The Tennis Calendar: February

Here's what we have got:

Fed Cup: First round action between Russia and China, Italy and France (our pick), Czech Republic and Spain and USA and Argentina. We predict that Russia will power through the whole draw this year (again) and claim their fifth victory in six years.

The teams are (according to Diane at Women Who Serve):

Russia: Dementieva, Kuznetsova, Chakvetadze and Kleybanova
China: Zheng, Yan, Zhang, Sun (no Na Li in the mix there)

Winner: Russia. Easily.

Italy: Pennetta, Schiavone, Vinci, Errani
France: Cornet, Mauresmo, Bremond, Dechy

Winner: France. Edging It.

C Republic: Benesova, Kvitova, Safarova, Peschke
Spain: Suarez Navarro, Llagostera Vives, Martinez Sanchez, Dominguez Lino

Winner: Czech Republic

USA: Mattek, Craybas, Oudin, Huber
Argentina: Dulko, Esperon, Jozami, Salut (who?)

Winner: USA

Open GDF Suez: The scheduled return of Maria Sharapova to the indoor Parisian courts. Anna Chakvetadze is the defending champion here but is not scheduled to return. New Australian Open champ and world number one Serena Williams headlines, with a stellar cast of Elena Dementieva, Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Alize Cornet, Katarina Srebotnik, Amelie Mauresmo, Patty Schnyder and Nicole Vaidisova. Watch out for Russians like Alisa Kleybanova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ekaterina Makarova to spring a few surprises.

PTT Pattaya Women's Open: Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska will not be in Thailand to defend her title as she is in Paris instead. Another blow for fans is that Sania Mirza appears not to be playing here either. However, the cast is still looking deliciously appealing, with Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka heading their way. You can also rely on Tamarine Tanasugarn to fly the flag for the home nation.

Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships: Anyone who is anyone in the tennis world is set to be here. All of the top ten players are scheduled to make an appearance, plus Maria Sharapova will hopefully play. Alisa Kleybanova, at 32nd in the world, is the lowest ranked player on the direct acceptance list. This should be a fantastic tournament.

Regions Morgan Keegan Championships: This Memphis event has been around for donkey's years, but putting in the same week as the Dubai event has clearly caused plyer turnout problems. It boasts Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, but the next highest player according to their website is former champion Sofia Arvidsson, ranked 55th in the world. This tournament could produce a surprising champ.

Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas: The Bogota tournament has clearly lost out to its other rivals for this week. Flavia Pennetta is a perennial here, and will be looking for another title on clay. Aleksandra Wozniak, Australian Open starlet Carla Suarez Navarro, Gisela Dulko, Tathiana Garbin, defending champion Nuria Llagostera Vives, Klara Zakopalova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova round out the top eight here. Watch out for up-and-coming players Masa Zec Peskiric and home favourite Mariana Duque Marino.

Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC: The clay continues here in Acapulco. Defending champion Flavia Pennetta will be there, but the star attraction on show here will be Venus Williams. Other players coming for some Mexican sunshine will be Aleksandra Wozniak, Maria Kirilenko, Kaia Kanepi, Carla Suarez Navarro and Gisela Dulko.

Monterrey Open: A new tournament for the WTA. This is the second of their Mexican tour but will be played on hard instead of clay. Early entries include Agnieszka Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, Agnes Szavay, Marion Bartoli, Carla Suarez Navarro, Jie Zheng, Lucie Safarova, Alla Kudryavtseva and Maria Kirilenko will all be there. This is the final tournament before the Indian Wells - Miami double, so it's crucial for some quick preparation.

The Women's Game, Is Safina Good Enough?

Dinara Safina's performance today left a lot to be desired as we all know. But it hasn't just been today. Her serve all through Australian Open has been faulty at best and her movement and attitude could still do with a touch up. Despite all of these flaws, she is to become the new world number two after the tournament, and probably even the world number one given that she has practically nothing to defend until Berlin, whereas Serena Williams has.

We also think it must be said that the whole quality of the Australian Open tournament for the women has been poor from what we have seen, given that we know that all of the top 50 have really fantastic tennis in them. If we could republish the world rankings on Monday based on the past couple of months and talent alone, here is how ours would look:

1. Serena Williams

2. Elena Dementieva

3. Vera Zvonareva

4. Venus Williams

5. Dinara Safina

6. Jelena Jankovic (we are not impressed)

7. Caroline Wozniacki

8. Svetlana Kuznetsova (she could go there again, if she believed in herself)

9. Victoria Azarenka

10. Nadia Petrova

Serena On Top, Dinara Flails

A picture is worth one thousand words.

From the first point, it seemed like that was where the trophy was, tight in Williams' grasp. Safina, and we doubt anyone else, could have prised it away from her. It took just 59 minutes for the match to go from start to finish, and Williams pounded 23 winners from all around the court, whilst committing just seven unforced errors. Safina's statistics were a different story, hitting 21 errors to 14 winners, and winning just 30% of the points on her second serve. It was clearly a painful experience for a tearful Safina, who managed to regroup for the trophy ceremony. One felt that Serena's comment about this match being a great advertisement for womens tennis in her speech, could have been a low attempt at a joke.

We have to admit, we are now converts to the Serena crowd. After never really being sure about her since after her surgery over six years ago, this is the first time she has conjoined two Grand Slam titles since the 2002-2003 transition when she won the same US-Australian Open combination, completing the 'Serena Slam'. She truly looked every bit the world number one out there. Serena's performance also highlighted what is wrong with Safina's game. Williams' serve is fluid and so natural, whereas Safina's serve is mechanical and fragmented, explaining her capacity to commit so many double faults. Sam Smith's commentary is often hit and miss, but today she was so correct. Serena, unlike almost everyone else in womens tennis, doesn't freeze when playing Grand Slam finals, she relishes them and plays her best tennis, and that her opponent must either have fantastic speed around the court to get all the balls back, or to have an excellent serve which they can use to full effect. None of these Safina has. Serena is now looking to win two Grand Slam titles in a year for the first time since 2003, and on today's display, you can't doubt her.

What The Australian Open Results Mean: Ana Ivanovic

In her quarter final match, Serena Williams described an 'out-of-body experience' she was having against Svetlana Kuznetsova. However, whereas Serena's slump was for a set, Ivanovic's has been going strong for many months now, and shows no sign of relenting. Last year, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour thought they had struck gold with Ivanovic. She was the person who could lift women's tennis out of Henin's shock retirement. Comparatives with Sharapova were always inevitable (she's hot, to put it bluntly), but she seemed to have what Masha didn't: the beaming smile on court, the sense of national pride and the lack of grunting. Sponsors wanted her like crazy, with Yonex grabbing a racket deal worth a whopping forty million dollars and adidas printing her face all over their posters. Come May, and Ivanovic was lifting the French Open trophy high above her head after two weeks of phenomenal tennis, cracking the comeback queen Dinara Safina in the final 6-4, 6-4.

But bad things started to happen. At Wimbledon, she crushed Rossana de los Rios in her first round and everyone was talking her up. Her next match against Nathalie Dechy was a wake up call. Dechy had a match point in the second set and fortunately for Ivanovic, lady luck beamed upon her, causing an extremely lucky ball to practically roll along the width of the net before dropping over. She edged through, but in her next match she was not so fortunate. The world number 133, Jie Zheng, pushed her around the court until the flaky Ivanovic looked like a club player. Zheng won, 6-1, 6-4, and became Wimbledon's darling, whilst Ivanovic trundled away, dejected.

She blamed injury for her loss and was forced to withdraw from the Olympics, and just got to the US Open. This wasn't wholly a good thing. Her first match against Russian Vera Dushevina was going swimmingly when she choked. Ivanovic just croaked through in three sets. It was just putting off her inevitable though, as she was bundled out by the world number 188 Julie Coin in the second round, a catastrophic upset. Ivanovic could not hide behind the curtain of injury anymore, and said she just needed to find rhythm again. It didn't come easily. Losses to Nadia Petrova, Jie Zheng and Dominika Cibulkova swiftly followed, and her year looked over. However, there was respite on the indoor courts of Austria and Switzerland. In Zurich, she pushed eventual champion Venus Williams all the way, before losing a tight three set contest in her semi final. In Linz, as the top seed, she reigned supreme over Vera Zvonareva after a majestic performance in the final. The respite turned out to be brief, as at the Year-End Championships she put in two meek performances before withdrawing with a virus.

2009 was seen by many Ivanovic fans as the new season, a time for a fresh start. In Brisbane, she was the star attraction, but it was clear very soon she was in no kind of form to win, and she was trashed by a supreme Amelie Mauresmo, 6-2, 6-3, in the quarter-finals, and then decided to skip Sydney. Ivanovic then turned up to the Australian Open, playing German Julia Goerges. She soon went a break down and many groaned. "Surely this wouldn't happen for a third straight Slam? Losing to a non-top 100 player again?" Ivanovic turned the match round and won her next encounter against the Italian player, Alberta Brianti, in straight sets. However, she met her match against Russian teen Alisa Kleybanova, and after over two and a half hours of pulsating play, she lost. This came after she served for the first set at 5-3 and went on to lose it 7-5.

Overall, Ivanovic's outlook doesn't look bright, and it looks like that since winning the French Open, something has snapped in her mind. Winning a Grand Slam looks to have been fairly terminal for Mauresmo (and her talented appendix) as she now seemingly can rarely beat anyone higher than her own ranking, and Ivanovic could be heading down that avenue if she's not careful. However, Ivanovic is still young and has a lot of mileage left. She has a lot to give and I would highly doubt that this is the end for the Serbian player.

Womens Tennis Pledges

In light of this tournament, and of Barack Obama's inauguration, I have decided to call of list of pledges some of the top women on the tour should take:

Venus Williams: I will remember that the tennis year starts in January and not in the middle of June.

Elena Dementieva: I will learn how to serve under pressure.

Vera Zvonareva: I will continue to remember that winning matches is much more fun than losing them and crying.

Ana Ivanovic: I will take a step back and ask myself 'WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?'

Jelena Jankovic: I will remember that I am actually a half-decent player and that performances like a certain match against Miss Bartoli will not be tolerated.

Svetlana Kuznetsova: I will believe in myself and get a good, fairly permanent doubles partner who will help me improve.

Jelena Dokic: I will, under no accounts, ever ever ever, reunite with the Evil One (Damir).

Anna Chakvetadze/ Nicole Vaidisova: I will work really hard to get my top-10 form back. Or I shall pray for it back.

Carla Suarez Navarro: I will remember that a Grand Slam event finishes in the final, not the quarters.

Victoria Azarenka: I will continue to decimate those who cross me and not choke (or get ill).

Alisa Kleybanova/ Aleksandra Wozniak: I will note how I am actually quite a good player but I shall undertake a rigorous training porgramme to certify that.

Dominika Cibulkova: I will attack sometimes and not always defend.

Caroline Wozniacki: What Dominika said.

Amelie Mauresmo: I will either quit or work my a*** off to get back to the top, not to stagnate at around the 30 rankings mark forever.

Michelle Larcher de Brito: I will actually qualify for some events.

Australian Open

Match results:

Marion Bartoli v Vera Zvonareva

Vera came back from 3-1 down and then reeled off 11 consecutive games to crush a badly ailing Bartoli.

Dinara Safina v Jelena Dokic

Alas, the Aussie fairytale is over, and it couldn't have happened in a messier fashion. This match isn't one I'd recommend to a friend, and I think I had better leave it at that.

Tonight

Carla Suarez Navarro v Elena Dementieva

Scoreline: 6-4, 6-2 to Dementieva - there will be resistance, but it will not be enough from the Spaniard

Svetlana Kuznetsova v Serena Williams

Scoreline: I don't want to call it. My head knows that Serena will probably win, but my heart is rooting for Sveta.

Elena Dementieva

Never has a zoo visitor been so fabulously attired. I can't upload the picture, but you can see it for yourself at sonyericssonwtatour.com

Fourth Round Part Two Summary

The look on Vika's face says it all really.

Carla Suarez Navarro v Anabel Medina Garrigues

As predicted, Suarez Navarro won through, and it was fairly simple for the proclaimed 'future of women's tennis in Spain'.

Dominika Cibulkova v Elena Dementieva

Cibulkova would have to be playing a perfect game to come anywhere close to beating a player like Dementieva and today she was far too error-prone. The score: 6-2, 6-2 (ouch!)

Jie Zheng v Svetlana Kuznetsova

The match we thought had real promise looked to be over a soon as it had begun. Zheng came out with a strapped hand and Kuznetsova was getting into a rhythm when Zheng fell on her injured hand. Kuznetsova will have to take the 4-1 retirement even though it isn't the best preparation for Serena.

Victoria Azarenka v Serena Williams

Serena chokes through for the third match in a row, thanks to a very ill Azarenka who looked dangerously close to collapsing at some points during the match. For all the Williams fans who think she now has a free ride to the title, bear this in mind: She called a medical timeout as well, she is playing doubles and she has a tough draw. I know I have just made it seem like I hate Serena Williams, which I can assure you, that is not true.

Tonight:

As I am pressed for time, I will give a quick prediction for tonight's matches.

Bartoli v Zvonareva: Zvonareva in three sets

Safina v Dokic: Safina to coast through in straight sets

The predictions weren't wrong yesterday! (The scorelines were)

The Fourth Round Continues

Yep. Our remaining lasses will fight it out in an effort to become quarter-finalists. Here are our match previews (images courtesy of http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/):

Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) v Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 21

This has to be the first match since the Martinez-Vicario days that two Spaniards have fought each other so late on in a Grand Slam event. The first match on the Hisense Arena has promise, though both can play hot and cold tennis. For our pick we will go for Suarez Navarro because her game is something that Anabel may struggle with, and of course she didn't put out Venus for fun, you know.

Scoreline: 6-4, 6-4 to Suarez Navarro

Elena Dementieva (Russia) 4 v Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 18

Following on Hisense is this match. By taking one glance at their games, you would predict that Dementieva, the more powerful of the two, would walk it, but we feel this match could go far. Dementieva has had two difficult matches so far, and we feel her patience might snap at Cibulkova, the baseline slugger. However, we very much doubt this outcome.

Scoreline: 7-5, 6-1 to Dementieva

Jie Zheng (China) 22 v Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 8

The third match on the Hisense Arena. This match-up is so close. Zheng is seeded 22nd but is playing so much better than what her ranking suggests. Kuznetsova is the better player, and if she can make a majority of her shots in she will win, but that is a big ask when it comes to her. We are pretty sure it won't be like their first meeting in 2006, when Kuznetsova won 6-0, 6-1 in Doha.

Scoreline: 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to Kuznetsova

Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 13 v Serena Williams (USA) 2

The only women's match on the RLA today and it looks very, VERY promising. We can establish that Serena is not in her best shape right now as her matches so far have been shaky and her shambolic performance against Dementieva in Sydney raised questions about whether she can still fight for more than two sets. Azarenka wil be a step up from her previous opponents in the draw, and we think that unless Serena is in inspired form, it will be tough.

Scoreline: 4-6, 6-3, 8-6 - Williams

Australian Open Midweek

OK, so we have just joined the rush.

Today's Results:

Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 1 v Marion Bartoli (Fra) 16

1-6, 4-6

Nadia Petrova (Rus) 10 v Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 7

5-7, 4-6

Dinara Safina (Rus) 3 v Alize Cornet (Fra) 15

6-2, 2-6, 7-5

Jelena Dokic (Aus) WC v Alisa Kleybanova (Rus) 29

7-5, 5-7, 8-6

The verdicts

Jankovic v Bartoli

Oh dear Jelly. She didn't do anything too horrendous, it was just she stood by while Bartoli blazed her trail. Jankovic now holds on to her number one spot by the skin of her teeth.

Zvonareva v Petrova

We didn't actually see this match, but the 49 unforced errors in just two sets from Petrova speaks volumes about her performance. Zvonareva's three converted break points out of eighteen chances also talks.

Safina v Cornet

Again, the numbers talk. 52 unforced errors from Safina contributed to two match points for Mlle. Cornet (who we then saw in the stands cheering for Baghdatis, anything going on?), but the Frenchwoman couldn't convert. Nevertheless, Safina's reaction to her victory was not one of joy, but more self-loathing.

Dokic v Kleybanova

So tense. Everyone's favourite Australian/daughter of crazed mad-man just squeaked through after three hours and two minutes fascinating display. Kleybanova fought hard, and would often become a woman possessed when attacking Dokic's serve. However, with the Rod Laver Arena firmly behind her, Dokic found the lines when she needed them. If she is fit for the next match (she almost snapped her ankle in two at one point), she will need much more to get past Safina (if she hasn't murdered herself for her performance today).