Black Tennis Pros

Jamie Murray narrowly missed out on his second doubles title of the year as the Scot and partner Kevin Ullyett were beaten 6-2 4-6 10-8 by Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the final of the Estoril Open.

Murray's regular partner Max Mirnyi, with whom he won the title in Delray Beach in February, was on Davis Cup duty with Belarus but Zimbabwean Ullyett proved a more than adequate replacement.

The pair did not get off to the best of starts however, as top seeds Coetzee and Moodie broke Ullyett's serve twice in the first set.

But a single break in the seventh game of the second set allowed Murray and Ullyett to force a deciding match tie-break.

South Africans Coetzee and Moodie raced into a 5-1 lead and, although the second seeds clawed themselves back into contention, a passing shot down the middle from Coetzee settled proceedings.

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Okay, I was sitting right there in front of the television watching American James Blake and Spaniard Marcel Granollers-Pujol on the clay court of Houston at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship.

In the first set I saw a toe-to-toe match with Granollers-Pujol edging Blake. In the second set I saw Blake get it together, Granollers-Pujol get a bit frustrated and Blake take the set.

In the third set I saw Blake continue the good play that he was utilizing in the second set, until midway the third set. For some odd reason Blake began making mistakes that I don't understand, can't believe and I was watching the match.

The next thing I new, the match was over and Granollers-Pujol had defeated Blake 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. That's the best that I can describe it.

In other words, I don't know what the hell happened.

*throws hands in air, rubs forehead.*

Blakes take on it, "...maybe I started thinking that the finish line was in sight. He made me hit the extra ball every single time."

"Right now, I'm very upset about it, very disappointed. But hopefully in a day or two I'll think about the fact that at least I made it to the finals of my first clay-court tournament and had chances to win it."

"He played well, fought hard and competed very well all week. I wish I could have played better and executed a little better."

"It's tough because I'm really happy for Granollers-Pujol. This is now the second time this year I've kind of made a young player's day. It's tough being on the receiving end of it."

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Grab your favorite snacks, take off your church clothes, or keep them on, fire up that CPU and join me!!

Black Tennis Pro's will be blogging live on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. while watching the Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva final at the 35th Anniversary Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.

Simply click the comments link to this post, come on in and speak up.

See ya' tomorrow!

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Top seed James Blake advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year at the US Men's Clay Court Championships with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Agustin Calleri on Friday.

The No. 2 American lost only 12 points in 10 service games and broke the Argentine twice in the 67-minute match. Blake saved the only two break points he faced while converting both break points, in the 10th game of the first set, and second game of the second set.

Blake improved his career record to 15-7 in his eighth straight appearance in Houston. He also evened his career mark to 34-34 on clay with his third consecutive straight-sets victory this week.

Blake is hoping his experience will pay off a first ATP clay court title this weekend. The remaining three players are appearing in their first career ATP semifinal on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Tampa, Fla. resident takes on No. 8 seed Oscar Hernandez for the second time in his career. Blake defeated the Spaniard 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of Basel last year.

"Tomorrow is going to be tough and he beat Mardy and I know Mardy's been playing well because I've been practicing with him," said Blake. "I'm expecting a tough match and the only time we played was on hard courts."

Hernandez reached his first ATP semifinal as he beat No. 3 and 2006 Houston champion Mardy Fish 6-2, 7-6(5).

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U.S. Fed Cup Captain Zina Garrison will be writing a daily blog from Moscow as she leads the U.S. team of Liezel Huber, Madison Brengle, Vania King and Ahsha Rolle against Russia in a Fed Cup Semifinal tie April 26-27. Come back each day to read Captain Garrison's thoughts exclusively on USTA.com.

It is a great developmental opportunity for the players who are going to Russia. Mary Joe Fernandez, U.S. Fed Cup Coach, and I talked about it and we decided to take this direction (with these players) since she is coming in next year as Fed Cup Captain. I wanted to make sure that Mary Joe had input, as they are players she will be working with next year. We talked long and hard about it, and I also spoke to Jean Nachand, Director of Women's Tennis with USTA Player Development.

I’m really looking forward to spending time with Liezel and getting to know her a little better. It is a great opportunity for the other players to be around someone who is at the top of her game right now. We’re going to Russia and playing people who are at the top of their game. I am just going to keep reinforcing to everyone, you never know. You go out and play your game and let things fall as they may. I’ve been giving some thought to the lineup and I think it will probably be Liezel and Vania in doubles. I’m a little more confident with Vania in the doubles spot because I’ve had her there before.

Madison has been a “Future Fed Cupper” before so she knows the atmosphere and she knows me. Ahsha has never been in this situation before, but I thought she had a great US Open last year and that she would be a good person to select. Vania was also a Future Fed Cupper. I think this will be a great opportunity for the developing talent that is coming up.

This is my last year as captain so it’s a natural thing to think about what I’m doing next. I’m going to train to become a life coach. I’ve always been a great motivator, that’s been my asset and this is something I have been dipping in for quite some time. Specifically, I want to be a sports life coach and I start my first class today. I’m pretty excited about that and hopefully in about six to eight months I will have my first client. I’m going to partner with Jackie Joyner-Kersee and we think we will be a good duo to help athletes - to help the young ones, the ones at the college level, etc. just understand the steps you have to go through to become an athlete, the steps you need to take to maintain it and then when you retire, what you have to do next.

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River Oaks U. S. Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston, Texas

Quarterfinal Round - Singles

James Blake, USA defeated Augustin Calleri, ARG
6-4, 6-3


Estoril Open, Estoril Portugal

Semifinal Round - Doubles

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
defeated
Yves Allegro, SUI and Nicolas Mahut, FRA
5-7, 6-4, 10/6


Family Circle Cup

Quarterfinal Round - Singles

Serena Williams, USA defeated Maria Sharapova, RUS
7-5, 4-6, 6-1


USTA Pro Circuit

Ballenisles Women's Challenger, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Semifinal Round

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Sunitha Rao, IND
defeated by
Ekaterina Afinogenova, RUS and Lauren Albanese, USA
6-4, 6-1


St. Vincent Auxillary Men's Professional Tennis Tournament, Little Rock, Arkansas

Quarterfinal Round

Marcus Fugate, USA defeated James Ward, GBR
7-6(3), 6-3

Phillip Simmonds, USA defeated by Julio Peralta, CHI
6-4, 6-2

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American Serena Williams may have looked and played a bit tentatively during the first 15-20 minutes of the quarterfinal match at the $1.34-million 35th Anniversary Tournament of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, but from then on out, it was on.

Both Serena and Russian Maria Sharapova produced a variety of wicked shots in the first and second sets. Shots that led to Serena capturing the first and Sharapova the second. Once the ladies hit the third set, it was all over but the shouting for Sharapova, she was defeated 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

Serena moved into another gear for set three and there was nothing Sharapova could do to alter the course, she was going down. Sharapova made some efforts to get back into the set, but they were futile. She did manage to hold one game, it's better than a goose egg.

"It was definitely emotion," Williams said on her third set form. "I think I was more focused. I was ready to get off the court at that point, and I just was ready to play. I felt like I wasn't even playing before - I was just out there."

"I think she's playing really well on the clay; she's sliding better than she was last year, so it's good for her," Williams said. "I think I'm doing well on the clay too. It was a different experience than on hard or grass, obviously."

Serena will meet the winner of the Frenchwoman Alize Cornet and Hungarian Agnes Szavay match in Saturday's semifinals.

Cornet, an 18-year-old in her second season on the tour, also reached the semifinals at Amelia Island last week. Ranked No. 40, she has never faced Williams but watched her play Friday.

"I said 'Oh my God, if I play Serena tomorrow, I hope not to be ridiculous,'" she said. "I think I will do what I do usually. I will use my topspin forehand. I will run everywhere I can and I will just do my best and fight on every point."

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