Black Tennis Pros

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Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has sent a powerful message to his opponents in his 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over American Taylor Dent on Thursday night at Hisense Arena.

Tsonga thumped 42 winners and had only 10 unforced errors in his 101-minute effort. For Dent, the stats weren’t as appealing, as he offered seven double faults and 33 unforced errors as he tried to keep the pace with his power-laden opponent.


With a 6-2, 7-5 win over Austrian Sybille Bammer, American Venus Williams advanced to the third round. Venus hit 32 winners to Bammer’s four and seven aces to none.

Venus later commented that, "Playing two lefties in the first two rounds is a little unusual, but I was up for the challenge."

"She's a really good player and a really good athlete. Her game is a little bit different from most people, so you really have to be a little more patient because she's hitting a kind of a moonball almost.

"It's a little bit different, so I just had to just make sure I stayed on my rhythm -- I'm happy to be through."

Serena Williams did likewise by defeating Czech Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-1 in just an hour and seven minutes. Post match Serena said, “I thought today was a little bit better than my match in my first round. I felt like I was moving better and I had better energy. I felt like I could have actually played a lot better today. She was definitely taking it to me, though. That was really good for me to play a lady like her.”



Donald Young's Australian Open hopes were cut short by Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-1 defeat. Young began the match very strong but was unable to match Hewitt's onslaught and the games as well as the match slowly slipped beyond anything he could muster to turn it around.

An early exit for Young, but after three rounds of qualifying and an impressive five-set victory in the first round, 2010 is already looking good.

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You know you are part of something special when eight of the world’s top tennis stars are under the same roof.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Aussies Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur united as a tennis family today by taking part in the Hit for Haiti fundraiser at Rod Laver Arena.

The 90-minute exhibition match was organised in less than 24 hours. The charity event proved to be a huge success, with a sell-out crowd. Representing the colours of the Haiti flag, Team Red (Federer, Williams, Hewitt and Stosur) defeated Team Blue (Roddick, Nadal, Djokovic, Clijsters, and late substitute Bernard Tomic) 7-6. Former Grand Slam champion turned tennis analyst Jim Courier was the chair umpire for the afternoon.

Spectators over the age of 12 paid $10 to watch the entertaining match, buying their tickets on the door. Russian star Maria Sharapova donated $10,000, while $20,000 was also collected in tin cans around the arena and around the grounds at a packed Garden Square. Today, $159,000 was raised through ticket sales and public donations alone.

It is very rare that you are given an opportunity to see Williams and Djokovic exchange banter from across the court or see Federer doing push-ups during a match, and the crowd lapped up every minute.

As soon as the gates to Melbourne Park opened on Sunday, thousands of excited tennis fans flocked into Rod Laver Arena for the charity event. From the moment the players stepped onto court, the crowd knew they were in for a special treat. The players were wearing microphone headsets, which meant the crowd were able to hear them joke amongst themselves and tease each other during the match.

After the opening game, Djokovic gave Roddick a shoulder rub when he sat down. It’s also not very often that you see defending Australian Open champion Nadal playing the role of a ballkid, handing out water bottles and towels.

Tournament Director Craig Tiley was delighted with the outcome of the charity event.

“It’s fantastic to see the tennis family from around the globe band together to help make a difference in this time of need” Tiley said.

“I would like to thank the players, staff and everyone involved in pulling off this event in such a short amount of time.”

Haiti was decimated by a devastating earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale last Tuesday. The United Nations has launched an appeal for hundreds of millions of dollars to try to help around three million people in need.

Donations can be made online to Partners in Health: www.pih.org

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SINGLES

Round 1

WOMEN

(1) Serena Williams, USA vs. Urszula Radwanska, POL
(6) Venus Williams, USA vs. Lucie Safarova, CZE
(Q) Shenay Perry, USA vs. Ana Ivanovic, SRB

MEN

(Q) Donald Young, USA vs. Christophe Rochus, BEL
(10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky, UKR
James Blake, USA vs. Arnaud Clement, FRA
(12) Gael Monfils, FRA vs. Matthew Ebden, AUS


DOUBLES

Round 1

WOMEN

Serena Williams, USA and Venus Williams, USA
vs.
Sophie Ferguson, AUS and Jessica Moore, AUS

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Sarah Borwell, GBR
vs.
Polona Hercog, SLO and Petra Martic, CRO

Shenay Perry, USA and Jelena Jankovic, SRB
vs.
Dominika Cibulkova, SVK and Michaella Krajicek, NED

MEN

James Blake, USA and Mardy Fish, USA
vs.
Marc Lopez, ESP and Santiago Ventura, ESP

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Rogier Wassen, NED
vs.
John Isner, USA and Sam Querrey, USA

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American Shenay Perry fought the good qualifying rounds fight and is now entered into the main draw. She came through the third round match after winning a three-set match against Russian Vesna Manasieva 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

First up for Perry will be Serbian Ana Ivanovic. See you in round 2 Shenay!

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World No. 1 Serena Williams says she is happy with the condition of her knee ahead of her Australian Open title defense.

Williams suffered from knee soreness during her straight-sets loss to Elena Dementieva in Friday night’s Medibank International final in Sydney.

At Melbourne Park for a press conference this afternoon, Williams said her knee was much better and that the injury had not hampered her preparation for the year’s first Grand Slam.





“If anything, it helped. I played a lot of matches (in Sydney) in a row, you know, back to back. I had a long three‑set match. Eventually, you know, I had a quick turnaround time,” she said.

“But that was good preparation for me because I do plan on playing both singles and doubles here (at Melbourne Park).”

The American said she did not like to use injury as an excuse for her 6-3 6-2 loss in the Sydney final.

“I don't know if that would be very nice,” she said.

“I definitely wasn't at my best. But, you know, I feel like it's very comforting to know that I wasn't at my best in that particular match … I think Elena played well. She always plays me well. I think we always have really fun, tough, tough matches. With that being said, I thought she played amazing.

“What athlete really is at 100 per cent every time? Probably never.”

The top seed will begin her Australian Open campaign on Tuesday against Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, who she defeated at Wimbledon in 2008. Williams described her as a “tough cookie”.

“She's a tough player, and she's definitely no push‑over. She's a younger sister (of 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska), and younger sisters always want to play really hard and really tough. I know that for a fact,” she said.

“It's definitely not an easy first round.”

Talk inevitably shifted to the return of Belgian star Justine Henin, a player with whom Williams shares a fierce – and occasionally acrimonious - rivalry. However, the American said she was pleased to see Henin competing again.

“What an amazing effort and quality for both her and (fellow Belgian comeback queen) Kim Clijsters. It's so good to see two such good players back,” she said.

Williams will be attempting to win her fifth title at Melbourne Park, having previously lifted the trophy in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

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SYDNEY (AP)—Top-seeded Serena Williams struggled in the Sydney International final Friday, committing 40 unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia.

Williams also appeared to hurt her left knee during the match but later downplayed any suggestion of an injury. She said she still plans to play singles and doubles with her sister, Venus, at the Australian Open next week.

“I think she played well,” Serena Williams said, “I made about a thousand and two unforced errors … it’s better now than later, I guess.”

When asked about her left leg, which she appeared to favor during the match, she said: “I was struggling a little bit, but, you know, I hate to make any excuse. I think she definitely deserves all the credit for what she did.”

Williams said she felt great heading into the season’s first major, where she is the defending champion.

“I feel like I have more than enough matches under my belt,” she said. “I feel like I’m really ready and fit. Even though I didn’t play great today, I feel like I can play much better.”

Earlier, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis advanced to the final with a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (5) victory over Mardy Fish of the U.S. Baghdatis will play Richard Gasquet, who beat French compatriot Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-5.

The 28-year-old Dementieva became the first woman to defend her Sydney title since Martina Hingis in 2001-2002.

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American Shenay Perry marched into the second round of women’s qualifying at Australian Open 2010 on Thursday, beating Melanie South of Great Britain 6-3 6-3.

Perry is ranked 108 in the world and the third seed in the women’s qualifying draw.

Perry sealed the straight-sets win with a backhand winner down the line, her 26th for the match. The American will now meet Ivana Lisjak of Croatia, who knocked out Russian Elena Chalova 6-4 2-6 6-4 earlier on Thursday.

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American tennis star James Blake was a popular drawcard as the MLC ballkids were officially welcomed to the 2010 Australian Open today.

Dressed in their bright magenta-coloured Lacoste uniforms, this year’s group of 316 ballkids was received by notable figures including tournament director Craig Tiley and the former top-five ranked Blake.

Blake told the group their contribution is vital to the success of the tournament.

“The players appreciate everything they (ballkids) do. We work pretty hard out there and it means a lot to not have to go and pick up the balls.”

Before having a hit with two of the ballkids on show court three, Blake made some pledges to the group.

“I promise to be as nice as I possibly can to you all. And if I win the tournament you will be the first people I thank,” Blake said.

There’s plenty of incentive for the ballkids to work hard, too. Each individual receives an exclusive gift from Tennis Australia to thank them for their efforts, and the two best performers – one boy and one girl – receive the MLC Ballkid Award of a cheque for (AU) $1000 and a trophy that is presented to the recipients on Rod Laver Arena.

Ballkids work shifts of 45 minutes on court, followed by 45 minutes off court. In order to protect them from Melbourne’s sun and intense heat, the ballkids wear legionnaire hats and UV protected sunglasses. They are also provided with water bottles and wear special ‘coolits’, which are cool padded neckties.

Returning ballkid Steven Clark said he thoroughly enjoyed the 2009 tournament.

“We all had a lot of fun and we got to service the best players in the game.”

The final selection of ballkids for this year’s Australian Open includes 20 who have traveled from Korea and numerous children from other parts of Australia.

They are aged between 12 to 15 years old and have had a rigorous training schedule that has included five on-court sessions.

More than 1000 applications were received for the 316 positions, and trials to pick the final group began at local tennis clubs in April 2009.

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