Black Tennis Pros

Americans Angela Haynes and Mashona Washington have teamed together to play good game at the Regions Morgan Keegen Tennis Championships in Memphis, Tennessee. The doubles team defeated American Varvara Lepchenko and Russian Evgeniya Rodina 6-3, 6-1.

Haynes and Washington have their work cut out for them tomorrow. Their opponents are none other than fellow Americans Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond. Get some rest tonight ladies, you're gonna need it!

On the men's side of the same tournament, the Young one made it to the quarterfinal round, but did not pack enough punch to finish off Swede Jonas Bjorkman. Bjorkman defeated American Donald Young 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(6).

Young had match point on Bjorkman at 5-6 in the tiebreaker, but the veteran played very smart on the next few big points, and it was Young who would finish himself off by hitting a backhand into the net. Of course Young took the cause of the error out on the usual culprit, his racket.

When asked about the possibility of being in the semifinal and whether that was on his mind, Young said "I was definitely thinking about it ...... how could you not? .... But I still had to play and win the point. He wasn't going to give it to me. He took it."

That's okay Donald, you dramatically improved your match play in this tournament. Keep it going!

Tonight both Americans Venus Williams and James Blake won their round of 16 matches and are firmly seated in the quarterfinals.

First up was Venus Williams playing Polish player Marta Domachowska. Domachowska came out firing on all cylinders and quickly broke Venus' serve. Venus adjusted her game as necessary and won the first set. In the second set Domachowska's game began to slowly unravel and Venus just kept forging ahead eventually beating Domachowska in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

Next up for Venus, Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

Up next, James Blake opposite Marin Cilic of Croatia. Cilic did what he could, but the match was all Blake all the time. Blake has been playing so well with such confidence and ease that his matches are almost boring. Blake defeated Cilic 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Keep it up James, bore us clear to the final!

Next up for James, world no. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is rolling full steam at the 2008 Australian Open! Tsonga took one step further tonight by knocking off compatriot, good buddy and one of my favorite players, Richard Gasquet. The score was 6-2, 6-7(7/5), 7-6(8/6), 6-3. It's safe to say that these two know each others games well, not simply because they're French, but because they practice and play together. The duo just recently teamed together to beat the world no. 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan.

"It's never easy, but it's okay when you are on the court, it's over," Gasquet said. "You have to play your friend. I prefer to lose against a French player, and it's not a big problem for me to lose against a friend. Next time." Tsonga stated, "on the court, we are not friends."

Tsonga and Gasquet definitely played the match that I expected from the two of them, powerful and stylish. They can swat that ball with flair that you would only find in Vogue Magazine, it's beautiful.

Tsonga has entered an entirely new chapter of tennis and tennis talk for himself, the quarterfinals of a grand-slam. The Frenchman's opponent will be Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. I expect to see fireworks in this match, both of these guys are playing burning hot tennis. Let the games begin!


American Serena Williams was up next opposite Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic. Both ladies came out powering serves and returns down the line like there was no tomorrow. I actually thought that this match would go toe-to-toe until the bitter end, but surprisingly, to me at least, it didn't. Vaidisova seemed to get just a touch unraveled and errors began to creep into her game. This is a major no no playing Serena Williams. Serena defeated Vaidisova 6-3, 6-4 in roughly an hour and fifteen minutes. While fairly competitive, you never got the impression that Serena was in trouble.

Serena's opponent for her quarterfinal match has not yet been determined. She will play the winner of the match between Serbian Jelena Jankovic and Australian Casey Dellacqua.

In a repeat of last year's final, James Blake once again prevails over Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. It was a tight first set today, and Nieminen came out the victor. But in the end Blake defeated the man from Finland 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-2.

"I don't know what it is about Stockholm, it seems to bring out the best in me," said top seed and world no. 7 Blake. "I'm so happy to stay undefeated."

Though Blake lost the first set, he managed to gain control as he broke Nieminen for 5-4 in the second set, squaring the finely- balanced contest a game later as he served it out.

Blake hit the ground running in the third set and did not look back. He served 10 aces and saved 6 of 7 break points.

Blake will face off against Swede Thomas Johansson, the last home survivor who fired 10 aces of his own to eliminate Mario Ancic 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

James Blake claimed his 12th straight win at the Stockholm Open today and set up a re-run of last year's final with Jarkko Nieminen in a Friday quarter-final.

Sixth seed Nieminen, twice a losing finalist at the iconic Kungligahallen, built a century ago by royalty, struck first with a 6-0, 6-4 thrashing of Australian Peter Luczak in Thursday's second round.

Blake then comfortably tamed the huge serve of FrankDancevic 6-3, 6-2 a day after the 22-year-old Canadian bomber had struck 35 aces in his previous win. The top seed, who now stands 12-0 at the venue, broke for 5-3 on the way to claiming the opening set, then repeated twice in the second to advance in less than an hour.

Nieminen lost the 2006 final to the event's reigning perfectionist with Blake boasting titles in 2005 and 2006.

Blake, ranked seventh and chasing a place in the year-end finals next month at Shanghai, is coming off a hot summer where he won 20 of 24 matches. But he needs to keep winning in Stockholm to improve his chances for a spot in the eight-man wrapup event.