Black Tennis Pros

This afternoon at the Olympus U. S. Open Series, Bank of the West Classic Tournament on the Stanford University campus, American Serena Williams had to withdraw from her semifinal match against Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak with a knee injury. The score at her retirement was 6-1, 3-1.

Serena was obviously not at her best from point one. Her movement was very poor, she was over hitting the ball and quite frankly, did not seem in the best of moods. After a short while of play, the reason became apparent; she was being bothered by a bad knee. The injury appears to be to the same knee [left] on which she had surgery in 2003.

As it should be, Wozniak was really not concerned about Serena's knee, she was playing as if Serena was firing on all cylinders. It was actually kind of amusing to watch. Wozniak took nothing for granted about a potentially injured Serena, she took advantage of the situation and played her game. I don't blame her! Taking it to Serena Williams is not an opportunity that other players often get, seize the moment.

Hopefully this is a small kink and Serena will be able to get healthy in short order and get back on the court.

Get well soon Serena!

Top seed and 2006 champion James Blake moved into the quarterfinals at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships presented by Lilly with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Korean qualifier Woong-Sun Jun on Thursday night.

The No. 2 American (behind Andy Roddick) reached the quarterfinals (or better) in Indianapolis for the third straight year after going winless in his first three tournament appearances. The 28-year-old Tampa, Florida resident also improved to 33-15 on the season by advancing to the quarterfinals for the ninth time in 14 tournaments.

Blake went up 5-3 when he capitalized on his fifth break point in the opening set. He then saved a break point in the next game before holding to close out the 35-minute set.

In the second set, Blake broke in the first game but then lost serve in the fourth game. Blake saved two set points at 4-5 before holding. He then broke Jun at 15-40 before serving out the one hour and 12 minute match.

Blake will take on Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on Friday. Lu beat American wild card Rajeev Ram 6-1, 7-6(1).

While Big sister Venus was all glammed up and attending the ESPY Awards last night, American Serena Williams was busy toiling away at the Bank Of The West Classic at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California last night.

Top seed Williams played the feature night match and picked up right where she left off during her run to the final of Wimbledon, beating qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 15-year-old Larcher de Brito came out on fire, hitting her big ground strokes to perfection in building a 6-4 2-0 lead; the more experienced Williams was far from finished in her career debut at the Bank of the West Classic, however, rallying to win in three sets under the lights.

"I never underestimate anyone, especially when they play me, because they'll always bring out their best game," Williams said. "In a way it was surprising, but you've just got to deal with it. I had a plan and I started playing better, and it's encouraging for me to bounce back after losing the first set."

"I started off really well; I slowed down a little bit, but overall I was playing well the whole match," Larcher de Brito said. "Obviously she played such a great game. She's Serena Williams. I didn't have anything to lose and I gave it my all.

"I was getting close to an upset, but now I have a lot of things to work on, and a lot of years ahead of me."

Although Serena Williams is playing the Bank of the West Classic for the first time, the Williams brand has done very well at the Tier II stop in the past. Venus made the final in six of seven trips to Stanford, winning the title twice, in 2000 (beating Lindsay Davenport in the final) and 2002 (beating Kim Clijsters).

"I've never been able to make it here," Williams added. "I'm happy that I'm here. There's a nice atmosphere and it feels good to play in Stanford."

Venus poses in the press room at the 2008 ESPY Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE on July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The 2008 ESPYs will air on Sunday, July 20 at 9PM ET on ESPN.

Love the shoes (and the pedicure)! And I've got to agree with Serena, nice legs Venus!

Ben Monroe, coach and father of player Nicholas Monroe shared the following results:

CHALLENGER BANQUE NATIONALE
July 7-13, 2008
Granby, Canada

DOUBLES

Final Round

Nicholas Monroe and Alberto Francis, USA
defeated by
Peter Polansky, CAN and Philip Bester, CAN
2-6, 6-1, [10-5]


MONCTON CHALLENGER
July 14-20, 2008
Moncton, Canada

SINGLES

Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated Nathan Thompson, USA
7-6 (0), 6-2

SINGLES

Round 1

James Blake, USA defeated Dudi Sela, ISR
7-6(2), 6-2

Donald Young, USA defeated by Vincent Spadea, USA
2-6, 4-6


DOUBLES

Round 1

James Blake, USA and Sam Querrey, USA
defeated by
Paul Hanley, AUS and Jordan Kerr, AUS
4-6, 6-3, [6-10]


SINGLES

Round 1

Serena Williams, USA vs. BYE


DOUBLES

Round 1

Angela Haynes, USA and Natalie Grandin, RSA
defeated by
Cara Black, ZIM and Liezel Huber, USA
4-6, 3-6


SINGLES*

Round 1

Ellah Nze, USA vs. Emily Gelber, USA

Jewel Peterson, USA defeated by Svetlana Krivencheva, BUL
6-7(4), 1-6

Whitney Jones, USA vs. Petra Padalikova, CZE

Tiya Rolle, USA vs. Susanna Lingman, USA


*Eliminated during qualifiying rounds:

Whitney McCray, USA


DOUBLES

Round 1

Whitney Jones, USA and Tiya Rolle, USA
defeated
Sabrina Tahir, USA and Hilary Toole, USA
6-3, 6-2

Ellah Nze, USA and Anna Lubinsky, USA
vs.
Amanda Fink, USA and Christy Striplin, USA


SINGLES*

Round 1

Phillip Simmonds, USA defeated Cecil Mamiit, PHI
6-3, 7-5

Scoville Jenkins, USA defeated Alessandro Da Col, ITA
7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2

Todd Paul, USA defeated Alex Clayton, USA
6-2, 6-3


*Eliminated during qualifying rounds:

Aba Omodele, USA


DOUBLES

Round 1

Scoville Jenkins, USA and Alex Kuznetsov, USA
vs.
Rick Kepler, USA and Brad Weston, AUS

Aba Omodele, USA and Mason Fuller, USA
defeated by
Brian Cummings, USA and Pablo Pires De Almeida, USA
5-7, 2-6

I recently received an email from one of Black Tennis Pro's favorite players, Jamaica's Dustin Brown. He is busy playing tournaments, nonetheless, he took the time to drop a line and let us know how he is doing and what he's been up to. Good to hear from him!

Dustin says that he still does not have a sponsor, and continues to receive no assistance from the Jamaican Federation. This lack of support makes travel difficult, as well as entering the big tournaments.

At the same time, he has been having good fortune on the courts, which you can read about at his website. Most significantly, Dustin recently won the ITF - Future 8 Singles and Doubles Bitburger Tennis Grand Prix 2008 Trier, Germany, June 2008. Way to go Dustin!

Here is a video clip from the tournament:



Take care, stay in touch and keep up the good work Dustin!