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.