve been lucky enough to get wildcards into Wimbledon for the last few years, but hopefully I won’t need one this year, and I’m going to play qualifying here (at the Australian Open) and hopefully I’ll do well,”

Laura Robson as she hopes to qualify for her second straight Major.

Passing Shots

Laura Robson wants you to watch the Australian Open qualifying tournament starts Jan. 10. 

• Federer gives Tsonga a walk-over in the semifinals of Doha with a back issue. Monfils upsets Nadal for a spot in the final as well. 
• Clijsters retires from her semifinal in Brisbane with a hip injury against Hantuchova. While Kanepi continues her solid run upsetting Schiavone for a spot in the final.  
• Pennetta and Zheng are to meet in the Auckland final. Flavia will also be in the doubles final with Julia Goerges. 
• More ticket sale issues for London organizers. Ticket resale had to be suspended today. 
• The Roland Garros facebook wants you to play Guess Who. 

HIghlight Reel

Andy Murray advanced to the quarterfinals in Brisbane after defeating Gilles Muller 4-6 7-6 6-0.

Iveta Benesova upset Sam Stosur 6-4 6-2 in Brisbane to advance to the quarterfinals. 

Serena Williams defeated Bojana Jovanovski 6-2 6-4. But do to the ankle injury she sustained in the second set she withdrew from the tournament granting Daniella Hantuchova a walkover to the semifinals.

Serena Press Conference

Sammy... Sammy... Sammy...Oye Oye Oye Vey

Home towngirl Sam Stosur was upset in the second round of Brisbane by Iveta Benesova 6-4 6-2. 

Better luck in Sydney Sam. 

Switching it Up

For some player's the new season means a new look. 


Tsvetana Pironkova has gone from Lotto...

to Nike which she debuted this week at Hopman Cup.

US Open Champion Sam Stosur has gone from the classic Lacoste...

to the sporty Asics she unveiled in Brisbane. 

Jelena Jankovic moved from Anita...

to Fila

Julia Gorges and Jarmila Gajdosova go from Wilson...

to Babolat.

Highlight Reel

Andy Murray came back from a set down to defeat Mikhail Kukushkin 5-7 6-3 6-2 in the first round of  Brisbane.

Andrea Petkovic defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-6 6-0 in the second round of Brisbane.

Kim Clijsters defeated Ana Ivanovic in 3-sets 6-1 1-6 6-3 in the second round of Brisbane. 

Nadal got his season off to a winning start in Doha with a 6-3 6-7 6-2.

Highlight Reel: Brisbane

Serena wins her first match since the US Open Final 6-2 6-3. 

Ana Ivanovic starts her season with a 6-3 6-3 victory. Has a second round meeting with Kin Clijsters.

Stosur debuts her new kit in a 6-2 6-3 victory

Petkovic debuts a new move after her 7-6 (3) 1-6 6-3 victory.