I can't believe it!!!

Bravo Jelena.!!

Venus really did shank this one though.. Her Forehand went seriously missing, double faults at crucial stages, including 3 in one service match at a crucial stage in the final set to drop her serve.

I had to watch it online, and couldn't get it on bbc interactive..:(

Did anyone else manage to view it on bbci?? If so, then what am I doing wrong?? :yikes:


Jelena played well, but really it was Venus' game to lose.


Sets things up nicely for the next round.. Ah, against Myskina.. now some seriously divided loyalties..



Commiserations Venus.. Hopefully go further at the USO.. Maybe it wasn't her day.

For once I'm pleased with the Irish coverage roflmao They showed the Venus match :D

Ah! lucky you. We have a very unremarkable Mauresmo v Pratt match to contend with..

They'd better cover Jelena's next match with Anastasia Myskina... :angry:

Oh.. I'm watching it in Scotland.. maybe the English coverage has it as well as the Irish, as Sue Barker said it was on bbci.. but I couldn't get the Ivanovic match either, which made me wonder if something was wrong..

Bah humbug! etc.:) Well, at least got to watch it online :D

The Irish coverage is seperate to the BBC's I think, and thankfully they've shown a pretty equal mix of men's and women's matches :D

We've forgot to mention, the graveyard court has now claimed both Venus and Serena :o

I know, and both late on Saturday... :huh:

It's a weird thing about the graveyard court. I've no idea if any of the other slams has a similar thing..

I believe that Venus' ranking will fall to 21/22. :(

It'll fall a bit more since she's not defending final points in Stanford :huh:

Good point :huh:

Just realised that Maria is the only former champion left in the draw!

And Shenay is the last American in the whole tournament...

Well it's Justine's to lose now I feel, also this is probably Amelie's bets shot, she's handled Sharapova well before, and I'd say it should be 4th time lucky if she reaches the semis :D

And Dementieva is still in, she's got my full support now roflmao

She'll need it roflmao

I see the top 4 seeds reaching the semis to be honest...Amelie has the toughest route, with Ivanovic (I think she's lost to her twice this year) and Myskina. I think her grass-court skills will see off Ana, but if Nastya can produce some of the form we saw in Eastbourne you never know...

Probably the worst day ever! :( :( :cry: :cry:

I was really dissapointed and sad to see Venus out, she played so well at times, but i guess not good enough today. The serve that was working so well in her first two matches seriously went off( she served 3 double faults in a row to concede the break in the third), she clawed it back, but couldnt equalise. The forehand didnt fire at key points either, all in all a tale of missed oppurtunity :(

I thought Jelena played pretty well though, some of her backhands quite awesome, combining depth and angle in some quite thrilling rallies. Credit where credit is due, Jelena held her nerve throughout, never giving venus that much of an edge.

Still tomorow is another day, and hopefully venus can just get back on track and start producing some great tennis throughout the late summer season into the autumn swing. Serena is coming back also, so maybe they can both reap success together and who knows, maybe a Williams final at the Open ;)

I think Mauresmo has a pretty good shot actually now to capitalise on venus's exit( :cry: ), though myskina has been playing superbly. her match against medina garrigues today was quite inspired at times, with some lovely arrays of intricate grass-court tennis. mauresmo could have her hands full against Myskina for sure, and then will probably face Sharapova in the semis, unless the hillarious Dementieva can do something. Elena i call hillarious because all her matches, she's been in some tricky predicament, i believe she was 3-0 down in the secong against shaughnessy in the second round after losing the first set, and still came through, even though i still wonder how roflmao

Justine will probably make it through to the final now, though i'm still gunning for a mauresmo win. I picked mauresmo to win after Venus and Lindsay lost at the Aussie open and she won, so long may my prediction continue roflmao .

Go momo and elena, kick some ass! roflmao

Sorry dl :hug:

Not much to add to your post really...

Thanks LDF :hug:

At least she fought to the end, saving 3 matchpoints, but jelena was just too tough. somedays you lose, somedays you dont. It was a bady day, but it happens. She'll be back i'm sure :D

Do you know who clijsters faces in round 4? I'm still hoping for a forehand meltdown roflmao

I know, great tournament for Radwanska!

Though it'll be a huge, huge shock if Kim fails to win...

This girl is such a great prospect LDf, i saw her play Dementieva in Warsaw and her timing and anticipation are just as good as anyone in the top 10. She has terrific feel, and she's so unflappable. She has a 'pokerface ', and hides her emotions well. She's almost like a more powerful Hingis, but most of her weapons come from her exquisite timing.

I expect kIm to win this, but i think Radwanska could give Kim a match. She has nothing to lose and does back herself to perform, and you never know how clijsters's forehand will unfold in match.

dl, what would you do if we get a Maria-Kim final?

Battle of the technically-superb forehands ;) roflmao

I'd throw them a textbook on how to hit a forehand. I mean venus's and Lindsay's forehands arent ' technical beauties ', but they're a damn sight better than those forehand monstrosities roflmao

Seriously though, i actually think Kim has a marginally better technique than sharapova, but that isnt saying much roflmao

Hopefully we'll have a lovely array of shot-making between mauresmo and justine in the final :ok:

By that time, Kim will have hit 100 unforced errors off the forehand roflmao

None of the top women have 'technical beauties' on the forehand really roflmao

Pierce and Dementieva probably have the best, along with Vaidisova (though I'm not a fan of her western grip). Sharapova's is just...ugh...so much arm! When she prepares early though, it is technically quite good. The same applies for Kim. I'm not really sure who has the better technique to be honest...

An Amelie-Justine final would be great, providing it's not like the last one!

Yeah i give the edge to pierce with her great timing, she also has a very short-follow through as opposed to the horrendous follow-through of sharapova, which looks quite it could wallop her in the head roflmao

I always feel clijsters is the one with too much arm- she almost lunges for it like she's throwing a javelin or something! Remember the 03 RG final? roflmao

Vaidisova's is a bit :blink: Not technically sound, but great preperation and does actually complete the shot with a fairly conventional follow-through.

Look at you two being so critical! roflmao

How many Slams have you guys won? ;)

Have to do something to get over today roflmao

We're speaking the truth though! :D ;)

I know, there's nothing better than a bitch about Kim to help get over a Venus loss, eh dl? ;) roflmao

I know, maybe i should focuson sharapova as well! roflmao

As you say, Pierce doesn't need a big swing due to her excellent timing. As for Maria...well, it seems Robert Lansdorp tried to teach her the reverse forehand, like Sampras and Lindsay, but it didn't turn out as well as hoped roflmao

Getting back to Venus, when she saved the first two match points and had advantage I was sure she was going to level the score, she impressed me by being so calm, she's such a cool customer, but just lost focus with that double fault, which was what gave Jankovic one chance too many...

At least now we can be depressed together :D

Yep, I always love Venus for her calmness, complete contrast to serena. If that was lil Sis out there, there'd be plenty of ' OOOOOOHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEE ' roflmao

I thought she would level as well, Venus was generally hitting much harder off the ground than Jelena, but her serve let her down. She went a bit dementieva at times :wacko: roflmao

Hopefully they'll be good times ahead with Venus, serena and lindsay ruling the roost :ok:

I only managed to see the very end of the match (I'm sure you can guess why), but looking at the stats it seems Jelena pounced on Venus' second serve...and numerous double faults by the champion didn't help. Venus' forehand also seemed to be quite erratic, but no major change there :lol:

I didn't realise she had a left wrist injury (it was mentioned in her post-match interview) - though she doesn't blame that on her loss, and praised Jelena on her performance. :D

Venus also missed some key returns :( Quite frustrating to watch really, but it is Venus after all roflmao

Yes the wrist injury may be a reacurrance of her injuries in the previous months where she missed a lot of tennis. Dont think it really happened her today though, as she did get stuck in some brilliant rallies, but jelena came out on top. backhand from both women quite exceptional at times when going down the line.

Jankovic's backhand was brilliant yesterday; particularly the one down the line.

Jelena's backhand has always been her strength - it's quite a compact swing, so she can disguise the shot more easily too.

Bad luck Venus and Dl...

It was an accident waiting to happen I suppose though... :wacko: