2009 Olympus US Open Series men’s champion Sam Querrey and women's champion Elena Dementieva were at the photoshoot today. Both of them are now eligible to compete for the largest payout in tennis history at the 2009 US Open — $2.6 million ($1.6 million for winning the US Open and a $1 million bonus for winning the US Open and the Olympus US Open Series)! The second and third place finishers will compete for up to $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, in bonus prize money.
(Image via US Open website)
Top seed and world no. 1 Dinara Safina barely survived a 2 hours and 35 minutes first round match to beat no. 167 Olivia Rogowska, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4!
Meanwhile, it was not so lucky for Ana Ivanovic who made her second straight early exit from the US Open, this time falling 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) to Kateryna Bondarenko in the opening round.
Earlier, Svetlana Kuznetsova has advanced to the second round after a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Julia Goerges.
Just like Kuznetsova, Sharapova has no problem in advancing to the next round after an impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova.
Fresh from winning a US Open tune-up tournament in New Haven last week, Caroline Wozniacki also passed her first-round test after defeated Galina Voskoboeva with a 6-4, 6-0 win.
Jelena Jankovic who sees herself as a danger woman at the US Open also sailed through to the next round after defeating Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-3.
The night before, I managed to catch up with a couple of matches including the one between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and American wildcard recipient Chase Buchanan.
Tsonga dominated the 18-year old 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 in a one-sided match.
Also advancing to the second round is Novak Djokovic, who lost to Federer in the 2007 final. The Serbian proved to be too powerful for Ivan Ljubicic by defeating him 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
Second seed and world no.2 Andy Murray denied Ernests Gulbis by winning 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 in the featured night match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Here's the complete results for Day 2:
US Open men's singles first round results from New York on Wednesday (prefix denotes seeding)
2-Andy Murray (GB) beat Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 7-5 6-3 7-5
Ivan Navarro (Spain) beat 27-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 6-4 7-6(8) 7-6(5)
Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) beat 19-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 4-6 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(3) 6-3
Taylor Dent (US) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 4-6 7-6(6) 6-3 7-5
22-Sam Querrey (US) beat Michael Yani (U.S.) 6-3 7-5 6-4
Carsten Ball (Australia) beat Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-4
Kevin Kim (US) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-3 0-6 6-2 6-2
Florent Serra (France) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 7-6(8) 7-6(5) 7-6(5)
Paul Capdeville (Chile) beat Victor Crivoi (Romania) 6-3 6-0 7-6(2)
11-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-3 6-3 6-3
Jesse Levine (US) beat Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 7-5 6-1 6-2
Josselin Ouanna (France) beat Rajeev Ram (US) 7-6(4) 6-4 3-6 6-3
4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-3 6-1 6-3
16-Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Ryan Sweeting (US) 7-6(2) 6-4 7-6(4)
30-Viktor Troicki (Serbia) beat Peter Luczak (Australia) 6-3 6-3 1-6 2-6 6-1
Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) beat Michael Berrer (Germany) 6-3 7-6(7) 3-6 6-0
Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) beat Brendan Evans (US) 6-4 6-4 7-6(3)
17-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Wayne Odesnik (U.S.) 7-5 6-4 6-4
Julien Benneteau (France) beat Flavio Cipolla (Italy) 4-6 6-1 6-3 6-3
10-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 7-5 6-4 7-5
Maximo Gonzalez (Argentina) beat Karol Beck (Slovakia) 2-6 1-6 6-1 6-4 6-3
Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Fabio Fognini (Italy) 7-5 7-6(6) 6-4
Jesse Witten (US) beat 29-Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-4 6-0 6-2
7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Chase Buchanan (US) 6-0 6-2 6-1
US Open women's singles first round results from New York on Wednesday (prefix denotes seeding)
Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat 11-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 2-6 6-3 7-6(7)
Alize Cornet (France) beat Monique Adamczak (Australia) 4-6 6-4 7-5
29-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-3 6-0
21-Zheng Jie (China) beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 6-3 6-2
Shenay Perry (US) beat Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-4 6-2
Christina McHale (US) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-3 6-1
Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) 2-6 6-3 6-2
4-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Camille Pin (France) 6-1 6-2
Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) beat Masa Zec Peskiric (Slovenia) 6-3 6-3
5-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Roberta Vinci (Italy) 6-2 6-3
Kristina Barrois (Germany) beat Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 6-4 6-4
Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 32-Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-2 6-2
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat 27-Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2
Julie Coin (France) beat Eva Hrdinova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-3
13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-3 6-3
1-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Olivia Rogowska (Australia) 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4
Gisela Dulko (Argentina) beat Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-3 5-7 6-4
23-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat Aravane Rezai (France) 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 6-1
Tathiana Garbin (Italy) beat Mallory Cecil (US) 6-0 6-1
13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-3 6-3
Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 6-0 4-6 6-1
Melanie Oudin (US) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 6-1 6-2
19-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 4-6 6-3 7-6(6)
30-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 3-6 6-3 6-2
Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-3 7-5
9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-0
Sara Errani (Italy) beat Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) 6-0 6-3
Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) beat 16-Virginie Razzano (France) 6-4 6-3
24-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Ayumi Morita (Japan) 6-1 6-3
6-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Julia Goerges (Germany) 6-3 6-2
Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Severine Bremond Beltrame (France) 6-4 6-2
Peng Shuai (China) beat Jarmila Groth (Slovakia) 6-2 6-3
Stephanie Dubois (Canada) beat Kristina Mladenovic (France) 6-0 6-4 0
(Via AP, TVNZ, US Open website)
Hip-hop icon Jay-Z has designed a limited edition t-shirt featuring Arthur Ashe that will be sold at the 2009 US Open.
The launch of the t-shirt design celebrates the USTA National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network’s 40th anniversary, and proceeds from the shirt will benefit the NJTL and the Arthur Ashe Endowment for the Defeat of AIDS. You can purchase this t-shirt on-site at the Octagon and the Arthur Ashe Endowment Booth or you can order online at USOpen.org and ArthurAshe.org. The design is part of Jay-Z’s Rocawear clothing line.
(Via US Open website)
No other player can make bigger statement with her tennis dress than Maria Sharapova.
The Russian beauty is simply stunning in her NIKE black dress with silver straps and a matching silver headband.
Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki who debut her Stella McCartney's Adidas dress was far from impressive. I'm a fan of Wozniacki but to be honest, that dress would have suited Maria Kirilenko better.*******
Something bizzare happened to James Blake when an umpire wipe an advertising logo off his headband before his first round match at the US Open."I didn't know the rule," said Blake, who played without the FILA logo on the headband
"I didn't know you couldn't have any writing on the headband or wristband. With the new logo, new design, there's always the logo. I didn't know we couldn't do that."
"I don't know why the ATP does some of the things it does, or if it is just the (International Tennis Federation)," Blake said.
"A quarter-inch here, a quarter-inch there, they make all these rules. That's for them to deal with, the sponsors and everything. It's not my place to say."
(Via AFP; Images via Yahoo! Sports)
2009 Olympus US Open Series men’s champion Sam Querrey and women's champion Elena Dementieva were at the photoshoot today.
