Today in Cincinnati, many of the top players played their opening matches, including Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Victoria Azarenka, and Maria Sharapova.
Tommy Haas started out the day with a comprehensive straight sets win over Kevin Anderson, who looked flat.
Jamie Hampton and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova fought it out over three sets, Hampton prevailing 6-3 in the third in two hours and 42 minutes.
Ernests Gulbis played some good tennis against Mikhail Youzhny, but the Russian toughed out the first set, 7-5, and Gulbis’ game went downhill from there. He did, however, hit numerous Seagulbis forehands, which is really why I went to the match in the first place:
Stan Wawrinka looked comfortable, demolishing Andreas Seppi in straight sets, and cracking some nice backhands in the process.
Grigor Dimitrov made quick work of Brian Baker, who was clearly struggling with the fact that he was playing his second ATP match in two days back from injury.
Caroline Wozniacki took to the court in a Stella McCartney ensemble in Miami Dolphins colors, beating Peng Shuai, 6-1, 6-1.
Jelena Jankovic hit the ball extremely well during her match against Sabine Lisicki, but she also provided the kind of entertainment we’re used to from her.
She did this:
https://twitter.com/AmyFetherolf/status/367453227349852161
Plus, she made this face:
Roger Federer managed a routine win over Philipp Kohlschreiber, putting to rest any concerns that he would struggle with another rank-and-file opponent. He was back to using the old racquet, after a seemingly unsuccessful trial period with a larger frame.
Quotes of the day:
Roger Federer: “I’m going to play with the old racquet through the US Open right now, and I’m going to do more racquet testing when I have some more time after the US Open.”
“Yeah, I was playing for a month with the black one, but it’s a prototype. At the end, I just felt like, you know what, right now I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best. I have too many things on my plate right now. So I just said, I want to definitely do my racquet testing and play more with the prototype, but right now I just wanted it to be about forehands and backhands and nothing else.”
John Isner, on having no Americans in the top 20: “It doesn’t mean anything to me. I could care less about it actually. I didn’t even know I was going to play professional tennis until I was in college. I haven’t really put too much pressure on me to be like the savior of American tennis and whatnot. I’m just trying to handle my business and play tennis for as long as I can. I’m having fun doing it. So I don’t really think about it.”
That SeaGulbis forehand.. I can’t stop looking at it. hahaha
Fernando says with respect, fans of the Elegant Maestro should be genuinely concerned. Maestro played awful and won the match only because Kohlschreiber played worse. The return of serve is either not making it over the net or a feeble chip, unforced errors abound, Maestro is slow to the corners and his confidence is shaken and his play tentative. If he makes it to Rafa, Fernando is afraid it will be very ugly.
I am Fernando @vivafernando
Did you guys forget the biggest upset of the night -Stephens vs. Sharapova?
Nope, just can’t be everywhere at once!
Agreed. Think you were at Raonic vs Sock when that match was occuring. By the way, you did not miss anything at that time as the ladies were littering the court with UFEs especially Sharapova from 6-2,2-0.
[…] “I’m going to play with the old racquet through the US Open right now, and I’m going to do more racquet testing when I have some more time after the US Open.” “Yeah, I was playing for a month with the black one, but it’s a prototype. At the end, I just felt like, you know what, right now I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best. I have too many things on my plate right now. So I just said, I want to definitely do my racquet testing and play more with the prototype, but right now I just wanted it to be about forehands and backhands and nothing else.” – See more at: Cincinnati: Federer Wins, Jankovic Entertains, and More : The Changeover […]