BNP PARIBAS OPEN INDIAN WELLS DAY 4
Kuznetsova, Ivanovic Flame Again, Zvonareva Parts Ways With Van Grichen
Winners: Clijsters Azarenka, Pavlyuchenkova, Vujacic & Sharapova

By Matthew Cronin

SATURDAY, MARCH 13 - In a sport full of players who try and accentuate the positive, let’s not start with the negative and a strange Saturday at Indian wells.

The happy mom, Kim Clijsters took an easy 6-2 6-1 victory over Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The sometime sour third seed Victoria Azarenka tried to be a little m ore chatty and used an improving net game to dispose of Sybille Bammer 6-1 7-5. Defending champ Vera Zvonareva bested US teen Sloane Stephens 6-4 7-5 in a decent showing for both of them and the youngest player in the top 30, the extremely promising Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova crushed Karolina Sprem 6-3 6-1.

And then there were the negatives, but we’ll be careful here, as top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was on the warpath after being bundled out in a 6-4 4-6 6-1 loss to Carla Suarez Navarro. Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia beat up Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-4.



Malcolm Tamm Vika is attacking the net.Kuznetsova later tweeted, “F--- the haters,” not defining who they are, but she apparently believes there are some. She’s been admittedly been struggling with motivation problems, and again couldn’t find her form. She knows she needs more matches, but can’t get enough when she isn’t winning. The Russian threw her racket toward the end of the match
“I play tennis for like 17 years, and I still cannot put this little ball in this huge court. It's frustrating,” she said. “I'm not the worst player in the world, so definitely I have expectation from myself to put a little bit more inside of the court. When you're a little bit nervous, tense, it's tough for you if you didn't have matches. I know I'll be back and I know I'll be fine. But it's just frustrating, because see your chances passing by. I feel like I'm fighting against myself. This is what I don't like.”

Clijsters says she’s not going to increase the amount of tournaments she’s going to play, even if she feels she lacking match play and for most her career she was always better when she had a lot of contests under belt. Clijsters nailed Barbara Zahlavova Strycova 6 2, 6 1, her first match since her stunning loss to Nadia Petrova at the Australian Open, more than six weeks ago. She’s tennis’ modern mom, but time will tell whether her reduced schedule will pay off.

“To me it's really important to also have the time at home, because otherwise I'm going to go to tournaments and I'm not going to want to be there,” she said. “I think it's really important for me knowing that I can have time at home where I can be housewife and take care of my husband and of Jada, I didn't come back to prove to anybody that I'm a good tennis player. I'm doing this for myself. I think it's my choice, and which is a luxury to have.”

BNP Paribas Open/April Graham Vujacic showed up to support Sharapova.Azarenka is still uncomfortable in press, but she’s been pretty consistent on court this year, adding a few more elements to her game. If she improves her conditioning and can learn to mix it up, she could lock up a top 5 spot at the end of the year, but just because she’s No. 6, that’s no safe bet as Clijsters, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova are sure to make further pushes.

“I'm in the very happy place myself mentally,” she said. “I played really good this year. I lost to pretty much three champions of the tournaments, so it was good. Even the losses I took a lot of positive things from it, and just extra motivation to work, go and work harder and just work on your mistakes. There are a few more things that I'm learning about myself that I have to use more.”

Zvonareva has decided to separate with her coach of three months, Antonio Van Grichen. Zvonareva and Azarenka more or less traded coaches during the off season, with Azarenka going with Zvonareva’s longtime coach, Sam Sumyk, and the Russian going to Van Grichen. Even though Zvonareva won the title in Pattaya City, she’s said to be unhappy and during her quick loss to Azarenka in Dubai, was constantly looking over to Sumyk in desperation. She’s also said to have felt betrayed.

Ivanovic is now out of the top 50 and likely won’t be seeded at Roland Garros, a tournament she won two years ago. Maybe her new coach, Heinz Gunhardt, can help her, maybe he can’t, but she once again came into press after a good cry and she’s very frustrated with her inability to execute consistently. We’ve been over the Ivanovic ground before, but now, she’s in place in her career where she has to begin to understand the process of losing and keep digging until she can finds a style that suits her again. Until then, she’’ll be no better than a run of the mill player.

“ I think it's the hardest part. I feel good and I feel confident, so I want to hit the ball like I hit before, and then mistake comes,” she said. “You're like, Oh, shall I really go for that or shall I maybe pull back? I just have to keep hitting it in the same way, because that's the way the ball should be hit. I just have to keep that mindset when I also play my matches. Today after a long, long time, I actually felt a lot freer out there, and I felt like I created all the chances for myself. Just a few important points went on her side.”
Will cover Pavlyuchenkova in more depth on Sunday, but she’s happy to be working with brother again and feels she’s naturally progressing upward. She’s more comfortable with her game, has added height and muscle and is over her freshman slump.

Shahar Peer took down Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-2 6-3, meaning Jill Craybas is the only American woman left in the draw. Give it up to the seniors. …After playing a night game against Phoenix on Friday, LA Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic arrived at Indian Wells on Saturday morning to be with his girlfriend, Maria Sharapova. ..Others winners were Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic (who is dealing with a fever) Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci and Agnes Szavay.

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