Black Tennis Pros

Venus Williams ended a spirited challenge from Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki on Friday to reach the final of the Japan Open tennis tournament.

The Wimbledon champion, powered her way to a 6-3, 7-5 victory to move to within one match of back-to-back tour wins after last week's Korea Open triumph.

In Saturday's final Venus will take on fifth seed Virginie Razzano of France, who defeated eighth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

"It feels good. It's great to be in the finals," Williams said.

"I was like, 'can I do this? Is it possible?' But it is, so it's exciting."

After losing the first four games in a row and eventually the first set, Wozniacki went ahead 2-0 in the second set and then 4-2, taking advantage of Williams's two double faults in the sixth game.

But Venus steadied herself to make it 5-5 -- thanks to a questionable line-call -- before winning the last three games to finish off the 97-minute match.

"Four-two is definitely not the set, it's just one break, so winning one game is always pretty much even," said Williams.

"I was trying to win one game at one time. I was very confident. I was trying to focus on making less errors," she said.

The 17-year-old Wozniacki said she could not cope with Williams once the Wimbledon champion returned to form in the second set.

"Venus played really well, she just smashed winners in the corners, so I couldn't do anything," she said.

"I was trying to keep my tactics, just tried to make her run, but at 4-2 she really raised her game until four-all and she just did a lot of winners, so I couldn't really do anything.

"It's tough to break her serve even though I broke her serve three times in the match," said Wozniacki.

Tiya Rolle stood patiently on one of the lower courts Wednesday afternoon, helping grade-school children from the Pike County Housing Authority learn how to strike a tennis ball.

Rolle knows what it's like to be a small child looking for a sport at which she could be competitive.

“I started playing when I was nine,” she said. “And I'm 21 now.”

Hers is an athletic family, with sister Asha leading the way. Asha has won the USTA Tennis Classic of Troy twice, and made it to the third round of the 2007 U.S. Open.

“There's no jealousy there,” proud mom Sharon Rolle said. “Tiya, I think, is more of the coordinator when they're together.”

Rolle agreed.

“We're different people. There's not any jealousy,” she said. “When she (Asha) wins, I feel her success, too. When she loses, it hurts me.”

Rolle bowed out in the qualifying rounds of the singles matches for the Troy tournament, but she and partner Margot Carter are in the quarterfinals of the doubles draw.

This is my first time playing with Margot,” Rolle said. “She saw that I was looking for a partner to play doubles, and we went out there and won.”

Right now, 21-year-old Rolle is working on a more rounded game.

“Tiya's trying to add diversity to her game, work on the transition to the net game to be a more complete player,” Sharon Rolle said.

Rolle sees playing on the professional tennis tour for about three more years. After that, she has plans outside tennis.“

I'm going to continue to do this while I study law online,” Rolle said.

It takes a lot to get two daughters onto the pro tour, Sharon Rolle said.

“It takes a lot of work,” she said. “For them, it's the physical work - getting out there and practicing and working out. But it takes a lot of support, too, whether that's helping them while their traveling or making sure they're eating right or getting the right coaching.”

Rolle and Carter play the winner of Maria-Fernanda Alves/Stephanie Dubois and Angela Haynes/Mashona Washington today.

Source - The Messenger (Bobby Matthews)

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated German Phillip Kohlschreiber today 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3. But that was the least of the excitement at the tournament.

Stefan Koubek was disqualified from the Open de Moselle on Thursday for directing an on-court tirade at a tournament official during a match with Sebastien Grosjean. Koubek, who will face a fine, led 5-7, 7-6 (4), 4-2 when the second-round match was interrupted.

The Austrian was angered after Grosjean protested a linesman's call on his serve. The linesman originally called the shot out but then said he could not be sure.

The chair umpire wanted Grosjean to replay the point, but Koubek asked for supervisor Thomas Karlberg to intervene. The two then argued, and Karlberg said Koubek targeted him with "verbal abuse."

It was not immediately clear what Koubek said during the argument. Koubek declined to comment.

In 2000, Koubek was disqualified from the French Open after throwing his racket at a ball boy.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Well it was a tough match today against Alicia Molik but I was able to make it through. There were some times I played some great tennis and other times I made some mistakes I just couldn't comprehend - not that it's something I'll accept. That's just the way it was today. Alicia's been working hard to get back to where she was, and I think her level is getting there. I saw her match against Serena at Wimbledon and I really think that is a great surface for her. Anyway, it feels good to win today and keep on moving forward.

We actually started our match much later than I had expected because the men's match before us went the distance, probably about three hours. It was insane! I watched some of it towards the end, but I had been keeping an eye on the score throughout just to know when I should be warming up.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams struggled in the first set on Thursday against Australia's Alicia Molik but eventually prevailed to move into the semi-finals at the Japan Open.

The American top seed, heavily favoured to win here, lost her serve twice in the first set, each time on a double fault, but the six-time Grand Slam winner's experience helped her to a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 quarter-final win.

"I had some problems with my errors, which was frustrating," said the world number eight Williams, who hit six double faults.

"But she also is a really good competitor -- she brings a lot of balls back and serves well -- so I was definitely up against a competitive opponent who obviously has skills to win the match."

Molik, ranked 74th, came back from 1-3 and then 2-4 down to level the score each time before forcing a tie-breaker in the opening set.

But the Australian hit her forehand wide twice on her serve to quickly fall behind 0-3 in the tie-breaker. Williams hit an easy forehand winner at the net on her first set point.

The two women stayed on serve in the second set until Molik hit a double fault to go down 3-4, sending Williams on the path to victory.

Malivai Washington, a finalist on the grandest international stage in tennis, Wimbledon, will share the hall of fame spotlight Dec. 1 at the 28th annual ceremonies at the Genesys Athletic Club Banquet Center.

Washington, of Swartz Creek, reached the top of the tennis world in 1996 when he advanced to the finals at Wimbledon, four years after winning his first professional tournament. Washington played for two years at the University of Michigan where he was named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year in 1988 and Player of the Year in 1989. He was Tennis Magazine's rookie of the year in 1990 and helped the U.S. team win the Davis Cup in 1997.

Congratulations Mal!

Source -- The Flint Journal

BEAUMONT - The CRISTUS Pro Celebrity Classic has confirmed that tennis stars Chanda Rubin and Justin Gimelstob will play in the event rescheduled for Nov. 2, at Ford Arena.

Gimelstob, an ATP Tour star, will face Pete Sampras in the feature match as a replacement for Todd Martin who cannot make the rescheduled date forced by Hurricane Humberto.

Tickets are available on-line through www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (409)-833-7747. Tickets are also available at the Ford Park box office. Ticket prices are $29, $39 and $59.

Source - Beaumont Enterprise

Two players that we have not heard much from this year are having some success on the USTA Pro Circuit. Americans Angela Haynes (pictured left) and Mashona Washington (pictured right) are entered into the main singles and main doubles draw of the Women's Tennis Classic of Troy in Troy, Alabama.

Playing doubles, Haynes and Washington were in action yesterday against the doubles team of Russians Ekaterina Afinogenova and Angelina Gabueva. The Americans defeated the Russians 6-0,6-4. Today they will be in action against the doubles team of Sunita Rao of India and Christina Wheeler of Australia.

Neither player survived their singles matches. Angela Haynes was defeated by Ekaterina Afinogenova 4-6,6-2,7-5; and Mashona Washington was defeated by Christina Wheeler 6-0,6-4.

For more information about the USTA Pro Circuit click here.