Black Tennis Pros

Round 1 - Singles

Milagros Sequera, VEN vs. Tatjana Malek, GER
Ahsha Rolle, USA vs. Alberta Brianti, ITA
Asia Muhammad, USA vs. Melinda Czink, HUN


Round 1 - Doubles

Draw not released

Round 1 - Singles

Venus Williams, USA vs. BYE
Serena Williams, USA vs. BYE


Round 1 - Doubles

Venus Williams, USA and Serena Williams, USA*
vs.
Andreea Ehritt-Vanc, ROU and Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
*Venus and Serena Won 7-6(5), 6-4


Round 1 - Qualyifying Singles

Alexandra Stevenson vs. Angelika Bachmann, GER*
*Stevenson was defeated in the second round 6-3, 6-4

Round 1 - Qualifying Singles

Scoville Jenkins, USA vs. Amer Delic, USA*
*Jenkins was defeated in the second round 6-3, 6-4


Round 1 - Singles

Gael Monfils, FRA vs Thomas Berdych, CZE


Round 1 - Doubles

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA*
vs.
Feliciano Lopez, ESP and Rafael Nadal, ESP
*Coetzee and Moodie were defeated 6-4, 7-6(5)

I can only take so much drama on Mondays, it is not my best or favorite day of the week. As I was updating the list of upcoming ATP tournaments for the month of March, I saw a photo of Federer on the Dubai Tennis Championships home page. I was very glad to see him because when you can't count on anything or anyone else in tennis, Federer is the player to look to. For what, five years now? Federer has virtually been unbeatable. Of course the Spainard with the cute butt came along and changed that dynamic a bit, but other than that, Federer was still your man.

I must admit, Federer shook me up at the ATP Masters Cup in Shanghai, China at the end of 2007, where as defending champion, he lost to Fernando Gonzalez and suffered his first consecutive match loss in 4 1/2 years. At that time, I asked if we had just seen "The First Sign of The Apocalypse." Now, in the first round of the Barclay's Dubai Tennis Championships, he is defeated by Andy Murray 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

To make matters worse, the annointed one mildly blasted Murray's game saying, “I don’t think he has changed his game a whole lot since the first time I played him and I really thought he would have done ...... He is going to have to grind it very hard in the next few years if he is going to play this way." When asked to elaborate Federer said, "He stands way behind the court. You have to do a lot of running and he tends to wait for the mistakes of his opponent. I gave him the mistakes today but overall in a 15-year career you want to look to win a point more often rather than wait for the other guy to miss. Who knows he might surprise us all."

I am just going to take this as a very disappointed Federer not knowing how to respond since losing has been a rarity for him. Oh well, I hope that I wake up on Tuesday to automobiles, not chariots.

Americans Angela Haynes and Mashona Washington were not able to cap their great run at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis Tennessee with a win on Saturday. The teammates were defeated by another American pair, Lindsey Davenport and Lisa Raymond 6-3, 6-1.

Unless something miraculous occured, I knew from the onset that doubles specialist Lisa Raymond was going to give them hell to pay all by herself, and add to that mix a resurgent Lindsey Davenport, it was not an easy match up to say the least.

Lindsay Davenport won her 55th career singles title and fourth since giving birth to her son last summer. Way to go mommy.

Good job ladies, I look forward to seeing more of you on tour. Send me some pictures!

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!

Thank you Spalding, or whatever is the name of the tennis God. Earlier today at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tennessee, American Donald Young defeated Columbian Alejandro Falla 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Way to go Donald!

The Young one hasn't been having much success moving deep into tournaments as of late, I'm sure that he must be encouraged by this second round win, I know am.

Donald Young was originally set to play American James Blake in the first round of this tournament, however Blake had to withdraw because of a knee injury and was replaced with American Sam Warburg. When asked if he was disappointed that Blake had to withdraw, Young said, "I don't think I was disappointed at all," after his 6-4, 6-4 victory over Warburg. "James is one of the best players in the world. He's in the Top 10."

"Winning at this time is really exciting to me," said Young, who hadn't won an ATP match since the U.S. Open last August. "I'm happy I played well."




At the same tournament on the ladies side, Americans Angela Haynes and Mashona Washington defeated the doubles team of American Bethanie Mattek and Renata Voracova 6-3, 6-2.



















Much further away at the Barclay's Dubai Tennis Championships, Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic and Russian Galina Volkoboeva defeated the doubles team of Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz and Selima Sfar of Tunisia 6-3, 2-6, 11-9.

Man! I was so thrilled to see so many female Black tennis pros back in action at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis Tennessee, but it's been a hard days night for the ladies. Venus Williams, Mashona Washington, Ahsha Rolle and Milagros Sequera all out in the first round!

Ahsha Rolle was defeated by Israeli Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-1, OUCH! However, Ahsha is just returning from being injured, she'll need a bit of time to get up to speed. Glad to see her back in play.

Milaros Sequera was defeated by Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-2 OUCH again!

Of her match Venus said, "She had a good serve and she was left-handed,'' Williams said. "She mixed it up really well. I'm not happy about the result of the match, but she played well. "I just made some mistakes. I definitely had more errors than I wanted.''

Shenay Perry, Angela Haynes and Mashona Washington are still viable in doubles. Let's hope they have a better go of it.

Get it together ladies!