Happiness is no tennis at the dinner table

Li IW 12 TR MALT0574

‘Li Na, Li Na, do this Li Na.’

FROM THE ROGER’S CUP IN TORONTO – Li Na and her husband Dennis don’t talk tennis at the dinner table. Or at least away from tennis sites. That’s likely why every time she talks about him she does so with a smile on her face. “Out of the tennis court we never talk about tennis, so that’s why we can keep a long marriage.”

LI had another reason to smile on Thursday after she edged Ana Ivanovic 3-6 6-1 7-6 (5) in a match that for little while appeared to be in the Serbian’s hands, but once again she could not find a way to best a top player and went down. She was up 5-2, served for the contest at 5-3, but then Li began to deliver hammer shots with her devastating backhand crosscourt and down the line, with slice and body serves and some deep and impossible to touch forehands. Ivanovic did not choke the match, but she could not seem to bring her ‘A’ game when it mattered most. At 5-5 in the tiebreaker, Li nailed a forehand crosscourt winner. On match point with the ball into her favored forehand side, Ivanovic flew one long.

Li’s coach of one year now, Carlos Rodriguez is not with her on tis trip, but they are communicating via email. He will be in Cincinnati with her next week. Having Rodriguez around has even helped her marriage and how Dennis deals with her on court when Carlos isn’t around.

“Every time [Carlos] was like say, Relax.  I say, I already relaxed.  He say, No, you should even more.  I was like, Okay.  But it’s very tough, because my husband also is my ex‑coach.  Sometimes he also has some idea, but if he say something I didn’t want listening all the time. So now I think he got a little bit smart.  If he want to do something he talk to Carlos, and then Carlos talk to me.  I was like, Okay, I have to do that because Carlos say I have to do.  Because if like two coaches say the different thing, it was a little bit of a fight because I didn’t know which one I listen.  Now I think they do pretty good job.  They make together first and then say, Li Na, you have to do this.  Li Na, you have to do that.  Same like here, because Carlos is not here, but my husband always say, Oh, Carlos say you should… So I was like, Okay.”

Li one of the WTA’s most endearing characters. She has a terrific sense of humor and enjoys a good laugh even at her own expense. She will have another tough contest in the next round when she faces Bank of the West Classic Classic champion Dominika Cibulkova who took down  Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3 7-6. Domi has her grove back and she will be more than pleased to play powerball with Li.

Two other women who can smack the ball moved ahead and will face off. Defending champ Petra Kvitova muscled up and took a  6-3, 6-3 victory over SoCal Open victor Sam Stosur, who looked a little fried. Kvitova knew that so she made sure to hang tough in long rallies. But she does not feel she can take that kind of risk against Sorana Cirstea who had perhaps had the best  18 hours periods of her life when she fought off two match points against Caro Wozniacki in a three hour match that ended at almost midnight and then came back on Thursday afternoon and took out Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-4.

“I think I made a huge step forward today by backing up the win from yesterday, because I think this was one of the issues in the past,” Cirstea said. “I would have a good win but then I couldn’t really back it up.

Now I feel I’m more solid, and I’m taking every match the same and not focusing so much, ‘Oh, I just had a big win.’ I’m like, ‘Today is a new day, new match.’ I just have to do the same things I’m doing every single day. This kind of mentality, it’s helping me.”

Marion Bartoli retired down 7-6 1-0 to Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia and either has an  abdominal injury or she just exhausted from Wimbledon. Read here.

Serena Williams smoked  Kirsten Flipkens 6-0 6-3 and showed the Belgium just how hard it is to best two sisters in one event: Flipkens was the one who beat Venus Williams in round one.

Agnieszka Radwanska played the big points better than Sloane Stephens in a 6-1 7-6 win and said the young American just needs more experience.

Sara Errani is less than thrilled with Alize Cornet but beat her anyway France 7-5 7-6.   Read about their ‘Vamos v Allez’  tiff here.

 

Time for Sharapova to be clay court boss

When it rainy Rome, gut it out like Sharapova did

Maria will now hit the highway to Paris.

The Rome final was by no means pretty. It was muddy and sloppy and the only consistent rhythm on court was the drumbeat of the rain drops. But still, Maria Sharapova and Li Na battled fiercely in the Italian Open final , and when it ended after two stoppages for rain, Sharapova had defended her title in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory in more than two hours.

The match wildly swung up and down, with Li getting out to a 6-4, 4-0 lead before she began to err badly and Sharapova grew steadier, and Sharapova racing to a 4-2 , 40-15 lead in the third before she did much the same. Down 5-6, Sharapova fended off a match point by ripping a forehand in the heavy rain.

They then returned for the breaker, and Sharapova was more confident on the key points and managed to contain herself off the ground. Now she

What’s Happening at the Australian Open, Tuesday, Jan. 17

FOR TENNISREPORTERS.NET SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

FROM MATT CRONIN IN MELBOURNE

The tournament has scheduled women

Caro Mia! Wozniacki Upsets Kirilenko for Sexiest Award

Caro edged out two Russians.

Nadal Repeats as Sexiest Male; Newcomer Goes to Tomic by 1 Vote

The public has spoken in the seventh annual TennisReporters.net Readers’s Poll.

In the most anticipated and heavily populated voting ever, Caroline Wozniacki rode a wave of a European votes to outshine last year’s winner, Maria Kirilenko, and win the “Ana Ivanovic” Sexiest Female Player.  The Dane also outpolled two women who lead the early returns, Maria Sharapova and Julia Goerges.

Defending champ Rafael Nadal prevailed among the men for the “Marat Safin” Sexiest Male Player, edging fellow Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez

Both awards are named after the two players who won the award for five straight years and were retired from competition.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic basked in the glory of his standout season with a large lead over the field in the Top Male Player. Somewhat remarkably, despite winning Roland Garros, No. 2 Nadal came in third in the poll behind Roger Federer, who did not win a 2011 major.

Wimbledon and WTA Championships winner Petra Kvitova outdistanced No. 1 Wozniacki by a commanding number for Top Female Player.

Even though the annual poll drew in an amazingly large vote total

The relevance of the Asian swing


I

Wins & Losses of the Day: Sharapova, Kvitova, Li fall, Djokovic through

Marin upset DelPo and then was schooled by Djokovic

WOMEN

Galina Voskoboeva d. Maria Sharapova 6-3 7-5

A fantastic win for the somewhat unknown girl from Kazakhstan, but an awful loss for Sharapova, who after playing nervously against Serena at Stanford really needed a good week. Now the pressure is on for to defend her final rounds in Cincy.

Roberta Vinci d. Ana Ivanovic 7-6(3) 6-2

Massive props to the

Peng hopes to match Li’s heroics

Bartoli chooses fight (and joy) of flight

Marion Bartoli

Bartoli finally loves the crowd and it loves her back. Mal Taam/MALTphoto

PARIS – Let