By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Internazionali BNL D’Italia, Rome – It was all about the women’s matches out on the red courts of Rome today. There were some exciting line-ups, fantastic rallies and staggering losses. Many of the matches were scheduled around the same time, so with a lot of running, camera ready and comfy shoes here are some of the exciting matches I was able to catch today.

Agnieszka Radwanska versus Petra Cetkovska:
Cetkovska defeated Radwanska 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

This was the first featured match up in the Super Tennis Stadium and indeed the match was super. World No.28 Petra Cetkovska recorded yet another victory against world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska to improve her head-to-head 4-0. Radawanska was certainly not playing in the same form that I witnessed last week in Madrid where she reached the semi-finals. Cetkovska made her debut here this year, as she has never played in this tournament before and after today’s performance, she looked quite at home and withstood the fight back from the Pole.

Flavia Pennetta versus Sloane Stephens:
Pennetta defeated Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3.

The home crowd favourite Flavia Pennetta opened up play in the Pietrangeli stadium surrounded by huge Roman statues in front of a packed audience, where she has made her appearance for the tenth time at the tournament. The world No.21 delighted her supporters with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the qualifier Sloane Stephens. The two players had played against each other on one other occasion which Pennetta won back in 2010. The young 19 year old had no answers today against the power of Pennetta and with the impartial crowd heavily cheering on their girl, Pennetta comfortably progressed into the next round.

Samantha Stosur versus Sara Errani:
Stosur defeated Errani 6-3, 7-5

Samantha Stosur was pleased to get through her match.

Samantha Stosur and Sara Errani have met on four previous occasions, all in favour of Stosur, but today the 25 year old Italian stood tall against the world No.5 and pushed her to the brink during the second set. In their last meeting in Dubai Stosur lost only one game against her but today, with the crowd becoming heavily involved Stosur went down a break and was almost staring at going into a third set. Eventually the aggressive play of Stosur withstood and after breaking back to level up the second set, she broke again in the eleventh game before serving it out.

Caroline Wozniacki versus Anabel Medina Garrigues:
Medina Garrigues defeated 6-4, 4-0 (retired).

Caroline Wozniacki looked uncomfortable from the onset.

Former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki stepped out onto the small Court 2 against Spaniard Medina Garrigues not feeling well from the onset. She went down a break early in the first set and the trainer was called onto court. Wozniacki continued battling through most of the rallies in the first set and managed to come back from 1-4 down before eventually losing 6-4. Once again at the start of the second set, Wozniacki was broken on two further occasions and due to upper respiratory problems, she was forced to retire.

7th seed Bartoli was defeated by Julia Goerges in straight sets

In other news, 7th seed Marion Bartoli was another seed knocked out in straight sets 3-6, 1-6 against world No.29 Julia Goerges and Sorana Cirstea defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden by exactly the same scoreline 6-3, 6-1.

Lisa-Marie Burrows covered the Mutua Madrid Open last week and is currently in Rome covering the all of the action from the Masters. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Sharapova giggles as she talks about her wedding invites and arrangements.

Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome – Maria Sharapova survived a stern test on Campo Centrale as she faced Christina McHale to open up play in Rome and eventually came up trumps with a 7-5, 7-5 victory.

The match was closer than the score line intended but Sharapova was pleased with her early challenge and has adjusted well from the high altitude, blue clay courts of Madrid to Rome.

“It was really about adjusting and I made too many unforced errors in the first part. I tried to hit too many winners, so I was fortunate to get back into the second set. I look forward to improving for the next match too.”

Sharapova relishes playing on the courts of Rome and joked about the 40 steps with a huff and a puff that she needed to climb to access the press room, but revealed that her favourite court is Pietrangeli as it has all of the statues around the edge as she feels it is ‘true to the city.’

During the press conference, Sharapova was asked some revealing questions about her life outside of tennis and her personality and offered thoughts on what she thought were positive and negative traits about herself:

“Well, I am extremely stubborn and in a way it’s good because I am very involved in things and I suppose that I am always in control – but sometimes this is a weakness as I think I should really back off.”

On a positive note, Sharapova managed to find some positive traits and feels that her humbleness is important as ‘a lot of small things’ in her life make her feel passionate:

“I have always been good at finding the positive side of this [her career] and this is what has made me the player I am and the person that I am today. I don’t take no for an answer and I keep going and fighting for what I believe is right.”

Maria Sharapova has no problem ordering food here in Italy as she can speak a few words of Italian thanks to her fiancé who always tells her how to say words and pronounce them properly. She reeled off a list of words such as dove fai, cosa fai and cosa mangiamo (in a very convincing accent may I add – not that I would know, but it sounded good!)

As soon as her fiancé was mentioned, Sharapova was asked about her wedding and if it will be a lavish or intimate affair and with a big smile on her face, she said:

“I think it will be an intimate wedding but we know so many people. Anyway I haven’t sent out the invitations yet…”

We shall all be waiting for our invite Maria!

Lisa-Marie Burrows covered the Mutua Madrid Open last week and is currently in Rome covering the all of the action from the Masters. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

David Ferrer knocked out his compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 7-6.

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome – The orange courts of Rome served up some high quality tennis this afternoon with two matches containing two same-country battles. Fernando Verdasco was vying to knock out another higher-ranked compatriot this week after his defeat over Spanish No.1 Rafael Nadal in Madrid, whilst on Court 1, another all-Spanish affair commenced between Feliciano Lopez and Marcel Granollers, but it was Ferrer and Granollers who were victorious with a 6-3, 7-6 and 6-4, 6-4 win respectively.

In the Super Tennis Stadium, Ferrer and Verdasco opened up proceedings with Fernando Verdasco snatching the first break, which he could not sustain as unforced errors crept into his usually more reliable forehand and the scrambling and retrieval skills of David Ferrer proved to be fundamental.

Fernando Verdasco was ousted in the second round.

As the Spanish No.2’s game improved, Verdasco’s didn’t and the frustration was evident to see as he muttered to himself and his team as he wandered around the court. This fragile mindset was to the advantage of Ferrer as he capitalized on the negativity and blew some explosive topspin forehands across court to seize further control before taking the first set on a tie-break.

The second set was a mirror image of the first, as Verdasco was the first Spaniard to break but could not consolidate his serve as Ferrer leveled up proceedings once again. This time Verdasco’s mentality held up as he did not appear as delicate, but his mood was temperamental throughout. Verdasco could not break Ferrer again and the set remained evenly balanced – until the outcome was decided in an all-important tie-break. Ferrer stormed to a 6-1 lead in the breaker and gained full control of the rallies after tightening up his game before securing the match.

For Fernando Verdasco it must be a disappointing loss after a great week in Rome and he was clearly frustrated on the court. There is a fine line between passion and frustration and often the Spaniard fuses the two, hopefully this is something he can improve on so his talents shine through at Roland Garros.

Feliciano López lost 6-4, 6-4 to Granollers

Meanwhile, on Court 1, Verdasco’s best buddy, Feliciano López was also embroiled in another battle in the second Spanish showdown of the day as he played his friend Marcel Granollers on a packed Court 1.

There were many distractions going on with Mamma Mia music blaring so loud at one point that the girls next to me started to sing along to and dance and there was a buzz all around as many matches were in progress on the outside courts.

Granollers broke López early on in the first set and the long-haired Spaniard could do very little to try and counteract and break down the aggressive play of Granollers as he hit the ball deep and pinned López back behind the baseline and away from his beloved net. Consequently, no serve and volley tactics were initiated today from López.

Marcel Granollers is through to the third round in Rome.

The second set saw Granollers’ confidence rise, as López’s shoulders and head slump. He fended off several break points against his serve during two service games, but he felt the strain and eventually a few unforced errors saw Granollers prevail 6-4, 6-4.

Lisa-Marie Burrows covered the Mutua Madrid Open last week and is currently in Rome covering the all of the action from the Masters. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.

For the Fashionista

If you’re looking for a little more than your average souvenir t-shirt, you may want to check out this great Lacoste blazer, emblazoned with the company’s signature croc and the words “Roland Garros” underneath. Fashion doesn’t come cheap though, this lovely jacket will set you back a 168 euros, or the equivalent of $215, plus shipping…

For the T-Shirt Collector

There are plenty of people, me being one of them, who like to bring back a t-shirt from each tournament they visit. Personally, I would usually go with the Roland Garros poster shirt of the year, but the 2012 design just doesn’t do it for me. This shirt, on the other hand, has a cool vintage feel, and even though it’s billed as a men’s shirt, athletic t-shirts can really go either way.

For the Hardcore Fan

Can’t make it to Paris? Bring a little bit of Paris to you with this jar of red clay. What? You think a $20 bottle of dirt is a little much? That’s why it’s for hardcore fans only.

For the Timepiece Enthusiast 

Are swatches still popular? I’m not really sure, but I would definitely sport this special Roland Garros edition. It even comes in a novelty tennis ball case! Plus, the numbers on the dial glow in the dark, so you will always know when to wake up for those early morning matches.

For the Bargain Hunter

Every good shop has a sale section, and that includes RG. You’ll find your pick of last year’s designs as well as this lovely Lacoste number, which doesn’t include a year so it’ll never go out of style. The best part? It’s marked down to more than half off the original price and it’s available in three colors.

By Melissa Boyd

The Sun Life Financial Esplanade, Tennis Canada, Tennis Quebec and Tennis Montreal have announced the implementation of a unique project, as they are combining their efforts to build kids’ tennis courts at Olympic Park in Montreal where the city’s Olympic Stadium is located. The new courts will allow kids from all over the province of Quebec to learn how to play the sport with equipment adapted to their size.

“This project is unique and innovative because these permanent courts will be built from scratch according to the correct kids’ tennis sizes and not from already existing courts,” said Mr. Eugène Lapierre, Vice-President of Professional Tennis in Quebec and Tournament Director of the Rogers Cup. “It will be one of the few places in Quebec where kids will have their own courts built exclusively for them. It will be great for kids and families who are looking for an activity on the weekends and want to learn how to play tennis.”

Kids' tennis courts will be built at Olympic Park this summer

In addition to the kids’ tennis courts, equipment rental kiosks (racquets, balls and games), resources to help the kids and organize tournaments, events and leagues will be available throughout the year.

“We are very proud to benefit from a renowned space like Olympic Park to organize tournaments and activities for our future tennis players,” said Mr. Jean-François Manibal, Director General of Tennis Quebec. “We are working together with the Sun Life Financial Esplanade to ensure we offer activities which target our young athletes.”

The location of these courts is very interesting strategically for Tennis Montreal who have very few courts in the eastern part of Montreal.

“This project will mark the first time that kids’ tennis courts have been set up in this neighbourhood,” added Mrs. Nicole Nobert, Director General of Tennis Montreal. “We will offer programming for elementary schools in the area to get more kids involved in tennis and this, in optimal conditions. Among our many projects, we will also launch a new activity for three and four-year olds called Little Tennis, something offered to kids in daycare and of course, families with young children.”

Furthermore, the participating organizations are exploring the possibility of making these new courts available year round with tennis on the snow during the winter months with appropriate equipment.

A mini Rogers Cup will be held to inaugurate the courts during qualifying weekend of the  Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Montreal, from August 3-5. An official launch event featuring a WTA player is scheduled for August 3.

The construction of the kids’ tennis courts will begin in May and will be completed in July.

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid – The new world No.6 Serena Williams stormed to victory against world No.1 Victoria Azarenka with a dominating 6-1, 6-3 victory that lasted only 64 minutes to win yet another title to add to her collection of 41.

Azarenka and Williams stepped out on court under the blazing sun and the two heavy-hitters of the WTA Tour lived up to their reputation, but it was Serena Williams who dominated rallies and was in full control from the onset.

The American hammered down 14 aces in the match, 41 in total during her five matches in Madrid this week and never really let Azarenka into the match. She broke her opening service game with scorching returns, which unnerved the Belarusian, as she then struck 3 double faults.

The second set did not see much of an improvement as the 13-time Grand Slam champion stepped up her game even more and offered few unforced errors.

Serena Williams needed only an hour and 4 minutes to lift the trophy and she was clearly delighted. On the stands Serena Williams held up her trophy and beamed from ear to ear and struck different poses with her prized possession.

Serena pose 1!

Serena pose 2

Serena pose 3!

The Mutua Madrid Open champion joked in the press conference about how she has handled the clay surface well this week, as have most of the WTA ladies on Tour in comparison to the men:

“Women are way tougher! You guys could never handle kids! We’re not going out there and being weenies!”

Serena joked about how tough women are.

Serena Williams still has her ranking at the forefront of her mind and as always she would love to get back to the top spot once again:

“I don’t play to be No.2, we’re all playing to be the best. If that’s No.1, that is my ultimate goal.”

With Roland Garros a few weeks away, Williams would love to make a big impression at Rome and the French Open to continue climbing up the rankings, which she doesn’t attempting to do on clay:

“It’s a big myth, I love the clay. I have won the French Open. Actually, I like it more than the grass.”

After her victory today, Williams has now won her 41st title match and recorded a 13-0 winning record on clay this season and as always will be a big threat at Rome this week.

Lisa-Marie Burrows is currently in Madrid covering the Mutua Madrid Open and will be at the Rome Masters next week. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.

By Romana Cvitkovic

The tennis world went into overdrive Saturday afternoon as Ivan Ljubicic tweeted a comment targeted at American tennis players supposedly skipping the European tournaments. Americans John Isner and Mardy Fish quickly fought back on Twitter with Fish almost immediately deleting his tweet after he sent it.

Of all the tennis players looking to cause controversy, newly-retired Croat Ivan Ljubicic would not be high on my list that includes the likes of Daniel Koellerer, Yannick Noah, John McEnroe and Marat Safin.  Hell, even Marat Safin has cleaned up his act and holds a seat in the Russian Parliament!

But I digress. In light of Mardy Fish pulling out of the Mutua Madrid Open due to fatigue and Andy Roddick skipping both Madrid and Rome due to a hamstring injury, the presence of American ATP players at the European clay tournaments has dwindled. But Ljubicic’s tweet may have gone a little too far to point the finger.

Three hours later, American John Isner (who was ousted in the second round of Madrid by another Croat, Marin Cilic, and is scheduled to play Rome this week) defended his friend’s absence from the tournaments in Madrid and Rome:

Not even an hour later, Fish fired back heavily at Ljubicic before almost immediately deleting the following tweet.

Unfortunately, the internet is not forgiving once you put something out there. Perhaps this conversation should have occurred through direct messaging, email, or BBM. It’s one thing to put a “generalized comment” on your personal Twitter but it’s also another nobler thing to privately respond. Not sure if there is history here between Fish and Ljubicic, but hopefully the 140 character limitation framed responses insufficiently. However, the fans were drinking it up …

Whoa!Twitter war waged. Shots fired! Shots fired!

— Ataraxis (@Ataraxis00) May 12, 2012

Funny that Isner thought about Fish and not Roddick

— enrico maria riva (@enricomariariva) May 12, 2012

Mardy Fish, nothing is deleted on the internet. Nothing. Ever. Ask Feli Lopez about the US shit Open.

— julesdc (@julesdc) May 12, 2012

epic that Fish deleted the tweet immediately afterward. Realized how DUMB it was.

— Ricky Dimon (@RD_Tennistalk) May 12, 2012

Mardy may be convalescing somewhere in Malibu, but he’s still got some energy left to fire off a few Twitter zings…

— Erik Gudris (@AdjustingTheNet) May 12, 2012

@Ataraxis00 I think Fish is sensitive b/c he’s having a tough time physically & would love to be playing more tennis than he can.

— Kimber Bennett (@DirtyOldBroad) May 12, 2012

This happens everytime a player retires doesn’t know what to do with there time at first so they tweet a lot. Sometimes controversial xD

— Stella (@storacle) May 12, 2012

I do think that Ljubicic needs to calm it on the whole keyboard warrior thing… or join MTF.

— Foot Fault (@FootFault_) May 12, 2012

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid – World No.1 Victoria Azarenka recorded her sixth victory this year against Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 to progress to her sixth final this year where she will meet Serena Williams after she defeated qualifier Lucie Hradecka 7-6, 6-0.

The Belarusian has reached the final for the second year running, which saw her miss out on the title last year to Petra Kvitova and will be looking to go one step further tomorrow and lift the title for the first time and record her 7th title victory this year.

During her 6-2 6-4 defeat over Agnieszka Radwanska, the 22 year old struck 29 winners and looked confident during her encounter on the Manolo Santana court.  She was able to dominate rallies and had great movement around the court, comfortably covering all areas. The Australian Open champion was out on court for only 79 minutes and sealed the match with a drop shot on her second match point.

Azarenka: "Put it in the headline 'I don't read draws.'"

During the press conference Victoria Azarenka was pleased with her performance and said that she feels she has been performing well. With the Rome Masters 1000 Series just around the corner Azarenka was informed of her draw and that she has another potential clash with the Agnieszka Radwanska, much to the horror of the world No.1 she said she didn’t want to know, as she never likes to know her draw in advance.

She had a special request for the journalists in the press room:

“Put it in the headline: I DON’T READ THE DRAW!”

In the clash she has set up with Serena Williams, she is aware that she will be a tough opponent, but the times that she had played against her before, she was ‘much younger.’

“She is one of the best players in the world, one of the toughest to play against. It is the first time I play her on clay.”

The second semi final of the day saw American Serena Williams taken to a tie-break in the first set of her game against Czech qualifier and world No.105 Lucie Hradecka.

The first set proved to be challenging for the world no.9 as they both went toe-to-toe during their rallies and big serves were fired on court. Williams eventually took the first set on her third set point.

Serena Williams has fought her way to No.6 in the world.

The second set was less competitive as the former world No.1 marched through the games, breaking Hradecka three times for a convincing 7-6 (7-5) 6-0 victory.
I informed Serena Williams during her press conference that she will now be world No.6 and with her arms raised she threw her head back and said:

“Get out! Yessss! I have reached my goal. I didn’t think I’d reach it. I’ve been working really hard but I don’t want to stop at No.6 obviously, I want to keep continuing on to do better.”

Going into the final tomorrow Serena feels she has ‘nothing to lose’ and will give it everything out there to win.

Lisa-Marie Burrows is currently in Madrid covering the Mutua Madrid Open and will be at the Rome Masters next week. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Novak Djokovic: "I don't want to meet anybody, it's simple in my eyes - no blue clay."

Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid - It was evident when walking into the press room that Novak Djokovic was not a happy man. He clearly felt that his loss was due to the courts, claiming he ‘wants to forget this week as soon as possible and move onto the real claycourts.’

When the notion of a the use of a fluorescent ball was put to the fiery Serb, he simply scoffed and said:

“They can do whatever they want, I will not be here if this clay stays. This is what is in 2012 and if in 2013 they come up with fluorescent balls or whatever I will not be here for sure.”

Djokovic reminded everybody that he has been here over a week now trying to adjust to the courts and get in to some of these matches and he does not consider the surface as clay, but as something totally different.

Djokovic was still angry with the ATP as he looked around the packed press room with a stern look on his face and repeated once again that it is their fault and has nothing to do with the tournament organizers or director, only the ATP:

“I hope the ATP will strongly consider what we feel and what we think. If the ATP has protection for their players and back them up, there is no way they would use the blue clay. I don’t need to meet anybody [and talk about it] it’s simple in my eyes – no blue clay.”

The defending champion pointed out that he was here to do exactly that – defend his title – which he has now failed to do and wishes not to put any pressure on his body and worry about getting injured, as the court is so unpredictable in his eyes. His point of view was that ‘it is the players who are the losers this week.’

After reiterating that it is not the fault of the tournament, the organizers or its director – Manolo Sanana – Djokovic spoke once more about his loathing towards the ATP and their decisions at this time:

“We had a couple of discussions about this last year and we were more than clear that we didn’t want it. This is a clear example of how our system does not work in favour of players. I cannot blame the new president because he came here in January and started his presidency, he did not make the decision, the old one. It’s very simple, he was going away he knew that his contract is not renewed and he made this decision on his own. I will not go into what was going on behind closed doors but something was going on definitely because he didn’t care about tennis and what the players think, only himself and his own interests.”

Lisa-Marie Burrows is currently in Madrid covering the Mutua Madrid Open and will be at the Rome Masters next week. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.

By Lisa-Marie Burrows

Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid – It was a tale of two different halves in Madrid today, as without a shadow of a doubt, the prize for best press conference this week has to go to the enigmatic Serena Williams who defeated Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 and the saddest of the day so far was Fernando Verdasco’s press conference after his defeat at the hands of Tomas Berdych 1-6, 2-6.

Serena Williams entered the press conference bright and breezy and very satisfied with her victory of today as she knew she ‘had to be ready.’

If next year at the Mutua Madrid Open they decide to use fluroscent balls, Serena Williams will be one happy lady as she is currently ‘living in the 80’s’ and with that said she promptly lifted up her leg on the desk to show the media room her bright yellow, fluorescent socks and declared:

“Fluroscent balls?? Hmmmm, interesting. I love fluorescent colours If we had that this year I would be completely excited!!”

(Sorry for the quality of the photo, I was laughing as I snapped a picture!)

From nowhere, Serena Williams lifted her leg up on the table to show her fluorescent leg warmers!

Serena recently shot “Drop Dead Diva” and was asked what it was like to be a lawyer, with a smile on her face she laughed:

“I’m not a lawyer, but I’m good at arguing! The show was fun and I hope I did good. I was joking that I’m an Oscar winning actress behind the camera so whenever I give my lines it was unbelievable, but once the camera was on me I got a little nervous.”

Verdasco: "Physically it was tough today."

On the other side of the happiness in the media room was the sadness felt by Fernando Verdasco. The man responsible for knocking out Rafael Nadal in the last round was clearly subdud and looked tired from the events of the last 24 hours:

“He [Berdych] played a really high level all of the match and physically was tough. Today I didn’t have the energy to play against the quality player like Berdych. One day you can be really happy and the next day something like today can happen.”

The world No.19 lifted his head up on occasion and said that he will try to remain positive after such a great week and look forward to Rome. However one thing that was clearly evident during his match was the amount of empty seats and dismal atmosphere around the stadium, Verdasco suggested maybe it was that the weather was too hot and people prefer to watch it on tv, but then poignantly added:

“I guess if it were Rafa here against Berdych, here there would be more people – because he’s Rafa.”

It was not all doom and gloom for the Spaniard as once again he was questioned about the blue clay and with a roll of his eyes he joked:

“I’m tired of talking about the blue clay. I’ve said it in Chinese, in English, Spanish, in Russian… The difference is only the colour. I respect the decisions and opinions of each player, but the only thing we need to make it better is to be safer for the players, it’s slippery.”

Lisa-Marie Burrows is currently in Madrid covering the Mutua Madrid Open and will be at the Rome Masters next week. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.