American Melanie Oudin pulled the biggest upset on Day 6 by beating the struggling former world no.1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2.
When the 124th ranked Oudin (pronounced Oo-dan') concluded the match of her life she had to ask where to find the exit from the court.Still finding her way around the All England Club, Oudin has made her way into the fourth round.
French Open champion and birthday girl Svetlana Kuznetsova did not get the birthday present she hoped for when she was also knocked out of Wimbledon by unseeded teenager Sabine Lisicki.
The Russian was outclassed 6-2, 7-5 in just one hour and 26 minutes.
I'll be away for the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day and Wesak Day.
Hence, I'm not going to update my blog.
So, are you planning something special for your beloved Mom?
If you haven't come up with any plan, let Nikolay Davydenko and Sabine Lisicki show you how to make the world famous Portuguese tarts "Pasteis de Belém" for your Mom.
I was really pissed off with Astro, my local paid TV for not showing Rafael Nadal's historic win at the Monte Carlo Masters tournament yesterday because football is always their top priority.
It's totally absurb when they diligently covered the earlier rounds but when it comes to weekend's semifinals and finals they took away the live coverage just to pave ways for some unimportant football matches.
Enough of my rantings, I should be happy because Nadal managed to overcome Novak Djokovic, beating the third-ranked Serbian 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 for his fifth straight Monte Carlo Masters title after losing a set here for the first time since the 2006 final against Roger Federer.
“Everyone can improve in every surface, no? No one is perfect. Sure, I can improve,” Nadal said.
“I always work to improve because when you feel you can’t improve, is difficult to wake up and go on court and practice.”
Nadal is now favored to also collect a fifth straight French Open title.
He was unhappy with how he served, and plans to improve on it before heading to Roland Garros next month.
In the men's doubles final, second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.
Meanwhile, Roberta Vinci won her second WTA Tour title at the Barcelona Open on Sunday, beating beat defending champion Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 6-4.
In another WTA tourney, Sabine Lisicki beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 to win the Family Circle Cup and her first tour title on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Lisicki, who is ranked No. 63 and bounced Venus Williams earlier in the tournament, consistently had serves around 120 mph at the tournament on the green clay at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C. (Via AP; Images by Michael Steele/Getty Images Europe)
Two of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's brightest young stars went to battle in the Tashkent Open final on Sunday.
It was Sorana Cirstea who rose to the top on this occasion, coming back from the brink in the third set and edging Sabine Lisicki in a third set tie-break to capture her first title at the Tier IV event.
"I'll cherish the title in Tashkent forever as it is my first title; I was desperate to take my first title!" Cirstea added.
"I've been improving a lot since my first final, and I'm looking for many more titles. I'm also extremely happy to wear the traditional Uzbek dress, which has become the trademark of this event."
Cirstea was a runner-up in her first career final, losing to Gisela Dulko in three sets on the clay courts of Budapest last spring.
But it was second time lucky in Tashkent this year, as the 18-year-old came back from the brink to emphatically beat her 19-year-old opponent, who was playing in her first career final.
"I made some mistakes and missed too many easy shots; it was my first final and I'm happy to have come so far, but I'm sad to lose," Lisicki said.
"Although I might have missed a lot of shots today, in the future these shots will be my weapons. My goal is to be a Top 10 player and I'm going to work even harder."
With Cirstea, Lisicki and Peng all reaching the semifinals, the only Top 4 seed not reaching the semifinals was No.2 seed Olga Govortsova.
In her stead it was No.5 seed Magdalena Rybarikova who reached the final four before retiring against Cirstea due to illness after dropping the first set, 6-3.
Also making noise in Tashkent was Portuguese phenom Michelle Larcher de Brito, who reached a Tour quarterfinal for the first time in her very green career.
The doubles final took the court on Saturday as well, with Ioana Raluca Olaru and Olga Savchuk beating Nina Bratchikova and Kathrin Woerle in a match tie-break, 5-7, 7-5, 10-7.
Both Olaru and Savchuk picked up their first Tour titles of any kind; and while Olaru had reached one Tour doubles final - at Budapest earlier this year, finishing runner-up - Savchuk was playing her first Tour final of any kind.
(Via sonyericssonwtatour.com, Image via Yahoo! Sport)
American Melanie Oudin pulled the biggest upset on Day 6 by beating the struggling former world no.1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2.
