McIntyre Tennis

Dementieva and Schiavone Advance at French Open

By Mike McIntyre

Elena Dementieva won an all-Russian quarter-final battle against Nadia Petrova today in Paris 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Dementieva improves to 8-7 against Petrova and will face Francesca Schiavone in the semi-finals. Schiavone advances to her first Slam semi-final after defeating third seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3.

Anyone starting to get the feeling that this could be Dementieva's tournament? I like her chances on clay against Serena Williams, who is the favorite to advance to the finals in the top-half of the women's draw. Williams has not won the French since 2002.

Australian Open Day Seven Preview

By Mike McIntyre

Time for fourth-round matches to get underway in Melbourne and there are some fantastic battles on deck for Sunday from the bottom-half of the men's and women's draws.

John Isner, Ivo Karlovic and Andy Roddick are proving that a big serve still goes a long way on the men's side. Karlovic leads the tournament with 93 aces through three matches, while Isner is second with 81 and Roddick in sixth position with 47. Karlovic and Isner have both played several more sets than Roddick which explains their elevated numbers. Sunday could be the day of the tie-break as it is going to be a challenge to break these serves for their opponents.

Karlovic and Isner face tough matches against Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray respectively. While Karlovic is in over his 6'10'' head in this one against Nadal, Isner has a chance to make his encounter with Murray a meaningful one. The American is playing the best tennis of his professional career and is fresh off an impressive victory over 12th seeded Gael Monfils. While I expect Murray will advance, Isner will provide him with his toughest test of the tournament thus far.

Roddick should be able to knock-off Fernando Gonzalez as the erratic Chilean just barely made it past Igor Korolev in five tight sets in the previous round. Roddick has been playing terrific tennis so far this season and is still undefeated in 2010.

The fourth round match to watch is between youngsters Juan Martin Del Potro and Marin Cilic and has the best odds for a five set match on Sunday.The two have only met twice before and both times were at Grand Slams in 2009. Each time, Del Potro dropped the opening set before prevailing in four. Cilic has yet to come into his own but expect him to remain a fixture in the top-twenty for years to come. Both are twenty one (in fact Del Potro is only five days older) and they each tower over most of their opponents at 6'6''. While Del Potro already has a Grand Slam title to his credit, nobody would have expected that from him a year ago. My point is that much can change within the frame of one year. With one title already in 2010, maybe this is Cilic's year to make a name for himself. 

On the women's side, Sunday has the all-Belgian battle between Justine Henin and Yanina Wickmayer. While it might not be the all-Belgian match-up that we looked forward to when the draw was announced, it is still going to provide some fireworks. Wickmayer is undefeated so far this year after winning the title in Auckland and going through three rounds of qualifying action in Melbourne as well. She has more match-play under her belt in 2010 than anyone else on tour and is capable of giving Henin a real push. When Henin lost the first set of her match against Alisa Kleybanova, it showed that she is still shaking off some post-retirement rust. I think Wickmayer has a great shot at taking her out.

Aside from the Belgians, we have a couple of all-Russian matches on Sunday to look forward to. Nadia Petrova meets reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova while second-seeded Dinara Safina faces Maria Kirilenko.

Kuznetsova leads Petrova 5-1 in career meetings, but Petrova seems to be on a nice role in this tournament and her lopsided victory over Kim Clijsters has certainly given her a confidence booster. 

Don't expect another upset out of Maria Kirilenko. While she played terrific against Maria Sharapova in the first round, I think she is in tough against a very fit Dinara Safina who seems to be keeping the mental aspect of her game in check lately. Kirilenko has matched her career-best result in a Grand Slam, as she also made the fourth round here in Australia in 2008. I don't see her going any further at the moment.

The remaining women's match on Sunday has Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko against Jie Zheng from China. Both are ranked in the top thirty and have played each other three times before. Zheng won the first two times back in 2003, while Bondarenko came out on top 7-5, 7-5 two weeks ago in Hobart en route to her second career title. 

I have always thought that Alona's younger sister Kateryna was the one to watch between these two, however it is Alona who is on fire so far this year as evidenced by her title in Hobart and her straight-sets victory of Jelena Jankovic in the previous round. She doesn't have much power to her game, but it won't be needed against Zheng and I think she'll take her in two sets to advance to the quarter-finals.

Clijsters Humbled by Petrova at Aussie Open

By Mike McIntyre

Wow - who saw that one coming?

Kim Clijsters was demolished on Friday in Melbourne 6-0, 6-1 by 19th seeded Nadia Petrova. It was her first career loss to Petrova in five meetings. This was their first encounter since Clijsters emerged from retirement last summer and a result that nobody would have seen coming.

Clijsters has been on fire since coming back in July 2009, winning her first Grand Slam tournament at the U.S. Open and starting 2010 off on a winning note in Brisbane with a win over Justine Henin in the finals. All signs pointed to another strong showing here at the Australian Open where she was considered one of the favorites.

But it was Petrova who was in control from start to finish on Friday, finishing with 15 winners to a mere 10 unforced errors. She would only allow Clijsters a total of five points during the entire first set.

Clijsters was clearly not on her game as she had only 5 winners the entire match while committing 26 unforced errors. After the match, the Belgian praised Petrova's play, but admitted that she was largely responsible for the outcome.

"I was completely off. Just, you know, I think tennis‑wise, I didn't feel the ball at all. You know, on the other hand, you know, she was good. But, you know, I let her ‑‑ you know, I made all the mistakes and she didn't really have to do much. She served really well and was aggressive in the rallies, but that's because I let her play into the courts. Just because I wasn't feeling the ball well. It sucks."

Petrova is a player I have always been impressed with - in practice. Physically she seems infinitely stronger than most of the women on tour and her serve is really something else. You would think that would translate into more success on the court. Yet every time I've seen her play a match against the top players, it seems she is completely out of her league.

That being said, Petrova does have a history of solid results at the Slams. This is her third round-of-sixteen result at Australia in a row, and she made the quarter-finals in 2006. She has made the semi-finals at the French Open twice before, the quarters at Wimbledon twice, and the quarters of the U.S. Open two times as well.

Petrova now faces Svetlana Kuznetsova in an all-Russian fourth round match. The winner of that will face either Belgian Justine Henin or Yanina Wickmayer in the quarter-finals.

Henin Victorious in Return

By Mike McIntyre

Justine Henin made a triumphant return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in Brisbane on Monday with a 7-5, 7-5 win over second seeded Nadia Petrova.

In her first competitive match since retiring eighteen months ago, Henin showed no signs of rust as she advanced against an opponent she has dominated 11-2 in their career head-to-head meetings. 

Henin also defeated Petrova last month in an exhibition match in Cairo by a score of 7-5, 6-2, so the result should come as no surprise.

The crafty Henin only lost five points on her first serve in the opening set and broke Petrova at 5-5. She would later close out the frame with an ace.

In the second set Petrova staked an early 2-0 lead before Henin fought back and again broke at 5-5 to march towards victory.

Petrova seemed to take the defeat in stride and had nothing but praise for Henin in her post-match press conference.

"I think she is a better player than before she retired. She's more aggressive," Petrova said. "Previously, she was more of a clay court player, but now I see her a hardcourt player as well. She's certainly playing high level of tennis."

Personally, I would be embarrassed as a professional tennis player to lose to someone who has been away from the game for a year and a half. Henin however is not just any returning player. The Belgian has won 7 Grand Slams, an Olympic Gold as well as 41 other WTA titles in her career. At only 27 years old, there is still plenty left in the tank both physically and emotionally for Henin.

“I feel better today than when I retired, that’s for sure,” Henin said. “Better emotionally, mentally, better with myself—and that makes a big difference that I will enjoy being on the tour again.”

Under normal circumstances, a win over a top-twenty player like Petrova after such a sustained absence from the game would garner more attention and praise. While many eyes are on Henin, the bar has been set high by her compatriot Kim Clijsters. Winning a couple of rounds will not suffice and anything short of a title in the near future may be deemed a disappointment by some - a fact that would have seemed ridiculous before Clijsters' incredible run at Flushing Meadows in August. 

The comparisons to Clijsters are inevitable and not simply because of their shared Belgian heritage. Both took approximately the same amount of time away from the game and both are former top level players who have enjoyed Grand Slam success. The immediate returns that Clijsters enjoyed during the summer spoke volumes about the immense talent that she possesses. As much, if not more, will be expected from Henin.

Henin now advances to the second round where she will face qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva.