Black Tennis Pros

Monday's third round play at the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, California, saw the cessation of what many hoped would be a deep run for American Donald Young. Alternatively, it was extremely rewarding to see the Young one play with so much more commitment and confidence, earning his first top ten win in his victory over Britain's Andy Murray.

Spaniard Tommy Robredo, seeded at 25, proved a bit too much for the qualifier today. Donald didn't seem to have has much gas in the tank as he had in the previous two matches, and expressed much disappointment in his performance as he played.

A short while ago he tweeted:


Nonetheless, it was a good run. Looking forward to the seeing what he will bring in the remainder of 2011.

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Venus Williams, the No.4 seed, was forced to retire from her first-ever Grand Slam singles match, calling time on her third round encounter against Andrea Petkovic after just six minutes.

Williams, who injured her pelvic muscle during her gruelling three-set match against Sandra Zahlavova, began serving in the second night match on Rod Laver Arena, but was soon broken by a determined-looking Petkovic, winning just one point. And, having stretched and failed for a Petkovic passing shot, the multi-Grand Slam champion hobbled to her chair after the seventh point. Head in her hands, and consulting the trainer, she made the decision to retire from a Grand Slam singles match for the first time since 1994.

"I just obviously couldn't play. I mean, just couldn't move. Just too painful," said Williams. "The last 48 hours I did as much pain management and recovery that I could. I just hit some balls at 6:00 just kind of standing still. Just kind of warming up standing still and trying to give my best for the match.

You know, a lot times when you play, too, you get this adrenaline that blocks pain. But I just didn't get enough of that today".
"It's super disappointing because this is just not how I envisioned my Australian Open being. I've never had to retire from a Grand Slam especially after working so hard to pull out the match the other day. Just hoping for some magic that I could recover. I just wanted to give 100%. I mean when I think of myself and my career I don't make any excuses ever to myself or anyone. For me, it was just important to give 100%. I think I learn from experiences like this. If I'm not ready to play or if I'm still hurting maybe it's better to stop. That's just learning from life. I've learned now more or less what my limits are. Just learn from that the next time."

"When I come back to play next time, I'll be a 100%. So I won't be back until whenever that is. Hopefully, who knows, maybe it'll be for Fed Cup."

"I'm still pretty good, even when I'm injured. I mean, at the Open I came pretty close to winning that tournament just on a hope and a prayer and little to no preparation. Here, you know I was grinding. So I'm just going to focus obviously on getting healthy and coming back. Because I love tennis and I've got a lot of great tennis in me. I love my job, so no end in sight."

German Petkovic advances to meet Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

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After some very complicated early rounds, both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils of France and the lone American female Venus Williams, have all advanced to the third round of the 2011 Australian Open.

Seven-time grand slam winner Venus Williams literally survived the onset of an injury during her second round match against Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic. After losing the first set and in obvious severe pain that caused her to scream several times, Venus continued with the second and third sets of the match digging deep into her mental and physical tennis reservoirs to not only survive, but to actually eventually thrive and win the match 6⁶-7⁸, 6-0, 6-4. It was definitely a nail biter to watch.

Post match Venus stated, "I wasn't very happy, to say the least ... I mean, with an injury like that, you just don't know what to expect. I think what keeps me going is knowing that when I'm healthy I play really, really well and knowing that I have so much good tennis in my body keeps me motivated."

The two Frenchman had to take five to win their first round matches. Tsonga and Monfils both lost the first two sets of their first round matches, and though they had to battle it out to prevail in the remaining three sets, both gentlemen rose to the occasion.

Tsonga and Monfils opted for a lot less drama in their second round matches against Italy's Andreas Seppi and Portugal's Frederico Gil. Tsonga greatly shortened his match time and defeated Seppi in close straight sets, 6-3, 7⁷-6¹, 7⁷-6⁵. Monfils shortened his match by one set to defeat Gil in four, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

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ROUND 1

Women's Singles

(4)Venus Williams, USA defeated Sara Errani, ITA
6-3, 6-2

Doubles

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigal Spears, USA
defeated
Polona Hercog, SLO and Petra Martic, CRO
6-3, 7⁷-6⁵


Men's Singles

(12)Gael Monfils, FRA defeated Thiemo de Bakker, NED
6⁵-7⁷, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1

(13)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated Philipp Petzschner, GER
4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4

Dustin Brown, GER defeated by (25)Albert Montanes, ESP
4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 5-7

(Q)Donald Young, USA defeated by (15)Marin Cilic, CRO
3-6, 2-6, 1-6

Doubles

Dustin Brown, GER and Rogier Wassen, NED
defeated
Dmitry Tursunov, RUS and Mischa Zverev, GER
6-2, 6-3


Eliminated during qualifying:

Sloane Stephens, USA
Stephanie Foretz Gacon, FRA
Josselin Ouanna, FRA


ROUND 2

Women's Singles

(4)Venus Williams, USA defeated Sandra Zahlavova, CZE
6⁶-7⁸, 6-0, 6-4

Doubles

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
vs.
(10)Monica Niculescu, ROU and (10)Zi Yan, CHN


Men's Singles

(12)Gael Monfils, FRA defeated Frederico Gil, POR
6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2

(13)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated Andreas Seppi, ITA
6-3, 7⁷-6¹, 7⁷-6⁵

Doubles

Dustin Brown, GER and Rogier Wassen, NED
vs.
Colin Ebelthite, AUS and Adam Feeney AUS


ROUND 3

Women's Singles

(4)Venus Williams, USA defeated by (30)Andrea Petkovic, GER
0-1 Retired


Men's Singles

(12)Gael Monfils, FRA defeated by (19)Stanislas Wawrinka, SUI
6⁴-7⁷, 2-6, 3-6

(13)Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated by Alexandr Dolgopolov, UKR
6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 1-6


ROUND 1

Singles

(WC)Jennifer Elie, USA defeated Lenka Wienerova SVK
6-2, 6-4

Ahsha Rolle, USA defeated Jan Abaza, USA
6-1, 6-2

Doubles

(3)Ahsha Rolle, USA and Mashona Washington, USA
vs.
Amanda Fink, USA and Elizabeth Lumpkin, USA

(2)Megan Moulton-Levy, USA and Courtney Nagle, USA
defeated by
Story Tweedie-Yates, USA and Natasa Zoric, SRB
6-4, 3-6, [8-10]


Eliminated during qualifying:

Mashona Washington, USA
Alexandra Stevenson, USA


ROUND 2

Singles

Jennifer Elie, USA vs. Galina Voskoboeva, KAZ

Ahsha Rolle, USA vs. Alexandra Cadantu, ROU


ROUND 1

Singles

(Q)Phillip Simmonds, USA defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert, FRA
6-4, 6-3

(5)Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated (Q)Haydn Lewis, BAR
7-6(6), 6-2

(Q)Devin Mullings, BAH defeated by (LL)Lucas Renard, SWE
3-6, 7(4)-6, 3-6

Doubles

Marvin Rolle, BAH and Haydn Lewis, BAR
defeated
(1)P Herbert, FRA and Stefano Ianni, FRA
6-4, 3-6 [10-8]

(3)Phillip Simmonds, USA and Daniel Yoo, KOR
defeated
Marcos Giron, USA and Alexios Halebian, USA
6-3, 6-7(4) [10-3]


QUARTERFINAL ROUND

Doubles

Marvin Rolle, BAH and Haydn Lewis, BAR
defeated
Suk-Young Jeong, KOR and Ji Sung Nam, KOR
6-3, 7-5

(3)Phillip Simmonds, USA and Daniel Yoo, KOR
defeated
(WC)Diego Ayala, USA and Andrew Lake, USA
6-2, 6-3


SEMIFINAL ROUND

Marvin Rolle, BAH and Haydn Lewis, BAR
vs.
Phillip Simmonds, USA and Daniel Yoo, KOR

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