First week at Wimbledon, two Poles still standing!

Agnieszka Radwanska and Lukasz Kubot still in!
So two Polish players are into the second week of Wimbledon, putting some sugar into the sour beginning of the Championship. We had the first round exits, some surprising, some expected. Marta Domachowska lost three set match to Anabel Medina Garrigues, which evolved in typical fashion for Marta, 63 36 46. From what I understand, she played worst and worst as match progressed. Marta is now officially way beyond 100 WTA player, I wonder what next for her, back to ITF tournaments?
The really stinging upset was done by Eastbourne champions Fyrstenberg/Matkowski, they lost in the first round to Eric Butorac/Scott Lipsky of USA in straight sets, 63 63 63. Having the opportunity of the five sets match to make things right they just blew it completely. So much, that Fyrstenberg was suppose to play Ula Rad in mixed doubles, but he just went back home leaving poor girl so disappointed. Bad sport, boys, you continue to make those strange performances, and this is really annoying, it is hard to support you!
There was women doubles team Jans/Rosolska and they did, what expected, they lost in the second round to Huber/Black 75 62. Good effort, but not much to celebrate.
What we can celebrate is Lukasz Kubot/Oliver Marach in the last 16 in doubles, winning their first and second round match without much problem. They are facing Victor Troicki/Christopher Kas in the first match on court 7 on Monday.
The last, sad, but not unexpected, Radwanska's sister lost to Petrova/Mattek-Sands in first round of doubles 64 76, playing tiebreaker 75.
And that takes us to the good part of events. The reason Aga did not have any more left in her for that doubles match. Aga is in the fourth round, and she played the week from hell to get there.
In the first round she fought the tight first set with Sanchez winning it 75, and then completed the match with 61 in the second. But it wasn't nice match to watch, considering Agnieszka behaviour on the court. Fans are taken aback by her glum, serious, sometimes arrogant looks and comments throughout the course of the match. She just doesn't smile any more, and shows so much frustration whenever things are not going her way, that it is just painful to watch sometimes. Focusing and keeping emotions in check, and being moody, and unpleasant is another thing. I know, it is frustrating for her, that she is not doing as well, as last year, and expectations are so much higher. I just wish she would relax a little bit, she is doing fine, and I believe it's going to be a good year in perspective, but I guess it's not easy to be in her skin, with everything going on around.
Saying all of this, I hope that after this week things are going to be different. Aga went through two very difficult matches, she played Shuai Peng in the second round and that was a horror three hours match. It was played on Thursday, Aga was doing quite well for the set and half, when things started to unfold. Peng started to attack and Aga just stopped playing. She lost that set in the tiebreak 68, even thou she had match points when she was leading in the 8 game.
The last set was the seesaw, with both players fighting for every point, lots of deuces and lost chances to break, all the way to couple match points not taken. The final score: 62 67 97.
So after that horror of a match, Aga had some rest and she had to play doubles with her sister. The match was close, certainly in the second set, but there was no more fuel in Aga after such a difficult day.
For Ula Radwanska, it was the end of Wimbledon, since she lost in the second round to Dominika Cibulkova. Ula won her first round match easily (with Masa Zec Peskiric) 63 63, but she wasn't able to find solutions to Dominika running to every ball like a hound. 62 64 was the score. Ula played not as consistent as in the first match, more nerves and less effectiveness in her game plan. Somehow disappointing, since this is her second Wimbledon and second round was the minimum for her.
So she showed some promise, but did not use all her chances!
So came the Saturday and Aga faced the second in her China Wall, Na Li. Na Li was afraid of Aga, and Aga was afraid of Na Li. Funny, and it showed on the court. First game Li was broken, than she broke right back, but eventually Aga broke again to take the set 64. She started well in the second and it looked easy until 53, when Aga waisted 2 match points. And then again, like in the horror match number 1 with Peng, Aga's game started folding, her strokes shorten, and timid Aga lost next game. The tenth game was just this fight for life, Na attacking and making UE, giving Aga easy points and taking away the game points with punishing forehands. She finally broke Aga to even out 55 and when all seems to be heading to horror match number 2, suddenly Na fell apart and was broken easily to give Aga 65 lead. The last game was a little tense, but Aga kept her nerves under control this time and she took the match 64 75.
So Aga is going to play this surprising opponent, American, 17 year old qualifier Melanie Oudin (124 WTA), who took out Jelena Jankovic (barely standing from all her ailments and heat of the day on the court) for the QF. Aga chances? She is the favorite, Americans are creating this frenzy about the next big player from their soil, I somehow have my doubts, but we will see how it will unfold. The good thing is Aga is having this big weight of her back. She survived and defended almost all her points. She is not falling out of top 20, chances are, she may still be 15 after this. Maybe she will come to this match playing more relaxed and we all have more pleasant time watching her!
The other Polish players, those foreign Polish are creating lots of buzz on the courts. Along with Aga in the last 16 are Karolina Wozniacki (defeated Kimiko Date Krum in the thriller 57 63 61, took out Maria Kirilenko-after taking first her Stella McCartney contract-60 64 (ouch!), and taking care of Anabel Medina Garrigues 62 62). Karo is facing Monday another Polish-German Sabine Lisicki. Sabine won with Anna Chakvetadze 64 76 62, then defeated Patricia Mayr 62 64. Then she faced woman, who is afraid of playing Polish, no matter where they are coming from, even if she is fresh from the oven Roland Garros champion, Kuzy. Kuzy lost 62 75, so she could celebrate her birthday shopping in London until she drops!
Aleksandra Wozniak, Eastbourne semifinalist did not have a good showing, maybe because she faced Francesca Schavione, who went all the way to the last 16.Ola lost 64 46 46. She also played doubles with Sabine and they lost in the second round to Williams sisters.
Also Karolina played doubles with Cirstea Sorana, and they were also eliminated in the second round by Mariya Koryttseva/Tatiana Poutchek.
Marcin Matkowski is still playing mixed doubles with Lisa Raymond, they are in the third round tomorrow.
We also have the girls junior on the court, Magda Linette is facing number 3 seed Ana Bogdan of Romania.
So the Super Monday on Wimbledon could be eventful for Polish tennis, let's see, where it takes us!

Global Village Tennis News: Tennis news, coverage, editorials and the home of ©"Kourtin' Karen": Sania Mirza Gets Wildcard Into Bank of the West Classic

Global Village Tennis News: Tennis news, coverage, editorials and the home of ©"Kourtin' Karen": Sania Mirza Gets Wildcard Into Bank of the West Classic

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Why Wimbledon Will Be The Last Slam for the Williams Sisters - On the Baseline Tennis News

Why Wimbledon Will Be The Last Slam for the Williams Sisters - On the Baseline Tennis News

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Karolina Eastbourne Queen!

Karo did it! It was close two sets match, and Virginie was fighting hard. The wind was sometimes a factor, but Karolina hang by the teeth and won, the first set after a tiebreak and second 75. It is her fifth title and second this year, she is really progressing nicely for last several months. Also, she established herself solid 9 in the rankings with points from that win.
In the meantime I missed a little Olivia Rogowska, Polish Aussie, who was playing Wimbledon qualifications. She lost the last (third round) match to Russian Regina Kulikova 6-1 6-1. Rogowska, who turned 18 10 days ago, beat Austrian Yvonne Meusberger 6-3 1-6 6-3 in the second round of qualifying on Wednesday.Earlier she recovered from a set behind against German Carmen Klaschka to triumph 1-6 7-5 6-2 in the first round match. She will compete in the junior event.

Mixed emotions before Wimbledon

Lots is going on for Polish players, some of it very good, some of it a little disappointing. Aga lost her match with Razzano 76 75, not displaying good form which all her fans would expected on her favorite surface. Virginie was playing good, and she followed by forcing Marion Bartoli into retirement in the semifinal (Marion got injured during the match and is not sure if she will be playing Wimbledon). So now the final in Eastbourne is set between Razzano and Karolina Wozniacki. Karolina fought three sets match with Canadian Polish (the battle of Woz) Aleksandra Wozniak, but prevailed. This is 5 final this year for Karo, and the chance for fifth title, but Ola is also making great progress since she recovered from her injury earlier in the season. She will be ranked 21 on Monday coming in Wimbledon, although this ranking is going to change after GS, depending on her performance there. She defeated Kuzy, Zheng, and Dushevina on the way.

Aga will drop to number 14 (as of Monday June 22) and really needs good showing on the third Grand Slam of the season. (She is seeded 11 at Wimby) She is defending last year QF points, so there is lots at stake. Was the poor performance at Eastbourne just hiccup and is she going to surprise us all? She is playing Spanish Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the first round. She is the favorite on paper. Maria plays good on clay, but she may be dangerous on grass and is a lefty. Ultimately it all really comes down to Aga serves and her game, she did not bring it to her match with Razzano! Somehow I am not inclined to analize her draw any further at this point.
Aga is also playing doubles with her sister Ula and they are facing Petrova/Matek-Sands, not the luckiest of draws. Our doubles team Jans/Rosolska are facing Yuliana Fedak/Mervana Jugic-Salkic in the first round, and if they win, there is a big challenge of playing Cara Black/Liesel Hub er in the second, number 1 seed. Marta Domachowska was trying to qualify for the doubles draw but lost in the first round. She is playing singles thou, but has a though opponent in Anabel Medina Garrigues, WTA 20.
The doubles are popular at Wimbledon ( I was surprised that there was the qualification for it!). Wozniak is paired with Sabine Lisicki (facing Maret Ani/Roberta Vinci), Wozniacki chose Sorana Cirstea as a partner and they are playing against number 5 pair Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)/Shuai Peng of China, who eliminated Radwanska's sisters in QF of Roland Garros, but later lost in the semifinal.

In singles Ula is facing Masa Zec Peskiric, (uff, what a name!) of Slovenia, the young player with similar (maybe slightly smaller) results as her. Should not be a problem, considering the resent good form Ula seems to be in. But you never know these days with ladies!

And how are the ladies placed? Karolina plays Kimiko Date Krumm and shares her quarter with Domachowska, Safina, Lisicki, and Kuznetsova. Agnieszka is grouped with the defending champions Venus, along with Ivanovic, Jankovic, Dokic, Stosur, uff, enough...Aleksandra Wozniak has the task of playing with Francesca Schiavone and Zvonareva, Larcher de Brito, Razzano, Bartoli, Dementieva and Ula as a company.

The last quarter belongs to Azarenka, Sharapova, Cirstea, grass specialist Tanasugarn, Zheng, British starlet Robson, and "the real number 1" Serena.

Tomorrow, Karolina is playing her final match in Eastbourne, is she going to find the answer to spirited Razzano and follow in Agnieszka footsteps?


Men on the other hand, brought us happy news today, as Fyrstenberg/Matkowski won their first title on grass, dominating in doubles competition! They defeated Travis Parrott (USA) - Filip Polasek (Slovak Republic) 6:4,6:4 in the final of Eastbourne, but on the way fought off match points from Bruno Soares (Brazylia) / Kevin Ullyett (Zimbabwe) 2:6, 7:6 (7:5), 11:9 and of course ,the Roland Garros Champions in the first round. Just in time before the big one, boys, good prognostic!
In the first round of Wimbledon Frytka/Matka will face Eric Butorac/Scott Lipsky of USA, and they may face number 4 seed Mahesh Bhupathi of India/Mark Knowles of Bahama in the quarters and Bryan brothers in the semifinal. Lukasz Kubot with his partner Oliver Marach are playing Jonathan Erlich/Jamie Murray in the bottom part of the draw.

Wozniak targets top 10

Wozniak targets top 10

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Polish green

It was a good day for Polish players, including those of Polish origin. It seems suddenly that we are the powerhouse on grass, of all surfaces and I don't even know, if we have any grass courts. Maybe they have them in Canada and Denmark, because both Karolina and Aleksandra put a good performance today. Karolina took to three sets with Samatha Stosur, but the score was Topsy turfy, 61 57 61. Aleksandra was more decisive, playing only 2 sets with Jie Zheng. So that's two quarterfinals, and in the third is Aga, who didn't play too long, thanks to Na Li retirement at 31 in the first.
To top that, Frytka and Matka won theirs match and advanced to QF also!
Now, I hope this good showing continues and we will have some more celebration tomorrow!

Experience over youth

Older sister moved on, younger sister back to the training court! Aga won 61 61 with Ula and now is facing Na Li in the second round. The Polish bunch did really awesome today, Karolina Wozniacki defeated Alisa Kleybanova 63 62, but the biggest upset was provided by Aleksandra Wozniak. She defeated Roland Garros Champion Kuzy 60 63! Woa, Kuzy supposely is still thinking about clay, I wonder if she will pull Ana Ivanovic in Wimbledon, if she won't turn the switch to green grass pretty soon! Anyway, they are all falling like flies, yesterday it was Lisicki, Ivanovic who lost to Nadia, now Ana was join by Jelena (Jankovic) who was upset by Chakvetadze, coming back after the injury Vera could not handle Mauresmo, Bartoli showed she is fond of grass by defeating Dulko. Do they need rest before Wimbledon, or they are not ready?

Now this next match will be enigma, Na Li was in the final of Birmingham just last week, but she lost to up and coming star (former junior Wimbledon finalist) Magdalena Rybarikova (who eliminated Ula in the process, I guess that could make Ula feel a little better about her defeat)
So, who is the favorite? There is a lot of buzz, especially in British media about Agnieszka chances on grass. I guess we gonna find out some pretty soon, I know Aga has some problems playing with the Chinese girls in general, so here come the first test about her prowess on grass.

More good news, our men doubles team Fyrstenberg/Matkowski surprised number 1 of Eastbourne double competition, Roland Garros champions Lukas Dlouhy (Czech) i Leander Paes (India)!

Sister rivalry

We are going to watch another chapter in sister rivalry tomorrow. Ula and Aga Radwanskie are scheduled to play against each other in couple of hours in Eastbourne. Both former Junior Wimbledon Champions, there are feeling pretty good on grass. The bad thing is for one of them the tournament will come to an end. The good thing is at least one of the Radwanska's will be in the second round.
Ula played three good matches in qualifications which is a good sign for her. I cannot really decide, which one I want to win, it is such a tough choice. If Agnieszka loses, she won't defend all those points from last year. On the other hand, Ula is slowly climbing up the rankings and this is her chance! Let the best win!
Our girls doubles team Jans/Rosolska lost to British wild card. Also, Lukasz Kubot was playing in Wimbledon qualification and he lost in the first round, so no single Grand Slam entry for Lukasz this time, he can concentrate on his doubles.
Sabine Lisicki lost to Samantha Stosur, Sam is really getting dangerous, I wonder how far she can go with those impressive single results. Sabine on the other hand, kind of disappointing result, 62 61, not even the close match?
I wonder what news the morning brings...

One easy win, two tough loses

Ula had one quick match today, she took first step in getting closer to main draw in Eastbourne by defeating Ayumi Morita 63 61.
Not so much luck for Marta Domachowska. She lost three setter with Jarmila Groth 36 63 63. Marta seems to be on the pretty step slide, cannot string together a few good matches in a row and her form is really erratic!
There was also defeat on the men side in London, where Kubot/Marach lost their semifinal match in two sets to Moode/Youzhny. It still a pretty good result for Lukasz, a step farther then Frytka and Matka.
The main draws in Eastbourne have been released and Agnieszka has to wait for the end of qualifying matches to see who her opponent will be. She is in the quarter with Dementieva.
Karolina Wozniacki will play Alisa Kleybanova and Aleksandra Wozniak faces (WC) RG champion (!) Sveta Kuznetsova. There is also Sabine Lisicki who is playing Samantha Stosur (uuu, that will be interesting encounter!) Surprise contender, Zvonarieva is back and she will tried what form is Amelie Mauresmo these days. Ivanovic is put to the test against another "never know what kind of match she is going to play" Nadia Petrova. And Gisela Dulko is against Marion Bartoli.
Uff, I bet all those match-ups are making this tournament pretty exciting to follow!

Grass keeps growing!

The tournaments on grass are under way and things are interesting for Poles. There was three Polish QF today, in London Fyrstenberg/Matkowski played Jeff Coetzee/Jordan Kerr and they lost. In the last QF of the day Lukasz Kubot with Oliver Marach played (WC)Colin Fleming/Ken Skupski. The match was going game by game on serve most of the first set (57), things got interesting when Polish/Austrian due faced match point in the second at 45. They even out 55 and went on to win this set in the tiebreaker. And then they won the super tiebreaker 10 7. So Kubot is now in the doubles semifinal, facing Wesley Moodie/Mikhail Youzhny. Lukasz is really getting good at this doubles stuff, I am impressed!
Things weren't so lucky for Ula Radwanska in Birmingham today, she lost to Magdelena Rybarikova of Slovakia in QF 63 63. Still, good run for Ula, she played 3 good matches, winning with Maria Kirilenko, Petra Cetkowska and Julia Georges quite easy. She got some practice before Wimbledon. Now she entered qualies in Eastbourne, joining Marta Domachowska. They both are supposed to play Saturday, Marta first match on court 1, facing Jarmila Groth, and Ula last match of the day (probably time permitting) against Ayumi MORITA (JPN)
Waiting for the main draw, Aga currently no 11, and lots of top players entered this event.
Speaking of perennial inconsistency Marta Domachowska, she played ITF tournament and lost in QF to Tatiana Malek. Hmm, where are you going with this, I wonder? Marta outside 100 with her first round RG exit, things are not looking rosy, if she is not going to get her act together pretty soon!
Anyway, next couple of weeks are not going to be easy for Radwanska family, hope everybody is healthy and ready, Aga has lots of points to defend, both sisters are favoring the grass surface, see what they can do with it!

RG reminescences

I don't think I am good at this, but anyway: Agnieszka lost that match in three sets, but her consolation may be, that Svetlana won the French Open title in the end, beating Serena, Samantha Stosur and Dinara Safina on the way. Radwanska's sisters also played very tight QF match in doubles, and lost eventually to more experienced Chinese/Taiwanese team.
Over all, the clay season was so so for Polish players, but it is still quite a treat having so many of them in the big events.
Hopely we will hear more about the next generation, like Sandra Zaniewska who beat Laura Robson of Great Britain in the second round of junior RG.
No on to the green stuff, and one antsy player, Ula Radwanska making strides in Birmingham!