Who can stop No. 1 Victoria Azarenka
BNP Paribas Open-Indian Wells WTA Draw Breakdown
Wozniacki revives a little; Radwanska gets her claws out
On Friday, Caroline Wozniacki will see whether or not she can get revenge from the two beatdowns that Julia Goerges threw at her last season clay when they face off in sparsely attended Dubai. A match up against current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka would have been a bit more spicy, but the Belarusian pulled out with an ankle injury before her second match, so the chips fell where they did with Wozniacki taking out an erratic Ana Ivanovic 6-3 7-5?, and Goerges hitting through Daniela Hantuchova late 4-6 6-3 6-4, Goerges, who was pretty much a disaster on hard courts last year, seems to have found away to get her big forehand working on faster courts. Wozniacki played steady enough to best Ivanovic, who looked so unsettled once again in what was a winnable match. Even with coach Nigel Sears around, she still panics too much. Wozniacki cannot back off against the German and let her get confident. If “Caro” happens to win the tournament it will be her first real burst since New haven late last summer. She badly needs a title run.
The suddenly very outspoken Agnieszka Radwanska clubbed a sick Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-1? and will face Jelena Jankovic, who ran past Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-2?. After the match, Radwanska criticized Azarenka for over exaggerating her ankle injury when they faced off in the Doha semis last week, which was pretty quick win for the new No. 1. I was a bit taken aback by Radwanska
Sharapova refuses to push (her serve)
A positive return for Venus Williams
We are just a week away from the start of Wimbledon and thankfully given how few excellent grass court players there on the WTA Tour, Venus Williams showed up in a big way and took a 7-5 5-7 6-3 victory over Andrea Petkovic at Eastbourne. That does not mean that the five-times Wimbledon champ will win another crown, not when she
Splendid on the grass
The tours have been back on grass for five days now and it took that long for Rafael Nadal to almost redline in Queens when he went down to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 6-4 6-1 in the quarters. Give credit to Nadal for honoring his commitment by contesting Queens after an exhaustive title run to the RG final but really, was it a wise idea to play.
“Probably after losing the second set mentally I lost my concentration,” he said. “The negative thing is I lost; the positive thing is I have few days off and can stop a little bit mentally. I can be a little bit more relaxed, because every day I play with pressure. “That’s what happened for me the last four months every day.”
Tsonga will face British wildcard James Ward who took down defending champion Sam Querrey 3-6 6-3 6-4 and then France
Gagging against Wozniacki
Roddick could fall as low as 15
WireImage
Hantuchova fell apart vs. Wozniacki
THURSDAY, MARCH 24 – Caroline Wozniacki and Daniela Hantuchova contested a brilliant second set late Saturday night